The Bread within the Bread BProp Kings 8: 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6: 10-20; John 6: August 23, 2015

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1 The Bread within the Bread BProp Kings 8: 22-30, 41-43; Psalm 84; Ephesians 6: 10-20; John 6: August 23, 2015 A seven year old boy came to church for the first time in his life. His mother had been raised Episcopalian but hadn t been in a church either since her college days. She took him up the side aisle and they slid into a pew close to the front so he could see and so they could escape if he got too noisy. As they walked past people, he saw some of them kneeling with their eyes closed. This was a different place from anywhere he had ever been. He was given a bag when he entered that had some coloring pages, and word puzzles and some crayons. He settled into the pew with the bag and his favorite transformer that his mother had let him bring. So, while all the talking went on, (this part of the service!) he drew pictures and showed them to his mom. Then, the loud organ began and the choir sang and he watched a few people walk up the aisle with silver plates and other items. and one person pulling a red wagon. What young boy wouldn t be curious about a red wagon? The wagon had all kinds of cans and boxes of food in it. Hey! What s that? He tugs at his mother. That s food that these people bring for the poor. It is brought up and offered to God and then they take it out and give it to people that are hungry. The little boy s tummy was growling because it had been awhile since breakfast. So this little Dennis the Mennis slipped out of the pew and snuck up to the wagon and took a packet of crackers. [I was hungry and you fed me! said Jesus] We ll come back to this story. Solomon s prayer, that we heard a portion of today is the longest in the Old Testament. Solomon says this prayer in front of the new Temple he has built for Yahweh. Built in Jerusalem, it was made of materials imported from all over the known world: wood, stone, metals It s walls and floors were lined with gold. Scripture describes two wooden figures cherubs each 15 feet tall with wing spans of 15 feet also watching over the entrance to the holiest place of the temple.

2 Wall engravings of palm trees and open flowers were overlaid with gold. It took seven years to build the temple. This building said Israel s God (and Israel s king) were the mightiest of all. So one reality about the temple is that it is a symbol of conspicuous wealth and power. But there is that other side, another reality. And Solomon s prayer at the dedication of the temple gives us that other side. The first this is that the temple of worship is a reminder of God s promises of steadfast love and mercy. What made the temple holy was the presence of the ark of the covenant. This was the portable container that housed the stone tablets of the covenant, the ten commandments, and had moved with the Israelites. When the temple building was finished the ark of the covenant was finally placed in the inner sanctum, the holy of holies. Toward the end of the prayer Solomon says: Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to his people [Israel] according to all that he has promised. The ark comes to rest in the temple. A house of worship is a place of rest, of Sabbath, for each of us. A second thing Solomon s prayer declares is that God is way too big to be housed! It reminds us that neither the earth nor the highest heavens are vast enough to contain the greatness, the majesty, the glory of God. The temple in all its splendor in no way contains God. It is the name, the person, the presence of Yahweh, and for Christians, the name, the presence of Jesus that gives the space its holiness for worshippers. We can count on God being present when we show up. A place of Promise & Presence what all houses of worship should be. As we move one to John s gospel: This is last of five Sundays devoted to John 6. Enough about bread already! There was the feeding of the 5,000. People following Jesus because they wanted more miracles, more bread. For the rest of the chapter, Jesus is trying to get it across to them that bread can be perceived in two ways - two different realities. One reality is that bread is made from grain and you eat it and get hungry again. Manna for the Israelites in the wilderness. Loaves for the multitudes.

3 Crackers from a red wagon. Our bodies need to be nourished for sure. And of course they need to be refueled! That is one perception of bread. And we always want and need more to fill our tummies. What we need to learn to perceive is that this material bread holds and conveys a larger reality. It holds and conveys God s divine love. That s what verse 63 means when Jesus says, It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. God loves us through creation, through the material stuff of the earth. If we can get it that bread and wine and people and buildings and the very air we breathe and the very brains with which we think are infused with this eternal love, then our souls will never be empty again Because to breathe is to be in communion with God! All human desire is finally a desire for God s love, which is the life, the true bread, of the world. (Schmemmann) As Barbara Brown Taylor wrote in An Altar in the World:, My life depends on ignoring all touted distinctions between the secular and the sacred, the physical and the spiritual, the body and the soul. What is saving my life now is [my] becoming more fully human, trusting that there is no way to God apart from real life in the real world. Our language tries to join the two: The body of Christ the bread of heaven On earth as it is in heaven. The disciples misconstrue Jesus talk about bread and wine being his flesh and blood. They are taking him very literally, just like Nicodemus did when he interpreted that he had to re-enter his mother s womb to be reborn! They are unable to get beyond that. So, for them, the teachings would be hard to understand, hard to commit to. There is a part that is truly hard for us to get about following Jesus. Even when we get past the bread to body, wine to blood images There is the matter of dying to the flesh to the self. When we let go release our desire, our hunger, for the material world itself, that is when the fullness of God becomes evident for us. And we are able to see the eternal housed in the temporal. able to believe and know that God is in the temple and Christ is in the bread and wine.

4 And even the destruction of the temple or this church or the physical act of communion, even the destruction of your own body does not extinguish the flame of God s love that is eternal light and eternal life for you. [Paul Tillich's suggestion] that 'eternal' points to space more than time; That eternity is in the depth of the moment. Eternal life is each moment given the height and depth and width of believing and knowing God s living presence in every part of our lives. That s what Peter saw when he said We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God. They finally are able to perceive in that eternal moment the full presence of God in Jesus. Bessie Philemon, a beloved member of St. Paul s, Died last we and we celebrated her life in a service on Friday. I had short conversations with Bessie each Wednesday when she came to worship and community lunch. I saw her as a sweet, pleasant woman. When she knew her days were numbered I asked her if she wanted to talk about it. Did she have any thoughts about the end of her life and what would happen after? She said, No. I just want to wake up each day in my home, one day at a time. When I meet my Lord in heaven it will be just another fine day. People talked about her homemade pickles, chicken salad, broccoli salad, and the way she cooked rutabagas. I think Bessie got it. And I think that she perceived that when she did small kindnesses and cooked favorite dishes that she was sharing something much larger than the food itself. The little boy When it was time to walk up for communion, his mother said they would kneel on a red cushion and the boy would get a blessing from the priest, because he had not be baptized. As they moved out of the pew, he slid his hand out of hers And walked over to the red wagon and added his toy to the pile of food items. And when he got to the altar raid, he looked up at the priest and held his hands up like everyone else, wanting to be fed. Whether it is a toy given up or a person s life come to an end; all the deaths, both small and big, Are nothing compared to the glorious and eternal love of God in Christ. The dying to self, the letting go of the things, the shedding of the physical reveals the eternal within that will sustain us long after the material bread is gone.

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