[Propertalk] Proper 14 b - 2

[robertpmorrison at charter.net]

(Second part)

 The people of Jesus’ time simply couldn’t comprehend that
everyone being fed and satisfied was God’s number one priority; that
providing education for everyone; and safety for everyone; and respect
for everyone, was what God has always intended for those who inhabit
creation. So many of the people of Jesus’ time had their own
priorities. They wanted to hang on to whatever they had, and they
wanted to add to that whatever anyone else had. So to have Jesus say
that whoever comes to Him will never be thirsty, never be hungry
again, was SO much of a threat to those who placed their hopes so much
on tangible assets that they couldn’t bear the thought of risking
losing even a crumb of them. THEY wanted to corner the bread market
– whether in church or out beyond four walls. 

	 But Jesus, the Bread of Life, who wants to sustain us all, cannot be
imprisoned or locked away from us or any of His people. 

	 Maybe that’s what made some of the listeners of Jesus, who were
the ones with power, what made them SO angrily nervous. After all, as
a member of the Crow Nation remarked yesterday, the sacred, that which
shows holiness, which draws us into holiness, always has and
demonstrates power. And the fact that Jesus was willing to share
power, to empower everyone, through bread, though conversation,
through promises of eternal life; that made people SO angry. 

	 I don’t know that we get quite that angry, yet there ARE
definitely times when we don’t want to share. Maybe we all need to
go back to kindergarten, where we can learn that prime directive –
to share with others, no matter what it is – except for germs and
pain, of course! 

	 Presiding Bishop-elect Michael Curry made an amusing point about
this last Sunday. He talked about how, in so many ways, we’re really
still in kindergarten. He asked to imagine God looking at all of us on
earth. He asked us to think about the ways in which we’re so far
from getting things right. He asked us to think about how we relative
to one another and to God. He asked us to picture God smiling and
shaking God’s head and thinking, “Give them time. They’re still
in kindergarten!” 

	As Bishop Curry remarked, maybe this is a good thing. Maybe it’s
actually reassuring to think that we’re still in creation’s
kindergarten, because, if this is what humans are like as adults, then
we have some serious problems! 

	If we were adults, we should be falling all over ourselves, trying to
make sure that no one is left out, that everyone has enough to eat,
every single day; enough clean water to drink, every day; enough
shelter from the blazing sun, or pounding rain, or bitter cold –
every day. 

	We can’t quite see it in the bulletin photograph of the Sacrament
House in St. Lorenz. We have to take the description at its face
value, but think about the meaning of that carving. From head-height
up it’s elaborate, a wonderfully creative expression of joy and
devotion in knowing that within it shall live the Bread of Life which
will feed the whole world. But the creative imagination of the
sculptor, Kraft, was led to understand that all of this glory, this
sign of freedom from hunger, and thirst, and fear; all of it is
balanced on the shoulders of Kraft and his two companions; all of it
is balanced on the shoulders of you and me. 

	Jesus IS the Bread of Life, certainly. He said it over and over,
referring to Himself and to the tidings of peace He brought. That’s
central to our faith. But in order for people to hear about it; in
order to for people to taste it and see how gracious God is, you and I
have to speak the words; you and I – or someone else on our behalf
– has to mix the ingredients and bake the bread; someone has to make
an offering of it and to use the words given us by Jesus; someone has
to take it, to break it apart and to distribute it – outside as well
as inside the building we often mistake for church. 

	As crazy as it sounds, Jesus trusts us. Teresa of Avila, born five
hundred years ago this year, wrote, “O Thou Treasure of the poor!
How marvellously Thou sustainest souls, showing to them, not all at
once, but by little and little, the abundance of Thy riches! When I
behold Thy great Majesty hidden beneath that which is so slight as the
host is, I am filled with wonder…” 2 

	The torn piece of Bread, each bit not cut neatly with straight lines
nor exactly the same as that given to person next to you; that torn
piece of Bread came from human hands, but was blessed by Jesus Himself
through the work of the Spirit which He promised us. 

	That torn piece of Bread, so small, so fragile, apparently so
insignificant, is an incredible sign of life and love from God to us.
It comes from God who made us and is given to us, the kindergarteners
who seem so frequently to be so recently out of the sand box. 

	Yet as twentieth century saint, Dorothy Day, put it, “Young people
say, ‘What good can one person do?’ They cannot see that we must
lay one brick at a time; we can be responsible only for the one action
of the present moment. But we can beg for an increase of love in our
heart that will vitalize and transform all our individual actions, and
know God will take them and multiply them as Jesus multiplied the
loaves and fishes.” 3 

	Out of incredible love for us, God in Jesus reaches out to us as to
the first century friends of Jesus and asks us to be the one, the
group, the community, which takes seriously Jesus’ words. I AM – I
AM present and I love and honour you so much as to offer you the means
to eradicate hunger and thirst. 

	The officers of the organisation “Bread for the World” remind us
that “Our efforts to help those in need are strengthened by Bread
for the World as it brings together people frommany faith traditions
– to be a collective Christian voice, urging our nation’s decision
makers (and those of other nations) to change the policies and
conditions that allow hunger to persist. We also give thanks for
churches and other organizations that provide emergency relief and
log-term assistance to overcome hunger, poverty, and disease.” 4 

	The Bread which Jesus gives for the life of the world must not be IN
church alone. Nor must it be FOR the church alone. The Bread which
Jesus offers, which Jesus invites us to take to the world, is for
EVERYONE, withOUT exception. 

	THIS is the Good Word of Jesus to us, whether we feel like
kindergarteners in mission or not. In fact, it may be better if we DO
think of ourselves as kindergarteners. Nine times out of ten, they
have no fear, no reluctance, to go to someone, even to a stranger, and
to say, “Would you like to share my bread?” 

	It rests on our shoulders now, God helping.

	NOTES: 

	[1] Sacrament House by KRAFT, Adam - Web Gallery of Art [1]
www.wga.hu/html_m/k/kraft/selfpor.htm [2]

	2 From “_The Autobiography”_, Teresa of Avila (1515-1582) quoted
in “_Soulwork Toward Sunday: Self-Guided Retreat Proper 14 (Year B),
August 9, 2015 “Under The Appearance of” _Suzanne Guthrie
http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper14b.html [3]

	3 From _“Loaves and Fishes”_ by Dorothy Day (1897-1980) quoted by
Suzanne Guthrie, Op. Cit.

	4 Insert, _“Bread for the World”,_ Washington D.C., October 2015
www.bread.org [4] 


Links:
------
[1]
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=11&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0CEIQFjAKahUKEwjMhNyeiZjHAhWILogKHbirB1Y&url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.wga.hu%2Fhtml_m%2Fk%2Fkraft%2Fselfpor.html&ei=IzjFVYznC4jdoAS4156wBQ&usg=AFQjCNGtDx6WLAAj-trMAZ9NVOj8Do1p5w&bvm=bv.99804247,d.cGU
[2] http://www.wga.hu/html_m/k/kraft/selfpor.htm
[3] http://www.edgeofenclosure.org/proper14b.html
[4] http://www.bread.org

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