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Having recently explored several miracles of Jesus’ providing in abundance, even though the Old Vision saw only scarcity, we turn to a few weeks of knowing Jesus as the Bread of Life.  We could see Jesus as a quick fix for today’s hunger–or take a broader path of seeing the Christ as life-bearer through the generations.

In Exodus 16, we hear about the newly-escaped Hebrews suddenly realizing they were in the desert without much resource.  Used to city life, the former slaves remembered the Good Old Days when they were guaranteed at least meager rations.  So they formed a Back to Egypt committee, accusing Moses of trying to starve them all.   OK then, sez  The Lord, “in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” (v.12)  This manna is a gift of grace, not a minimum-wage pittance for forced labor.  How much shall we needy wanderers trust God’s daily provision?

The beginning of the 4th Chapter of the Letter to the Ephesians seems far from those clinging to God’s mercy in the desert.  Yet the common thread is of a loosely connected group without much history developing into a tight community.  A diverse group of travelers with dissimilar baggage has now been blessed with the ultimate heavenly gift, the crucified Christ.  St. Paul exhorts the new church to be nourished by this Bread of Life, “until all of us come…to maturity, to the full stature of Christ.” (v.13)

After Jesus fed the great crowd, as remembered in John’s Gospel. he and his disciples went back home to Capernaum. (chapter 6:24ff)  Looking for another free lunch, the crowd crossed over the lake to find him.  “Look here,” said the Savior, “don’t worry about the food which may soon spoil, rather seek ‘the food which endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.’….The bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”  The Crowd understood that this Bread is a gift, not earned, but freely given.  Will 21st Century hearers understand this?

Most of the services I lead involve putting a piece of “bread” in a supplicant’s hand–whether or not they are “worthy” or tainted by the world’s cares.  (For that matter, I’m very aware of my own unworthiness: yet it doesn’t lessen the validity of the Sacrament.)   “This, then, is the Body of Christ!”  “Thanks be to God!”

God Bless Us, Every One!           Horace Brown King

Will there be enough to go ’round?  Members of a large family, we fear scarcity of the essence of what gives us life.  Does the last one in line at the buffet have to settle for crumbs?  Have Mom & Dad spent all their love on the older siblings?  When the farm is sold, will there be anything left but the woods and rocks of the back forty?  Without ranting about greed, I still remember the cemetery sign which advised, “Get Lots While You’re Young!”  Readings for this coming weekend involve being miraculously satisfied!

From the Old Testament come three verses, II Kings 4:42-44: the name of the town, Baal-shalishah, is important because it lay in the heart of fertility-worship.  In a time of scarcity, this unnamed fellow came to the Man of God instead of sucking up to the Baal!  His gift, 20 loaves and some grain, wouldn’t go far in feeding Elisha’s entourage–but “they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.”  “The prophet looks at the same small offering and at the large crowd and sees not scarcity but an opportunity to bear witness to the reality and power of God’s presence among them.  God is present with God’s people in ways not immediately obvious from a human perspective.” (Karen C. Sapio, in FEASTING ON THE WORD, B,3:271)

Paul gives the Ephesian congregation (and us, their successors) words to testify that God is already at work forming and filling the community of faith.  (Ephesians 3:14-21)  His prayer and expectation involve an outpouring of spiritual power, plus the presence of Christ which roots the believers in love.  This involves an accentuated perception which allows for an expanded dimension of God’s Work:  “so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (v.19)  This extreme power is present despite our faltering attempts!

St. John’s Gospel always finds a foil to ask the silly questions on our behalf.  So it is in this remembrance of the feeding of the multitudes, 6:1-15:  Philip, paragon of practicality, opines, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.”  Well, yeah, that’s my guess too.  But you know the story: Jesus manages to give them enough–with twelve baskets (one for each tribe of Israel) to distribute to the World!  DON’T dilute the miracle by suggesting that others shared their own secreted lunches:  what this occasion teaches is that with God, there is no scarcity!

God’s will for us is to have Abundance.  Sometimes, we don’t recognize our blessings, and we’re tempted to worship in the Palace of Mammon whose priests are Grab and Exploit.  What we celebrate today is a gracious Providence in all generations, especially our own.

God Bless Us, Every One.      Horace Brown King

Centering.  The term for finding and naming what’s important down deep inside.
Contemplatives have long been focusing on the kernel of Truth which sustains the human pilgrimage.  To this observer, much of what’s askew in contemporary culture is a reluctance to be A People; that is, to name and identify what’s important in our ideal history.  Several magazines are popular for their nostalgic look back at what we think we remember.  Could we dare honor The Greatest Generation and then move forward?  Why shouldn’t each generation claim its moments of greatness?

The Scriptures heard this weekend will lift up this centering–and the need for it.  We begin with a rather abrasive oracle of Jeremiah, “Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture, ” says the Lord.  (23:1)  This is both a comment of sadness about clueless Israel, and a cry of fury against The Establishment (Kings?) which lives only for itself.  But there is a Promise: “Then I myself will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the lands where I have driven them… The days are surely coming, says the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch.” (vv. 3, 5)  Around this Branch (Messiah?) the People will gather and be saved.

The Letter to the Ephesians is warm and inclusive:  Paul’s writing was as controversial in those days as current conversation about LGBT participation in church-life is today!  “Remember that you [Gentiles by birth] were at that time without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers to the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world.” (2:12)  But Christ has become the Center of Faith for both those who were “far off” and those who were “near”!  “So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are citizens with the saints and also members of the household of God.” (v.19)  (I fear that many of you misread my sarcasm in last week’s blog, when I described the perceived American adaptation of “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free…” as being Not In My Back Yard.  Society’s fears, but not mine!)

Mark’s Gospel recounts two narratives of Jesus & Co. who were literally chased from place to place by crowds desperate for a Center.  “He had compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd;…” (6:34)   After they were fed loaves & fish & the Holy  Presence, they followed Jesus to yet another lakeshore venue, bringing their sick for healing.(vv.55,56)  People then & now are more needy than they care to admit; yet throng around someone who (at least for one bright, shining moment) can point to the spot of hunger in their Center.

We veteran preachers get tired, even cynical (Marie says I was born that way) about our lack of audience.  Like G. Washington in 1776, we cry, “Is anybody there?  Does anybody care?”  But once in a while a prophetic spark gleams my eye, and I want to help The World do some centering.  Praise God for the Christ, the ultimate Center!

God Bless Us, Every One!             Horace Brown King

Independence  Day has come and gone, with attendant flag-waving and a championship by the ladies in World Cup Soccer. (“We’re Number One!”)  Some whack-os celebrated by shooting or intimidating people who seemed different than themselves; like Superman, protecting “the American way of Life”.  What shall we speak to a Nation whose freedom-rhetoric has been bruised by grasping and fearful demons?  There are two grace-filled options in the lectionary for this weekend:  celebrating the boldness of Amos and John the Baptizer who stood up to the religious status-quo and Herod the Lesser; or the vision of the True Jerusalem, as morally measured with Amos’ plumb-line and Paul’s reminder of God’s blueprint for the fullness of time.

Amos was one of the earlier prophets, circa.760 BCE.  Not a professional sooth-sayer, but a shepherd and tree-trimmer, he was called for a one-time foray against the prosperity of Israel which had neglected her God-nourished roots.  “He denounced Israel, as well as her neighbors, for reliance upon military might, and for grave injustice in social dealings, abhorrent immorality, and shallow, meaningless piety.  Amos’ forceful, uncompromising preaching brought him into conflict with the religious authorities of his day.”  (Oxford Annotated Bible)  “Then the Lord said, ‘See, I am setting a plumb line in the midst of my people Israel.'”  (7:8)  God stood by a wall really in plumb, as if to say, “This is what I have in mind!”

Paul tells the Ephesian congregations that the People of God were formed “before the foundation of the world.” (1:4)  The Masonic orders portray God as a builder, and we often sing, “How Firm a Foundation”.  Paul continues, “he has made known to us the mystery of his, will, according to his good pleasure that he set forth in Christ, as a plan for the fullness of time…”   Just as we have been given a model for our persons in Jesus, we can appreciate a Godly model for our city-states in the New Jerusalem.  “This is what I have in mind.”

Mark’s Gospel (6:14-29)  tells how Herod’s daughter–traditionally  named Salome–danced at a royal banquet, and pleased Herod so much that he promised her anything!  Her mother, Herodias, had a long vendetta against John the Baptizer, since he spoke out about her leaving Herod’s brother Philip to marry (?) Herod and be queen.  (“The Days of Our Lives”, series 1)  ANYway, Salome asked for the head of John the Baptizer on a platter!  Exit John…but his ghost of guilt lived on. (v.16)  John, like Amos, went up against Power; maybe even with a plumb-line.

Marie & I joined several thousand others over the July 4th weekend to visit the Statue of Liberty.  There were lots of international tourists there, although it’s fashionable today for Americans to sneer at Emma Lazarus:  don’t send ME your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breath free–because I’m scared that they’ll take my job, my home, my language…   To me, the most impressive part of Lady Liberty was the pedestal upon which she stood: originally Ft. Wood, it was a redoubt protecting the harbor AGAINST  “those people”.  There was truly a moment of grace when someone reclaimed the stonework of fear to support the emblem of welcome!  “This is what I have in mind!”

God Bless Us, Every One!             Horace Brown King

From time to time there comes a high-holy moment when a noble concept bursts upon us, and we are compelled to follow where it leads.  These moments are rarely comfortable, often pushing the envelope of our normal activity and dragging us through the thistles of change.  Naturally timid, I usually fear these divine encounters:  I don’t color outside the lines very well.  Readings for the upcoming weekend point to three Heroes of the Faith who must act out their holy compulsion.

The first of these is Ezekiel, who was called by God even as a boy.  One of the most mystic of the prophets, visions seem to tumble around him in a whirlpool of divine encounters.  Here we read, “And when [God] spoke to me, a spirit entered into me and set me on my feet; and I heard [God] speaking to me.” (2:2)  And this is followed by a thankless assignment:  to speak at home (!) to Israel, “a nation of rebels”, impudent and stubborn.  And “they shall know that there has been a prophet among them.”  Ezekiel couldn’t help it, he was in the grip of a Power not his own…

Second on our roll of heroes is the Apostle Paul, another obsessive/compulsive  whose earlier life was that of a radical Pharisee, and who was met by a holy moment on the road to Damascus.  (read about it in Acts 9)    To the Corinthian congregations he wrote of spiritual highs, being “caught up into Paradise” and “heard things that are not to be told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.” (II, 12:4)  But he based what he taught on what COULD be repeated, inviting “weaknesses, insults, hardships, persecutions, and calamities for the sake of Christ.” (v.10)  Peter S. Hawkins comments that “it gives insight into what it means to be in grace, in the grip of a power not one’s own, in a process of perfection that brings the sufferer into the life of Christ.”  (FEASTING ON THE WORD, Year B vol.3: 211)

The Ultimate Hero, of course, is Jesus–and the reading from Mark remembers how Jesus went to the synagogue in Nazareth, where he grew up.  We haven’t the record of his message; but it went over like a lead balloon.  “Where did this man get all this?  …Is  not this the carpenter…?”  And they took offense at him! (Mark 6:1-3)   Having performed great miracles and healings, Jesus’ reputation as a Man of God certainly must have touched even rustic Nazareth!  Yet familiarity breeds contempt, and his zeal brought neither honor nor welcome.  Note Well:  this rebuff may have disappointed Jesus, but it didn’t stop him…for he was in the grip of a Greater Power.

It’s an exercise in audacity to be a prophet, to announce “Thus says the Lord”.  My own occasions of burn-out and despair have been painful.  The practicing Believer well knows the tears resulting from speaking Alien into a society which loves money and things more than integrity.  These vignettes are offered not as a shallow “grin & bear it” band-aid, but rather as acknowledgement that bearing Gods’ Word is a harsh journey through the Valley of the Shadow of Death!  And yet my cup overflows…

God Bless Us, Every One