https://youtube.com/playlist?list=PL4mWoiYK9M0uL0okuHquLGcZKmw-J48X2
I know, it’s not the same as having manuscripts to review. But, I have been neglectful in posting full manuscripts. As I, slowly, catch up please note that this sermon playlist on youtube is updated weekly.
In the meanwhile, here’s the sermon from July 25th, proper 12B…with the appointed readings available here https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost/BProp12_RCL.html
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Satisfaction, a Connect the Dots Sermon
There is a story within the story within the story within the story…
Which is, to say, that there is also a hole in the bottom of the sea.
And in that hole, there is a…
Log.
Which causes me to think, of the log in our eye.
And the ears of our heart.
And how, our individual associations call to mind layers of interpretation.
Layers, not unlike an onion. Each sufficient in itself for flavor, but a part and not the whole.
Having referenced the onion, the DreamWorks version of Shrek comes to mind. Hmmm, may I have a volunteer?
Okay, do you want to be the donkey or the ogre? Okay, then I’ll be…
Shrek: Ogres are like onions.
Donkey: They stink?
Shrek: Yes. No.
Donkey: Oh, they make you cry.
Shrek: No.
Donkey: Oh, you leave em out in the sun, they get all brown, start sproutin’ little white hairs.
Shrek: No. Layers. Onions have layers. Ogres have layers. Onions have layers. You get it? We both have layers.
Donkey: Oh, you both have layers. Oh. You know, not everybody like onions.
Take a bow.
Because, the story within the story leads to a truth, that inside the metaphorical ogre and mythic villain resides a wholeheartedness the surface would belie.
The singular story may be lovely but it is the resonant stories that enrich the text.
Take our Gospel for today.
Bread. Bread. Bread.
The manna in the desert.
The wonder bread, margarine, and sugar sandwiches of my childhood.
The wafer thin and bread baked by hand.
Which brings me to pandemic sourdough and time enough to tend it.
The daily bread for which we plead.
Just bread. The prayer that Jesus taught us asks for just bread.
Not, more, not less.
We pray for justice. A justice where everyone has enough bread to be satisfied.
Which brings me to Angelica Schuyler’s pointed observation of Alexander Hamilton.
“You will never be satisfied.”
And the story of Hamilton, as interpreted by Lin Manuel Miranda, expands 5 words into a musical. 5 words.
5 loaves, 2 fish and they were satisfied.
Will we ever be satisfied?
Is the bread enough? Are my words enough? Is our community enough?
What will be enough for you? What do you want?
Which brings to mind a song…
“Tell me what you want, what you really, really want”
Which is, perhaps, the WRONG question.
Because, it’s not about what we want, but what we need.
What we want is a king to rule us, what we need is the bread that will liberate us.
David was a king…and murdered Uriah with his intent.
Bathsheeba was a woman whose king did not get consent.
God gave us the kings we wanted. God sent us the bread we needed.
The bread of heaven, the body of Christ.
So stop looking for a king, eat the bread, and figure out what’s next.
What’s next. For you. For us. For our community. For our world.
Because after the bid for daily bread we plead for forgiveness.
Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our offenses.
The bread we eat, the confession we make,
And, then, the action we take.
As we forgive those who trespass against us.
From a log in a hole, an onion of an ogre, the question of satisfaction, and the words and images that form the story within the story within the story.
So let’s continue the stories…
Bread requires water and wheat. Wheat requires land upon which to grow and hands to thresh the grain. The grain requires insects to pollinate, birds to disperse the seed, and humans to collect and sow. Humans charged to steward the earth. And, here we arrive at creation itself…
“God began to create the heavens and the earth— 2 the earth was without shape or form, it was dark over the deep sea, and God’s wind swept over the waters— 3 God said, “Let there be light.” And so light appeared.”
The wind was over the waters and the water grew rough. The water tossed the boat and the light appeared.
Or was it light? Because, it was in fact evening.
But light it was, because life it was and the life was the light for all people.
And the beginning of John in which creation comes through a Word. The singular Word. Jesus the Word made flesh…
2 The Word was with God in the beginning.
3 Everything came into being through the Word,
and without the Word
nothing came into being.
What came into being
4 through the Word was life,
and the life was the light for all people.
Wind over the waters. Jesus walking upon the waves. A new creation.
Wind is to Word as Christ is to life.
Do you follow? Perhaps the flights of fancy are too much and you are still humming along to Hamilton? And, isn’t that the point? To have a vocabulary to enrich our understanding? To go deeper and deeper and deeper into the story until it encompasses all of our being and, once encompassed, we find ourselves?
We find ourselves and remember who we are and to whom we belong.
Who we are, beloved children of God, we belong to God.
But, in belonging to God, we belong to each other.
Queen Esther saved the Jews.
Elijah and the widow’s oil.
Come you who thirst.
Eat this bread, drink this cup.
From 5 loaves and 2 fish, leftovers enough for 12 baskets.
12 baskets for the 12 tribes of Israel.
“So that nothing may be lost”. So that none shall be lost.
Stories within stories within stories.
And, “God said to Moses, “I Am Who I Am. So say to the Israelites, ‘I Am has sent me to you.’”
Jesus said to them, “I Am. Don’t be afraid.”
I Am. I am not a king. I am not a prophet. I am not what you wish I would be. Instead, I Am.
God said, “I Am” and that is name enough.
Jesus said, “I Am” and that is name enough.
Name enough for life. Name enough for creation.
I Am.
The bread.
The light.
The life.
And, in these, the world entire.
When will we be satisfied?
Amen.
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