The Heart of the Matter

8/29

Good Shepherd Faith

my friend Chris Kim

For the first time since the pandemic began, I am back at Good Shepherd Faith to preach. They are meeting in their or basement, joint service English and Korean. Masks, no congregational singing. Covid protections in place. I am finally admitting we are still living in Coronavirusworld. (My friend Chris Kim translates for me...) 

Here is my reflection for the service, trying to get to the heart of the matter. 

Well here we are.  Last Saturday was supposed to be the big “Welcome back” celebration.  Covid-19 was supposed to be on the run and we well on the way to “normal life.” Well the weather cancelled the concert but we are nowhere near “back to normal.” The Delta variant has us all uncertain as we try and figure out what’s next. 

I did my annual Shakespeare in the park. But it’s all online lotteries and virtual stand by lines and IDs and proofs of vaccination and masks…"Broadway is back”…but I went the other night and same thing…IDs, vax cards, masks….we are a long ways from ‘back’…and the road uncertain…

Scenes from Afghanistan feel, like Yogi used to say, “deja vu all over again…”. People desperately hanging on to copters and planes as the country has fallen to the Taliban…20 years…and…and…

Here we are.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is talking to three audiences. There are “the scribes and pharisees” who “came from Jerusalem,” the ever-present crowd and Jesus’ disciples. 

What’s on the table is a question about ritual purity, following rules, or traditions, and ultimately authority. And it’s not necessarily an attempt to trick Jesus.  The Pharisees in particular have not yet made up their mind. They may well be seriously trying to find out where Jesus stands on these issues, since it appears that his disciples are inconsistent in these matters. 

While his answers are focused to each group, the message is the same, it’s not what we take in that matters so much as the content of our hearts. Not what we consume, but how. 

As annoying as kosher might seem to us from outside the Jewish tradition, as mysterious as some of these rules might seem, the basic purpose of kosher is as a guard against mindless consumption.  It is about being mindful, conscious and intentional about what and how we consume. An Orthodox Jewish person has a blessing for everything that is taken in, even a glass of water. (Though we are learning in our world that even a glass of water may indeed be precious…)

Just a a side note, always pay attention to Mark’s details. He is always intentional about what he includes. Note that our scribes and Pharisees come from Jerusalem. That is where he will go to fulfill his destiny, his crucifixion and death, the cross. These questioners come from that place to where he is already headed.

‘

And they won’t eat anything from the market without washing it. What comes from the market is unclean. Yet in the previous chapter, Mark has told us that  the market is where the sick are, the poor and needy. those in need of healing. It is not just unclean food that these authorities want to avoid, it is unclean people as well.  And for Jesus, no people are unclean,

And so he calls out their hypocrisy. They obey the rules and miss the heart of the matter. When Bill Clinton said he “did not have sex with that woman,” he was using a precise definition but sure did not go to the heart of the matter. (Like it depends on what the meaning of what is is...) When I coached kid’s soccer and was teaching the out of bounds rule, I always tried to teach them to go to the heart of the matter. The disciples, as always are slow to catch on.

When I hear Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, he could  just as well be talking to the Biblical literalists of today. 

Once in a church I worked at, a young man came out as gay. The church was very confused and of different minds until one elder said, “Friends, I know how we think we know how we understand the Bible. But this young man is one of ours. Sometimes you just have to set principle aside and do what’s right.”

By his going to the heart of what “defiles,” Jesus was making a radical new understanding.

His point is an important one…the source of evil does not come from outside ourselves.  It is not the devil or  satan or republicans or democrats socialism or capitalism or Qanon or….the source of evil comes from inside the human heart. Inside ourselves. And it is what comes out that defines who we are, not what goes in.

Take a look at that list again….

"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

If you come to think of it, each of those is a form of mindless, self obsessed consumption.  Consuming without regard for the other.

The question is…who are we in this story? Self satisfied scribes and pharisees? Curious crowd? Confused disciples? What is Jesus’ message for you today?

What come out is important. I know the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me..” Well yes, but not. It’s not that simple. Words do a lot of damage. 

It’s true on the personal level…that we say to each other can really hurt. 

On an institutional level, nothing is worse in a church than gossip, talking behind peoples’ backs. It corrodes us, eats away at is from the inside. Religious  Jews have a practice of lashan harah, that is not speaking ill of another on the sabbath. To do so breaks the spirit of sabbath. What of we had a rule of not speaking ill of each other once we enter the church doors, even if  only on Sundays?

And on a national level, words can inspire compassion and courage. And they can also destroy faith in our system, lead to invasions of the capital, distrust of science to the detriment of the greater good and public healthy and safety. 

Yes…what goes out is important…

It’s what’s in the heart that matters. And we may have gone too far here. I had dinner with two (progressive) college professors the other night both of whom are seriously concerned about the loss of free inquiry on campus. People parse every word carefully just ready to pounce if something's not precisely right. Careers are damaged. 

In Pittsburgh last week I read the story of a lifelong peace advocate, founder of the Thomas Merton Center, one of the Plowshares 8 who went to jail with Daniel Berrigan in the struggle against nuclear proliferation. She naively said something not quite right and the new generation of activists removed her from the board and removed any mention of her from the website. 

Go to the heart friends, go to the heart…and perhaps that’s our true sermon title today…the heart of the matter…

Who are we in this story? How do we move past culture and tradition to the heart of God’s law? Let those with ears to hear, hear…..

Amen

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

One last look at the Bread of Life...

8/21 

a chocolate castle

In Pittsburgh for family concerns. Staying at a hotel in Canonsburg.  Home of the one and only Sarris Chocolates, located between newly name Frank Sarris Avenue and Bobby Vinton drive.  On Sunday I preach at Oakdale Presbyterian, where 26 years after I served there I still have a home., And one last time explore the Bread of Life.....

Well, a lot has happened since last I was here. I spent ten days in Berlin with my grandchildren. The last time I saw my granddaughter, she was only 8 months old. And now, she is 2/34 years old. Believe me at that age, a lot happens in a little one’s life…like she’s a real person now!…yet another one of those many costs of covid that just doesn’t seem to go away. 

 There was supposed to be a big “welcome back” concert this week in New York City to celebrate the “return to the city" and the “return to normal”…and the reality is, we are nowhere near there. Starting September 13th, there’s a mandatory vaccination for indoor public spaces. Wondering how we’re going to enforce that at our church. Nah, nowhere near normal… 

Speaking of that concert, I was feeling bad that I was going to be missing Paul Simon’s return to Central Park and Bruce Springsteen!…some of my friends actually saw the unannounced dress rehearsal sound check on Friday…but when I saw the notice of the two hour thunder and lightning storm that cancelled the event, I was happy I was sitting in Heinz Field watching the Steelers win. And when I read about Hurricane Henri landing today, hey, I’m, much better off with you…. 

And poor Haiti has guan been devastated by a hurricane and the scenes from Afghanistan, like deja vu all over again…(I read in a new history book about Pittsburgh that we sent a disproportionately large number of young men to Vietnam than nearly any other city…and now 20 years in Afghanistan and …and…

So we’re talking about bread (again) today, When you think of bread, what comes to mind? I think of the dark dense bread my son goes out to get every morning at the bakery on his street in Berlin. And the smell of the bakery my grandfather took me to when I was a little kid. Or the Irish soda bread with caraway seeds and raisins I used to bake on St. Patrick's day. Or cornbread and chili or barbecue. Or the sourdough bread some of us started making during covid. Our basic sustenance…like in the Lord’s prayer, give us this day our daily bread…what comes to your mind? 

Jesus is talking about “living bread”…and he’s talking about himself. And using hard, harsh, graphic language. And yes, deliberately offensive language. Eat my body, drink my blood… It’s hard on the disciples., "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” they say. And Jesus responds that the flesh is useless.. Let’s stop there a second…

Jesus was fully human, flesh and blood…he’s not saying our bodies are no good…what he is saying  that we are never going to get there with our own wits….we can’t think our way there..(although last week in the NY Times Ross Douthat thinks you can…) When I was applying for seminary, my local Presbytery, Washington, was quite upset that I was accepted to Yale. They said that Yale was the kind of place you could goo to saved and come back un..but in my case, the exact opposite was true.,..I had to get to the end of my mind, the end of my reason, before I could give in and open myself to Jesus. … 

Jesus is very clear when he says “…no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” That’s the root of our Reformed Presbyterian faith right there. Even our capacity to “make a decision for Christ,” as they say, is a function of God’s grace…which means you can never, ever judge another. I had someone who was alcoholic, living on the streets tell me about all the time he’d been through rehab and how many times he’d given his heart to Jesus and that it never worked. I looked at his tears. No way I could say, well you just have to try harder or judge his character. We just don’t know…all I could do is reassure him that Jesus loves him and is with him just as he is… 

We even get into some deep stuff about Judas...Talk about mysteries..John tells us that For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. …so why did her choose him? Was this part if God’s plan” If so, was it really betrayal? See what I mean? 

So …back to bread…yes..his language is hard…so hard it seems like everyone but the original 12 leave. They’re done. Makes me wonder…is there anything we do in our faith that is offensive to broader society? Should we be? But more poignantly, we know, this church knows, what it feels like to have people leave us. (Even though there are times we, yes even pastors screw up royally and need critical clarification…but  not angry accusations or defensive denial or walk. aways……every division, every loss hurts, no way around it… 

So what is he trying to say with this hard language? Look I had a Catholic friend who emotionally freaked out at her first communion over the idea that the bread and wine really becomes Jesus. But it’s a Catholic writer, Raymond Brown who says that it means taking all of Jesus in, all of him…so he will abide in us as we abide in him… When he says these eating and drinking words…and eating is literally chomping and chewing, he is saying take him in so that we feel what he feels and walks where he walks …yees even if it leads to the cross…because it is in eating that bread and embarking on that journey that true life in all its fullness is found…and even in small little churches, that’s where our strength is found… 

As we take communion today let is remember that the great Protestant reformer Zwingli said that it is not the bread and wine that is transformed but we who participate in it, in our drinking and eating we, together, become, yes actually become the living body of our risen Lord Jesus..and he will abide with us as we abide with him…let those with ears to hear, hear...  Amen 

Later I will share this sermon with my friends from Beverly Church. On Thursday, my friends from Sabeel in Jerusalem will reflect on this passage. They are celebrating the release of a young woman from their community arrested in an Israeli round up of protesting students. Former Presbyterian Church USA Moderator Fahed reminds us that we are called to preach the Gospel of Peace in the contest of Empire. Naim Ateek reminds us that it is a misconception to think of Allah as the Muslim God.  It is just the Arabic word for God. And there is only one....

Gospel John 6:56-69 

"Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. 57Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. 58This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever." 59He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum. 60When many of his disciples heard it, they said, "This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?" 61But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, "Does this offend you? 62Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? 63It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64But among you there are some who do not believe." For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. 65And he said, "For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father." 66Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. 67So Jesus asked the twelve, "Do you also wish to go away?" 68Simon Peter answered him, "Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God."

The Bread of Life in Marcus Garvey Park

 8/8

Ecclesia

It is my first time to be with the Ecclesia congregation since Covid...long before...maybe two years...This community of people...many people who are homeless....that gathers every Sunday in Marcus Garvey Park in the heart of Harlem. To share the word. And eucharist. And break bread with food prepared by various congregations.  Due to covid, our singing aloud is circumscribed. The consecrated hots will be placed in a napkin held by hands.  And only the celebrant will drink the cup. But nevertheless, we are here...The Delta variant is re-raising our caution and our anxiety.   Here are my reflections for this Sunday....

So what comes to mind when you think about bread? I was just visiting my family in Germany. They take bread very seriously there. It’s dark and thick and crunchy and has seeds …and..let’s just say it’s the polar opposite of Wonder Bread. I can close my eyes and remember the warm sweet smell of the bakery I would go to with my grandfather when I was little. I can remember watching the  machines at work preparing loaves of sliced bread.  I can remember the Irish soda breads I have made…the caraway seeds and raisins. And cornbread to go with chili or barbecue. Tortillas to make tacos or burritos or…Naan bread to go with curry…Italian bread to mop up tomato sauce or the fresh bread my relatives bake to wipe out the pots on apple butter weekend. Close your eyes …what do you smell?

And then of course, the paper thin wafer we share in the Eucharist…..

Bread is our most elemental and elementary of foods. The traditional prison meal was bread and water…Our word companion…and the Spanish word companero, both connote those whom we break bread with…the phrase “our daily bread” means all our personal essential needs…and the word has been used colloquially to refer to our money, our wages…

And that’s what we will be  doing at the end of our service today…sharing the eucharist, and a meal made for us by friends.

In our Gospel lesson this morning, Jesus is telling  us that he is the bread of life. The crowd, the good church people can’t seem to understand what this young man they have know all these years is capable of.  Isn’t this just Joe and Mary’s kid?  They can’t seem to accept that God can act in unexpected ways.

And that coming, seeing, believing, and being given to him are all related. 

Jesus also makes clear that it is God who draws people to him. It is a function of grace, not our will that brings us to him. It’s not about being deserving. We don’t choose God, God chooses us, There’s nothing we can do to earn it and nothing we can do to keep from being offered it…and we are drawn to Jesus, not coerced or forced…and God’s love is always resistible, always vulnerable to rejection…but it keeps on coming….

So Jesus tells us that he is the Bread of Life and asks us to eat that bread. What does that mean? Raymond Brown says simply to fully take another in, to fully accept them in the fullness of who they are. We are invited this morning to take in Jesus as he is. To accept him, To take his life into ours and receive that offer of acceptance and love.  This is the bread of life, meant for you. Let those who will come, come. 

Amen

After we have shared bread and cup and sandwiches, we spread out to share the leftovers with whoever we will find in the park...a light drizzle starts to fall as I head home...

John 6: 35, 41-51

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

41Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?" 43Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. 44No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 45It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. 46Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 47Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48I am the bread of life. 49Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 50This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 51I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

The Bread of Life

 8/1/21

Peace statue from Korea in memory of and solidarity with the enslavement of Koreans as "comfort women during the Second World War...

Just back from 10 days in Berlin visiting with family and friends. Another city struggling to deal with the continuing reality of Covid 19.  I had to prove  vaccination to get there and be tested negative to return home, But home I am again…and reflecting with Beverly Church on the Bread of Life…

’'Bread of Life”

Just one week ago, I was spending a long and wonderful day with my two grandchildren at the Berlin Zoo.  The first time I had seen my grandchildren in two years. My little grand daughter, now over 2 1/2, has become a little girl  with her own unique personality. 

As usual, much has happened since least we were together. I was in Pittsburgh for the memorial service, long delayed, for a good friend who had died of Covid last November. So many people came out. It reminded me of what Oz saids to the Tin Man…the quality of a heart is revealed not in how much you love but in how much you are loved. 

Yes Covid is  still with us. This new variant spreading fast. While much remains mysterious, one thing is clear…vaccination does work. And still….and still…I had to have a negative test three days before my flight in order to return to the US. 

The Olympics are happening.  With no spectators.  And we continue to reopen, step by uncertain step. Smoke from west coast wild fires wafts over New York City.  And we go about our own lives, each in our own struggles. And of course, my friend and our sister Geraldine is in the hospital. 

And just this week, we lost a great Presbyterian, Don Shriver, former President of Union Seminary, a child of the south who was a tireless witness for faithful following in the path of Jesus for justice and righteousness, spiritual mentor to a generation…

So what do you think about when you think about bread?  I have to say in Germany, they take bread seriously. It’s thick and it's dark and crunchy with seeds. My son goes out most mornings to bring fresh bread back from the bakery. 

I can also still remember the smell of fresh bread at the bakery I would go to with my grandfather as a little boy in Huntingdon, Pennsylvania.  Or the fresh  baked bread we use to wipe out the apple butter pots at our annual family event.  And how many of us got into sour dough and other bread baking during the pandemic?

What we’re here to talk about today’s the  bread of life.  Having fed 5000, Jesus and his  disciples need a break.  But the crowd finds them anyways and wants to know “when did you get here?” Literally they were asking “How did you come to be here?” Which could be an even deeper question.  It was the same verb used for his Cana wedding wine event and the question about being “born from above.”  Look…they’re trying to figure out just who this Jesus is.

Jesus suspects that they’ve followed him not because they have understood a “sign,” but because he’s just fed them. So they want to know what signs? Like feeding 5000 wasn’t enough? We’ve always got this “what have you done  for me lately Jesus?” thing going on. 

Like faith is transactional. Like in the impeachment hearings…looking for quid pro quo. You do this for me, I’ll do this for you. 

The great Kentucky poet Wendell Berry says we have a “one night stand” culture, consumption without responsibility or relationship. 

I suppose we could ask ourselves, what are we looking for?

Jesus does what he does not out of a desire to “wow” us with magic tricks…or spectacular performances like David Blaine…he does what he does what he does in response to real human need. In the doing, he shows us who he is and more, who God is….and we see, but….

Look he says, Moses didn’t send the manna, God did..

Even Jesus didn’t provide food for 5000 or more, God did.

And Jesus is showing that what God gives goes further than any king, ruler, political party our President, past, present or future.

Jesus did not come here to make us feel better. He came to invite us into a new way of life. A new way of being …

Let me ask a question….why do we want people to come to church with us? What do we have to offer? What do we ask of them? It’s worth asking ourselves…

Ultimately, it has to be about God’s invitation, God’s desire, God’s offer…of abundant life for the world. And God provides us the means to that life…in the love of self, others and God….we must always see those together….THIS is the true BREAD of which Jesus speaks…which sustains us always …even when bread is hard to come by…

When Jesus announces I am the Bread of Life, that is the first of 26 I am statements he will make in John…

As we share in Holy Communion this morning, we take part in that Bread of Life…we celebrate our participation in a global, timeless community of abundant life…one commentator has said (Robert Foster?) that in this communion there is a new a Trinity….Jesus is the table, the food and the waiter…

As we join together today, each with our own elements, let us look at our bread…see it as part of one loaf we all share…

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever com

es to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Let those with ears to hear, hear…..We pray for each other. And ourselves. And for the healing of the world. And then each in our own place share in our virtual common loaf and cup. And then go out to our own lives....until we meet again

John 6: 24-35

24So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

25When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" 26Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. 27Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal." 28Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" 29Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." 30So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? 31Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" 32Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." 34They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always."

35Jesus said to them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."