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."

Bread of Life

8/12

Gott ist die liebe

 A straight ride up the 2 train to the Williamsbridge  neighborhood  of the  Bronx. Back to St. Peter's Lutheran Church. I continue to be intrigued by this church. By the fading German  letters above the door declaring Gott ist die liebe...God is love.  There are German words inside too.  There must have been a German population here once although the official history seems to be Jewish and Italian. And many of the current membership have roots in Africa and the Caribbean, especially Jamaica. And I would still love to know how they got  a full immersion baptistry pool.

The beginning of the service with its praise songs led by a Ghanian feels almost separate from the traditional Lutheran liturgy. But soon enough it is time for my sermon, even as I feel I'm losing my voice.....

Ready to preach

Good morning.  Its good to be back again. We're getting into that deep part of summer. When the city feels so quiet. It's a time to enjoy the city in ways we normally can't. Last night, for example, I went to Outdoors at Lincoln Center's Americana Festival. The featured performer of the night was Mavis Staples. Not sure how many here know her but the Staples Family Singers first hit the stage 68 years ago. And now Mavis keeps that legacy alive. Her music takes us through decades of freedom riders and civil rights marches and protests and back to a today that has many of us uneasy and concerned. But when she lifts up her voice and sings, "I'll take you there," there's something transporting. Uplifting. Healing. And sustaining. 

I know a place
Ain't nobody cryin', ain't nobody worried
Ain't no smilin' faces, mmm, naw, naw
Lyin' to the races
I'll take you there......

Reaches though decades of struggle to touch us today...

I'm thinking about what keeps us going. What keeps us going. I keep hearing Jesus say over and over again, he is the bread of life. There's lots more that's kind of convoluted and hard to follow and doctrinally complex, but this is pretty straight forward. 

Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty."

Hmmmmm.  What's that mean?  I mean there's lots of literal hunger out there....

There's a lot of hunger out there..the figures are harsh...
1.2 million New Yorkers live in food vulnerabiity...42% of our citizens don't have enough income to meet basic needs...(how are you doin?)
41 Million Americans are hungry
769 Million world wide are without adequate food(Feeding America/New York Times)

At the same time, each of us Americans are estimated to waste between 300 and 360 pounds of food a year, that's 165 billion pounds...(Christian Science Monitor) 
So that's actual literal hunger.  But there's lots of other hungers around the world as well...

I'm asking myself what does hunger feel like? Have any of us here ever felt hunger? For food itself......?

But what of other kinds of hungers?  What gnaws at us? Drives us...Some of us here had a hunger for a better life...for political reasons...or economic reasons...which are no less political....and so we left our home and came here to New York City, to the Bronx....to begin anew...has our hunger been satisfied?

What hunger stays with us? And what does Jesus mean he is the bread of life? Does Jesus feed those who are literally hungry? Well it was just a few weeks ago that Jesus facilitated the feeding of 5000 hungry people. And remember what he said to his disciples, You feed them...No magic tricks, rabbits out of hats, sandwiches out of thin air. He says, Start with what you've got. See what happens next. 

I am the bread of life....hmmm....what does he want us to do?  I thunk there's two sides to this. Maybe one is to believe. To make a commitment to believe in Jesus. (Have you already done that? If you can imagine it, you can understand that...) You, in a sense, bring him inside of you to travel with you, to sustain you, guide you...

But if the believing part is hard, there's another way to the bread of life. I'd call it following. See where he's going and follow along. When he says 'You feed them," well you feed then and soon you will be fed as well as you enter into an ongoing relationship of participation in the presence. 

Might I  add that this means being able to be explicit and concrete about your hungers. You  must be able to name them, if you want Jesus to respond to them. 

I want you to notice one other reality here. The neighbors question Jesus' authenticity because they  know him. They know his family. He's spent the last 30 years among them as a should have  been married by now singe guy working in his father's shop. Bread from heaven, seriously?

Point being...there may be within your community one with special gifts who can help in the feeding of God's children. Especially as we share Eucharist this morning. The reformer Zwingli believed it was not the bread and wine that was transformed but the people who share it.
As we share the one loaf, the one cup, the bread of heaven, let us be open to allowing ourselves to become that sustaining bread for others. Together as the body of the risen Christ

In the sharing of Eucharist, they use traditional thin wafers but use the small individual cups I always associated with lower liturgical traditions. (Like the folks at Beverley) For health reasons they say. 

After the service, we go downstairs for lunch. (Like Beverley again.) But the one white man in the congregation stays behind, plays the organ.

Downstairs, we talk.  When I touch that setting, it's just like Radio City Music Hall, he says. He sees what's going on in the world today as "Biblical prophecy." He's been here over 40 years, and still misses the former pastor, who layed hands on him and healed him. 

There are other conversations. About the class issues of who has teeth and who does not. And answered prayers for parking spaces. It is a good lunch. 




Gospel 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."