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Eleventh Sunday
after Pentecost
August 20, 2006 Sermon
by The Rev. Peggy Tuttle, Visiting Priest
Readings
I recently read an article on nutrition
that says eating right doesn’t have to be complicated. It said that
nutritionists say there is a simple way to tell if you’re eating right.
Colors. Fill you plates with bright colors. Greens, reds, yellow. In
fact, I did that this morning. I had an entire bowl of M&M’s. It was
delicious! I didn’t know eating right could be so easy!
If you didn’t come to church hungry, you’ll certainly leave hungry with
all these lessons about food!
The lesson from Proverbs speaks to our insatiable appetites! It sounds
like a good commercial for a restaurant named Wisdom! Can’t you smell
the roasting meats and the fresh breads baking in her ovens? I can
almost see and taste the wines she has mixed from her vineyard.
Well, it isn’t a commercial. It’s an invitation from Wisdom and Folly to
a banquet.
But first, a little information about the Nature of Wisdom might be
helpful, taken from The New Jerome Biblical Commentary. (p454)
Wisdom is not an esoteric knowledge reserved for a few; it can be sought
by all. It is found through the difficult process of making
well-informed choices in life. The need to inform, to train, and to
persuade the young about the right choices is the rationale of the Book
of Proverbs.
Wisdom is also about service to others. There is an emphasis on the
effect of our attitudes and actions on others. It stresses the power of
speech to build up or destroy. Wisdom recognizes limits, ambiguities,
and uncertainties. The wise statement of one proverb is often qualified,
even denied, by the advice of another.
Why? “Because the ultimate qualification of wisdom is the Lord, against
whom no wisdom or counsel can stand.”
So, when invited by Wisdom and Folly to a banquet we must choose and in
the choosing, we take responsibility for the outcome.
The Psalmist also speaks of God’s feeding of the animals of the fields
and all creations. We are called into community to worship God, to sing
praises to our God and give thanks for the continued creative power
displayed season after season, year after year. It is the word of God
that creates. God is the one who rebuilds and heals. It is God the
creator who provides for the needs of creation. The creative word of God
is active in the phenomena of nature, from the cold of winter to the
spring thaw that nourishes the earth. And new life is created once
again. Food for all creation is dependent on God’s continued creativity.
In the Gospel lesson, we are still in the middle of John where a
conversation between Jesus and a shifting cast of respondents continues.
So far, Jesus, faced with a hungry crowd, feeds them to their
satisfaction with 5 loaves and 2 fish. They decide to make him king. He
sends the disciples to the other side of the lake in a boat and leaves
the crowd without explanation.
Later that night, Jesus walks on the water, out to where the disciples
are rowing against the wind, and zips them all over to the shore. In the
meantime, the crowds notice that he is gone and they know he wasn’t with
his disciples in the boat, so they go looking for him with questions.
“When/how did you come here?” “What must we do to do God’s works?” “What
can you do for us to show us that you speak for God?” “Will you give us
the bread that grants eternal life, and give it to us always?”
They know that God is the provider always feeding them in unexpected
ways. They remember their heritage: the Passover unleavened bread that
served as food for the journey. They remember the Manna that rained down
from heaven to satisfy the hunger of the wandering Israelites.
So, what exactly are they asking for? More bread and fish? Or is it more
teaching, more healing, more, more, more?
In our time, I sometimes think we are looking mostly for more food. We
have become a country obsessed with food! Look in any metropolitan
telephone directory and you will find pages filled with varieties of
restaurants. We love to eat and it shows!
Look a little further and you’re likely to find a few weight loss
remedies and certainly a fair share of gyms and exercise clubs. We eat
so we can exercise. Somehow, that doesn’t sound right but it’s what we
do.
We’ve all heard the adage that we are what we eat! That’s certainly true
for some of us. Eat fat foods and I get fatter. When asked if I have any
food allergies I always reply yes, “chocolate, when I eat it, I break
out in fat.” Humor, . . . to mask the discomfort around the unhealthy
consumption of food. However there is no humor for those who have real
food allergies or who are intolerant, have an eating disorder or
diabetic. For them food can mean death.
But food can be an aphrodisiac; it can be comforting and consoling. It
can fill us and nourish us; it can make a baby grow and be healthy. Food
can be beautiful and tasty or just simply delicious.
Gathering around a dining table laden with food, the fine china, silver,
and crystal laid out on a linen cloth with linen napkins. Whether it is
the Thanksgiving banquet, the Christmas Dinner, or the wedding feast and
we all want to be invited. We all want to be seated at that table with
our friends and family.
How we eat our food is important, too. Our twelve-year-old grandson
recently attended an etiquette class. One of the objectives was to learn
good table manners. As the class was eating chicken fingers and French
fries, he learned European and Continental styles of table manners. Then
the Instructor said to eat American style. He promptly picked up the
French fries and started eating them with his fingers. When asked what
he was doing, he replied, “This is how Americans eat French fries.” The
other kids thought he was hilarious! However, as he is entering the
teenage years of socialization he wants to hone his skills so that he
will be more comfortable with proper table settings, how to pass food at
the dinner table and using appropriate manners.
Frankly, in our society we don’t eat our meals together any more
therefore learning etiquette in the home is rare but there is more to
eating at the table than filling our stomachs.
In today’s busy world of work and various social and sporting practices
and events, the family eating meals together, at the kitchen or dining
room table, is almost unheard of. What’s missing in this busy scenario
is the bonding of families. The nourishing that occurs when adults spend
time with children, when siblings spend time together, and friends
comfortably joining them at the table. Nourishing one another not just
with food but with conversation, sharing lives while breaking bread.
Is it possible that that is what the crowd is looking for, the
nourishment they get from his presence, when they come to Jesus and ask
for more?
Something incredible happened that day on the side of the hill when
Jesus blessed the bread and fish. Bellies were filled, ears were opened,
sight was restored, and hearts got a taste of what heavenly food is.
They want more and they want it always.
They come wanting, wanting more. We all want more. More money, more
prestige, more time, more opportunities, more friends, more of
everything. But more of those things still leave us wanting.
We want more and that is why we come back here to this altar. We come to
be fed with the bread of life. Like the people Jesus fed on the hillside
who tasted something incredible and wanted more, so do we. We have
tasted it and we know that nothing else can taste like this bread and
this wine.
We’ve got it! Right in our hands and then we taste. Oh, the glory of God
that comes down from heaven! Manna like no other. The real presence of
Christ in us, filling us with life everlasting, filling us like nothing
else can do.
Please take out the green hymnal entitled, Wonder, Love and Praise, and
turn to page 764. In just a moment, we are going to stand and sing this
hymn and I ask you to really read the words. Imagine you are singing to
Jesus and that you can see him. He is here in our presence, just taste
and see.
In the book Wonder, Love and Praise, there is a hymn entitled, “Taste
and see,” written by James Moore. The lyrics fully express the lessons
we have heard today:
I will bless the Lord at all time. His praise shall always be on my
lips; my soul shall glory in the Lord, for he has been so good to me.
Taste and see. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord. O taste and see.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Glorify the Lord with me. Together let us all praise his name. I called
the Lord and he answered me; from all my troubles he set me free. Taste
and see. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord. O taste and see. Taste
and see the goodness of the Lord.
Worship the Lord all you people. You’ll want for nothing if you ask.
Taste and see that God is good; in him we need put all our trust.
Taste and see. Taste and see the goodness of the Lord. O taste and see.
Taste and see the goodness of the Lord.
Today, Sara is being welcomed into the Christian community. “We thank
you, Father, for the water of Baptism. In it we are buried with Christ
in his death. By it we share in his resurrection. Through it we are
reborn by the Holy Spirit.” In her new life, Sara will live with the
light of Christ burning within her and, with God’s help, live a life of
service, justice, and mercy, respecting the dignity of all people. Yes,
Sara will be transfigured – becoming more of the person God has made her
to be. Made in the image of God, God is, and will continue to be with
her – within her – every day of her life. And she, too, will glow with
the gift of God’s transfiguring love. AMEN.