Calvin Synod Herald, 2012 (113. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
2012-09-01 / 9-10. szám
CALVIN SYNOD HERALD 7 Text: John 6:1-21 That the World May Be Fed The Christian faith is the most materialist of all religions. Not materialistic, but materialist. Christians are not offended by flesh and blood. We do not teach that we in meditation must seek to escape the material world in order to find the eternal. No. We focus on what our eyes can see and our hands can touch, in order to find what these elements possess and signify. Central to our worship is the water of baptism and the bread and wine of communion. These are the materials of faith. In today’s gospel the thing in focus is simply bread. Bread! Bread! The priest, Daniel Berrigan, once said, “I think there is nothing so wonderful as bread. It breaks up. It gets inside you. It sustains, nourishes and fills.” In some parts of the Asian world the equivalent to bread is rice. But some mixture of grain and water with heat has been the substance of life from time immemorial. I remember during the time of the first church I served following ordination the discussion arose as to how we might gather well-attended Lenten breakfasts. A clergy colleague, Larry Alland, believed the key lay in one element: “Make homemade biscuits,” he stated. “They will come.” Jesus does not say, “I have a better idea, so the philosophers will seek me.” He does not say, “I have the finest ideal, so the politicians will extol me.” He does not say, “I will build the most astounding edifice, greater than the pyramids of the Pharaohs or the Taj Mahal for the Brahman’s wife, so the world will come to me.” None of these. Jesus says, “I am the bread!” The bread accessible to all the world. The nurture to feed both great and small. Here we encounter the spiritual quality of bread. Grace before meals speaks not only a thanks that bread fills our bellies but also a thanks for the gift from above. Our prayer refers to our stomachs and our spirits. It’s a sad day when folk settle for belly food and no longer seek soul food. Too much around us we see well-stocked stomachs and scrawny souls. An old story repeated by Robert Berglund goes like this: A holy man rested beneath a tree near the outskirts of the city. A man ran up to him, shouting, “The stone! Give me the stone. Please! The stone!” “What stone?” asked the holy man. Then the stranger told him how an angel had appeared to him in a dream and told him that he would find a pilgrim just outside the city who would give him a stone to make him rich forever. The holy man reached into his pocket and pulled out a great diamond. “The angel no doubt spoke of this,” he said. “I found it on my journey here. If you truly want it, you may have it.” The diamond was a big as a fist and perfect in every way. The man marveled at its beauty, clutched it eagerly and hurried away from the pilgrim, exulting. That night he could not sleep. Before the sun rose he went outside the city wall to find the holy man. Finding him sleeping, he shook him awake, saying, “The wealth! Give me the wealth! Please, give me the wealth that lets you so easily give away this diamond.” We look around in the USA and see pockets of amazing wealth. Some have earned these riches. Others have inherited them. Lots of folk are up early in search of stomach food but not surely seeking soul food. The “Whole Food” stores are full of people. The churches are not so well populated. For what food do we seek? What nurtures us now and for the long haul? Our faith teaches that there is no way to earn soul food. Our Hebrew forebears tried to gather manna on the Sabbath; it spoiled. They tried to hoard it; it rotted. They were obliged to thank God for daily bread. Dear friends, God gives us bread to feed our physical and spiritual hungers. God did not send us an idea, nor an ideal, nor some new religious system. God sends us the Living Bread from whose lips fall the Words of Eternal Life. The Bread! The Bread! The symbol that God is for us, not against us. The sign that God even now feeds us, giving us life— abundant life—instead of death. Bread for us! Bread for the World! In the name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, world to its end. Amen. David B. Bowman, Pli. D. Saratoga, CA By Grace Alone Scripture: Ephesians 2:4-2:10 Grace It is UNDESERVED KINDNESS. Someone has said, “Grace is everything for nothing to those who don’t deserve anything.” An atheist once said, “If there really is a God, may He prove Himself by striking me dead right now.” Nothing happened. The atheist proudly announced, “You see, there is no God.” His friend responded, “You’ve only proved that He is a gracious God.” “Grace is the power of God made available to meet all our needs.” - Joyce Meyer Only by God’s grace can we be saved. You may know the story about the Sunday School teacher who wanted to teach her class about grace. And so one day she asked them, “If I sold my house and my car and gave all my money to the church, would I get into Heaven?” “NO”! the children all answered. Again she asked, “If I cleaned the church every day, mowed the yard, and kept everything neat and tidy, would I get into Heaven?” And again, the answer was “NO!” “Well,” she continued, “then how can I get to Heaven?” In the back of the room, a five-year-old boy shouted out, “You gotta be dead!” Christian faith is not about what we can do for God, but what
