Eagle Harbor Congregational Church, UCC
Sermon preached by Rev. Emily Tanis-Likkel
July 11, 2010
John 6:1-15
Walking with God
Showing Hospitality
The Visitor is a film that depicts the friendship between a lonely university professsor and a couple who emigrated to New York City from Syria and Senegal. Walter, an economics professor who reused the same syllabus year after year and didn't care about teaching anymore, grieving the death of his wife, lived a melancholy existence. He kept to himself. When a student asked for grace for a late paper, he wouldn't accept it, wouldn't even listen to the problems that his student was facing. Walter's melancholy was transformed when he suddenly found himself in a completely unexpected situation. A couple, one of them from Syria and the other Senegal, had been swindled by someone who rented them an apartment that was not actually available – it was Walter's apartment. Walter was presented with the opportunity to show radical hospitality. The couple lived in fear that it would be discovered that they were not US citizens. Walter welcomed them into his home, and became involved with trying to prevent their deportation. Although he had previously withheld compassion and grace to those in his life, he saw how necessary these were when the immigration officials withheld compassion and grace. The immigration officials had been trained to operate from the notion that there are not enough resources to go around.
Today is the first sermon in a series about walking with God. Each of the stories we'll be exploring this summer sheds light on what it means to be Jesus followers. Today's story, the feeding of the multitudes, is told by all four Gospel writers. The message of this story is crucial, because it runs so counter to all the information with which we are inundated. A popular advertisement shows kids who are imagining themselves playing in the World Cup, with sentimental music playing in the background. Imagine reliving the world’s greatest games -- Sony Internet TV. Make.Believe. But we do not need Sony to use our imaginations. Another ad shows people having great fun rennacting a war scene with helicopters and paint ball guns, all made possible by winnings from the national lottery. Yet winning incredible amounts of money tends to lead quickly to one being used by friends, suspicious of strangers and a growing gnawing emptiness inside. In their latest ad, Pepsi demonstrates that we can Refresh the world -- by drinking their beverage in Africa. What? McDonalds tells us, We love to see you smile. I hate to break it to you, but McDonalds doesn’t care about our state of happiness. When we buy into the idea that Every kiss begins with Kay and that we need to spend obscene amounts of money on anti-wrinkle cream, we have set a standard for ourselves and those around us that there is such scarcity. We can't keep up, with products, with information, with being and doing enough. What is revealed about Jesus in this story? What can be learned about walking with God? Jesus empowers us to trust, to allow what we have and what we are and what we have been given, to be transformed by God in service to the world.
United Methodist Minister Charles Hoffman wrote in the Christian Century about growing up in a Pacific Northwest Church that had a melancholy mood. He wrote, “My own early impressions of a melancholy religion still hold for many in our culture; in fact, it's one reason for the lack of growth in many North American churches. As Nietzsche said, 'Christians will have to look more redeemed if people are to believe in their Redeemer.' Indeed, people are still drawn to that which nourishes and enriches their lives. Much of the time our faith mirrors that of Philip and Andrew, who could not see past the six months" wages or the meager five loaves and two fish. We tend to base our living on our own scarcity or even on our own fears of insufficiency. We give in to our fear of a shortfall rather than exercising faith in God's abundance. But Christians are constantly on call to go places where we have never been, to do things that we have never attempted and to be things we have never envisioned. . . most of us tend to live on the edges of what God has to offer.” I don’t think Eagle Harbor Church has a melancholy mood. Far from it! but it is something to watch out for. It is a temptation that lurks around every bend in our journey of faith. It is a temptation to succomb to the suggestion the disciples had: Why don’t you send them away now, Jesus. We all need our baths and comfort food and our cozy beds.
Last week my family and our good friends went on a camping trip in Deception Pass. Unlike my husband Brett, I do not have childhood memories of camping--it’s just not in my DNA. But there I was, with pancake batter adhered to my sweatshirt, soggy food in our cooler, a dusting of dirt on everything and everyone. Although I was somewhat amused by the sheer ridiculousness of camping with small children, my traveling companions can attest to the fact that my mood, by a couple of days in, was becoming increasingly melancholy. By the second to the last day, I said, why don’t we go out for dinner tonight? And we did. I imagine those disciples were just trying to keep their sanity and protect Jesus’ sanity as well, in their suggestion that they excuse the multitudes to go out for dinner. Sharing food was just too complicated. How would they possibly have enough? How could the dietary laws be kept?--it was Passover, after all. But our human idea of what is rational, common sense, gets turned on it’s head in God’s realm. and he said, “have the people sit down. I will give you what you need. You are enough. You give them something to eat. There is more than enough.”
Walking with God is not about tacking faith onto our lives as a spiritual addendum. This story teaches that Jesus is our very sustenance. Are we telling the story often enough, drowning out the stories of scarcity that abound? We have heard the messages that we are not enough: not young enough or old enough, not smart enough or beautiful or organized or athletic or successful or talented or artistic or accomplished. We’re too short too tall too overweight too underweight too busy not busy enough too permissive with our children too controlling of our children too wrapped up in ourselves too co-dependent too quick to judge and not discriminating enough. The dark forces in this world love to latch on and escalate the volume on these messages.
When pastor Andre Trocme was once asked why he inspired an entire French village to risk giving shelter to Jews during World War II, he replied simply, 'I could not bear to be separated from Jesus.' The disciples said: Jesus, why don’t we send them into town so they can buy food for themselves? We don’t have food to give them. We don’t have enough. It’s too much money. We’re overwhelmed. The disciples were suffering from a scarcity complex. The church does too, when the focus is not on Jesus. Will we trust that we are enough to carry out God’s will--that God will provide?
This is a story about sharing resources, feeding the poor and showing hospitality. But first and foremost, this is a story about who Jesus is. Jesus said, I am the bread of life. When we accept the nourishment that comes from Christ, we are trusting in God to provide. We are strengthened, given courage, equipped, renewed to give the people something to eat. In Jesus, there is no scarcity. There is abundance. When we open ourselves to see the amazing grace of God, we realize that not only are we enough--but that how we rate on the aptitude test and Body mass index and on social skills and culinary finesse--does not make a whit of difference to God. Will we trust Jesus? Will we accept the gift of God’s grace--that makes all the difference in the world.
How does this story intersect with your life? Where do you experience a feeling of scarcity, of not being or having or doing enough? Listen to Jesus say to you, “I will give you what you need. You are enough. Now is the time, even and especially when you feel like your resources are depleted, to trust me, to give to one another--there is more than enough.”