Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 8/4/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may your will be done, through me.
On vacation in Canada recently, the family asked for burgers and fries -
So we went to a fast-food place called Harvey's -
Have you ever heard of Harvey's? I'm not surprised, because people usually hear about good restaurants...
Anyway, we are at Harvey's ...
And once everyone had ordered I asked the young, Indian student taking my order if Harvey's offered any vegetarian options.
She said they did - and her heavily accented response - was that Harvey's offered a 'Wedgie' burger.
I thought, what a brilliant name for a veggie burger - a Wedgie Burger - certainly this was a Harvey's Original - and I was impressed with the name!
So I told my wife, 'A Wedgie Burger - what a great name!'
That's when she unceremoniously elbowed me in the ribs - and the other Harvey's workers turned around and stared at me.
Still cluelessly undeterred, I then turned to my kids to tell them how impressed I was that Harvey's had a plant-based burger called a 'Wedgie Burger.'
Another elbow to the ribs.
It wasn't until we got back into the car when my family informed me that I was eating a Veggie burger that the Harvey's attendant simply had a difficult time pronouncing with her Indian accent - It was not a Wedgie Burger - but a Veggie Burger -
And I experienced what you might call a 'Rude Awakening' - as it gradually and all at once dawned on me: What a fool I was!
I had probably insulted that poor worker - shamed my family - and, it goes without saying - totally embarrassed myself!
What was I thinking? How clueless! What an embarrassing encounter!
Which, of course, no one within the sound of my voice could EVER relate to...
Because the reality is that we all go through Rude Awakenings - which is the title of this sermon - as you and I consider how our mistakes, missteps, failings and foibles - as embarrassing as they are - can become the grit that forms the pearl - and the cornerstone that builds things of lasting and great accomplishment -
It is in these Rude Awakenings that we are jarred to reality - and have options, then, to ignore reality, or to course-correct -
Which, of course, is what King David did - do you remember our First Reading today. - as you and I pick up 'Part II' of this epic story that began last Sunday-
Many of you are familiar with it -
Israel demanded a King, Saul was called, but failed, David was called, and fared a bit better -
But along the way David did not become unaffected by the power and prestige of holding the highest office in the land - and as we heard last week - he saw a woman bathing on the roof of a nearby home - Bathsheba - and he committed adultery with her and had her husband murdered.
This morning, we hear David taking her as his wife - and then, about the consequence of these sinful actions - as the prophet Nathan confronts David with his sin –
Remember, the Bible describes prophets not as fortune tellers - but as truth tellers - which is how you and I continue in this prophetic ministry - we speak truth to untruth.
In doing this, Nathan awakens David - it is a rude awakening - by telling David a story about a rich man, a poor man and his baby lamb.
A rich man has many lambs, but when a visitor comes for dinner, the rich man is too selfish to kill one of his own lambs, so he takes the poor man's only lamb, and kills it!
Nathan declared just as the rich man acted unjustly - so, too, did David act unjustly.
Nathan then goes on to lecture King David on his blessedness - how God had exalted and blessed him! Then Nathan enumerated the curses that would now occupy David's reign and legacy.
And David's response to this is a Bible lesson to all of us. It exemplifies what our response should always be in the wake of our Rude Awakenings:
"I have sinned" concluded David - and when we consider the lasting legacy of King David, who is widely considered Israel's greatest king, it's not simply because he unified his people and laid the groundwork for the Temple in Jerusalem - it's because he was humble. When he was wrong, he admitted it. When he was rudely awakened - he didn't deny and deflect - but he recognized and accepted the truth.
You may be going through a rude awakening this morning.
How are you dealing with it?
Are you deflecting and denying?
Are you blaming others, or simply not paying attention to the writing on the wall?
Rude awakenings give us the opportunity to learn and grow, they can be used by God to shape and mold us, to align and humble us, to make us more Christ-like in our words and deeds.
Don't waste your suffering! Don't let it go by unprocessed! God is at work!
Pay attention to those rude awakenings, they are invitations from the Lord who is trying to shape and mold us!
This is at the heart of our Gospel reading this morning -
Jesus has just finished feeding 5,000 people with 5 fish and 2 loaves of bread -
And he's made his way back to Capernaum where a crowd of people approach him!
Now, these are not disciples - they are seekers -
While they have eaten the food of miracles in the desert - they still don't get who Jesus is - they have not been awakened to his true identity and mission - They don't yet understand that he is principally out to feed them spiritually, to redeem their hearts, and to change the way humanity lives. Their vision and imagination, which often mirrors my own, is way too small, they are simply looking for day-to-day bread, not this huge realignment of the human experience - that God is up to something big, and they are a part of it!
So Jesus tries to bring these seekers to this place of spiritual awakening by using the analogy of simple bread – After Jesus keenly observes they are only following him to get more free bread - he offers them himself - living bread - that they are invited to partake of!
These seekers, though, still have no clue.
Which is not uncommon in John's Gospel –
Remember earlier, in chapter 4 when Jesus meets the woman at the well and offers her living water - she thinks it's something she can drink. And in chapter 3, when Nicodemus is told he must be born again and responds by saying, 'How can I crawl back up into my mother's womb?' Nicodemus, the woman at the well, this crowd following Jesus - are all in need of awakening.
So Jesus uses water, childbirth, and bread, common elements, everyday elements, to awaken them to his gift of eternal life! I wonder how God is trying to do that in your life today? What common elements, everyday elements is God bringing across your path to awaken us to eternal life?
And what is eternal life, but God's promises to protect us, to provide for us, to be present with us in every situation, and to give us purpose for our lives?
When we accept and believe in eternal life, this is what we do!
Eating that bread of Jesus, this wonderful metaphor that we reenact every Sunday here at church, is a physical sign of our faithfulness to believe those promises. And no matter what you and I are facing this morning, God will provide for us!
It may not be what we think it should be, may not be what we want, but as that theologian Mick Jagger once said, we will get what we need, God's provision!
Eating that bread is also a promise of God's eternal presence with as, that we are never alone or abandoned. Eating that bread is also a sign of God's protection, that all of the worries that you and I are bringing into church this morning, about upcoming elections, societal divisions, economics, public safety, the worries over how we will now make it alone, or at least facing a new paradigm, can be safely turned over to this God who protects us.
And eating this bread is also a sign of God's purpose for us! Each one of us are invaluable and irreplaceable in God's sight! No matter where you are, who you are, how you got here, or where you are going, God has given each of us a purpose and a job that only we can fulfill and do.
This is what eating living bread means, believing in God's provision, protection, presence, and purpose. This is why you and I have rude awakenings - God is shaping and molding us, and God is pointing us to that eternal life that we have as we partake of that living bread.
A well-respected Rabbi, who held a job as a kosher inspector, went to tour a bread factory.
His job was to look at the ingredients and the machinery, and to certify whether or not they were up to the religious code regarding cleanliness.
But along the way, that Rabbi noticed that the workers were not paid well, not treated well, and that management was cold and insensitive. While everything checked out with the machines and the ingredients, the Rabbi refused to give that bread factory its kosher certification!
When asked why, he said that God was not happy when he saw God's children hitting women who were not properly kneading the dough.
A rude awakening for that bread factory, as that Rabbi tried to awaken that enterprise to a larger vision of God's plan: not just making matzo, but treating people fairly, giving people encouragement and hope!
As we leave here this morning, having eaten of that Divine bread, contemplating the rude awakenings in our lives, let us not lose sight of that larger plan God has for our lives, the Bible is clear that our lives, as little as they are, have great value and worth, and are being used mightily, by a God who cares, passionately and lovingly, for all of creation!
And let our response to God, God's blessings and faithfulness be our own thankfulness, an increased effort at encouragement to those around us, and an undying hope, rooted in the confidence that God is at work in this massive plan of reorienting and redeeming all of creation into the image and likeness of Jesus Christ.
As we have been fed, let us go forth and feed others!
Amen.