There is a movie by the same folks who made the Wallace and Gromit series. It is one of those Christmas classics you watch every year. It is called Robbie the Reindeer, and it is a really funny story about the son of Rudolph who has to live in his father’s shadow. There are a couple of great lines in it, but one that Susan and I like to repeat is said by the “Wise Old Coach Who Comes to Save the Day.” He reminds Robbie that you are what you eat, and then says “mmm … nuts.”
We are what we eat. It is true in many ways. I read an interesting article about what Olympic athletes have for breakfast. They ate some interesting things, but it was 
not junk food. It was the sort of thing you mom was always telling you to eat as a kid – fruit, dairy and whole grains. Olympic swimmers seem to eat more nuts by the way than other elite athletes. The point of the article really was the same one Robbie’s coach told him. What we put into our bodies makes a difference.
With our own families we take that philosophy one more step. We tell our children that what they see on television is important. What they read is important. The stuff we use to fill our minds and hearts may be even more important than the stuff with which we fill our bellies. Watch too much trash, and maybe you become a little more trashy.
The same thing is true with friends. We tell our children to choose their friends carefully. We aren’t suggesting that they be snobbish or elitist. We wouldn’t want them to choose their friends on the basis of money or popularity. We tell them to choose their friends on the basis of character, because they will become like their friends. That is what friendship entails. Friendship is a relationship in which both people like and care about the other person. When you like and care about another person, you begin unconsciously to copy their mannerisms and to pick up their values.
I know Susan and I have become more similar in many ways. It is the shared experiences that have helped mold us I am sure. You can’t live with someone for 33 years without having them rub off on you.
Couples share spiritual values and beliefs as well. I know my parents were better people for having had each other. I know I am a better person for having had Susan in my life. Susan is more patient now than when we first met. She is an Episcopalian as well. I know I am a more compassionate person and am a lot less judgmental than I was at 25. Some of this is life, but a lot of it has been life with Susan.
Some time ago, The Wall Street Journal printed an interesting story entitled, “A Pal’s Death Creates a Big Opportunity for Unlucky Mr. Saito.” It is a story about two men who designed video chips for Toshiba. They were very different men. Ohashi was a visionary. Saito was a plodder. Ohashi was a superstar. Saito was lucky to have a job. But they were friends. They spent their evenings together visiting video arcades to see what was happening. Then they would sit together and talk about what they had found.
In 1995, Ohashi was diagnosed with cancer. He kept working, and downplayed the seriousness of his illness. Finally, though, he was no longer able to visit video arcades with Saito. In 1996, he died. That posed a terrible problem for Toshiba. The project that Ohashi had worked on was the chip that would become the Sony PlayStation. It was worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Who would take over? Who could they get to make it happen?
They decided to give the project to Saito, in spite of his reputation for bad luck and failed projects. To make a long story short, Saito hit a home run. There were problems along the way. It was not always clear that Saito would succeed, but in the end he did. It seems that those evenings he had spent with his friend made a difference. Something from Ohashi rubbed off on Saito. Because of their friendship, Saito became enough like his friend to be able to complete his friend’s job.
With that story in the background, listen to these words of Jesus. He said, “I 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.” What in the world did that mean? The people who were listening interpreted it as cannibalism, and were offended. That isn’t what Jesus meant, but that was how they saw it.
We are better prepared to understand Jesus, because we are familiar with the Lord’s Supper. Jesus said of the bread, “This is my body.” He said of the wine, “This is my blood.” We come to partake of the body and blood of Jesus. We can’t really understand that fully, but we understand enough. We understand that, in some way, Jesus blesses us as we receive these gifts of his body and his blood. When we receive them, we remember Jesus’ death on the cross two thousand years ago, and we also commune with him here and now. When we hear Jesus say, “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life,” we accept that as true. Again, we do not fully understand it, and that is because there is a mystery involved here. We understand enough, and we are blessed.
That blessing isn’t limited to the few minutes during which we are receiving the bread and the wine. When Jesus pronounced that blessing on those who would eat his flesh and drink his blood, he was talking about the Lord’s Supper, but he was also talking about a relationship that continues through each moment of our lives. By every moment, I mean day and night and not just on Sundays. Jesus was talking about becoming such a part of our life that he becomes a part of who we are.
Think of ways you have been transformed over time by people you have been in relationship with. I held up the Ohashi and Saito example. I held up the Tom and Susan example. You have your own.
Jesus wants to transform our lives by our relationship with him. He says, “And this is eternal life, that they may know you, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent” (17:3).
Jesus wants to help us. He wants to give us a vision, not just of what he can do for us but of what we can do for others in his name. He wants to make us achievers, not in some material sense. He wants us to grow in the faith and grow in our relationship with God. In the habits of our lives, we are called to become more Christ-like, and we do that through the Sacraments and because of the many ways we are in relationship with Jesus
My takeaways this morning have to do with the habits of our lives.
How are the things that we do making us more like Jesus?
How has our relationship with the Lord changed us?
We are called to be in deeper relationship with Jesus. Jesus wants to abide with us. We need to open ourselves to His presence in our lives, so he can help us become the people we were created to be.
I have said these words in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.
Sermon preached by Fr. Tom at St. Thomas, Plymouth
August 16, 2015; Twelfth Sunday of Pentecost
1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14
Psalm 111
Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58