August 15, 2021
Sermon by Reverend Bernadette Hartsough
In today’s gospel of John, we have the continuation of one scene throughout chapter 6. Although our lectionary divides it up into several weeks, it is all part of the same discourse. It starts with the signs that Jesus gives. Jesus gives two signs; multiplying the five loaves and the two fish and walking on water. In the gospel of John, they are not called miracles. They are called signs. The rest of the chapter involves Jesus explaining the signs and his identity to the disciples, the pharisees, and the crowd. The purpose of these signs is to bid people to believe in and to come to Jesus.
In the Old Testament reading, Solomon desires to be closer to the mind of God. Solomon desired God’s wisdom. He desired to know God’s mind to discern good and evil. Solomon’s prayer for wisdom was a prayer to live a life with God, a life centered upon God’s will. God’s people in Hebrew scriptures had patriarchs, prophets, and signs. This is how the people of God in ancient times came to know God.
We as Christians have Jesus. God spoke and continues to be revealed through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus. The gospel of John explains over and over again that Jesus is “The Sign”. Jesus enables us to live a life infused with God.
We believe that sacraments are our outward visible signs of God’s grace. Sacraments are an assurance of being a part of the life of God. In Baptism, we are united to God through Jesus. Eating the flesh of Jesus and drinking his blood points us to the sacrament of the Eucharist. As we eat the flesh of Jesus and drink his blood, the life of God dwells in our bodies, our minds, and our souls. It means that we are united to the mind of God through Jesus.
We feed on Jesus in other ways too. We feed on the Word. Jesus is the revelation that we receive in scripture. As Episcopalians we are Catholic in our belief and primary importance of the sacraments. We are protestant in our belief that the Bible-the Word is the revelation of God. Hence in our church the lectern and pulpit are raised as a reminder of the importance of the Word of God.
Eucharist and scripture feed us on our Christian journey.
When we believe and participate in the sacraments and read scripture as the Word made flesh, then we start to learn the mind and the will of God. We can discern good from bad. We learn to be less selfish as we love what God loves.
At this time last year, we were worshipping outside every week. I preached on the Sermon on the Mount and the Eucharist. I preached how Jesus always took, blessed, broke, and gave. Jesus did it when he was eating regular meals and when he instituted the Eucharist. For the first believers, it became a way of knowing when Jesus was present. For the early church and for us, it is a sacrament. But it’s not just a sacrament when we physically eat the bread and drink the wine.
The Eucharist is an outward sign of how we live and sanctify our life. We take our life with all our talents and flaws. We offer it up at the altar as a blessing. That is why we symbolically lift up the offering plate. In the offering plate, we are lifting up our gifts to God and ourselves. Our offerings and lives are blessed. Being blessed means that we put on the mind of God. It causes us to be shaped, molded, and broken. As we are broken, then we allow ourselves to be given to others. Like Jesus we are shared. This shared life gives us eternal life with Jesus.
This process of taking, blessing, breaking, and sharing is continuous. To keep growing, we keep offering up different parts of ourselves. New parts that we may not have seen before. Things we need to work on and things that we give back to God as a thanksgiving. As we continue to offer, God continues to bless us with grace. Over and over and over again. This cycle -this Eucharist of our lives is the primary sign of our life with Christ. Think about where you are in life. What are you giving God to bless as a thanksgiving? What are you asking God to bless that you need to break open?