Lectionary Reflections

Lectionary Reflections by Various Authors
Holy Living Sermon Starter
Years ago, Harry Emerson Fosdick, then at the height of his influence as minister of the Riverside Church, New York City, was making a tour of Palestine and other countries of the Near and Middle East. He was invited to give an address at the American University of Beirut, Lebanon, where the student body comprised citizens of many countries and representatives from sixteen different religions. What could one say that would be relevant or of interest to so mixed and varied a group? This is how Fosdick began: "I do not ask anyone here to change his religion; but I do ask all of you to face up to this question: What is your religion doing to your character?" This was a call to consider one of the great issues of human belief: religion and life, Christianity and character, word and spirit. Emerson once said, "What you are speaks so loudly I cannot hear a word you say." Jesus' discourse in this whole sixth chapter of the Gospel of John had two foci - spirit and life. "The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life." By this he meant that those who appropriated his spirit, i.e., fed upon him as the bread of life, would find, thereby, a fulfillment and satisfaction no other means could give. The traditions of the world of his time, of course, had a different emphasis.
Abiding with Christ

Eat this Bread and you will live, he promises. But even more than that, eat this Bread and I will abide with you, and you will abide with me. I like that word abide. I have pictures again: look, can you see them? They are images of home, of dwelling, of staying with, of living in and with, of trusting and being there. To abide is to know that no matter what comes our way, we will not be deserted nor left to face whatever the matter is on our own. Christ comes to live within us, to take up residence in our spirits, and promises not to leave.

Over the years I have witnessed many scenes of this abiding presence played out in the lives of persons I have known. None are more powerful, more moving, more meaningful than the images which walk across my mind of faithful spouses who care for each other to the very end. Let me draw them for you. There is one now, walking his wife, a victim of Alzheimer's disease, down the streets in front of the nursing home. She in a wheelchair, not knowing a thing. He pushing her faithfully day after day. Their love of more than 60 years abides in his heart. Here is another: the picture of a woman standing beside the bed of her husband, holding a hand, offering a calm, reassuring voice to this one who has only moments before been thrown into convulsions. "I will not leave you." Finally, here is the unspoken presence of a Loving Friend who calms my own grieving spirit in the dark hospital room where my father lays dying. "Those who eat my flesh? abide in me, and I in them (John 6:56, NRSV)."

In a world of fast food chains in every village, of drive-through windows, of buffet lines and all-you-can-eat salad bars, we are today offered a different food, the Bread of Life. It is food for a hungry soul. It is eternal food which, when you eat it, satisfies the craving of your heart and opens your eyes to see that all else is imitation and second rate. (by Larry M. Goodpaster from Like a Breath of Fresh Air, CSS Publishing Company)


O, Lord Give Me a Penny
A man asked God, "What does a billion dollars mean to you who are all powerful?" "Hardly a penny." God said. Then the man asked God , "And what are a thousand centuries to you?" God answered "Hardly a second!!" Thinking he had God backed into a corner, the man then said, "Then if that's the case, O, Lord give me a penny !!" "Sure," God replied. “In just a minute.” Wisdom isn't outsmarting God, wisdom is living in and with God. Wisdom is being in Christ and surrounded by Christ. Wisdom is eating and drinking from the feast which God has prepared for us. (Traditional)
Bread Is Not a Mere Commodity
The theologian John Macquarrie relates that the Scottish churchman, George Macleod, used to watch grain ships from Canada and the United States bringing their cargoes of wheat into Liverpool harbor, and he reflected that the wheat has the potentiality of becoming the body of Christ. This is the point at which sacramental theology spills over into the market place. Bread is not a mere commodity; things are not mere bits of matter. We can learn something of this from natural theology, but we learn it above all from Jesus Christ, the bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world. (by John Macquarrie from A Guide to the Sacraments, p,156)
The Truth
There is an Irish saying, "the person who speaks the truth should have one foot in the stirrup." He should be ready to ride off at once. People do not like the truth, especially when it challenges their attitudes; and the reaction is often to try to destroy the evidence of the truth or the one who witnesses to it. (by Gerry Pierse from The Dangerous Memory of Jesus)
Dining with God
When Seymour passed away, God greeted him at the Pearly Gates. "Thou be hungry, Seymour?" said God. "I could eat," Seymour replied. So God opened a can of tuna and reached for a chunk of rye bread and they shared it. While eating this humble meal, Seymour glanced down into Hell and saw the inhabitants devouring huge steaks, lobsters, pheasants, pastries, and fine wines. Curious, but deeply trusting, Seymour remained quiet. The next day God again invited Seymour for another meal. Again, it was tuna and rye bread. Once again looking down, Seymour could see the denizens of Hell enjoying caviar, champagne, lamb, truffles, and chocolates. Still Seymour said nothing. The following day, mealtime arrived and God opened another can of tuna. Seymour could contain himself no longer. Meekly, he said: "God, I am grateful to be in heaven with you as a reward for the pious, obedient life I led. But here in heaven all I get to eat is tuna and a piece of rye bread and in the Other Place they eat like emperors and kings! Forgive me, O God, but I just don’t understand." God sighed: "Let’s be honest, Seymour. For just two people does it pay to cook?" (by Donel McClellan from The Imaginary God)
Meeting God
Barbara Brokhoff says in her book, Faith Alive, "The Happy Hour for the Christian should be the hour of worship on Sunday morning, but how do you honestly feel when you are awakened by the alarm on the Lord's Day and you realize it is another "Church Day"? Can you hardly wait for the service time to roll around or do you roll over in bed, moan and groan and cover your head, and wish that once, once again maybe once more like last Sunday the one before, you would, or could sleep in and forget the whole boring, time consuming thing?? Is the thought of worship agony or ecstasy? I think we are coming to meet God--not just any body, but God!! Shouldn't the delightful suspense of worship make our breath short and our hearts beat faster?" (by Barbara Brokhoff from Faith Alive, quoted by Tim Zingale in Wisdom = Being in Christ)
Bread from Home
I'm reminded of a true story of a soldier who was severely wounded. When he was out of surgery, the doctors said that there was a good chance for recovery, except that the soldier wouldn't eat anything. The nurses and nuns tried everything, but he refused all food-drinking only water and juice. One of his buddies knew why the soldier wouldn't eat-he was homesick. So, his friend, since the hospital wasn't too far from the soldier's home, offered to bring the young man's father to visit him. The commanding officer approved and the friend went to the parents' home. As the father was about to leave for the hospital, the mother wrapped up a loaf of fresh bread for her son. Well, the patient was very happy to see his father but he still wouldn't eat-that is, until the father said; "Son, this bread was made by your mother, especially for you". The boy brightened and began to eat. I think that you can guess where I'm going with that story. You and I are that boy. We are the ones who have been wounded in the battle of life. We are the ones who've been wounded by sin, by trials and pains, by loss and by our forgetfulness of God. We lose our taste for the food that will strengthen our souls. Holy Communion gives us life, spiritual life, God's life. It gives us spiritual healing and spiritual strength. There was nothing 'magic' about the mother's bread unless, that is, one feels that 'love' is magic--which, of course, it is. (Author unknown)
The Communion of Empty Hands
There's a beautiful incident recorded by Thomas Pettepiece, a Methodist pastor, who was a political prisoner, a prisoner of conscience. Pettepiece writes of his first Easter Sunday spent in prison. He was among 10,000 prisoners. Most of the men had lost everything: their homes, their jobs, their furniture, their contact with their families. It was Easter Sunday, and they wanted to celebrate Communion. But, they had no cup for Communion. They had no wine for Communion. They didn't even have water for Communion. Nor did they have any bread for the Sacrament. So, they practiced the Communion of Empty Hands. "This meal in which we take part," Pettepeice said, "reminds us of the imprisonment, the torture, the death and final victory of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The bread is the body which he gave for humanity. The fact that we have none represents very well the lack of bread in the hunger of so many millions of human beings. The wine, which we don't have today, is his blood, and represents our dream of a united humanity, of a just society, without difference of race or class." Then Pettepiece, the pastor, held out his empty hand to the next person on his right, and passed on the imaginary loaf. Each one took a piece and passed it on. Then he said, "Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you. Do this in remembrance of me." And together they ate the imaginary bread, trying to imagine tasting it. After a moment they passed around the non-existent chalice, each imagining he was drinking from it. "Take, drink, this is the blood of Christ which was shed for you ... Let us give thanks, sure that Christ is here with us, strengthening us." They gave thanks to God and then stood up and embraced each other. And a while later, one of the non-Christian prisoners came up to them and said, "You people have something special, which I would like to have." And the father of a girl who had died came up to Pettepiece and said, "Pastor, this was a real experience. I believe that today I discovered what faith is ..." (from Visions of a World Hungry, quoted in A Guide To Prayer, Rueben P. Job and Norman Shawchuck, editors, The Upper Room, p. 143). (by Alex Gondola, Jr. from Come As You Are, CSS Publishing Company)
Togetherness in the Eucharist
Bread suggests togetherness, care and love, hopes and dreams, fun and adventure. Let’s say some new friends invite you to their house for a meal. When you are a guest in their home, they are sharing their intimacy with you. They are sharing with you some of the privacy of that place where they live every day, eat every day, love every day, work on their problems, argue from time to time, sleep and depart for work and pleasure and return for rest, every day. After graciously receiving you, they show you around their home in which they take deep pride. Then you go to the dining room for the meal. You find the table set with care, the food exceptionally delicious, and the conversation flows easily. Simply put, it becomes a lovely evening and you leave feeling full in every way. You enjoy bread from the kitchen, but much more. You enjoy the bread of being graciously received, the bread of informed and lively conversation, and the bread of being in beautiful surroundings.. Magnify that thousands of times and you begin to have a glimmer of what the church perceives the Holy Eucharist to be. In the Eucharist Jesus and “Bread of Life” are one. In the Eucharist bread and wine are the elements that nurture faith in God. (by Charles R. Leary from Mission Ready!, CSS Publishing Company)
Full Devotion
Several years ago a couple of reporters conducted an experiment on the streets of Miami, Florida. They printed up a copy of the Bill of Rights in the form of a petition, put it on a clipboard, and then stopped people on the sidewalk and asked them to sign it. As you know, the first ten amendments to the United States Constitution are the Bill of Rights, and they were adopted and put into effect in December of 1791. The reporters were surprised at people's reaction when asked to add their names to the so-called petition. Most people glanced at the document, shook their heads, and walked on by without signing. Several people became angry with the reporters and accused them of being radical enemies of the American way of life. In fact, the experiment ended when the reporters found themselves surrounded by a dozen or so passers-by who were shaking their fists at them and calling them subversive Communists who ought to be thrown in jail. What the experiment demonstrated is what we already know. Many citizens of the United States pay lip service to their country and its heritage. They claim to be loyal and patriotic in every way. They say they are proud to belong to a country as great as ours. And yet at the same time they haven't the vaguest notion what the United States Constitution actually says, and they consider the Bill of Rights to be a radical, anti-American document. In other words, these people claim citizenship, but they have not internalized the basic meaning of being a citizen. They claim the privilege, but they will not eat and drink the ethos of United States of America. The same sort of thing is described in today's Gospel. Jesus says, I am the living bread that came down from heaven. . . Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Most people probably think Jesus is talking about communion. He isn't. He's talking about the difference between external lip service and internal embodiment. He's talking about the difference between admiring him and actually taking up one's cross and following him. He's talking about the difference between acting like a Christian on the outside and being a Christian on the inside. (by Edwin D. Peterman)
Christ in Me and I in Him
There is an story about minister walking along the ocean with his small son. The boy questioned his father about Sunday's sermon. The boy said, "Dad, I cannot understand how Christ can live in us and we live in him at the same time." Further down the beach, the father noticed an empty bottle with a cork in it. Taking the bottle, he half filled it with water, re-corked it and flung it out into the ocean. As they watched the bottle bob up and down he said, "Son, the sea is in the bottle and the bottle is in the sea. It is a picture of life in Christ. You live under the Lordship of Christ and He lives in you." (Traditional)
Like sheaves of corn he gathers you unto himself. He threshes you to make you naked. He sifts you to free you from your husks. He grinds you to whiteness. He kneads you until you are pliant; And then he assigns you to his sacred fire, that you may become sacred bread for God's sacred feast. All these things shall love do unto you that you may know the secrets of your heart, and in that knowledge become a fragment of Life's heart. … When you love you should not say, "God is in my heart," but rather, "I am in the heart of God." (by Kahlil Gibran from The Prophet)