The
readings on
which this
sermon is
based can be
found at:
http://frsparky.net/a/r131.htm
s131g15
Sunday
19
9/8/2015
St Luke’s in
the City
‘the bread
that I will
give for the
life of the
world is my
flesh’
John 6:51
How
comfortable
these words
seem!
Here we are
gathered,
receiving the
Holy
Communion,
being given
life in these
sacred
elements.
They are so
reassuring
that we begin
the gospel
next week
repeating
these same
words.
But for me
these are
uncompromising
and
uncomfortable
words.
If we are to
follow Jesus,
we too are to
not seek our
own welfare
but the
wellbeing of
the whole of
society.
Again, the
church
corporate ever
wants
individuals to
take this
personally,
when surely
the words
demand that
the church as
a corporate
body take this
on as an
organisation.
If the
organisation
claims a
monopoly on
spirituality
and salvation,
no less
fiercely and
selfishly as
corporations
in the
business world
hold on to
their
monopolies,
how is the
church any
different?
I have more
than once
commented on
the fact that
another name
for the
‘Mafia’ is the
‘Family’.
(1)
Of course the
church
corporate is
going to laud
martyrs for
the faith;
they save the
church from
organisationally
following the
gospel.
I wonder what
the world
might look
like if the
church as a
corporate body
was turned
inside out and
existed for
the life of
all - how
transformative
this would
be.
If the church
took the
initiative and
divested
herself of her
monopoly on
spirituality
and faith,
would not this
encourage some
others who
hold on to
their
monopolies
just as
fiercely, to
let go?
The bread that
we are given
is not given
to us
personally to
comfort and
sustain us, it
is given for
the life of
the
world.
A long time
ago, I
remember a
senior member
of the clergy
‘across the
ditch’
speaking about
tolerance and
multiculturalism,
when these
were the
catch-phrases
in the then
society.
He said that
the gospel is
not
tolerance.
Nobody at all
wants to be
tolerated; we
would
justifiably be
told where we
can stick our
‘tolerance’.
I suppose
being
tolerated is
better than
being killed
or abused, but
only
marginally.
In modern
times
congregations
have had the
obligatory
morning tea
after the
service of
Holy Communion
in an effort
to be
friendly.
But being
friendly is
not the gospel
either.
For me, these
sidestep the
question - is
the Holy
Communion just
for us - the
straight,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant
and
contributing
Anglican of
‘my’ or ‘our’
variety - or
is it for the
life of the
world?
Do others have
to assimilate
into our
culture before
they are
acceptable?
I rejoice at
those churches
who describe
themselves as
affirming and
inclusive, but
even this
seems to
relieve the
church of the
necessity to
take the
initiative.
When will we
as church
freely offer
the bread
which we have
been given to
the world,
that the world
might really
live?
I think of
these words of
Jesus: ‘When
you give a
luncheon or a
dinner, do not
invite your
friends or
your brothers
or your
relatives or
rich
neighbours, in
case they may
invite you in
return, and
you would be
repaid.
But when you
give a
banquet,
invite the
poor, the
crippled, the
lame, and the
blind.
And you will
be blessed,
because they
cannot repay
you, for you
will be repaid
at the
resurrection
of the
righteous.’
(2) How
can we invite
others freely
to our
eucharist when
they actually
aren’t allowed
to eat?
One of the
lovely prayers
in our prayer
book is:
“Realising
that we are
all nourished
from the same
source of
life, may we
so live that
others be not
deprived of
air, food,
water,
shelter, or
the chance to
live.”
I always add
‘dignity’ to
this
list.
(3)
Why is it that
the most
distinctive
act we do as
practicing
christians is
perceived by
the world as
inherently
excluding
them?
Does not our
‘holy
communion’
implicitly
deny dignity
to others?
I am grateful
to receive
Richard Rohr’s
daily
meditation via
e-mail and the
one on the
27th of July
2015 began
with these
words by Carol
Lee Flinders:
"One cannot
break
attachments by
force, Teresa
discovered;
they are the
expression of
an inner
hunger.
When that
hunger is
assuaged,
attachments
will fall away
with almost no
effort on our
part."
This
reminded me of
those words of
Oscar Wilde
who said: ‘The
only way to
get rid of
temptation is
to yield to
it... I can
resist
everything but
temptation.’
(4)
I have been
speaking about
the energy we
get from our
relationships
with others
and how that
this, on the
corporate
level,
translates
into the
church being
enlivened by
her
incarnation
into the
world.
So if we take
Carol Lee
Flinders words
to apply to
this, it is
our
incarnation
into the world
that will
assuage our
hunger as
church, and
our
attachments to
things which
are less than
enlivening
will fall
away.
Sitting down
and eating
with another
is about the
most intimate
way of having
a relationship
with another
without actual
physical
intimacy.
It denotes a
relationship
of complete
acceptance, an
openness to
the other, a
situation of
respect,
equality and
mutuality.
And it is this
acceptance,
openness,
respect,
equality and
mutuality
which gives
life to
others, as
well as to
ourselves.
It denotes a
relationship
of a
completely
different
quality than
tolerance,
friendliness
or even
affirmation
and inclusion.
One of the key
questions that
the
pseudo-orthodox
ask the
disciples is:
"Why does your
teacher eat
with tax
collectors and
sinners?"
(5) So
the parallel
question to us
is ‘why do we
who claim to
follow Jesus
only be seen
eating with
straight,
baptised,
confirmed,
communicant
and
contributing
Anglicans of
‘my’ or ‘our’
variety?’
It is
acceptance,
openness,
respect,
equality and
mutuality that
is the gospel
and therefore
is not
something that
happens
overnight, but
something
which takes
time and
effort, a
holding
loosely to
one’s own
beliefs and
rightness and
a willingness
to find truth
and rightness
in the beliefs
others
hold.
It is only
when that
acceptance,
openness,
respect,
equality and
mutuality
towards all
that is the
gospel is
enacted and
embodied in
our
celebration of
Holy Communion
that we can
start claiming
to be church,
that we can
start to claim
to be
christians,
that we can
start to claim
that we
believe that
the bread and
wine that we
take today are
the very body
and blood of
Christ.
If the sort of
sanctified
selfishness I
described
earlier is to
have a
biblical word
to contrast
it, then I
would plump
for
‘righteousness’.
So to quote
some well
known sayings
of Jesus,
somewhat
adapted;
again:
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is poor in
spirit, for
hers is the
kingdom of
heaven.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
mourns the
destruction of
her beautiful
buildings, for
she will be
comforted - by
people.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is meek, she
will inherit
the
earth.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
hungers and
thirsts for
something
other than
sanctified
selfishness,
for she will
be
filled.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is merciful,
for she will
receive
mercy.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is pure in
heart, for she
will see
God.
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is
peacemaking;
she will be
called
children of
God - by
others!
‘Blessèd is
the church who
is persecuted
because she
seeks
something
other than
sanctified
selfishness,
for hers is
the kingdom of
heaven.
‘Blessèd is
the church
when the
pseudo-orthodox
revile and
persecute her
and utter all
kinds of evil
against her
falsely when
she is this
poor.
Rejoice and be
glad, for your
reward is
great in
heaven, for in
the same way
the
pseudo-orthodox
persecuted the
prophets who
were before
you.
(6)
Sadly, often,
the reviling
the church
receives from
good people in
the world is
because she is
perceived as
not following
her Lord,
sitting down
and eating
with all sorts
of people,
rather than
that she is.
1.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_family
2. Luke
14:12-14
3. A New
Zealand Prayer
Book. p163
4.
http://www.brainyquote.com/quotes/keywords/temptation.html
5.
Matthew 9:11
// Mark 2:16
and Luke 7:39
6.
Matthew 5:3-11