What Are You Hungry For?
Eleventh Sunday of Pentecost
August 9, 2015
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51
This week I got home from work with
a craving for yeast rolls. I scoured online for a quick recipe and lo and
behold found a 30 minute recipe! Simple ingredients thrown in a bowl, made
simpler with my kitchenaid and a dough hook, turned my kitchen into the most
delicious smelling space as bread rose and was baked. As I pulled the tray out
of the oven, stared at the perfectly golden tops, I immediately tore one apart
and sunk my teeth in the warm dough. Instantly I was transported to childhood
bread making making and waiting on the edge of my seat for the bread to be
done!
At my moms church in DC the pastor
makes bread for communion in a machine behind the pulpit. Most mornings the
smell of fresh bread greets you before the ushers do… Oh there is something magical
about fresh bread!
Two weeks ago we read about the
miracle feeding of the five thousand, last week we literally joined together to
feast in the form of communion and today we explore the third week of five
where we see lessons relating to food and eating, partaking in holy bread.
Friends, What are you hungry for?
There is a worship song by an
amazing woman named Kathryn Scott called “Hungry” where she writes “Hungry, I
come to You for I know You satisfy. I am empty, but I know Your love does not
run dry.” This song was written after a 3 year songwriting drought. She says
that the ability to write lyrics came back to her when she realized who she was
is enough because of who we belong to. These lyrics and her realization are for
us too; WE are enough because of who we belong to, we are children of God,
hungry and ready for God to move in our lives. God invites us all to eat, to
partake in a holy meal, to be nourished and filled by the holy bread we are
offered through Jesus.
"I am the bread of life"
this statement by Jesus, is applicable today more than ever, it is a
declaration! Jesus literally gave us bread. Bread that he has offered so many
times to so many people, yet it is our individual decision to partake in it. It
is our decision whether we want this spiritual nourishment or if we want to
starve. By choosing to eat this bread we are choosing to rely on God for
nourishment and fulfillment. This does not mean that magically the things that
tempt and hold us disappear, rather we must now work harder to resist them. To
truly hunger for God is the best kind of hunger, it is a hunger that when
satisfied will remain so.
This week I went to a funeral and
the church had beautiful stained glass windows. They lined both sides of the
sanctuary and the sunlight pouring through made every color seem brighter and
more radiant. While depicting many different scenes from the life of Jesus the
panels showing the last supper stuck out to me. The colors were arresting and
helped show detail, yet the table itself seemed to be on an angle. Looking up
it seemed as if you were not just a viewer but a part of the meal. Jesus seemed
to be inviting the viewer in, opening the table to anyone who approaches it.
This is the invitation we find in
our Gospel reading today, “I am the bread
of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is
the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 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.”[1]
This is not about the everyday and ordinary bread. This bread that is given
through Jesus causes us to be changed on the inside, it causes us to cast away
the things of the world that are slowly choking the life out of us, it is
sacrificial and holy.
“Therefore
be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us
and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”[2]
What are you hungry for?
To be hungry according to Webster’s
Dictionary means that you are “Suffering because of a lack of food; feeling a
strong desire or need for something or to do something.”[3] What
are you lacking? What do you have a desire for?
Our New Testament passage tells us
to put away our falsehood and change, to imitate God. This should be our
desire, our hunger, to constantly strive to be more like the Holy One. Friends,
this is not easy. Jesus reminds us in the gospels that he is the bread of life,
love made flesh, grace freely given… we are called to partake in this. We are
invited as believers to come together
around a table and share this bread, we are called to examine this holy mystery
as individuals and community, we are called to satisfy our hunger.
“Each time we come to you we come with many needs. We need sustenance, we need clothing, we need food, we need friendship and companionship and love. We need to feel appreciated. We need to feel as if we are capable in our work and valued in our contribution to those around us. You tell us to share our needs with you. You tell us to ask for the fulfillment of our needs. You ask us to talk to you about the many hungers that we want so desperately to be filled. And yet, when we get what we want, we only feel satisfied for a moment. We often fail to offer thanks. We move on to the next thing we feel we must have. So help us to come to you first and foremost seeking to have you, to have your love, to have a sense of your presence. We need many things, but we so often fail to realize that we need you most. Often, it is only when we lose all else that we feel you closest and have a the strongest sense that you are all we truly need.”.[4]
Come to this place, ready. Come to
this place remembering you are beloved, the children of God. God invites us to
the table, waiting for us to say what we are hungry for. Come hungry.
Let us pray, life giving God we come
to you with so many needs. Help us to remember that we need you first and
foremost. Feed us with the food, the spiritual bread that nurtures love within
us and challenges us to continue your work in this world. Feed us so we may
share this food with others. Quench our thirst, satisfy our hunger, shape us to
carry out your love. In Your Son’s name, the provider of holy bread we pray,
Amen
