11th Sunday after Pentecost, August 9, 2015

Collect for the Day

Grant to us, Lord, we pray, the spirit to think and do always those things that are right, that we, who cannot exist without you, may by you be enabled to live according to your will; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.                                                               

Reflections: A great mystery of human life, that we are utterly dependent on God, and yet are endowed with free will. It would seem that dependence and freedom would be in opposition, cancel each other out. The blessing is this: when our will is freely in line with God’s, we are complete. This wholeness is no one-time achievement, but a glorious unfolding unique to each of us. 

First Reading: First Kings 19:4-8

Elijah went a day's journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a solitary broom tree. He asked that he might die: "It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors." Then he lay down under the broom tree and fell asleep. Suddenly an angel touched him and said to him, "Get up and eat." He looked, and there at his head was a cake baked on hot stones, and a jar of water. He ate and drank, and lay down again. The angel of the LORD came a second time, touched him, and said, "Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you." He got up, and ate and drank; then he went in the strength of that food forty days and forty nights to Horeb the mount of God.

Reflections: Elijah has just pulled off the coup of a lifetime: he has humiliated the priests of Baal and Aseroth. He is at the zenith of his career. . . . and yet here he is, on the run and overcome by despair.

Success is risky business; it is easy to stir up feelings of jealousy and resentment (and Elijah’s success was nothing if not ostentatious). But worse, upsetting powerful people can be dangerous business—and Elijah has just upset King Ahab and his ruthless queen, Jezebel. So he may have reached the pinnacle of success, but he’s got good reason to be depressed. He mopes; he moans; he eats and sleeps and moans some more. 

Truth to tell, it doesn’t take something as radical as that to get us into a funk. Any success or high point can send us spiraling down. Once a difficult goal has been achieved, our energy drops, and we are suddenly directionless. If we’ve accomplished something big enough, then we worry that we can never match it, that we’re already becoming a has-been.

          Ultimately, though, Elijah is moved to shake off the ennui, to let the food nourish his spirit as well as his body, and to continue the journey that will take him to the Mountain of God—and to the revelation that awaits him there.

Sometimes we are so paralyzed by anxiety that we can't move at all. We want reassurance that we are going in the right direction. What if we step off the map? 
But is there anywhere we can go from God's presence? Psalm 139 tells us that God is everywhere even before us--awaiting us. Let us trust God to nourish us, to accompany us on our journey wherever that takes us, and most of all to be faithful to the promise of Divine self-revelation that calls us forward.

Psalm 34:1-8 Benedicam Dominum

I will bless the LORD at all times; * his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
I will glory in the LORD; * let the humble hear and rejoice.
Proclaim with me the greatness of the LORD; * let us exalt his Name together.
I sought the LORD, and he answered me * and delivered me out of all my terror.
Look upon him and be radiant, * and let not your faces be ashamed.
I called in my affliction and the LORD heard me * and saved me from all my troubles.
The angel of the LORD encompasses those who fear him, * and he will deliver them.
Taste and see that the LORD is good; * happy are they who trust in him! 

Epistle: Ephesians 4:25-5:2

Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labor and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.

And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. 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.

Reflections: I can imagine a Martian trying to understand Christianity. What is the essence? What does it take to be deeply Christian? He would certainly see a lot of variety. Is it critical to have right beliefs? What about correct ritual? Or good feelings? Acts of discipline and self-denial?

          St. Paul, although a theological genius, is simple and clear. To be a Christian is to live as a Christian—that is, to incarnate Christ in everyday life. And everyday life, it turns out, is the training ground for the soul. 

Gospel: John 6:35, 41-51

Jesus said to the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?"

Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, `And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 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."

Reflections: Although many people read the Bible in one dimension only—the literal meaning—for millennia the Bible has been regularly interpreted on multiple levels. That can be a challenge with many books of the Bible, but the Gospel of John is clearly written to be read on more than one level.

At face value, Jesus speaks about bread (i.e., food), but we can easily see that he is referring to himself as the Eucharist. Full human life is nourished not by food for the body alone, but also for the soul. Even though society (and the health of the economy) insists that we have a right to meet every need and want, we know that stuff doesn’t bring happiness.

In this gospel text, Jesus identifies himself as food for the soul. He nourishes us at the altar. But not there only. Christ comes to us all the time. Usually we're blind to the presence of the Divine. What gets in the way? Most of the time, I we’re just plain distracted. But sometimes, I suspect, it’s the same thing that prevented Jesus’ neighbors from receiving him.