Sermon

The Twenty-Fifth Sunday after Pentecost (Year C, Proper 28)
November 18, 2007

Josie Jordan, Canvass Chair

John 6:25-35 – “Following Jesus into the World”

Good morning, my name is Josie Jordan. In saying yes to leading this year’s canvass, I signed on to giving the sermon today.

Let us pray: Gracious God, open our hearts to your word in our midst and deepen our experience of being part of your energy – the energy of possibility in the world. Amen

In Paul’s Canvass sermon he said, “God’s grace is not a gift only for the individual, but something to be shared. We are not healed to be what we had been, but to become something other – one for others; one for the world.”

I believe this with my whole heart. I believe it for me personally, and I believe it for our community.

I don’t believe that following Jesus is the only way to live out this vision. But, I wandered into St. Mark’s 25 years ago and chose to be a member of a Christian community. It seems obvious now that the subject of Jesus might come up. Within weeks of arriving I had the very special experience of being in a small group with Verna Dozier. For those who never knew Verna, she was a prophet to the Episcopal Church and a revered teacher by all, including numerous Bishops. In this small group, Verna said that being part of a Christian community meant following Jesus of Nazareth. This “good news” left me distraught and terrified. I was interested in a deeper connection with what I called God and community. Did I really have to embrace Jesus?

I have been pushing and nudging myself to come to grips with who Jesus might be in my life every since.

Today’s Gospel is all about Jesus. Throughout John’s Gospel, the author describes Jesus using metaphors from ancient everyday experience. Jesus is the light of the world, the good shepherd, the door, and the true vine. Today, Jesus is the bread of life.

It was some of these very images of Jesus that gave me concern as I struggled to understand myself as a Christian. For example, the image of the true vine always got under my skin. It smacked of: you’re in if you believe and you’re out if you don’t. I believe we run the very grave risk of turning Jesus into an idol when we say he is the only way.

Verna would be pleased, I think, because my years at St. Mark’s have birthed me into being a follower of Jesus. I’m one of those skeptics who have become more of a believer. But, this statement is a bit imprecise because I truly adhere to the idea that Jesus did not want to be believed in as much as he wanted to be followed. I’m a follower. Through digging into the ancient images for Jesus given to us in scripture and looking for new ones that capture the way of Jesus in my every day experience, I’ve found sustenance in the Gospel story.

In today’s passage, we catch up with Jesus the day after the miraculous feeding of the five thousand. He has retreated, but the crowd seeks him out. They want more food and they want proof that he is from God. “Moses gave the Hebrew people bread from heaven,” they say. “What can you give us?”

Jesus reminds them that it was not Moses who gave the bread, it was God. And adds, “God’s bread gives life to the world… I am the bread of life.”

Bread is an image that is much less central and fundamental in our lives today than it was in the time of the early Christians. It is ubiquitous, with dozens of varieties at our fingertips. In our culture, there is special bread, but there is nothing special about bread.

But for those listening to this story two thousand years ago, bread was essential nourishment. And many a sermon has been written about all the qualities of bread and how that tells us about who Jesus is, but that doesn’t do it for me. What catches my imagination is noticing how this passage expands God’s nourishment from being only for one group, as in the Moses story with the manna, to being for the world. It is the opposite of being exclusive, it is expansive.

I think the scriptural witness clearly shows Jesus as one who embraced all. The church later turned that around and said all had to embrace Jesus.

The Jesus I know through the Gospel reaches across boundaries, demonstrates self-emptying love, and is very persistent. This is nourishment for the world. This is worthy of being followed.

And this is where St. Mark’s has been called for all of its modern history. We have been imperfect at it, for sure. But from Bill Baxter in the fifties to Paul Abernathy during the past ten years, there has been clear and powerful leadership to embrace those often excluded. Baxter reached across the color barrier and beyond the walls of mainline Christian thought to those disillusioned with the church but yearning for a spiritual community. Jim Adams continued that work and brought our every day pressures into the realm of the Christian story, helping many of us to claim it as our own. Paul has deepened our roots in the Gospel and awakened us to the prophetic, expansive voice of Jesus. He has pushed us to use this powerful grounding to look beyond ourselves to a world in waiting. (Amen)

Sometimes the world in waiting is very close by. Throughout the canvass, people have shared why they give to St. Mark’s. We read poignant stories of being upheld in times of great need, expressions of deep gratitude for what this community gives to our children, and appreciation for ways in which St. Mark’s gets us out into the world in larger steps than we can make on our own. All of these personal experiences move us to give back. This kind of gratitude forms the deep well of generosity that has sustained this church for many years.

My reasons for giving mirror these. My most recent plunge into the well of gratitude came a little over a year ago as I helped my mother die the way she wanted to die: in my home, without needles and tubes, and without lingering. It wasn’t all easy. And I didn’t do it alone. But the 20+ years of living in this community, particularly the kind of Christian education classes we do here, prepared me as no other place could have. When my mother so bravely and clearly told us of her wishes, I knew that I could do it, and I knew that my community would do whatever I asked of it along the way.

But my pledge to St. Mark’s must reflect more than wanting to give back. For me, my pledge must reflect that element of being “one for another” that Paul talked about. “I have not been healed to be what I have been, but to become something other – one for others; one for the world.”

My life is not my own, and my resources aren’t either. Yes, of course I want to have enough to pay our daughter’s last two years of college tuition, and to travel more, and to retire with secure finances. I bought my first new couch in 28 years, and I’m so happy to have it! Yet, I have a deep yearning to be used for good purposes. St. Mark’s helps me live out this need by inspiring me to say yes to gutting and rebuilding in New Orleans or by giving me ways to participate in radical hospitality through staying over night at the Shelter Project or bringing food for the Farm Workers Respite Effort. For these kinds of efforts to happen, we must take care of our church home so it can be a needed refuge. For me, the part of the church budget that falls under the category of building and maintenance is much more than bricks and mortar. Our buildings are arms that reach out into the community and draw others into ours. I want to be part of funding that!

So, what about that question of how much? First, a word to people who have never pledged: If you have been coming to St. Mark’s for over 6 months on a fairly regular basis, you should make a pledge. Bill and I pledged in 1982 for the first time, about 8 months after we wandered in. He was a young government worker, and I had just stopped teaching to take care of our son. We chose $800 out of thin air because St. Mark’s never talked about money then. In today’s world that $800 is worth $1700. You don’t have to start there, but start, and consider pledging $20 a week.

Although we still don’t talk about money a lot, we talk about it more and I have found it helpful…even before I was Canvass Chair. 15 or 20 years ago St. Mark’s began talking about percentage giving, which was considered radical and outrageous then. 2.5% was discussed as a possible norm and some people went wild. But, Bill and I found ourselves checking out the 2.5% line of the percentage giving chart. Over the years we have slowly increased the percentage and this year we pledged 4%, $8,000. I can’t stand here and tell you that we will be tithing any time soon, but a number of years ago a parishioner talked about tithing what she called “new” money – a bonus, cash award, or bequest. Bill and I adopted this idea and we have really enjoyed giving money away from these small windfalls.

So, the idea here is to pledge…to pledge now. The people who have pledged already have been very generous. The statistics in the announcement section of the bulletin show that 73% have increased their pledge. That is a high percentage of people offering more. Many responded to the Give 5 More Campaign, pledging 5% or $5 a week or a month more. But, we need more people to make their pledge. Today would be a good day.

Have we strayed far a field from Jesus and being one for another? I think not. Our faith tradition says we are created in the image of God. This means we have the possibility of being like God in the sense that our actions can create, redeem, and sustain. Jesus of Nazareth shows us a way to live this out, and it involves sharing our treasure. When we do this, humbly and imperfectly, we become bread for the world…one for others, reaching through and beyond our community to those who wait.

Amen