All In

John 6:56-69 

Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.” He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him. And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.” Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

“Have you been saved?”  When I’m asked that I say “YES”... because I am... and, well... because I like to mess with people who ask that question.  Then, when I’m inevitably asked next, WHEN was I saved?  I say “On the first Easter, about 2000 years ago!”  Now, I know THAT'S not the answer they’re looking for, but it’s TRUE... and I like to mess with people.     

You see, God’s done all the saving in Christ’s life, death and resurrection.  Like the hymn says, “The strife is O’er, the Battle Won!”  On that first Easter, God made the salvation decision for all of creation and God’s decision was, “You’re ALL IN!”  Our tradition is pretty good at remembering that, but sometimes we forget there actually are SOME decisions that ARE for us to make... NOT decisions that make or break salvation... but decisions about how we choose to live in RESPONSE to that gift we’ve been given.  

It’s like the decision Joshua asked the people of Israel to make.  The people were IN the Promised Land.  They were there, so their decision would not determine if they got there or not…'cause...they were there!  Their decision was how they would now RESPOND.  The crowds in the Gospel lesson faced a similar decision.  How would they RESPOND to the gift which God had given them in Jesus?  Jesus was there.  The gift was given.  A decision to not follow Jesus wouldn’t cause God to vacuum Jesus back up to heaven and take salvation away!  But the crowds and the disciples DID have a decision to make.  Would they drink in the Jesus life... a life where they wouldn’t be in complete control... a life filled with mystery and an uncertain future... a life that led them to do what was in the other’s best interest instead of a life focused on what’s in it for me and what makes ME feel good, OR... would they go a different way?    

In today’s Gospel, a huge number of people chose to go a different way.  The mystery of the flesh and blood was just too much.  The lack of control was too much.  So they decided to take a different path.  To stop following the Jesus Way of living.  After they left, Jesus turned to the disciples and asked them to decide as well.  Would they continue to follow or not?  You see, neither Joshua nor Jesus wanted the people to “PLAY” at their faith any longer.  Both challenged the people... to EITHER go ALL IN and BE God’s people ALL THE WAY or don’t.  A wishy washy fence sitting faith, wasn’t an option any more. 

I think that’s where we are in the church these days.  These days we wring our hands about declining church membership and some look fondly back to the days when our culture and grandma successfully guilted folks into church membership.  But I think this new world we live in might just be a gift because… well… you’re here!  And you’re here not because it makes you look like a good American to your neighbors and not because it makes grandma happy and not because you need a church membership to advance in your career.  You’re here... at least I hope you’re here... because you have come to the decision that Jesus REALLY DOES have the words of eternal life.  You’re here because you’ve decided that drinking in the Jesus life... a life filled with generosity, compassion, radical inclusion, love and grace... brings your life and this world a tiny bit closer to the Kingdom of God every day…  Because living the Jesus Way leads you bit by bit toward a life overflowing with meaning, purpose, direction and joy!  You’re here because you’d rather be part of a smaller group of dedicated, passionate, authentic, self declared saints and sinners, than part of a huge group of fake, plastic, superficial people trying to satisfy their deepest longings with things like power, wealth and fame which, God knows, will never come close to filling anybody up.  

The people answered Joshua, saying “We have decided to follow the LORD, for he is our God.”  Simon Peter answered for the group, “Lord, to whom shall we go?  You have the words of eternal life.”  You and I have the same decision to make... but it’s really not just one decision.  It's about a million little decisions… those tiny decisions we make in every moment of every day of our lives.  In each of those particular moments, will we choose to live that moment the Jesus Way, OR the world’s way?  Will we welcome the stranger or send them away?  Will we feed the hungry or demonize them?  Will we stop to heal the sick or walk down the other side of the road?  Will we calm the storm or stir the pot?  Will we tell the truth or tell a lie?  Will we forgive the thief or seek revenge?  Will we make a friend or create an enemy?  Will we admit our faults or double down on them? Will we celebrate diversity or try to homogenize it?  Will we say words that build up or words that tear down?  Will we crucify others to get our way or will we raise others up to new life? 

We all have a million decisions just like that to make every day, in every seemingly insignificant interaction with every person we meet.  The Good News is that no matter if we choose the Jesus Way in one particular moment, OR fall short of the Glory of God and make a choice out of our fearfulness and brokeness, God’s decision FOR US… God’s love for us... remains unshakable and true.  

This next week, may God give each of us the power and the courage in each moment of our lives to choose to live our faith “ALL IN”... to fully drink in the Way, the Truth and the Life which God has given us freely in Christ.  May we drink in that Holy, that Eternal, that Transformed Life we have been given, and may we courageously choose in each of those moments to respond to the gift we’ve been given in the Jesus Way.  Amen.

Gnawing on Jesus

John 6:51-58

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.” The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” So Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

I’m here to tell you… Barbecue. Is. Serious.  It demands serious time, dedication, and effort to make, AND to eat.  Twelve hours for pulled pork on the smoker to make.  A roll of paper towels and both hands to eat.  But even though it demands a serious investment of time and effort… it is SO VERY worth it!  The prep, the rubs, sauces, checking the fire at two in the morning… all that time and all that effort... it’s all worth it for the wonderful, succulent, juicy, sweet and spicy richness that is barbecue.

Jesus said to the people, “Very truly I tell you, unless you gnaw on my flesh and drink my blood, you have no life!”  The translators REALLY toned this one down.  Jesus didn’t say “eat” here.  Jesus did not say, “wearing the correct dinner jacket, one is to take one’s correct fork and sitting up straight, with one’s linen napkin in one’s lap, one is to take nice, polite, little bites.”  NOPE!  Jesus said GNAW!  He said roll up your sleeves, put your elbows on the table, grab the bone with both hands and GNAW!  Jesus said, “Get into it!  Get obsessed with it!  Get messy!  Get it stuck in your teeth.  Get sauce on your face and don’t expect to keep your shirt clean!”  Because NONE of that matters!  All that matters is the GNAWING… GNAWING all the way down to the bone!  Which sounds awesome when we’re talking about baby back ribs at a picnic table with rolls of paper towels for napkins, but in this Gospel lessen, Jesus ain’t talkin’ about baby back pork ribs.  He’s talking about baby back Jesus ribs here and that, understandably, freaked people out! 

Having my rabbi friend here last week reminded me of how shocking all this talk of eating flesh and drinking blood really was for the first people who heard this.  Many of us have heard it our whole lives, so the shock of it ends up just washing over us after all these years, but Jesus really said, “Those who gnaw on my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life.”  Then and now, those words were meant to be over the top, out of bounds, deal breaker… shocking!    

It’s no wonder the crowd couldn’t wrap their minds around what Jesus was saying.  It’s simply not something that is possible to wrap our minds around!  Now, lots of people over the last 2000 years have used a large volume of enormously sized words to try to explain all this, but I haven’t heard anyone who can fully explain it yet, no matter how many words of various sizes they use.  This idea of gnawing on Jesus, even when we set it into the context of the Eucharistic meal we share, is still mind blowing!  How is this Communion meal fully Christ’s Body and Blood?  It’s a mystery!  How, in this meal, are we given eternal life... it’s a mystery!  But “Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them” is what Jesus was, and is, saying.  The honest truth is that nobody’s got this one all figured out.  

But, I think at least a part of what Jesus was trying to communicate with this incredibly graphic imagery, is that discipleship isn’t something that can be done in between the other parts of our lives.  Following Jesus isn’t a drive-through-window-meal on your way from one thing to another.  This shocking imagery is, at least in part, calling us to something that is all-encompassing… a whole-life-involving project that is much more like making barbecue which demands tending fires, cooking sauces, making rubs, mopping meat and smoking it low and slow for lots and lots of time and then settling in to a meal that will take hours and hours to eat, rather than eating something cooked in a minute and grabbed from a hand reaching out through a window.  That shocking imagery calls us to settle in and completely make Jesus a part of every moment of our lives because Jesus is the source of all goodness and life.  He is our true food and we are being called to invest EVERYTHING... all our time, all our skills and all our being into consuming the Jesus Way, the Jesus Truth, the Jesus Life, so that just like the food we eat, Jesus too becomes a part of every molecule of our bodies and the fuel we use to live our lives.

Like an amazing feast of real honest to goodness barbecue, Jesus is asking each one of us to invest REAL time, not just left-over or in-between time… and do the spiritual-practice equivalent of mixing spices, massaging in the rub and then patiently, slowly, passionately, smoking our faith over genuine hard wood.  Jesus is asking us to slow down and really see those people around us… to see and then care for those who live on the margins… to study, pray and live each day with deep care, patience and passion.  Jesus is calling us to gnaw on the gift of God’s infinite love and unconditional grace, and make that an integral part of every molecule of our being, so that the Jesus Way of living and loving ends up seeping out of our pores into the world like garlic through the skin.  

Discipleship isn't a McRib sandwich grabbed on a Sunday afternoon on our way to something else.  Discipleship is more like REAL barbecue.  Lovingly, miraculously, patiently and beautifully transforming something tough… someone tough… into an amazing thing that is real and fully authentic… gathering family and friends… sojourners and strangers… lovers and losers… rebels and refugees… gathering EVERYONE around God’s Table where there is a seat and a place set for EVERYONE.  Discipleship is all of us, making together, the deep commitment to gnaw and to savor every morsel of life we’ve been given, in the company of all our fellow saints and sinners… all of us together, reveling in each bone of that rich food filled with marrow, laughing and sharing together those well aged wines strained clear and going through roll after roll of the classiest sort of paper towel napkins, enjoying to the very fullest, the immeasurable sweetness and the beautiful spiciness of the abundant life that comes to us free… as a complete gift… as we gnaw on Jesus.  Amen.

@Ephisians #noroomforthedevil

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

So then, 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.

In a recent MIT study, they found that on Social Media, falsehoods travel faster than the truth. And not just a little bit faster… sometimes TEN to TWENTY TIMES faster than the truth! The professor who ran this study says, “We found that falsehood diffuses significantly farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than the truth in all categories of information.” You’ll be shocked… SHOCKED I tell you… to learn that political information spreads falsehoods the fastest. I told you you’d be shocked!  

In today’s second lesson, the Apostle Paul tweets to @Ephesians, “Putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” #noroomforthedevil. For those of you not in the Social Media world, you’ll just have to trust me… that was a good one! 

Falsehoods spread faster than truth these days because of the technology we now have available to us, but the problem of falsehood and truth goes back way beyond the age of Twitter or Facebook… way back beyond the ancient technology of Myspace! The problem of falsehood and truth goes back before even the technology of papyrus and stone tablets and back to the very beginning of everything. Technology certainly cranks up the speed at which lies are spread, but spreading falsehoods isn’t a technology problem. As it was in the age before writing… as it was in the age of papyrus and paper and as it is now in the digital age… trafficking in lies is now, as it’s always been… a human problem, it’s human brokenness, it’s sin.  

One of the compounding problems with living in our world, where the old, human, sin of falsehoods are sped up to 100 Megabits per second, is that spreading those falsehoods becomes almost routine. With each of us literally swimming in a torrential flow of falsehoods every day, when WE do it, hardly anyone notices and then, as Walter Brueggemann says, “we forget to even blush.” This problem with spreading falsehoods may have been the Ephesians’ problem back then, but falsehoods, in all the forms they take, they’re our problem too. Our humanity is showing too. Our brokenness is seen in our mirrors as well. Our sin is no different than the Ephesians’ sin. We have met the Ephesians and the Ephesians is us!  

Fortunately though, we, like the Ephesians, have Paul’s advice for living in a world of falsehoods whether delivered by camel or computer. First he tells us when falsehoods fly… Be angry! It’s understandable to be angry! The inaccuracies, falsehoods and lies used to justify, endorse or cover up inhumanities done to our neighbors warrants our anger. BUT, he advises, don’t let that anger rule your life. Anger needs an expiration. Anger, Paul tells, us should expire at sundown. In the New Zealand Prayer Book’s Night Prayer, there’s a prayer that goes in part: “Lord, it is night. The night is for stillness. Let us be still in the presence of God. It is night after a long day. What has been done has been done; what has not been done has not been done; let it be. The night is dark. Let our fears of the darkness of the world and of our own lives rest in you.” Holding on to anger past sundown leaves room for the devil to muck about. I’m not so sure what that looked like back in the camel age, but in the computer age I think Paul is telling us, “It is wise to not Tweet, email or type any comment after sunset!” Imagine what our world would be like if we took Paul’s advice on that!  

But there’s more here for us from the Apostle Paul than only how we should fight AGAINST falsehood. More than just advice for working AGAINST the devil and more than only a warning to push back AGAINST bitterness, wrath, wrangling, slander and malice. When we see and hear the injustices of our world we are often quick to be angry, and like I said, there is a calling and a place for that sort of righteous anger. But all too often we end up living our lives perpetually AGAINST. 

“Against” is important and anger can be useful and the horrors of the world are so very horrible at times, that it can feel almost like a betrayal of the most vulnerable to let up on what we’re “Against” and not stay angry until the world is finally healed. But here’s the thing St. Paul knew back in the donkey age that still holds true in the digital age:  The world needs to be shown what the love of God in Christ looks like, just as clearly as the world needs to be shown the things that grieve the Holy Spirit!  

It most certainly IS our task to see injustice, to be angry and fight for justice… AND, AND, AND it is ALSO most certainly our task to model what the world will look like when “God’s will is done, on earth as it is in heaven.” The world needs us flawed but faithful people, to speak words that build up with grace JUST AS OFTEN as the world needs to hear us flawed and faithful people name the sins of greed, cruelty, racism, and violence.  

The world needs to see us being forgiving, being tenderhearted, and being kind to one another JUST AS OFTEN as the world needs to see us stand up for those pushed to the margins and then over the edges to be forgotten.  

The world needs us not only to be imitators of Christ in turning over tables and standing up to Empires, but the world needs us JUST AS MUCH to show it how to be imitators of Christ as beloved children, living in love as Christ loved us, giving all of ourselves to God and our neighbor.  

This world of ours moves at the speed of light these days. Falsehood travels up to twenty times faster than the truth! But don’t forget… you and I… we’ve been marked with the cross of Christ in the waters of Baptism… we’ve been sealed for the day of redemption… and God in Christ has forgiven us, set us free and given us life and that life in Christ we’ve been given, will carry us farther, faster, deeper and more broadly than even the most viral Tweet could ever hope to go!  Amen.