A sermon for August 11, 2024, 12th Sunday after Pentecost, at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church – Buffalo, NY .
Video: To watch the sermon at the 10:30am service, click here (video starts with the Gospel reading).
Grace to you and peace from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
Bread is a beautiful and wonderful thing.
The right bread with bacon, lettuce, and tomato … perfect BLT! Warm sourdough slathered with real butter. A nice, fluffy dinner roll to sop up gravy and all the little what-not’s on your Thanksgiving dinner plate.
A number of “diets” call us to severely limit, if not eliminate, carbs … that means bread!
So, when we hear in today’s gospel Jesus refer to Himself as the bread of life and the bread from heaven … we’re called to make a mental shift … we have to do some translating because we don’t want to view Jesus, the bread of life, as a side dish to our main meal, as a carb to be minimized or eliminated, or as an occasional indulgence.
Instead, Jesus – the bread of life – is integral to our understanding of the world and our place in it. This Bread of Life is a staple for the journeys of our lives.
A major part of what we do as people of faith … and as members of this congregation … is to share our journeys. We celebrate baptisms, first communions, confirmations, weddings, funerals, and stories about our families, our jobs, our hobbies. Every Sunday, we pray for people at various stages of their life journey.
In the coming weeks, we will pray for and bless students, parents, teachers, and administrators as they prepare for the journey of a new school year. We pray for and send college students – both those who are beginning the journey their first year and those continuing that journey. We also pray for ourselves as we continue our collective journey of this congregation and the lives we will touch this year.
You see … the bread of life is much more than a hunk of bread on the side of your dinner plate. The bread of life is food for the journey of our lives.
Often when people are dealing with death or significant illness or loss, people will say to me: “Gosh … I just don’t know how people who don’t have faith deal with things like this.”
In light of today’s gospel reading, we could hear them as saying … “I’ve eaten of the bread of life and it’s sustaining me through these toughest parts of my journey.”
You hear this in 1 Kings today as Elijah was fleeing because Queen Jezebel put out a kill order on him. An angel of the Lord ministered to him and said, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you” (1 Kings 19:7).
God doesn’t promise that our lives will be without heartache or discomfort, but He does promise to welcome us and feed us with the bread of life … to sustain us through these journeys. The bread of life sustains us, but also challenges us. The question I hear as we embark on new journeys is: “who are we CALLED TO BE in this moment?”
What journey or journeys are you facing?
Where are the transitions, challenges, and hurts … and how might God be calling you to meet those moments?
Whatever those challenges are and however God may be calling you to meet them, one thing is guaranteed … reducing or eliminating Jesus – the bread of life – reducing or eliminating the community of faith from your life – will not give you the support you need to sustain you through these moments.
Leaving Jesus on the periphery of your life like a dinner roll on the side of your plate will not give you a steady diet of the bread of life.
As you consume the bread of life, it becomes part of every cell in your body and Jesus is literally in and with you.
You and I are then called to be those who consume the living bread. Called to be imitators of God to live in love as He loved us (Ephesians). When we are angry, we are alled to be angry but not sin. Called to build each other up and let our words give grace to those who hear. Called to be kind, tenderhearted, forgive one another as we have been forgiven. Called to be … CHURCH
Today and every day … feast on the bread of life! Increase rather that decrease this kind of bread. Bring it from the side of your plate and make it a central part of your diet. Jesus, the bread of life will sustain you, guide you, comfort you, and grow you as part of the body of Christ.
In the name of Jesus. Amen!
Epicurious Lutheran 