Give & Forgive, Get & Forget - Redeemer Episcopal Church

 John 6:24-35

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.


This sermon is going to be a lot better if you listen to it rather than read it. But even then, it's not my favorite sermon. But here it is. Listen to it here. 


God of miracles, open our eyes to the ways you are working in this world. Provide for us the bread of everlasting life, through the body and blood of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. 

Last week we heard the story of Jesus sitting the crowds down and feeding them, despite starting the story with not actually having enough food for everyone. By anyone’s standards, it was a miracle, it was a “sign” from God, that Jesus was the real deal. And surprising no one, even more people began following Jesus— literally following him around everywhere. That’s where the story picks up this morning. Jesus and his disciples had left after feeding them and the crowd goes looking for him. 

Once the crowd catches us to them, Jesus quickly says that the people are not following him for the right reasons. They are following him because they were fed by the bread and the fish. Now, I don’t really blame them for that. Think about it— imagine following a leader that could always provide enough food for you and your family. Even today, I’m thinking about how much grocery money that would save me every week. In that time, if you weren’t the richest of the rich folks in town, your entire life was pretty much preoccupied with making sure you had the resources to feed yourself and your family. So the allure of someone being able to provide that to you— for free— would be quite strong. 

So the crowd catches up to Jesus and the scene then goes back and forth between Jesus and the crowd, with the crowd asking questions and Jesus giving cryptic insight into his work and purpose in the world. 

It’s obvious that the crowd isn’t really understanding anything that Jesus is saying. They keep asking the wrong questions. Even the very first question “when did you come here?” isn’t the right question. But when Jesus says that the work of God is to believe in him who God has sent, the crowd really doubles down on their nonsense and silly questions. 

“If we’re going to believe, you’ll have to give us a sign— what kind of work are you going to perform? Give us a miracle, Jesus! Prove that you’re the one who God sent.” Just yesterday they witnessed and benefitted from the miracle of more than enough food for the whole crowd and today they ask, “well, what else ya got?” God gives and forgives, while God’s people get and forget. 

We heard another story this morning that is a warning of what happens when we forget about what God is doing in the world. Nathan is sent to set David straight after what he has done to Uriah and Uriah’s wife Bathsheba. Nathan reminds David of all the things God has done for him: anointing him king over Israel, rescuing him from the hand of Saul, giving him a house and wives, and the whole kingdom. I give and forgive, God says. 

But none of that was good enough for David and he was jealous for his soldier’s wife and even sent his soldier to die so that he could have Bathsheba for himself. David got and forgot what God had given him. 

How often do we do this in our lives? We start bargaining— “okay, God if you really want me to keep believing, then I’m going to need a miracle or a sign that you’re still around!” And usually it has to do with our resources, not our faith. We want to get this job promotion or win the bid on this house, we want to be just a little more financially secure or a bit healthier. Show us a miracle, a sign that you are definitely real, and we will definitely come back to church, God. 
We completely forget about the ways God is showing up in our own lives or we point to the ways God has showed up in other people’s lives— THEY seem to have it easy, why can’t God give me THAT? How often do we get and forget? 

We’re not really any different than the crowd in this story, and perhaps we aren’t too far removed from David either. We receive blessings upon blessings, God continues to show up because God is continually faithful to us. And yet, we only understand the language of “more.” 
The crowd witnesses and incredible miracle and then holds out their hands for more signs, more miracles, more proof. And if this weren’t an offensive suggestion to Jesus in the first place. The crowd then says, “well, MOSES gave the people manna from heaven. Can you do that?”

It’s a bit ironic that they would point to Moses and the manna in the wilderness because God sent manna because the people were so ungrateful after God delivered them out of slavery. God had just done this big huge, amazing thing in leading the people out of the hands of the Egyptians and they forgot so quickly. Just like this crowd— they were given enough food to eat their fill with so much left over, yet they look to Jesus ungratefully and say “well, what kind of miracle can you do for us?” God gives and forgives. And God’s people get and forget. 

The crowd is too focused on the past and what God has done before for other people, that they miss what God is doing right now and the miracles and signs they are witnessing right in front of them. If they had been able to focus on the present, on what they were witnessing in the person of Jesus, they’d have seen that Jesus wasn’t like Moses providing the manna at all— he WAS the manna, sent from heaven, to be nourishment and give ever-lasting life. 

Oftentimes, we can get caught up in the past. I know I keep hearing myself say things like, “before the pandemic” and the phrase “pre-pandemic” is repeated in conversations all day long. I long for it, I know you long for it too. It’s difficult to even remember sometimes— I think about how casually I’d shake someone’s hand or reach out for a hug when greeting someone. 
And there are bigger losses too— the way I could just jump on a plane with my kids to visit family, sharing fellowship with my students and being present with people when they are sick. We might look back fondly on that time before the pandemic, but we also must look at what God is doing now— entrusting us to be kind to one another, to protect one another, and care deeply for one another. We have the opportunity to pay attention to the blessings that God is providing for us today, instead of dwelling in the past. 

Churches particularly like to dwell in the past, don’t we? We LOVE to point to that time when our congregation was large and the pew where filled with people. But God is doing some incredible things RIGHT NOW in this community and we can pay attention to that, rejoice in that. The sustenance that God is providing, the miracle that we are seeing today looks like the food pantry that continues to thrive, the campus ministry that has adapted and continues to minister in different ways to our community. We can take notice of things like the Sacred Ground program, and know that God is at work here, leading us into the future of God’s kingdom. And, perhaps, one of the most important things God is doing right now, is leading us toward our next bishop. But we have to be paying attention.

This morning, as we eat the body and blood of Jesus at this table, be reminded of how God has provided for us. Notice what a miracle this is, a miracle that we have the privilege to witness and benefit from every single week. 

When we tune our ears to Jesus and we begin seeing God’s provisions as miracles, we will see that God gives and forgives. Over and over again, day after day, out of God’s abundant generosity and love for us. Now let us not get and forget. Amen. 

God is God - Redeemer Episcopal Church

Moses at the Burning Bush

3 Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2 There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3 Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.” 4 When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.” 5 Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” 6 He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

7 Then the Lord said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8 and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9 The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10 So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.” 11 But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” 12 He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

The Divine Name Revealed

13 But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?” 14 God said to Moses, “I am who I am.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I am has sent me to you.’” 15 God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The Lord, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’:

This is my name forever,
and this my title for all generations.

___________________________

This sermon was originally preached for Redeemer Episcopal Church, for a specific people in a specific context in a specific time. We believe in a God that transcends time and space, so I hope these words can speak to you too. You can read the sermon below, listen to the sermon here, or watch the whole worship service here. 

Let us pray: Lord of all power and might, you are the author and giver of all good things. You are God. Let us never deny that. And always depend upon it. Through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God for ever and ever. Amen.

Some of you might remember from some of my previous sermons or conversations that we have had, that I did my year-long seminary internship in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Which, in case you aren’t sure where Malaysia is, because I didn’t when I was assigned there, Malaysia is in Southeast Asia, around Thailand and Cambodia and just north of Singapore. 

In Malaysia, it was common practice for people to take their shoes off when they entered a person’s home. It was mostly about hygiene — you don’t want to track all the rest of the world into the home — but it was also about respect. I came to understand that a person’s home was holy ground, it mattered that you were invited into that space. The encounters, the conversations, and the transformations that would happen in that space were holy.  

In the first reading this morning, we hear about this wild, sort of mystical experience of Moses’ interaction with God through the burning bush. It’s a story many of us know well— it’s the story of Moses’ call from God, the beginning of what will eventually be the incredible story of the exodus of God’s people from enslavement into freedom. 

Moses is keeping flock and and angel appeared and set a bush on fire, but the bush was not burning up. Moses was curious and got a little bit closer and God called out to him. Moses Moses! 

And if a burning bush started calling to me, I’d run the other way quick. I mean my own personal history tells me that this is how I react to God’s call. 

But Moses was faithful and knew that God was up to something, so he responds, “Here I am!” Then God commands that Moses take off his sandals and reveals Godself to Moses. 

Then God gives Moses these really lofty commands to go to Egypt, approach Pharaoh, and demand that the Israelites be released into freedom. This is Moses’ call story. This was transformational, incredible, holy ground.

So this got me thinking a little bit about the holy ground that we encounter today. What does it mean to step onto holy ground and encounter God? 

When I think about the times when the people of God have encountered God, it is usually when God wants them to go someplace they’d rather not go. I think of Jonah, refusing to go to Nineveh. 

I think of Moses, really not wanting to mess with the Pharaoh in Egypt. I think of Jesus’ disciples when Jesus wants to go basically anywhere— and especially in the text we heard this morning when he says they have to go to Jerusalem and it might get them killed. God’s people often hear when God is calling, but that doesn’t mean that they want to go. 

Perhaps I identify so much with this because this is often where I encounter God as well. Before my arrival in Malaysia for internship, I interviewed with the national Lutheran church leaders to see where they might place me. There were placements all over the world— the UK, Bratislava, Uruguay… all sorts of places. Malaysia was last on my list. It was too far away from my family, I didn’t think I liked Southeast Asian food… I didn’t want to go. Plain and simple. So when they told me that I’d be spending the year in Malaysia, I cried and cried and cried. I was mad at God and said, “why would you send ME there? Send someone else.” I considered backing out at least a dozen times before I left. 

After seminary, my husband Daniel and I spent a lot of time discerning where we might want to go for our first assignments as pastors. Florida was definitely on our “never want to live there” list. So of course, that’s where we were assigned. And we cried and cried and cried. 

But what we didn’t know was that God was coming near to us, we were about to be set on a journey that would change us, that would transform us, that would put us onto holy ground. 

When God’s people, who we learn about in the Bible, encounter God and step onto holy ground, they do not alway respond helpfully either. 

When God comes to Moses in a burning bush and says “go into Egypt and free my people,” it is really no surprise to us that Moses, a lowly shepherd, says “who am I that I should go to Pharaoh and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?” Who am I? Why would you want to send ME?

When Jesus tells his disciples that they have to travel back into the very dangerous city of Jerusalem and it will almost definitely mean suffering and death for Jesus there, Peter says “no! This can’t be so!” 

God is really good at calling people into uncomfortable, unimaginable, and sometimes dangerous situations. And God’s people are really good and saying, “but I don’t wanna!” 

But notice what God does with that answer. When God hears “I can’t” or “I don’t want to,” or “who am I to do this big incredible thing?” God doesn’t remind us of all the things we’ve done before or try to make us feel good about ourselves. God does something that I think is pretty phenomenal. 

God says, “It doesn’t matter who you are. It doesn’t matter what you have or haven’t done. It doesn’t matter if you’re too weak, or not smart enough, or not ready. I AM GOD.” God says that the ONLY thing that matters is that God is God, and that God is equipping us for the road ahead. 

It doesn’t matter who we say that we are, what matters is who God is and what God has done, what God is doing, and what God will do. 

God is God, who created the heavens and the earth, who made everything out of nothing at all, who led the Israelites out of slavery and into freedom. God who, over and over again, delivers God’s people from oppression and hatred and sin and into life. God who did the impossible by taking on flesh to walk among us in Christ Jesus. And in death on the cross defeated death and all the forces of evil. God who is, right now, in the midst of death and pain is bringing about resurrection. God is God. 

That is the hope we have, that is the assurance we have when God calls us to do big, incredible, frightening things. God is God. And we are not. Thanks be to God.