Readings for the Tenth Sunday after Pentecost (Proper 13) – Track 2
This sermon was preached at Christ Episcopal Church in Eureka CA on August 1, 2021.
Like several of you, I receive daily meditations in my email inbox from Franciscan priest and author Richard Rohr. And on Wednesday of this last week, after returning from Camp Living Waters and preparing for several important meetings back home, I received these words from the beloved Franciscan author:
“Most of us have not been told that we could or should ‘complain’ to God, but lamentation might be the most honest form of prayer. It takes great trust and patience to remain stunned, sad, and silenced by the tragedy and absurdity of human events. Lamentation [can be seen] as a healing practice in the midst of crisis.”[1] And then Rohr proceeds to explain the importance of communal lament, lamenting as a community.
As I continue this sermon series on being a “community of companions” while COVID-19 cases rise yet again due to the highly contagious Delta Variant and low vaccination rates, we would do well to heed these words of Richard Rohr and to seek healing through honest prayer and lament, especially in the light of today’s Scripture readings. In our reading from Exodus, we learn that the “whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron,” wondering why God delivered them out of Egypt only to have them suffer and die of hunger in the wilderness. Today, some of us might be experiencing similar frustrations. Many of us were beginning to feel the joy of liberation from our long bondage to the pandemic only to now learn that our daily cases in Humboldt County are higher than ever and that even those who are fully vaccinated can easily spread and contract the virus. Did God keep us safe and healthy over these last 16 months only to have us now get sick with the Delta Variant? Did God deliver us from Egypt only to have us now suffer in the wilderness?
We had a soft reopening of our church two weeks ago (when we decided to recommend rather than require masks) and then last weekend, this building was full of over 100 people, thanks to the bishop’s visit on Saturday and full services on Sunday. I felt like things were finally starting to get back to normal. But now, because of rising cases and new county guidelines, we need to pull back a bit and slow down our reopening; and that is frustrating to me. I feel like we’re still wandering in the wilderness, even though the Promised Land seemed so close. I’ve heard many of you express your own sadness and disappointment and fear to me during this long, difficult season; and I hear you. And I once again invite you to do the same thing I invited us to do when this pandemic first began and that is bring your sadness, disappointment, anger, fear, and frustration to God in prayer; to lament. God knows that sometimes we just need to complain and kvetch and let it out and God receives those cries with patience and compassion. As I’ve said before, I can be a real kvetch in my prayers, but I know that God holds me in my honest complaints and his amazing grace continues to save a kvetch like me. And God responds to my complaints with love and wisdom and nourishment.
Moses said to the Israelites, “Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.”
I invite you (I invite us) to bring our honest prayers of complaint, our lamentations, to God because that kind of prayer can be deeply healing during times of difficulty and crisis. God will hold us in our frustration and will call us closer to him in the process. And when we do complain and lament, my hope is that we also be open to hearing God’s response. In our reading from Exodus, we learn that God responds to the grumbling of the Israelites by testing them in a way that stretches and deepens their faith. He invites them to trust in Him and to take things one day at a time. God says, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way, I will test them.” God is asking us to trust that he will provide our daily bread. He will provide the nourishment that we need today.
In Matthew’s Gospel, Jesus says, “Do not worry about tomorrow for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (Matthew 6:34). Trust that God will provide for your needs today just as he provides for the birds of the air and lilies of the field. And we’ve seen God provide. God has provided a vaccine that is now widely available and free. We are so blessed as citizens of this country to have such easy, free access to this vaccine. And refusing the vaccine is like the Israelites refusing the manna. It’s like them saying, “No, I’m not going to eat that because I’m going to trust that God will nourish me.” Yes, God will nourish you and his nourishment is right here! To receive the manna from heaven is an expression of our trust in God’s providence. God has given us what we need for today and calls us to trust Him.
And this is the same message that Jesus offers in John chapter 6, when he unpacks the meaning of the miracle of the Feeding of the Five Thousand in what is called “The Bread of Life” discourse. Jesus says, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life.” Jesus is trying to do much more than meet the physical needs of the crowd. He’s trying to establish and deepen a relationship of trust among them because that relationship will nourish them for eternity.
When the crowd asks, “What work do we need to do receive the eternal nourishment?” What does Jesus say? He says, “This is the work of God, that you trust Him, that you believe in His love for you,” which is perfectly embodied in Christ.
God will indeed provide for our daily needs. We will have our fill like the Israelites and our cravings will be satisfied, as today’s Psalm describes. But if we obsess over the bread and the sustenance itself, then we are actually missing the point. The real, eternal nourishment is found in the relationship of love and trust between us and God. When we receive the consecrated bread, we are receiving a symbol of God’s self-giving love; and in the Eucharist, we are expressing our trust in God’s providence and it is in that relationship of trust that we find the true nourishment that will sustain us not just today, but for eternity.
For example, whenever I feed my dogs a meal or treats, they instantly grow very excited about the food itself. However, what will prove to be more important for them is the relationship of trust that is being built between them and me. The food is important and necessary, but it also functions as a tool for deepening trust and obedience, and it is that relationship that will prove to be more life-giving than even the most delicious treat or satisfying meal. Although I’m not saying that we’re all dogs and Jesus is our master (even though that’s not the worst analogy in the world), it seems clear that Jesus is trying to turn the crowd’s focus away from the miraculous multiplication of loaves and fishes and towards the much more important relationship of love and trust that he seeks to establish and deepen among them. Food will keep us alive, but not forever. Jesus says, “Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died” (John 6:49). However, the nourishment we receive from our relationship of trust with God will feed us and sustain us for all eternity.
This is God’s response to our honest complaining and kvetching, even during this difficult time of pandemic. God invites us to take things one day at a time, saying, “I will provide all that you need for today, but more importantly, draw near to me for I have heard your complaining and it is in our relationship of trust that you will find all the nourishment you need.” And when we receive that nourishment, symbolized in the consecrated bread you are about to receive, we will never be hungry because that is the true bread of angels and that is the food that endures for eternity. Amen.
[1] Richard Rohr’s Daily Meditation, “Communal Lament” Wednesday July 28, 2021.
DANIEL DeFOREST LONDON 