Good News Translation - Paraphrase
Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood live in me, and I live in them. The living God sent me, and because of him I live also. In the same way whoever eats me will live because of me. This, then, is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the bread that your ancestors ate, but then later died. Those who eat this bread will live forever.
Jesus said this as he taught in the synagogue in Capernaum. Many of his followers heard this and said, “This teaching is too hard. Who can listen to it?”
Without being told, Jesus knew that they were grumbling about this, so he said to them, “Does this make you want to give up? Suppose, then, that you should see the Son of Man go back up to the place where he was before? What gives life is God's Spirit; human power is of no use at all. The words I have spoken to you bring God's life-giving Spirit. Yet some of you do not believe.
(Jesus knew from the very beginning who were the ones that would not believe and which one would betray him.) He added, “This is the very reason I told you that no people can come to me unless God makes it possible for them to do so. Because of this, many of Jesus' followers turned back and would not go with him any more. So he asked the twelve disciples,
“And you - would you also like to leave?”
Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life. Now we believe and know that you are the Holy One who has come from God.”
************************************************************************
More than any other of the Gospels, John presents us with the “hard sayings” of Jesus to wrap our heads around. Today’s reading is one of the hardest. On first read it is offensive. It is not only somewhat offensive to us, it would have been really shocking to Jewish listeners. As a result, many preachers have tried to sanitise the text, and make it more genteel, by turning it into yet another text about eucharist or communion, and thereby making it more palatable. Most clergy have tried not to preach it - because it is a really hard text.
In the time of Jesus, it was pagans who ate flesh with the blood still in it; eating flesh or drinking blood would have been anathema to the Jewish hearers; they would have been shocked and probably outraged to hear Jesus even utter these words. A quick read of Corinthians will demonstrate that the church got itself into all kinds of knots over whether or not to eat meat which had been killed in a pagan temple. The suggestion of eating flesh with the blood still in it would have been repugnant to the Jews altogether. How could Jesus even suggest such a thing?
Theologian Reinhold Niebuhr places this text at a period of Jesus’ ministry usually designated as “the crisis”. Jesus had been popular for the first while. The multitude had followed him to listen, to catch the charm of his personality, and to be cured of their ills. “But gradually”, says Niebuhr, “as Jesus unfolded the full meaning of his way of life, the multitude found his ideals as difficult as they were engaging, and began to desert him, muttering, "These are hard sayings, who can hear them?" Only the twelve disciples stayed, in the end, along with some of the women and others, although John specifically names the twelve. Jesus asked the disciples, did they also wish to leave? Peter, always the spokesman for the rest, answered “Where shall we go?” Niebuhr interprets this to mean that Peter is saying, "Yes, what you ask of us is so difficult that we are tempted to give up too. We don’t know if we can follow your way and truth, but we can’t find a better alternative.”
Is Jesus offering immortality in this quote? We have tended to take the phrase “eternal life” to mean immortality. I don’t think that is at all what is inherent here. This is another example of Jesus trying to communicate a difficult concept using the most ordinary things of life, crucial to everyone - bread, wine, meat, water - to teach about a way of living which saves us from being ruled by fear and anxiety for the future. Jesus reminds them that it is the Spirit which gives life, and that his words are both spirit and life. Yet they choose to turn away because living it out is “too hard”.
The crowds had got used to the comfort of being around Jesus, and were prepared to take some small challenge to their discipleship. There was comfort in the affirmations of Jesus’ faith, and they were to some extent willing to accept them; but Niebuhr comments that “inextricably intertwined with that assurance is a moral challenge” which most people find too difficult to consider. He says that the Christian church, at its best, is a community of the few who have seen, however dimly, “that the assurance and the challenge belong together”. The teaching of Jesus presents both a way of looking at reality, and a way of living.
At the beginning of his presidency, as Barack Obama began to lay out the foundations of a health-care plan, arguments for and against were all over the news, and still are. People have threatened violence, extreme responses to the proposal - accusing Obama of being Hitler. There have been accusations of fascism and socialist medicine, as if somehow socialist is a bad thing. An American colleague of mine noted “how easily scaremongering can prod people to act against their own best interests.” I’ve found the comments of people fascinating - people who claim that their country is founded on Christian principles, yet who scream at the notion of paying for someone else’s health care as un-constitutional, too difficult, if people want good health care they are “free to pursue it”, but others should not have to shoulder it for them.
Rev. Amy C. Howe says this: “Our culture tells us we are in control of our lives, our destiny. If we work hard, we will be rewarded with material gain.” She goes on “My theologian sister says that we prefer religion to God. We, like the disciples, are offended by Jesus’ offer of spirit and life. We make religion about the rules because we can control the rules.” I wold say we make the living of our faith about the “rules”, because we think then we can control outcomes.
Well, the words Jesus uses “abide in me” present comfort, but they also present challenge. A handful of followers remains, and when Jesus asks if they also want to run away, Peter responds “Where else can we go? You have words of life. We have come to believe.” In that moment, Peter who is generally a little thick, realises that despite the hard path Jesus calls the followers to walk, he is ready to give up some control in order to accept the offer of the gift of life.
The gift of life for the church is the moment we realise that giving up control gives life. It may not be the life we envision out of our own experience. It may not be the way things have always been done in our church. It may be that the creative spirit moves into that space created by our willingness to let go, and does something completely unexpected. The decision of the followers not to walk away but to follow and give up control marks them as a community of faith. Nothing else matters - budgets, fundraisers, mission statements, worship attendance - none of these mark us as a community of faith. It is how we live in relation to each other, how we come together to follow Jesus, no matter how hard it is - that marks us as a community of faith - and in following Jesus we receive spirit and life. May it be so.
Sources:
1. Reinhold Niebuhr, “To Whom Can I go?” in The Christian Century, March 10, 1927.
2. Rev. Amy C. Howe, essay in “Feasting on the Word: Preaching the Revised Common Lectionary” Year B Volume 3.
Saturday, August 18, 2012
Saturday, August 11, 2012
“A Cry from the Depths” A sermon based on Psalm 130. Humber United Church, Corner Brook, NL August 12, 2012
Psalm 130 A song of ascents. By David:
Adonai, I call to you from the depths; hear my cry, Adonai! Let your ears pay attention
to the sound of my pleading.
YAH, if you kept a record of sins, who, Adonai, could stand? But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you will be feared.
I wait longingly for Adonai; I put my hope in his word. Everything in me waits for Adonai more than guards on watch wait for morning, more than guards on watch wait for morning.
Isra’el, put your hope in Adonai! For grace is found with Adonai, and with Adonai is unlimited redemption. He will redeem Isra’el from all their wrongdoings.
*****************************************************************************
On Thursday morning this week, I went to have breakfast with my niece who was visiting Corner Brook. She has been going through a divorce, and part of her, in anxiety - thought that because I had performed her marriage ten years ago I would be angry that this happened. My response was “You are family - married into this family you are now one of us. I love you no matter what happens, and I am not keeping score.”
As I looked at David’s Psalm, I could not help but think of my niece, worried that her aunt would make judgment and put a black mark against her name, and hold it against her.
The biblical King David was known for his skills as both a warrior and a writer of psalms. In his 40 years as ruler, between approximately 1010 and 970 B.C.E., he united the people of Israel, led them to victory in battle, conquered land and paved the way for his son, Solomon, to build the Holy Temple.
David was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah, and a direct descendent of Ruth the Moabite. He began his life as a shepherd in Bethlehem, and was anointed by the prophet Samuel without the knowledge of the king, Saul. David returned to his sheep, and did not meet Saul until he was summoned to play the *kinnor* or lyre for Saul. He made such an impression he was called into Saul’s service as a musician.
We know parts of the story - David as an inexperienced boy armed with only a slingshot and a few stones, confronted the nine-foot, bronze armored Philistine giant, Goliath of Gath, and killed him. David as commander of Saul’s troops and a close friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan.
Saul’s jealousy of David; Jonathan hiding David and convincing Saul not to kill him. The deaths of Saul and Jonathan on Mt. Gilboa in a fight with the Philistines. David becoming king of Judah at the age of 30; building a palace in what is now the City of David in Jerusalem. His final victory forcing the Philistines out of Israel. Bringing the Holy Ark to Jerusalem.
David had an almost perfect reign as king, but many problems in his personal life - culminating in his affair with Bathsheba, the death of her husband Uriah when David sent him to the front lines so he would be killed; the death of the child they conceived, and the birth of a second son, Solomon.
David had started life as a poet and musician, and it is believed that he wrote some of the Psalms, and edited the book. Today’s Psalm is one of those ascribed to David, and it is called a Psalm of Ascents.
This Psalm, perhaps more than any other, is marked by its mountains: depth; prayer; conviction; light; hope; waiting; watching; longing; confidence; assurance; universal happiness and joy. Just as the barometer marks the rising of the weather, so does this Psalm, sentence by sentence, record the progress of the soul. David gives a mini-version of his spiritual journey through life, as he looks back. (3)
Internally the Psalm is broken down in four pericopes (sets of verses) - and each becomes a “set” or an “ascent”. David begins his Psalm “Lord, I call to you from the depths - “, the cry of a human in spiritual pain, who looks at his life and the things he has done. He says clearly he is right down there in the depths of remorse and depression. “Hear my cry.”
The depths usually silence all they engulf, but they could not silence David; on the contrary, it was in the abyss itself that he cried out. Prayer lived and struggled even in the darkest place. It does not matter where we are to pray, and prayer is never more real and acceptable than when it rises out of the worst places. The depth of our distress moves the depths of our being. Though David suffered the painful realisation of his actions and wrongdoings, and so was in the depth, his faith pleaded in the teeth of conscious unworthiness; he knew that God’s promises did not depend upon human character.
Verses three and four are two strong statements of recognition. First he says, “God, if you kept a record of our sins, none of us could stand.” and then he says “But you don’t keep a record. Forgiveness is the very basis of who you are, so that everyone will stand in awe of you.” David says that if God kept a record of all our misdoings, none of us could stand. If JAH, the all seeing, should call every person to account for every lack of sense and right behaviour, where would any one of us be? If humanity were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer, and hope to stand clear.
Verse 4. The power of pardon is permanently resident with God: forgiveness is always there and instantly given. Gratitude for forgiveness and another chance produces far more awe and reverence than all the fear inspired by threat of punishment. It is grace which leads the way to a holy regard of God. This verse forms some of the basis for our Reformed theology. God’s prevenient grace, that grace given regardless of what we do or who we are, the grace given before we know we need it, the forgiveness given before we recognise that we need it. David says that God *is* forgiveness.
Verses five and six speak of David’s waiting for God. Even the waiting itself has benefit: it tries faith, and exercises patience. God’s people have waited in the depths of despair, and are able to wait in any condition. The waiting regardless of the condition is called “hope”.....the basis of all we believe..the soul waits even more than those who stand watch around a city, or women waiting to give birth, or sitting by a sickbed.
In 7 David says “Let Israel hope in God”. Yahweh is Israel's God; therefore, let Israel hope in him. God has great things in store for the people, they ought to have large expectations. God’s very nature is compassion; we have also the light of grace, and therefore we see more compassion. The attribute of compassion, and the faith of redemption, are two most sufficient reasons for hope. Is it not better to be in the depths with David, hoping in God's mercy, than up on the mountain tops, boasting in our own fancied righteousness?
To me this is a Psalm of recognition, of partnership. We live in partnership with each other and with God, or with the universe, or creation, or whatever we wish to call it. If we sever the partnership for our own gains, whether personal or political, our lives suffer. God calls us to reflect on ourselves and our lives - but the grace and compassion is always given.
David is perhaps a prime example from biblical texts of how power can corrupt so thoroughly. We watch David through his life story - as a simple shepherd playing a kinnor, to a leader of armies, to a king - and we watch as he is drawn in by one small transgression here, another there, and each time the transgressions get bigger, and the justifications get more elaborate.
We can see how these things happen in our own lives; but we can also see what we are called to do. *If* we claim to be followers of Jesus, *if* we claim that as our example, then we can only respond the way Jesus would, the way we hope God would respond to us: “You are family. I love you, despite what has happened. How could you think I would not still love you?” May it be so.
Sources:
1. Psalm 130 from “Ketuvim”, the Writings. Section 3 in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures)
2. http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps130.htm
Note: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
3. James Vaughan, in "Steps to Heaven," 1878.
Adonai, I call to you from the depths; hear my cry, Adonai! Let your ears pay attention
to the sound of my pleading.
YAH, if you kept a record of sins, who, Adonai, could stand? But with you there is forgiveness,
so that you will be feared.
I wait longingly for Adonai; I put my hope in his word. Everything in me waits for Adonai more than guards on watch wait for morning, more than guards on watch wait for morning.
Isra’el, put your hope in Adonai! For grace is found with Adonai, and with Adonai is unlimited redemption. He will redeem Isra’el from all their wrongdoings.
*****************************************************************************
On Thursday morning this week, I went to have breakfast with my niece who was visiting Corner Brook. She has been going through a divorce, and part of her, in anxiety - thought that because I had performed her marriage ten years ago I would be angry that this happened. My response was “You are family - married into this family you are now one of us. I love you no matter what happens, and I am not keeping score.”
As I looked at David’s Psalm, I could not help but think of my niece, worried that her aunt would make judgment and put a black mark against her name, and hold it against her.
The biblical King David was known for his skills as both a warrior and a writer of psalms. In his 40 years as ruler, between approximately 1010 and 970 B.C.E., he united the people of Israel, led them to victory in battle, conquered land and paved the way for his son, Solomon, to build the Holy Temple.
David was the eighth and youngest son of Jesse from the tribe of Judah, and a direct descendent of Ruth the Moabite. He began his life as a shepherd in Bethlehem, and was anointed by the prophet Samuel without the knowledge of the king, Saul. David returned to his sheep, and did not meet Saul until he was summoned to play the *kinnor* or lyre for Saul. He made such an impression he was called into Saul’s service as a musician.
We know parts of the story - David as an inexperienced boy armed with only a slingshot and a few stones, confronted the nine-foot, bronze armored Philistine giant, Goliath of Gath, and killed him. David as commander of Saul’s troops and a close friendship with Saul’s son, Jonathan.
Saul’s jealousy of David; Jonathan hiding David and convincing Saul not to kill him. The deaths of Saul and Jonathan on Mt. Gilboa in a fight with the Philistines. David becoming king of Judah at the age of 30; building a palace in what is now the City of David in Jerusalem. His final victory forcing the Philistines out of Israel. Bringing the Holy Ark to Jerusalem.
David had an almost perfect reign as king, but many problems in his personal life - culminating in his affair with Bathsheba, the death of her husband Uriah when David sent him to the front lines so he would be killed; the death of the child they conceived, and the birth of a second son, Solomon.
David had started life as a poet and musician, and it is believed that he wrote some of the Psalms, and edited the book. Today’s Psalm is one of those ascribed to David, and it is called a Psalm of Ascents.
This Psalm, perhaps more than any other, is marked by its mountains: depth; prayer; conviction; light; hope; waiting; watching; longing; confidence; assurance; universal happiness and joy. Just as the barometer marks the rising of the weather, so does this Psalm, sentence by sentence, record the progress of the soul. David gives a mini-version of his spiritual journey through life, as he looks back. (3)
Internally the Psalm is broken down in four pericopes (sets of verses) - and each becomes a “set” or an “ascent”. David begins his Psalm “Lord, I call to you from the depths - “, the cry of a human in spiritual pain, who looks at his life and the things he has done. He says clearly he is right down there in the depths of remorse and depression. “Hear my cry.”
The depths usually silence all they engulf, but they could not silence David; on the contrary, it was in the abyss itself that he cried out. Prayer lived and struggled even in the darkest place. It does not matter where we are to pray, and prayer is never more real and acceptable than when it rises out of the worst places. The depth of our distress moves the depths of our being. Though David suffered the painful realisation of his actions and wrongdoings, and so was in the depth, his faith pleaded in the teeth of conscious unworthiness; he knew that God’s promises did not depend upon human character.
Verses three and four are two strong statements of recognition. First he says, “God, if you kept a record of our sins, none of us could stand.” and then he says “But you don’t keep a record. Forgiveness is the very basis of who you are, so that everyone will stand in awe of you.” David says that if God kept a record of all our misdoings, none of us could stand. If JAH, the all seeing, should call every person to account for every lack of sense and right behaviour, where would any one of us be? If humanity were to be judged upon no system but that of works, who among us could answer, and hope to stand clear.
Verse 4. The power of pardon is permanently resident with God: forgiveness is always there and instantly given. Gratitude for forgiveness and another chance produces far more awe and reverence than all the fear inspired by threat of punishment. It is grace which leads the way to a holy regard of God. This verse forms some of the basis for our Reformed theology. God’s prevenient grace, that grace given regardless of what we do or who we are, the grace given before we know we need it, the forgiveness given before we recognise that we need it. David says that God *is* forgiveness.
Verses five and six speak of David’s waiting for God. Even the waiting itself has benefit: it tries faith, and exercises patience. God’s people have waited in the depths of despair, and are able to wait in any condition. The waiting regardless of the condition is called “hope”.....the basis of all we believe..the soul waits even more than those who stand watch around a city, or women waiting to give birth, or sitting by a sickbed.
In 7 David says “Let Israel hope in God”. Yahweh is Israel's God; therefore, let Israel hope in him. God has great things in store for the people, they ought to have large expectations. God’s very nature is compassion; we have also the light of grace, and therefore we see more compassion. The attribute of compassion, and the faith of redemption, are two most sufficient reasons for hope. Is it not better to be in the depths with David, hoping in God's mercy, than up on the mountain tops, boasting in our own fancied righteousness?
To me this is a Psalm of recognition, of partnership. We live in partnership with each other and with God, or with the universe, or creation, or whatever we wish to call it. If we sever the partnership for our own gains, whether personal or political, our lives suffer. God calls us to reflect on ourselves and our lives - but the grace and compassion is always given.
David is perhaps a prime example from biblical texts of how power can corrupt so thoroughly. We watch David through his life story - as a simple shepherd playing a kinnor, to a leader of armies, to a king - and we watch as he is drawn in by one small transgression here, another there, and each time the transgressions get bigger, and the justifications get more elaborate.
We can see how these things happen in our own lives; but we can also see what we are called to do. *If* we claim to be followers of Jesus, *if* we claim that as our example, then we can only respond the way Jesus would, the way we hope God would respond to us: “You are family. I love you, despite what has happened. How could you think I would not still love you?” May it be so.
Sources:
1. Psalm 130 from “Ketuvim”, the Writings. Section 3 in the Tanakh (Hebrew Scriptures)
2. http://www.spurgeon.org/treasury/ps130.htm
Note: Charles Haddon Spurgeon (1834-92) was England's best-known preacher for most of the second half of the nineteenth century. In 1854, just four years after his conversion, Spurgeon, then only 20, became pastor of London's famed New Park Street Church (formerly pastored by the famous Baptist theologian John Gill). The congregation quickly outgrew their building, moved to Exeter Hall, then to Surrey Music Hall. In these venues Spurgeon frequently preached to audiences numbering more than 10,000—all in the days before electronic amplification. In 1861 the congregation moved permanently to the newly constructed Metropolitan Tabernacle.
3. James Vaughan, in "Steps to Heaven," 1878.
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Create a Clean Heart
Create in Me a Clean Heart Exodus 16:1-14 Psalm 51
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying “If only we had died by God’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve all of us to death.”
God said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
So Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was God who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see God’s glory, because your grumbling has been heard.” Moses also said, “You will know that it was God when you are given meat to eat in the evening, and all the bread you want in the morning, because your grumbling has been heard. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against God.”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before God, for your grumbling has been heard.’” While Aaron was speaking, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of God appearing in the cloud.
God said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread God has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. When they measured it by the omer, the ones who gathered a lot did not have too much, and those who gathered only a little did not have too little. Each one had only as much as he needed.
*****************************************************************************
In 2009 Norio and I camped at Berry Hill in Gros Morne. There we met Louise and Phil Decker, who were the caretakers of the park campgrounds. Every morning, Louise was up at 6, and went to every single campground and rest area to clean the washrooms. Phil went around and emptied all the garbage cans. Then they both sat down to sort the garbage, taking out things like batteries, separating out the recycling. Phil is a retired fisherman, and at that time was still at sea on a seasonal basis, so he could bring in enough for the two of them to eat over the winter. Louise, of her own volition, started teaching a course to children in the campgrounds, about the native plants and animals of Newfoundland, the lives of those who fish for a living, and then she taught the children how to make certain kinds of local food. In the early spring, she cleaned every camp site, making sure the fire pits were cleared, cut the weeds down, sanded and painted the picnic tables. The day we sat with them, Louise had just finished a class with 39 kids. They own a tiny house, really a hut, on the property at Broom Point. Parks Canada wanted to make the whole point a historical site, so they offered to buy Louise and Phil’s property, for $3000 - and told them they could move the house off if they wished.
Like many small fishing huts, this one had been in the family for several generations. It was not originally a year-round living accommodation, but was there just to live in during the fishing season. Fishing families would come to the point every year, when their fishing permits allowed, in order to work. They processed, dried, and canned the fish right on the premises. There is still a small cannery hut there. The salt fish, and the canned salmon, was picked up by larger boats which took it to market. In 2009, Phil and Louise made 50c a pound on their lobster catch.
Norio and I sat with them in our campsite that July, over a glass of wine, and talked about life in Newfoundland. Needless to say we were impressed with the passion and the optimism of these two people.
Louise is a tiny woman, but don’t be fooled. She is a formidable presence, and passionate about her life. Get her talking about how the Canadian government is killing off the fisheries - and the lives of many people - by selling out to large corporations. Louise is smart, savvy, and hard-working. So is Phil. They love life, and despite their criticisms of the way things are done, and what is done to them, they have a solid faith that what they DO have is given to them, by God, to use well. They don’t have much, but if you asked them I am guessing they would say they have enough.
...and I am pleased to say that Louise is now a park interpreter. She travelled, on her own money, to New Brunswick, to take courses about the plants, animals and rocks of Newfoundland - because nothing was available here. She had never been away from Newfoundland before, and was afraid of going to Halifax, but she did. I’ve heard that her classes at Broom Point are packed and highly popular. Norio and I hope to catch up with them again this summer to see how life has changed for them.
I am telling this story because Louise and Phil epitomise for me what it means to be on a life journey. There have been times when these two were in a wilderness. Yet they survived, and grew, even if all they had was bread and water. - and for me it ties in with the words of the Psalm “Create a clean heart in me, O God, and put a right Spirit within me.”
Today we meet the Israelites, newly freed, and looking forward to going to the land they have been promised. In the first throes of real freedom, they were happy to be anywhere but Egypt, and they sang and danced their joy! Then, of course, as the days went on reality set in. The small stocks of food they had brought along were gone, and there was little if anything to eat in the wilderness. There was no wildlife, no large body of water, no edible plant life. The people became hungry and thirsty; the manna they were receiving didn’t last long, and water from a rock was hardly sufficient. Bread, and water: that was their diet in the wilderness. It began to feel like they were in prison again. Everything they had was taken away, and they had to rely on themselves instead of being fed by their captors, and they honestly had no clue about survival.
So, like most people when things don’t go the way they want, they complained, and they blamed their leaders, Moses and Aaron. They wanted to go back to Egypt, where they were slaves but had good food. God set them free from one kind of oppression just to kill them off in the desert? If they were going to die anyway, better to do it back in Egypt where at least they could do it in relative comfort. They wanted more: more food, more water, more variety in their diet. More. And someone else was supposed to do it for them.
They sound like us, don’t they? Like those ancient Israelites, we want more. We want more variety, more choices. So we can now order our fish deep-fried, broiled, baked, grilled, or blackened. We want to be able to eat all kinds of foods whenever we want it. We want our churches to grow, more people to come, but we don’t want to change how we do anything, and when it doesn’t happen, it’s our leaders who are the problem. There is a “Back to Egypt Committee” in every congregation.
Norio and I have an ongoing discussion - I won’t call it argument - about food when he is in Cuba. What is enough? After five weeks there, he doesn’t want to eat rice and beans any more. He can’t find Japanese noodles. The Chinese food isn’t really Chinese. There is some variety in the food but not what he gets in Toronto, where we can have anything we want any time. My comment to him is that he is too spoiled, that the Cubans have to eat those things every day. Yet there is a sense of gratitude for what they do have, even in the middle of a restricted life.
And that is where Louise and Phil come in. When we met them, they didn’t have the luxury of Japanese or Chinese or Korean or Thai or Greek or Italian, or whatever. Their diet is mainly fish; given all the wild berries we picked around the island, and the people we met picking them, I know that they get a lot of their fruit that way. They don’t have a lot of money, they can be critical, and yet on the most basic levels, they are satisfied.
It’s no accident that bread and grains are at the top of the food pyramid; they provide great nourishment. Bread of the right kind can be packed and carried on long treks. We need bread, and we need water, to be well and healthy.
We are invited in these stories to trust in the God who feeds us what we need to live, and calls us to gratitude for life. We are called to echo David’s Psalm - make our hearts clean, put a right spirit within us. When we eat the bread of life, when we drink the living water God offers, we can thrive, and be satisfied - and we can be grateful.
That’s why Louise and Phil impressed me so much. From our point of view, they didn’t have much. Life is a struggle, every single day, to make enough to live on. And yet, if you ask them, they will tell you they have enough. Bread, water, and fish - the three things Jesus used to demonstrate what really matters in life.
Acknowledgements:
1. Louise and Phil Decker, Gros Morne National Park
2. Material from the sermon “Thriving on Bread and Water” by Randy Thompson.
The whole Israelite community set out from Elim, and came to the Desert of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had left Egypt. In the desert the whole community grumbled against Moses and Aaron, saying “If only we had died by God’s hand in Egypt! There we sat around pots of meat and ate all the food we wanted, but you have brought us out into this desert to starve all of us to death.”
God said to Moses, “I will rain down bread from heaven for you. The people are to go out each day and gather just enough for that day. In this way I will test them and see whether they will follow my instructions. On the sixth day they are to prepare what they bring in, and that will be twice as much as they gather on the other days.”
So Moses and Aaron said to the Israelites, “In the evening you will know that it was God who brought you out of Egypt, and in the morning you will see God’s glory, because your grumbling has been heard.” Moses also said, “You will know that it was God when you are given meat to eat in the evening, and all the bread you want in the morning, because your grumbling has been heard. Who are we? You are not grumbling against us, but against God.”
Then Moses told Aaron, “Say to the entire Israelite community, ‘Come before God, for your grumbling has been heard.’” While Aaron was speaking, they looked toward the desert, and there was the glory of God appearing in the cloud.
God said to Moses, “I have heard the grumbling of the Israelites. Tell them, ‘At twilight you will eat meat, and in the morning you will be filled with bread. Then you will know that I am the Lord your God.’”
That evening quail came and covered the camp, and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the dew was gone, thin flakes like frost on the ground appeared on the desert floor. When the Israelites saw it, they said to each other, “What is it?” they did not know what it was.
Moses said to them, “It is the bread God has given you to eat. This is what the Lord has commanded: ‘Each one is to gather as much as he needs. Take an omer for each person you have in your tent.’”
The Israelites did as they were told; some gathered much, some little. When they measured it by the omer, the ones who gathered a lot did not have too much, and those who gathered only a little did not have too little. Each one had only as much as he needed.
*****************************************************************************
In 2009 Norio and I camped at Berry Hill in Gros Morne. There we met Louise and Phil Decker, who were the caretakers of the park campgrounds. Every morning, Louise was up at 6, and went to every single campground and rest area to clean the washrooms. Phil went around and emptied all the garbage cans. Then they both sat down to sort the garbage, taking out things like batteries, separating out the recycling. Phil is a retired fisherman, and at that time was still at sea on a seasonal basis, so he could bring in enough for the two of them to eat over the winter. Louise, of her own volition, started teaching a course to children in the campgrounds, about the native plants and animals of Newfoundland, the lives of those who fish for a living, and then she taught the children how to make certain kinds of local food. In the early spring, she cleaned every camp site, making sure the fire pits were cleared, cut the weeds down, sanded and painted the picnic tables. The day we sat with them, Louise had just finished a class with 39 kids. They own a tiny house, really a hut, on the property at Broom Point. Parks Canada wanted to make the whole point a historical site, so they offered to buy Louise and Phil’s property, for $3000 - and told them they could move the house off if they wished.
Like many small fishing huts, this one had been in the family for several generations. It was not originally a year-round living accommodation, but was there just to live in during the fishing season. Fishing families would come to the point every year, when their fishing permits allowed, in order to work. They processed, dried, and canned the fish right on the premises. There is still a small cannery hut there. The salt fish, and the canned salmon, was picked up by larger boats which took it to market. In 2009, Phil and Louise made 50c a pound on their lobster catch.
Norio and I sat with them in our campsite that July, over a glass of wine, and talked about life in Newfoundland. Needless to say we were impressed with the passion and the optimism of these two people.
Louise is a tiny woman, but don’t be fooled. She is a formidable presence, and passionate about her life. Get her talking about how the Canadian government is killing off the fisheries - and the lives of many people - by selling out to large corporations. Louise is smart, savvy, and hard-working. So is Phil. They love life, and despite their criticisms of the way things are done, and what is done to them, they have a solid faith that what they DO have is given to them, by God, to use well. They don’t have much, but if you asked them I am guessing they would say they have enough.
...and I am pleased to say that Louise is now a park interpreter. She travelled, on her own money, to New Brunswick, to take courses about the plants, animals and rocks of Newfoundland - because nothing was available here. She had never been away from Newfoundland before, and was afraid of going to Halifax, but she did. I’ve heard that her classes at Broom Point are packed and highly popular. Norio and I hope to catch up with them again this summer to see how life has changed for them.
I am telling this story because Louise and Phil epitomise for me what it means to be on a life journey. There have been times when these two were in a wilderness. Yet they survived, and grew, even if all they had was bread and water. - and for me it ties in with the words of the Psalm “Create a clean heart in me, O God, and put a right Spirit within me.”
Today we meet the Israelites, newly freed, and looking forward to going to the land they have been promised. In the first throes of real freedom, they were happy to be anywhere but Egypt, and they sang and danced their joy! Then, of course, as the days went on reality set in. The small stocks of food they had brought along were gone, and there was little if anything to eat in the wilderness. There was no wildlife, no large body of water, no edible plant life. The people became hungry and thirsty; the manna they were receiving didn’t last long, and water from a rock was hardly sufficient. Bread, and water: that was their diet in the wilderness. It began to feel like they were in prison again. Everything they had was taken away, and they had to rely on themselves instead of being fed by their captors, and they honestly had no clue about survival.
So, like most people when things don’t go the way they want, they complained, and they blamed their leaders, Moses and Aaron. They wanted to go back to Egypt, where they were slaves but had good food. God set them free from one kind of oppression just to kill them off in the desert? If they were going to die anyway, better to do it back in Egypt where at least they could do it in relative comfort. They wanted more: more food, more water, more variety in their diet. More. And someone else was supposed to do it for them.
They sound like us, don’t they? Like those ancient Israelites, we want more. We want more variety, more choices. So we can now order our fish deep-fried, broiled, baked, grilled, or blackened. We want to be able to eat all kinds of foods whenever we want it. We want our churches to grow, more people to come, but we don’t want to change how we do anything, and when it doesn’t happen, it’s our leaders who are the problem. There is a “Back to Egypt Committee” in every congregation.
Norio and I have an ongoing discussion - I won’t call it argument - about food when he is in Cuba. What is enough? After five weeks there, he doesn’t want to eat rice and beans any more. He can’t find Japanese noodles. The Chinese food isn’t really Chinese. There is some variety in the food but not what he gets in Toronto, where we can have anything we want any time. My comment to him is that he is too spoiled, that the Cubans have to eat those things every day. Yet there is a sense of gratitude for what they do have, even in the middle of a restricted life.
And that is where Louise and Phil come in. When we met them, they didn’t have the luxury of Japanese or Chinese or Korean or Thai or Greek or Italian, or whatever. Their diet is mainly fish; given all the wild berries we picked around the island, and the people we met picking them, I know that they get a lot of their fruit that way. They don’t have a lot of money, they can be critical, and yet on the most basic levels, they are satisfied.
It’s no accident that bread and grains are at the top of the food pyramid; they provide great nourishment. Bread of the right kind can be packed and carried on long treks. We need bread, and we need water, to be well and healthy.
We are invited in these stories to trust in the God who feeds us what we need to live, and calls us to gratitude for life. We are called to echo David’s Psalm - make our hearts clean, put a right spirit within us. When we eat the bread of life, when we drink the living water God offers, we can thrive, and be satisfied - and we can be grateful.
That’s why Louise and Phil impressed me so much. From our point of view, they didn’t have much. Life is a struggle, every single day, to make enough to live on. And yet, if you ask them, they will tell you they have enough. Bread, water, and fish - the three things Jesus used to demonstrate what really matters in life.
Acknowledgements:
1. Louise and Phil Decker, Gros Morne National Park
2. Material from the sermon “Thriving on Bread and Water” by Randy Thompson.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)