The Bread of Heaven

The Bread of Heaven

Grace, mercy and peace be unto you from God who is Creator, Christ and Comforter.  Amen

Thanksgiving was my second favorite holiday when I was a kid…second only to Christmas!    Thanksgiving meant spending the day with family: cousins, aunts and uncles, grandparents and great-grandparents. But most importantly, Thanksgiving meant food!  I can still remember the smell of my grandmother’s house – filled with the aroma turkey and ham, and all the fixings!  What I remember most, however, are my grandmother’s Parker House rolls.

My grandmother’s says that when she and grandpa got married back when they were kids, she didn’t know how to cook at all!  My great-grandma taught her everything she knew about cooking and baking – and my grandma was an excellent student – she took to it with a passion!  She was no gourmet cook – she was an everyday cook, and a great one, in my opinion!  Her Parker House rolls were simple and delicious…yeasty, buttery, soft and scrumptiously perfect for soaking up gravy!

Grandma always made her roll dough first thing on Thanksgiving morning.  I remember getting to her house and watching her roll out and cut those rounds of doughy goodness with precision and ease. The smell of the rolls would fill the house, even overpowering the smell of the bacon and onions in the green beans on the stove.

When I think of Thanksgiving, I remember those rolls.  My Grandma died several years ago and my feeble attempts at re-creating those rolls have been just that – feeble attempts – and I’m a pretty good cook myself!  I think the ingredient that’s missing is my grandma’s love – something that is irreplaceable! 

The gospel appointed for tonight is an interesting one.  Just when our minds are most focused on food, the pies and goodies awaiting us after this service, let alone what we might be cooking tomorrow, or which dish we most look forward to, John’s words strike us: “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… 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.’”

It’s obvious to most of us who live in the United States that our civic and religious Thanksgiving holiday is not really all about food.  Even the non-religious among us admit that Thanksgiving is at the very least a day in which we acknowledge what we have and what is important in our lives. We all live in here, we’ve been educated here (formally and informally), and we’ve all heard the story of how that first Thanksgiving holiday came to be –  with Native Peoples and Pilgrims coming together to give thanks to the Creator.  It all sounds so good, doesn’t it?  The truth of the successive years of our country’s history, the common practice of thanksgiving, tell another story.  Thankfulness gave way to greed, usurpment and exploitation.  And sadly, it still continues…dare I say Standing Rock on Thanksgiving Eve?

For those of us who are Christians, Thanksgiving Day is about giving thanks to God, the Creator of everything there is. I am pretty certain that when we begin a list of the things we are most thankful for, our car, our home, for food, for clothing, for our job, and for money to pay our bills…it sounds a lot like the “food that perishes,” as Jesus put it in John’s gospel.  Please hear me say that there is nothing wrong with giving thanks for the perishables in our lives, but that’s not the question Jesus is prompting us to take a look at in this text.

Jesus is asking where we place our faith.  

Thankfulness for turkey and Parker House rolls won’t feed the hungry. Thankfulness for a closet full of clothing won’t clothe the naked. Thankfulness for a good home and a good job won’t house the homeless or right the economic injustice in our society. Only our faith in Jesus and our participation in God’s mission will do that.

There is great tension in our country, and around the world, due to the outcome of our recent election.  We are a country divided, and I can’t help but think about the story from Matthew’s gospel about Jesus curing the man who was blind and mute and how the crowds around him accused him of being in cohorts with the Devil (because of course, in those days, anyone who had a disability, was possessed by the Devil) and Jesus’ reply was simple and straightforward: “Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand…” (Matthew 12:25)

We are of three congregations here this evening with differing worship practices, yet all of our practices, and all of our worship points to the same Jesus who loves us!   In a few moments, we will be invited to, once again, receive the “bread of life” as we share together Holy Communion.  Jesus offers himself to us, Jesus gives us himself, and we are reminded that it’s a forever gift – a gift that doesn’t know political party, or gender identity, or status, or race, or ethnicity – because ALL human beings are God’s children.  ALL human beings are offered the forgiveness, life and salvation that Jesus brought as he lived and loved and healed and taught and died and rose again.   We, who are Christians, have the privilege of sharing Jesus with others!  

Tomorrow, as we gather around our various tables to give thanks to God, what if we would take a moment to be thankful for the non-perishables in our lives?   It doesn’t have to be out loud.  Be thankful for God’s mission of inclusivity and love and God’s kingdom of ALL nations and peoples!  As we break bread this Thanksgiving around our tables, may we who follow in the way of Jesus be moved beyond thankfulness for turkey and gravy; may we be moved beyond thankfulness for family traditions; may we be moved to receive with gratitude and then to share with joy the bread of heaven, which gives life to the world! 

What would happen if, after our dinners, we moved from acknowledgment and faith…to action and participation in making this world a better place for everyone? 

In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.  Amen