Spiritual Growth :: Sermons

Sunday, August 30, 2009.
Proper 17B RCL. The Rev. Sabeth Fitzgibbons

We have spent the first four Sundays in August talking about bread, specifically Jesus as the bread of life A bread that answers a hunger we may not recognize A bread that fills us and empowers us and nourishes us to be the body of Christ in the world A bread that is gift – freely given and always available to us

The reconciliation and transformation that is ours with the bread of life is a transformation of our inner selves It is this very same interior transformation to which both Jesus and the singer of the Song of Solomon refer in today’s readings

You might recognize the Song of Solomon reading as a wedding reading It speaks of love’s abandon to the beloved Of the fruitfulness of the land, newly awakened in spring, and the beloved’s invitation to arise and come away

An interior transformation of perspective, the rose-colored glasses of love and passion for life, and the call to leave the comfort of home for new and uncharted places, nurtured and accompanied by the beloved

Pedro Arrupe, a Jesuit priest write, describes this kind of falling in love

"Nothing is more practical than finding God, that is, than falling in love in a quite absolute, final way.

What you are in love with, what seizes your imagination, will affect everything.

It will decide what will get you out of bed in the morning, what you will do with your evenings, how you will spend your weekends, what you read, who you know, what breaks your heart, and what amazes you with joy and gratitude.

Fall in love, stay in love and it will decide everything."

Attributed to Pedro Arrupe, SJ

The interior transformation of falling in love flows from the inside to the outside, coloring our every decision It’s a capacity we all have And a choice we all can make – to give ourselves to love

The conversation Jesus is having with the Pharisees in Mark’s gospel is also about interior transformation

Jewish law has many rules about washing hands and dishes, food preparation and storage, laws that make sense for health reasons When the Pharisees ask why Jesus’ disciples are eating without washing their hands – something prescribed by Jewish law – Jesus is reminded of a quote from Isaiah about keeping the law with lips but not hearts Keeping the law on the exterior, but not the interior

It’s a discussion about legalism versus love Legalism, the keeping of the law in exterior ways Like making sure hands and food are always washed before eating Or crossing ourselves at certain times in the service Versus Love Action that reflects the interior transformation that happens to us when we respond to the beloved When we eat of the bread of life and become the body of Christ Love that seeps out of us from the inside to outside actions

Jesus makes clear that it is the attitude with which we approach one another and the world— pride or love, mercy or judgment, exclusion or acceptance—that betrays our true hearts. We can either be devoted to our own egos and self-promotion, or to the gospel of Jesus Christ. For Christians, these attitudes are mutually exclusive, and discipleship means choosing one over the other.

As we choose to receive the bread of life, we choose transformation and redemption, we choose to be Christ’s hands and heart in the world We also choose to be part of a larger body, united with one another A body where there are many parts with unique functions, and yet we are all focused on one thing – Jesus Christ It IS an either/or Either self-focus or Jesus-focus Either legalism or love

At the end of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Dumbledore (the head of school) addresses all the students when it becomes clear that the embodiment of evil is among them. He says: We are only as strong as we are united, as weak as we are divided. [Evil’s] gift for spreading discord and enmity is very great. We can fight it only by showing an equally strong bond of friendship and trust. Differences of habit and language are nothing at all if our aims are identical and our hearts are open.

This is our challenge as well: To open our hearts to love To be fed by the living bread To allow, and even desire, the transformation of ourselves and our lives from the inside out as we strive to be Christ’s disciples