Sermon: Where

Photo by Benny Jackson on Unsplash

Sermon Preached on July 29, 2018

Proper 12B RCL

The Rev. Vicki K. Hesse,

Director of the Whitaker Institute, 

Episcopal Diocese of Michigan

St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Brighton, MI

Good morning.  My name is Rev. Vicki Hesse.

I serve the Diocese as the Director of the Whitaker Institute.

The Whitaker Institute is the educational arm of the Diocese.

Ask: Who here has taken a class from the Whitaker Institute? 

Our overall purpose is (slowly)

to form disciples to carry on the ministry of Jesus Christ.

(that’s a big mission, but we have a big God!)

We do this through about a dozen Dio-wide programs for

members of our faith community as lifelong formation.

Three programs you may know include:

Safe Church courses (now being revised),

“Academy for Vocational Leadership,” a local school for ordained ministry and

“Exploring Your Spiritual Journey,” aka EYSJ,

for anyone (lay or called to ordination) to learn how God is calling them.

These are only three of several programs.

Perhaps there will be time at coffee hour

to learn more about learning and working together

for mutual transformation.

So thank you, Fr. Deon, who is on vacation this week,

for your invitation to be here today. 

Now we gather our minds and hearts and breathe into this space

as we reflect on our gospel message today.

(Prayer)

During my last year of seminary,

my bishop (of WNC) required us seminarians

to complete the GOE’s, the General Ordination Exams[1].

These were six on-line essay questions

scripture, history, theology, ministry, worship, ethics.

offered over three days. And it was timed. 

We felt our lives depended upon answering these correctly.

During the preparation season, we developed a mantra,

“answer the question, the whole question,

and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

What we learned from previous GOE test takers was

that the more you wrote,

the more likely you’d write yourself out of an effective answer. So

“answer the question, the whole question,

and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

I’ve been thinking this week about questions. 

And here’s why.  In today’s gospel text,

Jesus went up the mountain, sat down

and when he saw a large crowd coming toward him,

he asked Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”

Notice, the question: “where” are we to buy bread for these ppl?

Not, “can you give me a budget

for how much it would cost to buy bread”

nor “how much food do you think we need

to feed all these people?”

nor even, “can you see if there is anyone

who has any extra food in their picnic basket

to help feed those ppl who brought nothing?”

Answer the question, the whole question and nothing but the question, Philip. 

Jesus asked “where,” Andrew, not how much. 

See, Philip and Andrew offered an answer

from their context, their conventional perspective. 

They focused on money. They focused on food.

They tried to solve this under their own power.

They didn’t see any part of “the question behind the question.”

How often in our world today,

is a response offered not for the question asked? 

With so much uncivil discourse in our political bantering

that we are tempted to forget the real question,

to notice what is really at stake. 

And in our emotional response,

we sometimes lose perspective of what is the truth.

And so we answer in conventional binary ways –

that person is “right” or “wrong.” 

Or that opinion is “factual” or “fake.”

Opiod crisis? Affecting us or not affecting us?

Poverty among children? In our community or not in our community?

But wait – what is the question, the whole question, nothing but the question?

Our societal dependence on scientific fact

can blind us from God’s overarching command

to care for the earth anyway. 

Sometimes a neighborhood’s “not in my back yard” approach

prevents us responding to a national crisis

of health and poverty that affects our neighbors

and the children all around us anyway. 

Human’s traditional binary categories

cannot comprehend in advance

what Jesus has to offer to our context, our lives, our world.

“Answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question, so help me God.”

Remember that little sentence, just after Jesus asks Phil about bread,

“He said this to test him,

for he himself knew what he was going to do” ? THERE is a clue.

Jesus knew that there was enough food,

regardless of Philip and Andrew’s poorly articulated answer

to their GOE question. 

That was the astonishing thing:

Turned out - Jesus was the source of food enough, as the Son of God. 

Jesus knew that to feed people, to ensure they were satisfied,

he had to anticipate their needs. 

He knew that to fill people’s bellies

would require a good ambiance. 

“Make the people settle down[2] and sit on the grass,” he commanded,

alluding to the line from Psalm 23,

which of course Jesus, as any good Jewish rabbi would know.

So then he took the loaves and the fish,

gave thanks and what did he do?

Astonishingly, He himself was the one to feed them.  

For Jesus knew that he himself was the gift of life – the source of life -

through this feeding by the five loaves and two fish. 

From WHERE will the bread for these people come?

From Jesus himself.

Who offered food for their bellies until there were even left overs?

Jesus himself.

What is the answer to the question, the whole question, nothing but the question?

Jesus himself.

That was the good news then and it is still the good news today. 

Jesus anticipates our needs

and provides more than we can ask or imagine. 

But we do resist Jesus. Why is that?

We resist because society poses the wrong question.

We resist because we want to control.

We resist because we value security over love.

We resist because we are afraid.

We resist because we are strange, unique, distinct creatures

who doubt that Jesus knows us *that* well.

What would it be like to truly

“answer the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question”?

We can  ask, what is at stake?

Then we live into what Poet Rainer Marie Rilke says,

“Be patient toward all that is unsolved in your heart

and try to love the questions themselves.”

Today, Jesus invites us to know from WHERE…

“we are to buy bread for these people to eat?”

WHERE is the whole question of our lives.

From WHERE will our bread come?

From Jesus himself.

Okay, confession time. I have been watching

– binging, really – the new season of Queer Eye. 

In this 2018 TV reality show, Queer Eye features the “Fab Five”

– five gay men who (on the surface)

“make over” a clueless protagonist

in the areas of grooming, fashion, food, culture, and home decor.

As Sojourner’s magazine recently wrote[3],

“… each episode becomes more than a makeover

as the … fab five breaks through the hero’s [inner] walls

and reach the root of their low self-esteem.”

As the real-life person integrates improved choices,

they ultimately find a deep confidence

to be exactly who they are: distinct, exotic, quirky, and joyful,

bringing their whole lives into question.

What does this show have to do with

answering Jesus’ question, “From WHERE will the bread come?”

This show offers a glimpse of the astonishing power of Love.

God’s Love disguised in these ministering Fab Five.

From WHERE will your bread come?

From Jesus himself  - his grace and astonishing presence.

It is Jesus himself that is

the inspiration behind your “Second Sunday” food drive for Gleaners.

It is Jesus himself that is

the inspiration for your own “Loaves & Fishes” ministry that

continues to provide free, nutritious meals

in a caring environment with special concern

for families and senior citizens.

It is Jesus himself that guides all the people gathered here at St. Paul’s

          To love and serve each other: as you know –

people who are in need

and people who are struggling

to experience God’s love in active, tangible ways.

Today’s good news is about Jesus’ grace for all people, the source of life abundant.

In the last part of the gospel text today we read that

Jesus walked across the water to the disciples’ boat.

They were terrified.

When Jesus says, “It is I, do not be afraid,” they recognize him,

and they reach their destination. 

Notice: When they recognize him, they are already WHERE they were going.

When recognize Jesus, we arrive.

And, when we arrive, Jesus recognizes us.

We are WHERE we are supposed to be.

So for the question, the whole question, and nothing but the question,

The answer is – IN JESUS. In his grace and glory.

Do not be afraid.

Amen.

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[1] The GOE aims to evaluate the perception and analysis of issues in the several areas; the application of training and resources; the demonstration of knowledge and pastoral sensitivity; and the articulation of views. For more info, see http://www.episcopalgbec.org/index.php cited on July 28, 2018.

[2] David Bentley Hart, “The New Testament: A Translation” (New Haven, Yale University Press, 2017), p. 181

[3] Cited at https://sojo.net/articles/surprising-ministry-queer-eye on July 28, 2018