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Photo by Benny Jackson on Unsplash
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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.
[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
