Provision, Protection, and Power

 Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill        The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

On July 11, Brother Curtis, a monk at the Society of St. John the Evangelist in Cambridge, wrote this reflection. “Whatever kind of spiritual armor you need for your own protection, pray for that. It is a good way to begin the day. This is a way of co-operating with God’s provision, protection, and power to face the challenges of life with confidence and freedom.”

I have been captivated by the issue of power recently. Our Old Testament readings frequently mention the power of kings throughout the history of Israel and how they ruled their people with singular authority. And yet “when Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him their king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.” Why would he do that? Why would he not agree to the desires of these people? Just imagine all the good that he could do as their king!

Human power is imperfect and, as we know, it can be used for evil, ugliness, violence, and division. And it can also be used for good. Weapons can protect us as well as do unimaginable harm. Knowledge can bring us power and yet it can also paralyze us. Our media is powerful. It can lure us into thinking falsely or it can empower us to do good, to be good, and to act in ways that benefit others.

Psychologists describe our human reactions to threats and perceived harm by using 5 words that begin with the letter “F.” We flee, we fight, we freeze, we fawn, and we flop. Shots are fired and we flee. Shots are fired and we raise our fist and yell “fight.” Shots are fired, and terrified we freeze in our tracks. Or insidiously, we fawn over powerful people, outwardly acquiescing to them, while inwardly disgusted by their behavior. We flop in the face of powerful people and institutions, dropping our integrity like a bad habit.

“How do we deal with people who abuse their power in such egregious ways?” Joanna Harader, a Mennonite pastor and author, asked in a recent article. “In situations where I feel pitted against people or institutions with a great deal of power, it is tempting to simply slouch away and hope nobody notices me,” she wrote. (Christian Century July 2024, p27)  

When I was serving as a prayer partner with the young adults in the Life Together program, the leaders would often talk about their process. At the beginning of their time together, there would be an orientation to the program. Activities included some education, communal prayers and meditations, relationship building exercises, and expectations for their behavior. Learning to live as a beloved community in the face of challenges and differences was integral to the program.

            Naturally, disorientation would eventually follow. Scales would fall from the eyes of the participants as they realized that their leaders had clay feet, their roommates were not just different but difficult, and the institutions that they championed were broken and faulty. “It is easy to feel disappointed, even disoriented, when we find out that our would-be heroes aren’t so heroic after all,” wrote Joanna Harader. (Xian Century, p27, July 2024)

                Today’s gospel passage from St. John is well known for a variety of reasons, most notably that it is the only miracle story that appears in all four gospels. Interpretations by preachers and teachers often begin with the basic premise that God works miracles through Jesus. Literally, God’s power multiplies the fishes and loaves of bread for the crowd. Metaphorically, it echoes the early church’s communion liturgy, where bread is taken, blessed, broken, and given. Spiritually, the gospel story assures us that God’s power will provide for us, protect us, and feed us every day.

            One of my favorite stories is about a mother and her son who would go to the rail to receive communion. Because her son was not yet baptized, the mother would not let her son receive communion. Sunday after Sunday this is what occurred, until the little boy’s disappointment surfaced. When the priest walked by him that morning once again, the boy looked up at him and loudly declared, “You’re not sharing!”

            So an oft repeated interpretation of today’s feeding of the 5000 is a moral one. Sharing is caring, and this little boy in today’s gospel story was willing to share his meager meal with everyone. Because of his example, others in the crowd began to pull out their own little lunch boxes and share their food with others. Presumably, anyone who is listening to this story is shamed into letting go of some of their own stash.

However, “while such an interpretation may explain what happened, it diminishes the story by downplaying the miraculous aspect. God is no longer a miracle-worker unbounded by human laws, but a social manipulator who reminds people to share,” wrote Karen Marie Yust. Indeed, “God is reduced to a divine therapist counseling charity among greedy people, an omnipresent social worker reminding us of our duties,” she added.  (Karen Marie Yust, Feasting, p286)

                God knows that we need some behavioral modification these days. We need to tone down our political rhetoric, lower the temperature of our debates, stop the hate-speech, and refrain from violence in all its forms. We need to think less about the scarcity in our personal lives and more about the abundance in our communities. We need to see the power of God that surpasses all our understanding, and enables us to do more than we can ask or imagine. Empowered by God, we can not only see miracles but we can also work miracles.

            Overwhelmed by despair, like the disciples in today’s gospel story, we may shrug our shoulders in the face of such overwhelming human need, and argue that we are not enough, slouching away and hoping no one notices. It cannot be ignored that at many times in our lives we shall feel powerless. However, we do have the power to change our attitudes, and be grateful. We can change our thinking, our feelings, and our behavior. Or as Brother Curtis said, we can pray daily, “co-operating with God’s provision, protection, and power to face the challenges of life with confidence and freedom.”

            How can we face the challenges of life with confidence and freedom? By remembering that we are all passing through things that are temporal and by not losing sight of things that are eternal. When we remember the “height, depth, width, and length” of God’s love, we have entered into the spiritual realm of the saints.

            “Love is power that can save us,” wrote Presiding Bishop Curry. “Don't underestimate it. Don't even over-sentimentalize it. There is power in love to help and heal when nothing else can. There's power in love to lift up and liberate when nothing else will. There's power in love to show us the way to live,” he preached. Love can move swiftly, crossing boundaries and borders, to bring us peace and prosperity. It can multiply like the fishes and loves in today’s gospel story.

Why doesn’t Jesus want to be king? Maybe it’s because he knows the temptations that human powers can offer and He wants to remain fully connected to the power of God. Maybe that’s why he quickly withdraws to the mountain by himself. There He can reconnect with God without the voices of his disciples or the crowds around him, whispering, demanding, and encouraging him to be their king. Jesus was on a different mission. He had a different agenda.

Put on the whole armor of God, St. Paul wrote in his letter to the Ephesians. “Be strong in the Lord and in the strength of his power. For God’s power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly more than we can ask or imagine.”

Diseases and demons, bullets and bullies, can kill us which is why we need to wear this spiritual armor every day. “Whatever kind of spiritual armor you need for your own protection, pray for that. It is a good way to begin the day”, wrote Brother Curtis. And our secret service, which is the Spirit of God, will protect us with a divine power that is beyond our human understanding and will raise us to new life. Now that is a miracle.

 Ephesians 3:14-21        John 6:1-21

 

Listen!

           Church of the Redeemer, Chestnut Hill            The Rev. Nancy E. Gossling

 

Our General Convention for the Episcopal Church in the United States recently wrapped up in Louisville, Kentucky. Based upon our national political system, we have two houses: the House of Bishops and the House of Deputies, which includes both clergy and lay delegates. The big news coming out of our Convention this year was the election of our new Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Sean Rowe, whose message is one of change. Already, he has chosen to eschew a large and costly celebration at the National Cathedral in Washington D.C., and will begin his term in November after a simple ceremony in New York City.

It was also time at our General Convention to listen once again to our current Presiding Bishop, the Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, who is famous for his sermons about God’s love. In the revival worship service at the beginning of our Convention, Curry said, “Love can save us all. Love comes from the heart of God. This revival is not about what church you go to. It’s not about whether you are liberal or conservative. It’s not about whether you are Republican, Independent, or Democrat. Love is an equal opportunity employer. Love is bipartisan. Love is interreligious. Because love comes from God and love knows no bounds." PB, Rt. Rev. Michael Curry, GC Revival sermon, 6/25/24)

The Episcopal Church, while not known for its revival worship services, is known for being a big tent. Within this tent, we can find people coming from various religious backgrounds, perhaps looking for something different from the tradition they knew as a child, or perhaps looking for a tradition that is familiar. People come to listen to scripture, sermons, music, and each other.

When Jesus went home, after his whirlwind tour of calming the storms, healing the sick, feeding the hungry, and raising the dead, he was invited to speak in his hometown synagogue. The people were initially astounded at his teaching. They knew he hadn’t graduated from the local elite university, nor the famous rabbinical school for young men in his city. Instead he was showing a wisdom and power that was unaccounted for, and certainly not officially given to him by their leaders.

Jesus was just a carpenter who had become known as a rabbi with a small band of disciples trailing after him, hoping to pick up a few crumbs of his power and his knowledge. Today we may call them “groupies.” But there in Nazareth, Jesus was known as Mary’s son, and the brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon. And his sisters were there with him, perhaps modestly hanging back at a distance, proud of their big brother.

The people of Nazareth saw him as the local boy who had done well. And yet, there was no mention of his father in this gospel passage. Based upon the reaction of the leaders in the synagogue, some people have interpreted their questions about Jesus as slurs. Yes, he was a bona fide Jew, based upon his mother’s lineage, but who was his father? And where was he now? How is it that Jesus had the chutzpah to say and do all these things without their approval? And so they took offense at him.

The people who gathered that morning in the synagogue in Nazareth were expecting someone who would comfort them, not challenge them. And while St. Mark doesn’t tell us what Jesus said specifically, he does tell us that the people were offended. Rather than taking his teaching as an opportunity to understand God in new and different ways, they closed their minds and rejected Jesus. They refused to listen to him.

Power is an interesting animal or perhaps I should say an interesting temptation. Barbara Brown Taylor claims that our Church and our nation “have our own channels of power clearly marked and we are suspicious of people who operate outside of them. We believe we know what is right and what is wrong and we do not welcome anyone who challenges our beliefs.”(107, Bread of Angels) People who are ideologically, spiritually, and politically different from us are thorns in our flesh; and they keep poking us and afflicting us. So we take offense at them, refuse to listen to them, and like St. Paul, we beg God to remove them.

Barbara Brown Taylor also argues that God purposely sends people into our lives to shake us up. “God is always sending us people to disturb us - to wake us up, to yank our chains, to set us on fire - because the worst thing that can happen to us, religiously speaking, is for us to hold perfectly still without changing anything until we turn into fossils.” (107, Bread of Angels)  And so God sends us prophets like Ezekiel, St. Paul, and Jesus to speak truth to power, to afflict the comfortable, and to help us change and become better versions of ourselves. To help us become more faithful people.

God calls the people of Israel impudent and stubborn. Ezekiel calls them a “rebellious house.” When I’m being stubborn, I find myself digging in my heels, refusing to concede my points, justifying that I am right and they are wrong. And then someone comes along, or something happens to me, and a light begins to creep into my dark and closed mind. Or standing in the “hot mess” that I created, I look back and reflect on where I went wrong. I begin to see and understand life differently. I listen more attentively.

Eugene Petersen wrote a more contemporary version of the Bible which he called The Message. He translated part of today’s passage with these words: “On the Sabbath, Jesus gave a lecture in the meeting place. He made a real hit, impressing everyone. But in the next breath they were cutting him down. He couldn’t get over their stubbornness.”

Prophets appear like thorns in our flesh frequently. They call us back to a more faithful relationship with God, and a better way of living, and they are routinely ignored and rejected. Jesus was a prophet, who saw the stubbornness of God’s people in  his hometown. He knows what it is like to be a prophet without honor. He knows what it is like to have people laugh at him, disparage him, and reject him. And yet he carried on.

Have you ever been rejected? They say, “You’re too much of this, or too little of that.” It’s painful when someone rejects what we say, or what we have to offer, or what we believe. Many people are afraid of sharing their power and so they reject us. But Jesus’ response to the leaders in Nazareth is interesting. He doesn't invoke God’s fiery wrath to come down from heaven and torch the people who have rejected him. He doesn't curse them or even take offense at them. He just marvels at their unbelief. And then he moves on.

“Our differences may in fact bring us life,” said Barbara Brown Taylor, “if only we can manage to unstop our ears and listen to each other. If we cannot, then we should not be surprised if Jesus leaves us to go shine his light somewhere else.” (p108)

St. Paul was rejected repeatedly by his Jewish colleagues after coming to believe that Jesus was the Son of God. He was rejected by pagans, Romans, Greeks, and all sorts of people in power. Often persecuted and imprisoned, St. Paul didn’t stop proclaiming the good news about Christ, however. Although we don’t know exactly what that thorn was, St. Paul came to believe that it was a blessing. That thorn kept him from thinking too highly of himself. That thorn reminded him that his power came from God alone. That thorn reminded him that whenever he was weak he could find his strength in God.

After Jesus left his hometown, he immediately commissioned his disciples to go out two by two, giving them authority and power over unclean spirits. You see, Jesus shared his power and God’s power with others. He co-missioned his disciples for ministry. He told them, if people don’t listen to you, if they reject you, then just dust off your feet and move on. There are plenty of people who will need God’s healing power and love and who will listen to your message. Indeed, St. Mark wrote that after that, these disciples cast out demons and cured many people who were sick.

As the story of Jesus unfolds in the gospel of St. Mark, we repeatedly hear that Jesus was rejected not only by the powerful religious and political leaders of his day but also by his family and even his own disciples. And yet Jesus didn’t stop his mission of teaching and preaching about the power of God’s love. Like our current Presiding Bishop once said, “It’s not about us and our power or human affiliations. It’s all about the power of God’s love which will save us.”

The Spirit of God invites us to open our ears, our minds, and our hearts to God’s power and love as revealed in the person of Jesus. Don’t take offense; just listen to what He has to say and then go be a part of his mission and ministry.

Ezekiel 2:1-5            2 Corinthians 12:2-10        Mark 6:1-13