Hearers and Doers of the Word in Jersey City

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

August 30, 2015

Year B, Proper 17: The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Psalm 45:1-2, 7-10

James 1:17-27

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Hearers and Doers of the Word in Jersey City

            Well, we have quite a collection of lessons today, don’t we?

            We began with some pretty gushy love poetry from the Song of Solomon.            

            That was followed with a well-known passage from the Epistle of James, calling us to be not just hearers of the word but doers of the word – challenging us by defining pure religion as caring for orphans and widows in distress and keeping ourselves unstained by the world.

            And then we have today’s gospel lesson, which includes a dispute between Jesus and the Pharisees.

            Some of you have heard me say before that I think the Pharisees get a bad rap in the New Testament.

            We don’t actually know all that much about Pharisees in the first century, but they were a group within Judaism that it seems was interested in making everyday life holy – bringing practices that were used only in worship into everyday life – things like ritually washing one’s hands before eating.

            (Of course, washing one’s hands before eating is good hygiene!)

            It’s hard to know how much of the conflict between Jesus and the Pharisees that we hear about in the gospels is historical or reflects later battles between infant Christianity and the Pharisees as they competed for followers during decades after the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

            And, frankly, it seems unlikely that Jesus the Jew really did declare all foods to be clean – especially since we know that the Jewish dietary laws remained a big source of conflict for the early church as it began to welcome non- Jewish members.

            It’s hard to imagine that members of the early church would have fought so hard about whether non-Jews had to keep kosher if Jesus had spoken so clearly on the subject.

            Anyway, one thing we do know for sure – and something that always makes me as a “professional Christian” a little nervous - is that Jesus didn’t really have much use for the religious establishment of his day.

            He condemned them as hypocrites who said one thing but did another, who put heavy religious and financial demands on the people, who loved to put on a good religious show but whose hearts were far from God, as we heard Jesus say to the Pharisees in today’s lesson.

            Jesus reminds the Pharisees and his disciples – and us here today – that what’s going on in our hearts is most important – because it’s our hearts that produce the evil intentions listed in today’s lesson and those other evil intentions that didn’t make the list – and these evil things are what defile us.

            In today’s gospel, Jesus focuses on what’s going on in our hearts.

            And, in the Letter of James, we’re reminded to be not just hearers but doers.

            All of this reminds me of two of my favorite gospel characters: the sisters Mary and Martha.

            I bet many of you – maybe especially the women – remember the story from Luke’s gospel of Jesus visiting the Mary and Martha’s home.

            On one level it’s a kind of mysterious story but on another level it’s so very human.

            Martha is busy, taking care of all that needs to be done to welcome their honored guest while meanwhile her sister Mary sat at the Lord’s feet, listening to Jesus’ every word.

            Martha complains to Jesus, “Lord, do you not care that my sister has left me to do all the work by myself? Tell her to help me.”

            But instead of telling Mary to get to work, Jesus says, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her.”

            In the story, Mary is the hearer and Martha is the doer.

            And, the truth is, you and I are called to be both Mary and Martha. We are called to be both hearers and doers of the word.

            It’s as hearers of the word that we allow God – who loves us with a gushy love - to take care of our hearts, nurturing our hearts so that God’s goodness and love flow out of us and into our world so defaced and broken by evil.

            And, I think that, with God’s help, with each passing day we Jersey City Episcopalians are doing a better and better job of being both Mary and Martha, with God’s help we’re doing a better and better job of being both hearers and doers of the word.

            As it says on our Jersey City Episcopal banner, “The Word is getting around!” More people really are finding their way to our churches. More of us are worshiping at our three churches – where, each with our own distinctive style and tradition, we hear the Word of God, extend the hand of peace, receive the Body and Blood of Christ, and are then sent out into our defiled and broken world to love and serve the Lord.

            More of us are hearing the Word.

            And more of us are doing the Word.

            There’s so much happening that I certainly don’t know everything that’s going on at all three of our churches and at Garden State Episcopal CDC, but I know that people are being fed and clothed, children are being cared for, a sense of community is being strengthened, and shelter is being provided for the homeless and the poor.

            Together we’ve been involved in the exciting community organizing effort that’s going on across our city. Together we’ve been trying to get a Family Promise affiliate up and running in Hudson County – to provide much-needed shelter for homeless families, who are often carefully hidden all around us.

            We are doing the Word by extending God’s love to those people the world is quick to dismiss as useless, as losers, as unlovable, as not worth – as not deserving – our effort.

            Together, more and more often, we Jersey City Episcopalians are Mary and Martha. Together we are hearers of the Word and doers of the Word.

            Today as we gather together for our third annual service and barbeque picnic at Liberty State Park, my prayer is that we will continue to deepen our commitment to be hearers of the Word.

            My prayer is that we will deepen our commitment to being doers of the Word, sharing God’s love with a defiled and broken Jersey City, sharing God’s love with a defiled and broken world.

            With God’s help, may it be so.

            Amen. 

Walking in the Way of the Lord

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

August 23, 2015

Year B, Proper 16: The Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

1 Kings 8:1, 6, 10-11, 22-30, 41-43

Psalm 84

Ephesians 6:10-20

John 6:56-69

Walking in the Way of the Lord

            Last Sunday in our Old Testament lesson we heard about the death of King David, who was then succeeded by his son Solomon.

            Solomon, you’ll remember, felt inadequate to the job and so asked God for the gift of wisdom. God happily obliged and to this day Solomon is remembered for his great wisdom.

            Solomon is also remembered for the construction of the first temple in Jerusalem.

            You might remember that a little while back we heard the story of how David had wanted to build a house for God – a house made of cedar – but God made it clear that God would be doing the house-building, thank you very much!

            But, Solomon actually does build a house for God, builds the Temple, one of the great architectural marvels of the ancient world, the place where, in a sense, God was believed to dwell, the building that became the center of life for the people of Israel.

            In today’s lesson we hear King Solomon offer a long prayer during the dedication of the great temple.

            As we still sometimes do in our prayers to this day, in his prayer Solomon reminds God (as if God needed reminding!) of what God had done – reminds God of what God had promised to God’s people.

            At one point in his prayer, Solomon reminds God of God’s promise to David, the promise that his line would last forever “if only your children look to their way, to walk before me as you have walked before me.”

            God promised to continue David’s line if the people continued to walk in the way of the Lord.

            Walking in the way of the Lord.

            If you know your Bible, you know that sometimes the people of Israel did a good job of walking in the way of the Lord. Other times, not so much.

            For us Christians walking in the way of the Lord means putting – and keeping – God – the God we know in and through Jesus - at the center of our lives.

            Walking in the way of the Lord means loving our neighbors as ourselves. It means loving our enemies, turning the other cheek, praying for those who persecute us.

            Walking in the way of the Lord means at least trying to love those who the world rejects, trying to love those who often are so hard to love.

            Walking in the way of the Lord means withholding judgment on others – unless we ourselves want to be judged.

            Walking in the way of the Lord means giving of ourselves generously – giving not just what’s extra, what’s left over, but giving in a sacrificial way, giving so that it hurts us at least a little, giving that requires us to deny ourselves something we want, giving that requires us to do something we’d really rather not have to do.

            All very difficult.

            It is a great challenge to walk in the way of the Lord, isn’t it? In fact, it might very well be the greatest challenge of our lives.

            In fact, walking in the way of the Lord is so difficult, so challenging, and sometimes even so dangerous, that, as we heard in today’s second lesson, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians uses some kind of frightening military imagery.

            He writes: “Put on the whole armor of God, so that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.”

            Walking in the way of the Lord is so difficult we heard in today’s gospel lesson that some – maybe even many – of Jesus’ followers found it too hard to follow him and so they fell away.

            Walking in the way of the Lord is so challenging because the forces of the world are constantly calling us to walk a very different way.

            The world calls us to put our own wants and needs first, to ignore our neighbors, to not waste our time even trying to love those who are hard to love, to judge people – to judge them on the worst thing they’ve ever done, to hold on for dear life to everything we have, because, well, you never know, right?

            In fact, walking in the way of the Lord is so challenging that we might be tempted to throw up our arms in frustration and give up – to live just like everybody else.

            Except.

            Except that every once in a while God sends us a reminder that it really is possible to walk in the way of the Lord.

            Every once in a while God sends us a reminder that God is ready and willing to give us the strength, the courage, the guidance, to walk in the way of the Lord.

            Jimmy Carter is one of those reminders.

            As I’m sure many of you know, this past week President Carter announced that his cancer had spread to his brain and that, at age 90, he is beginning radiation treatments.

            So, I’ve been thinking a lot about Jimmy Carter and keeping him in my prayers.

            Now, he’d admit that he’s not perfect. And, you don’t get to be governor of a state or president of the United States without being tough and ambitious and self-confident.

            And, he has been mostly judged to be not such a successful president, though I think history will be kinder to Carter who was ahead of his time about energy efficiency, even placing solar panels on the White House roof, kinder to Carter who forged a lasting peace between the mortal enemies of Israel and Egypt, history will be kinder to Carter than many of his successors.

            But, it’s what he’s done after leaving office that’s most impressive.

            While other former presidents usually spend their time getting well-compensated for making speeches or sitting on corporate boards or writing their memoirs or playing golf, Carter has devoted his long post-presidency to walking in the way of the Lord, to serving others.

            As you may know, after leaving office he and his wife Rosalynn (married since 1946, by the way) started the Carter Center, which is devoted to democracy and public health.

            He and his organization have monitored elections all around the world. In fact, he was monitoring an election in Guyana when he first began feeling ill. The Carter Center has spearheaded the effort to eradicate the terrible disease called Guinea worm.

            When the effort began, in 1986, there were 3.5 million cases mostly in Africa and Asia. Last year there were 126 cases and President Carter said, “I’d like the last Guinea worm to die before I do.”

            On top of all of that he’s been faithful volunteer for Habitat for Humanity and still teaches Sunday School at his church in Georgia.

            Whatever you might think of his politics, over his long life Jimmy Carter has walked in the way of the Lord.

            I’m sure it wasn’t easy – there were temptations and disappointments along the way.

            But, now he gets to enjoy - and we get to see – what it means to abide with Jesus.

            And, look, after a lifetime of walking in the way of the Lord, Jimmy Carter faces the future without fear and with hope and confidence.

            At his press conference the other day he said that at first he thought he’d be dead in a just a few weeks. He said, “But I was surprisingly at ease. I’ve had a wonderful life, I’ve had thousands of friends, and I’ve had an exciting and adventurous and gratifying existence.”

            Finally, he said, “Now I feel it’s in the hands of God.”

            Walking in the way of the Lord.

            It is a great challenge to walk in the way of the Lord. In fact, it might very well be the greatest challenge of our lives.

            In fact, walking in the way of the Lord is so challenging that we might be tempted to throw up our arms in frustration and give up – to live just like everybody else.

            Except that every once in a while God sends us a reminder that it really is possible to walk in the way of the Lord.

            Every once in a while God sends us a reminder that God is ready and willing to give us the strength, the courage, the guidance, to walk in the way of the Lord.

            With God’s help, we can walk in the way of the Lord. Just look at the man from Plains, Georgia.

            Amen.

"Making the Most of the Time"

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

August 16, 2015

Year B, Proper 15: The Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

1 Kings 2:10-12; 3:3-14

Psalm 111

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

Making the Most of the Time

            In today’s Old Testament lesson, we heard about the death of King David and the rise of his successor, Solomon, who, understandably, feels like he’s not quite up to the job. He says, poignantly, “I do not know how to go out or come in.”

            And so, recognizing his inadequacy, Solomon asks God to give him wisdom – he asks God to give him “an understanding mind to govern your people, able to discern between good and evil.”

            We’re told that God is so pleased by this request – so pleased that Solomon didn’t ask for the usual stuff, you know, long life or riches – God is so pleased that God grants Solomon his request, bestowing on him the gift for which he is famous to this day: wisdom.

            I think we can all agree that Solomon made a smart – yes, even, wise – request.

            Certainly all leaders need as much wisdom as they can get. But, it’s not just leaders. All of us need wisdom all the time as we face the many challenges and opportunities of life.

            And, you know, one of the biggest challenges and opportunities of our lives is deciding how we use our time. How do we use our precious, fast-moving, all too limited time here on earth?

            In today’s second lesson, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians writes, “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time…”

            Making the most of the time.

            Making the most of the time.

            We’re all fully capable of wasting time. I do it and I’m sure most of us do it.

            But, I think most of us at least try to make the most of the time we’ve been given.  
            Many of our parishioners – many of you - have had to work long and hard in order to support your families, to pay the bills, to create a better life for your children and maybe even for yourself.

            I don’t know everyone’s situation but I know the long hours that many of us put in or have put in at a job – or, sometimes, at multiple jobs. I know the long hours some of us spend or have spent just looking for a job.

            I worry about some of you because I know how long and hard you work.

            And, it’s not just adults. I know how hard kids have to work in school, often, unfortunately, in less than ideal circumstances, and then later they – you - have to deal with homework and maybe an afterschool job or family responsibilities.

            And I know how careful you must be to make the most of the time that’s not spent working or in school. I know that time with family and friends, time for rest and recreation, and to time to pray and to worship is limited and must be used carefully.

            “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time…”

            For a little over two years now, here at St. Paul’s we have done a pretty good job of making the most of the time.

            In fact, it’s been intense, hasn’t it?

            There are many more people here every Sunday. We are the biggest we’ve been in many years. People are choosing to make the most of their time by worshiping here. Our longtime faithful parishioners have stuck with St. Paul’s and in many cases deepened their involvement. Some who had drifted away have returned. And, wonderful new people have found us, put down roots here, bringing exciting gifts, new ideas, and infectious energy.

            We have continued what was already in place and expanded with weekday worship, Craft Guild, Yoga, Stone Soup, and more.

            We have made significant capital improvements – including the air conditioning that I know I’m very grateful for on this very hot day.

            We have made new and exciting connections with the community and are now seen as a community center or as one person said to me,  St. Paul’s is “one of the beating hearts in the body of this community.”

            And, our financial generosity to the church has grown enormously.

            Many of us have pledged – almost everybody, really, and the last few of you still can – and many of us are giving sacrificially, choosing to deny ourselves in order to support the work of the church.

            But.

            Those of you who have looked at our budget know that St. Paul’s doesn’t have enough money to pay the salary of a full-time priest and to keep doing all that we’re doing – and to do even more than what we’re doing.

            So, what to do?

            Since I want to stay here and continue the great work we’ve begun together I had just begun to try to think creatively of what I might do on the side to make up the difference in my salary.

            Drive for über?

            Wait tables at Carvao, the cool new restaurant on Bergen Avenue?

            Slice the bagels at Wonder Bagels?

            Deliver pies for Prince of Pizza?

            I was just beginning to try to think “creatively” when suddenly I spotted (on Facebook, if you can believe it!) that St. Peter’s Prep – my alma mater and where I taught before going to seminary - was looking for a Religion Teacher.

            I said to Sue, mostly jokingly, “Maybe I should go for it!”

            But then I thought, “Maybe I should go for it!”

            Well, to cut to the chase, I did go for it and they hired me.

            This amazing and unexpected development solves a lot of our problems.

            I will continue here at St. Paul’s as your rector. Sue and I will still be next door in the rectory. But, the church will only need to pay me half time. And, I’ll get my health insurance through school so that large expense is also taken out of our budget.

            Here at St. Paul’s, we will be dependent only on God and our own generosity.

            And, believe me, we can use the savings for all sorts of things, including some capital improvements like the front stairs, and reducing how much money we take each month from the church’s investments to pay our bills.

            And, as I’ve mentioned to you before, I’ve always missed teaching and this gives me the chance to get back in the classroom teaching religion – uniting both of my vocations as priest and teacher, truly making the most of my time.

            This amazing and unexpected development not only solves problems but it also creates a lot of opportunities for St. Paul’s.

            It’s true that I won’t be able to do quite as much as I’ve been doing here for the past two years. But, you know what? I don’t have to. Because:

            St. Paul’s is stable, healthy, and growing.

            So, now is the time for all of us to make the most of our time– it’s time for all of us to make the most of our time by giving ourselves in loving service to this church and to this community.

            So, go ahead, bring in items for the food pantry or volunteer at Stone Soup.

            Go ahead, volunteer to be an usher, or an acolyte, or a lector, or a chalice-bearer, or a Sunday School teacher. Volunteer to help with the altar guild, allowing us to worship so beautifully each week.

            Go ahead, help the Craft Guild knit prayer shawls for the sick and little hats for babies.

            Go ahead, help with the garden. Don’t worry, a more experienced gardener will tell you if it’s a weed or a plant we want to keep.

            Go ahead, create some new ministry we haven’t thought up yet.

            And, yes, go ahead, make your pledge – or edge up your pledge – to St. Paul’s.

            Because, you know, this is the place where we truly make the most of the time.

            This is the place where we make the most of the time – this is where we receive the living bread – this is where we receive Jesus – who feeds us – who abides with us – and with whom we live forever.

            So, together, like Solomon, let’s pray for God’s great gift of wisdom – the wisdom we need to make the most of the time we have been given – the wisdom to make the most of our time together here at St. Paul’s.

            “Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time…”

            Amen.

Starving People

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

Church of the Incarnation, Jersey City NJ

August 9, 2015

Year B, Proper 14: The Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33

Psalm 130

Ephesians 4:25-5:2

John 6:35, 41-51

Starving People

            If you’ve been in church during the past few Sundays you may be experiencing deja vu since  this is the third Sunday in a row that we’ve had gospel lessons that are, at least in part, about bread.

            We’ve been talking so much about bread that even the super-resourceful and creative Gail Blache-Gill is running out of hymns about bread!

            Two weeks ago we heard the story of one of Jesus’ greatest miracles – or signs, as the Evangelist John calls them – the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes.

            You remember: a huge crowd of hungry people – John tells us it was about 5,000 people - gathered around Jesus and his disciples. The disciples were concerned because they had so little food to feed all these hungry people – just five barley loaves and two fish.

            But Jesus blessed the bread and the fish and it was passed around the crowd. And, there was enough. There was more than enough.

            Then last week we heard that most of the crowd was hungry again – or maybe still hungry - for what’s most important.

            They had eaten the bread but they were still hungry – hungry for what Jesus calls the “true bread from heaven” – “the bread of God (is that) which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

            These people are no dopes – they know a good thing when they hear it – they know this bread that Jesus is talking about is better than the manna their ancestors ate in the desert – they know this bread is even better than the miraculous bread they had eaten the day before - and so they say to Jesus, “Sir, give us this bread always.”

            To which Jesus replies with more than they or even Jesus’ disciples can grasp, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

            The passage we heard today is all about misunderstanding and conflict between Jesus and the group that John calls “the Jews.” Remember, though, that pretty much everybody in the New Testament was a Jew, including Jesus.

            And, today’s passage probably reflects painful conflicts between a young Christianity and Judaism that were going on near the end of the first century when the Gospel of John was completed.

            So, if you don’t mind, I don’t want to talk about that today.

            Instead, all this talk of bread has gotten me to reflect on all the hungry people who are all around us.

            There are hungry people all around us.

            People call or come by St. Paul’s all the time because they are hungry.

            People call saying they don’t have enough money to buy food for their families – not enough money to feed their children.

            People come by asking, do you have a food pantry – anything at all to eat?

            Sometimes I give them some money or I take them into the back of church and invite them to take items out of our food pantry donations. Sometimes there’s plenty, sometimes there’s not.

            But, you don’t need me to tell you there are hungry people all around us.

            I know that some of our own parishioners are hungry – people on fixed incomes that don’t quite cut it – people who’s food stamps have been cut to just a few measly dollars a month – people who have to eat a lot of pasta and canned foods to make it through the month.

            And, I know that you see the hungry people around us – people begging, people lined up every day at Let’s Celebrate over on Fairview Avenue waiting for lunch, the people who line up once a month on Storms Avenue for Garden State Episcopal’s emergency food pantry that we support with our food donations.

            One of the things I’m so glad to see at St. Paul’s is a growing interest and willingness to feed people.

            I know some of you have made bringing food pantry donations a real priority, a kind of spiritual discipline. I know some have been teaching children and grandchildren why this is important – how there are hungry people who need our help.

            Our monthly Stone Soup Community Supper is starting to come into its own, drawing a diverse group of neighbors and parishioners – probably all of whom have at last some food at home but maybe don’t get to eat such healthy and delicious home-cooked so often.

            In November we will once again host Trish’s Thanksgiving Community Supper – a healthy and delicious feast offered to absolutely anybody and everybody. I hope that many of us will support this amazing event.

            Speaking of Trish, she’s in the process of getting together a group of people who are interested in these and other possible feeding ministries. If you’re interested, please see her or me.

            There are hungry people all around us and we’re getting better and better at filling their stomachs.

            And, that’s wonderful.

            But, you know, in his bread discussion with the crowd, Jesus isn’t really talking about empty stomachs and yeasty bread – as important as that is.

            He’s talking about a deeper hunger and an even more satisfying food.

            I remember one time a woman came to my office and she said in a loud voice, “I’m starving!”

            “I’m starving!”

            She wasn’t talking about an empty cupboard or a barren refrigerator.

            She was talking about spiritual hunger.

            She was yearning for the kind of feast that you and I get to receive here every week.

            The altar guild can tell you we literally go through a lot of bread – but we go through – we receive so much spiritual bread, too.

            Every time we come here we are fed the Bread of Life.

            We are fed just by being in this beautiful place, by saying these beautiful words, by hearing these old and yet ever-new stories.

            We are fed by the music, by the extended hands and arms at the peace, by the knowledge that since we are part of this church we are never really alone, that there are always shoulders to cry on – there is always a place to lay down our burdens, even if just for a short while.

            We are fed by the knowledge of God’s love – and that, no matter what, even when, especially when, all hope seems to be lost, God will never let us go.

            And, we are fed when we reach out our hands and receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and souls.

            My friends, we are well-fed here – physically and spiritually.

            And so, just as we are getting better and better at filling the bellies of the hungry people around us, my prayer is that God will give us the courage and the creativity to feed the many spiritually hungry people all around us – the people who often appear to be quite well-fed but who are, in fact, starving – starving – starving – for the feast that we receive each time we walk through the church door.

            There are people all around us starving for the Bread of Life.

            With God’s help, let’s feed them.

            Amen

Growing Up

St. Paul’s Church in Bergen, Jersey City NJ

August 2, 2015

Year B, Proper 13: The Tenth Sunday after Pentecost

2 Samuel 11:26-12:13a

Psalm 51:1-13

Ephesians 4:1-16

John 6:24-35

Growing Up

            Sometimes I forget how old I am. I mean, I know the number (It’s 32, actually…) but sometimes I forget that I am – or am supposed to be – a grown up.

            Does this ever happen to you?

            But, then every once in a while I get reminded that I’m not a kid anymore – that in fact I am, or at least should be and am expected to be, a grown-up.

            It happens every time I get a haircut and I look in the mirror and see my middle-aged face looking back at me under hair that by now is at least as gray as it is brown.

            And it happened to me on Friday when I had a lunch meeting in Newark with some church leaders.

            Obviously, I’ve been at many, many meetings – too many, believe me – and plenty of lunch meetings but there was something about this one that, well, felt very grown up to me – it felt like I was no longer at the kids’ table but had been promoted to sit with the grown ups!

            Sometimes we feel very grown up when we’re given new responsibilities – maybe a promotion or a new job or, of course, when we feel the weight of responsibility for a child or grandchild or when we find ourselves responsible for a parent or grandparent when their health fails.

            And, unfortunately, sometimes we feel very grown up when we face fear – the fear of a lost job, the fear of not enough money to pay the bills, the fear of not being able to provide for ourselves and for those who depend on us.

            Growing up.

            It’s a lifelong task, isn’t it?

            In today’s second lesson, the author of the Letter to the Ephesians calls on us Christians to grow up.

            He writes, “But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ…”

            Growing up.

            Well, in today’s Old Testament lesson, King David does some growing up, doesn’t he?

            If you were here last week, I’m sure you’ll remember the juicy and very terrible story of David and Bathsheba.

            David spots the beautiful Bathsheba bathing on the roof and decides that he wants her for himself. After all, he’s the king and, like a child, he wants what he wants and doesn’t care about “minor” details like the fact that Bathsheba is married to one of David’s finest and most loyal warriors, Uriah the Hittite.

            After Bathsheba gets pregnant with David’s child, the king scrambles to cover up his sin, finally making the horrific decision to arrange it so that Uriah is killed in battle, leaving Bathsheba for David and, he thinks, covering up the secret forever.

            Except, of course, that, as we heard today, God knows what has happened.

            And, God sends the Prophet Nathan to confront David with his sin in a very clever way, using a parable to trick David into essentially condemning himself.

            We can hear the sadness, shame and guilt in David’s simple words, “I have sinned against the Lord.”

            Growing up means learning that there are some things – and some ones – who aren’t available to us.

            Growing up means learning that our actions have consequences.

            Even if you’re a king.

            Now, let’s turn to today’s gospel lesson where we hear about people who certainly sound like they have some growing up to do.

            We pick up pretty much where we left off last week.

            Jesus performed one of his greatest miracles – the Multiplication of the Loaves and Fishes – somehow feeding thousands of people with just a few loaves and a couple of fish.

            Now, some of those same people have come looking for Jesus.

            Jesus criticizes the crowd, saying, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves.”

            Jesus tells them that they just care about the bread. He goes on to tell the crowd that they must believe in him.

            Now, remember these are the same people who had just been fed most miraculously by Jesus the day before. And, yet, they say to Jesus: “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you?”

            They sound like children saying, “That was fun! Do it again!”

            Like children saying, “That’s it? I want more!”

            “What have you done for us lately?”

            Finally, Jesus gives them more than they can understand, tells them more than they can probably handle: “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

            Growing up.

            No matter our age, no matter our responsibilities, we all have some growing up to do.

            We grow up when, like King David, we recognize that not everything – not every one – is available to us. We grow up when we recognize that there are consequences to our actions.

            We grow up when we stop expecting God to be the divine magician, performing tricks for our entertainment and benefit.

            We grow up when we realize that God gives us all that we need – gives us the Bread of Life – that God gives us the Bread of Life each time we gather here in this holy place, in this holy community – each time come to the altar and reach out our hands and receive the Body and Blood of Christ into our bodies and souls.

            We grow up when we realize that God gives us Jesus – gives us the Bread of Life – gives us the nourishment we need to face the trials and challenges of life.

            We grow up when we realize that God gives us the Bread of life – gives us the strength and sustenance to take care of each other here at St. Paul’s and to go out into our neighborhood, out into the world, offering love – love especially to those who are so hard to love.

            We grow up when we become more like Christ – when we, in the words of the Letter to the Ephesians - when we grow up into the calling to which we have been called, “with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.”

            And, finally, we grow up when we realize that we’re not fully grown up – that, yes, sometimes we want and take what’s not available to us – sometimes we demand that God be a magician to make us happy, to make our lives easier, to give us what we want – that sometimes we don’t speak the truth in love – sometimes we’re not humble, gentle, or patient, sometimes we refuse to even try to love those who are so hard to love.

            No matter our age or our responsibilities, we’re not fully grown up.

            The Good News is that, like a good parent, God continues to forgive, continues to teach, and continues to feed us with the Bread of Life.

            And, together, we’re growing up.

            Thanks be to God.

            Amen.