Pentecost 12B/Lectionary 20B
Text: John 6:56-69
Sermon by Sam Kirchner
Faith Lutheran Church, Homewood, IL
August 22, 2021
Fully Fed
I would like to begin the sermon today by telling a recent story from my own life. As many of you know, I graduated from high school this year. And as my classmates and friends begin to leave their homes to move to college many of them have hosted gatherings to see each other one last time. At one of these gatherings I noticed that the host had invited a few groups of friends that didn’t particularly know each other and it was a bit awkward. We tried to play games and have fun but the groups still remained divided. Finally, that awkwardness all ended when dinner arrived. Everybody at the party went over to grab some food and we sat at the table and ate together. The party was just fundamentally different after dinner and everybody seemed to get along like we were the best of friends.
This story revealed to me a truth that can be seen in the gospel lesson today: food is powerful. Not only is eating food a means of nourishment, but it is a communal bonding event. Jesus often ate with his disciples just as families often enjoy meals together. Even our church community typically gathers after services to eat snacks and converse in the narthex.
In the gospel lesson Jesus tells His disciples that those who eat His flesh and drink His blood abide in Him and He in them. This passage explains the significance of the communion bread and wine that we share every week. When we eat the body and blood of Christ we are celebrating our faith and honoring Jesus’s life and His death. We are welcoming Him into our lives. There’s another reason that we call it the lord’s supper though. It is a time for us to share our passion for our faith with one another. It brings us together as a community. Just as Jesus gathered with His apostles for meals, so we gather with each other in the presence of Jesus to become one body in Christ.
Even when we are not gathering as a church community, food serves an important role in our lives. But it is easy to forget the power of food. For me, at least, eating a meal can become a chore. We forget to savor our food. Perhaps just as importantly, we forget to savor the time we spend with our friends and family. Many times instead of sitting down and enjoying dinner with our family we hurriedly eat on-the-go between the various obligations that occupy our time. I am certainly guilty of overlooking the gift of food and the opportunity it provides to bond with those I love.
Sadly, I find myself often doing the same thing with my faith. Rather than taking five minutes while I’m waiting in line to pray to God, I’ll scroll through social media instead. Because it’s important for me to know what the latest trends are on tiktok, right? Too often I fool myself into believing that I don’t have time for God, or even worse, that God isn’t important enough to fit into my schedule.
Of course that is completely false. God is far more important than any social media post. Just as skipping meals leads to physical weakness, ignoring our faith leads to spiritual weakness. The less time we spend with God the less we see Him in the world. Personally, I often find God in nature. I see Him in the vibrant colors of a sunset or the millions of stars that light the world on a summer night. But when I forget about God, nature seems to lose an essential aspect of its beauty. God’s glorious creation becomes less glorious when I forget that all of it comes from God.
I am certain that each of you experience God in your own unique way in the world, but it is important for all of us to remember that He is there in every part of our lives. God is present if we only look for Him. And an important part of God’s presence can be found in church, through Jesus. When our souls are in need of nourishment we must turn to Jesus. Afterall, Jesus is the bread that came down from heaven. He feeds our souls and provides deep fulfillment. When we acknowledge God and the importance of feeding our souls we can strengthen our faith and appreciate the world for all of its beauty.
Before I conclude, I would like to share a final reflection about the power of food. Some of you may know that during this past school year I was selected to be one of six Dominican Preachers at my high school. Throughout the year we preached at the school’s masses and led numerous spiritual and religious events. Notably, the six preachers often ate together. We shared many lunches together and truly grew to be a family. We shared our faith, our lives, and our love with each other. And through it all, Jesus was the bread that fed our souls.
As my preacher friends leave for college, I am reminded of all the time we spent together. A few of my fellow preachers were at the party I mentioned earlier. And as we ate I realized that that meal might be the last meal I ever share with them. This thought made me a bit sad. But then I realized that by sharing our faith in God we will never truly be apart. Because no matter where we all are in the world we will be breaking the bread of Jesus with our spiritual family.
So make time for a few meals. It might not seem important, but it is worth your time to feed yourself physically and spiritually. Like Jesus said, “It is the spirit that gives life”. So go out and live your life fully fed on God.