love feast

I was invited to a Church of the Brethren love feast to observe World Communion Sunday.  On this day, Christians acknowledge that there has been division and strife in the church and that we are called to embody a more visible unity as the body of Christ.  I suggest, as do many Christians, that the place Christians have always embodied unity is around the table.  Since the first century, Christians have placed strong emphasis on the centrality of the Lord's supper, a meal in which the risen Christ becomes present to and for believers.  Taking bread and a cup of wine, Christians remember the death and resurrection of Christ, receive the forgiveness of sin, and unite in loving devotion to God and one another.  Christians have argued and split up over what this means, how this happens, who can be present and receive it, and how often we eat and drink.  Some have divided over the content of the meal itself.  Others over the ritual language employed to make the meal something more than a typical dinner or snack.  Lutherans have been part of these arguments since the 16th century.  Luther proposed that the mass or the sacrament of the altar was a gift from the Lord to be received by faith.  He insisted that the words of St. Paul, instituting the supper in Corinth be spoken to confirm that the meal is indeed the Eucharist (the thanksgiving meal celebrated by Jesus, the apostles, and he early church). Much doctrine has been written and discussed. I will not treat it here.
Suffice it to say, the way Lutherans practice Holy Communion or the Lord's supper is different from the way the Brethren church does.  We are sacramental and place special emphasis on the practice of the Lord's supper.  It is a weekly part of our Christian faith practice.  We do so in response to both the promise and commands of Scripture that bid us to eat and drink Christ's body and blood.  God feeds us there.  And we are hungry and thirsty for God's provision, so that we might experience unity with Christ.  They are anabaptists.  They tie the meal to the four gospels' last supper texts and the footwashing story from John 13.  For them the meal is a memorial of Christ's sacrifice.  It is an act of piety.  For us, it is the actual presence of God.
There are three parts to the love feast, which is a biannual event.  They also observe it on Maundy Thursday in Holy Week.  There is a dinner, a footwashing service, and a holy communion service combined into one continuous liturgy or worship service.  Men and women are seated separately at tables.  There is singing of old hymns in four-part harmony.  There are readings from the bible and prayers.  I was asked to give a meditation on the gospel story of the feeding of the multitudes, Matthew 14.  I said this::
Thank you, Joel for the invitation to be here tonight.  And thank you or the eloquent introduction.  I assumed you invited the Lutheran because we are known for our love of the potluck and the jello mould.  We do love those green jello moulds with the fruit in the middle.  But I digress.
I'm here to talk about food.  Food is miracle.  Food is gift.  Food is the material expression of God’s grace.  We live in a place and time that denies these truths.  We live in a place and time when food is commodity, resource, a marketed and consumed good.  Food is fast. Food is waste. Food is canned and boxed and processed.  Food comes from Giant or Weis or Walmart. We have lost a healthy relationship with food and the land from whence it comes.  I grew up on a produce farm.  I know what a cantaloupe looks like.  But many children today do not. They do not know broccoli from watermelon. They have not tasted a fresh ripe strawberry or corn on the cob.  We can do better than this. Lancaster county is home of the whoopee and shoofly pie, the agricultural garden spot, Shady Maple smorgasbords and chicken pot pie…and Lancaster is home to over 55,000 food insecure people. 

66% of Lancaster County adults are obese.  Obesity is tied to malnutrition and lack of access to healthy food choices.  1 in 3 children in Lancaster County comes from a food insecure household, where they experience hunger. Hunger in America looks different than hunger in the developing world. The root of hunger is poverty, the root of poverty is the broken and fragmented human community.      

From the garden of fruitful delight to the manna in the wilderness; the feeding of the multitudes to the eternal banquet  the biblical narrative is a feast of rich food.  Food is a sign of God’s gracious abundance.  It is sign of vitality and life.  It is promise of the life that is to come. 

We just heard the story of the feeding of multitudes.  My church, a small Lutheran congregation on Main Street in Akron lives in this story.  This is our story.  In 2008 we heard Jesus call us to His mission in this very text as he said, “You give them something to eat.”  We heard this as invitation. Our response is called “Peter’s Porch.”  We have taken up those full baskets and done what he has done; be bless the food and distribute it.  A growing number of neighbors come monthly to Peter’s Porch, Akron.  Over 190 households, 570 + people were fed a healthy breakfast and given a bag of groceries this month. 30 new families joined us in September. Zion Lutheran feeds about 5,000 people each year.  We do so with partners.  But mostly with God’s amazing grace.  Why? First, there are hungry people around us. Second, Jesus has commanded and invited us to do so.  Third, we are fed.  At the table of grace, we receive the gift of Christ’s full presence every Sunday in bread and cup.  God feeds our bodies and our souls.  Too often Christians have thought to address one or the other, but not both. One cannot receive Christ and avoid the fellowship of the Lord’s supper; one cannot love Christ and ignore the hungry neighbor.  Tonight, you are being summoned, invited to a new relationship with food. Food is God’s gift, a gift to share with those who hunger and thirst. Together, in communion, Christians are called to end hunger and restore our relationship with God the creator whose garden of grace delights and nourishes us daily. As we gather at table, let us remember those who hunger and discern the call to share until all the hungry are fed.         

A         Let us pray.

C         Holy God, gracious and merciful,

you bring forth food from the earth

and nourish your whole creation.

Turn our hearts toward those who hunger in any way,

that all may know your care;

and prepare us now to feast on the bread of life,

Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord. Amen.  

So, that's it.  For Lutherans, food matters because Jesus comes to us in the breaking of the bread. We encounter God in bread and wine, in hungry people, and in communities serving them.  I love to take part in the religious traditions of other Christians.  It is meaningful to be welcomed at their table, feet washed, and dinner served.  For them, the love feast is one of their high holy days.  It was a privilege to be part of that.  I hope that they were inspired and fed by me, as I was by them.
     

Manna

Exodus 16

The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt.  ²The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness.  ³The Israelites said to them, "If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger."

             ⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, "I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.  ⁵On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days."  ⁶So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, "In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt,  ⁷and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us?"  ⁸And Moses said, "When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against him — what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD."

             ⁹Then Moses said to Aaron, "Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, 'Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.'"  ¹⁰And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud.  ¹¹The LORD spoke to Moses and said,  ¹²"I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, 'At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.'"

             ¹³In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  ¹⁴When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.  ¹⁵When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, "What is it?" For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, "It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat.  ¹⁶This is what the LORD has commanded: 'Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.'"  ¹⁷The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less.  ¹⁸But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed.

The story of Israel continues with a revolution, as God liberates these slaves from their Egyptian masters and leads them safely across the sea, blocking their captors and ending Pharaoh’s tyranny.  God does not approve of rulers whose wealth and power goes to their heads.  God sides with the poor slaves.  This story of liberation has been the backbone of abolition and anti-slavery in the African American community.  In it, we hear the promise of liberation from slavery and the hope of better life. 

The people have escaped into the desert and wilderness of Sinai.  It is not a productive land.  It cannot sustain these 600,000 freed slaves. They will die out there without provision.  They are described to us as complaining. 6 times we are told that they are complaining against YHWH. Their real concerns for sustenance are heard as complaint.  Are not their fears justified?  

Therefore, YHWH produces water from a rock and now enough food to sustain each one daily.  Water and basic nourishment.  Daily bread and quail meat.  In this way, the Israelites learn to trust God and subsist in a harsh environment.  They learn that hard labor in Egypt was not what sustained them there. 

For they had come to believe that hard work made them useful to Egyptians and kept them alive.  They believed that sustainable meat and bread was given to them because they worked for it. They believed that they were slaves who received what they deserved.  They came to fear their masters and expect harsh treatment. Slavery is so much more psychological and emotional than physical. 

 NOW they must learn to trust God’s gracious provision every day.  They must learn to appreciate what they receive as a gift to them and not something they earned.  They do not have to impress YHWH to receive food.  They are not slaves to YHWH as they were to Pharaoh. They belong toYHWH, as a child to a parent. And they will experience blessing, mysterious and miraculous and necessary blessing.   

What are your complaints?  How are they related to your belief in scarcity and a lack of sustenance? If complaining betrays a lack of trust in God, what does real trust in God look and sound like?  How do we deny others their fair share?

What do you believe about work and prosperity?  Is the world divided into Pharaohs and slaves, haves and have nots? Is the systemic division of wealth and poverty too complex and large to change?  Do the poor deserve to receive enough food and drink for the day?  All of us are conditioned to accept that our situation in life, our needs, our deficits are a product of our own choices and behaviors. You get what you deserve.  You earn your keep.  Not so, according to YHWH.  The bible recognizes an economy of grace that sustains all life.  Neither Pharaoh’s hubris nor the Israelite’s complaints can prevent YHWH from providing enough food and drink for all. I believe that a gift economy and a government that provides for its poorest citizens is a necessary part of the abolition of slavery.  I believe the alternative to SNAP and WIC and Peter’s Porch is slavery.  You must work to eat. And  that is not biblical. God is generous. God listens. God sets us free from slavery. God feeds us. Every day.  There is enough.  Today is world communion Sunday and I am invited to speak about the feeding of the 5,000 at the Lititz Church of the Brethren love feast tonight.  This is what I know:  Food is the center of my Christian faith. Bread, wine, manna, water, holy communion, Peter’s Porch, are tied to the promise that Christ is found in the sharing of a meal.  Christ is present in the bread we break and the wine we pour.  Christ is found in the hungry person who waits in line for breakfast and a bag of groceries early on Saturday mornings. Christ is found in the church’s insistence that the table of grace teaches the world God’s economy of grace.Where Christ is found there is life in abundance.  May your complaints be turned to gratitude and your needs turned into gifts to share with others.  Amen.