Food for the Soul - 8-1-21
Food for the Soul
Ex 16:2-4, 9-15; John 6:24-35
Ex 16:2-4, 9-15
The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The 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.” Then 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. . . Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.’“ And 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. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, “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.’ “In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When 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.
John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Prayer – God who faithfully provides, we come this morning hearing of spiritual food when all we crave is that our hunger be sated. We long for days of old when life was more simple; we yearn for our needs to be met today rather than in some distant time and place. Remind us again that your love and grace is nurturing over the spectrum of life; remind us again that you surround us with that which can nourish our souls; remind us again that you walk with us through all that life has to offer and challenge, all the while caring for our souls – amen.
It has been nearly 10 years ago years ago that the Summer Olympics fell during the Muslim season of Ramadan. Mazen Aziz, represented Egypt as a 10,000 meter open water swim he had trained for a number of years. It’s a grueling race that can take upward of 1 hour and 45 minutes, depending on the waves, current and water temperature. But Aziz is a Muslim, and with the Olympics falling during the Muslim holy season of Ramadan when faithful Muslim brothers and sisters will be called upon to fast from sunrise to sunset, the 22 year old athlete was faced with a tough decision – be in top physical condition or maintain a primary tenet of his faith. As it turned out, religious authorities in Egypt gave Aziz a way out – he could postpone his fast just as Muslims who are sick or pregnant may do.
His was a spiritual dilemma – “Do I starve my body and feed my soul? Or in this month, do I starve my soul to feed my body, and my appetite for Olympic gold?” Fasting for Muslims is a spiritual discipline intended to bring blessing rather than hardship. And in this case, hardship would be crushing this young man’s dream of competing for an Olympic medal.
Now it seems to me that understanding is not so different from the one Jesus offers now when he says, “Do not work for food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life. . .” So this makes me wonder what spiritual practices nourish our souls. What practices bring wholeness and healing; what practices replenish our souls? This week we have been keeping our son’s Golden Doodle and I shared with he and his girlfriend that keeping Murphy was good for my soul – and it was. Georgia has been more than a pet and more than an emotional support animal for both Valerie and me this last year of Covid. Dogs have a way of reminding me of eternal things – of unconditional love and grace, of gratitude, of relationship as being a central aspect of nourishing my soul. Being out on the water has a way of sating my thirst. And believe it or not, being the Stated Supply pastor for this congregation nourishes my soul – it gives balance to ministry at the hospital and it allows me to challenge many of the faith beliefs that I once held so dearly while reforming what I believe. That has truly been a powerful gift to my soul – so thank you.
As I think about Valerie and the things that nourish her soul, they are very different than mine. She is an introvert and so solitude and reflection are a big part of caring for her soul. She takes solace in walking the labyrinth and yoga. She enjoys the spiritual practice of meditation. Reading spiritual texts, not necessarily religious texts, nourish her deeply and she finds deep meaning in the desert mothers and fathers, the sages of time and history.
For our daughter Erin, being able to create while doing other people’s hair nourishes her; watching her kids, Quinn and Asa, grow up feeds her soul, even at 2 in the morning when Asa suddenly wants to climb out of his bed and get into mommy’s big bed. Daughter Blake finds nourishment in dance and choreography, in fact she has said on several occasions that if she can’t move then life loses meaning. Cooper finds joy in hitting a golf ball and fishing on the solitude of a quiet lake or river. Ben finds great joy in North Carolina athletics and I for one knows how beating Duke can nourish a TarHeel’s heart and soul.
I’m pretty certain that many of you have spiritual practices that are food for your soul. Creativity, being in nature, helping others, pets – all are things that nourish many of you. I also am aware that too much of the time I work for the food that perishes rather than that which endures for eternal life. I wonder if you are like me and worry about things that in the end, just don’t matter. Or if you check your bank account and retirement account more often than you need to. Or if you spend too much time on things and matters which are not all that life-giving. And then I wonder about the number of people who are so far on the margin that food that perishes is exactly the only way to keep life going; they don’t have time or energy to think about feeding their soul.
Perhaps the challenge in feeding our souls is that so often the food that feeds our souls, the food that endures are things that are ‘unseen.’ It is much easier to put our trust in things we can see and touch. Things like career, finances, family, relationships, and our own ability to control our lives. Unfortunately, life has a way of reminding us that our faith in those things may not be rewarded in the ways we want or expect. When it comes to career, most folks today can expect to experience a significant disruption at least once in their lives. Finances are no more reliable – we entrust our life savings to financial institutions who engage in what is basically a sophisticated form of gambling, and may wind up losing our shirts. And people – whether family or spouses or children or friends – are all flawed and fallible and imminently capable of letting us down when we need them the most.
In a very real sense, most of what we invest our faith in falls under the category of ‘perishable things’ that Jesus talks about today. After feeding the 5000 he and his disciples crossed the lake only to find the crowds following him. He noted that they followed him not because they trusted in him or God’s cause of peace and justice, rather, because they had a good meal. Jesus was constantly aware of the dangers of faith that is based on tangible results. Whenever you pray for a certain thing and get it, it’s only a matter of time before you begin to wonder, and then you need something more to bolster your faith. Why is it that so much of what we look for to sustain us are things we need to hold and touch?
The kind of faith, the kind of things that tend to feed our souls, is not an easy faith. The kind of faith that nourishes our souls without external props feels incredibly uncertain. It deals with ‘things hoped for’ and ‘things not seen.’’ It’s impossible to wrap your hands around that kind of faith and get a firm grip on it. It’s no wonder that most of us prefer to place our faith in something concrete, something we can see and touch. And at the end of the day, all those seemingly reliable objects of our faith fall short. They let us down.
Perhaps God knows, or at least understands, that we all have a tendency to put our faith in things that ultimately cannot satisfy the deepest longings of our soul. Augustine said, “Our hearts are restless until they find their rest in you.” The only bread, food that can truly satisfy our deepest hunger is the life that God offers us. We have everything we need already within us; yet, we continue to look externally. Perhaps our biggest challenge is opening up to the possibilities, of taking the risk of seeing God already within us and simply experiencing what life has to offer through the lenses of being God’s beloved; of being filled with that which sustains and nourishes our deepest desires – to be God’s beloved.
In just a few moments we will join together in a tangible meal of bread and cup. Simple elements filled with deep meaning for me. For much of my life I wondered if I was worthy of sitting at this table; I wondered if I was good enough. Time and healing allowed me to be nourished by the bread and cup, but it isn’t physical food for me, it is the spiritual food that is represented in this bread and cup – it is inclusion, it is shared meaning, it is the deep and abiding love when we look into each other’s eyes and truly see the eyes of God looking back. That is why this meal is so important to me – may God nourish our souls this morning as we share in this meal of grace, this food for our soul – thanks be to God – amen.