Given Sermon

Me -

Baking bread

Bread is meant to be shared because of how quickly it turns bad

We - Review of the sermon series

In case you're just joining us we? have been through a four week sermon series as a church where we're thinking about communion and the four steps that happen as a part of communion.

I often think of the individual elements and what has to happen in order for them to get to the table and in order that for us to be able to celebrate communion.

Chosen - the elements first have to be chosen. Someone somewhere has to find the particular bread and the particular, in our case, grape juice that we'll be using to celebrate community.

Blessed - There is a ritual that we go through to remember what this means for us. We remember that this bread and this juice are. reminders of God's love for us that they are an outward sign of God's inward and spiritual grace.

Broken - The bread itself. It needs to be broken in order to be able to be of use. If you just have one loaf, it is only able to feed one person and tell you break the bread.

Given - Lastly, it wouldn't be a meal if the elements. If the broken bread, if the blessed wine or grape juice stayed on the altar. for it has to be given.

There are, of course, the physical signs and components of that. But each one of these echoes a part of our spiritual journey as well.

Chosen - There's a sense in which God chooses you. uniquely and wonderfully made God chooses you. to live out the Kingdom of God here on Earth as it is in heaven.

Blessed - an often overused word in the church as Pastor Mary reminded us a couple weeks ago. to be blessed is to understand that we are God's beloved. that God loves us.

broken - As pastor Mary shared this story of the Geode last week so often we must be broken open. that are brokenness is the very thing that amplifies the light of God.

given - Friends, there would be no communion feast if the elements were chosen, were blessed, were broken, and then they stayed on the altar. and the same is true for us. there would be no good news. if we as people were chosen by God, were blessed by God were broken open for the healing of the world. And then we just stayed on the altar.

Our scripture today is an obscure It's one that is not often preached on, and since it's just two verses, I actually am going to just read it one more time.

2 Kings 4:42–44 NRSV

42 A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” 43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ” 44 He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.

God

The location.

Baal-Shalishah -

Baal-shalishah was probably located in a fertile area where early crops were raised.

This is known as the place that has the best corn that is fresh and ripe off the pickings. I could really play on this idea of the pickup truck corn in a parking lot in Iowa.

The bread.

the givenness.

The first fruits were usually meant for the priests, but in this instance Elijah shares it with everyone, and it turns out to be more than enough to supply everyone.

We come into our purpose as a church when we exist for the people that are not here.

The Doubts

what is being brought forth are about 20 small barley flatbreads. It would be preposterous to think that that would feed 100 people.

We also often forget that scripture denotes 100 men, which probably implies that there were also women and children there, which means that the number would be significantly higher.

the miracle.

All of the miracles of Elisha are given to benefit other people. God multiplied the food as God had promised

The miracle teaches that God can multiply the limited resources that we bring.

2 Kings 4:43 NRSV

43 But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’ ”

to be given.

The word give here in this passage could be given, give, put, set, lay allow, surrender, turn into

To be given is to be transferred to someone else - a transfer of ownership.

At the core of this story is seeing the gift in everything

Having a sense that in the beginning of the story of creation humanity and the more than human world are given life

That throughout time when people failed it was God that gave God’s own self through Jesus

In a very real way when Jesus gathered his disciples around a table and choose, blest, broke, and gave the bread to them God gave a bit of God’s own self

We are meant to be given for the world’s sake

To be able to give is already of statement of holding our own selves with open hands

you

This story is reflective of Jesus' feeding of the 5000.

This particular passage is chosen instead of Matthew or Luke's account of the feeding of the 5000 because it is just a regular person, and we can't heroize the. story by saying it's someone that is so far unremoved from us.

God gives God’s own self to us through Christ

us

We come into our purpose as a church when we exist for the people that are not here.

The spiritual life is not only one of receiving, it is ultimately one of giving

What they all have in common is the belief that what they have to offer is inadequate.

In can be easy for us to think the same thing as well.

That my pressence, that my skills, that my experience is not what the world needs.

It is not going to solve hunger in my community, that it is going to undue the damage that has already been done to our planet.

The beauty of being given is that it is not about what we can do or what we can accomplish

It is not about the world’s needs to receive

The good news of this passage of what we learn through our experience of communion is that it is about our need to be given

We cultivate a spiritual life, but it is ultimately not for us

This is God’s story - God chose the world in creation, blessed the world through covenant, Experienced a long history of brokenness in that covenant, and Gave of God’s own self through Jesus.

This is Jesus’ story - Christ is chosen by God, blessed through Baptism, broken by death, and given by Resurrection

This is our story - we recognize that God chose us, that we are a reminder of God’s own belovedness, that we are people who are broken, and ultimately that are brokenness is given to the world for healing of the world.

Intro to offering.

communion

Lauren:

In faith and love, gathered in this place, we celebrate the brightness of community and this month as we prepare for Lent.

At this table we give thanks for justice, love, peace and freedom.

ALL: At this table we give thanks for friends and strangers. At this table we welcome old and young.

All are invited. Come, as we prepare the meal. May a heart of peace rest with you. All : And also with you. May God be with you. All: And also with you. Lift up your hearts. All: We lift them up to the Holy One. Let us give thanks All: It is right to give thanks and praise.

God of the this day and this season of winter All: Praise and wonder be. God of the sunset and the dawn, All: Praise and wonder be. God of the north wind and the refreshing shower, God of the tree and water, God of the sleeping fields waiting for the sowing and planting, God of all the seasons All: Show to us beauty, vision, and joy.

Lewis:

All creation blesses the Source of Life. For all things bright and beautiful. For all things dark and mysterious and lovely. For all things green and growing and strong. For all human faces, hearts, minds, and hands which surround us. And for all non human minds and hearts, paws and claws, fins and wings... All: Praise and wonder be.

So we join our praise with all your people across the generations, saying All: Holy, holy, holy, Creative God, heaven and earth are full of your glory. Blessed is the one who comes in the name of the Lord. All: Hosanna throughout the Earth.

Mary:

In our praise and thanksgiving we also remember the ways of Jesus who walked the dusty roads of Galilee, who taught from seashore and mountainside, who told stories of the sower and the seed, the lilies of the field, and the birds of the air.

May we, too, know your presentness in the beauty of creation.

We also remember, Creating God, that your care for this earth and your people can be denied; for your goodness was abused and Jesus was betrayed.

On the night of his arrest, so our tradition reminds us, Jesus shared a meal with his disciples.

And Jesus took bread and he broke the bread and said, "This is my body broken for you. Every time you break the bread remember me.

And so likewise after they had eaten, Jesus took the cup and gave thanks and he poured out the cup and gave it to his disciples saying, "Drink this all of you, This is the cup of the new Covenant poured out for you and for many, for the forgiveness of sin and the life everlasting. Every time you drink it, remember me."

Through grain and grape, bread and juice, Jesus spoke of his coming death and new life, asking his disciples to remember him.

Blessing Be present with us now, Enfolding God, as we share this sacrament. Let your Holy Spirit brood among us... and upon and through this Bread and Juice.

Bless us with a desire to praise in song and story and poetry. Bless us with a sharpened awareness of your presence. Bless us with deep compassion. Bless us with the patience and daring of the mystics.

All: Abide with us always. Abide with us in our daily work. Abide with us when we rest. Abide with us in our journeying. Abide with us at all times and through eternity.

(Serving of the bread and juice.)