Mortals Ate the Bread of Angels

 

Summer Saturdays at Resurrection have included confirmation class in the parsonage yard. This summer we are taking a quick tour of the Bible. Last week’s lesson was the Exodus from Egypt with homework of reading about the wanderings of the people in the wilderness.  The class book, Manna and Mercy,  describes the wilderness wanderings as the people going to ‘wilderness school.’ There are three lessons to learn at the wilderness school before graduation: God gives manna for all. Hoarding stinks. And the gift of the sabbath.

All three lessons involved bread – manna. 

The section of Psalm 78 presented to us this morning is a verse of song that refers to the story of manna.  Reciting and praying the words are meant to turn our minds to the lessons of the wilderness, the lesson of bread.

The manna came from God – the doors of heaven were opened and manna rained down-  it was distributed across the ground, where everyone had equal access to it. It was not owned by anyone, it was a pure gift from God. Each day a family member went out to do the dignified work of gathering food to distribute to their household, to gather enough to meet the needs of their family; there was enough to go around for every household. There were some who didn’t trust the gift (or I guess trust God) and took extra to save for a later day.... well the extra bread rotted and when it rotted it stunk! No one was to hoard... there were consequences and everyone knew who took too much because of where the smell was coming from. And finally the day before the sabbath, people gathered two days worth of manna, so that they and God could rest on the 7^th day and enjoy each others company and leisure in creation.   

 

Jesus and the disciples left the feeding of the 5000 via boat. They went across the sea to the other side to avoid the crowds. Of course the crowds found them. The topic of discussion turns to bread--- and why not? Jesus has just provided a meal in the wilderness, taken everyone to wilderness school, reminded them of the Exodus wilderness school where God gave manna to all. The people would have made the connection.  The Exodus story was a primal people making story and the wilderness school lessons were founding principles and written in their covenant with God. The people would have recited, prayed, sung, the story -God’s gift of manna- many times growing up; through Psalm 78 and many other psalms which relate the same event. 

After this event the people who flock to Jesus ask:

What must we do to perform the works of God?

Jesus responded: this is the work of God, that you believe in him whom God has sent.

I don’t know that I would have been as kind as Jesus.  What must we do... well ... what did you learn at wilderness school? Love God and your neighbour as yourself. Meaning there is bread for all, make sure all have access, don’t hoard, and live so that sabbath rest can be enjoyed by all, with all, for all.  Missing the point, yet again, the crowd asks Jesus:

What sign are you going to give us?  At this point Jesus is very compassionate, once again I might have lost it. For goodness sake, Jesus just fed 5000 with 5 barley loaves and 2 dried fish...what kind of additional sign do you need?

 

I’m a little harsh on the people who flock to Jesus seeking signs and explanations ... seeming  to have forgotten the lessons from wilderness school.  When I look around the world today, when I look into the neighbourhood in which we live, we too want signs and explanations, and we have forgotten the lessons from wilderness school. Or if we haven’t forgotten the lessons from wilderness school, we are shy to live them, act on them, or advocate for them.

 

I think one of the most beautiful stories I have heard about a church performing the works of God – so about being bread-  was one I heard 3 years ago at National Church Assembly.  The story goes that:

 

St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, was an established church in St. Petersburg, Russia.  It was built of wood and for generations had been kept up and loved by the people.  During World War II life was difficult in Russia, particularly for those on the margins.  The poor and those who were pushed off their lands congregated in St. Petersburg, looking for food and shelter.  As the war proceeded resources became ever more scarce; fuel to make small fires for warmth and the preparing of food was almost non-existent.  Citizens began to use pieces of board from the church to make their small fires so that they could survive … and guess what the church did?  They didn’t put up a fence, or hire a security guard, no chastisements were handed out – rather, the church allowed the people in need to use the resources they had to be bread so people could make bread; God’s kindom in that time and place, for the people, a people in desperate need. By the end of the war, the church building was close to gone, except for the boards too high to reach. The building was gone; the people survived. The church - God’s story – was alive. It was alive in the actions of the people. That’s what it means to be bread for the world.  It is a costly and compassionate grace.

An example – a living description of John 6: 33, For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

 

Think about the people of St. Mark’s church.  Consider their definition of church before the war, compared to after the war. The church was completely transformed through compassion and sacrifice, they became bread and gave life to the world. Are we prepared to be church in our time and place, even if it means sacrificing, and being completely changed /transformed in the process?

 

In the late 1800’s Francis Willard – an American educator, temperance reformer, women’s suffragist – lobbyist for an array of social and labour reforms-  said “indeed, if I were asked the mission of the ideal woman, I would reply: it is to make the whole world HOMELIKE.”

Translated to mother church, the mission of the ideal church is to make the whole world homelike.  What is home without bread, the baking, the sharing, the conversation while eating, the love given? What is home without compassion and making sacrifices?

 

I wonder if this is not what praying Psalm 78 is feeding us – a sense of home: for ourselves, creation, the whole human family, Mother Earth.  To remember and pray that, mortals ate of the bread of angels; God sent them food in abundance, is to be fuelled by sacred bread, miracle bread, the bread of life, love.... and once ingested – it is digested to a prerogative to share; into fuel for the action of sharing --- to live as bread.  As one of our communion prayers says: to give ourselves away as bread for the hungry.

 

For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.

Experiencing the bread of God we are called to in turn give life to the world. God gives life to the world – manna- and wants to use our hearts, hands, and actions to do it.  This week remember and live the lessons of wilderness school: God gives manna for all. Hoarding stinks. And the gift of the sabbath... and through this living, God will use you, us, as bread for the hungry; giving life to the world.