(Trying not to write about) What I did for my summer vacation

Upon leaving for vacation a couple of weeks ago I wondered what my return sermon would be about.

Would I have experienced something transformative while I was away; would I experience some sort of religious awakening that I just had to share with you all?

During a time of rest would I have encountered Jesus in such a way as to experience and then share Christ’s influence in our lives with a greater clarity of purpose?

I wondered about this sermon and I also knew what I would NOT be talking about.

I would not be reciting for you an essay about what I did for my summer vacation as if I was still in the third grade.

That seemed rote and while I might be able to slip in a bit of humor, I did not want to force the message, shoehorn Jesus and Godliness into an essay about boardwalks and sunshine, sand dunes and Cape May.

Then I came home this past Friday and I thought about my sermon for this Sunday some more.

Turns out I did not experience some great epiphany, I did not witness Jesus walk on the waters of the Atlantic seaboard, etc.

Instead, I read five books; none of them religious.

I watched four movies, and unless you consider Jaws to be an allegory about God’s love pursuing us relentlessly and us running from God’s pursuit, not one of those movies was religious.

I went fishing.

I caught six fish.

Five stripers and a mackerel.

None of them religious…anymore.

So, I guess I took a break.

The books brought great joy in reading them as I sat by the shore, the waves crashed and beckoned and so I would read and swim then read some more and swim some more.

Fishing was not only healthy due to the physical exertion and the nutrients found in the catch, but we sailed up the New Jersey coastline where I rested surrounded by the vastness of the ocean upon a sea that stretches all the way to Europe.

And for a good portion of the time, my mind would wander to this sermon.

And as a reminder, this is a sermon, not a message about what I did for my summer vacation.

What would I write about, I thought as I cast out another line?

What would I write about, I thought as we walked the boardwalk?

What would I write about, I thought as we wandered around Cape May?

Because, not only have I just returned from vacation, we are also in the midst of Jesus’ Bread of Life discourse.

Last week was the first week Jesus told us he was the Bread of Life when he said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

This week he says,

Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.

And next week, Jesus says: ““I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

A lot of bread, and a lot of livin’ is to be had through Jesus!

And, we read this discourse every few years in the summer.

And it becomes harder and harder to write something new each year as I get further and further into my priesthood.

Because at the very face of it all, Jesus is saying he is the bread of life.

For three weeks now, we’ve been hearing about how Jesus is the bread of life.

Okay, Jesus, we hear you.

We are listening.

We believe.

But, well, is there anything else?

Well, let’s look at some the details here.

I am the bread of life, and whoever comes to me will never be hungry or thirsty.

Next, I am the bread of life and whoever believes in me will be granted eternal life.

Finally, I am the bread of life and whoever eats of this bread will be a part of me.

I heard this explainer in a podcast I listened to as part of sermon prep this week.

While the listener typically focuses on the bread of life part, Jesus is peeling back layers and adding details to what Jesus being that bread means.

The host of that podcast likened his discourse to getting a slice of pie.

As we take a slice out of the tin, some of the filling and maybe even a part of the crust will drip out or fall back into the pan.

So, we have the slice, the important part of the message, Jesus is the bread of life.

And then we go back for a scoop of filling and find that he also gives us eternal life.

And we go back and get some of that crust, the good crust with the Crisco and the butter, and we hear that we will not go hungry.

And then we get that piece over there with the filling with bits of crumbles and we understand that we are a part of Jesus.

That our belief in Jesus as God not only sates our thirst, not only grants us eternal life, but gives us unity with God through our belief in God.

As we finally get a full slice of theological pie placed on our plates over this series of weeks, we gain an understanding and, in many cases, a reminder.

Yes, Jesus is the bread of life, but there is so much more, there is more pie to be served, more layers to uncover.

We read this story to uncover those layers and to understand the beauty in these stories exists in not what is obvious but seems secondary to the story being told.

And finally, we learn this.

To reap of the harvest, to be fed and granted eternal life, to become one with God and Jesus, we need but faith to partake in all of that.

You know, as I wandered the sandy beaches, as I lay beneath a warming sun with plenty of sunblock on, I wondered about this sermon.

And it occurred to me, that although those books and those movies and those poor, delicious fish were not tomes about Christology or films about the life of Christ, or I might not have said grace before sending those stripers to their ultimate demise, I was not separate from Christ.

All that is promised to me through my faith continues to be promised.

I took a break from work; I did not take a break from God.

We can certainly live into and live well into our secular lives, and God remains.

Our faith carries us home and still, we are a people of many layers.

Our public selves might not always show what is on our mind, what troubles us or brings us great joy even though we remain joyful; even though we remain troubled.

Yet through our relationship with God, we are promised, WE ARE PROMISED, eternal life and spiritual life that makes us full.

There is still pie to be scooped up upon a plate.

There is still scripture left to explore.

Sometimes the routine of hearing these readings year to year might seem repetitive, but in them is the truth.

That you are one with God.

That you are loved by God.

This realization came to me while wondering just what I would preach this morning, the promise of such things, mostly that we are made whole through Christ, will be kept.

Layer after layer, crumble by crumble, we will be fed.

And that is what I did on my summer vacation.

Amen.