Living a Life Worthy of the Calling
“I… beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called.”
These words begin a well-known discourse attributed to Paul to the church in Ephesus, which we find in our lectionary reading today. The discourse describes a body that comes together with a diversity of gifts and callings for the building up of the Body of Christ. A body that is not easily blown about by every wind of doctrine. A steady body.
The writer is challenging the church to grow; to leave behind their old ways of seeing themselves as separate and independent —to leave behind the distinctions that divide them —and to embrace their new identity as members of the body of Christ and to be unified.
The writer challenges them to grow up in every way as members of the body of Christ.
Growing up is hard work. Some never do it. They may grow old and die, but growing up - reaching maturity and being able to take a mature stance on things sometimes never comes for some people.
Paul exhorts the Ephesians to grow up.
The body of Christ, (as is the physical body), is made and knit together by every ligament, every part, and as each part is working properly, the body is able to grow and build itself up. Ephesians 4:16
Why do churches exist?
The church is called to be a transformative body of grace to the world around us. It is a place we worship together, but it is also a place where we grow together, to reach maturity in our faith and lives - a place that grounds us - a place where we gather to worship God - both in the building and as a people, together.
The way the we do this is by showing up. Showing up and working together, using the gifts that God has given to each of us, for the kingdom of God on earth.
We all need to become and be, the best part we can be using the gifts that we have. We need you to be show up and be the best knee, the best hip, the best shoulder joint you can be.
Well, Rev. Jennifer, how do I get to be the best knee, or hip or shoulder joint? Well, you have to train. You have put some time and energy in to it. I am in the process of physically rebuilding my knee. It is much better than it was prior to surgery, but it is not as strong as it had been prior to injury. It will take time. The muscles don’t strengthen over night. I am going to have do some squats - take some walks - hit the gym a bit, to rebuild the muscle that was lost.
Building things up takes time. Building relationships take time; and building the church body takes time. It takes the whole body working together. The knee can’t move without the glute kicking in a bit; the glute is important for hip abduction, the ability to move your leg away from your body —the knee needs glute, the glute affects the hip. You get the idea. The surgeon could have given me the best anterior cruciate ligament there was, but it is attached to other things on which its success depends.
We need each other. The church is not dependent on one or two people, one or two committees functioning properly —we need all the parts to function properly. We can’t be all about one thing and neglect the other parts. Each part matters and therefore each part showing up matters. We all feel more joy, more enthusiasm, more of Christ’s presence in our midst —when there are more of us here gathered together. Energy comes from presence and so we need your presence. The first part of being part of the Body of Christ is to show up.
The second part is to look around and see where you fit. What part are you? Where do your gifts lie? How do you fit in to our parish life? What has God called you to?
Our parish is in a time of transition — moving from what was and we are in the process of discovering what will be. Things won’t work or be the same. The pandemic hit. People stopped coming to church for whatever reason. People died. People move. People are aging — in this time of transition — it is important for you to show up and participate in the life of the church — to be the part you are called to be in the body.
Finding out what your gifts are may be part of your process. You may love to teach. You may love children. You may love to sing. You may have been doing something for years and suddenly realize it does not bring you joy. You may have to find a new place, dream a new dream of where your gifts lie.
This Fall, prior to Advent, we are going to be having Parish Formation nights on five Wednesday nights (details to come). We will use these times to grow deeper in our faith and explore your unique spirituality. I hope that you will join. Having the opportunity to grow closer together and to deepen our walk with God - to form ourselves as His disciples, is part of our calling and work.
Jesus in today’s Gospel challenges the crowd that follows him to not work for the food that perishes, but rather for the food of eternal life.
We all have work to do. We have all had to work to make a living, to feed our families, to put a roof over our heads. Work is part of living. Jesus challenges the crowd to think differently - to not focus on the work that provides all of these material things but rather to refocus their attention and their work.
“Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?
I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.
It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here.”
― Chaim Potok, The Chosen
This is what Jesus is saying. Live your life so that it is worthy and focused on those things that eternal, so that when you die you are worthy of the rest you will receive.
“I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
You will then experience true bread. Jesus presence among us. In us and through us. Not temporary things which will pass away.
Each week we are invited to join in Christ’s presence among us in the Eucharist. The body of Christ, the bread of heaven, the blood of Christ, the cup Salvation.
In the Eucharist, we meet a God that became flesh for us and invites us to live embodied lives. We meet God who offered his life for us, and who from the cross and the altar calls us to offer our lives so that others may have abundant life.
In the Eucharist, we meet a God that rose from the dead, that breathes life into simple bread and wine, inviting us to believe in life, to trust in a nurturing God as we go through the deserts of our lives, to believe that with God all things are possible.
Divisions cease- we are no longer Gentile or Jew, rich or poor, conservative or progressive, but all God’s children.
True bread helps us to be content with what we have. We may find ourselves longing at times for something different, but True bread keeps us focused on our blessings and the things that really matter.
In order to never be hungry or thirsty again we have to be transformed. By the renewing of our minds. It takes time and commitment and a plan.
Jesus wants us to live lives of abundance. Lives that go beyond mediocrity, and that challenge the status quo. Instant gratification is not our goal -- we must fight that tide in society.
We are called to be disciples. We have to take time to form ourselves into disciples and then act like it.
We have to take the time to create lives that don’t want to go back to Egypt at a sign of hardship, but that trust the God that has liberated you, remains with you, in the midst of the pain.
Our lives find meaning, direction, and ultimate fulfillment in the Son of God, and in our relationship with him.
Feeding on him in our hearts, by faith and with thanksgiving, that he may dwell in us, and we in him. Teach us to find joy in the bread, O God. Amen.
These words begin a well-known discourse attributed to Paul to the church in Ephesus, which we find in our lectionary reading today. The discourse describes a body that comes together with a diversity of gifts and callings for the building up of the Body of Christ. A body that is not easily blown about by every wind of doctrine. A steady body.
The writer is challenging the church to grow; to leave behind their old ways of seeing themselves as separate and independent —to leave behind the distinctions that divide them —and to embrace their new identity as members of the body of Christ and to be unified.
The writer challenges them to grow up in every way as members of the body of Christ.
Growing up is hard work. Some never do it. They may grow old and die, but growing up - reaching maturity and being able to take a mature stance on things sometimes never comes for some people.
Paul exhorts the Ephesians to grow up.
The body of Christ, (as is the physical body), is made and knit together by every ligament, every part, and as each part is working properly, the body is able to grow and build itself up. Ephesians 4:16
Why do churches exist?
The church is called to be a transformative body of grace to the world around us. It is a place we worship together, but it is also a place where we grow together, to reach maturity in our faith and lives - a place that grounds us - a place where we gather to worship God - both in the building and as a people, together.
The way the we do this is by showing up. Showing up and working together, using the gifts that God has given to each of us, for the kingdom of God on earth.
We all need to become and be, the best part we can be using the gifts that we have. We need you to be show up and be the best knee, the best hip, the best shoulder joint you can be.
Well, Rev. Jennifer, how do I get to be the best knee, or hip or shoulder joint? Well, you have to train. You have put some time and energy in to it. I am in the process of physically rebuilding my knee. It is much better than it was prior to surgery, but it is not as strong as it had been prior to injury. It will take time. The muscles don’t strengthen over night. I am going to have do some squats - take some walks - hit the gym a bit, to rebuild the muscle that was lost.
Building things up takes time. Building relationships take time; and building the church body takes time. It takes the whole body working together. The knee can’t move without the glute kicking in a bit; the glute is important for hip abduction, the ability to move your leg away from your body —the knee needs glute, the glute affects the hip. You get the idea. The surgeon could have given me the best anterior cruciate ligament there was, but it is attached to other things on which its success depends.
We need each other. The church is not dependent on one or two people, one or two committees functioning properly —we need all the parts to function properly. We can’t be all about one thing and neglect the other parts. Each part matters and therefore each part showing up matters. We all feel more joy, more enthusiasm, more of Christ’s presence in our midst —when there are more of us here gathered together. Energy comes from presence and so we need your presence. The first part of being part of the Body of Christ is to show up.
The second part is to look around and see where you fit. What part are you? Where do your gifts lie? How do you fit in to our parish life? What has God called you to?
Our parish is in a time of transition — moving from what was and we are in the process of discovering what will be. Things won’t work or be the same. The pandemic hit. People stopped coming to church for whatever reason. People died. People move. People are aging — in this time of transition — it is important for you to show up and participate in the life of the church — to be the part you are called to be in the body.
Finding out what your gifts are may be part of your process. You may love to teach. You may love children. You may love to sing. You may have been doing something for years and suddenly realize it does not bring you joy. You may have to find a new place, dream a new dream of where your gifts lie.
This Fall, prior to Advent, we are going to be having Parish Formation nights on five Wednesday nights (details to come). We will use these times to grow deeper in our faith and explore your unique spirituality. I hope that you will join. Having the opportunity to grow closer together and to deepen our walk with God - to form ourselves as His disciples, is part of our calling and work.
Jesus in today’s Gospel challenges the crowd that follows him to not work for the food that perishes, but rather for the food of eternal life.
We all have work to do. We have all had to work to make a living, to feed our families, to put a roof over our heads. Work is part of living. Jesus challenges the crowd to think differently - to not focus on the work that provides all of these material things but rather to refocus their attention and their work.
“Human beings do not live forever, Reuven. We live less than the time it takes to blink an eye, if we measure our lives against eternity. So it may be asked what value is there to a human life. There is so much pain in the world. What does it mean to have to suffer so much if our lives are nothing more than the blink of an eye?
I learned a long time ago, Reuven, that a blink of an eye in itself is nothing. But the eye that blinks, that is something. A span of life is nothing. But the man who lives that span, he is something. He can fill that tiny span with meaning, so its quality is immeasurable though its quantity may be insignificant. Do you understand what I am saying? A man must fill his life with meaning, meaning is not automatically given to life.
It is hard work to fill one's life with meaning. That I do not think you understand yet. A life filled with meaning is worthy of rest. I want to be worthy of rest when I am no longer here.”
― Chaim Potok, The Chosen
This is what Jesus is saying. Live your life so that it is worthy and focused on those things that eternal, so that when you die you are worthy of the rest you will receive.
“I am the Bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
You will then experience true bread. Jesus presence among us. In us and through us. Not temporary things which will pass away.
Each week we are invited to join in Christ’s presence among us in the Eucharist. The body of Christ, the bread of heaven, the blood of Christ, the cup Salvation.
In the Eucharist, we meet a God that became flesh for us and invites us to live embodied lives. We meet God who offered his life for us, and who from the cross and the altar calls us to offer our lives so that others may have abundant life.
In the Eucharist, we meet a God that rose from the dead, that breathes life into simple bread and wine, inviting us to believe in life, to trust in a nurturing God as we go through the deserts of our lives, to believe that with God all things are possible.
Divisions cease- we are no longer Gentile or Jew, rich or poor, conservative or progressive, but all God’s children.
True bread helps us to be content with what we have. We may find ourselves longing at times for something different, but True bread keeps us focused on our blessings and the things that really matter.
In order to never be hungry or thirsty again we have to be transformed. By the renewing of our minds. It takes time and commitment and a plan.
Jesus wants us to live lives of abundance. Lives that go beyond mediocrity, and that challenge the status quo. Instant gratification is not our goal -- we must fight that tide in society.
We are called to be disciples. We have to take time to form ourselves into disciples and then act like it.
We have to take the time to create lives that don’t want to go back to Egypt at a sign of hardship, but that trust the God that has liberated you, remains with you, in the midst of the pain.
Our lives find meaning, direction, and ultimate fulfillment in the Son of God, and in our relationship with him.
Feeding on him in our hearts, by faith and with thanksgiving, that he may dwell in us, and we in him. Teach us to find joy in the bread, O God. Amen.