Devotional 3-14-13

One of my favorite writers is Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest of the Diocese of Atlanta, and author of several books, including  Leaving Church, The Bread of Angels, and An Altar in the World.

Her words, delivered as a sermon at a conference at Piedmont College, spoke to my heart.  I trust they will speak to yours as well. Following are excerpts from that sermon.

“‘Follow the money,’ people say when they are trying to get to the bottom of something corrupt.  Follow the money and it will lead you to the perp.  Since they are so often right, I want to take the advice but change the subject.  It is bread I want to follow, not to the perp but to God.  Follow the bread and it will lead you to the source of all life.  That is John’s gospel in a sentence, but the bread in it is not for believers only.  It is bread for the world – the one God so loves – and for everyone in it whose stomach has ever growled.

“Have you ever counted the bread stories in the gospels?  There are dozens of them..Add to those teachings the stories that happened around supper tables – at Levi the tax collector’s house, where Jesus was criticized for the low-class company he kept; at Simon the Pharisee’s house, where a woman bathed his feet with her tears; in the large upper room where he ate his last Passover with his friends, reminding them that it was better to serve than to be served.  Add those stories to the list, and the trail of breadcrumbs starts to look more like a lit path…

“If you are paying attention, then there might be something scratching at the door of your subconscious right about now.  Isn’t there another story about bread in the gospels – one that took place in another wilderness – when the devil tempted Jesus to make bread out of stones so no one ever had to go hungry again?...

“Here is something easy to miss:  Jesus never turns stones to bread – not in the wilderness, not on the beach, not anywhere.  He never makes manna rain from heaven…He always works with what his disciples give him.  When he asks his disciples to feed the crowd and they give him exact numbers so he will understand how little they have (two fish and five loaves), he ignores their math along with their insecurity and asks them to bring him what they have…Here is a teacher who does not separate body from soul.  He wants his followers to have more than words to eat.  So he decides to make them some food right where they are.

“Then he makes more of it (they add; he multiplies) without ever cutting his disciples out of the equation.  His miracles depend on their willingness to give him what they have, because he “takes no bread” either.  He carries no bottomless backpack full of Super Bread so that he can be the one-man solution to a world of need.  Instead, he relies on his followers to remember what he taught them when he sent them out two by two: when God answers the prayer for daily bread, God does it through other people…

Do you love me?  You know I do.  Feed my lambs.

Do you love me?  You know I do.  Tend my sheep.

Do you love me?  You know everything; you know I do.  Feed my sheep.

“I guess we could have a long discussion about who those sheep are, exactly.  Do only Christians need apply?  If you have ever been fed, body and soul, at a supper table where you broke bread with friends (or friendly strangers), then you know the answer.  This is a story for anyone blessed with hunger.

“When you break bread, the bread opens up.  When the bread opens up, so does the table.  When the table opens up, so does your heart.  When your heart opens up, so do your hands – reaching out for some of what you have to hand it to someone else – only to discover that you have more instead of less.  This is how the miracle goes on happening, again and again.  You follow the bread, and the bread leads you to life – not only for you, and not only for your flock, but for every lamb of God.”

 Holy Father, During this Lenten Season, open our eyes and hearts to those around us whose bodies and souls hunger.  Encourage us, as followers of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, to offer back to You what You have given us. Forgive and free us from judgmental attitudes which often hinder our willingness to reach out in love.  May we instead demonstrate our love and devotion through serving - feeding and tending His sheep, be they in His fold or in another’s.  Amen.

Linda Summers