19 August 2012

20th Sunday in Ordinary Time
Ephesians 5:15-20 / John 6:51-58
19 August 2012


People in Spokane are wondering what is going on.
Someone has, in the middle of the night, been stacking picnic tables in the public parks ... stacking them like giant pyramids ... one on top of another. Stacked so high that police have called these pyramids public safety hazards, and taped them off so people can’t get too close. Stacked so high that it’s taken city cranes and forklifts to disassemble them.
People in Spokane are wondering, what is going on.
Is it … the work of Wazzu frat boys, out for a evening prank? Space aliens, who got tired of crop circles? Extremely neat visitors from Idaho?
Nah.
It’s obviously someone who has been hearing our Sunday series of readings this past month, and decided to make a physical representation of them.
Well ... maybe not.
But these Scripture texts we’ve heard and read this past month, from the end of Paul’s letter to the Ephesians, from chapter six of John’s gospel, they do build, one on another, don’t they?
Three weeks ago, Bishop Boerger started us off with the miracle-story of Jesus’ feeding of thousands with a few loaves of cheap bread and several small dried fish, one which points toward Holy Communion as well as the larger theme of God’s great generosity to his people.
Two weeks ago, we took a deeper look at “the bread of life,” and heard about how this sacrament of Communion is given to us, to bring us exactly what we need from it … more than just forgiveness … it is a meal of life and salvation, and not just for the future, but for TODAY.
Last Sunday, we heard instruction for this life of ‘walking wet’ in God’s promises, advice for imitating God in Jesus Christ, and the means … the Bread of Life … on which we are called to feed, to lead us in growing in discipleship and faith.
Now, today … well, let’s just see where the texts take us … and build us up to … next.
First, these words from Ephesians. Again, like last week, it may seem on the surface like just more unsolicited advice …

Be careful then how you live … making the most of the time, because the days are evil.
So do not be foolish … do not get drunk with wine … be filled with the Spirit… giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Ah, but when we go deeper …
When we go deeper, into the author’s words, not our own tepid translation …
Start stacking those picnic tables.

Be careful then how you live, not as unwise people but as wise, making the most of the time...

Uh-uh.
There’s a reason that seminaries teach us the Greek of the New Testament as preparation for pastoral ministry. There’s one word here in Greek that takes the place of “making the most of the time” … and it is the same word Paul uses when he wants to say ‘redeem’ – what Jesus does for us.
But redeeming time doesn’t seem to make much sense, either, in this context. So we have to look at the literal meaning of the word ... which is ... to take something out of the market place. To take something out of the marketplace.
So, for us, today, then, the best way for us to understand Paul’s words would be to read them like this ...
“Load up your carts like most people do at Costco ... load them up full to overflowing with time ...”
And the time that Paul wants us to stockpile? Round time. Jesus time. Time which can’t be marked on a calendar or with a clock, with notes and minutes, rules and regulations ... time which passes, never to come around again ... time which we think we can control, use to our own benefit ... in other words, chronological time ... no, this is kairos time, time which was, and is, and will be ... time for repentance, and reflection, and renewal ... time for faith, time for relationship with God and time for faith friends, too... time which is not “one and done” but rather, “time for amendment of life,” time which came around and comes around and, Jesus promises, will keep coming around until the day of our Lord Jesus Christ, when he, the Potentate of Time, comes again and becomes Time, in himself, for us, for ever.
“Load up your carts like most people do at Costco ... load them up full to overflowing with time ... because the days are evil."
The days are measured in straight line time. Time the way we keep track of it, calendared, datebooked, noted and minuted, time which we try so desperately to control. And what we do with this time as we try to master it ... it’s the same thing we do with property and health and wealth and all those other good things which God wishes to give to us ... the rich get richer and the poor get poorer, the powerful and mighty get more powerful and mighty and the weak get weaker, because of our human selfishness and greed and sin.
It is the way of things.
The days, indeed, are evil.
So make the most of the round-time, Jesus-time, kairos-time ... as God has given it to us.
Don’t be foolish ... don’t be without good common sense which helps you in the marketplace of life to make good, wise decisions ... but understand what the will of the Lord is.
Which is ...

Don’t let human made spirits take over your life ... but be filled with the Spirit of God.
Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts ...

And here ... here ... is where we get our weekly bread. Our Daily Bread.

... giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Again, we go back to that Greek language, to a familiar word ...
Giving thanks ... eucharist.
The way we become thankful, truly thankful to God, for the gift of round time, Jesus time, is right here at this table, in this meal, this sacrament of the table, this Holy Communion, this Lord’s Supper, this Eucharist.
You will recall in the other sacrament-gift from God, Holy Baptism ... as we’ve been steeped in and splashing around in this water all the past year ... Holy Baptism, as we’ve confessed each week ... Holy Baptism is God’s good gift to us, washing us clean, making us whole, setting us on the discipleship way of walking wet in and through those flowing streams of living water. We will have a baptism here this morning ... we will witness God’s gift first hand ... let’s once again confess, using the words of Luther’s Small Catechism, what this gift is ... from page 8 in your worship folder ...

What then is the significance of a baptism with water?
Baptism means that we hear the call daily to repent to God and our neighbor – to confess the bad things we think and say and do. And daily through that repentance, God promises to forgive us, so that we may live new lives, for the sake of the world and each other.

And so Holy Communion, the Lord’s Supper, Eucharist ... the meal that Christ himself gives to us, his body and blood given and shed for you ... this meal he gives us as pure gift, for us to eat and drink as often as we gather in his name to worship and sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God ... this meal, this Eucharist, this Thanksgiving ... is simply a gift of God, in and through Jesus Christ so that we may give thanks in eating and drinking for our lives and the life of the world.
The life of the world? Yes. Just as we heard last week, that the future of the world is intrinsically connected with the relationships we make and keep, every day of our lives ... so this meal, this Holy Communion, this Eucharist, this Bread of Heaven ... this crumb of bread and sip of wine, quantitatively small though they are ... qualitatively, they are huge ... as we feed on Jesus’ body and blood, we are given life, life to go forth and live God’s saving grace into the world ... simply, care-fully, lovingly, through the relationships we already have with others ... and as God’s Spirit comes to us in this meal of Thanks, we pass it on, through those relationships, spreading Christ’s life and love all ways, in all ways.
Not surrendering to the way of things, not giving up and giving in to how everyone else is ... but standing up and standing firm for the Kingdom of God ... a Word, a Way, not just off in the sweet by and by but in the evil here and now, standing for justice and righteousness, peace and generosity for all, because This Is God’s Way Of Things. Walking wet, we go, we live, from this table, as Kingdom People, for the sake of the world God loves.
So come and dine. Come and eat and drink the living bread which came down from heaven, for your sake and for the life of the world ... stock up, load up on Jesus-time, time for amendment of your life and the life of the world ... eat, drink, go forth and share this Word of Life, this Bread of Life, Jesus, God’s son, who comes into to the world not to condemn the world, but to love it, to love us, to make us into new people, to break us free from the selfish sin-trap of straight-line time, to see, to live, to love in that Jesus-time which IS REAL, AND TRUE, AND JUST ... FOR THE LIFE OF THE WORLD ... FOR YOUR LIFE, AND MINE, AND THEIRS.
Come and eat ... and drink .... and live.
Amen.