Our wedding day was a day to remember. June 25, 2000, Thousand Oaks,
California. From start to finish it’s
one of those days on the top of my list.
It was a Sunday, and our families and friends had started gathering in
and around our hometown a few days before – Bachelor party was on Friday,
Saturday was of course the rehearsal and the rehearsal dinner, and Sunday was
the big day.
Some wise friend of ours – and I can’t even tell you which
one – had suggested we stop and take moments throughout the festivities just to
take it all in – really intentionally stop and look around or pause and
consider all the love and joy that is present.
I had one such opportunity after the Rehearsal Dinner. The older crowd had all gone home to bed, the
younger crowd was out dancing at the restaurant next door to where we had the
Rehearsal Dinner, where I had been too, but decided to leave early to get some
rest. I had walked back to the hotel by
myself and in the lobby of the hotel were all these Irish folk musicians – this
is a random hotel North of L.A., not the north coast of Ireland, but there they
were circled up about 30 of them. The
lobby was filled with this beautiful music, so I sat down right in the middle
of it to—as our friend said—take it all in, to consider the all the love that
was present. And it was a foretaste of
the joy to come. That was Saturday, the
day before I got married.
Then on Sunday, the wedding was scheduled for the afternoon,
and so I went to church with my family in the morning. And we gathered with the faith community
around the Word. Lots of winks and hugs
and “see you laters” that morning I remember.
Such a special time and a centering place for me. I won’t go on and on with the details of the
wedding and reception. But I can tell
you, that in the midst of it all there was such great joy and peace that over
came us. The ceremony was beautiful; it
was at California Lutheran University’s chapel, where Heather and I had
met. Mark Knutson was our campus pastor
and the pastor that married us, so our dads could be dads. The words and the toasts were all so touching
(and appropriately humorous), the pictures turned out amazing, there was
dancing and singing – literally: our friends got up and did a rendition of a
Jimmy Buffett song in our honor. We had
negotiated to have the hotel ballroom until 1 in the morning, unlike most
contracts I understand. And people
stayed late into the night, talking, and laughing and dancing. We stayed…to the very end. It was all our closest people at the time
gathered in one place. We couldn’t miss
it.
But you know what I didn’t mention in my recollections? The food.
Traditionally one of the greatest food days in our cultures, and I
honestly don’t even remember what I ate for dinner. I’m sure it tasted great. And I never even had a taste of our wedding
cake. I know I ate.
When I look back at it all, I think the real food that
sustained me that whole weekend (same’s true for the Rehearsal Dinner) the real
food that filled me was the love and the community and the laughter and joy
that that had come to gather around Heather and I, as we made our sacred vows
to each other.
This is my illustration for our Gospel text today. And my
wedding experience is only a glimpse of the way that God feeds us, sisters and
brothers in Christ. Jesus says, “I am
the true bread that comes down from heaven.”
There’s lots to be said of earthly food – and I love it – but when Jesus
says he is true bread, we are brought into something much greater than the
short-term joy of a good meal or even a wedding feast. When Jesus offers us himself as the true
bread of life, we are offered a place on the dance floor, a seat in the pew at
church surrounded by the faithful, a front row to the swirling melodies of traditional
reels, with fingers and toes tapping along to the rhythm, our bellies full of
laughter, our eyes full of tears, our hearts full of joy, and our minds full of
peace. This is a glimpse of what God’s
got in store for us. And it’s even offered
to us now, in this life! Jesus is here,
today, offering himself to us – in bread, in wine, in water, in the community
faith and doubt.
Let us eat of this Bread of Life. Because it’s so much better than just the
bread of lunch or even the fancy breads of dinner. The Bread of Life gives us the true strength
and nourishment and support we need to face our difficult times.
Some of us can actually become addicted to earthly bread, that
is, to eating. It comforts us
temporarily, even gives us great joy in the moment, or at least it numbs our
pain. Others of us, if we’re honest, can
become dependent on other substances or habits or collections or relationships. They comfort us temporarily, they even give us great joy in the moment,
or at least they numb our pain. But they
all come up short.
The real bread, the true bread that comes down from heaven,
is the Bread that is God’s Love. God’s
love, given for you.
This is the true bread of forgiveness. And it is held out to you.
This is the true bread of justice and compassion – the
ability to open your heart and care for the alien and the stranger, the
immigrant and the orphan, the hungry and the diseased, and anyone who you
thought you could never like – This is the true bread of justice and
compassion, and it is offered to you this day.
This is the true bread of joy and peace. Calming our anxieties and our cravings for
more. Bringing a smile to our faces and
air to our lungs. And it is offered to
you this day.
Let us take this bread
together. Let us break it and share
it. Let us eat it in community with the
whole earthly community heavy on our hearts in prayer. For this is the true bread of heaven that
raises us all up on the last day, that draws us closer to God and therefore to
one another and closer to the good earth.
Take and eat, this is the body of God given for you…and for many. AMEN.
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