sermon, 26 aug

            What was your last prayer request? Can you remember?

            Hopefully, somewhere in the recent past was a prayer of thanksgiving - an intercession - a confession.

            But the last time you made a petition - this is a prayer where we ask God for help for ourselves. Can you remember what you asked for?

            And - more specific to today's scriptures: can you remember what the circumstances were that inspired you to ask?

            The thing is, we tend to be good at asking God for help when we're in need. When we're in trouble. The 9-1-1 prayer OH GOD HELP! We're good at that.

            And we tend to be good at asking God to grant our wishes- Lord, please give me X. Even though we know that our prayers should not look like a Christmas list, and that our Almighty Lord is not a sparkling fairy godmother waiting to bippity-boppity-boo our pumpkins into carriages.

            But we ask for help from God when we are in need. This is normal.

            So here's the next ponderance. When was the last time you asked for God's help when things were going well? When it was all rainbows and butterflies and cartoon characters singing and dancing?

            Hmm. Because this is where and when we slip. When things are going well, we shift the focus again to earthly realities instead of divine relationship.

            And this is why our scriptures today remind us that we need God's help at all times - the good and the bad and the neutral - if we want our prayer life to be healthy and heavenly. It is when things are going well that we should be connecting with God the most. And not just with thanksgiving - as wonderful and important as that is. But humbly, recognising that with good things comes responsibility; a duty of care.

            It's why Solomon begins his reign with prayer; he's living an intentional and careful  balance of humility and confidence, of the earthly "I've GOT this!" and the heavenly "only with you can I do this." That the world is not about titles but about how we walk with God. Solomon understood that as David's successor he had BIG shoes to fill! As guardian to the Ark of the Covenant he was duty bound and honour-filled to demonstrate his faith through prayer.

            This theme continues in the lesson from the Ephesians. God wants us to be faithful and strong in our faith; but to remember where that strength comes from. God does not want to be a supporting character in our lives, but a starring role; that we are strong in the Lord and in the Lord's power, equipped for ministry not by our own doing but by the gifts and graces that have been lavished upon us. Paul is clear that this comes through perseverance in prayer and supplication, a commitment to service in the Lord. A heavenly focus of how to journey through the earthly realm.

            The Gospel passage today again details this difference. Jesus says he IS the living bread from heaven. And the folks don't have any point of reference: while our minds immediately go to the Eucharist, that's not yet a thing for the followers of Jesus. The last supper hasn't happened yet in the narrative.

            So the people try to dispute, and who can blame them! The closest reference of heavenly bread is a loose and long-ago reference to manna. Yet this is clearly not what Jesus was talking about. Manna, as we know, served the period of the exodus as an earthly form of relationship builder between people and God. Of the earth, for earthly purposes: empty stomachs and starving souls. God is providing a divine gift of earthly substance: the bread from heaven; without which people would perish. TBTG many, if not all, of us here today have never known that type of desperate dependency for basic food.

            But Jesus is speaking of something else: bread from heaven. Spiritual nourishment. Soul food - quite literally. A shared experience of divine revelation. A mystical presence of the divine, manifest here - NOW! - in this realm. The boundary or division - veil - between this world and the next are so thin that God comes here.

            Clearly, a divine gift. A WOW moment for anyone who could look past the improbability ot it, and receive. Because Jesus is offering to a huge crowd of seekers something amazing. This is not just a hint of deity, just barely enough to get you through the day. This is God's holy abundance. Eternal heavenly nourishment. Overabundance. A literal buffet of grace and salvation: at any time, and for any one. For every one. For all who would seek it.

            But it's not easy: it's no wonder that so many rejected what Jesus was offering - why so many continue to reject what is continually and continuously offered. It's too hard.

            Because receiving this heavenly bread means giving up our earthly status. It means refusing to believe that we can go it alone, that we're self-made people, that the good days are our own doing. It means asking for help when things go well, and deferring to God's power in our lives. It's admitting that our best, our very best, is not because of our own doing.

            It's humbling. It's dependence. It's deference. It's not what culture says - and always says - we should want.

            But we know that this is how we will be truly fed. When we come to the table, asking to be fed with the bread we need for today, we are coming with humble and contrite hearts. We are coming as beloved creature; prayerful, expectant, delighted.

            And trusting. Because God does not let us down. God does not let us be spiritually starved. The bread from heaven is there that we may see it, know it, and feast upon it.

            So I pray that we all will have open eyes and hearts to acknowledge our hunger. I pray that we will live in gentle humility to ask God to help us through this earthly time. And I pray that we might have the faith to declare our confidence in Jesus: the one with the words of eternal life. The one to whom we have come, and believe as the Holy One of God.