25th August
When you were children, did you ever play a game called “Follow the Leader”? Well, for those of you who didn’t, or for those of you who have never heard of the game, let me explain. First, you choose a leader. Then you follow him wherever he goes and do whatever he does. You stomp through puddles, climb over fences, or swing from a tree—all to stay in the game because no one wants to be a quitter. We often play follow the leader in our daily lives. There are always leaders in everything we do—in school, in church, or in other activities.
In today’s gospel reading, we see that not everyone who heard Jesus’ teachings about the bread of life wanted to follow him. He lost a lot of his followers. In fact, the only people who remained were the twelve disciples. There is a price to pay when we follow Jesus. He calls us to give up our worldly life with all of its sinful pleasures and follow a life that will lead to even greater pleasures in heaven.
For most of us, that is not an easy choice to make. We have grown comfortable in our daily lives. They are like a pair of shoes that we have broken in. They feel so comfortable, and the life we are leading feels so contented. Most of us do not like change. We get set in our ways. We get stuck in the rut of daily life, and we don’t want to get out.
I’m going to tell you a story about a little girl named Jo. Jo had two older sisters and the two older sisters were in the Girl Guides. Jo watched her sisters go to Girl Guides meetings and she wished she could go and be a part of that real important stuff that they did. She asked her mother if she could go and her mother said, “But, Jo, you’re not old enough to go.”
Jo said, “Well, when will I be old enough to go?”
And Jo’s mother said, “Soon.”
Finally, the day came and Jo joined the Brownies. Her mother had got Jo her uniform and she was wearing a visible uniform, saying who she belonged to. Her mother even bought her some brown shoes and she dressed up and went to her first meeting and it was just wonderful.
Well, much later when she, her mother, father and sister were coming to church, she asked her mother this question: “I heard about belonging to Jesus. How do I know that I belong to Jesus? We don’t have a uniform like the Brownies. I know I belong to the Brownies because I have a uniform. How do I know that I belong to Jesus?”
Her mother replied, “Well, where do you go on Sunday morning?”
Jo said, “I go to Sunday school to learn about Jesus.”
Her mother continued, “What’s that book in your hand?”
Jo said, “It’s the Bible and the Bible is the stories of Jesus.”
And her mother said, “How else do you know that you belong to Jesus, Jo? What do we do always before we go to bed?”
Jo replied, “We talk to Jesus every night before we go to sleep.”
“And Jo, where do we go after Sunday school?”
“We go to the big church.”
"And what do we do in the big church?"
"We learn about God and we sing about Jesus.”
Then Jo got this big smile on her face and she said, “I belong to Jesus.”
And her mother said, “That’s right.”
The life Jesus calls us to lead is so groundbreaking, so different, and yet so rewarding. It offers us eternal life. The disciples, led by Peter, knew that Jesus offers eternal life to everyone who decides to follow him. The disciples, like Jo and her mother, knew that they needed to feed on the eternal spiritual food that Jesus offers, just like we need to eat the spiritual food that Jesus still offers to us today, especially in the form of the bread and wine that we eat and drink during Holy Communion.
Peter’s unwavering belief and commitment to Jesus should inspire us all. The trouble is, we live in a time when many people "shop" for the perfect church for themselves, a church they hope will meet their needs or satisfy their desires.
Peter’s words challenge a lot of us. There are times when some folk may be tempted to say, “If my church votes the wrong way on this issue, I'm out of here." Or, I couldn’t be part of a church that welcomes those people. I wouldn’t belong to a church that believes that all types are welcome." We may hear people saying, "I don't go to church any more. I couldn't take any more of the hypocrisy, sexism, liberals, old-timey hymns with exclusive language, new unfamiliar hymns, etc
There are a lot of imperfect churches around large and small.
I agree with the way one of my colleagues puts it: When the main reason not to belong to a church is that I can't find a community of faith that agrees with me on everything from what kind of music we should sing to where we should stand on the LGBT question, then I have the perfect excuse never to belong to a church with more than one member, me.
There is no perfect church... if perfect means that I understand, agree, or approve of everything that goes on there. If you become a Christian, you get a Bible that says God helped Joshua exterminate whole tribes of people right down to the last baby. You get a household code in Ephesians that makes wives subject to their husbands and tells husbands to sacrifice themselves for their wives… and slaves to submit to their masters. But you also get the twenty-third psalm, the parable of the prodigal son. Or the feeding of the 5000.
However, shortly, we will come forward to receive Jesus, in the bread and wine of holy communion. We will place our hands out because we have come to believe and know that Jesus is the Holy One of God. We receive this bread from heaven, and eat it, to abide with Jesus. We eat this bread and drink this wine simply because we believe Jesus when he says that those who do this abide in him, and he in them. And do this with the prayer that Jesus will abide in us, as we abide in him. That he will remain with us, stand fast with us, and help us to never forget that he alone has the words of eternal life.
When we take part in worship, especially when we take part in Holy Communion, we draw closer to God, and we allow him to live in us. Jesus, and Jesus alone, is the Word of Eternal Life.
Thanks be to God. Amen.