A sermon preached at St Martin-in-the-Fields on Sunday 25 July 2021 by Revd Richard Carter.
Readings of address: Gospel: John 6.1-21
Think of how many programmes there are on television about cooking. There is a huge fascination with the preparation of food whether it be Gordon Ramsey screaming at chefs that the food they are preparing is disgusting and their hell’s kitchen’s a bacterial nightmare, or Jamie Oliver showing us how we can all become cool cooks by getting stuck in with both hands dripping with olive oil, ripping up herbs, scrunching up lamb with onions and cloves of garlic to feed our mates, or Rick Stein off on a culinary odyssey to enjoy the local delicacies of Croatia or Prue Leith and Paul Hollywood searching for the bake with perfect fermentation, perfect crumb, perfect crust, perfect colour, perfect bite in the great British bake off, or Wendy Berry exposing the cake with a soggy bottom- no one likes a soggy bottom” or Nigella Lawson making cooking a sensual feast of delights whipping up chocolate and cream and brandy while whispering ‘ I have nothing to declare but my greed”
But the greatest meals are not just about taste, or texture or presentation they are about the company we share. I love cooking but I found it difficult to enjoy cooking for myself during lock-down, the most important ingredient was lacking- company. And the greatest joy of my week became cooking for those outside who were homeless and had no-where to lock down. Food you see has the power to create communion, to transcend adversity it is the most wonderful catalyst to unity. In the poorest countries of the world you often find the most generous hospitality and sharing.
Today think back and imagine the most wonderful meals you have had in your life, at home or at a restaurant, or as a guest- and is not a major part of that memory those you shared the delicious food with? Eating together can be like that wonderful film Babette’s Feast where each course dissolves the divisions and becomes a celebration of life and beauty and generous offering. In the film Babette’s Feast the gift of food breaks down their distrust and superstitions, setting them free physically and spiritually. Old wrongs are forgotten, ancient loves are rekindled and a mystical redemption of the human spirit settles over the table. Its worth watching again.
The opposite is also true. Think of a child who wants to rebel- the child refuses to eat. Think of a prisoner who has no control and wants to protest so goes on hunger strike, or the guest you invite who does not eat the food you have prepared, or the guest you invite to a meal who does not come. While food is a sign of communion. The rejection of food is the sign of the things that divide us.
It is no accident that in the life of Christ it is food and the sharing of food that becomes the sacramental sign of His presence- the outward visible sign of an inward invisible grace. The first miracle Jesus performs in John’s Gospel is when the wine runs out at the wedding at Cana and Jesus fills empty stone water jars, first with overflowing water and then by somehow changing that water into the most delicious
wine of all- literally gallons and gallons of it- wine- the sign of covenant and hope and love and liberation from slavery and life itself and as the guests drink this wine. Though they do not know where it has come from they know that know that the best has been saved until now, It’s as though they are tasting the abundance of God. All through our Gospels shared food becomes the sign of the coming kingdom. And through Christ we learn that somehow no one is to be excluded. This food is not just for the righteous- its food to be shared with all- tax collectors, prostitutes, sinners are welcomed at the table with Christ. Its amazingly radical even for today- this Jesus who tells the hated tax collector Zacchaeus that today he will be his guest at his house and liberates the generosity and path to redemption in Zacchaeus himself by allowing him to become host. Jesus tells the parable of the prodigal who wastes all he has on riotous living and what does the father do when he returns after he has been so hungry that he has eaten the food of pigs- well the father clothes him and calls for the fattest calf to be killed so that he can celebrate his home-coming with feasting.. And Christ with his own words immortalises this eating together with the words we will repeat again and again and again throughout the centuries that will follow and you will hear again today at this Eucharist: Jesus takes the bread and blessed it and broke it and gave it to them saying- “this is my body broken for you do this in remembrance of me” and then he took a cup of wine and blessed it and said’ This is my blood shed for you, do this as often as often as you drink it for the forgiveness of sins. Here we have a primordial revelation of our meaning and our communion- Christ re-membered in us:
Broken Bread
The most perfect act is one of simple sharing
The sharing of presence
As simple as a piece of shared bread
Do you want to save the world?
Jesus saves it with a piece of broken bread.
We are so busy looking for more complex solutions and methods of control
That we miss the being with
What must I do?
Come to this table, taste and see
Take this bread
Drink this wine
You are the bearer of Christ
You yourself are bread for the world
And each person in this church today will become Christ’s dwelling place
In the Gospels what is it that becomes the sign of resurrection- it is Christ calling the disciples from the shores of Galilee to let down their nets on the other side of the boat and finding their nets which have been empty all night teaming and bursting with fish- and then the crackling of a fire and the sharing of breakfast. Or on that road to Emmaus where the two disciples fail to realise who the stranger is who walks with them, fail to understand the events that have just taken place in Jerusalem, fail to understand the scriptures even when the stranger unfolds them to them, and finally
only recognise the risen Christ when at the day they sit down to share food and they recognise him in the breaking of the bread and feel their heats burning within.
How vital this physical sharing is for the life of the church, for the fellowship of our world, for the overcoming of difference, for realisation of both our common humanity and our shared divinity- we are the body of Christ- a body which Christ deliberately shows includes both Jew and Gentile, saint and sinner, then and for all time. This is the Word made flesh- physical, present real. But perhaps like so often happens we step back and think- yes but not me. I’m not part of this communion because I have nothing to share. Well todays Gospel answers that doubt. Because the crowds of those who come are all hungry but there is nothing to eat. And the disciples echo our own doubts and scepticism- how are we meant to cope with this situation. We have nothing to give. “Where are we going to find bread for all these people to eat?” “Six months wages would not buy enough bread for each one of them to have a little” “Send them away! ” Go to any PCC meeting and you will hear similar fears. But it is here, in this place, the place of scarcity and need that the revelation of Christ’s abundance takes place. And it begins with what seems like nothing. The most inadequate offering, that perhaps you feel could not even feed a single other person let alone a multitude. Here a young boy gives two fish and five barley loves- with great generosity, for it is all that he has. And it is this small offering that when taken by Christ, blessed by Christ and shared by Christ will become the sign of abundant love for everyone present but also with 12 baskets left over to share with the world. What a sign of God’s generosity at a time where our government of this nation vote to cut our foreign aid budget for some of the poorest nations in the world during this time of unprecedented suffering.
This is not the way of Christ- our savour takes all that we offer and all that we offer is multiplied. This generosity, this compassion for all, this inclusion is at the very heart of the Christian Gospel and at the very heart of God. Eve today you have been baptised into Christ’s family- the family who share the bread of his life and are called to share his light to the world. Eve even though you do not know it yet, around you today this miracle has already begun. Your family are offering you to Christ in thanksgiving and love and Christ has through the sign of water baptised you into his family- Eve you no longer just have a wonderful mother or father- Helen and Adrian, or even just wonderful grandparents and godparents- no you have us too- a motley crew! All of us- the family of the church, far more than 5000 and far more than those just in this church. Those who meet you and celebrate in the courtyard after this service are your family Those meeting at our International Group this afternoon from over 35 different counties are your family who will also share food together. But also crossing the channel in small dinghies last week longing for hospitality and welcome – they are your family too, those searching in the flood waters to rescue others are your family, those longing for peace in the Holy Land are your family, those fighting to bring healing and help to those sick from this virus, those whose lives inspired others with love for God past, present, and to come – they are all, all your family- made in the image of God. We are all the body of Christ.
In a moment each one of you will be invited to come to the altar to receive the body of Christ- blessed broken and given- this Holy Communion. But it will not end there. You too are sacrament -the ones called to be blessed broken and given to bring communion to our world. Do not ask how you will feed the world. Think only of how you will share bread, hospitality, fellowship, and goodness with the person in front of you. That’s the best recipe of all. That’s the way Christ changes the world. Eve you have already begun here and now to create communion just by being who you are- a child of God and part of the family of God. Eve today you became for us the visible sign of God’s grace and love and that’s what each one of us is called to become too- so come let us celebrate the feast.
