The Yeast Rolls of Life
Pentecost 13, Proper 15B
John 6:51-58
August 19, 2018
St. Matthias
The last time, Phyllis and I were in Argentina, Lydia and I spent some time talking about her cousins. At 6 years old she wants to know all about her family. While her name may be Lydia Marie Lopez, she is also a part of the story of a much greater family tree. She is - that I can remember - a child of the Lopez, Hall, Turnham, Hobby, White, O’Bryan, Miller, Bailey, and McIntosh families. She is American, Latino, German, British, Scottish, Irish, and Dutch. On any given Sunday morning, you will find her extended family worshipping in Episcopal, Southern Baptist, American Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Lutheran, and Roman Catholic churches. Three of her cousins are Jewish. We are spread out in a dozen or more states and at least 3 countries and Lydia wants to know her place in the story.
In much the same way we gather this morning as the Family of God – young and old, some of us are lifelong Episcopalians and some of us found our way here from other traditions. We look different, sound different and there is certainly a world of difference in our names and stories, but together we are the St. Matthias family. And we gather together in this place and we tell again and again a story about a Savior. We remember his birth in Bethlehem to Mary and Joseph and how the angels proclaimed his coming as the very Son of God. He healed the sick, turned water into wine, and even raised Lazarus from the dead. And then this Savior gave HIS life for you and me and we celebrate the victory of an Easter Sunday when resurrection overcame death and the grave so that we might have life eternal. This is the story we share, and we gather together as the Family of God at St. Matthias and we tell it to our children and our children’s children.
One of the stories I remembered this week was about the yeast rolls my grandmother on my father’s side used to make in her kitchen in Mansfield, Louisiana. They were wonderful - clearly a foretaste of glory divine. When my family gathers to eat – brothers, sisters, cousins, uncles, and aunts – somebody is going to tell the story of those rolls. She gave the recipe to my father who has now given it to me and I have passed it along to Stefanie. I can remember eating those rolls at almost every dinner at Mamaw’s house. We gathered at the table in the dining room. I always made sure I was sitting near the rolls. My mother typically gave me a look after my 3rd or 4th that said that I had better finish my vegetables before I ate another roll. The interesting thing is that today when I look at the recipe – there is absolutely nothing special about them. They have the same flour, yeast, water, salt and oil you will find in many other recipes. But what I do know is that it was not the ingredients that made these rolls special.
We too remember a story when we gather with bread and wine. To someone who does not know the story – it would seem more than a little odd to talk about our Savior as bread who brings life to the world. In the story we tell this day as we listen, proclaim, sing, and pray – this bread and wine become to us the body and blood of Jesus Christ our Lord. Somehow through the mystery of faith – Christ feeds us in this holy meal. We tell the story of a Savior who came for all us and then we gather at this rail as the Children of God - as brothers and sisters in Christ – each one different – each one loved equally by God. None of us are perfect – but all of us are forgiven. It is the Bread broken as Christ’s body was broken for us. It is the cup shared as Christ shared his life for all. That is the sacrament we celebrate this morning. This is our place in the story.
And the life we share is the life of Christ working in the world through us. When we care for another - the story of Christ’s love grows in the Kingdom of Heaven here and now. As we feed the hungry Children of God out of the abundance with which God has blessed us, Christ feeds us with his Grace and we are filled with His life – the very Bread of Heaven. When we pray for another – when we love our neighbors –then we begin to know just how much God loves us. Perhaps the most important part of the Gospel message – of the story we tell this day and every time we gather is that the story continues. It has not ended. The story continues as you and I believe and our souls are fed with the bread and the wine and then we go and share His love with the world.
There are still many more stories to tell Lydia about her family. I plan to tell them all. I am sure she someday will enjoy her great-great-grandmother’s yeast rolls. And most importantly she will share in the story we share this day. And she will be fed with the bread of life that never ends. AMEN.
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