Sermon by Eugenie Dieck for the tenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 13.

Today's readings are:

Exodus 16:2-4,9-15

Psalm 78:23-29

Ephesians 4:1-16

John 6:24-35

Readings may be found on LectionaryPage.net: https://www.lectionarypage.net/YearB_RCL/Pentecost...

Transcript:

[Eugenie Dieck]: May the words of my mouth and the meditations of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O Lord, our strength and our Redeemer. Amen.

[The Rev. Jarrett Kerbel]: Please be seated.

[Eugenie Dieck]: Today is the tenth Sunday of Pentecost. Being deep into a liturgical season reminds me of being in school, in the middle of the semester and a bit bored with the content. Then, when writing a term paper, suddenly realizing the content had become very complex. It's time to pay attention.

While writing this sermon, or honestly multiple drafts of this sermon, this student of the Pentecost course called "Building the Church" realized the content is quite challenging. My recognition of the complexity began with the first review of this Sunday's lessons. They confounded me. The lessons seem to be a jumble. The Old Testament is about David's lustful sinfulness, the Psalm is a robust confession, the Epistle is about how the Church is formed through its members working together, and the Gospel has Jesus saying "I am the bread of life."

Yes, a jumble of readings, unless one probes them for the lessons they contain. These readings lay out two tensions to be resolved by us to build God's Church. First Tension: I vs We. Second Tension: Want vs Need.

Think about most of life's dilemmas. They can be reduced to addressing these tensions: I vs. we, want vs. need. Let's go back to the lessons to see how these tensions surface.

In the Old Testament, we encounter David's horrible act of murdering Uriah and then bringing Uriah's widow to his house, to bear him a son. David was the king for a nation, he put himself before others, disregarding the leadership role given to him by God. David wanted this woman. He had multiple wives who had been given to him, and he did not need another wife.

In the Psalm, we hear David's penitential confession and his request for forgiveness. Here, David is sublimating his ego to God. David is letting go of the "I." What David wants is the same as what David needs: to be purged of his sins.

The Epistle speaks to leading a life worthy of the calling to which one has been given. We have to read carefully about being called. We do not determine our call, God calls us. A calling is not what an individual wants. Instead, a calling is what the Church needs from the individual.

Following these three readings, we hear the Gospel. We should, at this point, be primed for the nuances of John. This reading is a riddle about want vs need, about the individual's will vs God's will. The crowd wants signs from Jesus so badly they get into boats to look for Jesus. When they find Jesus, he is frustrated and responds to them, saying, essentially, "enough signs." Jesus urges the crowd to do what is needed: to believe.

As members of the Church, we are caught in the challenges of I vs. We and

Needs vs. Want. Moving from "I Want" to "the Church Needs" is hard work;

we must both discern and accept God's call.

Here's how I learned the difference between "I want" and "the Church Needs."

When our son, Brendan, was in elementary school, he had significant learning differences. These differences made it very challenging for Brendan to be comfortable in groups. He could not follow multi-step directions or adapt to quick social interactions. Brendan refused to go to Sunday school, because it all moved too fast for him. He wanted me to go with him.

However, when our sons were young, I really loved Adult Class. I got to be with adults, and talk about God, and not be with children. While I very much loved our sons, I really did not like groups of children.

Guess what happened. I became a Sunday school teacher...for 8 years. That is a long time to do something that you do not want to do. Through the sad and tearful eyes of a 5 year old, God called me to be a Sunday school teacher.

To be honest, I felt no differently about teaching Sunday school at the end of the 8 years, than I did when I started. I did not like it. The lesson I learned was that the Church was not about me. What mattered was that a little boy happily went to Sunday school, he belonged, and he grew in God's teachings. Brendan, now 30, is a generous, patient man who teaches middle schoolers with learning differences.

Over the waning days of summer, let's take time to consider the coming year at St Martin's. Let's reflect on the tension between "I want" and "the Church needs." In our careerist world, and our American sense of personal fulfillment, how are we called to do the work of the Church? Responding to God's call may require us to be uncomfortable and stay with the discomfort, even for 8 years. It is right for the 10th Sunday of Pentecost for us to resolve the tensions between "I want" and "the Church needs" to work hard at building the Church.

Amen.

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Video, photographs, and graphics by the Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields. Episcopal Church of St. Martin-in-the-Fields, 8000 St. Martin's Lane, Philadelphia, PA 19118. 215.247.7466. https://www.stmartinec.org