The BreadCast

(Ec.11:9-12:8; Ps.90:1,3-6,12-14,17; Lk.9:43-45) "The dust returns to the earth as it once was, and the life breath returns to God who gave it." "As a watch of the night" is our life, passing unnoticed while souls slumber. "You make an end of them in their sleep," Psalm 90 prophesies (as we hear the same verses of this same psalm for the second time in three days); indeed man lies unaware of his coming death, ignorant of the day which passes. For though in our youth we "follow the ways of [our] heart, the vision of [our] eyes," and seem to "ward off grief" at will, yet "the next morning [we] are like the changing grass"; so quickly does our flower fade. And so little of this do we see. In our gospel the Lord speaks again to His disciples of His imminent death, and so, really, the death we all must undergo; but though He makes a clear point that they should listen carefully, saying, "Pay close attention to what I tell you," yet they seem unable to hear His words. Our gospel tells us, "They failed… to understand this warning; its meaning was so concealed from them they did not grasp it at all." He repeats what He has said before in no uncertain terms, and yet they are deaf to His word; yet they are blind. How like us all the disciples are. When confronted with the coming of death how easily we shut our eyes. Though it draw upon us inevitably, how desperately we hold to the vanity of these passing things, unwilling to hear of the day when "the sun is darkened… and the strong men are bent… and the sound of the mill is low." "Man goes to his lasting home, and mourners go about the streets" – so Qoheleth paints the image of the time when "the clouds return after the rain." How compelling his verses are, and how ominous… and of this darkness we must hear. It is not wise to remain blind to the passing of this life, or with it we shall die when it ends. Though none of this should touch our souls, yet we must learn to let the body go. O Lord, "you return man back to dust, saying, 'Return, O children of men,'" yet you hold each of us in your loving hands. And so we cry unto you this day, "Return, O Lord! How long? Have pity on your servants!" For we wait with expectant hearts for Him who has risen from the dead to come to us again. Let your Spirit breathe upon us now and turn this dust into the image of your Son. May it be your Day which comes to us, even as we die. ******* O LORD, we conquer death through the death and resurrection of your Son – be with us as we wait for His return. YHWH, death comes inevitably to all. It draws near to us like the setting sun. We are mortal, the subjects of our own sin. And so to dust we return. But your Son has subjected Himself to this death of ours, LORD; He has undergone its torments. In our place He has stood, and been broken for our sakes. He who lives with you in eternity has been delivered into the hands of men and suffered the darkness upon their souls. And so, may we not be born again? O Jesus, you have overcome the darkness with your unending light; you have come to rescue us from falling into the well, that the clouds might not return again after the rain but that we might know new life with you in the morning after this world passes away, in the glory of your coming Day. Help us, O LORD, to overcome our fear, to conquer the bonds of this dark place and our own mortality. Let this not be our lasting home, but raise us to your presence that even this day we might rejoice in you.

(Ec.3:1-11; Ps.144:1-4; Lk.9:18-22) "He has made everything appropriate to its time, and has put the timeless into their hearts." Yes, "there is an appointed time for everything, and a time for every affair under the heavens"; and there is a time for time to cease and the timeless to come to the fore – a time for the things above the heavens. And that fullness of time has come upon the earth, for the Son of Man has known His "time to be born"; and in man's discovering "the work which God has done," no time for vain toil is there anymore. The time has come to make Him our "refuge and [our] fortress," our blessed "rock" of truth. "One day when Jesus was praying in seclusion and His disciples were with Him," the time had come for Him to "put the question to them": "Who do you say that I am?" And now it was Peter's "time to speak," to declare the faith of the Church: "The Messiah of God." And though it was not then time "to tell this to anyone," for the Son of Man had yet to know His "time to die," soon the time would come for the Son to rise, and then there would be no more "time to be silent." That time has come upon us now, brothers and sisters. Now is only "a time to plant" and "a time to build" – a time to raise the kingdom of heaven here on earth, a time to labor to complete God's Church. For timelessness now has its time; life eternal overtakes us. And so we have only "time to love," having broken the wheel of sin by the sacrifice of Christ and so come out from under the shadow of hatred. No return to the vanity of the things of this world is there for us, for we must do all as if doing nothing. It is true: "Man is like a breath; his days, like a passing shadow," but it is also so that the Lord "take[s] thought of him." And in this earthen vessel He has placed the Spirit of life – and that Spirit is now known in full in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. It is "time to embrace" Him and know the "time of peace" He breathes eternally upon His creatures, letting all shadow pass away as we walk in His holy light and proclaim His holy name. ******* O LORD, your timelessness let us know in our hearts, that we might overcome the world through your Son. YHWH, in the fullness of time you sent your Son to die at our hands that we might be raised up with Him. And now that He has died for our sins, a new time has come to your people – a time of salvation. All time pointed toward Him and all time flows from Him, and all time is in Him who is all that is. O LORD, let us make our home in Him and in His resurrection. You are timeless, O LORD and God, and so how can we poor creatures so bound to time, so subject to the dust of this earth, come to know you who are beyond the heavens? We could never have discovered your hand at work among us if you had not sent your only Son to redeem us and reveal to us your glory. And so, let us embrace this gift you offer that we might mourn and weep no more but rejoice ever in your presence, despite the Cross that comes. Let us be raised on the Cross with Him that we might be raised unto His eternal reign.

(Ec.1:2-11; Ps.90:1,3-6,12-14,17; Lk.9:7-9) "See, this is new!" Here is He who is "new under the sun." For it is not so that "John has been raised from the dead," nor that "one of the prophets of old has arisen": He has not "already existed in the ages that preceded us." He is the Christ! He is the Messiah! He it is who has come to "fill us at daybreak with [His] kindness, that we may shout for joy and gladness all our days." In Him the dark of the night veiling our eyes is banished from our midst. O Herod, drowning in your debauchery; O Qoheleth, pursuer of your passions in all their vanity, why do you race to catch up with the sun as if it should stand and wait for you? What makes you think you could hold the wind in your hand? Why would you see end of the rivers' path to the sea? Why do you toil so blindly, taking your refuge in created things and frustrated when you cannot control them to your own ends, when they betray the peace you seek? "Back to dust" you shall indeed return, and the sun and the wind and the sea still stand; and above them all does reign our God, for whom "a thousand years… are as yesterday, now that it is past." In Him you should have taken refuge. Herod, do you too now begin to see the ends of your debauchery; does its emptiness now overtake your soul? Do you remember the words the prophet delivered to your ears? What is the cause of your curiosity, and will you listen now to the voice echoing through your halls? The kingdom of the world crumbles before our eyes and no "profit has man from all the labor which he toils at under the sun," unless it is the Lord who "prosper[s] the work of our hands for us." Dead we are and alone will ever be in our profligacy, the emptiness upon us. Qoheleth, your words are proven wrong: it is not so that "there is no remembrance of the man of old," for we read your thoughts with diligence today; and three thousand years after your time you teach us still of the dark vision of life without the Christ. And of Him who has come after thee there is great remembrance, and more than this, for His breath is now upon us. In Him is "the ear filled with hearing" and the eye "satisfied with seeing," for now truth and light do walk with us, even under the sun. And though our body "by evening wilts and fades" as of old, our soul "at dawn springs up anew." For "the gracious care of the Lord [is] ours" and He "teach[es] us to number our days aright, that we may gain wisdom of heart." And this wisdom is true; this wisdom is new: this wisdom bears us light to transcend the vanity of a worldly life and come to the kingdom of heaven. ******* O LORD, your Son is He who makes all things new – let us live and work in the light of His presence. YHWH, your Son is new under the sun; into our midst He has come. May we be more than anxious to see Him: may we be made new in Him. In days past, LORD, the world and men toiled in futility for their sin against you, for their separation from you. You were ever new and ever calling us to life in you, but we labored in vain, going our own way – the way of darkness that leads to death, the way that is indeed apart from you. Return all souls to your light, your life, known to us now in your only Son. You reign over all, LORD our God, all of time is but a moment to you and all the world is as a speck of dust. Have pity on us, LORD, for we are quick to wilt and fade. At daybreak may we rise with Jesus and walk in the light of your new day, dwelling forever in your reign, living and working always in your presence.

O holy priest who bore the wounds of Christ in your hands and in your ministry, who served the Lord so greatly in casting out many demons in your confessional, and whom He thus blessed with miracles of the Spirit – pray for us of lukewarm faith who falter day to day in following our dear Jesus' path. So close to Him you were in His suffering and His love; so far are we from His Cross and so His grace. Pray we shall be strengthened to approach Him and find healing for our weakness, the frailty of our souls which keeps us from knowing the Christ and laying down our lives for Him as He calls, as you have done… O pray His blood be upon us!

(Prv.30:5-9; Ps.119:29,72,89,101,104-105,163; Lk.9:1-6) "Take nothing for the journey." How can he who takes nothing with him for his journey be provided for? Does not such action contradict the wisdom of the king who asks in his book of Proverbs – "Give me neither poverty nor riches"? Is it not poverty the Lord recommends to His disciples? The evangelical counsel of poverty practiced by the religious communities and striven for by all true members of the Christian faith is not the same as that which our author of Proverbs wishes to avoid (no more so than the riches he would keep far from himself are those of the heavenly kingdom). For those whom Jesus sends out never find themselves "in want," the want which would lead the desperate to steal and so sin; rather, the only "want" His disciples have is for an increasing understanding and practice of the word of God. And the poverty they practice is meant to feed this hunger for the greatest of food. Proverbs itself gives us answer to the means by which the Lord's disciples taking "no bread, no money" are fed: "He is a shield to those who take refuge in Him." The Lord is always our food. Cannot He who "endures forever," whose word is "firm as the heavens," care for the small needs of His creatures here below? Will not he who labors for Him have all he needs to accomplish his work? Certainly! For though the disciples take nothing, it does not follow that they have nothing – for they have the Lord with them, and that is everything. Indeed, it is because the first of the wise king's requests of God – "put falsehood and lying far from me" – has been answered in them that this second is accomplished. "Remove from me the way of falsehood," our psalmist echoes, and for the Lord's disciples this has been done. They "add nothing to His words" as "from every evil way [they] withhold [their] feet"; and so "the law of [His] mouth," which resounds from their own mouths as they "proclaim the reign of God," "is to [them] more precious than thousands of gold and silver pieces" and feeds them abundantly. The Word of the Lord will be received by those who seek His truth, and in turn feed the speaker as it does the hearer. So let us be wary of "being full" of the things of this world, lest we find no room for God, and let us make our psalmist's declaration truly our own: "Falsehood I hate and abhor; your law I love." Then all things will be provided for. ******* O LORD, you send us forth with your Word to heal souls of all evil – keep us on your way of truth. YHWH, it is you who provide for all our needs. If we serve you, if we are true to your Word, we shall never be in want. For then all we shall desire is to be with you, and you will be faithful to this longing. LORD, you are with those who go out in your NAME, who desire only to do your will. For they are of truth and you are of truth – you are Truth itself – and so they share in your way. And your way is a way of love and healing, your way is one that leads to life. Let us follow in this way, and we shall live forever. You yourself hold our lives in your hand, and so what do we need but you? We cannot provide for ourselves; it is you from whom all our food comes. And if we trust in you we shall be fed, we shall have all we need to live, all we need to proclaim your Word, O LORD, and that your kingdom is nigh. Let us be a living witness to your presence among us and the care you give to all your children.

(Prv.21:1-6,10-13; Ps.119:1,27,30,34-35,44; Lk.8:19-21) "My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and act upon it." Our readings today are filled throughout with one line pearls of wisdom culminating with Jesus' above instruction in our brief gospel. And though each individual proverb or paean to the command of the Lord seems a separate entity distinct from the others which surround it, in fact, all speak of the same sword of truth that separates the way of the wicked from that of the just. In even thousands of proverbs there is but one word – that we must be hearers and doers of the word of God. "Like a stream is the king's heart in the hand of the Lord; wherever it pleases Him, He directs it." Oh that such blessed obedience could be all our own! Oh that we would follow Him so perfectly, for "happy are they whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord"; and they become as His only Son. "To do what is right and just" must be our constant aim, our eternal prayer. "Lead me in the path of your commands," we must beg of our God, for in it alone we know the light of His grace; in His way alone we find all our "delight." Only in observing His decrees, walking in His love, do we become brother and sister and mother to the Christ. For the wicked shall not enter His embrace, shall not be counted among His family. "Haughty eyes and a proud heart" the Lord will not countenance, for "the tillage of the wicked is sin" and with sin the Holy One has no relation. Thus we may be certain "there is One who brings down the wicked to ruin." As grandiose as his plots may seem and as adamantly as he may pursue them with "a lying tongue," he is but "chasing a bubble over deadly snares" and shall be caught in the trap he himself has laid. "When the wise man is instructed, he gains knowledge"; he draws ever closer to the light of the Lord as he drinks in His Word. Let us be as those who "meditate on [the Lord's] wondrous deeds." Let us beg Him with our psalmist: "Give me discernment, that I may observe your law and keep it with all my heart." When Jesus speaks let us be quick to listen and follow in His way, that truly we may become His blessed family, one in the Church modeled by the Mother of God. ******* O LORD, open our ears to hear your Word and walk in your way. YHWH, if we are haughty of eye and proud of heart, how can we know you and become one with you? You are holy and only those who strive for holiness walk in your way. Help us, LORD, to be as your Son and follow always your blessed commands. O LORD, let our hearts ever be directed by your hand; let our obedience be such that we simply go as your guide led ever by your Spirit. In your Son there was no question as to what should be done or whether He should do good or ill – He did nothing of His own will but only yours. Help us to be perfect as He in living your Word, in embodying your truth. Then we shall be brothers to Him, for then you shall be our Father. Let us be made in your image, LORD, doing what is right and just in all things. Your law of love let us observe – let us thirst for your wisdom and knowledge. Nothing let us desire but to be one with you and your only Son. Then we shall be blessed as His Mother.

O faithful apostle who so readily answered the call of the Lord, leaving your station in this world to follow in His footsteps and so find your place in Heaven, who even with these first steps brought others to the Christ as you opened your heart as well as your home to Him and to the least of His brothers – pray, dear brother through whom the Spirit has spoken, that we too shall follow Jesus and so find His grace and mercy, and so find our way to the Father. Pray our hearts will ever be so open to hear His voice and invite Him in to our table, where He may eat and speak with us, feeding us with His presence. And pray we may be blessed as you in drawing others to the Word, our God, till all are one in His Body.

(Eph.4:1-7,11-13; Ps.19:2-5; Mt.9:9-13) "Through all the earth their voice resounds, and to the ends of the world, their message." "Till we become one in faith and in the knowledge of God's Son, and form that perfect man who is Christ come to full stature," the Word of the Lord shall be carried forth by all His "apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors, and teachers"; indeed, "each of us has received God's favor in the measure in which Christ bestows it," and each of us plays a role in bringing to fulfillment the Gospel of our "one Lord." "Matthew got up and followed Him." He was called, he was chosen, and he answered the Lord's call without hesitation. And he brought the Lord in immediately to dine with Him, welcoming Him fully at his table. And because of his openness to God and His Word, and because of his generous response, we see that it is Jesus who in fact feeds him, that he in turn might feed others with the true teaching, "the one faith" in the "one God and Father of all, who is over all, and works through all, and is in all," from the least of sinners to the greatest of apostles. We are all thus called to follow Jesus Christ, to find the mercy He so greatly desires to impart to our sinful lives, that we might be whole and able to serve Him well. One day we shall come to perfection in Him; in Him it is already fulfilled. And now insofar as we share His love, insofar as we "live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received, with perfect humility, meekness, and patience," the Spirit who is indeed the origin of our unity in Him works through us and we, even with the twelve apostles, serve to bring His blessed peace, His divine life of salvation, to the world. Yes, "day pours out the word to day, and night to night imparts knowledge," and soon that Word will reach to the ends of the earth; and soon it will come to fulfillment in our sight. Brothers and sisters, we are called to a great hope, and to a great mission to bring it to light. Let us keep our hearts set on the Gospel and the promise it contains, and "build up the Body of Christ" until we stand with Him, as Him, in His eternal kingdom which stands in our midst even today through the words of His apostle and evangelist, in the breath of the Spirit upon us and in its message. Written, read & chanted by James Kurt; produced by Roger Fortney. Music by Roger Fortney; used by permission. ******* O LORD, let us all be drawn as one into the Body of your Son, that we poor sinners may become His saints. YHWH, you are over all and work through all and in all, and your Gospel message goes out to all the world through your apostles and evangelists. O let us listen to your voice as it comes to us in the words of Scripture and through your prophets' preaching! Let us be quick as Matthew to answer your call, that the Body of your Son might be built up on this earth and soon come to fulfillment in Heaven. We are all sinners, O LORD; you see this and you know this. Help us to see this as you do and so come readily to the table Jesus spreads before us, a table of mercy and grace in answer to our repentance. Let us recognize that only in Him will we find our place with you in the kingdom. And help us to proclaim your love and your peace with your apostles, that in the one faith all might be baptized and come as your children to praise your Name. You are our hope, O LORD; let your Spirit go forth.

O blessed, holy martyrs who won for yourselves the crown of salvation by your undying faith in God, who cherished well the prize of persecution the Lord offered your souls, who stood fast despite the death that raged around you – pray we shall know as you that all the hairs of our head are numbered by God and in His all-embracing providence He has care over us all, that we might stand as strong in our little trials and sufferings as you did before the face of the executioner. To all people be a witness to the faith that reaches ever unto Heaven.

(Is.55:6-9; Ps.145:2-3,8-9,17-18; Phil.1:20-24,27; Mt.20:1-16) "You too go into my vineyard, and I will give you what is just." Our readings today reveal that the Lord is near, merciful, and just, and that these three qualities are one in God. For the Lord's justice is shown in His mercy, and His mercy in His nearness to us. And so we should "praise [His] name forever." Isaiah conveys to us that the Lord's thoughts and ways are "as high as the heavens are above the earth" with respect to our own thoughts and our own ways. As David proclaims, "His greatness is unsearchable." But the prophet also encourages the faithful to "seek the Lord while He may be found, [to] call Him while He is near"; and the king declares, "The Lord is near to all who call upon Him, to all who call upon Him in truth." And is not the closeness of our great God – made most evident in the presence of Jesus among us – illustrated in the Lord's parable? Does not the landowner go out at all times of day to draw laborers into his vineyard? Even to the final hour He invites us into His kingdom, coming to us always with the hope of making us fruitful workers upon His land. And why does the Lord remain so near? Why does He call to us so incessantly? Is it not because He is so "generous and merciful," because He is "good to all and compassionate toward all His works"? Is it not that we should turn from our idleness and the wickedness of our thoughts and ways that He ventures into the marketplace to find us? Does Jesus not come to redeem us from this world of sin? And should we not therefore "turn to the Lord for mercy, to our God who is generous in forgiving," whose calling us to work in His vineyard is more that He should be able to give us all we need than that we might labor for Him? And is His mercy not proven by His form of justice? For does He not give all a full day's pay, even those with Him but an hour? Do not all who come to His kingdom know the blessings He pours forth? This is His way, this is His justice – the way of mercy and love. And it is by this love He remains so near us who may now proclaim with Paul: "Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death," for His love is inseparable from us who believe, who have entered into His vineyard and share in His blood. And should we not be merciful as He? Should His justice not become our own? We should not be as those servants who "grumbled against the landowner" for His generosity, courting envy in our hearts, but allow the Lord to be "free to do as [He] wish[es] with [His] own money." Should we not wish the same joy upon all souls as we ourselves have been blessed to know? Though we may have had to bear "the day's burden and the heat," should this limit our generosity to others who have come late? We should rather with our Lord desire all to enter His vineyard, to be close to us, that all might receive the benefit of His merciful justice. We should thank Him that His ways are not our own, for then never would He have come near to us, and empty and idle we would be standing still. Written, read & chanted, and produced by James Kurt. Music: "Stumblebum" from Cleansing Human Frailty, fourth album of Songs for Children of Light, by James Kurt. ******* O LORD, how our envy would kill us – let us rejoice in your mercy toward all, counting ourselves blessed to do your will. YHWH, truly you are generous in forgiving, gracious and merciful to all, coming even at the eleventh hour to save us from our sin and share with us all the blessings of your kingdom. Let us set to work for you this day, this hour, rejoicing always that we might labor for you. O LORD, we thank you that your ways are far above our ways, for where we would condemn, you would forgive, and so we would ourselves be condemned without your mercy. It is indeed your desire to save all souls and we need but turn our desire to you to find you present to us. Help us to leave the ways of this world behind and follow in the way of your Son, embracing the Cross as though it held all treasure for us, as if it is the greatest gift you give… as if it were the way to Heaven, which it is. O LORD, why should we complain against your generosity, your mercy? Should we not rather seek to be like you? Then we would share in all the riches of your kingdom with nothing to keep us from praising your Name.