“Take, Bless, Break, Give,” Rev. Melissa St. Clair, 11/2/14
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https://heartoftherockies.org/wp-content/uploads/_file_mp3/718226-dd613129.mp3“Take, Bless, Break, Give”
A sermon preached at
Heart of the Rockies Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)
Fort Collins, CO
by the Rev. Melissa St. Clair
November 2, 2014
My uncle was a wood-worker. A very proficient wood-worker. He made fancy furniture that sold in upscale stores in Washington, D.C. Not long after his diagnosis of Lou Gehrig’s disease, he had to give up his passion and livelihood. He had an apprentice to whom he taught the Queen Anne style of furniture that he so loved, but even the pieces made in that style on his own equipment weren’t the quite same, because they weren’t made by his hands. In my parents’ house, my aunt’s house, and my grandparents’ house are tables that my uncle made. I had always hoped that someday I would have one of those tables too.
On the day I was ordained, after the service at the church and the reception to follow, my parents told me they had one more gift for me. I sat on the couch in their living room, and waited as my mom emerged from my parents’ bedroom with a neatly wrapped box. “It’s a gift from your uncle,” they said. That seemed far-fetched, since my uncle died the summer before I left for seminary.
As I carefully peeled back the paper, my dad explained, “Your uncle handmade home communion sets for our pastors, and so we wrote to one of them asking if we could purchase it from him. He sent it back with a note saying that it belonged in our family, and he was glad for me to have it.”
I now had my table.
Tables are important. They were in the ancient world, and they are today.
We meet Jesus at the table in chapter 26 of Matthew’s gospel.
READ MATTHEW 26:26-29
Eating together in Jesus’ day was more than an occasion to indulge or a bite eaten on the run en route to the next thing. Food wasn’t as plentiful or accessible then as it is to most of us now.
It’s not surprising, perhaps, that Jesus and his disciples didn’t stop off at too many mini-marts during their travels. Yet the difference didn’t lie just in convenience, but also availability. It wasn’t terribly uncommon for one’s source of food to be threatened by drought, warfare, insects, and other things.
To share food with another person was to say, “Your existence is important to me and to the world. By feeding you, I risk at least a little bit of my future in the hope that community will be better with both [of us] in it.”[1]
I didn’t realize this until many years after the fact, but the founder of The Young Clergy Women Project, a network of over 1200 ordained women under the age of 40 spread out over at least 12 countries, was one of my youth ministers growing up. Susan remembered me from the start; I’m embarrassed to say that I didn’t remember her until she pointed this fact out after we’d already had several interactions through the Project. It was after we had reconnected in person that she shared with me a story from her time serving my home church in my hometown in Pennsylvania, which ended up being yet another occasion for embarrassment.
There was, and I’m assuming still is, a ministerial alliance in Chambersburg, where local church pastors gather and share a meal and talk about what’s going on the lives of their congregations and the community in which they serve. I’m not sure how active my pastors were in these gatherings, but at some point Susan attended one with one of my pastors, Jeff. I’m also not sure how all this unfolded, but at one point, as the meeting was about to begin, it was made clear that Susan was to be in the kitchen. Which wouldn’t have been a big deal, because after all that’s where the food is, except that everyone else was to be seated around a table in the adjoining Fellowship Hall. And by everyone else, I mean all the male ministers.
Susan’s existence must not have seemed all that important to the clergy-folk gathered there at the table that day. She was not seen as someone who would add value to the community being formed around that table.
Even if this group thought they were being Biblical around their table standards, perhaps a la Paul’s letter to Timothy, the reality was guests experienced a measure of equality when gathered at the table. Yes, there was social stratification in Jesus’ time. And yes, that was reflected in where one was seated at a banquet feast (although Jesus’ wasn’t shy about turning that notion on its head). But when people gathered at table, all had access to the food being served, and all could participate in table conversation.[2] (resource)
Props to my pastor, who didn’t get as righteous as Jesus might have and turn over any tables but who did sit with Susan in the kitchen.
Jesus had a habit of using food and the table to upend expectations. His table economics at the Last Supper, as we read from Matthew’s gospel this morning, were consistent with other meals he had shared as well.
Let’s enroll in Table Economics 101 for just a moment. Instructor: Jesus Christ, of course.
Think for a moment about some of the meals Jesus shared, including the Passover meal with his disciples that ended up being his last before his death.
The feeding of the 5000.
Walking with his disciples on the Emmaus Road.
What similarities do you notice? (I’m trying to make this course an easy A.)
There’s the same pattern in each: Jesus takes the food that is to be eaten, he blesses it, he divides it up, and he gives it to all who are gathered. All who are gathered. Even when they are naysayers, er, disciples who are convinced no such thing is possible.
We participate in that pattern when we gather at this table. We remember Jesus’ own life, taken, blessed, broken, and given for us. All of us. And we receive that gift in the form of loaf and cup, grace and forgiveness. All of us.
This week in our Wednesday morning Bible Study, I asked everyone to take a moment and reflect on a great gift they had received and a great gift they had been given. We wrote the gift given on one side of the paper and the gift received on the other side of the paper. What surprised me, although perhaps it shouldn’t have, was that many of these sides of the paper mirrored one another. Some of the greatest gifts given were also greatest ones received; often time invested in being with a loved one.
Our 2015 general fund campaign, underway now, reminds us of that dual nature of giving and receiving. The gifts we receive in the loaf and cup – forgiveness, grace, love, acceptance – are also some of the greatest we can give.
As a congregation, we know this to be true with our finances as well. Because of the financial gifts we receive as church, we are able to give.
We give to our children and youth when we cover $100 or more of the cost for each camper to help offset their participation in church camp. At a recent regional gathering of pastors in our denomination, the speaker asked those who sensed a call to ministry at church camp to raise their hands. Nearly everyone in the room did! When we give, we receive.
We give to keep the building heated and the lights on, which doesn’t seem all that glamorous in the scheme of ministry, until you consider that in addition to supporting the ministry that takes place in this building Sunday to Sunday – there’s something going on here virtually everyday of the week; ask Cleone, our housekeeper if you have any doubts about that – we’re able to house four families with no place to call home at the moment for a week at a time. At dinner one evening, a young person from one of those families shared with me that even thought he’d just come from the church with the gaming system, this church was his favorite place to stay because the people were the nicest. When we give, we receive.
We give to support adoptive, foster, and kinship families through Kids at Heart. It’s through Kids at Heart that people like Jessica have discovered their extended families. Jessica works full-time and, with her husband, raises 3 kids, all three of whom were adopted from foster care – at the same time. Jessica and her husband don’t have any family in Colorado, and their support system here isn’t very large. Kids at Heart has become a safe haven for Jessica, her husband, and their kids. According to Jessica, the staff and all who support Kids at Heart – that includes this congregation – are part of her family’s “village.” When we give, we receive.
We give to support our high schoolers participation in the International Affairs Seminar, which takes youth from our region across the country to New York City and Washington, D.C. to learn about human rights issues and talk with their elected officials. Lauren Sluss, one of last year’s participants, discovered through this experience that issues that seem huge and overwhelming can actually be conquered when we educate ourselves about them and commit to taking small steps together. She wants her life’s work to be as a foreign correspondent, traveling the world and being a voice for the voiceless, exposing global injustices and making change in the world. I have no doubt she will. When we give, we receive.
We give to grow our Harvest of the Heart Community Garden, where we’ve met our neighbors who have helped us ready and maintain the plots, resulting in an abundant harvest that saw boxfuls of healthy produce going into those in need in our community through Food Finders. When we give, we receive.
We give to support our staff in the ministries to which they have been called. When was the last time you were encouraged, inspired, equipped to do something you felt called to do by one of our staff – Erin, Ruth, Katie, Erica, Cleone, or Jeff? A few weeks ago, I was eager but anxious to lead Worship and Wonder, an experience of worship we create with our pre-K to 3rd graders each Sunday between services. I’d heard such amazing things about it, but I wasn’t sure about my ability to lead it. There’s a wee bit of singing involved, after all. Erin gave me everything I’d need to lead, from the script to the story to the reassurance that the kids would jump in and help when I felt unsure. Brent gave me some of his pro-tips. And now I know when the time comes, I’ll be able to share a story from scripture with our kids in a way that brings in to life for them.
There’s a family that first visited our congregation because they saw us in the 4th of July Parade, playing percussion instruments, under Ruth and Heather’s direction. They figured this was a church that loved music. They were right. And more than that, we have a music director who helps us express ourselves musically, even if we happen to light in the talent department. (Yes, I’m referring to myself.) When we give, we receive.
When Jesus gave the broken bread to his disciples at that Passover meal, he gave us a pretty remarkable gift – himself. We come to the table to receive that abundant, life-giving, life-changing gift. When you receive, what will you give?
[1] Ronald Allen, Biblical Reflections, in “From Bread & Wine to Faith & Giving” produced by The Center for Faith and Giving.
[2] Ronald Allen.