<html><body>I'll try splitting this to post ... off to have dinner, then proof it.<br><br><br><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">THE
EPISCOPAL CHURCH OF ST. ALBAN, ALBANY <span style="mso-tab-count:2"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"></span>THE ELEVENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">1
SAMUEL 18:5-9, 31-33<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:6"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:
3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>PROPER 14 b</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">EPHESIANS
4:25 – 5:2<span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:
6"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>9<sup>th</sup> AUGUST, 2015</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">JOHN
6:35, 41-51<span style="mso-tab-count:7"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-tab-count:
3"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span><span style="mso-spacerun:yes"> </span>PSALM 130</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I
am …”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Check
through John’s Gospel to see how often these two words are on Jesus’ lips. To
us, perhaps, they’re not much of a big deal. Unless, of course, they come from
someone who’s so full of her or himself that the words are a bit grating; as if
that person perpetually self-promotes.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>But
to the average listener to Jesus, whenever He began by saying, “I am …”, that
person would think immediately of the encounter between Moses and God. “Tell
them ‘I am’ sends you,” God said to Moses.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I
am” on Jesus’ lips, then, plainly places God right in the centre of human life.
“I am here.” “I am your friend.” “I am your comforter.” “I am your guide.” “I
am your yard stick.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I
am …” – it sounds so heartwarming, and yet it terrified and enraged so many in
Jesus’ day. It was, indeed, identified with Moses’ encounter in the desert. But
it was interpreted also – rightly, as it turns out – as Jesus equating Himself
and what He was saying and doing, with God. <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:
normal"><u>THAT</u></b> was blasphemy! <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>THAT</u></b>
was enough to get Him killed! And, despite the message of freedom, of courage,
of hope that it embodied, it also set in motion the wheels that would roll on
to Calvary.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>How
can bread get one in such trouble?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>The
problem was – and remains – the idea that God was and is so readily available,
so present. This is not God who won’t come off the mountain, or leave the chic
beach resort where it’s been so temperate these last couple of weeks. This
isn’t God who only frequents air-conditioned homes, and sips martinis, or
margaritas or cold designer beer. This isn’t God who wouldn’t be seen dead
riding public transportation.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>There
was an interesting article on the news last week about a new bus service in
Salem. It seems that if you live in West Salem, with all its steep hills and mostly
residential areas, there isn’t much help for you if you want to get into the
centre of the city, never mind any of the malls to the east, north or south.
With the exception of Wallace Road, right along the river, you’re out of luck
if you don’t have a car or it’s in the shop.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>So
some students at Portland State are developing a programme to organise busses
on demand – it was described as </span><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Über busses. Of course, there were immediate
issues raised.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>No one who has a car wants to leave
it at home. We know the familiar arguments. “If they want to ride a bus, let
them move out of here and find someplace where Cherriotts, the existing public
busses, run already.” There isn’t even a whiff of a thought that “I am a West
Salem resident”, if I can put it that way, might make us stop to consider
what’s going on.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Doesn’t it sound a bit strange? God <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WANTS</u></b> to feed us. God <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WANTS</u></b> to help us find meaning in
our lives, and satisfaction and reasonable, livable compensation in our
employment. God <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WANTS</u></b> us to
be happy. God is present <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>EVERY</u></b>where,
in <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>EVERY</u></b> neighbourhood. Yet
it’s so hard to accept and make this a guiding principle in our lives. God <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>WANTS</u></b> to take us out of
situations that cripple and debilitate us.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Yet that’s not quite right. God
doesn’t necessarily want us actually to move. God simply wants the conditions
to change, the attitudes to be reformed, the whole idea of community to be
reinvented. God hopes and prays that all who are around and come in contact
with others will become aware of their hungers.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Bread, in other words, is not in
church alone.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“I am here,” God says, “not just
there. I’ll take care of you. I’ll give you guidance. You’ll see.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>But folk get in the way of God so
often, consciously or unconsciously. What right does anyone have to say that
she or he can speak for God; can try to act for God?</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“Just to the north side of the high
altar in the parish church of St Lorenz in Nuremberg stands the remarkable
sacrament house by Adam Kraft.” It’s pictured in your bulletins. “Commissioned
in 1493 by Hans IV Imhoff, a wealthy patrician, this tabernacle is far more
elaborate than was needed for housing the wafer and wine for Holy Communion, or
Eucharist. Its spire rises to a height of (almost sixty feet). This sacrament
house is both functional and ambitious. Its towering architectural form
contains sculptures of the Last Supper and Christ's Passion, both appropriate
themes for this structure,” which talks about Jesus as the Bread of Life.
“Imhoff's coat of arms is displayed prominently for all worshippers to see, but
closer scrutiny also reveals the presence of (the sculptor) Kraft in the
centre, and two assistants. These three life-size statues seem to bear the
weight of the whole structure on their shoulders.” <sup>1</sup></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;line-height:
normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif";
mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span><br></p></body></html>