<html><body><div>My post of part 3 was dumped, so let's try this, the final part of the sermon, without listing the footnotes.</div><div><br></div><div>Bob</div><div><br></div><div>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Of course, we <b><u>CAN</u></b>
always say, “No, thanks,” to Jesus. “That’s just a bit too much for me to
swallow and take on in my life, especially right now.” But that doesn’t and
won’t ever stop Jesus from keeping on inviting, or stop the Spirit from
prodding until we discover “something of the spaciousness of God’s meaning and
the wildness of God’s sense of time.” <sup>5</sup></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>There <b><u>ARE</u></b>
times when you and I forget how challenging it may have been to commit
ourselves to a pretty strange family, whatever the makeup. There are times when
we aren’t aware of the depth of Jesus’ love for us and the commitment He seeks.
In fact, there are times when you and I may not be in sync with Jesus enough
that we don’t appreciate fully what it means to inhabit this life eternal when
Jesus offers.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Inhabit” is an
interesting word, actually. We ask someone where she’s from, for instance, and
we can get all sorts of answers, ranging from the name of a nation, to the name
of a street in a local city. The word, based on its roots, means what you and I
have within us – literally, what <b><u>DO</u></b> you and I have that’s so
basic that it defines and controls who we are.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>For a Christian, then,
someone who’s made a commitment to follow Jesus, to <b><u>BE</u></b> Jesus, who
we are is more than someone on our street; it’s more than someone who lives in
Albany, or in Oregon. It goes far beyond any national boundaries. You and I, as
people who’ve made a commitment to Jesus, and the love of Jesus, have decided
to be nourished and guided by Jesus at every step, every word, every thought of
our lives. Jesus “inhabits” us and we “inhabit” Jesus. It’s such an incredible symbiosis
which brings fantastic excitement for all sorts of possibilities with our
lives, and there’s no telling where we‘ll be or what time it may be, when Jesus
comes to us to show us how Jesus guides and supports.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Sara Miles, talking
about church and about Communion with God, wrote the simplest, the most
obvious, yet most mind-blowing statement about Jesus in our lives. She wrote,
“You never know who’d be holding the bread.” <sup>6</sup> It could be –
absolutely anyone. And it needn’t be restricted to one time or place. Even if
you and I think literally about bread, and about its transformational power,
the bread, in whatever form, brought by a server in a restaurant; the bread in
this room or the one down the hall; the bread sought by the tired and hungry
person who addresses you and me on the street – it’s <b><u>ALL</u></b> Jesus.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Jesus gives this Bread
for the life of the world – the whole world – and it is our vocation now to
feed one another, to see that everyone gets bread, that we give and give, just
like Jesus, until He comes again.</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>“Anywhere there’s food,
spirit and matter intersect. And the power to feed – and particularly to share
food with people outside your tribe – always has the potential to transform
lives.” <sup>7</sup></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>What other reason is
there for Jesus giving us Bread, if not to transform? Why are we given Bread if
it’s not to go out immediately and to share it way outside our so-called normal
circles, sharing not just the Bread, but all the ways in which people can be
transformed. And how are people transformed? In ways we cannot begin to count.
“One afternoon,” wrote Sara, “I found a worn-out man kneeling in the back of
the church by an icon of Sophia, the Wisdom of God. I offered to anoint him
with some holy oil, fragrant with rosemary, from a little container we keep in
our shrine. ‘Ahh,’ he said, receiving it. ‘That feels <i style="mso-bidi-font-style:
normal">so</i> good.’ A few minutes later a little kid came over, by the same
icon, and handed me a toy fire engine. ‘Want to play trucks?’ he asked.” <sup>8</sup></span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>How much Bread do you
and I need?</span></p>
<p style="margin: 0px; line-height: normal;"><span style='margin: 0px; color: rgb(32, 32, 32); font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt;'><span style="margin: 0px;"> </span>Eat, smile, then leave
to meet the rest of the world.</span></p>
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