Today’s Word from Pastor Tom Kidd…
“I am an excellent golfer.”
…. Uhh, I have had moments. Long ago moments.
“I am the best putter on the golf course.”
… I am not the worst if Pastor Jim is playing.
“I have never preached a bad sermon.”
… OMG, did you catch that dog last year?
“I have never been unfaithful to my wife.”
… Okay, there was that 15 second fantasy twenty years ago.
“Humility is one of my strongest assets.”
… Alright, alright, no comment needed.
So it goes. It is simply too beside the point to dismiss the above with a simple observation that I have only an elusive relationship with truth. Rather, I would challenge you, if only for a moment, to accept the premise that we all have mythologies we tell about ourselves. A myth is simply a story we tell that helps us understand ourself and the world we live in. We all have personal mythologies. It is not about right or wrong, good or bad, it is how we put flesh and blood and spirit into our lives. What is often more valuable than objective truth, is what function those stories play in our lives.
Individuals, families, religions, governments, all have mythologies meant to provide identity. Most of the time the stories are innocuous, yet sometimes they can be very harmful. Like the stories, for example, we have told as a nation to justify racism, or economic inequity. Sometimes the unraveling of a myth can be quite traumatizing.
How many disciples did Jesus have? Well, not counting the faithful women, at the end there were eleven. At one point his disciple count was in the hundreds. What happened to them? Where did they go? John 6:51ff…
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, they will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will
give for the life of the world… they began to argue among themselves, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’… Jesus said to them, ‘I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life…’ On hearing this, many of his disciples said, ‘This is a hard teaching’… from this time many of his disciples turned back and no longer followed him.”
Jesus’ words were, for the listener, traumatic, if not thoroughly offensive. Part of the religious mythology for the faithful Jew was abstinence from blood. Imagine, for 1500 years your family has told a story of how faithfulness to God was demonstrated in part by kosher, by never ingesting blood. And now Jesus proclaims that a right relationship with God will be demonstrated by receiving the body and blood of Jesus. It is no wonder many of the listeners dismissed this moment with “This is a hard teaching, who can accept it?”
John records Jesus asking the remaining twelve, “You do not want to leave also?” Curiously, we are not left with any impression the twelve got it either. There is nothing in the narrative to suggest the twelve had some higher epiphany, some deeper understanding. Almost with a sigh of resignation Peter responds with, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”
That’s it, isn’t it? This is exactly the life of Christian faith. How many times do we not get it, but we yet follow? How often in life has our attempt at faithfulness been a disappointment because someone we love has died, someone we trusted has betrayed us, or the church has taken a position that runs counter to our mythologies of what it means to be a faithful Christian? We do not understand, yet we follow Jesus, the living bread come down from heaven.
Here’s my prayer… may we all receive the gift of disruption. And then in the midst of our confusion, may Jesus appear ever more loving, ever more gracious, and ever more accepting. And again, invite us to follow… even if we don’t always get it.
Soon and very soon we will gather at the river (or the parking lot). God’s peace and love be upon you.
Pr. Tom
