Taste and See That the Lord Is Good

Eleventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 14 (Year B)

Psalm 34.1-8; John 6.35, 41-51

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 20:20)

 

Our Psalm for today ends with the verse: “Taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are they who trust in him” (Ps 34.8). I have always found this to be an interesting image, albeit a little cryptic. I mean, we can see that the Lord is good based on God’s actions throughout salvation history, some parts of the Old Testament notwithstanding. The overarching message of the Bible is that God is loving, compassionate, and merciful. That God provides for the needs of his people. This view of God being good is far easier to see in the New Testament, with God coming to live among us in the form of his Son Jesus. With the forgiveness of our sins and the promise of eternal life made possible through Jesus’ death and resurrection. As the Psalmist points out, we can plainly see that God is indeed good through God’s actions as recorded in Scripture. But what about the “taste” part? How can one taste that the Lord is good? I wonder that every time I read this portion of Psalm 34. Yet, I’ve never taken the time to ponder that. Until now.

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Give Us This Bread Always

Tenth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 13 (Year B)

John 6.24-35

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 19:00)

 

Today’s Gospel reading is reminiscent of the old “Who’s on First” comedy routine popularized by Abbott and Costello in the 1930s. The premise of the sketch is that the two comedians are discussing a baseball team and trying to determine which team members are playing which positions. Because the players have names such as “Who,” “What,” and “I Don’t Know,” answers to questioning about players and their positions come off as non-responsive. The humor is due to each member of the conversation using the same terms, but having differing understandings of the meaning of the terms used, naturally leading to talking in circles as they try to communicate. A humorous demonstration of how different frames of reference can lead to miscommunications and misunderstanding.

 

The same thing is happening in today’s reading from the Bread of Life discourse in the Gospel according to John. But instead of “Who,” “What,” and “I Don’t Know,” the differing frames of reference revolve around “bread,” “eternal life,” and “the work of God.” Both parties—Jesus and the crowd—are talking about being fed. Only they have different ideas about what that means. Rather than being a source of humor, this is a source of frustration for all involved as they seek to define their terms and establish a common ground for communications. (But then again, this is an ongoing challenge in John’s Gospel.) In so doing, the interaction really does serve to highlight the miscommunications and misunderstanding in a way that actually serves to underscore Jesus’ message.

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Eucharist

Ninth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 12 (Year B)

2 Kings 4.42-44; John 6.1-21

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 18:10)

 

We just heard the well-known story of the feeding of the 5,000 as reported in the Gospel according to John. This is the only miracle contained in all four Gospels. Which tells us that this event is particularly important in the life and ministry of Jesus. While all four Gospels report what happened, each contains slightly different details. So, let’s look at what makes this particularly important from John’s perspective. And, depending on who you talk to, John’s version of the feeding of the 5,000 carries greater significance than do the accounts in the Synoptic Gospels (Matthew, Mark, and Luke).

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Come Away to a Deserted Place

Eighth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 11 (Year B)

Mark 6.30-34, 53-56

The Rev. Michael K. Fincher

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:40)

 

I’m going to let you in on a little secret. Clergy are notoriously bad at self-care. We spend a lot of time talking about self-care at clergy gatherings. About the importance of taking care of ourselves; because if we don’t care for ourselves, we will not have what is needed to care for our parishioners. Discussions about self-care include the full spectrum of health and wholeness: physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual. A lot of these discussions invariably come around to the need for boundaries; the need for maintaining a balance between our work lives and our personal lives (yes, clergy do have personal lives outside of the parish). And despite all the talk, very little changes.

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Plumb Lines

Seventh Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 10 (Year B)

Amos 7.7-15

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:20)

 

My heart is heavy, my mind is muddled, and my spirit is weeping. A general sense of dis-ease that is, at times, visceral. I imagine some of you—many of you—can relate. I’ve been feeling this way for the last year or more, although it just seems to have become more acute as time goes on. Certainly, the pandemic is a cause for part of this. But if anything, the pandemic—or rather the changes and restrictions the pandemic brought about—provided space for what is going on around us to be made felt in a way that might not have happened in normal times.

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Ministry Pointers

Sixth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 9 (Year B)

Mark 6.1-13

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 23:00)

 

Our Gospel reading for today is comprised of two stories. While each have their own theme, they share a common focus on the nature of ministry. Providing some pointers for us as we engage in our own ministries.

 

In the first part of the Gospel reading, we hear that Jesus is in his hometown of Nazareth, where he is teaching in the synagogue. Those who heard him teach and preach were absolutely astounded. “Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him?” (Mk 6.2). Sounds like they were pretty amazed at what they were hearing. Jesus was making quite the impression. Until you get to the rest of the commentary. “Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?” (Mk 6.3a). We are then told “And they took offense at him” (Mk 6.3b). They were impressed with what they were hearing until they stopped to realize, “Hey wait! This is ‘little Jesus.’ He’s one of us. We know his family. We knew him when he was knee-high to a grasshopper.” And that’s when things started to go south.

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Life-Changing Encounters

Fifth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 8 (Year B)

Mark 5.21-43

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 24:25)

 

When I saw what the Gospel for today was, my first thought was, “Great! We are having our first baptism in over a year and a half, and this is the Gospel I have to work with: the story of a hemorrhaging woman sandwiched between the story of a young girl who dies. What am I going to do with that?” And then it hit me.

 

On the last full day I was in Israel in 2019, our group visited, among other places, the ancient village of Magdala. Home of Mary Magdalene. The original village, now ruins, has been extensively excavated, revealing some exquisite finds. Near the fantastic ruins that have been unearthed, there is also a starkly modern building, Duc in Altum. In addition to an altar shaped like a boat in front of a wall of glass looking out over the Sea of Galilee, Duc in Altum has what’s called the Women’s Atrium, containing seven pillars dedicated to women in the Bible who followed Jesus, and an eighth pillar dedicated to women of all faiths across time. But for me, the most outstanding feature of Duc in Altum is a chapel on the lower level called the Encounter Chapel.

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We’re All in the Same Boat . . . with Jesus

Fourth Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 7 (Year B)

Mark 4.35-41

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 18:45)

 

The event in today’s Gospel reading is often described as a nature miracle, in which Jesus demonstrates an ability to control such natural elements as the weather. Clearly an indication that he is not just any mere mortal, but highlighting his divinity as the Son of God. And to reveal these attributes to the disciples, as evidenced by their awe and exclamation, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?” (Mk 4.41).

 

The context of the story is that Jesus has had a very long and busy day teaching the crowds along the shore of the Sea of Galilee. At the end of the day, he and the disciples decide to set out in a boat for the other side of the lake. Jesus is wiped out, so immediately falls asleep in the back of the boat. Then a violent storm whips up threatening to capsize the boat and endangering the lives of all on board. And Jesus manages to sleep through it. Until the disciples, naturally panicked, awaken Jesus, who, seemingly a little irritated, rebukes the wind and the sea, resulting in the storm abating.

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We are the Mustard Seed Plant

Third Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 6 (Year B)

Mark 4.26-34

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 18:30)

 

Our Gospel reading for today ends with Mark commenting that “with many such parables [Jesus] spoke the word to them, as they were able to hear it; he did not speak to them except in parables” (Mk 4.33-34). Why parables? Why not just come out with the message, plain and simple? This is a bit of a mystery. Particularly when you consider what Jesus himself has to say to the Twelve about parables: “To you has been given the secret of the kingdom of God, but for those outside, everything comes in parables; in order that they may indeed look, but not perceive, and may indeed listen, but not understand; so that they may not turn again and be forgiven” (Mk 4.11-12). There is so much debate among scholars as to what Jesus meant by this statement. Why would Jesus try to intentionally keep the secrets of the kingdom of God from people? His whole mission was about revealing God to humanity, not keeping God hidden. It just doesn’t make sense. And to be honest, I have never come across a particularly satisfying explanation. Not that I’ve really looked all that hard, truth be told.

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Invitation to Deeper Relationship

 Second Sunday after Pentecost – Proper 5 (Year B)

Genesis 3.8-15; Mark 3.20-35

St. Gregory’s, Long Beach

Live Streamed on Parish Facebook Page (beginning at 17:05)

 

It’s early in Jesus’ public ministry and he’s already going 90 miles a minute. It is obvious from scriptural accounts that he was keeping a fast-paced schedule just to keep up with the demands on his time. He’s barely started and has already outwitted Satan in the wilderness, cast out a couple of demons, healed Simon Peter’s mother-in-law, gone on a preaching and teaching tour throughout Galilee, cleansed a leper, healed a paralytic and a man with a withered hand, and healed countless others with all sorts of diseases and infirmities. And he even found time for administrative details like appointing the Twelve as his inner circle and righthand men. And all this activity has not gone unnoticed. In the short time he has been at it, Jesus has attracted quite a bit of attention. Wherever Jesus went, people flocked to see him. Some coming from great distances. The crowds were such that “he could no longer go into a town openly” (Mk 1.45). Not only had he attracted the attention of the people of Galilee, but also from the temple authorities in Jerusalem, who come to Galilee to check out for themselves what this Jesus is all about.

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