The Rev. Roger Bower

Exodus 16:2-4, 9-15 | Psalm 78:14-20, 23-25 | Ephesians 4:17-25 | John 6:24-35

An old Baptist minister in Texas once said to me, "Son, there are going to be times in the life of your community and in your life as a person that you are going to get to Sunday morning and look at those scriptures and think, "What am I going to tell those people today?'" He said, "That has happened to me more time then I care to remember. So what I do is get my stool from the kitchen and sit down and share my heart." That is what I am going to do this morning. I brought my stool from my kitchen and I am going to sit down her and we will talk for awhile.

But before I do this, I what to say I am a little nervous this morning. I noticed in the Narthex there are two boxes of very ripe tomatoes. The ushers have in their hands with grins on their faces. So I am going to have to duck.

But as we gather here today, we gather as a family of faith. United with Episcopalians throughout the country and the worldwide Anglican Church. It was a warm Northwest afternoon on Tuesday this week when 10,000 of our sisters and brothers gathered together for our General Convention. Every three years the Episcopal Church gathers to pray together, be together, talk together, discern together, discuss together and worship together. And ask the most important theological question not what God has done for us in the past and not what God will do for us in the future, "What is God doing in our life right now?"

Our presiding Bishop, Frank Griswold, got up and spoke at his opening address and said this was a meeting filled with hopefulness and great opportunities for us to gather together as a family. That was Tuesday. Five days later you and I gather and we have seen on CNN, ABC, BBC and everything else you can imagine, print and news media of what is happening in Minneapolis to our Episcopal Church. We gather hearing the news of arguments and differences of opinions. Perhaps even, God forbid a possible cicism in our church.

So we gather here today to worship God and pray together, and to try to make sense of it all. You like me, after hearing Frank Griswold's statements Tuesday and now coming to Sunday hearing about a possible cicism that could even start this afternoon. What in the world has happened? Where is God in all of this?

For those of you who may not be a part of our church, it is the reality of where we are as a church community. What we need to do is translate it. Even for us who are in the church to translate what is happening to us on a global scale. To bring that down to our families and our life. That is what I want to share with you today.

Over these past days I have been glued to my computer. Watching the emails and news and trying to get the latest scoop on what is happening. What issues are coming up and what some Bishop is saying about what? By Friday I was discouraged. That is the honest truth. So I began looking at scriptures and asking God to somehow speak to me and to answer the question, "Where are you and what are you doing?" So if you will take out your scriptures for today and I would like to share a little bit because I think I have learned a couple of things I have learned over my prayers these last couple of weeks that I hope will speak to you as Episcopalians. Also I hope it will speak to you as people of the living God. No matter where you are or on whatever issue.

The first reading for today starts out from the book of Exodus. Our good buddy Moses has led the people out across the Red Sea and been through a couple of deserts and finally ends up in a place called "The Desert of Sin." It says here that the whole congregation of Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. I thought about that for awhile. On the internet and emails and news, especially the news, what you hear about the conference in Minneapolis is everybody is grumbling. The first thing that I learned in my prayer this week is that God is a God that transforms grumbling into grace. Let's look at the scriptures.

In Exodus 16, two chapters ago Moses led the people to this place called the Red Sea. The people came and they were being threatened by the enemy. Surrounded by horses and chariots, people of all sorts reigning down upon them. They grumbled against God and wailed against God and say, "Why have you brought us here only to be perished? We knew what we were doing in Egypt and why don't we go back." Moses with his arms spread out parts the Red Sea. The Israelites escape into safety and are delivered from bondage. Immediately after that they are led into the desert of Sure and in that place there is only bitter water to drink so they cannot drink the water. So they wail against God and say, "You give us bitter water to drink, we will die of thirst." God says, "I will lead you." He then brings them to a place the Bible says had spring fed water and they drink until they are filled. Once again they are delivered from the enemy.

In the 16^th chapter, Moses has led them to the desert of Sin and all there rations have been gone through and they have no food. They wail against God, "Why have you brought us her only to rot in the desert?" God says, "Quail and mammoth and provides for them." Every single time the people grumbled, God answered.

How many of you come here to this church today grumbling? "I do not want to pay these taxes. My husband did not listen to me this morning. My kids are acting up. I don't know about this church…………." How many us? Be honest. It is normal for us to grumble and express our anguish towards God and say, "Why have you delivered us to this point?" Very normal.

We are called here today as a family of faith to know that in our grumblings, disagreements and misunderstandings as families and churches, God does answer. God does provide. People were led from one place to another and they were led to the Jordan River and crossed over to the land of Jericho and went into the land of milk and honey. God delivered them to that land which he had promised. At the time when they were delivered the priests of the church were asked to go into the river and get rocks and put them out one according to each tribe on the bank so people would know, "Look, God provided." That is called Grace. It is nothing that we do or merit or work for. God so loves you that he gave his only begotten son! He provides for us, grace to make it through any difficulty we are experiencing. Any pain or anguish. How many of us at times feel surrounded by horses and chariots and the enemy coming against us telling us we can't do this? How many of us fell thirsty and hungry? That is why we come here to this church. We break bread with one another and gather to say, "God provide for us." God will lead us from discouragement into promise. The danger of watching all the newscasts right now is we will be a church filled with discouragement. Remind yourselves that today's troubles are tomorrow's miracles.

How many of us are skeptical thinking, "God is not answering us now. He is out on the eighteenth green. You are just doing that preaching stuff Roger." Oh Yeah!

Saw a story the other day. A guy named Leonardo. He was a mountain climber from Columbia. He and his friends were out climbing one day and he got separated from his friends. Hours passed by. He went through all of his rations. He was hungry, thirsty and cold. Slipping into hyperthermia he reminded himself that he had a cell phone in his backpack. High-tech mountain climber. Got it out and it was dead. He remembered he had used all of his minutes. He could not call anyone. True story folks, at that moment the phone rang. It was a telemarketer. "We understand that you have run out of minutes, would you like to buy some more?" They called him every thirty minutes until a helicopter came seven hours later to save him. Coincidence? I don't think so. Our friends in AA say, "Coincidences are God's way of remaining unanimous." God does provide. Never, never lose hope of that. That is why we come here. God will provide and move us from our grumbling into grace. In the next six hours you will grumble. If you are like me, you will grumble somehow by dinnertime. Ask yourself one question, "Where is the grace?" God transforms our grumble into grace.

Second reading from the letter to Paul in Ephesians. This one is a little harder for me to look at. It says, "We are taught to put away our former way of life, our old self, corrupt and deluded by its lusts, and to be renewed in the spirits of your minds, and to clothe yourselves with the new self, created according to the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness." I prayed about that. What I came is that God transformed the broken into wholeness. I prayed about that statement. I really wanted to come and tell you folks that God transforms brokenness into unity. I can't. I wish I could tell you that all of this that is happening at the General Convention. That we will somehow be united in all things, I can't tell you that. But what I can tell you is that we will be whole. God takes the brokenness of our lives and transforms that by the power of the Holy Spirit. God will take whatever we have that has been scarred and wounded by our lives and if we are open to God's working in our life, we will be made whole.

Now this is hard, especially for us guys. We tend think things out. I figure out that God's going to do this and this and everything else is going to be fine. I tend to put God in this mental box that I have all the answers and I have it all figured out, God is THIS. The Bible tells us that we are to live no longer as the Gentiles lived in the futility of our minds. We are darkened by our understanding. Alienated from the life with God because of our ignorance and our hardness of heart.

How many of us come today with a crusty heart? Trying to think things through. Do you want to know what category of books is one of the best-sellers? Self-help. There is about a million of those. I went to Barnes and Noble the other day and found racks and racks of self-help books. What God says is for us to open our hearts. What is God saying to your heart today? Not your mind or intellect. What do you hear God saying in the depths of your heart?

We are broken, yes. But we are called to put on a new self. As you each morning put on your make-up, shave, and shower and put on your clothes, we are called to put on a new cloth of Christ. A new wardrobe of righteous and holiness. If someone saw you walking down the street with would they know you are a person of Christ just because of the way you act or just because of the way you are or what you say? But they know you a person of God. Can you imagine what a world would look like if that happened?

Everyone say hello to Hallie. (A baby in Roger's arms for baptism.) She is dressed in white, in righteousness and purity. In a moment we will baptize her. What do your clothes look like? Most of the time when we get to my age our clothes are tattered and worn. They are dirty at times. We should be dressed in the cloth of Christ, purity and righteousness just as Hallie is today. Whether we are months or weeks or years old you are called to be people who are transformed from being broken to made whole.

Lastly, if you look at the Gospel story from John's Gospel, chapter 6. We have just gone through the dinerative of how Jesus feeds the five thousand. Remember more than five thousand men and women and children are gathered and people come to say they do not have any food. He takes five loaves and two fish and thanks the Almighty God and blesses God for his provision. That is blessed and multiplied and fed to the people. Jesus after that goes off to a secluded place to pray and the people follow him. After they find him they ask him to do that bread trick one more time. Grumble, grumble. Jesus kind of scratches his head and says, "Folks, you are not getting it. Life is not about the earthly stuff but of heavenly things. Life is about truth. Life is about having a relationship with me, Jesus, the son of God. Life is about things internal." God transforms our earthly food and makes it the bread of life. You here today are abundantly blessed. Do you realize the blessings God has given you? It is not about earthly blessings it is about eternal blessings. Do you seek after what is eternal? The scriptures said, "What works are you going to perform? Don't work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life. Are you just as hungry for a relationship for Jesus as you are for fame and fortune, prestige and honor? You need to be hungry for the eternal.

In our General Convention, our prayer is what we are going to be about is providing people the eternal, food that will last. Love, grace, mercy and passion, truth and justice. We are called to be a church that still believes in God and that God is still with us and active in our lives today. Let us not be discouraged or frustrated, let's be empowered and equipped to become disciples. Let us still profess with boldness that God is a God that transforms hearts. That transforms our grumbling into grace. That transforms our brokenness into wholeness. That transforms our earthly food into the heavenly body of Christ. We are a family. We are called to this day to profess that God is very active. As we baptize Hallie Louise we reaffirm that we are immersed into the life of Christ. We are immersed into truth. We must proclaim that boldly. We must be the body of Christ. Please know that God is still working here in our midst and we break bread with one another and we share that and we say that we are the body of Christ for one another.

Let us pray.

Loving God we come before you this day often times broken or wounded. We come here knowing that you will provide. That you care for us and about us and you will answer our every need if only we trust in you. So that we pray today that we as individuals will trust you. That we as families will trust you. That we as your church will trust and believe in you. So we pray almighty and ever living God, you are the source of all wisdom and understanding so we as your family ask you to be present with those who take council at the General Convention throughout the rest of the week. For the renewal and mission of your church. Teach us in all things to seek first your honor and glory. Guide us to perceive what is right and grant us both the courage to pursue it and the grace to accomplish it. Jesus Christ Our Lord, Amen.