Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

John 6:35, 41-51

In June, we were in Walhalla, ND, my hometown to celebrate my mom’s 85th birthday. Because Walhalla is only 5 miles from the Canadian border of Manitoba, we often go to Canada for lunch. We call it “crossing the line.” There is a new tea house in Winkler, Manitoba, that my mom loves so we made time to go. I had the best egg salad sandwich of my life. 

Later in the day, we were telling one of my brothers about our lunch at the tea house and I of course made this bold claim about the egg salad sandwich. And he said, ‘Well, tell me about it, what made it so good?” And after a few beats of silence, I told him the filling was top notch, just the way I like it but if i’m honest I’d have to admit it’s about 80 percent about the bread. It was house made, white, fluffy, perfect. 

It’s about the bread. 

I am married to Nate, who is a baker. We own a bakery. We have a family tattoo of a toaster on our bodies. This is how committed we are to the role of bread in our lives. So it should not come as a surprise that it’s actually about the bread. 

Bravo for a Gospel centered on bread that stretches over 5 weeks. Maybe we should do 10 weeks. 

Around here we live loaf by loaf by loaf. Bread is so simple. Life lived around loaves of bread will sometimes leave us wondering if it’s enough. If the wheat, water, salt and yeast are enough. How could it be, given (gestures wildly) everything? It is enough. Because Christ is revealed in the breaking and that means healing and mercy and love are present in every crumb.

 

Now I’m no Mathlete but the studies and stats do not lie that the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America is bleeding out. It’s hard to imagine here when we are gathered but overall as a denomination, you have joined a losing team. But also, so what. It’s a losing team but Jesus is for losers. For those in the back of the line. For the ones who have tried everything else and in a last resort, reach for the hem of his garment. Jesus is for those who put their hand out for a crumb of bread and wind up with feast so big there are leftovers.  The handwringing over the declining church stats does not change the world. So we just keep offering the bread and trust that God is there. 

 

If you live loaf by broken loaf does not inoculate you from making mistakes. Trust me. I am a professional, seasoned, willing bread breaker and I make all the mistakes every so often or maybe every day. Many of mine are made in public for the whole world to see. Public church leadership includes a lot of humiliation but don’t worry, it’s survivable and I’m fine. 

 

I started in this new call here at Gloria Dei in the last days of January. 

Which means, I have a solid 6 months into this beautiful worship life and space. Which is long to for me to invite you to peek behind the metaphorical curtain into the liturgical boot camp training program in which I am enrolled. My sweet colleagues have an elegance as they lead that I marvel at. And truth be told, I can’t remember what gesture goes where in the liturgy. Is it this? (Blessing, praying, welcome, peace) 

 

So the first Sunday, I penciled in line drawings for “praying hands” “welcome hands” “blessing hands” in the margins, Now those cues for the gestures are just a part of in the leaders guide. 

 

My first Sunday, the day I was installed,  I immediately processed in to the wrong spot. Pastor Bradley had to gently but firmly pry me out of the spot and nudge me along the way to where I was supposed to stand. We had rehearsed all of this. I had notes written in the margins. But then the service started and the music and the singing was robust and the there were a lot of people and the lights in here are bright and I was anxious and excited and wanted to do a good job and inspire confidence that you all made the right decision. 

 

And by the time I got to the words of institution, I thought: Oh thank God. I know this part by heart. But I held up the wine as I said all those good things about the bread. I was somehow able to ignore Bradley behind me saying, “Bread! Bread! Bread!” Deacon Ashley was the Assistant MInister and could see me going off the rails and helpfully started pointing to the right spot in the leaders guide. Again, this is help I ignored.   When I finally realized that I was holding the chalice of wine, I just set it down. Smiled. And took it from the top. It’s fine. I guess part of my call serving among you is to model that it’s ok to make mistakes. Even when you mess up the order and the elegance, Christ is made known in the breaking of the bread.

 

 

In our Gospel story today, the same crowd that wanted to make Jesus a king (verse 15) when he multiplies all that bread now doubts that he came down from heaven. On one level I get it. Some of these folks watched him grow up, cheered for him at his T Ball games, clapped the day they removed the training wheels off his bike. Back when he took a gap decade and went to work in his step father’s carpentry shop, they dutifully bought the first chairs he built, even though they were wobbly. 

 

Now he says he came down from heaven. I’m sure there is a little bit of “who do you think you are?” mixed in here. 

But he was the bread of life all along, they just couldn’t see it yet. Jesus has always been manna from heaven and will always be manna from heaven. By making himself this humble, glorious staple food—a loaf of bread, Jesus makes himself as necessary to us as the tortillas we eat. As necessary as the hambasha. As the pita. As the lefse. As the Country Hearth white bread from Cub Foods. As necessary as a baguette. We come here on Sundays to taste and see that God is good. To train our eyes to see manna from heaven. And then we walk out the door and begin to break bread on the altar of the world. We take Christ with us wherever we go.

 

Something I’ve learned in the last six months is that no matter where I go in this city, I will absolutely run into someone from Gloria Dei. It’s a 100% chance. I see you at every coffee shop, restaurant and store. The lifeguards guarding my life at Highland Pool are teenagers that we confirmed this spring. I see you at the Swedish Institute. A couple weeks ago, I drove two hours to Green Lake Bible Camp because my oldest child is on summer staff there and I wanted to support them. It was their 40th annual quilt auction and I arrived at this fundraiser knowing I was going to bid on a quilt to support their work. When the auctioneer saw my bid number go up, he stopped and said, “Friends, Pastor Jodi is here. My pastor from Gloria Dei in St Paul.” Yes, the auctioneer is a proud Gloria Dei member and very good at his job.  

I bid twice as much as I had planned to. Which means twice the generosity for that camp. At one point I stopped, thinking woof, that’s high enough. But then Auctioneer Glenn said, “Come on Pastor Jodi, my wife just said we will put more in the offering plate tomorrow in church if you keep going.” Obviously, I kept going. 

 

And then about an hour and 30 quilts later, Auctioneer Glenn said, “Pastor Jodi, take a picture of this one. It was donated by Gloria Dei quilters.” 

 

 At this point, I just did whatever Glenn told me to do. 

 

It begins at this table, with a loaf of bread. And then you carry that manna everywhere you go. Bringing healing and mercy and love with you.

We have a life centered on bread. Not 80 percent, it’s actually 100 percent. We break bread here on Sunday mornings but this building simply cannot contain Jesus. So bread gets broken on youth trips and at camp and regularly in homes of people who cannot make their way into this building. We break bread at funerals and weddings where the majority of people do not know how to do it—where to walk, where to find a cup, how to hold their hands. It’s often awkward but no matter, we gently help them along. Often people don’t understand it but when we invite them to receive Jesus in their hands they will make their way forward. Much to their surprise. 

 

In a few minutes, we will do the same. It’s okay if you don’t know how to do it. If you don’t quite understand it. Or know where to stand or how to find a cup. Put your hands out and receive. We can take Jesus at his word when he says, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry. Whoever believes will never be thirsty.” Amen.