Gloria Dei Lutheran Church

John 6:51-58                                                                                                   

I am so very thankful for our first reading from Proverbs today, where wisdom invites us into her house, saying “you who are simple, turn in here! Learn to walk in the way of insight.” It is just wisdom that I needed this week, as I’ve tried to write this sermon. You see, I wasn’t feeling very “wise”. Instead, I was realizing how “simple” – and I’ll use the words “brain-dead” – the summer seems to have made me, especially in this past month!

Since July, I have traveled for three separate youth trips, all incredibly fulfilling and wonderful, but somehow, all completely stripping wisdom from my brain. I spent this past week at Camp Wapo with our awesome kids, who were so excited to be there, but as I looked to this Gospel reading in John, trying to write this sermon, the words about living bread and eating the flesh of Jesus just didn’t quite connect with the 9-square games and silly skits I was consuming at camp.

There is so much beauty and God-filled moments in each of these youth trips, but usually those experiences are more guided toward the youth. As leaders, we are often busy keeping an eye on the schedule, the individual moods of each kid, and adding up pizza slices to decide how much to order for dinner. And sadly, not much time is given in the leadership experience for the oohs and ahs that God is surrounding us with. And the wisdom I have been equipped with lately leads less towards scripture based, hope-filled messages and more towards the survival skills and lessons learned from these youth trips. So, I’d like to offer an invitation to you, our greatest supporters, to hear about the wisdom that I did gain from each of these experiences our youth were able to partake in this past summer.

Mid-July, five of our Gloria Dei youth took in the living bread of the New Orleans youth gathering, with this larger group from St. Paul, joining in with more than 16,000 participants. The wisdom I gained in this week together is that teenagers know everything…with the help of their phones. Each day, we walked to and from worship experiences, lunch spots, touristy treats and CVS stops. Each destination, changing minute to minute, adding up to almost 10 miles walked each day. This was only doable with the help of the teenagers guiding me on my phone, how best to use my navigation apps, with me often just asking them to take over and lead the way.

Yes, teenagers know everything. Sometimes. Sometimes they learn things outside of what they know. This week, while full of long walks, was also full of inspirational speakers, reminding us that we are loved, we are not alone, and sometimes, we are created to be disruptive. Our speakers spoke of difficulties our youth face in High School, and some difficulties our youth do not face. The troubles of immigration, LGBT+ inclusion, the loss of a loved one, the needs of our friends who are people of color. The Youth Gathering brought scripture in to share how we can be our best neighbor and how we are created to be just that. Our youth took it in, continued to wonder and hopefully felt moved in their faith towards what this means as they carry these lessons home.

This was our first youth trip of the summer, reminding our teenagers that they don’t yet know everything. There’s still wisdom to be gained in their lives. That thought may not necessarily fit our next group of trip participants. They were 8 middle school youth who joined Pastor Bradley, a parent, and me as we drove up to Duluth for three days of a service experience, adding in a Christian music festival and white water rafting.

The wisdom I took away from this living bread experience was simple: never say the word “burp” with middle school youth. Middle school youth love the word burp. The word “burp” doesn’t sound very inspirational, but when I think through our experience together, there was a lesson learned to share with you all today. In our casual question guide to keep conversations going on during the car ride, I didn’t proofread and left in the question “Can you make yourself burp?” not recognizing how that would impact the next three days we had to spend together, often traveling in a cramped mini-van.

Instead, we gained wisdom about the needs of some people living in northern Minnesota and the services being provided for them. Our youth spent their first afternoon serving with Second Harvest food bank, a large warehouse carefully organized and serving food to several counties in the area. Our group quickly got to work, setting up an assembly line to pack boxes with food that will help fill people’s pantries for the month. Our kids worked hard and learned of the great needs in the area, before exploring more of Duluth. We enjoyed Canal Park, Leif Erikson park and Lake Superior.

The kids all got along incredibly well. Some, who had grown up together in this church, some greatly active in this church, some who did not know each other or our church at all. Yes, they got along incredibly well while running as loudly and as often as possible, burping at every chance and often speaking at a volume unnecessary for indoors. Not much wisdom in that for me, but I did recognize the Living Bread who is Jesus in our midst. These kids were enjoying every second together, waking up as early as the sun to begin their craziness and other activities I can’t even explain in words.

I wouldn’t say these pre-teens knew everything, and my wisdom-bucket wasn’t necessarily filled from our three days together, but their love for God, their confidence in faith and the laughs they shared filled my youth ministry bucket full and I can’t wait to spend the year with them in Confirmation, Sunday Funday and in our new Youth Room being set up this summer. As long as they don’t burp. Much.

The last trip with our youth from Gloria Dei was three days at Camp Wapo, about an hour outside of the cities, near Amery, Wisconsin. Many of these kids have attended camp for years, but some were there for their first time, after being invited by other kids they met at Gloria Dei.

The wisdom I gained in those days at camp is that God is living in everything. I got to follow our kids through campfire worships, crazy outdoor games and meals where luckily, burping never camp up. While I thought this time at camp would fill me with peace and wisdom, giving me time to put down the words needed for today’s sermon, I was instead constantly stepping into any game they’d welcome me in and singing songs as loudly as possible. I am proud to have known these same songs for over 30 years, some which I bet you might know too.

That’s been my summer with your kids. And the wisdom I gained this summer was the reminder that God is living in everything. From the kids who were sad being away from home, the kids that would ease up on their competitiveness when my 6-year-old would step into a game, and the exhausted camp counselors who were finishing up their last week of the summer.

The wisdom I gained this summer was the reminder that God is alive and well in youth trips and bible camps. God was busy in our midst, offering up the goodness of Jesus, the living bread, in all of these experiences for our kids. But still I wonder: will they continue to eat the bread and drink the wine that Jesus offers when he says, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh”?

Those words from Jesus reminded me of words that I have carried with me for 20 years, since my most influential summer working at bible camp. It is from a very popular writer, the name unknown. Allow me to share the words that sustained me this summer:

“There is a table to which we are invited each day. It offers us sunshine and stars, joy and sorrow, flesh and blood, storms and memories, words and silence, night and day, death and life. It is the table that love prepares for us each moment, the table of daily life. Freely we are invited to come and eat.”

How has your summer been? Filled with trips or walks in the outdoors? Did the summer refresh you with new wisdom, or weary you with old worries? It’s good, isn’t it, for each of us to be here as summer comes to an end? This is a place where God invites you to this table of fellowship. This is a place where we need to be, listening to God’s invitation to be refreshed by the bread and the wine.

I may sound like I’m worn out and without much wisdom after a busy summer, but then I remember:

“There is a table to which we are invited each day. It offers us sunshine and stars, joy and sorrow, flesh and blood, storms and memories, words and silence, night and day, death and life.”

This is an invitation for you as well as for me. It’s an invitation that is never revoked. It never changes and is available to all. Through busy days and times when we don’t feel very wise, we come here to this table.  We take this bread and we drink this wine and we can live with the wisdom that the love of God is within us and is ours to share.

Thank you this morning for your ministry to our youth. I hope you were refreshed in hearing what they have been doing in New Orleans, in Duluth and at Camp Wapo. I was lucky enough to experience this living bread through long walks in the New Orleans heat, long drives with kids who burp and loud songs praising God’s love. I may not have much wisdom right now, but I, like most of you, am blessed with many, many things. THANK YOU!