{"id":1337,"date":"2021-08-08T12:38:00","date_gmt":"2021-08-08T16:38:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/?p=1337"},"modified":"2021-08-09T12:44:37","modified_gmt":"2021-08-09T16:44:37","slug":"a-higher-love","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/2021\/08\/08\/a-higher-love\/","title":{"rendered":"A Higher Love"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\n

Year B
1 Kings 19:4-8
Psalm 34:1-8
Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In today’s passage from 1 Kings\u2026  Elijah is despondent\u2026  his success on God’s behalf\u2026  the killing of Baal’s prophets in the Kidron Valley\u2026  means nothing to him now\u2026  he has escaped Jezebel’s reach and threat to kill him\u2026  and hightailed it to Beersheba\u2026  where he leaves his servant Obadiah\u2026  and then continues a day further into the wilderness\u2026  and for those of you who’ve been to that desert\u2026 as I have\u2026  you know it’s an inhospitable landscape\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dean McDonald\u2026  Director of the Cathedral College of Preachers\u2026  wrote\u2026  it’s easier for us to relate to Elijah on the lam\u2026  than it is to Elijah slaughtering his enemies\u2026  or speaking directly with God\u2026  as Moses did on the mountaintop\u2026  and now\u2026  in hiding and sitting under a broom tree\u2026  Elijah asks God to end his life\u2026  his depression is untenable\u2026  unendurable\u2026  the critical voices in his mind\u2026  tell him he’s no better than his ancestors\u2026  perhaps they tell him he’s worse\u2026  but God does not abandon him\u2026  God sends angels to feed and tend to him\u2026  not once\u2026  but twice\u2026  to strengthen him for his journey\u2026  the text tells us that Elijah then travels forty days and nights to reach Mt. Horeb\u2026  which is the name preferred by the writer of Deuteronomy\u2026  for Mt. Sinai\u2026  on which Moses remained\u2026  also for forty days and nights\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Elijah’s depression is awful\u2026  and many of us can relate at least to some degree\u2026  he exhibits some of the characteristics which afflict battle-worn soldiers who suffer from PTSD\u2026  and even when there are no physical wounds\u2026  PTSD can cause deep and long-lasting spiritual wounds\u2026  and we know that because of the soldiers who return from battle uninjured and seemingly whole\u2026  but who die by suicide weeks or months later\u2026  we know that because of the four officers who responded to the Capitol insurrection on January 6\u2026  and who have since died in that same way\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Earlier this week we were given the chance to reflect on mental illness\u2026  when Simone Biles withdrew during the women’s gymnastics team finals\u2026  citing mental health concerns\u2026  all around the world\u2026  we struggle with mental health issues\u2026  sometimes keeping our distance from those so dis-eased\u2026  as though they had a virus with which we could be infected\u2026  but sadly\u2026  a number of conservative pundits and writers labeled Simone as arrogant\u2026  claiming she is not a good role model for kids\u2026  and on his radio show\u2026  Charlie Kirk\u2026  a twenty-seven year old community college dropout\u2026  called Simone a selfish sociopath\u2026  but when D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone was interviewed on a CNN talk show earlier this week\u2026  he said\u2026  we need to normalize the conversation about folks struggling with trauma and mental health issues\u2026  we need to get rid of this stigma that people who struggle with those issues are weak<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We tend to think that grief is appropriate only after the death of a loved one\u2026  but there can also be grief when friendships end\u2026  when you lose your community\u2026  when you no longer have the certainty you once did\u2026  when you question your judgment\u2026  when you’re feeling lost and unanchored\u2026  when beloved traditions are lost\u2026  and when you must let go\u2026  of who you once were\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are always changing\u2026  some changes are easy\u2026  like changing to a new brand of toothpaste\u2026  and some changes are more difficult\u2026  like that moment when you decide to be true to who God created you to be\u2026  and some of those changes are accompanied by mental health concerns\u2026  and how we weather them\u2026  is dependent on what we know\u2026  and when we know it\u2026  when I was ten years old\u2026  I knew more than when I was five\u2026  when I was forty\u2026 I knew more than when I was thirty\u2026  and now that I’m sixty-seven\u2026  I know there’s more that I don’t know\u2026  than I do know\u2026  and so I’ll never run out of new things to learn\u2026  or the insights they’ll reveal\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And Joel and I recently saw a TED talk on quantum mechanics\u2026  and the speaker explained that one dominant understanding about electrons\u2026  is that they can exist as a diffuse energy field whose exact location is unknowable\u2026  when they’re not being observed\u2026  or collapse into a particle whose position can be detected\u2026  when they are\u2026  that is\u2026  they exist in both states simultaneously\u2026  depending on our perspective\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jesus’ audience in today’s Gospel knows him as Joseph and Mary’s son\u2026  he is human\u2026  he is mortal\u2026  he can bleed\u2026  they seem to forget that he has just fed more than five-thousand people and that the leftovers filled twelve baskets…  but in v. 35 he says\u2026  I am the bread of life\u2026  <\/em>in v. 38 which is omitted from today’s reading\u2026  he says\u2026  I have come down from heaven<\/em>\u2026  and in v. 41 the Jews complain when he says\u2026  I<\/u> am<\/u> the<\/u> bread<\/u> that came down from heaven<\/em>\u2026  so which is it\u2026  is he human\u2026  or is he divine\u2026  in their either \/ or thinking\u2026  they cannot intellectually reconcile how both can be true\u2026  they have no point of reference for both \/ and\u2026  but if God is always free to act in unexpected and often incomprehensible ways\u2026  then Jesus is also able to be fully human and fully divine\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Jews ought not complain among themselves\u2026  when people who don’t know insist that they’re right\u2026  their claims expand into diffuse energy fields of opinion\u2026  and Jesus’ emphasis was not directly on his human identity\u2026  and therefore on his authority\u2026  a theme with which the religious authorities were obsessed\u2026  he emphasized his role as the giver of divine life to others\u2026  the bread he offers is more than manna\u2026  which was earthly food intended only to sustain earthly life\u2026  but the bread he offers satisfies hunger forever\u2026  he expands their short-sighted understanding of what they thought possible\u2026  and so when he says\u2026  I am the bread that came down from heaven<\/em>\u2026  he reveals himself as living bread which sustains and transforms people through death and to eternal life\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who have come to Jesus\u2026  have come\u2026  because they heard God’s call through the One whom God sent\u2026  and the ones whom God teaches\u2026  recognize the fullness of God’s life\u2026  the life that is everlasting\u2026  that is at least partly why Jesus also says\u2026  I will raise that person up on the last day<\/em>\u2026  because those who are lifted up will be lifted up in love\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We’re struggling these days\u2026  with an idea which has gained prominence in recent years\u2026  the idea that truth is relative\u2026  and all points of view are equally valid\u2026  and that everyone is capable of judging which conclusions have merit and which do not\u2026  education\u2026 scholarship\u2026  and expertise\u2026  have taken a back seat to personal opinions\u2026  but genuinely smart people look for answers from those who are more experienced than themselves\u2026  only ignorant people believe their guess is as good as anyone else’s\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Rev. Kirk Kubicek\u2026  at Christ Church in Forest Hill, MD\u2026  wrote\u2026  for their Greek-speaking…  Greek-hearing audiences\u2026 Paul and the four evangelists had a number of words from which to choose to convey love\u2026  but they all chose the word agape<\/em>\u2026  which speaks of a love\u2026  in which the one who is loved\u2026  is raised to the level of the one who loves\u2026  and just as Jesus has been raised to the level of the Father\u2019s love\u2026  his love for us raises us to the level of his love\u2026  and that kind of love heals prophets like Ezekiel who wish to die\u2026  and gymnasts like Simone who can’t go on any more but who find enough healing to do so\u2026  those who were traumatized during the January insurrection\u2026  and with God’s help have the strength to testify\u2026  and yes\u2026  even those who die by suicide and are brought into God’s loving embrace\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And some of the lyrics from Lauren Daigle’s song You Say\u2026  name this dis-ease\u2026  and help us frame this truth\u2026  lyrics that are almost like a prayer\u2026  she sang\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I keep fighting voices in my mind that say I’m not\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0
\u00a0\u00a0 enough\u2026
Every single lie that tells me I will never measure up\u2026
Am I more than just the sum of every high and every low\u2026
Remind me once again just who I am because I need to
\u00a0\u00a0 know\u2026
You say I am loved\u2026\u00a0 when I can’t feel a thing\u2026
You say I am strong\u2026\u00a0 when I think I am weak\u2026
And you say I am held\u2026\u00a0 when I am falling short\u2026
And when I don’t belong\u2026\u00a0 You say I am Yours\u2026
And I believe\u2026\u00a0 Oh I believe\u2026\u00a0 what You say of me\u2026
<\/em>
Amen.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Year B 1 Kings 19:4-8Psalm 34:1-8Ephesians 4:25-5:2John 6:35, 41-51 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026  speak your truth\u2026 In today’s passage from 1 Kings\u2026  Elijah is despondent\u2026  his success on God’s behalf\u2026  the killing of Baal’s prophets in the Kidron Valley\u2026  means nothing to him now\u2026  he has escaped Jezebel’s reach and threat to kill him\u2026  and hightailed it to Beersheba\u2026  where he leaves his servant Obadiah\u2026  and then continues a day further into the wilderness\u2026  and for those of you who’ve been to that desert\u2026 as I have\u2026  you know it’s an inhospitable landscape\u2026 Dean McDonald\u2026  Director of the Cathedral College of Preachers\u2026  wrote\u2026  it’s easier for us to relate to Elijah on the lam\u2026  than it is to Elijah slaughtering his enemies\u2026  or speaking directly with God\u2026  as Moses did on the mountaintop\u2026  and now\u2026  in hiding and sitting under a broom tree\u2026  Elijah asks God to end his life\u2026  his depression is untenable\u2026  unendurable\u2026  the critical voices in his mind\u2026  tell him he’s no better than his ancestors\u2026  perhaps they tell him he’s worse\u2026  but God does not abandon him\u2026  God sends angels to feed and tend to him\u2026  not once\u2026  but twice\u2026  to strengthen him for his journey\u2026  the text tells us that Elijah then travels forty days and nights to reach Mt. Horeb\u2026  which is the name preferred by the writer of Deuteronomy\u2026  for Mt. Sinai\u2026  on which Moses remained\u2026  also for forty days and nights\u2026 Elijah’s depression is awful\u2026  and many of us can relate at least to some degree\u2026  he exhibits some of the characteristics which afflict battle-worn soldiers who suffer from PTSD\u2026  and even when there are no physical wounds\u2026  PTSD can cause deep and long-lasting spiritual wounds\u2026  and we know that because of the soldiers who return from battle uninjured and seemingly whole\u2026  but who die by suicide weeks or months later\u2026  we know that because of the four officers who responded to the Capitol insurrection on January 6\u2026  and who have since died in that same way\u2026 Earlier this week we were given the chance to reflect on mental illness\u2026  when Simone Biles withdrew during the women’s gymnastics team finals\u2026  citing mental health concerns\u2026  all around the world\u2026  we struggle with mental health issues\u2026  sometimes keeping our distance from those so dis-eased\u2026  as though they had a virus with which we could be infected\u2026  but sadly\u2026  a number of conservative pundits and writers labeled Simone as arrogant\u2026  claiming she is not a good role model for kids\u2026  and on his radio show\u2026  Charlie Kirk\u2026  a twenty-seven year old community college dropout\u2026  called Simone a selfish sociopath\u2026  but when D.C. Metropolitan Police officer Michael Fanone was interviewed on a CNN talk show earlier this week\u2026  he said\u2026  we need to normalize the conversation about folks struggling with trauma and mental health issues\u2026  we need to get rid of this stigma that people who struggle with those issues are weak\u2026 We tend to think that grief is appropriate only after the death of a loved one\u2026  but there can also be grief when friendships end\u2026  when you lose your community\u2026  when you no longer have the certainty you once did\u2026  when you question your judgment\u2026  when you’re feeling lost and unanchored\u2026  when beloved traditions are lost\u2026  and when you must let go\u2026  of who you once were\u2026 We are always changing\u2026  some changes are easy\u2026  like changing to a new brand of toothpaste\u2026  and some changes are more difficult\u2026  like that moment when you decide to be true to who God created you to be\u2026  and some of those changes are accompanied by mental health concerns\u2026  and how we weather them\u2026  is dependent on what we know\u2026  and when we know it\u2026  when I was ten years old\u2026  I knew more than when I was five\u2026  when I was forty\u2026 I knew more than when I was thirty\u2026  and now that I’m sixty-seven\u2026  I know there’s more that I don’t know\u2026  than I do know\u2026  and so I’ll never run out of new things to learn\u2026  or the insights they’ll reveal\u2026 And Joel and I recently saw a TED talk on quantum mechanics\u2026  and the speaker explained that one dominant understanding about electrons\u2026  is that they can exist as a diffuse energy field whose exact location is unknowable\u2026  when they’re not being observed\u2026  or collapse into a particle whose position can be detected\u2026  when they are\u2026  that is\u2026  they exist in both states simultaneously\u2026  depending on our perspective\u2026 Jesus’ audience in today’s Gospel knows him as Joseph and Mary’s son\u2026  he is human\u2026  he is mortal\u2026  he can bleed\u2026  they seem to forget that he has just fed more than five-thousand people and that the leftovers filled twelve baskets…  but in v. 35 he says\u2026  I am the bread of life\u2026  in v. 38 which is omitted from today’s reading\u2026  he says\u2026  I have come down from heaven\u2026  and in v. 41 the Jews complain when he says\u2026  I am the bread that came down from heaven\u2026  so which is it\u2026  is he human\u2026  or is he divine\u2026  in their either \/ or thinking\u2026  they cannot intellectually reconcile how both can be true\u2026  they have no point of reference for both \/ and\u2026  but if God is always free to act in unexpected and often incomprehensible ways\u2026  then Jesus is also able to be fully human and fully divine\u2026 The Jews ought not complain among themselves\u2026  when people who don’t know insist that they’re right\u2026  their claims expand into diffuse energy fields of opinion\u2026  and Jesus’ emphasis was not directly on his human identity\u2026  and therefore on his authority\u2026  a theme with which the religious authorities were obsessed\u2026  he emphasized his role as the giver of divine life to others\u2026  the bread he offers is more than manna\u2026  which was earthly food intended only to sustain earthly life\u2026  but the bread he offers satisfies hunger forever\u2026  he expands their short-sighted understanding of what they thought possible\u2026  and so when he 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