No More Bamanna Bread
2 Corinthians 5:16-20
Joshua 5:9-12
The ancient Israelites had survived wandering in the wilderness for forty years (which is Bible speak for “a very long time.”). Their first act upon entering the Promised Land was to observe Passover and in the part of the chapter right before our reading Joshua had ordered the circumcision of all the males. I really wonder how Joshua made that happen. Here they were a nomadic people (so they had to walk everywhere they went) about to engage in hostilities with the people they encountered in this new land that they believed to be their inheritance from God and you want to cut off the end of what? And ya’ll thought some of the things that Rev. Robyn and I challenge you with are strange. I ask a lot from church folks but I haven’t ever required that of anybody in any of the churches I have served.
Plus, according to our story, the constant nourishment that the Hebrews received in their wilderness wandering – manna – ceased on the day they began their new life in the Promised Land. Now, please note, manna had long ago lost all appeal. Have you ever been on a one ingredient diet? That would be manna. I am sure they had tried everything to spice up their supply of manna but what can you do to make manna more appealing. I bet they tried manna bagels, manna filet, manna pastry, rack of manna, manna salad and, of course, I’m sure someone’s mom developed a recipe for bamanna bread. They had long complained about having nothing but manna to sustain them. Now they were in Canaan and could enjoy the crops of the land and the fruit from trees. I wonder how long it was before someone said, “I miss manna”?
Joshua knew that the people had entered a new place in their journey with God. The wilderness was over and now there were new challenges ahead. How would they faithfully serve God in light of these new challenges? Well, it would look really different from the wilderness. So they had to stay true to what it meant to live their calling – to be the people of God in this new place and time.
It is the same struggle we face. We also must periodically evaluate where we are in our journey and what we are doing to move forward. Sometimes it might look odd – from the outside. Think about our Miracle Offering coming up on Easter. For those of you who are new, each Easter we receive a special offering to fund projects that help us move our mission and vision forward. Typically they are large projects that take sacrificial efforts – hence, we depend on the miraculous grace of God to help us stretch beyond what we think we can do. Each year we challenge ourselves and each year God is faithful when all of us stretch a little. The Board works with ministry team leaders and the pastors to prioritize which projects help us in the larger picture be most faithful to our call. This year you can see the projects in your newsletter and you might wonder, “What does this have to do with the mission and vision of All God’s Children?” It’s a fair question. The first priority, for example, is to repair the 31st Street stairs going to Ackerman Hall. That doesn’t sound like a very holy effort on the surface. There are no starving children being saved or no torch-wielding villagers to repel. Well, God has called this congregation to be the spiritual center for the GLBTQ and allied community and to offer safe and healing space for people to come here and find themselves. Each week hundreds of people traverse those stairs. We have our two worship services on Sunday then Generation of Faith on Sunday afternoon. Throughout the week hundreds of other people use Ackerman Hall for 12 step meetings and community groups. The Virant staff and our office staff use those steps during the week for access. If you have climbed those stairs lately you will have noticed how damaged they are. Does it not become clear that if this place is to be the spiritual center and if we are to offer safe space, then making safe access within our place would be a spiritual issue?
Or the Praise Band going to General Conference in Acapulco. Some have wondered, “Are we just paying for a sweet vacation for a few of our members?” All God’s Children is one of the largest congregations in MCC and when the denomination looked to plan worship for General Conference they wanted the best musicians to lead the worship that happens twice a day every day of conference. When they thought of the best musicians in our denomination they thought of All God’s Children. It is part of our mission as a member congregation in our international denomination to offer our expertise and skill in a way that will enhance the worship experience of conference and help other congregations aspire to improve their worship experience because of what we have created here in Minnesota. All of the musicians going to General Conference are also working hard to manage the expense – doing fundraisers, investing their own money, doing extra practice, being creative in finding ways to lower costs plus they have to learn 66 songs to lead during conference. All so they can go to General Conference for a week and work their behinds off every morning and every evening to provide excellent worship. This will be no picnic for them. I hope they will enjoy themselves and I’m sure it will be a powerfully emotional and spiritual experience for our musicians. It is part of the mission of All God’s Children to make the world a better place. Acapulco gives us an opportunity to influence congregations from around the world and we get to share with the world the amazing music program we enjoy every week. What an amazing opportunity and privilege!
Or the peace pole. Some might wonder why we would want a peace pole in the garden of our church building. It is because it is part of the mission and vision of this congregation to make the world a better place and that means being a people who work passionately for peace, who reach across barriers to welcome our neighbor, extend a hand to the stranger, include the outcast and love the unloved. Hundreds of cars and pedestrians pass this building everyday. Every day that pole, like the rainbow flag and the fact that this congregation exists and thrives, is a witness to the power of God’s grace to overcome hate, war, death and destruction. The pole will also be a reminder to us that not all of us speak the same language, share the same culture or come from the same background but that all of us want to live in a world where our individual gifts are valued and each of our families is sacred. So the pole will have the message of peace in various languages to represent the passion of this congregation to be a safe place for any who need refuge from the storm.
I’m sure that one or more of these projects may resonate with some of us more than others. If one or more of them is where you feel you need to offer/omit your support, designate it on Easter. It’s all good. Do what you need to do. But I also hope we can all step back and see the larger picture that we are responding as a community to a world in need, not just as individuals and that there is greater impact when we act together instead of alone. There is sufficient grace to meet all our needs. We don’t have to feel limited. I trust our process and my check will just be to Miracle Sunday. I also trust all of you that you will do what is right for you.
We know what it is like to come in from the wilderness. There is always going to be a need for All God’s Children to be the place where people come when they are coming out, struggling with their relationship to God/family, or discovering their spirituality anew. We will probably always have that role as a community of healing, rest, reassurance and unconditional love. But we are also no longer in the wilderness. The world is changing and we are ready to meet the needs of a new generation which wants to know that grace includes them and that their faith is a journey that takes a lifetime and that it takes a village (a community) to raise a family and be a healthy contributing member of society.
When the Hebrews were wandering in the wilderness and needed God’s grace to survive, manna was provided. When they no longer needed manna, it went away and the grace of God (through the bounty of the land) sustained them. Whether we are in the wilderness or the middle of the city we survive on grace. It just comes in different forms. We are discovering how to live that grace in community – working together to create a vision and mission, undertaking projects that advance those ministries (even if we as individuals have no personal involvement in various parts), learning how to weigh the various priorities of the community with our own personal priorities, learning to nourish our spirits with the training, experience, study or reflection that is optimal for our individual spiritual development while understanding that others might need different things.
There is an old spiritual legend that the Hebrews had to stay in the wilderness as long as it took for them to lose their identity of being Egyptian slaves. Slave mentality is difficult to shed. It comes in lots of disguises and takes great effort and intentionality to change. But do you know what the difference is between the wilderness and the countryside? It is our mentality – it is how we label it in our minds.
God is leading us forward. The wilderness is behind us. Before us lie possibilities for making the world a better place, for creating safe and healing space, for being a beacon of hope to those who come behind. Miracles are not magic. They are simply the result of a group of pilgrims who take a faith journey together. You and I are here this morning because someone else dared to dream huge God-sized dreams and to expand the edges to include us. On Easter, we get to participate in the miracle of resurrection. New life doesn’t happen by magic. It is simply the result of a group of pilgrims who take a faith journey together. There is no more bamanna bread. There is only how we respond to the grace we have received and share that grace with those around us.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com No More Glamping in Gilgal. March 2010.
http://www.peacepoles.com/