My sermon went well!!!

My sermon went well. The congregation, while they didn't shout the call and response, did respond! The only negitive comment I recieved was at one point I talked a bit to fast, so all in all it went really well! In fact here is the sermon if anyone feels the need. They even handled the KRS-ONE reference!
Shalom All,
Chris
Jesus comes to us today, saying, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.” This message Jesus is giving us is incredibly bold, and incredibly life giving.
In fact, let’s drive these two points home, let’s break this message we receive today down into its two most basic points, I AM and THE BREAD OF LIFE. Throughout this sermon when I say I AM, I want all of you to respond, THE BREAD OF LIFE, when I say THE BREAD OF LIFE I want you all to respond I AM. (PRACTICE)
Jesus comes to this crowd and says I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. In Exodus the LORD reveals himself to Moses, saying “Ehyeh asher Ehyeh,” I AM who I AM. This name of the Creator of the Universe is shortened to Yahweh. Later, out of reverence to this name, the vowels were taken out and all that remained were the consents YHVH. Now days, when many Jews refer to God in speech they say Hashem, meaning “the Name” in Hebrew. When writing “the name” down they opt for either Adoni, meaning the LORD, or G-D or L-RD. In every Christian Bible I’ve looked at, with the exception of an English translation of a French translation, the name, Yahweh, is translated capital L capital O capital R capital D.
By all this I simply mean to say that now, when Jesus reveals himself to this crowd, saying, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE” he is taking no half-measures. Jesus is revealing his identity to the crowd in the same way God revealed his name to Moses.
In the verse before this, the crowd has asked Jesus for “bread always” and boldly he gives them that always. He doesn’t reach for another feast for the five thousand, another miracle, instead, as Jesus often does in the Gospel of John; he presents the miracle of himself.
Within Jesus is the transcendence of God. When we look into the sky at night, peering into the black blankets of the heavens, up at little twinkling eyes, first only a few, then as we look harder, maybe squinting a little, thousands, and thousands of thousands of stars appear, seemingly out of nowhere; in that instance when the stars rush at us in infinite succession our minds touch upon the boundlessness of creation. Our God did this, the God that Jesus claims to be representing, the God who Jesus claims to be, is this I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE. The immensity of the whole universe: Galaxies, Solar Systems, Stars, Nebulae, Planets, and Moons are within this God.
Jesus says, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE.” Not only is Jesus God transcendent, he is also God imminent. God is bread God is sustenance. Is there a better metaphor? This God of ours cares for us, and gives us life. This God of ours comes down from heaven. This God of ours takes on the world as his flesh. Our God isn’t some watchmaker, setting the world ticking, then moving on. No, this God of ours humbly enters this world through the womb, so that he is here among us. This God is THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM.
Everyone seems to see the Hebrew Bible, the “Old Testament that is, as filled with fire and brimstone, filled with a graceless God who is a surly and sullen teenager, toying with creation. Nevertheless, in today’s first lesson there is an excellent model of how the Grace of THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM is life giving.
Elijah is running from persecution, he’s making this journey away from certain death. On this flight he decides he can’t make it, he decides it would be better for him if he gives up. It would be better if he would just find a nice shady spot, lie down, take a deep breath, and drift into death.
Then the Angel of the LORD comes down from heaven and gives him food to eat, but Elijah still chooses the shady comfort of death. So the Angel of the LORD comes again, and this time he says, “Get up and eat, otherwise the journey will be too much for you.” So Elijah gets up, eats, and is able to travel for 40 days and nights to Horeb, where he meets the LORD.
THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM gives life in three ways. First, it gives us the life to reject our giving up; it gives us the ability to reject rejecting life. Second, it gives us the life for our 40 days. Third, it gives us the life to reach God.
Elijah is a hunted man. He has been chased for mile after mile, hour after hour, and day after day. He is scared and alone in the wilderness. He cries out, “It is enough; now, O LORD, take away my life, for I am no better than my ancestors.”
We too are hunted, haunted, and captured by our past. The sins of the father are visited again upon the souls of the sons. We are alone in the wilderness hearing the howls of the broken relationships we create, and the snarls of our inability to love one another without malice. As we stumble through our journey, our mouth breaks because it refuses to build up, and we are blinded by the sun turning to the darkness of our anger. This is the call of every generation, “I am no better than my ancestors.”
I remember a rally I attended in Eugene. We were young energetic people springing with vibrant life. We marched on the federal building, facing down hate, violence, sin, and death. In short, we were facing down the obscenities of our ancestors. Then, from within our crowd that was so filled with brave idealism, came a small, but vocal group, an angry piece of humanity that chose to place the blame of all the evils of the whole world upon one particular group. They scapegoated this hate, violence, sin and death upon an entire race of peoples. I looked around and said to myself, “If this generation comes from heaven, we can be only fallen angels.” For all our hopes and dreams, for all our tireless potential, we too were no better than our ancestors.
We forsake our ideals for the sake of sin. We betray our Savior for the sake of silver. We are unfaithful because of our broken-ness.
This past Wednesday, Bishop Bjornberg was here to discuss our possible visions for Christ Lutheran Church’s growth. Like Elijah, we are on a journey, and like Elijah, we are somewhat scared about where it will lead us. As I sat and listened to the hopes and dreams of this congregation, I thought of all the potential wrong paths we could take. We could buy a larger sanctuary to fit more people, we could go out and evangelize, we could give out full ride scholarships to our seminary students, we could bring world-class programs to this church, we could paint the exterior of our scruffy little church. We could plant a veritable Eden outside our doors to attract visitors.
Did you hear me right? The wrong routs. These things sound great don’t they? More people, a prettier church, better funded seminarians. Yeah, all of these things sound wonderful, and they are, but none of them are wonderful in their own right. Elijah can not take up this journey for his own sake. For then he is no better than his ancestors, but if he takes it up for the sake of the LORD, at the request of the LORD, and with the blessing of the LORD, then he has been fed with THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM.
We must never give up, for we have been fed with THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM, and God calls us to continue on our journey. Just as the human condition does not change, neither does the condition of absolute astounding grace that is given to us by God.
For our 40 days, for our journey toward the LORD, we have also been fed with THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM. As we go forward each day, we should not fear what the next day will bring, for we proclaim in the LORD’s prayer that the LORD shall provide for us. We know that God has promised us our daily bread, so in this world we should have no fear.
In today’s psalm it is said, “The Angel of the LORD encamps around those who fear him, and delivers them.” If we fear only the LORD, we have nothing to fear, for the LORD is with us.
Briefly returning to the Bishop’s meeting, we should see that God will sustain us through the times of trial, but this journey is not for the life of Christ Lutheran Church, but instead it is for Christ. On this journey this church may die. The doors may close, the sanctuary may be bulldozed, but we have nothing to fear, buildings may pass away, but THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM will continue.
Finally, THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM gives us life to reach God. “Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.” “Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
We have such an imminent, intimate, God that we are called to be God’s beloved children. When we are asked, “How can this be from heaven?” we can respond, “Because of the salvation given by our LORD, Jesus, the Christ, we have been brought beyond our broken-ness, and have been raised up as beloved children.” We have been fed by THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM.

What does it mean when we, not Jesus, the Messiah, but we, as the Children of God, proclaim, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE?”
There is a scene in the movie Romero, a true story about a South American Bishop who fought for the poor, that I feel answers that question. At one point warlords take over a church, and Romero goes into the church to rescue the communion wafers, he begins to leave, but stops, realizing the people of the church are also the Body of Christ. Or as Hip-hopper KRS-One put this liberation theology, “You are not just reading the word of Christ, you are the Word of Christ.”
Friends, I say to you, as the Church, the Body of Christ, we are THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM. As Jesus was raised up, so too he has raised us up. Even as we cry that we are no better than our ancestors, Jesus, the Messiah, the Christ, the one who says, “I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE,” comes to us, just as he has come to our ancestors. He gives us, gives the whole world, the life that comes from the free gift of his flesh. Our response to this realization of salvation is to be bold, and to be life giving. Our response to the realization of salvation is to proclaim forgiveness to the whole world, and to stand up to the challenge within the words of Ephesians:
“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.
Therefor be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”
Let us join all together, with the bewildered crowd surrounding Jesus, with the community of the Gospel writer John, with all the throngs upon the earth that were, are and will be, with the hosts of heaven, with the heavens themselves, with all of God's creation, and in unity with the Father, Son and Holy Spirit and say, I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE, THE BREAD OF LIFE I AM.
A+A

Where do you work?

forgive me for not reading it all but im kinda tired, from todays church sermon that was just boring :p

anyway great work

I "work" at Christ Lutheran in Cheyenne. I'm a pre-seminary student at the University of Oregon, back home for the summer. I'm the church's secretary for the summer.

I'm one! So's the husband, one of the kids, and most of the family for one degree or another! Go Ducks!
Glad to see one of our own---in two senses as we are "cousins" being Episcopalian and fellow alums----doing so well. Very nice sermon, best of luck finishing up.

Cool. I do text study (well, pastor Sarah does text study, I tag along) with 2 Episcopalian priests. Nice folks, one of them was interviewed about the whole gay issue by our local news, she did well, but as usual good ol' CBS "our channel" 5 was less than professional. They used her interview before the "scandal" broke, but did the report after the "scandal."
When did you graduate from the U of O? I bet it was so much more politically active when you went, although it is no push over now. Any profs I should say hey to for you? Did you ever know Prof. Baskins? She's a very neat professor.
Go Ducks, go Eccumenical cousins!

ELCA, Missouri synod, or Wisconsin synod?

I'm ELCA.

ELCA, the liberal wing of liberation theology, so to speak!

The KEY ah... is to end every PHRASE ah... very EMPHATICALLY ah... followed by the sound "AH" ah

Sorry, listening to too much gospel radio (ah)

Jack Spong and Emory The Gay Episcopalian Priest(Much loved by his congregation and the town, too!) preach much the same message.

I do and am amazed at my old (20 years ago as a child...) diocese promoted Robinson. They keep this up, I might start going to church again.

What's the deal? Sounds like a nice guy.

I've got one of his books - Rescuing the Bible from Fundamentalism. Excellent!

Just by the title of his book I like this guy.

Are you a seminary student? Or was this your first sermon in a new position? I feel I have come in at the middle of the movie.

on edit: nevermind, I read your first post.

Just kidding! :evilgrin:

:)

You could preachat my church (Grace Episcopal) any time you wanted. Thanks for the moment of zen...