The Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

The Ven. Richard I. Cluett

This weekend finds us just about at the mid-point of the summer season. That is a bit startling for me because I don’t feel that I have started summer yet having been traveling every week since the first of June. But I am home now and I am ready to get to it.

My idea of summer, which is informed by both experience and observation over low these many decades that constitute my life – summer is supposed to reflect the summer theme song by Nat King Cole, “Oh those lazy, hazy, crazy days of summer”. The days are longer, more relaxed. There’s time for recreation, time for reading, time for conversation, occasionally time for a nap. The deck or the shade tree beckons irresistibly.

I hope your summer is well under way, and that you have achieved (and this may be an oxymoron)… I hope that you have achieved a state of rest, a more relaxed lifestyle. I hope that you have read something that is totally fun for you, that even while working you have managed to slow your life down to an appropriate summer pace, that you have been able to get outside to experience some of the wonders of creation.

There’s something else about summer. I remember when I was growing up that at some point during the summer, sometimes in the mid-point of a family vacation, my parents would sit down together for a heart-to-heart talk, or for a conversation that when on for a few days. It seemed to be a ritual of summer for them.

Then I noticed that Puddy and I did that as well. For us the heart-to-heart conversations usually took place on vacation in Maine, a week or two into the vacation. Plenty of time first for decompressing and slowing down, plenty of time for getting into a family vacation rhythm, plenty of time for lazing about and ruminating about life and stuff, plenty of time for dreaming.

And then we would just meet in this relational, temporal space when and where we were both ready to share the stuff of our heart with one another, in ways we had not been able to do for a while because of the schedules and demands of daily life in a family of five.

Thus would begin a time of opening our hearts anew to one another, sharing our concerns, our hopes, our dreams, our fears, our needs, our hungers. We would talk about ourselves, we would talk about the two of us, we would talk about the kids.

At some point in the conversation we would begin to envision the future, or the next stage or phase of life for ourselves, for the two of us, for each of the kids. We would begin to formulate plans and directions that would flow from what we had learned in our heart-to-heart sharing.

It was kind of a ritual of our summer, perhaps you have experienced summer in similar ways or had similar experiences in other seasons. It seems that summer affords the luxury of slowing down, getting in touch – with ourselves and others, gaining clarity, acknowledging our hopes and dreams and needs.

And now you are wondering what in the world this has to do with the scripture appointed for today – miracles of feeding and water-walking? Well, I think the designers of the lectionary schedule of readings put this scripture in the middle of the summer for good reason. I don’t believe it was the luck of the draw or by default that we have these readings today, at the mid-point of summer. I think they know what goes on in the lives and hearts of people when they find space to spend time with themselves.

Listen again to how the psalmist summarizes what today’s readings are about:

The eyes of all wait upon you, O LORD, *

and you give them their food in due season.

You open wide your hand *

and satisfy the needs of every living creature. Ps 145:16-17

When I was in seminary the King James translation introduced the blessing over the noon meal most days. It goes like this:

The eyes of all wait upon Thee O Lord, * And Thou givest them their meat in due season.

Thou openest Thine hand, * And fillest all living things with plenteousness

That seems to me to be a pretty good summary of the scripture appointed for today. God fills all things with plenteousness.

In the first reading from 2 Kings and in the gospel reading we hear of the power of God being revealed in abundance; the abundance of food when there appeared to be not enough and in the abundance of God’s presence in the midst of people’s lives. The hunger of God’s people is acknowledged and responded to by God. In whatever ways are needed, people are fed out of the abundance found in God’s kingdom.

In the second miracle in today’s gospel, the abundance of God is revealed in the person of Jesus, as he says, “Don’t be afraid, it is I.” Or a better and more accurate translation, “I am, do not be afraid.” Remember that is what God said to Moses on the mountain as God was sending him to Israel, captive in Egypt. Moses asked God what he should say when people ask him who sent him. God says “Tell them, ‘I am has sent you’.”

And today we hear Jesus say to his followers, “I am, do not be afraid.” The power and the presence of God revealed in the person of Jesus coming to meet his disciples at the point of their need.

This is a pretty timely reminder, I think. We are in a time when so many people are living out of a sense of scarcity and are using all the power at their disposal to acquire and accumulate and safeguard enough to meet their need. Some are seeking their fair share, others are after all they can lay their hands on, fair or unfair. The scriptures today remind us of another way to live.

Whenever it is that we get in touch with ourselves, whenever we re-member ourselves, whenever we open our hearts to ourselves and acknowledge our fears and needs and dreams, whenever it is time to chart a new direction in our lives – whether that is in summer, fall, winter or spring, God would have us know of the abundance of life available to us, and the power of God that is available to us for living such a life.

So… Are you taking the time at this mid-point of the summer season to listen to yourself, to get back in touch with your life, to open your heart? The abundance of God’s love, grace, mercy and power are waiting to lead you deeper into your life.