Saint James UCC of Hamburg, NY

Mark 8:34-38; John 6:28-35

Preached by Rev. Robert Matlack
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Summer is a time when the pace of our life and the activities which we engage in changes. We tend to feel more relaxed, to get outside more, to engage in more physical activity. We welcome summer as a time of renewal, a time when physically we get into better shape, and mentally we let go of some of the stress - perhaps through a change in our normal pace, or perhaps by taking a much needed vacation - or perhaps by doing both.

We welcome summer with joy and a sense of relief, for usually we find that in some way we have taken stock of our lives, and have recognized that physically we need more activity, and that emotionally we need to slow down and let go of some of the stress. We have in a very real sense checked our gauges to see how we're doing, and we've noticed that they were starting to creep into the warning zone. So it is with a sense of relief that we enjoy the summer and the opportunity to do some things differently.

But do we really look at all of our gauges? Most of the time we're pretty good at assessing our physical and emotional health - at least when we're willing to be honest with ourselves. We've trained ourselves to be able to look at ourselves and tell how we're doing, with some sense of what we need, particularly when that sense of need starts to grow urgent. We can read our gauges, and for many of us by this time of year our conclusion is: "I need to step off of the Merry-Go-Round and get outside more. I need to spend some time mowing the lawn, or working in the garden, or painting the house, or playing baseball, or swimming at the pool - because those things will give me some exercise and change the pace of my life for a while. They will feel good.

There's a story about a business man who was harassed and discouraged from overwork. So, he took his problem to a doctor who promptly told him to do less work. "Furthermore," prescribed the doctor, "I want you to spend an hour each week in the cemetery."

"What on earth do you want me to do that for? What should I do in the cemetery?

"Not much. Take it easy and look around. Get acquainted with some of the men already there, and remember that they didn't finish all of their work either. Nobody does you know."

That story struck me when I read it. It struck me because it reflects something that often happens in our society. We push ourselves to the limit, until some of our gauges are starting to creep into the danger zone, and then we finally decide that we'd better do something about the state of our physical and emotional health, before we have a complete collapse!

But while we're pretty good at reading the gauges that reflect our physical and emotional state of health, we usually seem to overlook one other gauge. It's almost like it's tucked way back in the corner someplace where it's hard to see and easy to overlook. That is the gauge that reflects our spiritual health - the state of our relationship with God. What does your gauge read? Is it in the green, indicating that all is well? Is it in the yellow, indicating that you need to do something before problems occur? Or, are you already in the red, desperately needing to work on your relationship with God, the very source of life?

Our problem is not a new one. Back in the time of Jesus, when great crowds gathered to hear Him preach and teach, everyone knew when the people got hungry. When we read the sixth chapter of the gospel of John, we hear how the disciples looked hard for a solution to the problem, for they could read the crowd's gauge of their physical health, and it clearly said hungry.

You know the story, of course. They find a boy who has five loaves and two fish, and when Jesus blesses the food, somehow it becomes enough, and more. Twelve baskets of leftovers are gathered after everyone has eaten. Now that was truly a miracle! Everyone was amazed by it, and everyone recognized that in eating their physical need had been met.

They had a great deal more difficulty understanding Jesus when He started talking about their spiritual needs, instead of their physical. The people even opened up the topic when they asked Jesus, "What can we do in order to do what God wants us to do?" Now that's a good question to focus your attention on the gauge that shows your spiritual health. You know, the one way back in the corner, behind all of the others. What can I do today that would be doing what God wants me to do? That's a question that we ask all too seldom. It's a question that gets at the heart of our relationship with God.

The people who gathered around Jesus knew enough to ask the right question, but they still had trouble following Jesus' answer. You see, Jesus talked about the bread which we eat, and the bread which comes from heaven. We all know that the kind of bread which we eat is only good for a few days. Even with all of the preservatives that commercial bakers like to use today, the bread will only last a few days or a week. Whether we eat it or not, it will not last. And then Jesus started talking with them about a bread that does not mold or dry out, a bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world, and Jesus ways, "I am the bread of life".

In a sense Jesus said to the crowd gathered around, go spend some time each week in the cemetery, for you are dying. If all that you cling to, if all that nourishes you is the physical wealth and comfort that you find, then you need to know that it is perishable. It will not last forever, and if that is what gives your life meaning and purpose, then you are already dying.

If you choose to live however, then you must seek the way of life. You must follow the only one who can truly give us life - our Lord and our Savior, Jesus Christ.

That message is not all that different from the one which we find in our text from the gospel of Mark. There Jesus is speaking to His disciples as He prepares them for His coming death. The disciples don't want to hear about it. They don't want to think about it. They don't want to even consider it as a possibility, because they have been concerned only about this life. They have been concerned about the reality of what they wanted Christ to do for them now. They didn't want to hear about suffering and death. They wanted to hear about hope and success.

But Jesus said, "If anyone wants to come with me, he must forget himself, carry his cross and follow me. For whoever wants to save his own life will lost it; but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it."

This is a message of life and hope, but it's a message that talks about life in a different way than the disciples expected or than we usually think about it. You see, we're like the disciples. When we think about life, we think about what we hope will happen today, or about what happened yesterday. Our vision is often limited to the physical and cultural realities that we live in. But Jesus talked about life in a different way. He talked about life as coming from our relationship with God. The path of life is the path that follows where God leads, and the path of death is the path that turns away from God. It's that clear and it's that simple.

This summer as you read your physical and emotional gauges, and as you seek renewal in those areas of your life, don't forget to read that gauge that maybe you often overlook, the one that's tucked way back in the corner, and says in tiny letters, "spiritual health", and underneath says, "My relationship with God". That's the gauge that reads life or death, just as Jesus talked about it. For He reminds each of us that we can be walking around as a picture of physical health, and be so empty inside. Physically we can live a long time, even when we're spiritually dead, but when we're spiritually alive, then we will live forever.

So this summer, read all of your gauges. Make this summer a time for renewal that is not just physical and emotional, but spiritual as well. This summer, let us embrace life by taking the opportunity to deepen our relationship with God.

Amen.