Sermon for the Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“A New, Gift-y Life in Christ”

Text: Mark 7:1-13; Ephesians 5:22-33; Isaiah 29:11-19 

(Psalm 34:9, 19 [Gradual])

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Today we’re back in the Gospel of Mark after three weeks in John chapter 6 and hearing Jesus’ catechesis on the Bread of Life. Mark’s Gospel includes the Feeding of the 5,000, which was the occasion for Jesus’ catechesis. His catechesis on the true bread that He has come to give - the true bread of His Gospel, His grace, His forgiveness, and His Body and Blood - gift after gift after gift! But only John records that catechesis. So it was a good little detour for us. But now we’re back.

So, gifts. That’s been the focus these past three weeks. The funny thing about gifts, though, is that they can make us uncomfortable. That sounds funny, doesn't it? Because we love getting gifts! But think about it a little. The husband brings home flowers or candy unexpectedly . . . And the questions come. Why? What did he do? What is he trying to smooth over? Maybe nothing! Maybe he’s just being a good husband. But . . . a little uncomfortable. 

Or how about if someone gives you a Christmas present, but you didn’t get anything for them . . . and you feel ashamed. That can be uncomfortable so you sneak online and try to quickly order something so you can honestly say their gift just hasn’t arrived yet!

Gifts are supposed to have no strings attached, and they often don’t. Or they’re not intended to. The giver of the gift finds joy in the giving and attaches no strings. It’s the receiver who often does that. Who thinks there must be strings. Who feels obliged. Who feels guilty. 

So it is with Jesus and His gifts. There are truly no strings attached. Jesus simply wants to give, and for all people to receive. To receive His life, to receive His Gospel, to receive His forgiveness, to receive His Body and Blood. And in receiving these gifts, to be children of God. To be with Him now and forever.

But . . . no! It can’t be. We must have to do something! We have to be a certain way, we have to keep the rules, we have to follow the Law. 

But there are no strings attached. Truly! What happens is that receiving these gifts, you are not obligated, but you are changed. The old man, the old sinful being in us all is put down, and the new man strengthened and enlivened. With these gifts is not that you have to live a new life, it’s that you will live a new life. For with these gifts, your life changes. Your priorities change. Your outlook changes. What matters changes. You go from slavery to freedom, from suspicion to joy, from guilt to gratitude. Jesus gives not to obligate us, not to make us indentured servants, but to set us free. 

So when Jesus feeds the 5,000 He asks nothing in return. When He heals there are no strings attached. When He forgives, “go and sin no more” is not a condition for His forgiveness, but the result of it. He simply gives joyously of His bountiful goodness, and wants all people to receive joyously, too. And then live in that joy, that joy we had in the beginning, but which satan stole as he plunged us into sin and death. Jesus has come to give that joy back to us.

Now I bring all this up to set the context for what we heard today, of the Pharisees criticizing Jesus and His disciples. Why do your disciples not walk according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands? Did you hear it? Traditions, laws, obligations, strings. Jesus speaks of gifts, the Pharisees are about You have to do this, you have to do that. You have to keep the Law of Moses as defined and explained in the “traditions” . . . or else. So for many who were taught all these things, instead of a life of gratitude and thanksgiving, there was obligation and guilt, and as we heard today, accusation.

And especially egregious was the fact that the Pharisees had come up with a “tradition” that did not help people in any way, but, in fact, contradicted and counteracted a very specific commandment of God - the Fourth Commandment: Honor your father and mother. Here’s what they said: if they dedicated their money to God, they no longer had to help or support their parents. They actually were not permitted to! It would be like stealing from God, they said. 

No, stealing from God is what they were doing with this tradition. God didn’t want their money. God doesn’t need their money. Better is to do as God said and arranged. To take care of your parents and recognize them as gifts from God who should not be disregarded or tossed aside, and to receive them as a gift with thanksgiving. They won’t be perfect, we might think them a bit odd, but it is through them that God gives us life and many other good things.

If you’ve ever been in my catechesis, you’ll recognize that thought I was just describing: that the Commandments were not given to us just as rules or obligations to keep, but to protect the gifts God gives us. The gift of God Himself, the gift of God’s Name, the gift of God’s Word, the gift of parents and authorities, the gift of life, the gift of marriage and family and sexuality, the gift of possessions, the gift of a good reputation, and the gift of contentment. These gifts don’t come with strings attached. As we learn, God gives them to everyone, even to evil people! But He wants us to realize this, and receive these gifts as gifts, from Him, with thanksgiving. And seeing things in this way, we see God as our Father, from whom comes all good. As our Saviour, who grants us forgiveness and new life. And as the Spirit who works in us to live and love as the new creations we are. That as gift receivers, we then also be gift givers, to the glory of His Name.

And those gifts are abundant; that list I just went through. But specifically today we heard about parents in the Gospel, and then also what St. Paul talks about in the Epistle: the gift of husbands and wives. Now, we’ve kind of made a mess of marriage today, with divorce becoming as common as the cold, people living as though they were married without being married, and marriage being redefined and reshaped. And then there is the way marriage is talked about - more with words we’d used for a business arrangement than a gift from God. Marriage as a partnership, or a merger. All that is to put marriage into the realm of the Law rather than as a gift from God, and the results haven’t been good.

So, for example, you’ve heard people say marriage is 50-50, which sounds good, but can be devastating. Because if that’s the way marriage is, what often happens is that each spouse begins keeping score to make sure they get their 50! And then small things become big things, and big things become wedges, and the argument isn’t: Why do your disciples . . . eat with defiled hands? but similar accusations! Why don’t you keep your end of the bargain? How come you’re not doing your share? 50-50 isn’t the two becoming one flesh, but the two becoming one but remaining separate.

And when Paul talks about the husband being the head of the wife, some would say that means marriage isn’t 50-50, but 51-49 - the husband, as the head, gets the tie-breaking vote, because he’s the boss. And the wife has to submit to him and his authority. Which again, doesn’t sound very gift-y, but more like a business arrangement. More like what the Pharisees were saying with their parents. I’m not giving to you. I’m not giving for you. I’m going to decide what to do. 

But what Paul is saying is that husbands and wives are God’s gifts to each other, and when you give a gift, it is 100%. So marriage isn’t 50-50, it’s 100-100 - each spouse giving themselves completely to each other. The husband giving himself completely to his wife, even laying down his life for her, and the wive giving herself completely to her husband, submitting to him. For that is the way of Christ and His gifts, Paul says. No strings, no conditions, no counting, no score keeping. Just giving. Not because you have to, but at least as a Christian, because you can’t not! Because Christ and His gifts change you. You live new because you are new.

Now, this might sound strange to the world, to those who are like the people Isaiah wrote to, who can’t read the book because it’s sealed, but when it’s unsealed can’t read it because . . . they can’t read! All this gift talk and gifts from God is like a foreign language. It’s not the way the world works. It’s not the way to get ahead in the world. It’s not practical. 

Maybe not. But it is the way of it with God. With a God who does nothing but give, and knows the joy of giving, and wants His children to do and know the same. To be like Him and reflect His love and His life. 

Jesus did that. It got Him crucified! You do it and well, maybe you’ll get the same. Gifts make people uncomfortable and when you lead a gift-y life and not life by the laws and traditions and ways of the world, people will feel suspicion, shame, and guilt. But maybe, just maybe, a little joy as well. When they see there’s another way to live. When sin is not countered with more sin, but with forgiveness. When giving is the norm, not getting. When instead of anger there is patience. 

Now, if that doesn’t sound like you and your marriage and your life, if you struggle with that, that’s a reason to repent and receive the forgiveness and new life you need. The forgiveness and new life Jesus died on the cross to provide for you, when He was the husband who laid down His life for His Bride, the Church. For you. To give you all you need. No strings attached. Just forgiveness for you, life for you, and now His Body and Blood here for you. 

And as you live here and receive these gifts here, and then live this out there, you might be uncomfortable for a bit. Just like new shoes are uncomfortable until you break them in. But you’ll grow into it, as Christ and His Word and His life grow in you. Gifts received become gifts given. Shame and guilt are taken by Christ and His joy given to you. And the “tradition” you live is not what the world passes down to you, or tells you to do, but what Jesus has passed on to you - a life of love that has no end. 

And if living such a life sounds frightening, or a bit uncomfortable, remember what we sang in the Gradual this morning. The promises of God given to us there. Not that nothing will go wrong or that you’ll have an easy life. No. He gives us promises we can actually use; that reflect reality. That life is often tough. But you are not alone. You have a Saviour, the perfect Bridegroom, to lean on, to depend on, to give.So hear those words again, and as you do, marvel, and rejoice.

Fear the Lord, you his saints,
   for those who fear him lack nothing!
Many are the afflictions of the righteous,
   but the Lord delivers him out of them all.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“Jesus Is Offensive - For You!”

Text: John 6:51-69; Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18; Ephesians 5:6-21

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

Do you take offense at this? Jesus asked. Yes, they did. And many left. Jesus is offensive.

The word in the original Greek there is scandalizo. You can hear the word scandal there. That’s what Jesus is. He’s a scandal; scandalous. Scandals shock people, they anger people. And that’s what Jesus did. He shocks them by what He says. When He says He came down from heaven. When He talks about eating His flesh and drinking His blood. He angers them by what He does, and by what He doesn’t do. By who He hangs out with. By not doing what they want Him to do. 

Now, Jesus isn’t purposefully trying to be antagonistic, but the words and ways and truth of God and His Word is going to be offensive to a sinful world. To people, and to a world, whose thinking has been so warped by sin that we no longer think as we should. So warped, in fact, that what is upside-down we think is right-side-up. What is wrong we think is right. What is good we think is evil. Look at what we’ve done to sexuality, and marriage, and the multitude of life issues and how life is used, misused, abused, manipulated, and prematurely ended. And in so many different ways. Look at how people treat each other on social media. Using it as a license to gossip and slander, to hurt and to shame. Look at the hollowed-out-shell that most religion has become. We live in a world where everything is true and nothing is false. Tell a lie often enough until it becomes the truth. And lying seems to be the norm. And hypocrisy and selfishness and . . . well, you get the picture. We long for the good ol’ days when things were different. But I’m not sure the good ol’ days were all that good, or that different. Just the same sins in different forms.

When a virus enters our body, our immune system kicks in and attacks it. But what if our immune system doesn’t work? Then the virus grows and takes over. And that’s what sin has done in us. We’re not good by nature, we’re sinful by nature, completely infected with sin, as we confessed again this morning. And if left on our own, left with no help, left with no cure, we die. Physically, spiritually, eternally.

So when the doctor comes into the room and tells you the problem and the diagnosis, you may not want to hear it! But that’s the first step to begin treatment, that you may be cured. Now, you can reject what the doctor says, ignore it, argue with him and get angry with her, and think she’s wrong and an idiot. And sometimes doctors are wrong. But maybe, just maybe, he’s right. So you’d be wise to listen.

So Jesus comes into our world, the perfect into the imperfect, the one who is the truth into a world of lies and untruths, the one who is what we should be but are not, the one who is life into a world of death, and there is offense; scandal. Not, usually, among those who are sick and know they need help; but among those who think they are fine and good and that everything is alright. Who is this guy? Who is He to tell us anything? And like white blood cells surrounding an invading virus, they surround Him and try to neutralize Him or get rid of Him. 

But Jesus is no virus. He is life. And He has come to give life. Now, if you think you already have life, and a good life, and what He’s saying and doing is upsetting your good life, and the way you want to live, and how you want to continue to live, He’s offensive! He’s scandalous. But maybe we’ve been sick so long, we don’t know what healthy is anymore. Maybe we’ve been dying so long, we don’t know what life is anymore. I remember when I lived in New York, my ears got so blocked up with wax I wasn’t hearing well. I finally went to the doctor and he removed these giant, hardened plugs of wax from my ears, and I couldn’t believe all the things I was hearing! I’d gotten so used to not hearing well, that I had no idea . . . Do you think our lives could be like that? That we’ve gotten so used to sin and death, that we no longer know what it means to live and have life? 

But Jesus knows. That’s why everywhere He goes, like what happened at the beginning of this chapter, John chapter 6, when Jesus sees the crowds, He has compassion on them. Because He knows. He knows their condition. He knows their need. He knows what you and I need. He knows it better than we do. And He has come to provide it for us. Spiritual medicine, spiritual surgery, forgiveness, new life. In Him. From Him. From heaven. Where there is no death, only life. Where there is no sin, only purity and perfection. Jesus comes to give this to you. 

This is what His catechesis in John chapter 6 is all about. Feeding the 5,000 was great, but not the point. Feeding the world with food even greater is. Food that doesn’t just give life for a time, but for eternity. It is the food of His Word and the food of His forgiveness, but most especially as we heard today, it is the food of His Body and Blood. Whoever feeds on my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. For my flesh is true food, and my blood is true drink. . . . Whoever feeds on this bread will live forever.

And many who heard this grumbled. As do many today. It is offensive, scandalous, a hard saying. Eating His Body? Drinking His Blood? And so many people left Him. Stopped following Him. Jesus crossed the line. All they wanted was some more food! What’s wrong with that, Jesus? Why’d you have to say that? That’s not what we came for. Not what we’re looking for. Not what we want. See ya.

Maybe you’ve been tempted to do that, too. And maybe you have, for a time. Left the church for a time. Done what you’ve wanted, even though you knew that’s not what God wanted. Went after life as you thought it should be, what you thought you wanted, what you thought was good and right. And maybe for a time it was okay. But sin has a way, doesn’t it? Our own sin, the sins of others, creep in, sneak in, grow, spread, and life gets disappointing, unfulfilling. You’re working so hard but getting no where. The rat race, the hamster wheel, whatever you call it. And you’ve heard people say, and maybe you’ve said it yourself: Is this all there is? Is this all there is to life? 

Jesus says: no! There is so much more. More life that He has for us and wants to give to us. Life that is not just the rat race or the hamster wheel, the round and round that doesn’t go anywhere. But life with purpose, meaning, and a destination. Right now, your destination is the grave. But that’s what Jesus came to change. That not just your name live on for a generation or two of people who remember you, but that you live on. That your life be eternal. And for that, the eternal one had to die, to pay for your sins, to defeat death, and the break open the grave. And because His grave was but temporary, so, too, our graves. 

Whoever feeds on me, Jesus says, he also will live because of me. . . . Whoever feeds on this bread - on Him, on His Word, on His forgiveness, and most especially on His Body and Blood - will live forever. Pretty great food, that. Even better than donuts!

That food you have received, and so that life you have received. That we don’t always live it, that’s a reason to repent. Like the people of Israel in Joshua’s day. Under Joshua’s leadership, God brought the people of Israel into the Promised Land and had given them life and rest. But still, Joshua has to say to them (as we heard today): Now therefore fear the Lord and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness. Put away the gods that your fathers served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. That’s strange, isn’t it? Why did they still have gods from Egypt and were turning to them? That’s crazy! After all God had done for them. But we could ask ourselves the same question . . . That after all that Jesus has done for us, why do we still fear, love, and trust in people and things (and in myself!) more than Him? This sin, this infection in us is powerful. It keeps affecting us.

And in Paul’s day, too. Let no one deceive you with empty words, he told the Ephesians. Let no one lead you astray. Sin often sounds good, but never is. And its promises are empty. But the words and promises of Jesus are no empty words, but words that give life. So when Jesus asked the Twelve, Do you want to go away as well? they replied, Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. You alone have the words that are not empty, but filled with life, filled with the Spirit, filled with forgiveness. There is no other way to life. 

So perhaps think of it this way . . . if Jesus is offensive, it is because He has taken the offensive against our sin. To attack it, to defeat it. Because the truth is, we are the offensive ones, not Jesus. Our sin is an offense to God. But rather than reject us, deny us, or turn away from us, the Son of God comes into our offensive world and our offensive lives, to redeem us and clean us. And some people will get defensive about that. Try to save their lives and attack Jesus back. We see that in Jesus’ day, and in our day.

Better, though, is the new life Jesus has come to give us. 

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the water of Baptism.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the words of Absolution. 

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the Gospel.

Better is His Word that gives eternal life in the bread and wine that is His Body and Blood, in the Supper.

Better is not to save our sinful and unclean life that is going to end in death, but to live a new life that has no end. 

And like with Jesus, that will make you offensive to the world. You might be among the few, not the many. And that might be hard. But in the end you will be among the many, among the angels and archangels and all the company of heaven, around Jesus. 

So, do you want to go away as well? No. Come instead. To the Gospel, to the font, to the altar, to the Son who has life for you.

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.

Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday after Pentecost

LISTEN

Jesu Juva

“The Food that Builds the Church”

Text: John 6:35-51; Ephesians 4:17 - 5:2; 1 Kings 19:1-8

 

Grace, mercy, and peace to you from God our Father, and from our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. Amen.

There’s a show I’ve watched a few times, on the History Channel, called The Food that Built America. Maybe some of you have seen it. It talks about how we got some of the food we have today that we take for granted. Like having fresh orange juice in the supermarket, chicken sandwiches like Chick-Fil-A, frozen pizza, and my favorite, chocolate bars. These things weren’t around just a couple generations ago, and there were significant challenges for the people trying to figure out how to provide these things for people across the country. And now we all have these things, and we can’t imagine how we lived without them.

Today, Jesus continues His program and teaching on the food that builds the Church.

We started hearing about this last week with our first reading from John chapter 6. Jesus had just fed over 5,000 people out in a desolate place with just five loaves of bread and two fish. But the people don’t understand what Jesus did. They’re thinking with their stomachs and are just hoping for more free lunches. So Jesus begins to teach them. Catechize them about the food He has come to provide. That yes, God provides us with our daily bread, as He did with Moses and the manna in the wilderness, and as we pray in the Lord’s Prayer. But that food can only take you so far, give you so much life. The people in the wilderness who ate the manna died, but Jesus has come to provide food that gives eternal life. Bread that, as we heard today, one may eat of it and not die. The food that builds the church. 

That’s pretty important bread, seems to me. 

But I think we’re sometimes like the people in Jesus’ day, who were thinking with their stomachs. In that when we think about the church and building the church, we may not think about the food that builds the church, but about more earthly things, more earthly ways to build the church. Like, we need to have a really good youth program. Or we need to have really good music that people like. We need to be active in the community. We need to be exciting. And while those things are good, and maybe even helpful to a degree, other groups and organizations can do them as well, maybe even better than we. They are not what builds the church.

There are other ideas out there as well, about how to build the church, and these are not good; they are even harmful to the church. Like, we need to talk about sin less and instead make people feel good about themselves. We need to talk less about the cross and more about what people need to do to be good Christians. We need to give them advice on how to improve their lives here and now. That’s what people want and want to hear. And maybe so. But that is not what builds the church.

But maybe before we go any farther, I need to clarify something: what do I mean by the church? Well, I don’t mean a church building filled with people. That might be a church, but it might not. All those things I just mentioned, how some people today think about building the church, might fill a building, might draw a lot of people, but why? Why are they coming? What are they hearing? What is the focus? Is the focus on the here and now, or on the eternal? Is the focus on me, or on Christ crucified? What is being built - an earthly kingdom or a heavenly one?

Now, again, its not wrong to want to help people in their daily lives. That’s a good thing, and we will be with the Community Food Drive we are doing. And St. Paul talked about that in the Epistle we heard today. To be imitators of God, to walk in love. And Jesus did that when He healed people and fed them. But the healing and the feeding are not why Jesus came. He fed them with the bread of earth so that He could feed them with the bread of life. He healed them of their sicknesses and diseases so that He could heal them of their sin with His forgiveness. The Son of God became man so that He could lay down His life on the cross for the life of the world. 

For, Jesus said, this is the will of my Father, not that we have a good and comfortable life here for a while, but that everyone who looks on the Son and believes in him should have eternal life, and I will raise him up on the last day. And for that we need the food that builds the church.

For I worry that not just people “out there,” but we, too, too often think with our stomach. That we, too, too often focus on the daily bread of this life rather than the daily bread of eternity. ‘Cuz it’s so easy to do! There are things I have to get done. Things I want to accomplish. Deadlines to meet. Obligations to fulfill. People counting on me. All true. And important. But if that takes over your life . . . If that is your life . . . That’s the danger, you see. That we get so focused on our lives here and now, that we never quite get around to, we never seem to have enough time for, the food that builds the church.

And by church I mean . . . you! For the church is the congregation of saints, that is, holy people, that is, people made holy not by their own actions or goodness, but by the forgiveness of their sins. The church is the congregation of saints in which the Gospel (or Christ crucified for the forgiveness of our sins) is purely taught and the Sacraments are correctly administered (AC VII). That is, where that forgiveness of Christ is given. 

And that’s what Jesus was teaching today. He had just given them their earthly bread; now He wants to give them heavenly bread. He wants to give them the food that builds the church, which is Himself and His gifts. And so, He says, I am the bread of life. . . . I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. And the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh. 

Now, there has been no small amount of disagreement among Christians over the years, as to whether John 6 is talking about Jesus giving us His flesh, His Body and Blood, in the Lord’s Supper, or if He is simply talking about us receiving Him by faith, a figurative eating. To which I say: yes. It is not one or the other, but both. In this chapter there are words that speak of faith, as we heard today when Jesus said: Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever believes has eternal life. But there are also words that speak of eating Jesus’ Body and drinking His Blood. They are not contradictory or exclusive. It is both. It is faith is Jesus’ words and promises that lead us to receive Him and His gifts at the Table. But receiving the Supper without faith does us no good. And as I said last week, we feast on Jesus’ words and Gospel, we feast on Jesus’ forgiveness, and we feast on His Body and Blood. Jesus is lavish with His gifts, with His food that build the church. 

And we give thanks for it all. That we can feast on His words and promises not just on Sunday when we come to church, but everyday as we read or hear His Word of life and are fed with bread of life. We can feast on Jesus’ forgiveness everyday as we forgive one another, and instead of beating each other up and beating each other down, we lift each other up, feeding with bread of life. And then, of course, when we come here to this altar, receiving most personally and most intimately Jesus’ very Body and Blood, the bread of life. And in all these ways we are holied, strengthened, fed, and nourished, with food even greater than Elijah received. For this food lasts not just 40 days and 40 nights, but gives us life that never ends. Food that builds the church. That strengthens the Church Militant here, and readies us for the Church Triumphant in eternity.

This is the food Jesus came down from heaven to give to you. The Jews grumbled about that, as we heard. They thought Jesus couldn’t possibly have come down from heaven! They knew who He was, the son of Joseph. And He is, but more than that, too. He is true man, born of the virgin Mary, yes. But before that, true God, begotten of His Father from eternity (Small Catechism, Explanation of the Second Article of the Creed). And for us, too, there is more. Words are more than just words, water is more than just water, and bread and wine is more than just bread and wine. For as in Jesus the human and the divine come together, so in these means the earthly and the heavenly come together. And there is bread of life. Bread with the forgiveness, life, and salvation from Jesus and His cross. Food that builds the church, baked and served from the kitchen of the cross.

Maybe we take it for granted, this feast we have. Like we take our orange juice, Chick-Fil-A, and chocolate bars for granted. But just as there were significant challenges for the people trying to figure out how to provide those things for people, so too for our feast - this was not easy! It took the very Son of God going to the cross for you. Bearing your sins and the sins of all the world, being condemned to death by man and by God, and dying that you can live. Dying to provide you with this food. Food that we not only cannot imagine living without, but that we actually cannot live without! Food without which we die eternally. 

So what Jesus wanted that crowd to know, and what He wants you and I to know, is that this is the food that builds the church. This is the food that forgives your sins. This is the food that gives you new life. Life that will never end. I am the bread of life, Jesus said. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. For Jesus’ flesh is not dead flesh, but flesh that is risen and alive. And all who eat it, in faith, will be the same - risen and alive, with Jesus, in eternity. And with this promise and assurance of eternal life, we are free to live a new life now, a Christ-like life, like Paul described. 

For that’s who you now are. That’s what Jesus and His food - the food that builds the church - has made you. Come and eat and live!

In the Name of the Father, and of the (+) Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.