Flour, water, and
yeast--all the ingredients to make fresh bread. Do you like fresh-baked
bread? Nothing smells better than the baking of a fresh loaf of bread.
Don’t you just love it when the whole house fills with the aroma? You
become so full of anticipation that you can almost taste it even before
it’s done! As a part of that anticipation don’t you have a complete
vision of what that loaf looks like, sliced, buttered, and ready to eat?
Yes, there’s nothing like the smell of fresh baking bread and the vision
that comes in anticipation of its enjoyment!
A vision springing from
anticipation—that’s what stirs in our souls as we hear these words of
Jesus today. The promise of something very good to come into our
experience; something directly from God—now that’s something to
anticipate! That’s a vision!
What happens to you
when you hear Jesus say things to you like:
I still have many things to say to you…but when the
Spirit…comes, he
will guide you into all the truth….he will take what is mine and
declare it to you.
John 16:12, 13, 15
Does this not fill you with
anticipation? Does this mean something to you this morning? Or are these
just words on the page? Is this bread we are about to share this morning
the fulfillment of this promise in your life and in the world? Or is this
just a ritual repeated so regularly that you just go through the motions?
It’s all here, you know: all the
ingredients of a healthy and whole life with all the anticipation of the
fulfillment of the promise of God for you, for your family, for this
congregation, for your community, for the world. Do you believe it? Can
you smell the bread baking? Can you see the vision? Do you believe
Jesus’ promise? Do you have vision without vitality?
That is exactly what we have all too
often in our lives: a vision with no vitality. When vision has no
vitality
The Sunday service is just a regular routine rather than the
worship of God;
Sunday School class is just another social occasion, rather than
a discussion of the things of God;
when you send your children to school in the morning you rather
fearfully
release them to the unknown rather than confidently
entrust them
to the care of God;
you face every illness and every change that comes with age with
fear and
trembling rather than deep, confident trust in God;
church decisions become battlegrounds for winners and losers
rather than
the consensus of the people of God all marching
together toward
the kingdom;
and nations keep their swords sharpened and their spears ready
rather than
fashioning their swords into plowshares and their
spears into
pruning hooks and learning war no more;
we try our best to do what is right in our lives but wonder
whether it is
really the life of God that we live;
A vision with vitality: that is
what Jesus gives us today. We have the vision. We have all the
ingredients right here. We have the promise of Jesus. We have the signs
of his body and blood, for goodness sake, right here. We have the vision,
but where is the vitality?
Biologists were observing a group of
chimpanzees. The chimpanzees were fascinated by fire. The chimpanzees
had apparently seen a number of campfires ablaze, campfires built by
humans. As the biologists observed them the chimpanzees collected and
carefully placed several pieces of wood appropriately stacked just as they
had seen it. Then the chimpanzees all gathered around the wood stack and
they watched and waited. They watched and they waited, and nothing
happened.
You see, God always gives us
everything we need. God has already given us all the ingredients for a
healthy and whole life but, like flour, water, and yeast never put into
the oven or a stack of firewood with no spark, we have vision but no
vitality.
Jesus says,
I still have many things to say to you…but when
the Spirit…comes, he will guide you into all the truth….he will take what
is mine and declare it to you.
John 16:12, 13, 15
Brothers and sisters, the Spirit of
God is among us now. The promise is already fulfilled. The Spirit guides
us today into all the truth. The Spirit brings to us the notions, the
musings, the desires, the love, the vision of God.
All this is a gracious gift. All
you have to do is receive it. Give yourselves again to God and live in
all the confidence and trust of God’s children.
That is the promise. That is the
reality. Not just words on a page. Not just simple bread and wine--the
things of God. Come to the table. Receive today the things of God. See
the vision. Go forth from here today with vitality. Go forth with the
very life of God.
