Sunday, August the 4th, 2024. The 10th Sunday after Trinity
How many times are we inclined to complain during the course of a single day? It seems that no matter how hard we try, and no matter what effort we make, most of us find ourselves complaining from time to time about something: whether it is about the weather, or the quality or performance of something we bought which doesn’t quite match the description we saw of it, or about something the government has, or hasn’t done which irks us.
In our Old Testament passage, we read that it did not take the Israelites very long to start complaining about their lot in the wilderness and compare the situation they were in with the time they had spent in Egypt, where food and drink were plentiful, even if they were slaves. In our reading, they complain that they are hungry and have nothing to eat, and we see how God, rather than chastising them for their ingratitude, decides, quite literally, to shower meat and bread upon them in the form of quail and manna from heaven. God provided for their needs, and even went so far as to send them a double portion on the eve of the Sabbath so that they had no need to go out and search for food on their day of rest. We know, of course, that the complaints did not cease, and they failed the test. No matter what God did for them, it did not take them long to forget his loving kindness (or ‘hesed) towards them.
Sometimes, let’s face it, we are often no better than those Israelites, for no matter what we have, or what God provides for us, we always want something more, or look grudgingly at what others might have, or back to the halcyon days of the past when things were of course, so much better. But rarely is that true. Recent scientific studies have shown that being rich, or having the means to buy or obtain whatever we want does not make us any happier than people with far less in comparison. Indeed, there is sometimes an inverse relationship between how much we have, and our spiritual and psychological wellbeing. It is often suggested that it is only by cultivating an attitude of gratitude that we can truly be happy, but this ignores the fact that there are sometimes very real reasons why we ought to complain about something from time to time when, for example, those with a duty to care for us are negligent or fail us.
Jesus points out in our Gospel passage that when we find are dissatisfied, it is often because we are hungering or yearning for the wrong things. He points out that many of those who followed him did so because they were motivated by their desire to see miracles or to be fed by him as their ancestors had been. So when Jesus’ listeners, thinking only of physical bread or the manna in the wilderness ask him how they might always have this bread, Jesus makes clear to them that it is not the bread they should be seeking, but the one who gives it. Let us not labour for food which spoils; but seek always the kingdom of God and his righteousness, for that is the only means by which we find our true peace or shalom. This is not quite the same as the inauthentic gratitude which others sometimes urge us to display and causes feelings of condemnation or guilt when we cannot do so. Why settle for the bread of angels, when we can find our true nourishment in the source of all goodness, Jesus himself?
Collect
Lord of heaven and earth,
As Jesus taught his disciples to be persistent in prayer,
Give us patience and courage never to lose hope,
But always bring our prayers before you
Through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Exodus 16:2-4; 9-15
The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. The Israelites said to them, ‘If only we had died by the hand of the Lord in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.’ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not.
Then Moses said to Aaron, ‘Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, “Draw near to the Lord, for he has heard your complaining.” And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked towards the wilderness, and the glory of the Lord appeared in the cloud. The Lord spoke to Moses and said, ‘I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, “At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the Lord your God.” In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. When the layer of dew lifted, there on
the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, ‘What is it?’ For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, ‘It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.
Ephesians 4:1-16
I, therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to walk in a manner worthy of the calling to which you have been called, with all humility and gentleness,
with patience, bearing with one another in love, making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace: there is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.
But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s
gift. Therefore, it is said, “When he ascended on high, he made
captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.”
(When it says, “He ascended,” what does it mean but that he had also descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) He himself granted that some are apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.
We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro, and blown about by every wind of doctrine by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming; but speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, from whom the whole body, joined and knit together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.
John 6:24-35
So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, “Rabbi, when did you come here?” Jesus answered them, “Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me not because you saw signs but because you ate your fill of the loaves. Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him
that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of
God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the
bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
Please pray this week for:
Steve as he becomes acting rural dean with immediate effect in the Claydon deanery, and for David Meakin, Heidi, and their family at this difficult time. Please pray too for the candidates and families of those being baptised today.
This Week’s Events
Most of our regular weekly events come to a halt for the summer or only go ahead proceed if enough people are available to continue, so please do check if you are interested in bellringing (07835 461361), Tuesday’s online morning prayer, or the book club. There will be no Friday choir practice or house-groups, but the monthly Julian Prayer Meeting will continue as usual on Monday 5th of August. The Midweek Coffee Morning and the Midday Service at 12.00 hrs will also continue as normal on Wednesday. Didier will be taking some well-earned leave during August. Please call 07305 271 148 in case of pastoral need.
Today
Baptisms, Esme Grace Culling and Taylan Reid at 1pm and 2pm.
Monday (Oswald King of Northumbria, 642)
Julian Prayer Meeting, St Mary’s Addington (see above)
Tuesday (The Transfiguration)
Wednesday (John Mason Neale, Priest and Hymn-writer, 1886)
Morning Coffee from 10.00-11.45 in the St Laurence Rooms.
Midweek Holy Communion at 12 noon, St Laurence Church.
Thursday (Dominic, Priest, Founder of the Order of Preachers, 1221)
Friday (Mary Sumner, Founder of the Mother’s Union, 1921)