Come to the water

Exodus 16, Isaiah 55:1-5, Matthew 14:13-21

Give us this day our daily bread.
 
Our scriptures today promise
daily bread,
free bread, and
miracle bread.
 
Brothers and sisters pray and holy manna will be showered all around!
Daily manna,
given with joy,
a gift that cannot be hoarded or
stored or
secured.
Give us this day our daily bread.
 
Come, without money and without price.
Eat what is good
 
Give us this day our free bread.
 
Jesus said, “Give them something to eat!”
            But five loaves and two fish for five thousand families?
                        And all ate and all were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.
           
            Give us this day our miracle bread.
 
These stories, manna in the wilderness, Isaiah’s call to come home, and the feeding of the multitudes, these are familiar, favorite stories about the faithful being fed.
The message could simply be, turn to God for what you need and you will receive it.
Okay – time for the hymn?
 
Of course it’s not that simple! You know, these stories are so familiar that I didn’t read them carefully at first. It’s easy to focus on the nourishment of daily bread, free bread, miracle bread. To dwell in the rich taste and texture of all these blessings.

Sounds like other promises Jesus makes: "my yoke is easy, my burden is light." "I came that you might have life, and have it abundantly!"
 
Give us this day our daily bread.
Give us this day our free bread.
Give us this day our miracle bread.
Give us an easy yoke,
a light burden,
an abundant life!
 
 Jesus also says, “Take up your cross and follow me.”
And “those who lose their lives will gain them.”
 
Three hundred years ago baptism in the Church of the Brethren was like taking up your cross to follow Jesus.
Adult baptism was a confrontation to the church, the law of the land. Early Brethren went to prison, risking their lives to practice adult baptism.
We can say they were simply following Jesus' example – he was 30 when John baptized him in the Jordan River. As Brethren we've always tried to do what Jesus did.
 
And that's true!
 
But adult baptism isn't only a simple people's plainspoken way to do what Jesus did.
 
The early Brethren knew that baptizing one another in this unorthodox, unapproved way was a confrontation of state religion that used violence to control people.
 
Brethren and their cousins, Mennonites and Quakers, chose new ways to practice their religion to set themselves apart from the state religions that killed in God's name.
 
"Take up your cross and follow me," says Jesus, and the early Brethren did that – because crucifixion was the Roman Empire's execution for political rebels.
By baptizing each other, early Brethren were rebelling, in the manner of Jesus.
 
We have abundant stories today: God promises daily manna, given with joy, a gift that cannot be hoarded or stored or secured.
 
"Everyone who thirsts, come to the waters; and you that have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price.”
           
Thousands gathered for healing and preaching on a hillside, and no one had enough to eat, but through sharing, all ate, and all were full.
           
Daily bread, free bread, miracle bread.
 
These are stories of abundance, of easy yokes and light burdens....at least they end that way.
 
But each of these stories begin with suffering.
 
The Israelites wander in the wilderness after escaping slavery when they eat daily manna.
 
The Jews are in exile, each generation wondering how to hold on to their customs while the foreign land becomes their home when Isaiah calls them to their ancestral home for free bread.
 
John the Baptist is murdered and Jesus is trying to find a quiet place to pray when all these people follow him, hungry for healing and stories and miracle bread.
 
We sing of the thirsty, the weary, the hungry, the aching.
 
Today a teenage girl is leaving her village to find paying work in the city where she knows no one and will be abused.
 
Today a father is saying goodbye to his children so he can go to a foreign country for work, to send money back to his family.
 
You may have met people whose hunger, thirst, weariness, pain is overwhelming as you visit prisoners, work in social services, travel to Guatemala, visit the sick. We've all felt thirst and hunger, weariness and pain.
 
But most of us are hungry or thirsty when we’re too rushed to pack a lunch, not because our own government or ruling elite are hoarding food, putting us in slavery, taking our crops.
 
We’ve lived with some of that, and it’s time to pay attention to how God breaks into oppression, as our own country becomes more dangerous.
 
When state power and violent empires and foreign occupation are manipulating culture, infecting religion, and abusing people, that's when the joyful gifts of daily bread comes – a gift we cannot secure but can only enjoy.
 
When state power and violent empires and foreign occupation are manipulating culture, infecting religion, and abusing people, that's when the prophet calls us home, to our center, to return to the place we are fed without money and without price.
 
When state power and violent empires and foreign occupation are manipulating culture, infecting religion, and abusing people, that's when we find we have more than we need, by trusting each other we eat our fill and have 5 baskets of miracle bread and twelve baskets of fish leftover.
 
When state power and violent empires and foreign occupation are manipulating culture, infecting religion, and abusing people, that's when courage comes – the courage of illegal baptisms and sharing sacred scriptures in catacombs, and risking our lives for Faith that cultivates peace and justice, not greed or war.
 
Jordan, Landon and Nina, you will not be arrested today! We still practice adult baptism because Jesus did it this way, We still practice adult baptism because we believe faith is about discipleship, not a freeway to heaven. You've made one choice – to be baptized – and it sets you on a path full of infinite choices.
 
We will surround you as a great cloud of witnesses. We will recall our own baptisms, if we can remember. The early Brethren who starved in prison after baptism are part of your great cloud of witness. Their courage is here.
 
How will you use the courage you inherit today?
 
These stories of abundance each begin with suffering. God demonstrates love for us by throwing us a feast, of daily bread, free bread, miracle bread. We're having a potluck feast today to celebrate our new members Cheryl, Jordan, Landon and Nina. We learned this from God.
 
Your baptism is no longer a ritual of risk, it is a ritual of rejoicing, and it sets you on a path of so many more choices.
 
We pray that you will be nourished on stories of daily bread, given and eaten with joy, never hoarded or controlled.
 
We pray that you will be nourished on stories of free bread, given and eaten in our true home, where we are known and beloved and find ourselves again.
 
We pray that you will be nourished on stories of miracle bread, in communities that bake trust into every loaf and share so fully with each other that leftovers pile up!
 
Who can we find to help us eat all this food?
 
All who are hungry, come! All who thirst, come to the water!

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