Waiting for the Bread

First Sermon at

University Lutheran Church and Student Center

Norman, OK

One of the things you’re going to learn about me is that cooking is one of my favorite things to do. I like cooking a lot of different things. Soups are one of my specialties. I was famous (or infamous, depending on who you talk to) at the University of South Dakota for my homemade pancakes. And, I really like to bake bread.

There is just something therapeutic about bread baking (the old fashioned way, not with a bread machine).

Mixing the ingredients just right takes focus and can get your mind off your worries.

Kneading the dough is a great way to work off stress.

And waiting for the bread to rise teaches patience. (Though I admit that I love “quick rising” yeast!)

In today’s Gospel lesson, Jesus uses a number of analogies to talk about the Kingdom of Heaven and what it is like.

And (no surprise) the one I connect with best is the one where he says the Kingdom of Heaven is like yeast leavening the flour.

The Greek here literally says that woman in the parable “hides” the yeast in the flour. (Which is actually a pretty odd word for this process, but it makes Jesus point clear.)

What Jesus is telling us is that the working out of the Kingdom in our world is not always evident, it’s not always obvious, it’s not always easy for us to see.

The Kingdom is often hidden from view, quietly growing as God works out God’s plan like the woman in the parable mixing the yeast into her bread.

I don’t know about you, but that has certainly been my experience of how the Kingdom works.

Sometimes it is hard, very hard, to see God’s hand at work in our world.

When terrorist bombs ripped through London a little over a week ago, it reminded us again of how vulnerable we all can be and, no doubt brought back all sorts of unpleasant memories.

I read a story in the paper this week of a father being arrested for abusing his small child and it broke my heart. I know that kind of thing happens all too often.

We are regularly bombarded with news of violence, hatred, oppression, hunger, poverty and crime and on and on and we wonder where God is in all that.

We confront all kinds of personal crises, and tragedies and struggles and I have heard more than one wonder out loud if God has abandoned them.

I had a student, not long ago, write in an essay that he could not believe in God until he could see some clear evidence of God. And he said that when he looked at the world, all he saw was evidence to the contrary.

You know, I don’t think he’s alone in that perspective. In fact, I know he’s not. I know he’s not.

It seems almost impossible for us to sit around and wait for the bread to rise, for the Kingdom to make its appearance.

It’s hard to be patient. It’s hard to trust that God really is there in the mix, leavening, kneading, working the dough of our lives.

And yet, as God’s children, that is exactly what we are called to do.

But, why on earth would we want to do that? Why trust a God that moves so slow, so imperceptibly?

The reason is to be found in the second set of parables in today’s Gospel.

Jesus says that the Kingdom, this quietly growing, hidden work of God, is like a treasure, like a pearl of great value and worth.

In fact, Jesus goes so far as to suggest, that this Kingdom is worth more than everything we have, everything.

Sometimes, it’s hard, I think, to even grasp how much we do have, especially as Americans. But trust me, having just packed up everything I have, I can tell you it’s a bunch…

And the Kingdom is worth more than all that.

Like the taste of fresh baked bread is worth the time it takes to wait for the dough, Jesus wants us to know that the Kingdom is worth all the time it takes for God to bring it about in all its fullness.

Paul, and many others since, have come to understand the amazing value of the Kingdom.

In today’s passage from Romans 8, Paul drives home the value of this hidden Kingdom in a powerful way.

Paul admits that we are going to face the trials and tribulations of this world, he concedes that life will be a struggle sometimes. Faith in Christ does not exempt us from any of the world’s woes.

But, he tells us, that because of Christ, because of his death and resurrection, because of His Spirit working on our behalf, we can know – for certain – that we will emerge from the trials and tribulations of life victorious.

NOTHING, he says, can separate us from God’s love. NOT EVEN DEATH itself.

(Which can, by the way, separate us from everything else, and I mean, everything else that we value in life.)

That is the value of being Kingdom people.

That is the power of being people of faith.

When we look to Christ, we see that hidden Kingdom revealed and we know, we know for certain, not that our lives will be wonderful, perfect or pain-free, but that we can make it through those times when our lives are awful, imperfect and filled with pain.

To my student, I would say this: “You really can see God, and God’s goodness and grace and love, if you know where to look. If you look through the troubles, beyond the troubles, of this world to the cross and the empty tomb.”

Both stand at the center of history, so that we might have a place to stand in our own time and in our own place…

While we wait for the bread to rise.

If we turn this parable just a little and look at it from a slightly different angle, we realize that we are actually the leaven that God is always working into the dough of the world.

While we wait, we are also at work… …or more properly, the Spirit is at work in and through us.

The church, Paul tells us, is the Body of Christ in the world today.

It is in and through US that the world can see the power and love of the cross of Jesus Christ.

It is in and through US that the world can see glimmers of the Kingdom, glimmers of hope, in the midst of a world that can be pretty dim sometimes.

God has been a work in this place for over forty years, leavening OU and the Norman community through your witness and service and ministry.

God has been at work as he has brought us together as pastor and people… You don’t even need to look that close to see God’s fingerprints are all over this one!

And God will continue to work the dough, will continue to leaven this place as we continue the very important work of ministry that we now share.

I am excited to be here.

I am excited to be in ministry with you.

I am excited, because I think we’re going to bake some pretty good bread together.

Amen.