CELC Reformation Sunday

Reformation Sunday – October 30, 2005

John 8:31-36

It seems Mary had always baked the bread for Holy Communion at Trinity by the Sea Lutheran Church. Mary had baked the Communion bread for so long no one could remember when she first started doing it.

So, it was a fateful day that spring when Mary began to make the delicious potato salad she always made for the annual picnic at Trinity by the Sea. She was frying bacon, a key ingredient in her masterpiece, when her sister telephoned. Mary answered the phone in another room and became involved in the conversation with her sister. It wasn’t long before she smelled something burning. She ran into the kitchen to find her stove engulfed in flame. The fire department came and put out the fire. But, Mary’s kitchen was a complete loss. It would take several months to clean up and restore the kitchen to working order.

So, that Sunday they had wafers at Trinity by the Sea for Holy Communion. There was grumbling. There were questions, “What happened to the delicious bread?” So, Joan and Jane decided something had to be done. They had a long conversation about how important it was to bake the bread following worship. So long and intense was their conversation that both thought the other would be baking bread for the next Sunday.

The next Sunday came and neither Joan nor Jane had bread. It was wafers again. More grumbling, questions, and concerns surfaced. Finally, Nancy said she would bake the bread for next Sunday.

That Sunday came, and indeed Nancy had baked the bread. But, it had been a long time since Nancy had baked bread and something had gone awry with her recipe. The bread was so tough and like lead that it was almost impossible to consume.

That afternoon Trinity by the Sea had a congregational meeting. It was the one where the folks decide budgets and stuff. However, this meeting much time was spent on an item not on the agenda: how can we get good bread for Holy Communion? After prolonged and sometimes heated discussion a motion was passed instructing the Worship Committee to find a proper bread recipe and have the more talented folks of the parish bake bread for Communion.

Who would have thought that a small fire in Mary’s kitchen would lead to such a problem? Probably none of us would think a kitchen fire could have such results.

Yet, this true story points out how life is all about connections. Things do not happen in isolation. All things are related, even if they seem to initially have no connection at all. A kitchen fire and congregational meeting seem distant and unrelated. But, the meal and the bread brought them together.

When Jesus tells us today that “everyone who commits a sin is a slave to sin” he is recognizing the connectedness of life. Daily we sin, and we know the truth that we are responsible for the sin in us that manifests itself as a little lie here and a little slight there or whatever it may be. However you experience the sin, you are connected to it. At the heart of our lives is the fact we frequently act as though God is not a part of anything. We act as though God does not matter, and our relationship with God is shattered by the self-centeredness of our sin. We are connected to sin which disconnects us from God.

Our Lord Jesus, though, does not stop with pointing out how sin will make us slaves. He also says, “If you continue in my word, you are truly my disciples; and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free.”

Do you want to be free of sin? Then get connected to Jesus! At least that is what I am hearing our Lord say this morning.

It is about connection. It is about relationship. The first connection is to the Word of God incarnate, in the flesh, the Word we know as Jesus himself. It is not an intellectual connection. It is a relationship where you are in constant communication with Jesus himself. Martin Luther made that correction at the time of the Reformation. Living with Jesus had been supplanted by things people would do, like buy indulgences to purchase people out of eternal condemnation. Luther rightly led us back to the truth that it is a faith relationship with Jesus that is the first connection in breaking the deadlock sin has on us.

But don’t get misled into thinking you can fix the broken connection to God. No, God took the initiative to make what Luther calls the “great exchange.” On the cross Jesus gives his life so that grace is exchanged for our sin. We call this exchange forgiveness. It is through the cross that the broken connection to God is restored in Jesus. It is through the cross that this great exchange is accomplished for you.

So, hang out with the Word himself, trusting your life to him for all eternity. Jesus, the Word of the cross has made you a disciple. This is all you need to be. For as soon as Jesus makes you a disciple in the cross he shares with you that he is the truth: the truth of God’s unconditional love for you. Jesus is the truth that no one or thing can ever disconnect you from the unconditional love of God.

Now, you who have been molded disciples by the Word himself, Jesus, know the truth and are set free. You are no longer enslaved to sin. It is all about connections: connected to Jesus of the cross you are made new through his unconditional love for the sake of serving in his name. For as you are connected to Jesus through faith, you are connected to everyone he loves, all humankind. Amen.

Pastor Robert F. Holley