Spiritual Diet Plan

Sermon preached 16.8.15 based on Proverbs 9:1-6, Psalm 34:9-14, Ephesians 5:15-20 and John 6:51-58.

My routine each day when I arrive on the ward where I work is to go straight to the kitchen and make myself a cup of coffee. This follows the travel mug of coffee I’ve made at home and drunk on my drive in. I love my morning coffee, and those who know me quite well might allude to the fact that I’m not the cheerful and kind soul you all know me to be until I’ve had it.

On Tuesday when I arrived into the ward kitchen, following my daily routine, my colleague was making what looked like a cup of herbal tea. When I remarked upon it she declared she was detoxing, had given up caffeine (a thought that would fill me with horror), and was drinking special detox “Boo tea…all the celebs are drinking it!” I was informed.

I’m not really that well in touch with celebrity culture but this isn’t the first diet fad to hit the ward- we’ve had the usual Weight Watchers and Slimming World, but then there’s been Liter Life, Slim fast, The Atkins Diet, Blood Group diet, magic water and the 5:2 diet. I myself- I know, unbelievable- have tried some of these.

There’s also been the exercise regimes that have spread through the ward- running clubs, boot camp, mountain biking, spinning, tough mudder, yoga, pilates- I’m exhausted just saying that- all in pursuit of being of being the healthiest, trimmest, best version of ourselves. To be our best.

These physical interventions also have psychological benefits- we feel better about ourselves, we have more energy, but there’s often a downside. The latest fad diet is often hard to maintain, you give in to temptation, or get fed up of being “good”. My friend with her Boo tea was scuppered even before lunchtime- as we so often are at work- by grateful relatives with a large delivery of cupcakes, which is probably why despite having a ward 150m long I’m still not slim.

After all this talk of food you might be feeling a bit peckish, and maybe doubly so after today’s readings; In our Proverbs reading we were invited to drink the wine and eat the bread of wisdom, The psalm alluded to the Lord feeding our spiritual hunger and the Ephesians reading warned us to be filled with the Holy Spirit rather than the alcoholic sort.

The diet and fitness regimes popular amongst my colleagues serve to improve our physical health, and as I’ve mentioned there are psychological benefits, but scripture is rich with metaphors of hunger and thirst which seek to show us how to improve our spiritual health and get our souls into shape.

The Gospel reading has Jesus inviting us to share in the ultimate spiritual diet- to eat his flesh and drink his blood, “the one who eats this bread will live forever”. The diet Jesus has to offer us is not a quick fix for the here and now- it’s a plan to get us fit for eternity. In our culture we’re so keen to satisfy our other appetites- like the hunger to be fitter or slimmer, to “look better” and to live longer- that it’s easy to neglect our spiritual hunger.

Jesus reveals in the gospel that he is the one who can really sustain us. We try to feed our other appetites and hope that this will bring us happiness, and we may have tried to feed our spiritual hunger in other ways, or by other spiritual practices. Like the attempt to find the perfect weight loss or exercise plan, it doesn’t meet our needs- it doesn’t feed our hunger or quench our thirst. We remain spiritually unsatisfied, unfulfilled- hungry and thirsty for something only Christ can give us.

Today’s gospel is a reminder that the Word Became flesh, and that flesh was sacrificed to sustain us. To Jesus’ audience “body” would have meant the entire person, and “blood” the absolute essence of life. Jesus offers and indeed gave himself entirely.

Flesh and blood underline Jesus’ humanity, whilst echoing back to the mystical beginning of John’s gospel. Jesus, word made flesh, is the spirit of God’s Wisdom inviting us to “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight” reminding us that “those who seek the Lord lack nothing that is good”.

And yet if we take Jesus literally, trying to live solely by what God gives to us, we know it will fail because it’s not just about what God gives to us. It’s about us abiding in Christ and him abiding in us. It has to be reciprocal and mutual. This is no fad spiritual diet that will leave us craving for other things. If we fully enter into that mutual abiding- that communion- which we recognise and celebrate in the Eucharist, this continued repetition and reminder we experience feeds us, nourishes us – abides and grows within us, drawing us deeper into communion with God and also with each other.

We each have our personal, reciprocal relationship with God but we also have it with each other. Our faith is corporate. Jesus abides within and sustains us so we are able to carry out his will in the world as the body of Christ. To be our best means growing into the person God intends us to be.

Part of this includes engaging with the people and culture around us. My mission as a minister in the secular world means connecting with people who haven’t or wouldn’t step into a church. Knowing the latest fad diet or exercise regime is all part of this. Finding out what people thirst and hunger for- what sustains and nourishes them, what they connect with, and looking to see where God is in that, and where he can be for them.

Our meeting in communion here nourishes us to go out and take God with us, whoever we go, to whoever we meet. We have the experience of true food and true drink, and in the rich tradition of biblical hospitality it’s our job to go out and share it.