"Chosen, Blessed, Broken and Given"

This morning I want each of you to try to imagine and identify with a young boy- the child who brought his meal of loaves and fish with him to a lonely spot where the crowds were listening to Jesus. And when Jesus was trying to feed the people in that deserted area- something moved that child to share what little he had. Imagine yourself presenting what you have brought for yourself to eat- presenting it first to one of the disciples and then to Jesus himself- and watching in wonder as he transformed your gift into something extraordinary. With your bread and fish, the young teacher feeds everyone- including you, and there is food left over. He took your gift, he blessed it, he broke it and he gave it to everyone. This is the liturgy of communion. This is what Jesus did at the feeding of the 5,000, and it's what he did at the Last Supper. It is what we act out in Communion- in the Lord's meal. It is the cadence of Jesus' life- it is the cadence of our lives. Taken, that is Chosen, Blessed, Broken and Given. Four words to symbolize the incarnation. Four words capture what it means to be human and yet called by God.

I am inspired by Henri Nouwen, Catholic Priest to consider these four words today. I heard him speak about this 12 years ago in Florida and it is still fresh in my mind. These words define who Jesus was. Let's let them define who we are as children of God. Taken, Blessed, Broken, Given. He took bread, and blessed it, and gave it to the disciples. First, consider Jesus’ life. He was taken by God, Chosen. At his baptism God’s voice was heard to say, “This is my son, my chosen one”. And again at the transfiguration, God’s voice called Jesus the chosen one. Jesus was loved, called and sent to do ministry. Blessed, Jesus was blessed by God, loved and led. Blessing means benediction, good things said about you, and so God spoke to Jesus with good words, and God’s angels cared for Jesus in the desert - he was blessed. Broken, Jesus was broken by his earthly ministry. He was worn out, grieved by the suffering of people, exhausted by the demands of the crowds, arrested, tried, whipped, and hideously killed - broken physically, by also emotionally. He cried for Jerusalem- he felt compassion for the people and yet they did not listen. He felt abandoned even by God at the end. Given - Jesus gave his life for people. God gave him to the world and thus showed us the way to live, forgives us, loves us. Jesus literally gave his life to his ministry. Taken, blessed, broken and given. Like Jesus, we are called to give our lives. We too are taken, blessed, broken and given.

Taken - we are taken by God for God's work; chosen. Do you believe yourself to be chosen? What a presumptuous thing to think. But we are. To reject ourselves, to consider ourselves not good enough to be chosen is to deny what Jesus promises us- to deny we are God's children. To deny that we are made in God's image. To say -no, I'm not chosen- not precious- not unique, is to deny God. A lot of war, anger, violence and hatred come from people not feeling, not knowing they are chosen. A lot of disabled people are burdened with this- not feeling chosen, precious- many children desperately need this- to feel precious- chosen. Believe it. We are the precious children of God. Chosen. Much of our ministry to other people is to help them feel that they are chosen. And to accept your own- to rest at peace in God's love- will communicate to others that they too are chosen, special. We are chosen-taken by God.

Blessed. As the beloved children of God we are blessed. Benediction means to say good things about people. This is what it means to bless someone. Not just to say compliments about someone- but to say to them that they are beloved by God- that they are chosen and special. Parents need to bless their children. We need to bless each other all the time, to speak good things in the name of God. As we bless our bread or our food- to hold it up to God and thank God- so we must do for each human being that comes our way. God blesses us; God takes care of us as angels cared for Jesus in the desert. Part of our work is to bless others.

Broken. This is easy. This is the thing we are most conscious of- our brokenness- our pain. We are broken people with broken hearts. Henri Nouwen says that our brokenness is us. It is as unique as we are. It is the underside of our gifts- the other side of our beauty. We should embrace it; claim it. Your pain is enough for you. Don't belittle the pain and grief you live with. In the Spiritual world there is no joy without sadness. At the moment of our greatest joy- there is pain and at the moment of our greatest pain- there is joy. When we take up our brokenness- our pain and embrace it- make it our own- then we can carry it. That is your cross- and it is not too heavy for you. Living in the city of Chicago I used to hate the amount of broken glass everywhere. People throw bottles out of cars, drop them on the street, they overflow from garbage and shatter from windows. It came to symbolize the danger and fragileness of life in the city. And then one day I was out jogging at sunset and as I turned toward home and toward the setting sun, suddenly the whole running path where I was running was ablaze with diamonds could hardly see the path. And as I ran along and examined this phenomena, I discovered that what was blazing like diamonds were millions of tiny fragments of broken glass- on the path, on the sidewalk and along the streets. Danger and pain transformed by the setting sun into radiant beauty.

And finally, we are Given. Chosen, Blessed, Broken and Given to the world. We are not called to be successful or productive- we are called to give ourselves away- to be fruitful. Jesus gave himself away. Eat me; drink me, poured out for you. It is good for you, he said, that I go on ahead. In this giving of ourselves we will find fulfillment. Nouwen says that each person who comes to you for friendship, or for help- for any reason- they come into your life for your conversion. They become a way for you to learn more about God- to give more to God- to be converted, transformed. We are given.

Which leads us back to standing on the hillside with a small boy holding out to God is small dinner of bread and fish. We are that boy. Cautiously holding out to God our little basket of gifts and pain. And Jesus looks around at the crowd and picks us with his eyes. Looking at us, at you, he chooses you. He takes your life, your gifts and blesses them. And breaks them, and gives them to the crowd. And everyone is fed.