 Rev. Rod Quainton |
Empty
Bowls
Sermon:
Scriptures: |
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Emptying
and filling is a common scriptural motif. Today’s lesson
from Philippians exemplifies the emptying motif when Paul
states God “emptied himself, taking the form of a slave,
being born in human likeness.” Whenever we celebrate
communion, two actions occur before we receive the bread and
the cup. First, we confess our sins, emptying ourselves of
those things which separate us from God. Then we present our offerings and gifts of money, which is
another act of emptying, this time of our material wealth.
These emptying actions allow us to be filled with God’s
grace from communion. It is impossible to fill an already-full
cup, like when we are full of ourselves. We need to empty
ourselves in order to allow room for God’s grace to fill us
up. The
passage from 2 Kings, a miracle attributed to Elisha, reminds
us of Jesus’ miracle at the wedding feast in Cana, or the
feeding of the five thousand. I suspect these are more
familiar passages. In each case, the miracles are about
filling us with the transforming power of God. The Kings
passage suggests we should present ourselves empty so that God
can pour the oil of God’s grace into us, God’s empty
vessels. God’s grace is so magnanimous that God wants us to
keep bringing our vessels empty until there are no more, so
that the oil of gladness might overflow in us. Lent,
therefore, is a season of both feasting and fasting, as we
recited in the call to worship. Fasting is the act of emptying
ourselves so that God can fill us through feasting. Think of
how we use the terms “empty” and “full.” Tonight we
are having the Empty Bowls dinner. How’s that for a
paradox? Empty Bowls is an international project
originating in Michigan to fight world hunger. The rubric is
Jesus’ line from Matthew 25:35: “For I was hungry (read
“empty”) and you gave me food.” Empty Bowls is a
project to provide support for food banks, soup kitchens and
other organizations that fight hunger. We have our empty bowls
filled with soup, and we take home an empty bowl to remind us
that many persons go hungry, but also to remind us to empty
ourselves so that God might fill us up. In the memorable Magnificat, Mary’s prayer in response to the good news that she will be bearing God’s son, she notes God sends the rich away empty in the great scriptural paradox that the ones who are fullest are the emptiest and in need of God’s filling grace. I think about my teen years and my least favorite household chore, taking out the garbage. In the confession time, we take out and dispose of our personal garbage. Lent is a time of unpacking our baggage, leaving things behind so that we can journey empty in order to be filled. In a recent CD, the Indigo Girls sang a line that went, “I’m better off for all that I let in.” We talk of a pessimist as being a person who sees the glass as half empty and the optimist as a person who sees the glass as half full. A Christian optimist wants his/her glass to be empty so that it can be filled with God’s grace. A Christian pessimist sees himself/herself as full of themselves, leaving no room for God’s oil of grace. So this Lent, be an optimist and empty your glass of sin, and let all God’s bountiful grace in! Approach God’s Lenten banquet empty and return home full at Easter.
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