Matthew 7: 7-11
Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
one a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
give them to your sons.
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
Hot cross buns!
one a penny, two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
If you have no daughters,
give them to your sons.
One a penny two a penny,
Hot cross buns!
My dad, whom I think you all know by now was a baker, always
brought home hot cross buns for our Good Friday consumption. If you haven’t had a hot cross bun they
are spiced sweet buns filled with raisins or currents and they are marked with
a cross on the top either in yummy white icing or cut right into the dough. Good Friday and Hot cross buns mark the
end of Lent and the cross on top of the bun is a reminder of the crucifixion of
Jesus and the spices are symbolic of the embalming spices used for his burial. Although there are other traditions and
stories that go along with these delicious little buns that is the one I grew
up with.
So it’s always this time of year that I think about my dad and
hot cross buns and begin to develop a hankerin’ for them. When I read the scripture for today
from Matthew I was reminded of Hot Cross Buns in a circuitous sort of way. Stick with me on this!
This is the final sermon in our series entitled, Stone by
Stone. Each week we have offered a
scripture reading for reflection that used stones or rocks as a metaphor to
help us think about our lives in light of the Lenten season. We’ve given you visual reminders in
some form of a rock to take home with you each week that, I hope, have been
helpful. I promise you that I will
not disappoint you this week because I have yet some final stones to be given
out. They remarkably resemble Hot
Cross Buns to remind you of God’s goodness and love.
Our scripture today is one that is familiar from the Gospel
of Matthew. It is set within the
context of the Sermon on the Mount although it is at almost the tail end of his
sermon. Jesus’ sermon presents his
ethical teachings and lines out the ways in which we are to live. In this passage he is exhorting us
about prayer. From the seventh chapter of Matthew:
Ask, and it will be
given you; search, and you will find; knock, and the door will be opened for
you.. For everyone who asks receives, and everyone who searches
finds, and for everyone who knocks, the door will be opened. Is
there anyone among you who, if your child asks for bread, will give a stone? Or
if the child asks for a fish, will give a snake? If you then, who are evil,
know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in
heaven give good things to those who ask him!
So what, you might ask, do hot cross
buns have to do with holy writ?
Well you see it’s the part about the child asking for bread that shakes
up the grey matter in my head.
Perhaps because I’m a granny now, or because I have fond memories of my
dad. When I asked for bread as a kid I received bread, and when I asked for
brownies I received brownies and the same for chocolate donuts, my father never
would have brought home a stone or even would have thought about boxing up some
pebbles or rocks for me to eat while I watched Saturday morning cartoons. No, he was a kind and gentle man who
knew what I loved, knew what was good for me and granted my wishes, in
moderation, of course. I was never
presented a hunk of granite to gnaw on.
Jesus’ argument is pretty simple here,
in fact he couldn’t make it any plainer. It’s his charter for prayer. The rabbi’s might ask, ‘is there a father who ever hates his
son?’ And Jesus asks would a
father ever harm his child? Of
course not! Even those who are
evil, he says, still give good gifts to their children, not gifts that would
harm them.
In this passage Jesus presents us with
two solid facts about prayer. The
first is that God answers our prayers with wisdom and with love. Our prayers are met with God’s grace and
are infused with divine
understanding so that we ultimately receive what it is that God wants us to have
or the way God wants us to be.
So it is appropriate to think about the
ways in which God has offered us bread rather than stones when we have asked,
and the way in which God offers us salvation and forgiveness through the cross
of Christ, the cross magnified even on sweet little buns. Our prayers are always answered. That is a promise. And they are offered in the form of
life giving metaphorical bread.
‘Bread is the staff of life’, they say,
we cannot live without it and the bonus here is that our daily bread comes in
all forms. If you think about it,
all gifts from God, consumable or not, are bread in essence because gifts from
God are life-giving. And so are
God’s ‘answers’ to our prayers even though the ways in which they are answered
and the time that it takes for an answered prayer is usually and most often
different than what we expect or hope for. God’s time and our time, not similar. God’s knowledge of all things and our
knowledge of all things, well you can’t even compare that. So that’s the disappointing
reality of prayer if in fact it’s all about you, and you getting what you want.
The second fact that Jesus is bringing
to our attention is that we need to be unrelenting in our life of prayer even
when it appears that it’s not going the way we want it to. Ask, he says, search, knock keep on,
keep on keep on praying, that’s your obligation. Be persistent in your efforts and your efforts will not go
unnoticed. Praying is so good for
the soul and perhaps (and often) it needs no answer. I feel better when I pray, when I bring every last thing
that is weighing me down before the Lord it releases the heavy burden off of my
shoulders. And when I am grateful
just expressing it to the divine and wondrous God brings me joy. No expectations, just here I am Lord,
in gratitude, keep me in your grace.
The poet Mary Oliver writes in her book ‘Thirst’
a short poem about praying:
“Praying”
It doesn’t
have to be the blue iris,
it could be weeds
in a vacant lot,
or a few small
stones;
just pay
attention,
then patch a
few words together and don’t try
to make them
elaborate,
this isn’t a
contest but the doorway
into thanks,
and a silence in which
another
voice may speak.”[i]
God’s voice, our listening. Our prayers needn’t be fancy, in fact
words really aren’t even needed.
Just your persistent and willing presence placed in the presence of God
is what prayer is all about. Ask
and it shall be given you, the door will be flung open wide and God will always
offer you a loaf of life affirming bread.
Or maybe, if you’re lucky, a hot cross bun instead.
Amen.
[i] Oliver, Mary. Thirst. Beacon Press 2006
Pastoral
Prayer
Abundant
and life giving God we humbly come before you now in prayer. You above all else are glorified and
great and so we offer our grateful praise to you. We know you want fancy words or correct grammar from us,
just a willing and sincere heart placed in your presence. So here we are, your beloved children
asking and seeking. There is a lot
that is on our minds today and so much that resides within our spirit so we
entreat you now to bend your compassionate ear towards us and hear us as we
pray….
For a healing balm upon those
who are ill in body, mind or spirit (mental illness, addiction)
For the consolation that
resurrected life brings and peace we pray for those who mourn or grieve
For our country and the men and
women who serve in the armed forces we lift up before you Kristin, Michael,
Eugene, Nicholas, Gabe, Jason, William, Joshua, Zachery, Justin and Ryan grant
them strength and fortitude.
For the newest members of this
your gathered community of faith we pray for the hand of Christian fellowship
be extended far beyond this day.
For Orange Congregational Church
during this time of redevelopment and for the church world wide we pray for
guidance and for discernment of our future through you.
Instill within us a thirst for
knowledge and may the spirit of joy be with us today.
Amen.
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