Saved by the Bread of Life - Sermon for Sunday 5th August 2018

Let the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be acceptable to you, O Lord, my rock and my redeemer.

The ways we communicate are many and varied, sometimes spoken, sometimes written down, through letters, e-mails, and sometimes through social media, video’s, facetime and skype. Then when we see symbols, pictures and stories, they also have meaning. Jesus used many of these, although perhaps not skype, not that we are aware of anyway.

Then sometimes, communication is simply silent. So when Bruce contacted me, silently by e-mail, a few months ago about coming here today, the first thing that happened, was that I smiled, silently. Now this may sound like a strange confession, but I smiled and was immediately reminded of my placement here last summer, of how you looked after me and made me so welcome. 

I knew straight away that I wanted to come back and this says a lot about your friendliness and welcome, this is a true gift, much like the gifts described by Paul in his letter to the Ephesians. The smile was involuntary, but also a signal to anyone who had seen it, of feelings and intent.

We are all given gifts from God through Christ, we are all different, yet uniquely made by God in his image and yet every calling is different, everyone has a gift, and the challenge is to work out what the gift truly is. Many of us have many gifts and we often develop new gifts through our lives. So whether it is making tea, welcoming others, playing an instrument, preaching – and I’m making no claims of giftedness here!, painting a picture or telling a story, we all have gifts and they are valuable treasures to be shared in the grace and love of God.

Our readings talk about gifts and the bread of life. They are also symbols, there is a message, communication. So when Jesus describes himself as the bread of life, this is a message but also a treasure, a gift, a spiritual, life-giving, eternal food, through his teaching and salvation. He even gave us a way to remember this gift of himself, a symbol, a sacrament, which is a sign of inward holiness or grace.

You’ve probably heard the phrase, a picture paints a thousand words. To be honest, I tend to think in words and struggle to draw more than a stick-man, but I was struck recently that the Christian faith is full of art, pictures, signs and symbols. From a smile to the way we hold our hands in worship.

This was the week before last, I was at a summer school for ordination training at a college near Oxford. As I train part-time, every year we go for a whole week and this year we were learning about communion. This was very intense and friendships became stronger as a result of praying, receiving communion every day and talking together. It also made my journey seem even more real and scary! When I was here last year, I had only just been recommended for training whereas, in less than eleven months I’ll be ordained deacon at the cathedral, which is even scarier. 

During our training week we had a session on the Eucharist in art, and I was amazed to see wall paintings dating back to the second century which depicted people gathered around a table for a meal focussed on a chalice and a plate, the bread and the wine.

To think that Christians have celebrated this meal, as instructed by Jesus, right since the beginning, is remarkable and many of the words we use haven’t changed either. Until the advent of the printing press and increased literacy, images and symbols were how we told stories and for many people a picture still says more than a thousand words.

The chalice and plate are symbols as well as pictures, when we see them, we know what they are and what they represent. The symbols of bread and wine are full of meaning too.

It was at the last supper when Jesus expanded on being the Bread of Life and called on the disciples to remember him in body and blood, in bread and wine. 

The bread is one of the most powerful, sacramental symbols we have of Jesus. So when Jesus describes himself as the bread of life, as in our Gospel reading, we also need to remember that Jesus is with us in communion, it is in the remembering that he becomes real again every time when we as a community, remember Jesus in a shared meal at this table (points). 

This is why the gift of communion is so crucial to our faith, we are remembering a meal where Jesus identified himself with bread and wine. 

I like to think that we are gathered around a table as the disciples were then, smiling, talking, praying together, singing and helping each other.

It’s around this table where we gather and where many others will gather in churches around the world, as communities of friends to share a meal, remembering Jesus, the bread of Life, who came so that we may have life and have it to the full.

The bread of life is an interesting phrase for Jesus to use. Bread was an image which people could relate to. It was a staple of everyday life. He had just abundantly fed the five thousand with baskets of bread left to spare, another sign, a sign of God’s overwhelming love for us. 

So the people wanted yet another sign, a repeat of that miracle but Jesus has to tell them that he didn’t come to earth just to perform miracles, but so that they could begin to understand the nature of God more fully. God who loves us so much he sent his son into the world to save the world. 

 

God as a loving creator, who sustains and spirituality feeds us, like bread physically feeds us. God who is eternal, unlike bread which perishes and goes stale and mouldy. God who is alive in the bread we receive at communion. Unlike that symbolic bread, God lasts forever and God may work through Moses and the prophets but we are reminded again that it is God who brings us life in the bread of heaven.

And what an amazing gift. Yes, God has given us this beautiful world we must strive to look after, He has given us the means to produce food to keep us alive and we pray for this whenever we say, “give us today our daily bread,” but this also applies to Jesus who we need even more, God already knows that we need more than mere food to live. Through faith in him, the bread of life, we have eternal life, where there is no hunger or pain. But there is still the kingdom to come on earth which we need to protect, to live in today. 

All good gifts around us are sent from heaven above, and what a joyful thing that it is, let us rejoice and be glad in it. I do know though, that rejoicing isn’t always possible, that for some of us, simply getting out of the house and into church will be the most you can manage today. 

If that is you, thank you for coming. Thank you also to all of you for your warm welcome to me, it’s an immense privilege to stand here and be welcomed so warmly, to pray with you and soon, to share a meal at the Lord’s table together.

Let us pray,

Jesus, our companion,

When we are driven to despair,

Help us, through the friends and strangers we encounter on our path,

To know you as our refuge,

Our bread, our way, our truth, our life.

Amen

Preached at St George, Tuffley, Gloucester on August 5th 2018

Ephesians 4.1-16   Unity in the Body of Christ

I therefore, the prisoner in the Lord, beg you to lead a life worthy of the calling to which you have been called, ²with all humility and gentleness, with patience, bearing with one another in love, ³making every effort to maintain the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. ⁴There is one body and one Spirit, just as you were called to the one hope of your calling, ⁵one Lord, one faith, one baptism, ⁶one God and Father of all, who is above all and through all and in all.

7 But each of us was given grace according to the measure of Christ’s gift. ⁸Therefore it is said, ‘When he ascended on high he made captivity itself a captive; he gave gifts to his people.’
⁹(When it says, ‘He ascended’, what does it mean but that he had also descended^* into the lower parts of the earth? ¹⁰He who descended is the same one who ascended far above all the heavens, so that he might fill all things.) ¹¹The gifts he gave were that some would be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some pastors and teachers, ¹²to equip the saints for the work of ministry, for building up the body of Christ, ¹³until all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ. ¹⁴We must no longer be children, tossed to and fro and blown about by every wind of doctrine, by people’s trickery, by their craftiness in deceitful scheming. ¹⁵But speaking the truth in love, we must grow up in every way into him who is the head, into Christ, ¹⁶from whom the whole body, joined and knitted together by every ligament with which it is equipped, as each part is working properly, promotes the body’s growth in building itself up in love.

Prayer: Loving God, we give thanks for your graceful gifts of humility, gentleness, unity and love. We pray that through you our unique callings and gifts will be lived out to build the church of Christ as one body and one bread. Amen

John 6.24-35

So when the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they themselves got into the boats and went to Capernaum looking for Jesus.

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’ ²⁶Jesus answered them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.’ ²⁸Then they said to him, ‘What must we do to perform the works of God?’ ²⁹Jesus answered them, ‘This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.’ ³⁰So they said to him, ‘What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, “He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” ’ ³²Then Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. ³³For the bread of God is that which^* comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.’ ³⁴They said to him, ‘Sir, give us this bread always.’

35 Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Prayer: Lord Jesus, we give thanks for the bread of life which sustains, redeems and grants us eternal life through faith. Give us grace to embrace your love for us and to be the community of God we are called to be. Amen.