The Bread of life - a shared meal. Sunday 11th August 2024

 

Sunday, 11 August 2024 The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity

St Cyr, Stinchcombe. Holy Communion

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 more often these days through social media, video’s, facetime and zoom. Then when we see symbols, pictures and stories, they also have meaning.
Jesus used many of these, although perhaps not zoom, not that we are aware of anyway.

Then sometimes, communication is simply silent. When hearing good news, we smile, when sad, we show this too.

How we behave to others also says a lot about our kindness, friendliness and welcome, which encourages others to respond in turn and becomes a pattern passed on and on.

Some have a true gift for communication, or are just good with people, some are great writers, some have charisma which enables an even greater level of engagement.

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 the bread of life, for the third week the lectionary has given us this gift to speak about. Bread sustains us physically, but is also a symbol, and a symbol is another means of 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 reminded when studying, that the Christian faith is full of art, pictures, signs and symbols. From a smile to the way we hold our hands in worship.

While studying for ordination, 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 the altar.

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. 

As we can see depicted in the disciples gathered behind Jesus behind the communion table here and at St George's.

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, perhaps we don’t say it enough, but it’s an immense privilege to stand here, to speak, 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

Adapted from a sermon for Sunday 5th August 2018 at Tuffley https://andrewssermons.blogspot.com/2018/08/saved-by-bread-of-life-sermon-for.html

The Gospel - John 6.35, 41–51

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.

Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ ⁴²They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ 

⁴³Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. ⁴⁴No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. 

⁴⁵It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. ⁴⁶Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. 

⁴⁷Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. 

⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. 

⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’

Psalm 34.1–8

¹  I will bless the Lord at all times; ♦︎
   his praise shall ever be in my mouth.
²  My soul shall glory in the Lord; ♦︎
   let the humble hear and be glad.
³  O magnify the Lord with me; ♦︎
   let us exalt his name together.
⁴  I sought the Lord and he answered me ♦︎
   and delivered me from all my fears.
⁵  Look upon him and be radiant ♦︎
   and your faces shall not be ashamed.
⁶  This poor soul cried, and the Lord heard me ♦︎
   and saved me from all my troubles.
⁷  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear him ♦︎ and delivers them.
⁸  O taste and see that the Lord is gracious; ♦︎
   blessed is the one who trusts in him.

Ephesians 4.25 – 5.2

    25 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. ²⁶Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, ²⁷and do not make room for the devil. ²⁸Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. 

²⁹Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. ³⁰And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. 

³¹Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, ³²and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you.5¹Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, ²and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.