She who is in labor ...

Together, let us meditate on the word of the Lord:

Micah 5:2-5a

But you, O Bethlehem of Ephrathah,
who are one of the little clans of Judah,
from you shall come forth for me one who is to rule in Israel,
whose origin is from of old, from ancient days.

Can anything good happen in a small town? Can anything worthy of note come from Bethlehem, this “house of bread,” this tiny village? How often does God work with the small things - with places, things, or persons held in low esteem by humanity? The American equivalent of Bethlehem would be a small rural town on the margins of a politically insignificant state, perhaps somewhere in Oklahoma.

From this nowhere comes one who will not merely rule the world, but one who moves to restore it. This One knows how to restore this planet to its original and intended beauty because, quite simply, he was there when it was formed. To even speak of his origin reveals our ignorance.

Therefore he shall give them up until
the time when she who is in labor has brought forth;
then the rest of his kindred shall return to the people of Israel.

This small town on the margins of a small clan is a part of a larger nation. That nation wavered, time after time, in its faithfulness to its God. Every time this people chose to repent and return, God received them back. Every time, that is, until the last. When the fickleness of God’s people finally became a joke among the nations, then God let them go. God did not merely give up Jerusalem, or the Temple; the Holy One of Israel gave up the people of Israel. The holy temple was defiled, the holy city razed, the holy people scattered to the four corners of the earth. God gave them up.

But not forever. When “she who is in labor” bears her child, then the reunification of God and the people of God is to begin. Evidently the purpose of this child’s birth is to call all of God’s children back into relationship with God.

And he shall stand and feed his flock in the strength of the LORD,
in the majesty of the name of the LORD his God.
And they shall live secure,
for now he shall be great to the ends of the earth;

He who stands is one who is thoroughly acquainted with the truth about humanity; he knows our weaknesses, our vulnerabilities. A relationship with this majestic one brings a vulnerable people into a safe place. In the midst of that safe place are resources, provision for daily living, bread for body and soul. Is it mere coincidence that the “Bread of Heaven” comes from the “house of bread?” Yet, this majestic one will point the thankful to the source of all providence, the faithful God of Israel. The wonder of the place in which this Shepherd stands becomes even more apparent as others come to understand this great One, and open their lives to him.

and he shall be the one of peace.

Knowing the truth of our weakness and unfaithfulness, the Shepherd nonetheless hopes. Amazingly, he has made peace between his God and his people. That is his truth, but what is his hope? I believe that he hopes for those who have chosen peace to choose to keep it, and for those who have yet to choose peace to do so as well. May it be so.

Peace, peace, in him there can be peace.

Grace and peace,

Ron

Bread of life ...

Hear the word of the Lord:

“I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world."

Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day. For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me, and I in him. Just as the living Father sent me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven. Your forefathers ate manna and died, but he who feeds on this bread will live forever." He said this while teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

(John 6:47-59, NIV)


The very people we discussed yesterday who asked Jesus for a sign cannot accept that he is the sign. They begin to grumble against Jesus, unsettled by his proclamation. Their feeling of displacement is common; oftentimes when Jesus reveals who he is to us we are left feeling uneasy or unsettled.

Though the crowd is unable to see that Jesus is the sign and thus believe, Jesus affirms that those who do believe will have the life everlasting. Jesus once again identifies himself - "I am the bread of life." His identity introduces the contrast between what the crowd expects and what Jesus really is. They want a sign like the manna in the desert (even though Jesus has already given them divinely provided breaded), but those who ate manna died. Jesus, the bread which comes down from heaven, is different from the manna that comes down from heaven. The manna could only feed the body, but whoever eats the bread of life receives life everlasting. Just as Jesus taught the crowd to work for food which endures to eternal life rather than food that spoils, he now urges them to eat of his flesh instead of depending on manna from heaven to sustain their bodies.

If you think about it, using the metaphor of bread is jam-packed with meaning. It means that we depend so fully, freely, and openly on God that we cannot survive without Christ, the bread he provides for us. In this metaphor, Christ is our sustenance. He comes down from heaven not only to give us eternal life in heaven when we die but also to invigorate and animate us now. He is our food and our drink - everything that gives us life and keeps us alive.

Without eating Jesus' flesh, we have no life in us. His body and blood truly sustain us. The sacrifice of the Christ on the cross nourishes us like bread and beverage, which we eat and drink in order to remember that sacrifice. When we participate in that meal, Jesus lives and abides in us. He moves in us and through us, just as God moved in and through him.

So not only does the bread of life represent the true sign of God's love for us, it also lives inside us. Unlike the manna, which could not give life everlasting and did not remain within us, Jesus is the ultimate sustenance. In what ways can we depend on Jesus like food or water or air? In what ways can we need him so desperately that nothing else matters without his nourishment?

"I am the bread of life."

Blessings,

Greg

See the sign ...

Hear the word of God:

When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, "Rabbi, when did you get here?"

Jesus answered, "I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval."

Then they asked him, "What must we do to do the works God requires?"

Jesus answered, "The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent."

So they asked him, "What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat."

Jesus said to them, "I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

"Sir," they said, "from now on give us this bread."

Then Jesus declared, "I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. All that the Father gives me will come to me, and whoever comes to me I will never drive away. For I have come down from heaven not to do my will but to do the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I shall lose none of all that he has given me, but raise them up at the last day. For my Father's will is that everyone who looks to the Son and believes in him shall have eternal life, and I will raise him up at the last day."

(John 6:25-40, NIV)

A group from among the 5,000+ Jesus had miraculously fed on the other side of the Sea of Galilee have followed the teacher after his mysterious disappearance. Jesus, however, insists that they followed him not because they saw the signs, but because they ate the bread. The people are completely unable to alter their focus to encompass anything beyond their physical needs. As people living a hand-to-mouth existence, their entire lives are organized around securing their next meal. Jesus has another idea, though. Jesus tells the crowd that physical and material realities wear out and fade away, but spiritual realities endure.

When Jesus tells the people that the work of God is to believe in him, God's emissary, the people react lukewarmly. They ask what sign they may see, in order that they may believe. In the past, when Moses acted as God's emissary, he provided Israel with bread from heaven. These people must be blind! Even though they ate the loaves, they did not see the sign in Jesus' multiplication of the bread. They so completely failed to see the sign that they ask for a different sign. They reference bread from heaven after Jesus has already provided them with bread from nothing. They want to see a sign, but refuse to see the sign that Jesus has already performed.

Jesus explains that he is the real manna. It was God who provided the manna in the desert, and it is God who now provides Christ as bread from heaven. Unfortunately, even though the people see Jesus, they do not believe. The people asking for a sign have already seen the sign, they simply refuse to accept it. Jesus is the sign! They ate the bread, but the bread wasn't the sign. What these people have tragically failed to understand is simply that Jesus is the sign - the sign which points to God's activity in the world and his provision for his people. God gives Jesus, the bread of life, in order that those who eat of him may be fulfilled and may participate in another life at the close of this age.

Jesus, the one whom we call Christ, says to the people of Galilee 2,000 years ago and to the people of Hollis today, "I am the bread of life, the bread that gives life to all. I am the sign, the sign you are all looking for." When it is difficult to see, look for the sign and believe.

Blessings,

Greg

One human soul

Sometimes we as Christians tend to compartmentalize our lives. We tend to be dualistic. What does this mean? There is our body, which lives on this planet, has needs, and seeks to find ways to satisfy them. And somewhere over here, floating in the same general neighborhood is our spirit, here but not really of this world, with needs, but needs which we sometimes think cannot be satisfied in this world. But this is not a biblical view of things.

The Bible teaches us that one human soul is a body that enfleshes a spirit, a spirit embodied in a human body. We don't really know where the dividing line is because, for example, how do you separate the consciousness of the spirit from the physical thinking process of the brain? As you think about that question, are you in the body or in the spirit? You are seeing the world with both, yet as one soul. We don't have to understand how it works, but it is important to understand that God has firmly linked the two together. The scriptures tell us that even when we are resurrected, we will be in some sort of body, just as Jesus was. I don't know how he is going to do that, but since he made this body and spirit once, I don't figure that re-creating me again will be particularly difficult.

This means that there is always a connection between the physical and the spiritual in our lives. Nothing that we do for our bodies is devoid of the spiritual, and the things that our spirits experience have tangible effects on our bodies. There is no hard and fast boundary between the two, despite our tendency to talk that way. Let me illustrate this.

In John 4, a physically thirsty Jesus meets a spiritually thirsty Samaritan woman at Jacob's well in Sychar. Jesus asks for water from the woman, and the woman asks Jesus for living water, and, eventually, seriously so. As the encounter concludes, Jesus has spiritual food in such abundance that he is no longer physically hungry; he rebuffs the offer of food from his disciples. The woman is overflowing with living, spiritual water to the extent that she chooses to share it with her neighbors, while leaving her full but forgotten water jar (originally intended to satisfy her physical needs) at the well. The joy that the woman and Jesus feel is tangible. This narrative enacts the statement, "Man shall not live by bread alone," and demonstrates the move back and forth from the physical to the spiritual in the case of two different elements of the sacred: bread and water. The water and the bread that satisfy our physical needs are the same elements God uses to meet our spiritual needs; he is present in the meeting of either need, even for those who many might consider to be outsiders or infidels.

In John 21 (a narrative we referred to yesterday), seven disciples, including Peter, have gone fishing in Galilee after the death of Jesus. After fishing all night, these professional fishermen are hungry, naked, and empty-netted. In a matter of minutes, a resurrected Jesus fills their net full beyond belief, carefully maintaining their productive capacity by protecting every strained cord, and not only wishing them to be warm and filled, but doing it. In the early morning, this little community finds peace while warming at a charcoal fire and eating a breakfast of fish and bread. The simple earthly, physical acts of Jesus remind them that his spiritual and physical providence and presence are not limited by the cross. Jesus moves back and forth between the spiritual and physical totally unconcerned about whether some might wonder whether he was totally human or totally God. The spiritual healing and filling that that are intertwined with these simple physical acts reveal the creator of the universe to be interested in and active in both the physical and spiritual, interchangeably and permeably. So should we be.

How might this concept apply to our ministry context? At Westview, a family meal is among the first experiences that a young man confronts. Grace is said, usually by another boy, and a meal is shared. That meal may be the first recognizable extension of God's grace and providence that a child from poverty might experience. The nature of the Lord's Supper might remain a mystery for a long time (perhaps a lifetime), but an abundance of hot food can be a life-changing reality. This is true because so many children suffer from the systemic sins of our society: poverty, oppression, violence, and abuse. But eventually, if we can appropriately worship around the Lord's Table and our dinner table, these young people can come to understand that God has provided for all of our needs, both spiritual and physical. But he does this by dealing with the whole human: body and spirit, one soul.

As we go through this day, let us be whole people. This will allow us to better imitate Jesus for our own sake, and for the sake of those who live around us.

I wish you grace and peace for your whole person,

Ron

Grandma's kitchen table

Is there a history of food in your family? There are a lot of stories about food in mine: rituals for what food is to be eaten at which holiday, carefully researched histories of which aunt it was who originated a favorite family recipe, tales about how certain individuals cooked or learned to cook, and legends about the culinary artistry of certain family members. Many of these stories in the Bruner family have as their main character my paternal grandmother. These stories remain fresh in my memory even though the last time I ate at my grandmother’s table was in 1964, just months before she died.

When Grandma came home from church in Bowie, Texas, the screen door would scree open, and this six foot tall, broad-shouldered woman would enter. Without bending to touch them, she would kick off her low-heeled shoes under the end of the sofa, and quietly cross the hardwood floors in stocking feet. Moving to the kitchen, she would cross in front of Granddad, who had been firmly ensconced in his chair with his newspaper and Winstons all morning long. She would take off her pillbox hat en route, Bible still firmly pinned beneath one elbow; Grandma never went to worship without a hat on her head – it was not to be done. Putting away the hat and Bible in the kitchen, she would begin work on lunch.

There was something spiritual about Grandma’s cooking. It seemed that she imitated the divine in her ability to make a feast for a large family out of practically nothing. And surely what she cooked was so heavenly that even the angels must have been tempted to find some excuse to drop in without notice. Although she had a very cautious view of manifestations of the Holy Spirit, surely some of her recipes must have been inspired: she very rarely resorted to any written notes. Usually she just quietly worked: chopping, sifting, mixing, kneading, folding, straining, stirring, crimping, seasoning, tasting. She would measure when she baked or canned, but the rest was done by sight, smell, texture, and taste. Meanwhile, as she continued her work, this amazing symphony of smells would emerge from her kitchen, making the very idea of a dinner bell absurdly redundant. People would just intuitively migrate to the kitchen, like the hopeful chosen divinely called to the land of promise and plenty. There was this now, and not yet, about the whole experience; you could smell it, and you could see some of it, you just hoped that the world wouldn’t end before you got a chance to eat it.

Finally, we were allowed to sit at the table. Grandma brought coffee to the table for Granddad, coffee so hot that Granddad always had to pour some into a saucer to sip before he could drink from the cup. Baked ham, potato salad, fresh-snapped black-eyed peas, fresh vegetables, peach preserves on hot biscuits, and banana pudding. Heaven at the kitchen table.

I’ve had parts of this meal since: Ann has figured out the black-eyed peas and the potato salad. But no one can quite get the banana pudding, or the peach preserves, or the chow-chow to match up with my memories. I can relish recalling past pleasures of the table, and tastes of heaven in the present, but the experience of sitting at my grandmother’s table is not possible any more. Still, I live in hope. Hope that one day I will once again sit at a heavenly table with her and enjoy the quiet and faithful comfort of her presence. And perhaps she won’t even have to cook. God can cook after all. The family of faith has its cooking stories, too. It’s true. Read this:

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
John 21:9-14 - NRSV

I can just imagine how good this meal tasted to this hungry crew: hot, tasty, filling. Since everything Jesus did was well done, I have to believe that this meal was refreshing, delicious, and satisfying.

But one of these days God will bring us to a table
where we can all be satisfied in a way that is, unbelievable as it is,
beyond even the masterful cooking skills of my dear grandmother.
We can have deservedly fond memories of the table of the past,
and we really need to celebrate our time together at the table today,
but, oh, what a day is coming! What a banquet is being prepared!
I think that I can smell dinner cooking already . . .

Say grace, and enjoy peace at his table,
In hopes of the table to come,

Ron

Not by bread alone

Today, simply a scripture. As you read these instructions of Moses to the Israelites, meditate on how they apply to your life today. The Israelites were about to make a transition from the wilderness to the land of plenty, but still there were enemies to fight and land to conquer. Consider the lessons about bread and prosperity, as well as remembrance and thankfulness contained in this passage:

Keep and live out the entire commandment that I'm commanding you today so that you'll live and prosper and enter and own the land that God promised to your ancestors. Remember every road that God led you on for those forty years in the wilderness, pushing you to your limits, testing you so that he would know what you were made of, whether you would keep his commandments or not. He put you through hard times. He made you go hungry. Then he fed you with manna, something neither you nor your parents knew anything about, so you would learn that men and women don't live by bread only; we live by every word that comes from God's mouth. Your clothes didn't wear out and your feet didn't blister those forty years. You learned deep in your heart that God disciplines you in the same ways a father disciplines his child.

So it's paramount that you keep the commandments of God, your God, walk down the roads he shows you and reverently respect him. God is about to bring you into a good land, a land with brooks and rivers, springs and lakes, streams out of the hills and through the valleys. It's a land of wheat and barley, of vines and figs and pomegranates, of olives, oil, and honey. It's land where you'll never go hungry - always food on the table and a roof over your head. It's a land where you'll get iron out of rocks and mine copper from the hills.

After a meal, satisfied, bless God, your God, for the good land he has given you.

Make sure you don't forget God, your God, by not keeping his commandments, his rules and regulations that I command you today Make sure that when you eat and are satisfied, build pleasant houses and settle in, see your herds and flocks flourish and more and more money come in, watch your standard of living going up and up - make sure you don't become so full of yourself and your things that you forget God, your God,

the God who delivered you from Egyptian slavery;
the God who led you through that huge and fearsome wilderness,
those desolate, arid badlands crawling with fiery snakes and scorpions;
the God who gave you water gushing from hard rock;
the God who gave you manna to eat in the wilderness, something your ancestors had never heard of, in order to give you a taste of the hard life, to test you so that you would be prepared to live well in the days ahead of you.

If you start thinking to yourselves, "I did all this. And all by myself. I'm rich. It's all mine!" - well, think again. Remember that God, your God, gave you the strength to produce all this wealth so as to confirm the covenant that he promised to your ancestors - as it is today.

If you forget, forget God, your God, and start taking up with other gods, serving and worshiping them, I'm on record right now as giving you firm warning: that will be the end of you; I mean it - destruction. You'll go to your doom - the same as the nations God is destroying before you; doom because you wouldn't obey the Voice of God, your God.

Deuternomy 8 (from THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language © 2002 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved.)

Grace and peace,

Ron

Receiving hospitality

Some years ago I traveled in Panama on a mission trip with a group of teenage youth. We walked through a neighborhood (not the poorest, and not the richest, but nonetheless, people of very humble means) inviting the children and their parents to come to a gospel meeting that the local church was having every evening. These families were very, very poor in comparison to United States families. In the middle of one particularly steamy afternoon, one of the families we were visiting showed their hospitality to my two young companions and myself by inviting us to share some refreshment with them. I politely declined, but the head of the household would not hear of it. One of the children was dispatched to get a Coca-Cola, and the mother went into the corner that was a kitchen to prepare something. Perhaps this family remembered the words of the Hebrew writer:

Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it.
- Hebrews 13:2 - NRSV

We certainly knew that we were no angels. If God had given us wings, we might have been too tempted to fly away. Out of embarrassment. I looked over into the eyes my partners to see if they understood just what was about to happen. Both gave me a quick nod of comprehension. We had been clearly warned, more than once, to be careful about what we ate and drank. The local water supply was such that food or drink prepared from it could easily inflict a fairly severe physical revenge upon us. But these young people understood clearly the issues. Whatever we were about to eat, however carefully prepared, however tasty, it held the potential to make us all really ill. On top of that, the cost of this afternoon's refreshment was easily equivalent to several hours' worth of labor for the father. And because of the brevity of our stay, we knew that it was highly unlikely that we would ever be able to repay them. Yet we all understood that to decline would be to inflict the worst possible insult upon this humble family.

We smiled. They smiled. We ate. It was delicious. We drank. It was cold. We smiled bigger. We gave them our sincere thanks, and continued on with our afternoon's work. God, in his traveling mercies, protected us from any unintended negative consequences. Instead he filled our hearts with fond memories of warm conversation and cool refreshment in the midst of a hot day. All of this with a beautiful family who clearly understood the biblical notion of hospitality.

Hear the words of Jesus:

"When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
- Luke 14:12-14 - NRSV

Now, it wasn't Sunday when we had our Panamanian banquet, and the elements of the meal were not those we use for the Lord's Supper, but I hope that we all realize that there was something holy about that meal. The sacred and the mundane are not separated, not encased, but connected permeably, so that each of these flows from one to the other in our lives. Partaking of the bread at the Lord's Table can never be completely removed from whether or not we share hunger-preventing bread with the poor whom we encounter. When things are right, the richer will share with the poorer. The girls and I would certainly have been much more comfortable if we could have treated this humble family to the banquet of their lives, but God chose to use their generosity to teach us a lesson about what real hospitality really means.

One of these days I hope that God repays this family for their kindness. Something bigger than a Coca-Cola and a snack. Perhaps it will please God at the end of time (or the beginning of eternity?) when we are all in heaven to allow the girls and I to bring a meal to the heavenly table of this beautiful family. Not that we could or would be the host; no, that will be God's place. The girls and I will merely be the servants of God, showing respect, showing hospitality, bringing providence, where both hospitality and providence are due.

Who will want to be at the table with us?

Grace and peace,

Ron

It's all about bread

In 1 Samuel 25, the biblical historian tells this fascinating story about David. Having lost favor with King Saul, David has become an outcast hiding in the desert, the mountains, the desolate places in Palestine. Over time David accumulates a small army of fellow outcasts who accept him as their unquestioned leader. David's little army hides out in the vicinity of the huge estates of a very wealthy man, Nabal. Whether it is land, or grain, or animals, or servants, Nabal has exceedingly more of it than any one family can need or use. The presence of David and his cohort protects Nabal's prosperity from the violence which is frequent here in the outlands. Even the wild animals have a hard time getting to Nabal's flocks because of the shielding presence of these soldiers. And, unlike most wandering bands of soldiers, they are scrupulous about not taking any of Nabal's livestock for their own consumption. Nabal is, after all, a fellow child of Israel.

There is peace until the time of the sheep shearing. Then Nabal has his wife Abigail supervise this feast that is literally fit for a king. Except there is no king, and there are none of the king's people. Just Nabal. Nabal has enough food to gorge for days, and enough wine to stay drunk through the entire feast. David sends his men to ask for some food as a sign of hospitality and as a gift of thanks for the protection that they offer. Perhaps Nabal thinks like many people who read this story today: David is only some Mafioso who wants protection money. David is some guerilla whom loyalty to the king demands that he not support him (but a person who is too dangerous to report). Nabal hastily rebuffs them. His wealth is his wealth. This answer makes David furious. Just before David wipes Nabal and his people from the face of the earth, Abigail brings 200 loaves of bread and five cooked sheep (and a lot of other food and delicacies) to feed David's people. In a pinch. In a hurry. She saves the day, even though she cannot save her husband from the wrath of God.

Why is David so angry? Is it because his will has been thwarted? Is he really just some thug whose gang has been dishonored? If this is all that it is, then why is God angry enough to respond in this way? Some readers of the text say that the historian is only trying to cover up for the David that later becomes the king. I don't think so.

Nabal violates two different basic principles of his culture and Torah: the principle of hospitality and a principle of social justice - those without food must be fed. First, when someone comes to visit us, it is only good manners to offer them food and drink; we will not let them go hungry but will offer them the best of whatever we have available. Second, how can we stuff ourselves to the point of nausea and let the excess rot when there are those who live only minutes away who are going hungry? How can Nabal do this? How can we do this?

At the same time, these principles are somehow connected with this celebration, this feast of Nabal. If this celebration had any religious content or background (we can't be sure, but if it didn't, it should have), then how can a person celebrate their thankfulness to God in such a lavish way and know that someone on their porch remains hungry? Surely such behavior would make God furious. These same principles explain why Jesus is so careful to see to the feeding of those who have come to hear him.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.
Mt 15:32-39 - NRSV

Somehow, when we come together on the first day of the week to share communion, that solemn feast, that bread and that wine are connected with how we deal with bread the rest of the week. If we are to rightly celebrate this feast in the presence of God, wisdom and compassion (and perhaps even self-protection) require that we think about the needs for bread in our community and in our world. The Lord's Supper is a part of our weekly living, after all. It is sacred, but not separate. It is holy, but it is not wholly removed from how we live life.

Give us grateful hearts, our Father,
for all thy mercies, and
make us mindful of the needs of others;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
- Common Book of Prayer

God willing, we will talk more about this tomorrow.

For you I pray blessings, and the wisdom to use them wisely -

Ron

Fishing around for some bread

Have we ever really understood the importance of "bread" to the people of God? How does the symbol connect with the reality? What does it mean to break bread, to share bread? What does the history of bread have to do with the present and the future of bread? I believe that the answers to these questions are more important that we might imagine at first. To help us get a glimmer of the significance of the little word describing this hugely significant idea, we will consider today some relevant scriptures from the life of Jesus and then conclude with a prayer.

Then Jesus called his disciples to him and said, "I have compassion for the crowd, because they have been with me now for three days and have nothing to eat; and I do not want to send them away hungry, for they might faint on the way." The disciples said to him, "Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?" Jesus asked them, "How many loaves have you?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish." Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. Those who had eaten were four thousand men, besides women and children.
Mt 15:32-39 - NRSV

He said also to the one who had invited him, "When you give a luncheon or a dinner, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, in case they may invite you in return, and you would be repaid. But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, and the blind. And you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you, for you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous."
Lk 14:12-14 - NRSV

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh." . . . . So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever."
Jn 6:48-59 - NRSV

While they were eating, Jesus took a loaf of bread, and after blessing it he broke it, gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." Then he took a cup, and after giving thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you; for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. I tell you, I will never again drink of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." When they had sung the hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.
Mt 26:26-30 - NRSV

As they came near the village to which they were going, he walked ahead as if he were going on. But they urged him strongly, saying, "Stay with us, because it is almost evening and the day is now nearly over." So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.
Lk 24:28-31 - NRSV

When they had gone ashore, they saw a charcoal fire there, with fish on it, and bread. Jesus said to them, "Bring some of the fish that you have just caught." So Simon Peter went aboard and hauled the net ashore, full of large fish, a hundred fifty-three of them; and though there were so many, the net was not torn. Jesus said to them, "Come and have breakfast." Now none of the disciples dared to ask him, "Who are you?" because they knew it was the Lord. Jesus came and took the bread and gave it to them, and did the same with the fish. This was now the third time that Jesus appeared to the disciples after he was raised from the dead.
Jn 21:9-14 - NRSV

A prayer for the bread

Lord Jesus Christ,
because you broke bread with the poor,
you were looked on with contempt.

Because you broke bread with the sinful and outcast,
you were looked on as ungodly.

Because you broke bread with the joyful,
you were called a winebibber and a glutton.

Because you broke bread in the upstairs room
you sealed your acceptance of the way of the cross.

Because you broke bread on the road to Emmaus,
you made scales fall from the disciples' eyes.

Because you broke bread and shared it,
we will do so, too,
and ask your blessing.
- San Antonio Conference 1989

May God bless us as we break bread today with those whom we love.

Grace and peace,

Ron