Give us this food always!

2 Sam 18:5-9,14,31-33; Psalm 130; Ephesians 4:17-5:2; John 6:35,41-51 The readings for this week (August 9th 2009-Pentecost 10-Proper 19) help us to reflect on God's ongoing teaching for our lives. Take one reading for each day and sit quietly with it

Family birthdays are always great occasions.
Our family now has over twenty people on both sides
so when we get together there is already a level of energy and excitement which needs to be harnessed and enjoyed.
As in these weeks we explore the image that Jesus uses of Feeding on His Body
we are invited to make the connection that eating and drinking,
the powerful human communion which we enjoy every day,
which is sometimes small and private,
and at other times, like birthdays,
is bubbly, exuberant and overflowing with excitement.
All these ideas usefully enliven our understanding
of what "feeding on Jesus" might mean.

Think back in this week on how you have eaten.
What is breakfast like?
Have there been special meals?
Are you hurried or aware at meal times?
With whom have you shared your meals?
And how has that sharing gone?
What does our eating say about our life?

The next question then is to use our day to day experience
to ask the same question about our relationship with Jesus.
Are we as aware of Jesus in our lives
as the tomatoes we have eaten in the last few days?

We make a mistake if we think that this seemingly light or humorous reflection
is unimportant or trivial.
Neither eating, nor our Godly relationship are trivial.
A birthday party reminds us that these sorts of times of celebration are very important in our life together.
the dynamics that flow so abundantly
which include our love, joy and celebration
when we gather with those who we know well and to whom we are bound by family and friendship;
and also tension, unresolved hurt, anger and resentment
are the very substance of the gospel's operation.

It is no mistake, too, that the common celebration of Christians
is Holy Communion
a commemoration of a meal.
and we are invited to bring all our experience of eating together
to our understanding of life.
When we gather and proclaim that we feed on Christ
all the imagery of our eating together
comes to bear.
And just as we are thrilled to be really alive when we eat together
so we discover that in sharing this meal
we encounter Jesus
and it enlivens us
and we are changed.

And so we pray:

BREAD OF HEAVEN
ON YOU WE FEED
FOR YOUR FLESH IS MEAT INDEED.
ALL OUR WANTS AND NEEDS ARE MET IN CHRIST.
LET US FEAST ON YOU, LIVING AND TRUE BREAD FROM HEAVEN. AMEN

Knowing Jesus...the broken bread

A reflection for an Easter Evening service in Luke 24:13-35

The quiet mystery of the story of Emmaus invites us into the mystery of Easter.

'The disciples knew Jesus in the breaking of the bread'

In a journey shrouded in mystery all the way up the road,

when they talk doctrine to Jesus and he quietly shows them what is the mystery that God is unfolding

they fail to recognise

who and what he is.

It is not until they sit quietly at a table

tired, perhaps ready for bed

that they see through the haze

and Jesus is known to them in the breaking of the bed.

As we might give thanks (as we do tonight) for the Holy Communion we received today

so we are reminded of the mystery that Jesus comes to us in the breaking of the bread.

I came across a cryptic little remark the other day

which said

"If you doubt go to Holy Communion!"

It was a little tongue-in-cheek but it has about it

an element fo truth.

The disciples know Jesus

in the breaking of the bread.

It is the steadfast experience of Anglicans,

and I would suspect, but cannot speak for, other Christians

that as we gather to share Bread and Wine in the Eucharist

we encounter Jesus.

So the funny little comment is true.

If you doubt go to to Holy Communion.

There we hear in the Word of God

of the Jesus who gave himself to be broken

and poured out

so that others might live.

This mystery, so common place to all Christians

should not be taken for granted.

As we hear the words

"Take eat this is my body given for you"

"This is the blood of the new covenant which is shed for you"

It is Jesus speaking to our doubt.

But we should not also miss the mudaneness

that is also being spoken about

that it is as we share bread and wine

around our family tables

and commit ourselves

to human relationships

which the dinner table signifies

and conveys

that we are also attesting to the truth

that Jesus is made known to us

not just in the ritual of worship

but also in the ordinariness of human existence.

For Christians, too, there is an imperative

to see that no one goes hungry

either spiritually, or physically

so the sharing of food ---spiritual and physical---

is to go beyond our comfort zone

and reach out to the hungry.

Jesus reminds us Matthew 25:31–46 (NRSV): in the parable of the Sheep and the goats

that we are called to not only pay heed to the theory of the gospel

but also to put it into practice.

“Truly I tell you, just as you give food and drink to one of the least of these you did it to me.”

We know Jesus in the breaking of the bread.

So, the risen Jesus is encountered

So, if we doubt worship God in the Holy Communion

and lest we forget, worship God in the reality of our lives

-our families

-and those who God sets before us in need.