Living Bread

August 11, 2024 John 6:35, 41-51 12th Sunday of Pentecost Living Bread Year B Prelude Greetings Call to Worship L: We are hungering and thirsting for hope and peace. P: Come, Lord Jesus, come. L: Our hearts long for the nourishing presence of God. P: Come, Lord Jesus, come. L: Give to us the living bread of your peace that we may hunger no more. P: Open our hearts to joyfully receive your life-sustaining love. AMEN. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, Nancy Townley) Opening Prayer (John 6, Psalm 130) O Bread of heaven, come down. Come down and fill us with your Spirit— for your Spirit satisfies like no other. We hunger and thirst for you this morning and long to be nurtured in your love and forgiveness. So we come to this sacred time and place, where our hungers are finally and fully satisfied as only your bread can do. We will wait and listen for your leading in this hour. Amen. Song Help us Accept Each Other UMH 560 A Sermon for all Ages • Good morning! • [Show a picture of cookies] Can you tell me what these are? (Cookies!) • That's right -- well done! • This next question might be a little harder to answer: Can you tell me how to make cookies? • That's right, you take some ingredients -- ingredients are the things that go into the cookies, like flour, sugar, butter, milk, and chocolate chips -- so you take those ingredients and you mix them all up and then put that mix into the oven. • Making cookies is a little bit harder than what I just said, which is why there are instructions for us to follow that help us make the cookies the best way. • Do you know the fancy name we have for those instructions? • Yep! The fancy name is "recipe." • You've probably heard that word before, but say it with me -- "recipe." Nice! One more time, "recipe." • There are recipes for all sorts of foods, not just cookies! • The thing I find very interesting about recipes is how they take ingredients that aren't very tasty when they are by themselves and then combines those ingredients into something VERY tasty, like donuts, cookies, pancakes, and brownies. Mmmmmmmm TELL (a.k.a. The Freeway) • This word "recipe" comes to mind, today, because in today's scripture story, we hear Jesus say, "I am the living bread." • Jesus can be understood to be saying a number of different things, here, when he says he is the living bread. • For instance, just like bread helps feed people, Jesus might be saying that he helps feed people, too. • Another thing I think Jesus is saying when he says, "I am the living bread" is that just like bread is made with a recipe, the good life that God wants us to live is made with a recipe, too. • In the Jesus stories, we see Jesus live an amazing life that is full of God's love, forgiveness, and healing. • That life that we see Jesus living, that's the "living bread" and that bread, that life, has a recipe. • And guess what? Jesus is one of the very best people who can teach us what that recipe of “living bread” includes. • In fact, that recipe is exactly what Jesus taught his disciples • We see Jesus teach his disciples this recipe that includes prayer, the importance of knowing the faith stories, and worshiping God. SHARE the Good News (a.k.a. The Destination) • Now, on their own, prayer, worship, and Bible stories might seem as unexciting as flour, milk, butter, and some chocolate chips. • But when you mix them all together, you get something that looks and tastes so much better… • …you get cookies and you get God's good life! • Both things are great to have and they are also really great things to share. • So, next time you hear that line from Jesus about being the living bread, I hope you think of the recipe of worship, prayer, and learning the faith stories. • And, I hope you remember how God's good life of love, forgiveness, and healing – which is what Jesus means by living bread – is meant to be enjoyed by us and shared with others. • That's the good news for today. Let's pray. CLOSING Prayer • This is a repeat-after-me prayer. Dear God, Dear God, Thank you for Jesus... Thank you for Jesus... ...who teaches us... ...who teaches us... ...the recipe of living bread… ...the recipe of living bread… …using prayer, worship, and faith stories… …using prayer, worship, and faith stories… …that we can then enjoy and share with others. …that we can then enjoy and share with others. This material is the copyrighted property of rfour.org and Nathanael Vissia. It is also free. Please use, improve and share this material. But you may not sell it or require any personal information for it. Responsive Reading Psalm 130 UMH 848 Scripture John 6:35, 41-51 Sermon Living Bread Eating is fundamental to life- it is the one thing that all humans no matter what their culture have in common. One of the essential forms of food in every culture is bread. It might be corn bread, wheat bread, fry bread, pita, sourdough, a tortilla. Bread is fundamental to our lives. Perhaps that is why the people who created the readings for the year spent so much time on the reading of John 6 – where Jesus tells us over and over again that he is the bread of life. He is the essential part of our faith and our life that we cannot escape or do without. Just as we may eat some form of bread everyday, we need to intentionally include Jesus in our lives in some form every day. I don’t want to dwell too long on this lesson this morning, I just want to share with you three stories, about the three important points that Jesus gives to us in the verses of John chapter 6. If you are hungry, John 6 is all about food and Jesus’ teachings. At the beginning of the chapter, Jesus is teaching the crowd, many people gather to hear. Jesus realizes that they are hungry and he instructs the disciples to feed them. They find enough bread and fish for 5000. Next Jesus reveals himself to the disciples by walking on water In the verses that we deal with today – Jesus reveals himself by teaching what it means to be the bread of life In the final part of John 6 – after the people have been fed mind body and spirit, the people start to doubt Jesus, even the disciples are full and just go on with their lives forgetting about jesus. Jesus lesson to us today – is not to do that. Once we have been nourished, not to go away satisfied, but to stay connected, remember that just as bread comes from heaven, so do our everyday blessings. The three lessons for us today: Jesus is the bread of life, being close to Jesus nourishes our soul, we are drawn to Jesus through the grace of God. It is God who seeks us, not the other way around, and finally we need Jesus every day, so keep Jesus near in your heart. So, first, Jesus is the bread of life A Reminder of Our True Home The influence that food can have on us appears in a Chinese story originally told by Linda Fang. She presented this story at the Smithsonian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery, Washington, D.C., March 19, 1988. At the foot of a great mountain in China lived a father and his three sons. They were a simple and loving family. The father noticed that travelers came from afar eager to climb the dangerous mountain. But not one of them ever returned! The three sons heard stories about the mountain, how it was made all of gold and silver at the top. Despite their father's warnings, they could not resist venturing up the mountain. Along the way, under a tree, sat a beggar, but the sons did not speak to him or give him anything. They ignored him. One by one, the sons disappeared up the mountain, the first to a house of rich food, the second to a house of fine wine, the third to a house of gambling. Each became a slave to his desire and forgot his home. Meanwhile, their father became heartsick. He missed them terribly. "Danger aside," he said, "I must find my sons." Once he scaled the mountain, the father found that indeed the rocks were gold, the streams silver. But he hardly noticed. He only wanted to reach his sons, to help them remember the life of love they once knew. On the way down, having failed to find them, the father noticed the beggar under the tree and asked for his advice. "The mountain will give your sons back," said the beggar, "only if you bring something from home to cause them to remember the love of their family." The father raced home, brought back a bowl full of rice, and gave the beggar some as a thank-you for his wisdom. He then found his sons, one at a time, and carefully placed a grain of rice on the tongue of each of them. At that moment, the sons recognized their foolhardiness. Their real life was now apparent to them. They returned home with their father, and as one loving family lived happily ever after. Today we gather in this church to receive a reminder of home, a taste of food that will help us remember who we are. I mean the bread of life, our Father's gift to us. This is the food of God's kingdom, and reminds us that this kingdom is our true home. Charles Hoffacker, Food from Home 2nd lesson – We are attracted here because of God’s grace Drawn Not by Wrath but by Love The author Ron Lee Dunn tells the story of two altar boys. One was born in 1892 in Eastern Europe. The other was born just three years later in a small town in Illinois. Though they lived very separate lives in very different parts of the world, these two altar boys had almost identical experiences. Each boy was given the opportunity to assist his parish priest in the service of communion. While handling the communion cup, they both accidentally spilled some of the wine on the carpet by the altar. There the similarity in their story ends. The priest in the Eastern European church, seeing the purple stain, slapped the altar boy across the face and shouted, "Clumsy oaf! Leave the altar." The little boy grew up to become an atheist and a communist. His name was Marshall Josip Tito - dictator of Yugoslavia for 37 years. The priest in the church in Illinois upon seeing the stain near the altar, knelt down beside the boy and looked him tenderly in the eyes and said, "It's alright son. You'll do better next time. You'll be a fine priest for God someday." That little boy grew up to become the much-loved Bishop Fulton J. Sheen. There is the gospel! We are drawn, not by wrath and condemnation, but by love. God is love. God draws us by love. That’s what Jesus meant when he said, “No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me.” David G. Mullen, The Barge, Not the Tugboat! Last lesson, never forget who it is that butters your bread. We are in need of God’s grace each and every day. God does promise us eternal life, he does say that he is the living bread. But we have to eat this bread more that once. Finding Jesus A mother was getting her five-year-old daughter, ready for church and the little girl asked, "Mom, why do we go to church?" Her grandmother, who happened to be in the same room, answered, "Baby, we go to Church to find Jesus!" Later in church Mom noticed her little girl looking all around. And after church the little girl said, "Mom, I looked all over that church for Jesus and I couldn't find him no where." That story reminds me a little of the crowds in our passage today. The crowds that had been following Jesus, being fed and healed, really had another purpose. They weren't just searching for Jesus. Their ultimate search was for the Messiah. That's why they came to listen. Always in the back of their minds was the question, "Is He the One? Is this the long hoped for and long awaited Messiah? Is this really Him?" And here in this conversation, Jesus all but says, "Hey guys, it's me." He does everything but put on a big red t-shirt with the word "Messiah" on it in big white letters. But the people's response is less than thrilling. Their reaction is, "Whoa, wait a minute. Isn't this Jesus? Isn't this the kid who grew up in Nazareth, whose father Joseph was a carpenter? Isn't this Jesus, Mary's son? We know him. How can HE be the Messiah? Where does HE get off telling us he's the "Bread from heaven." Billy D. Strayhorn, Beyond Skin Deep I know I said that I had three stories for three lessons. But that was a story of how easy it is to forget that Jesus is the bread of life, and to forget that Jesus is the source of our faith. I have one more story about remembering that Jesus is the source of our faith. We have to include him in everything that we do. Bread for the Journey My barber is a runner. He told me of a young man in a marathon race who kept falling farther and farther behind the other runners. Suddenly he looked as if he were talking to himself and his legs began to move with a steady stroke. He began to pick up speed. By the time he reached the finish line he had passed all the other runners and had won the race. Afterwards, when someone asked him why he was talking to himself, he replied, "Oh, I wasn't talking to myself. I was talking to God. I was saying, "Lord, you pick them up, and I'll put them down.'” Bread for the journey. Faith always moves forward. Life is a continuous series of journeys. Through all of them, ultimately, our aim is to nurture faith in ourselves, faith in each other, faith in God. All these journeys lead us to the grand finale journey into eternity. Good Lord, give us bread for the journey! Charles R. Leary, Mission Ready!, CSS Publishing Company Jesus is the bread of life, Jesus is the source of our faith, Jesus is the reason we come to church, Jesus is the one who gets us through every challenge and every day. In good times and bad, let us always remember where our help comes from. Let us pray! Song God be with you Till We Meet Again UMH 672 Prayers of the People (Presbyterian Outlook, Terri Ott) do not print the prayer Is the tree as it rises delighted with its many/ branches,/ each one like a poem? (“Do stones feel?” by Mary Oliver) God of glory, may we delight over our growth, our branches reaching to the sky, our children dancing beneath the summer sun, blades of grass between their bare toes. May we delight over the growth of our summer gardens, the food we can produce by seed and soil, the hunger we can feed with the abundance you so freely share. Let us not be so shrouded with concern, so overwhelmed by worry, that we miss the ways you grace us with delight. Only if there are angels in your head will you/ ever, possibly, see one. (“The World I Live In” by Mary Oliver) God of grace, help us to see your angels at work among us, lighting upon the unhoused in the street, delivering cups of coffee, Ziplocs full of fresh toiletries and deli sandwiches. Help us honor your angels with our praise and gratitude —the patient teacher, the loving parent, the determined wildfire fighter, the volunteer rescue worker, the visitor of the elderly, the sick, the imprisoned. Give us eyes to see, O God, your angels at work and help us be among their ranks. The last roses have opened their factories of sweetness/ and are giving it back to the world. (“Roses, Late Summer” by Mary Oliver) Loving God, like the roses, what sweetness can we give back this week at work, at church, within our homes and our communities? A smile? A supportive gesture? A longed-for embrace? Guide us to share what we have to give: a kind, encouraging email; an unexpected compliment; a reassuring word of grace; our presence in the midst of pain; a prayer of petition on behalf of the poor and downtrodden; an offering of time or treasure. Generous God, guide us in our giving this week. Make us bearers of your abundant grace. In these final weeks of summer, we lift these prayers to you, Great God, deserving of all our honor and praise. Now, as the Body of Christ, hear us as we pray the prayer Christ taught us saying, “Our Father …”. Lord’s Prayer Response to the Word (2 Samuel, John 6, Ephesians 4) Glorious things of thee are spoken. We marvel at the wisdom of your word, O God of heaven. May these words we have heard become nourishment for our souls and guidance for the living of our daily lives. Write these words on our hearts, O Lord, that we may be reflections of your truth and mercy. Amen. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, John Brewer) Stewardship Moment Invitation to Generosity Ephesians 4:25 reminds us that we are members of one another. That is true of the church, humanity, and all creation. The gifts we receive to sustain us have been given for our common good. When one member lacks, we all lack. When one flourishes, we all share in the abundance. Let us give generously to ensure all needs are met, the Generous One is glorified. Prayer of Thanksgiving and Dedication Holy God, thank you for the gift of generosity. Make us bold stewards of the resources you provide. Increase our offerings, expand our territory, and let our ministry testify to your goodness, nurture, and care for all. Amen. (United Church of Christ, Cheryl Lindsey) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go forth and live as Christ in the world. Speak and live with integrity as you journey through this new week, knowing that God will satisfy your every need and lead you to a victorious life. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, John Brewer) Community Time – Joys and Concerns Benediction Beloved, may God’s grace open your hearts to recognize the needs of your neighbors; may God’s mercy fill your prayers, and may God’s peace empower you to share the goodness and blessing you receive from God with all. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, May 2024. Additional Illustrations This scene from Jesus' life (John 6:41-52) demonstrates these four possibilities. Jesus is either... 1. A Liar 2. A Lunatic 3. A Legend 4. Or a Lord Seeing with Eyes Closed - John 6:35, 41-51 I want you to think for a moment about all of the things you can’t see: • Microwaves • X-Rays • Ultraviolet Rays • Oxygen • Carbon Monoxide • Wind • Viruses • Bacteria • Sound Waves Can you think of any others? How do you know they exist? In most cases, you see the after-effects of their presence. Or you can feel them. Or maybe it’s because we believe that they exist. Others have told us so. Maybe it’s a combination of all of these. But the fact is, quite often, we are absolutely sure that certain things exist, even when we cannot see them at the time. Why then is it so hard for us at times to believe in the presence of the Holy Spirit? We tell ghost stories. We are fascinated by things we can’t explain. Many of us are sure that strange things happen that we cannot fathom or see, and we are sure that these things exist, even if we haven’t experienced the phenomena on our own. And yet, when it comes to the Holy Spirit, we accuse folks of, so to speak, drinking the Koolaid! And you know what? So did Jesus’ contemporaries. Faith in Jesus wasn’t any easier when he was alive then than it is now. We can see that today in our scriptures… Clothed in Human Flesh Next to the Bible, my favorite book is Harper Lee's award-winning novel, "To Kill a Mockingbird." I love both the book and the movie. The main character, the one who tells the story, is a little girl named Jean Louise Finch, who goes by the name of Scout. Her father, Atticus Finch, is the town's lawyer and a man of deep principles and integrity. I always wanted to grow up and be like Atticus Finch. One day, Scout came home from school and told her father about some problems she was having with the teacher and several other students. In an effort to help her get along better with others, Atticus gave her this advice: "First of all, if you can learn a simple trick, Scout, you'll get along a lot better with all kinds of folks. You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... until you climb into his skin and walk around in it." That's exactly what Jesus did. Clothed in human flesh, Jesus felt pain as we feel pain. He suffered as we suffer. He even experienced death. Jesus climbed into our skin and walked around in it. Billy D. Strayhorn, Beyond Skin Deep Eating is fundamental to life. It’s something all people in every age have taken seriously. And I believe that one reason Jesus used the image of bread to describe Who He was is because Jesus wants us to take Him as seriously as we do the other fundamental necessities of life. David E. Hall, The Bread of Life Born of God Recall the paragraph in the story of The Ugly Duckling when the ugly duck realizes who he really is. "He saw below him his own image, but he was no longer a clumsy dark gray bird, ugly and ungainly, he was himself a swan! It does not matter in the least having been born in a duck yard, if only you come out of a swan's egg!" Jesus was explaining to the gathered people that it was the same with them. It does not matter in the least having been from Nazareth and born in Bethlehem, if only you are born of God. So Jesus proclaims that "Everyone will be taught by God." Because we are born of God we can claim our inheritance. We can claim the bread that comes down from heaven. The bread of such a kind that whoever eats it will not die. The bread that if anyone eats it, he or she will live forever. The bread is Jesus himself, which he gives so that the world may live. Thus Jesus invites us to consume him, to put him on, to wear him so that we will receive life. Robert L. Salzgeber, Assayings: Theological Faith Testings, CSS Publishing Company. Adapted. A Piece of Him At the time of the Napoleonic Wars, the famous British Admiral Horatio Nelson was due to be buried in St. Paul’s Cathedral. His sailors lifted his casket over their shoulders and majestically carried his body into the cathedral. Draping his coffin was a magnificent Union Jack. After the service, the sailors once more carried his body high in the air, this time to the graveside. With reverence and with efficiency they lowered the body of the world’s greatest admiral into its tomb. Then, as though answering to a sharp order from the quarterdeck, they all seized the Union Jack with which the coffin had been covered and viciously tore it to shreds, each taking his souvenir of the illustrious dead. A swath of colored clothe as a memento. It would forever remind them of the admiral they had loved. “I’ve got a piece of him,” one sailor remarked, “and I’ll never forget him.” In like manner you now can have a piece of Christ - living bread - physically, spiritually, personally. Reaching out to receive him in faith is all that’s required. Staff, www.Sermons.com