As this is the first Sunday of the month it is our monthly day to highlight our Local Outreach Fund, the designated gifts which allow us to support our neighbours here in Grande Prairie.
Also as it is the first Sunday of the month we will be celebrating the sacrament of Communion this week.
Oh and it is the beginning of Thanktober, so our Tree of Thanks will be up and ready for folk to hang some leaves.
For Worldwide Communion Sunday this year we will be reading John 6:5-14, 35, 48-51 which is from the "Bread of Life Discourse".
The Sermon title is Daily Bread, Daily Thanks.
Early Thoughts: It is one of the most basic of foods. Ground grain, water, a little salt, usually some sort of leavening agent.... bread.
Bread has long been a staple food. It is energy dense. When made with whole grains it provides a variety of nutrients. It is fairly easy to make. Here is a list of links about bread as a staple food. Many communities would have had large bread ovens either for communal use or the earliest commercial bakeries. Bread is a big deal!
In the sixth chapter of John's Gospel we hear a lot about bread. First we have the feeding of thousands with five loaves and two fish --staples that turn a hungry crowd into a giant picnic, with leftovers to boot. Then Jesus spends almost 40 verses talking about the bread of heaven. Twice in this discourse Jesus describes himself as the Bread of Life, and then also the living bread that comes from heaven.
Jesus, in this passage, links himself with a daily staple, a basic part of life. Jesus is part of maintaining life, and that in abundance.
Sometimes I think we might take bread for granted. It is a danger for those of us who seldom have to worry about it being there. At most when we think about bread it is more "what kind of bread do I prefer?" (white, whole wheat, sourdough, naan...). But what does it mean when we pray "Give us this day our daily bread"? What does it mean to stop and give thanks for that daily bread?
AS we enter into October, the month when we will celebrate Thanksgiving, I invite us all to reflect on this common staple food. Why are we thankful for bread? I also invite us to consider what it means to give thanks daily, to look for things that make us thankful on a daily basis. How might that feed our souls?
AS we gather at the table of faith I invite us to consider what it means to hold up a loaf and say "the body of Christ, broken for you. What does it mean to consider Jesus as the bread of life, broken and shared? How are we fed at the table, how are we fed by Jesus' presence in our lives?
--Gord
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