· CHILDREN'S EDUCATION

· ADULT EDUCATION

· EFM

· JOURNEY TO
   ADULTHOOD
      RITE 13
      J2A
      YAC

· VACATION BIBLE
   SCHOOL

· SERMONS

· CURSILLO

· HAPPENING

· RESOURCE LIST
      Chapel Library
      Recommendations

SERMONS

The Ninth Sunday After Pentecost
August 10, 2003

I have never met a bread I didn't like. I really savor them all: the flat breads of the middle east; the spongy bread of Ethiopia; the crisp loaves of Greece; light French baguettes and croissants; dense Irish brown bread; pungent San Francisco sourdough; buttery Southern corn bread and biscuits; the wonderful breads Pat Dahduh and his staff bake here for a Day in the Country each year. I even enjoy taking a slice of Wonder bread, wadding it up into a ball and popping it in my mouth. I love them every one.

Bread, in one form or another is found in cultures throughout the world. It is one of the basic foods; for many peoples, it is their principal food. It is the stuff of life.

Sometimes in John's gospel, when Jesus talks about himself it can be difficult to understand just what he means. But not today. In today's gospel Jesus compares himself to bread. "I am the bread of life that has come down from heaven," he says. This we can understand.

I suspect we have all been hungry at one time or another. We know what it feels like to have that gnawing emptiness in the pit of your stomach. And we know how welcome bread can be; how it satisfies; how it restores life.

But there is another kind of hunger, a hunger not just for food. There is hunger of the soul. I suspect that most of us have experienced it at times also. This is the hunger that Jesus is speaking of here. Just as the body can die for lack of physical sustenance, so the soul can die for lack of soul food-a wasting away of joy and interest in life, a slow drying up of the very heart.

Maybe you came here today because you are hungry.

Sometimes we think of Jesus as King enthroned in heaven. Sometimes we think of Jesus as a great teacher or worker of miracles. Sometimes we think of Jesus as a sacrifice hanging on a cross.

Today Jesus calls us to think of him as something less dramatic, something less striking. Today Jesus calls us to think of him as bread. Simple, ordinary, unexciting bread. You take it in a bite at a time. It's not dramatic, but it is life-giving. Slowly and steadily it nourishes and strengthens. It satisfies our hunger as nothing else can.

I was in a conversation recently with a diverse group of people. When one of the men mentioned that he never missed a Sunday in church he was asked why it was so important for him. He thought a moment and then replied, "By the end of the week I am absolutely drained. I go to church on Sunday so that I can be fed. Without that nourishment I don't know if I could make it through the week.

The focal point here in our church is the altar. Every week we gather around this holy table. And every week Christ feeds us with holy food, with the bread of life. this bread-this food-is God's gift to us. And in today's gospel we have Jesus' promise that neither that food nor the one who feeds us will fail.

Take time to come to the table-time to eat of the bread of life. Let it become a part of your life. It is not dramatic, any more than a meal around the family table is dramatic. But it is life giving.

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven," Jesus says. "Whoever eats of this bread will live forever."

The table is set.

The invitation has gone out.

Come and eat.

David Christian
The Chapel of the Cross
Madison, Mississippi