The Bread of Life

When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life,"  (John 6:35) the Hebrews who listened looked back.  As those who had feasted on the five loaves and two fish, they were anticipating another free meal.  Not only were they looking for more food, but they also challenged Jesus to give them a sign that what He did was a work of God as had been the case with the daily provision of manna in the wilderness.  "What sign are You going to give us...our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness..."  (John 6:30-31)  What they wanted was a bread that would keep them from ever being hungry again.    

As we hear these self descriptive words of Jesus, we are more likely to look ahead instead of back.  The image of "the bread of life" will be expanded by a holy meal and a teaching about a broken body.  The "bread of life" does not satisfy physical hunger, but spiritual hunger.  The bread of which Jesus speaks is not food for the body.  It is food for the soul.  Unlike the body which is here for a time and gone, the soul is that part of us which bears the essence of the holy and is fit for eternity with the One who created us.    

Jesus' primary concern was not the stomach, but the soul.  In verse forty of that sixth chapter of John, we hear Jesus saying, "This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day."  When Jesus said, "I am the bread of life," He was speaking of this life.  He was not referencing the physical life.  Instead, He was declaring that His concern was about the soul which would be given life eternal in that day determined by Him.  He is the bread which sustains and provides eternal life, not the few days given to us between conception and death.     

I AM

When Moses was having his great argument with God at the burning bush, he was trying to find some word which would persuade God to find someone else to confront Pharaoh about the plight of the Hebrew people.  One of his choice arguments came in the form of telling God he did not even know His name.  "What shall I say to them (when they ask) what is His name?"  (Exodus 3:13)  Not to be hushed, or turned aside, "God said to Moses, 'I AM WHO I AM....this you shall say to the Israelites, I AM has sent me to you.' "  (Exodus 3:14)  In a rare moment of self identification, God revealed Himself as "I AM."   

It is a word which says that there is nothing more which needs to be said.  No titles are necessary.  No superfluous words of description are required.  "I AM" is sufficient.  It is a word which speaks of self sufficiency.  His existence is not contingent upon anyone else, or any set of circumstances.  God as the "I AM" is completely sufficient and will always exist as the eternal, ever lasting, and unchangeable constant.   

Surely, it was not by accident that Jesus used this ancient word of divine identification when He spoke His own words of self identification.  The gospel writer John records seven instances where Jesus spoke of Himself as the "I AM."  The first was "I am the bread of life"  (John 6:35) and as John's gospel unfolds, there will be six more such words.  Unlike the ancient word Moses heard, each one of the seven self identifying statements of Jesus is accompanied by a predicate nominative which enabled those who heard, and those of us who hear, to know something more about the very nature of God.

Words of Identification

As we read John's gospel, we hear the words of self identification on the part of Jesus.  There are seven.  The first comes in the sixth chapter of John, verse 35:  "I am the bread of life."  The second word is found in John 8:12, "I am the light of the world."  "I am the gate for the sheep,"  (John 10:7) is  third and John 10:11 follows with "I am the good shepherd."  John 11;25 says, "I am the resurrection and the life."  The last two of the seven are found in John 14:6 which reads, "I am the way, the truth, and the life" and John 15:1, one which declares, "I am the true vine."      

Anyone who seriously seeks to undertand Jesus is going to spend some time with each one of these autobiogaphical statements spoken by Jesus.  A good starting point for such a study is to lay aside any pre-conceived notions about the meaning of the key words of identification.  It is an easy thing to use our contemporary meanings which are often used in some of the trendy versions of the Bible.  These may be easy to read, but they often lead us away from the images Jesus had before Him and what He might have had in mind as He spoke to those who were listening.   

Another tool to be used in any serious study of these words is prayer.  Toward the end of what we know as the 14th chapter, John wrote another word from Jesus which says, "But, the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, will teach you everything , and remind you of all that I have said to you."  (John 14:26).   Biblical commentaries may shed additional light on any verse, but before turning those pages, it is a wise thing to seek out the Teacher who knows exactly what it is that our spirit needs to hear and know about the things Jesus has said and is saying to us.  Praying enables us to listen.

Constant Change

Everything about our life is constantly changing.  It is not an awareness that we carry with us on our sleeve.  What we like to think is that things are normal which we often translate into much the same today as yesterday, but such is never true.  From the moment of conception, life is always moving in the direction of changing.  Not seeing it happen does not change the reality of the changing until some unforeseen and unanticipated event comes crashing down upon us creating a crisis which causes us to confront the changing pattern of our own life.   

Those things which put change on fast forward bear many names.  It might be the sudden loss of a job, or finally coming to the day of retirement.  It may be the diagnosis of a a life threatening disease, or the death of someone we love. It may be marriage, or the birth of a child.  Some of the change agents in our life are life affirming and some are life threatening, but regardless, they still come to us in such a way that ignoring their impact on our life is an impossibility.    

One of the things we search for in this life of such uncertainty is a constant.  Deep within us is a desire for permanence.  We want some connection to something or someone that cannot be broken and which gives our life a purpose that is unaffected by the external changing circumstances of life.  When we were conceived and created, we were marked with the essence of the Creator.  When we lose sight of this basic and primary connection, we find ourselves dealing with the turbulent life changing powers as a boat without a rudder.  Christ has come in our midst to lead us back to the place where we belong.  As we connect with Him through faith, we find the way to the life we were created to know from the very beginning.  

Revelation in the Dark

Last night in the dark mountain sky, I saw something I never imagined seeing.  As one who has not envisioned a trip to Alaska, or other far northern regions, I never figured on seeing the Aurora Borealis, or the Northern Lights.  I would have missed it completely had a friend not called me out to see in the heavens what had been missed.  It was for this old guy who has lived out life within the boundaries of deep Southern regions a moment akin to watching a glorious sunset, or standing in the waters of a surging surf.    

The creation is as marvelous as it is mysterious.   When it seems that there is nothing more to see, there is still some new amazing thing which unfolds in awe inspiring splendor.  What we have never seen, we suddenly see and what we see is suddenly gone.  Such is the nature of the creation and such is the nature of the Creator.  The means through which He reveals Himself to us are more numerous than the sands of the seas, or the stars of the sky, but those moments of holy revelation are more like the pulsating colors of the Northern Lights in that only those who pay attention with the eyes and ears of the heart are able to see and know.   

Psalm 24:1 says, "The earth is the Lord's and all that is in it..."  Since the earth bears the imprint of the holy Creator and since it all belongs to Him, what should cause us to doubt that there is some part of it which does not have the capacity to reveal the Creator to us and to bring glory to Him?  It is not that the Creator God is the tree, or the roaring sea, or the Northern Lights, but that all things are a means of revealing Himself to those who are paying attention to what He is doing.  He is always revealing Himself in the ordinary things which are all around us and every now and again, there is that moment that belongs to the extraordinary and the unexpected which break in upon us as surely as the bush that burned but was not consumed burned in the life of Moses.

An Unusual Ministry

There are surely some among us who seem to have done, or are doing, extraordinary ministry for the Kingdom of God.  Their efforts for Christ appear to be a like a wave that ripples across a stream wider than the imagination.  Their influence goes on and on and on.  And then, there are folks like you and me who wonder if what we do for Christ moves away from us enough to get out of our shadow.  I suspect that the way we measure the Kingdom's work is far different from the way Christ sees it.  If He would applaud and lift up the widow who gave her mite, it is likely that what we do in the name of Christ is valued in ways that would be unbelievable.     

I learned about a simple woman who offered an extraordinary ministry for the Kingdom today when I attended her funeral.  She fought cancer for too many years and from the treatment rooms where chemo drips slowly into veins, she learned to give to others.  She gave away small wooden crosses made of olive wood from the Holy Land.  As her story was told, it was said that she bought and gave away over 1800 of those crosses to those she met on her journey.  The stories of her crosses reminded me of the stories Gideons tell about the Bibles they give away.  Blessing upon blessing she gave to so many by a very simple act.    

Christ does not require us to do what we might call exceptional acts.  He does not require us to do what someone else is doing.  Actually, He requires nothing from us other than what we choose to give.  What we are to do in ministry will come forth from within us as we seek to be useful in serving the Kingdom.  It is within that the Holy Spirit dwells.  The Spirit seeks to shape our heart after the heart of Christ.   If we listen to that inner prompting, we will know how it is that we can serve Him and His Kingdom in a way that will cause Him to say, "Well done."  (Matthew 25:21)  

A Sack of Sweet Feed

The cows in the pasture have a way of teaching without speaking.  In the fourteen years of sharing the farm with them, I have learned more than just a few things.  One of those learned things is that it is always good to have sweet feed around.  Sweet feed is sack feed with an extra dose of molasses.  When they taste it, they will go almost anywhere you carry the sack.  If they get out of the pasture, show them some sweet feed and they will walk back in the gate with you in a heartbeat.  While the sweet feed is not a steady diet for my grass fed beef, when they get some, they are prone to quit grazing so they can stand at the gate and wait for me to bring them another sack.  Instead of grazing, they want another hand out.   

Jesus ran into some folks like my cows on the day after He fed the five thousand with the boy's fish and bread.  The next day as the crowd gathered, they noticed that neither Jesus nor His disciples were around.  So, they went looking for Jesus.  (John 6:24)   Jesus knew immediately why they were looking for Him.  "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for Me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves."  (John 6:26)  Like the cows in my pasture, those folks were looking for another free meal.  They were not as interested in Jesus as they were in what He could give to them.    

More times than most of us want to admit, we have clamored for what Jesus could give to us instead of simply seeking to be in His presence.  If it is not a free meal, we want something from Him.  We want some blessing.  We want some favor.  We want something we think He owes us, or something we deserve because we have been faithful. We often find ourselves at the gate waiting on some sack of sweet feed instead of going out into the places where self sacrifice is required to to do the work He is calling us to do.  It is good to feast with thanksgiving on the blessings that Christ gives, but not to the point that we neglect the heart that gives them. 

Mind Boggling and Life Giving

There are some sections of the gospel in which we could walk around for a lifetime and still find ourselves treading on ground not understood.  One such section of Scripture begins with the twenty-second verse of the sixth chapter of John and continues till the end of the chapter.  It is the passage where Jesus says, "I am the bread of life" (John 6:35, 48).  It is also a passage which brings to mind the conversation Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob's Well.  Verse 34 which has people in the crowd  saying, "Sir, give us this bread also," (John 6:34) is a word which reminds us of the Samaritan woman saying,  "Sir, give me this water."  (John 4:15.   

The crowd had been fed fish and bread by Jesus and was looking for another free meal and the woman of Samaria was looking for a way to get her daily water needs met without going to the well to draw it.    It seems like folks have been wanting the quick fix from Jesus since He walked in the flesh among us.  Wanting the things He gives has always been an easier choice than just being content with knowing His presence in our lives.  What is truly life giving is not what He provides for us to hold in our hands, but what He provides for us to hold in our heart.  

As we clamor for things to sustain physical life with its inevitable limitations, He holds Himself up as that which sustains the unlimited spiritual life.  The Hebrews ate manna found on the ground each morning and drank water from a rock, but they still died.  What Jesus offers as He speaks of being the provider of bread and water is eternal life with Him.  For some strange reason we spend more time seeking the things which sustain our physical life for a limited amount of time instead of the One who provides for us a spiritual food which readies us for life eternal.  As my old Episcopalian priest friend used to say, "Go figure."

Seasons of the Heart

There are times when I wonder about myself.  This afternoon as I was reading the biography of Ignatius, the 16th century founder of the Jesuits, I had such a moment.  The question turned into an even larger question as I thought about recent readings.  In these recent years since leaving the pulpit, I have been turning the pages, reading about spiritual saints like St. Francis,  Claire of Assisi, the Desert Fathers, Pelagius, John of the Cross, St Patrick, Eriugena, Thomas Merton, Henri Nouwen, Richard Rohr,  John O' Donohue,and Esther de Waal.    

I wonder what I am doing.  I wonder who I am becoming.  Most of the people mentioned were people I would never have read before retiring and now I devour anything attached to their names.  They were not on my radar.  Certainly life is profoundly different since I traded the pulpit for a tractor.   My ministry is more about writing than preaching and the spiritual food which once fed my soul no longer satisfies me.  This is not to say that I am at a better place, but instead, that I am at a different place.     

Ecclesiastes tells us "For every thing there is a season, and a time for every matter under the sun."  (Ecclesiastes 3:1)  We all move through different seasons of our life and the seasons are not just four in number symbolized by such words as Spring, Summer, Fall, and Winter.  In fact, there are a multitude of seasons to be experienced in our living.  There are seasons of new beginnings, seasons of letting go, seasons of unexpected joy, and seasons of grief.  What is obvious is that there are many others and they may be seasons that are mostly peculiar to the way we experience our own life.  What works at one time in our life may not be what works for the whole journey, but the God of Creation not only knows the seasons of the creation, but the seasons of the heart as well.

The Place of Worship

A basic and simple definition of worship with which I have lived a long time is,  "Worship is our response to God."  It is, therefore, something which can be experienced in the sanctuary where symbols of holy presence prevail and it is also something which be known in quiet moments of solitude and stillness, or in the busy streets of the marketplace.  Actually, this simple definition is something which reminds me that every moment has within it the potential to be a moment of worship.  Nothing external is required.  A heart open to what God is doing in our lives is really all that is necessary for us to enter into a time of worship.     

It is likely that many of us experience unexpected moments of holy presence with some kind of adoration or praise or thanksgiving without calling it an act of worship, but anytime we pause to receive from Him with gratitude or praise, it is just as much a moment of worship as any that might be experienced in the places filled with the bells and whistles of Sunday's gathered worship.  I had no idea when I retired and moved to the farm that it would be a place where divine revelation would constantly unfold before me.  As the poet so aptly expressed it long ago, "..Earth's crammed with heaven and every common bush afire with God...."  What surprised me when I arrived here was the truth of these words written by Elizabeth Barrett Browning.  

When we gather in the sanctuary on Sunday, we begin by offering an invocation, or an invitation to the Almighty to be present among us.  Out here there is no invitation, but there are so many signs which point to Him being here ahead of me.  Wherever we go, He has arrived ahead of us.  Wherever we are, in the sanctuary or in the midst of creation, He is present and ready to receive our worship.  

Dancing and Grieving

While some of us who know ourselves as United Methodists are dancing in the street and others have put on sack cloth and ashes, there has never been a more troubling time for this United Methodist pastor ordained back in 1971.  I have been through many a battle in the local church and I have remembrances of one particular Annual Conference which seemed more like a blood bath than a love feast, but I do not recall any moment which has caused such rancor and division within our church.   

The sweeping changes passed this past week at the General Conference in Charlotte, N. C. set the stage for the jubilation and the grief experienced by so many in the last few days.   It seems inevitable that there will be a permanent division between people who have belonged to the same spiritual community for so long, but find themselves no longer able to do so.  Of course, the division has been going on for a long time.  It was not precipitated by the General Conference, but in a sense culminated by it.  Nonetheless, it is a sad moment which surely does not bring pleasure to the heart of Christ.    

Going forward out of loss and brokenness is never easy and as long as both groups see the other as the sinner in the room, there will be no healing.  The way forward out of the animosity is in letting go.  We need to graciously let go of people who believe going a different way is the right way.  There is nothing gained by hoping failure will fall upon their heads and everything to be gained by praying that God will find a way to do His Kingdom work through our common brokenness and grief.  Jesus' command to "love one another..."  (John 13:34) is really the only way for those who dance and those who grieve to touch one another again with respect and compassion.

The Fix

We live in a world that is broken, fractured and fragile.  Some think it is beyond repair.  When asked by her brother if they lived on a blighted world, or a splendid one, Thomas Hardy's, Tess, said, "A blighted one."  Most people would agree with her.  However, it is not really the world which is broken and needs fixing, but the people who live in it.  To think of the creation in which we live is to affirm along with the writer of Genesis, "...it was very good."  (Genesis 1:31).  The creation is not only very good; it is also very beautiful, very powerful, very life giving.     

When we talk about the world being broken and beyond repair, we are thinking of its systems of relationships which cause us to touch not only those who are close and like us, but also far away and very different.  A casual glance brings into view people of different political parties speaking into existence chaos instead of compromise, an us-and-them mentality which strengthens the storms of separation, and all the extremisms of war, racism, and nationalism.  Not even the church is exempt as it tries to find a place of acceptance in an ever changing culture.  The creation is in good shape.  It is not broken, but firmly in the hands of the creative and sustaining Creator God.  We, the people, who live in this marvelous creation are broken, fractured, and beyond repair.  

The solution to the brokenness of our human condition is found in the story of the gospel.  The holy message acknowledges that we have forgotten that we were conceived and born with the imprint of the Creator.  Some have said through the centuries that we are born in sin, but it seems more appropriate to say that we are born with the essence of God within us.  It is this essence of God that we have lost.  The gospel speaks of the length of the love of God as He seeks to show us the way back to who we were created to be.  The unconditional love of the Christ on the cross shows us how much we are loved and how we are to live with one another.  The fix to human brokenness is not in us, but in what God has done for us through Christ on the cross.

Rainy Morning Message

The message of a rainy morning is to slow down.  It is a message often ignored.  It goes unheard by most of the 9-5 folks who have a time clock to punch, or if not, at least a mental one.  Even though it is a proven fact that slowing down in rainy weather is a safe thing to do, we rush on to meet the deadlines imposed upon us by others or ourselves.  Interestingly enough, even the folks who have no time clock to punch go about a rainy day grumbling over the inconvenience of the rain.   

When God created the order of things, the Word tells us there was a season for staying busy with the work at hand, but that there was also a season for resting.  Unfortunately, the season of resting is largely being lost for so many of us who seem to have more to do than can be done in six days.  The Creator says slow down even as we hurry on our way.  It is the message of the first chapter in the Book of Beginning, it is the message of rainy mornings, and if we are noticing, it is the message of a color filled sunset, the message of a full moon breaking over the horizon, the message of a child seeing wonder and mystery for the first time, the message of the ocean roaring, and the message of the mountains rising toward heaven.  Slowing down and resting is written into the fabric and the voice of creation even though we seem unable to see or to hear.   

There was a time in my journey through the work world when I was truly addicted to working, getting ahead, and getting more.  I am not bragging, but confessing.  I was a little over forty years old which is why I was surprised by the pain which reminded me of what I had read about heart attacks.  I went to the ER, was taken from our small county hospital to a larger one in the city, checked out only to find no medical reason for the pain.  When it was all said and done, my cardiologist said one word as a diagnosis:  stress.  I could have diagnosed myself.  I knew better than the lifestyle I was living.  I had forgotten to smell the roses.  I had forgotten to smell the coffee.  Most of all, I had forgotten about being still and resting in the presence of the Creator.

Who Would Praise God?

Life brings to us its storms and sunny days, its hard days and its easy days, its days which are so bad they never seem to end and days so filled with joy they race away leaving us feeling as if we have had a quick glimpse of the best of life.  One of the hardest things for so many is to live this life with an even keel.  Today was a day filled with an unspeakable moment of blessing which caused me to know such tears of joy as I have seldom known.  It was a day, too, of deep gratitude to God for His blessings.  It could have been a different day.  The news which brought unspeakable joy could have been news which brought unthinkable horror.    

Had the day been one of unthinkable horror, would it have also found me expressing gratitude to God for blessings which were, perhaps, invisible to me?  I remember Paul writing to the Philippians, "I have learned to be content..." (Philippians 4:11).  I remember, too, that he wrote to the Thessalonian Church, "give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." (I Thessalonians 5:18)  Had the day been different would I have been content?  Would I still have given thanks?  Would I have still praised God?    

I know what I would like to say my answer to such questions would be, but honesty calls me to hope such would be true all the while knowing it might not have happened.  Like so many, I have been in the dark places on other days and not always stood knowing that the Eternal Light was still shining.  I have not always stood in the moments of trial in the way that the Apostle Paul was able to stand.  What is known by all of us is that the key to Paul's life of contentment and thanksgiving was not personal determination, but absolute trust in Christ.  For Paul circumstances did not matter for he knew Christ was constant and sure.  May it be so for each one of us.