John | The Irreverent Reverend

Bible Sunday: Staying on the Path

Bible Sunday
27/10/24

2 Timothy 3:14-4:5
John 5:36b-47

I am going to start today with a Bible quiz:

How many copies of the Bible are sold or distributed every year?
(average 100 million plus millions of downloads. It is through there are 5-7 billion copies in print)

How many languages have at least some scripture translated?
(Approximately 3,756)

How many human authors does the Bible have?
(Give or take 40)

How many years was the Bible written over?
(1,500 – give or take)

How many books are in the Bible?
(66 – 39 in the OT; 27 in the NT)

What is the longest book in the Bible?
(Psalms)

What is the shortest book?
(3 John)

Which human author wrote the most books?
(Paul – 13)

Which book of the Bible did Jesus write?
None!

There we go! I hope that you learned a few new fun facts about the Bible.

Another question for you: How many Bibles do you own?

I did a quick check on my bookshelves and I have: Anyone want to guess? 17. Plus an app on my phone and a website I regularly use. Which is not too surprising given my job! I do not have 17 copies of my favourite non-Bible book. So why do I have so many copies?! I am aware that I take for granted the 17 copies I have. This comes into sharp focus when the Bible Society shows a person getting their first printed copy of the Bible. I find that I can be embarrassingly blasé about the 17 that I own. Equally it would be hard to get rid of any of the copies currently occupying shelf space.

I have asked you to bring your own Bibles to church this morning for a few reasons. I want to think about the Bible in your hands for a moment (or one that is at home!):
Where did you get it?
Who gave it to you?
How much of it have you read?
If all the Bibles disappeared from the face of the earth tomorrow – how much of it do you know?

At the coronation of Queen Elizabeth in 1953, she was presented with a Bible from the Archbishop of Canterbury with these words: Our gracious Queen: to keep your Majesty ever mindful of the law and the Gospel of God as the Rule for the whole life and government of Christian Princes, we present you with this Book, the most valuable thing that this world affords.

How far do you agree with the Archbishop? Is your Bible the most valuable thing you own? I believe this to be true even though I do not understand all of it. I have neglected it, avoided it and got frustrated by it. Yet I believe it because I deeply love it, want to know and understand more of it.

If you are in any way daunted by the Bible here is a secret: do not worry about what you do not know or understand about the Bible. Worry about what you do know and understand.
Am I living to the standards that are set out here?
Am I becoming more Christ-like?
Is there any actual evidence of what I know about this book to my family, my friends, or the wider world?

Today as we celebrate Bible Sunday, each reading has something to teach us about how we can take the Bible more seriously for ourselves.

The Bible is God’s means of our development and growth as Christians (2 Timothy 3.16)

To be honest, many of us struggle to see the usefulness of much of the Bible. We get comfortable with what we know or what we think we know. We might try to make excuses: the Bible is too hard, it is outdated, old, irrelevant to the world now, it is too violent, too misogynistic, etc. The God who breathed his Spirit into scripture, who understands us better than we know ourselves, loves us enough that Jesus would die for us tells us that ‘All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness.’ Therefore He can be trusted. He knows what we need.

Growing and developing in our faith is a whole of life activity. It may ebb and flow in different seasons and situations but should never become stagnant. We need this book to help us get on with it. How can we possibly become more Christ-like (this is not the same thing as being a good person!) if we have not uncovered who Jesus is in the pages of the Bible? We have been called to abundant life, life in the fullest sense. This does not just happen but takes effort. We need the teaching, the reproof, correction and training that the Bible offers us.

The Bible keeps us on God’s path (2 Timothy 4.3-4)

Have you ever had a driving experience in thick fog? Those fogs that descend so quickly that all you can do is crawl along the motorway with the fog lights on and make slow progress. It can feel claustrophobic, like you are lost, and you can’t just stop and wait it out. You have to keep going. The lines marking the lanes suddenly became a lifeline. They showed you each metre of the road one at a time, helping to navigate the bends, avoid collisions, and eventually to getting to your destination.

Many people unfortunately believe the Bible to be a rather long and boring set of rules to take the fun out of life. We need rules, guidelines to keep life between the lines like the markings on a motorway. Imagine trying to watch a footie match that had no rules, or bake a cake without a recipe, or drive a car without road markings!

It would all end in disaster as we would each individually have to make up the way to do these things. Now we might be tempted to think that we know best. But likely the person next to us thinks that way too. This is what Paul is talking about in verse 3: ‘the time is coming when people will not put up with sound doctrine (teaching or belief), but having itching ears, they will accumulate for themselves teachers to suit their own desires.’

Paul is commending the importance of scripture to Timothy because he realises that a time is coming when the church will struggle to stay faithful to God’s word. Paul predicts a time when instead of seeking the truth, Christians will let their own desires be the filter for what they hear, distracted by false teaching.
Things like ‘just be a good person’; ‘it’s all the same God we believe in anyway’; ‘we all basically get there in the end’; ‘The Bible, church, Christianity, etc is fine for you but not for me.’ Those are not God’s words nor Jesus’ teaching. Watch out for itchy ears; especially your own.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus is taking on some Jewish people who have itchy ears. They know their scriptures and they are trying to find eternal life in them. Jesus is saying ‘no, no, no – I am the way to eternal life.’ The Jews are missing this because they do not believe that God has sent Jesus. They will not go to him to have life even though it is all there in the Jewish scriptures. Right back to Moses and yet they refused to believe it. Itchy ears can make you deaf!

How to grow & develop as Christians and stay on God’s path

First thing – pray! Pray to want to grow and develop in your faith. Pray for a closer relationship with God. Pray for purpose and guidance. No one is going to force you. Not even God. Maybe you have to pray to want to want to grow and develop, deepen your relationship and stay on the path. The Wednesday Group is going to be looking at prayer this week.

Secondly, do not take it for granted. Today access to the Bible is only a click away on a smartphone. I suspect many of our homes have multiple copies of the Bible and in multiple translations. As it is so easily available, it is possible that we undervalue it. Paul reminds Timothy of his rich and privileged heritage, because he wants to leave a legacy in the life of Timothy and the life of the church that will carry on into the future. What if all the Bibles disappeared overnight? How much would we still know?

Thirdly, Do it! Does the Bible feel like a dry and dusty book to you or does it captivate you like a long-awaited love letter? Maybe take some time this week to revisit parts that in the past have been especially meaningful to you.
For many people there are Psalms that have a special significance or the gospel accounts of Jesus. If regular Bible reading has become difficult why not revisit the parts of the Bible that you are familiar with. Pray that God would give you a fresh passion for his word.

In this book we have the most valuable thing that this world affords. It is God’s way of communicating to the world that he created and loves. We as his followers need to know what is in her so we can share that message with the people that so badly need it.

Trinity 21: Willing to be Last?

Call of the Sons of Zebedee – Marco Basaiti

20/10/24
Trinity 21

Hebrews 5:1-10
Mark 10:35-45

I am going to start with a story I picked up from an online sermon this week about a man who was offered the presidency of a small educational institution in the US. He wanted the job, and thought he should take it. Nevertheless, given his Quaker tradition, he assembled a “clearness committee” of some trusted friends. Their job wasn’t to give him any advice, but instead to ask him honest, open-ended questions, so that the man could discern his vocational call for himself.

Halfway through this three-hour meeting, a friend asked what he would like most about being president. He mentioned several things he would not enjoy, like wearing a tie, at which his friend pointed out that he wasn’t answering the question.
The man paused, thought a bit, then he writes how he “gave an answer that appalled even me as I spoke it: ‘Well,’ I said, in the smallest voice I possess, ‘I guess what I’d like most is getting my picture in the paper with the word ‘president’ under it.'”
He concludes: “I was sitting with seasoned Quakers who knew that though my answer was laughable, my mortal soul was clearly at stake! They did not laugh at all but went into a long and serious silence — a silence in which I could only sweat and inwardly groan.
Finally, my questioner broke the silence with a question that cracked all of us up — and cracked me open: ‘Can you think of an easier way to get your picture in the paper?’ By then it was obvious, even to me, that my desire to be president had much more to do with my ego than with the ecology of my life.” The clearness committee had made things clear, and he withdrew his name from the search.
The man isn’t a bad person; he’s just more honest than most of us, and maybe more in touch with his true self.

How about you? Think for a moment about any positions of power or responsibility that you have held; could be a job or in the community or the church. What did you like about it? How did it make you feel? Did you enjoy the title more than the actual role?

This is a live issue for me as Lead Chaplain of Gatwick Airport. I like the title. I like telling people what I do when asked. It makes for easy conversation when meeting new people as it is a unique role. There are downfalls to this; the temptation to only talk about myself or think that I am the most interesting person in the room. Or to convince myself that I am exempt from normal rules and regulations because of my title. The danger of being overwhelmed by entitlement is real and present.

Over the last 8 years I have been a curate and priest in 11 churches (8 parishes) in 9 towns and villages. Experience has shown that some people (however good-ly or godly intentioned and well-meaning) possess a deep need for power and control over local goings on and more frighteningly, the sharing of information, news or gossip.

Fortunately this is not a new problem for human beings. As far back as Mark’s Gospel and even before, the grab for glory has existed. Make me great again! This is what James and John, with the help of their mother, seemingly want to do. There is no record of what motivated their request; maybe a sense of entitlement or seniority over the other disciples.

James and John make a startling demand of Jesus: ‘we want you to do for us whatever we ask of you’. They say this before they actually ask/tell Jesus what it is that they want him to do. There are very few people whose request I would grant before I knew what the request was. Their question is often dismissed as foolish or arrogant, ‘oh those silly Sons of Thunder!’ Jesus does not rebuff or get angry with them as the disciples did. Jesus welcomes the question, invites them to ask it, but has some questions of his own for James and John. Questions that are not easy to answer.

‘What is it that you want me to do for you?’ asks Jesus. The first thing James and John did right was that they have come to Jesus; generally a very good starting point. James and John clearly trust Jesus to come through for them. However they along with the other disciples have missed what Jesus was trying to tell them about what was coming: being handed over to the chief priests and scribes, condemned to death, handed over again, mocked, spat on, flogged and killed; and after three days rise again.

They did not listen, they did not hear what they wanted to. Again, a familiar problem in the modern age; the failure to listen, to hear what is being said. The first accusation or failing of any leader is often the failure to listen. Many people rightly complain about not being listened to. There is a difference between not being listened to and being listened to and still not getting what you want.

This was the case for James and John. They are not criticised for their tactless request, not at least by Jesus. James and John believe that Jesus will win; Jesus will be in glory and they want to be right there with him. They are ambitious for God! They expect Jesus to be glorified in the way they thought he should or would be. Jesus redirects these ambitions, wants to reset their priorities and motives.

Real greatness, whether on the international, national or local stage (in whatever capacity) is not characterised by domination, political power or schemes to control or subjugate people but by self-sacrificial service to others. So often we believe this although practice proves otherwise.

How ambitious are we for God? The real danger we face as a church, as parishes and the Church more widely is apathy, cynicism and complacency. These are the roadblocks to abundant living and transformation.

Jesus wants us to want more, seek more, hope more and need more of him. This, I think, is why he did not get angry with James and John as they were doing the right thing: going to him and asking but they needed some redirection. The request of James and John does get answered. Jesus tells them that it is not his request to grant but it is for those whom it has been prepared. Sounds a little cryptic but Jesus is completely deferring to God. This is not Jesus’ decision to make. The purpose of God will not be thwarted. But neither can they be fully understood beforehand.

The places are seemingly prepared for those who want to serve. This is what James and John fail to recognize and probably the other upset disciples too. Jesus calls them together for a lesson of ‘supreme importance’ as one commentary put it. Jesus is not going to operate like the world does, ruling with tyranny and a heavy hand.

Jesus came to serve and not be served. You want to sit on my left and on my right? Then you must be the servant. Want to be first, then you have to be the last! Give up your entitlement, move downwards. This is not about rules but a way of life.

On this Dedication Sunday where we give thanks and celebrate the work of Emmanuel, how are we doing as a house of prayer? Are we following Jesus as we should? What about the orientation of our hearts? We may be following the commandments but what about storing treasure in heaven? The future of Emmanuel is not very clear and we need to pray about this. Where is God calling us to go?

If we only look at the bank account or the church building (both of which can be anxiety-producing exercises) it will never work. We need to look at something bigger, beyond us. We need God to lead and guide us in our mission, our giving, and in our love for each other. In any and all instances we need to approach the throne of grace and seek God’s mercy and help and then be obedient to what is being required.

Can I ask you to pray for the plans for Emmanuel and St Nicholas? For the people who faithfully serve, for our finances, for the impact on the community around us.

The real question we need to ask is: ‘What can I do for you?’. This is a question to ask of God but also to each other. Be prepared for more questions than answers; not always what you want to hear but always loving and always true.
Like James and John, we might want God to do something for us. Ask away! Go to the Father in faith, in confidence; He will take your questions, your ambitions and desires in order to line up with His will. If we are willing.

There is no need to be embarrassed. James and John certainly were not. Their questions were heard. The answers may have been unexpected, even unwanted but they came away changed from these conversations. Hopefully more understanding of how God operates and what Jesus came to do. He came to serve and we should be willing to do the same.

Trinity 13: To Whom Can We Go?

Great crowds followed Jesus as he preached the Good News, 2004 (w/c on paper) by Wang, Elizabeth (Contemporary Artist);

25/8/24
Trinity 13

Psalm 84
Ephesians 6:10-20
John 6:56-69

We have finally reached the end of John 6 as today is Sunday five of five. I have mentioned the various threads and themes that run through this rather carb-filled chapter over the last few weeks. At each turn, Jesus is ratcheting up what is at stake for both that early crowd and for us now.

One golden thread running through this chapter are the words very truly and believe. Jesus is telling us very truly to believe in Him. I spoke last week about how the way we trust in things and people can influence how we trust God.

We all have our own ways of coming to trust things and people. Maybe some of us trust the wrong things or don’t consider the things we trust until they prove themselves to be untrustworthy. Maybe some of us set the bar so high that we trust almost nothing and no one. Jesus wants us to trust him; for anything and everything, all the time and forever. He died for us; his death and resurrection is a very clear indicator of his willingness!

Those first listeners did not yet fully appreciate what Jesus meant about eating his flesh and drinking his blood. The response from many was, ‘this teaching is difficult; who can accept it?’ Jesus has challenged his listeners on everything from their extensive rules on food preparation and eating to what happens (or does not happen) when they die. Jesus has thrown down the proverbial gauntlet with his final question, ‘do you also wish to go away?’

Jesus was giving them and still gives us that choice. To follow Jesus or not is a choice; the ultimate one. Christianity is based on making that choice; being a Christian is not an automatic event, it does not just happen. There is a lot of talk in various magazines and websites about being a ‘cultural Christian’.

A quick internet search with some AI help: A cultural Christian is someone who identifies as Christian but may not be religious and may not have a personal relationship with Jesus. They may have been influenced by Christian values and culture through their family background, personal experiences, or the social and cultural environment in which they grew up. They may also identify as cultural Christian because they believe that attending church, being baptised, or being a good person makes them Christian. For cultural Christians, religion is something they add to their lives to make things better.

This sounds rather good. Religion should make life better. Most of us want to be good people. Unfortunately this is the pinnacle of achievement for many; not the basic starting point. Just behave and all will be well.

However, at some point in this life we all have to make a choice to follow Jesus or not. Follow Jesus. Not cultural Christianity. These are the values and virtues; not salvation. It is salvation, eternal life with God that is at stake.

The people Jesus puts this question to in John’s Gospel are not newbie followers. These are people who have heard the teaching, seen the miracles, followed him around, maybe some were healed, they were certainly all loved by Jesus.

Often the discussion around salvation and the saving work of God turns to ‘what about those people who never hear about Jesus’ or people of other faiths. This is the modern day approach to the redirection that Jesus faced when his parentage was questioned in John 6. Personally, I do not worry about those who have never heard as much as I do about those people who hear the teaching, have been to church, know something about God and yet choose not to believe.

I think of some of my cousins, my friends, people I have worked with in the past. The only people who cannot or will not be saved are the ones who put themselves beyond the reach of God. God does not put people beyond his reach; people put themselves there.

It is sometimes an hourly, daily, moment by moment decision to choose God and live fully as the people we were made to be. It is hard work. You might notice that Jesus does not make it easier! He doesn’t make excuses or argue back when his followers take offence and claim it is too hard. He is not offering a lighter version. Many disciples left, not just a couple or a few. Many.

Debie Thomas, the American essayist wrote, ‘What does it mean to choose God? According to Jesus, it means eating his very essence, taking the incarnation so deeply into our own bodies and souls that we exude the favour of Christ to the world. It means doing what Jesus did and living as Jesus lived. It means turning the other cheek. It means loving our enemies. It means walking the extra mile. It means losing our lives in order to gain them. It means trusting that the first will be last and the last first. It means seeking God’s kingdom and God’s righteousness. It means denying ourselves. It means the cross.’

What is amazing in the closing of John 6 is that Jesus had any followers left. Maybe the real miracle of the bread and fish story is not that the multitudes were fed but a handful of those stuck around when he finished teaching. By asking them, ‘do you also wish to go away?’, those who are left are free to walk away.

It is an uncomfortable question. Imagine Jesus asking it with sadness and compassion as He knows that some will walk away. He knows what is asking them. He wants them to know that his love is a freeing love. I find this an uncomfortable question because sometimes I want to say yes.

Yes I do want to go away. I want to quit, I want to be more comfortable, pick an easier, less demanding, less costly, more culturally acceptable version of the Gospel. However, I know that there is no lighter version. It just does not exist.

In the final verses of Ephesians 6, Paul is telling his readers to get ready for the battle. War was a frequent reality then so this language would not have been strange or off-putting. Paul is putting the struggles of small Christian communities as a cosmic battle against supernatural evil. The people are to stand firm and not run away. They have been given the equipment they need.

We too need to stand firm, ready and rooted, if we are to choose Jesus, choose real Christianity. Not only stand firm, but use the equipment we have been given properly. It is sort of like PPE, great to have but only gives protection if used correctly. It means understanding the truth of the Gospel, being ready to proclaim it, being faithful when the arrows come, and knowing the word of God.

We also need to know, like Peter, that Jesus has the words of eternal life. Who else is there to go to? Nothing and no one will ever satisfy us like Jesus does.
We are called to make that choice over and over again. When we come together to celebrate Communion, this is what we are doing. Coming back, choosing again the one with the words of eternal life. Feeding on Jesus is our only hope.

Trinity 12: I am the Living Bread

18/8/24
Trinity 12

Ephesians 5:15-20
John 6:51-58

This is Sunday four of five in John 6! Jesus is continuing to turn up the heat as he pushes the crowd and the Jews in their thinking and believing. One of the many golden threads running through this chapter are the words very truly and believe. Jesus was telling them and continues to tell us to very truly believe in Him.

How many of you this morning, before you sat down in a pew asked, ‘can I trust this pew not to collapse under my body weight?’ Or when you went to turn on the bathroom tap wondered if you could trust the water that was coming out of it?

I am not sure how you go to come to believe in people or things, let alone God. What is your process? I am naturally and rather naively a trusting person. I tend to trust people from the start. It does not take much to win my trust and I will take what I see at face value. I trust the water that comes out of the tap will be perfectly fine to drink. I did think about the engineering and craftsmanship of the pews and trusted in them but only asked myself this because I knew that I would be asking you!

We all have our own ways of coming to trust things and people. Maybe some of us trust the wrong things or do not consider the things we trust until they prove themselves to be untrustworthy. Maybe some of us set the bar so high that we trust almost nothing and no one.

The theme for this morning is to look at the implications of putting our trust in Jesus, the bread of life. I have just had us think about how we trust in people and things. It is likely that these processes can and will influence how we trust Jesus. If you are a trust-first-ask-questions-later-type like me, you might find it easy to trust Jesus. If you are a slow-truster, what proof do you need to be satisfied that Jesus is trustworthy?

There could be a lot of ways to get us to do that however Jesus announces that people need to eat his flesh and drink his blood. Jesus intended to shock his audience. This reference to flesh and blood as food would have been particularly startling to the Jewish culture Jesus was speaking into. Jesus’ eating habits were causing comment and criticism at the time as he was seen as a glutton and drunkard who dined in bad company.

The Jewish people were particularly sensitive to food issues. A glance in the Old Testament shows us the vast number of rituals and taboos surrounding food preparation and what could and could not be eaten.

God has always used food to tell his story: the apple in the story of creation, manna and quail in the desert of Exodus, the Passover meal of lamb and unleavened bread. In the New Testament the stories of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fish is told 6 times in the 4 Gospels. Jesus eating the grain on the Sabbath. The bread and wine of the Last Supper. All these stories have food at the heart of them.

Jesus is saying that he is the bread of life, his body and blood are the true food that we all need.

What then are the implications for feeding on the body and blood of Jesus?

The Ephesians reading gives us three ways that trusting in and feeding on Jesus will benefit our lives.

Firstly: Wisdom. This is a whole other sermon on its own. It is different from knowledge, which is facts and figures, the things we get from education. Wisdom is deeper than that; it is a knowing that comes from experience and circumstance, wisdom is common sense that is not so common.

Ephesians tells us that we are to live not as unwise but as wise people (v. 15) and this means being careful in how we live. I don’t know about you but I have never prayed to the effect ‘Dear Lord, I would like to do more stupid things. Please help me do this. Amen.’

You don’t need to be smart to ask for wisdom. We all face situations where we need more wisdom than what we currently have to make the right or best decision. Pray for it!

Secondly, by trusting Jesus we can better understand God’s will for our lives (v. 17). We will never fully understand what we are doing on earth apart from God’s plans and purposes. If we want to know what we are supposed to do then we need to be close to Jesus, feeding and following him. Notice the second plea to avoid foolishness. ‘So do not be foolish but understand what the will of the Lord is.

To avoid foolishness and understand God’s will for our lives we need wisdom. Wisdom comes from trust. Trust comes from feeding on the body and blood of Jesus.

How are you doing on working out God’s will? Not always easy but try to see it as a journey. Maybe a slow one at times but it is not a race. But know that God loves you and has a will for your life. He is not hiding it or keeping it from you but it is something that needs to be worked out.

Thirdly, trusting in Jesus helps us in being thankful and filled with the Spirit. Verse 20 ‘always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Always and everything.

A Bible study in a previous parish included a ‘thankfulness exercise’ where we divided our current age by four. In each quarter of our lives, we had to write down the things/events/people that we were thankful for. It was quite an enlightening exercise. I had much more to be thankful for as I thought through each of my quarters. This might be helpful if you find yourself struggling to be thankful to God.

Sometimes it is hard to be thankful when we are facing difficulties and there does not seem to be much to say thanks for. Do not forget the small things! Being thankful for the small things can only help us to be thankful for the big things. It also creates consistency in us.

Try to avoid letting the troubles in the present wipe your memory of the good things in the past. God is faithful and has done things we should all be thankful for regardless of our current situation. He can be trusted.

If we live in the Spirit, we will never be over or under fed. The body and blood of Jesus will always satisfy every need we can ever have. Feeding on Jesus is our only hope. What the world offers us is not real food as it will not satisfy – however much we eat.

When we give thanks to God we are building trust in Him that he will provide all that we need. In the big and the small stuff. We generally thank people if we have enjoyed a meal together. Jesus has given us the ultimate meal; one that we will all share very shortly. We come together as His family to share in the meal so let us be trusting, wise, understanding and thankful.

Trinity 11: The Bread of Unity

11/8/24
Trinity 11

Ephesians 4:25-5:2
John 6:35, 41-51

Throughout the month of August we are stuck into John chapter 6 which begins with the feeding of the 5000 on a mountainside in Galilee. This crowd witnessed the miracles Jesus had been performing. They began to follow him and the disciples around with curiosity and in hope of another free lunch after Jesus met the physical hunger of the crowd in the multiplication of the loaves and fishes.

Next, Jesus walked on the water through a storm in the dark of night to the fear and amazement of the disciples. There is no mention whether the storm stopped or not; what seems to matter is that the disciples’ fear was dissipated when Jesus reached them. One of the beautiful things about the Christian faith is the amount of creativity and imagination it requires of its followers.

The next day, the hungry crowd is back for more fish sarnies but none are on the menu. Jesus tells them not to work that food that will perish but the food that endures for eternal life. The heart-breaking and beautiful proclamation of ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whosoever believes in me will never be thirsty’ follows. This is where we start this morning.

At each turn throughout John 6, Jesus is ratcheting up what is at stake. He is making it clear he is not just a miracle sandwich-maker or a favourite history teacher as he corrects the beliefs of Jewish people listening to and arguing with him. Jesus is reminding them the bread that came down from heaven after they crossed the Red Sea was given to their ancestors came from God; Moses was only the means of delivery. This would have been difficult for the Jews to hear. Their beliefs were firmly held, rules were rules and needed to be followed.

We are living in a world right now, in a country right now where people are hearing things they do not like and reacting. Firmly held beliefs, however right or wrong, or extreme to either end are being challenged. It feels very unsettling and knocks our security. Riots over immigration, Facebook posts decrying the cut to the winter heating credit for pensioners. I am a Canadian so will not comment on the US election. Ukraine, Russia, Israel and Gaza. This is a sad state of affairs.

What can be done? Imagine for a moment that we took Paul’s instructions in the letter to the Ephesians. Paul is instructing the churches to focus on God and for the new believers in Jesus to to live in the light of Christ with specific moral commitment, to conduct relationships in the right way.

We spoke the truth to our neighbours instead of lying to them?
Paul says it is okay to be angry but do not sin. Be angry in the right way about the right things; the true injustices of the world.
Do not steal. Get a job and work honestly.
Share with those in need.
Don’t gossip and slander other people with either your tongue or your thumbs – let your words be graceful and kind.
Put away bitterness, wrath and anger, slander.

How about we be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another as God has forgiven you.
Live in love and Jesus loves us and gave himself up for us.

This is the world that all children, all of us should grow up in!

Maybe there are better ways to resolve differences and challenges to beliefs. Jesus is trying, I think, to expand their thinking and believing about God. Some of the crowd are willfully determined not to understand. Have you ever met people like that? They are not stupid or unintelligent, they are willingly incapable of seeing any other point of view. The crowd tries to divert the question by turning attention to Jesus’ family (son of a poor carpenter) and ‘who does he think he is?!’

Jesus is offering the crowd something better. Eternal life. Like all offers from God, we are free to turn it down or not recognize it at all. We can choose dust and ashes over the bread of life. Jesus knows this. We choose death rather than the life we were made for. Jesus chooses death too. He chooses to be in our death. He chooses to be the bread of life who dies so that we may live.

We need to choose life. We have all been given physical life; of course. We have all at some point experienced birth. Some more recently than others. There is more to life than just what we can see, touch, smell and experience. Again, back to imagination and creativity! We need to choose life because one day death will come. It is not the end of life but the start of eternal life, safe in the everlasting arms forever.

We all need to be fed spiritually. This is what we are doing in Communion. In the breaking of the bread we are receiving our bread for the next stage in the journey. We are choosing the bread of life over the dust and ashes. Jesus is the bread of life. May we choose this bread always.