Bread, bread, and more bread.

The Revised Common Lectionary is in what my friend, the Reverend Tim Schenck, calls "breadtide."  That is to say that for the past few weeks, and for the next two weeks, the readings find us in John 6.  This is one of Jesus' extended "I am" dialogues in John's Gospel.

Bread is a near universal. Almost every time and culture has some form of bread.  There is Greek Pita.  There is the Indian Naan bread.  There is First Nations fry bread.  There is Italian Scali bread.  And the list goes on and on and on.  Bread is a key part of the Western diet especially.

The commonplaceness of bread makes it easy to visualize and to understand Jesus' words.  Jesus is telling us that He is as important and as nourishing to us as a slice of Wonder bread.  Wonder, however, can only take care of our physical needs.  Jesus, as the living and true bread, can also meet our spiritual need for belonging, healing, and forgiveness.

Jesus promises that those who are united to Him in the bread and the wine of the Sacrament will never go hungry or thirsty again.  That is because Jesus now fills us and satisfies us like nothing ever can.  And, as Jesus fills us in the Sacrament, our soul is knit together with the hearts and souls of those at the Table around us.  We become one body as we share in the one loaf.

That same Body of the Sacrament then nourishes us as we go forth into the world.  As Christ's Body, fed by Christ's Body, we go forth to be Christ's Body at work in the world.