Sunday Reflection – Thanksgiving Sunday, October 9, 2022

 

Special encore presentation from August 2021

Bread of Life

John 6 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.”

28 They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?”

29 Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.”

30 They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

32 Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Thanksgiving Sunday (October 9th)

Read Luke 17:5-10 with your family.

This is one of those hard-to-understand parts of the Bible, but on Thanksgiving Sunday the image of God being greater than food fits into our celebration of God being the source of life that gives us everything we need to live and make a new world where everyone has equality.

In the Hebrew culture, bread was a symbol of God being with the people. Every Sabbath in the Temple, the priests would have 12 fresh loaves of bread called Bread of Presence or ‘Showbread’ that symbolized God being there with the priests. The priests ate the bread through the week.

When you know that was part of the Hebrew temple tradition, it is easier to understand why Jesus was talking about himself being the bread. They already understood that God was present in the bread, so Jesus was telling them he was God and was here to give them something even more important than everyday food.

Sunday Reflection – August 22, 2021

 

 

Bread of life

John 6 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.” 59 Jesus said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum.

60 Many of his disciples who heard this said, “This message is harsh. Who can hear it?”

61 Jesus knew that the disciples were grumbling about this and he said to them, “Does this offend you? 62 What if you were to see the Human Onegoing up where he was before? 63 The Spirit is the one who gives life and the flesh doesn’t help at all. The words I have spoken to you are spirit and life. 64 Yet some of you don’t believe.”Jesus knew from the beginning who wouldn’t believe and the one who would betray him. 65 He said, “For this reason I said to you that none can come to me unless the Father enables them to do so.” 66 At this, many of his disciples turned away and no longer accompanied him.

67 Jesus asked the Twelve, “Do you also want to leave?”

68 Simon Peter answered, “Lord, where would we go? You have the words of eternal life. 69 We believe and know that you are God’s holy one.”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Sunday Reflection – August 15, 2021

 

 

Bread of life

John 6 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever, and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”

52 Then the Jews debated among themselves, asking, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?”

53 Jesus said to them, “I assure you, unless you eat the flesh of the Human One and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.55 My flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. 56 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I in them. 57 As the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me lives because of me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven. It isn’t like the bread your ancestors ate, and then they died. Whoever eats this bread will live forever.”

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Jesus tries to explain ‘Eat my body’ (August 15th)

Read John 6:51-58 with your family. It is okay if what Jesus says sounds strange. The people in the early church thought it sounded strange too, and a lot of people thought this meant the early Christians were cannibals! Some really smart people like Justin Martyr, who lived around 150 CE (about 50 years after the Gospel of John was written), stepped up to help those outside the church understand what Jesus was talking about. Christians were NOT cannibals.

Jesus was trying to help people understand that his body while alive was flesh just like everyone else alive today, but after the Resurrection, after he arose again from the dead and went to heaven, his body was spiritual instead of physical. And we as Christians have a spiritual connection to Jesus. When we believe we take Jesus into our hearts and feel the love that Jesus had for everyone. When we believe we take Jesus into bodies and do all the things Jesus asked us to do, like feed people and care of the world.

This is a communion lesson. You might call communion the Lord’s Supper or Eucharist. The name doesn’t make a difference. We still have bread or wafers to eat, and wine or grape juice to drink. We eat real food that doesn’t physically change. What does change is how we think about Jesus and the Holy Spirit. We remember that Jesus told us to eat the bread and drink from the cup because when we take something into our bodies, it becomes a part of us. Jesus wants to be a part of us.

Sunday Reflection – August 8, 2021

Reflection

 

Scripture

 

Bread of life

John 6 35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36 But I told you that you have seen me and still don’t believe. 37 Everyone whom the Father gives to me will come to me, and I won’t send away anyone who comes to me. 38 I have come down from heaven not to do my will, but the will of him who sent me. 39 This is the will of the one who sent me, that I won’t lose anything he has given me, but I will raise it up at the last day. 40 This is my Father’s will: that all who see the Son and believe in him will have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

41 The Jewish opposition grumbled about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.”

42 They asked, “Isn’t this Jesus, Joseph’s son, whose mother and father we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?”

43 Jesus responded, “Don’t grumble among yourselves. 44 No one can come to me unless they are drawn to me by the Father who sent me, and I will raise them up at the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets, And they will all be taught by God. Everyone who has listened to the Father and learned from him comes to me. 46 No one has seen the Father except the one who is from God. He has seen the Father. 47 I assure you, whoever believes has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate manna in the wilderness and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that whoever eats from it will never die.

Performed by Margaret Whisselle

Kids Korner: Jesus talks about life giving bread (August 1st)

Our Story

About our story

Read John 6:24-35 with your family. This is one of the hard-to-understand stories in the Bible. The characters in the story are confused about the difference between regular bread they eat and the ever lasting bread that Jesus was talking about.

In the Hebrew culture, bread was a symbol of God being with the people. Every Sabbath in the Temple, the priests would have 12 fresh loaves of bread called Bread of Presence or ‘Showbread’ that symbolized God being there with the priests. The priests ate the bread through the week.

When you know that was part of the Hebrew temple tradition, it is easier to understand why Jesus was talking about himself being the bread. They already understood that God was present in the bread, so Jesus was telling them he was God and was here to give them something even more important than everyday food.

Sunday Reflection – August 1, 2021

Reflection

 

Scripture

 

Bread of life

John 6 24 When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. 25 When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?”

26 Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. 27 Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.”

28 They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?”

29 Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.”

30 They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? 31 Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.”

32 Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

34 They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!”

35 Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Performed by Margaret Whisselle