Is the bread stale?

At the turn of the century – makes me sound old – I spent many a week in Italy, not on holiday but at work with the RAF. Given that we spent up to 3 weeks there at a time, we enjoyed the food…and the …food…One thing which did surprise me was the bread. If we bought a loaf from the American shops the bread would last a week…at least. If we bought it from a local Italian shop, it became a weapon overnight, solid, crust like dried clay. What the French baguette might be like after a night is another question. How do you like your bread?

In the passage from last week (John 6: 1-15) do we recall where the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 was retold. The author(s) of John’s Gospel offered us an abridged version where one lad brings 5 loaves and 2 fish – I did wonder whether the fish smelt in that heat or was it the dried version? – anyway they fed so many. Well afterwards the people who were just fed wanted to make Jesus King. So he escapes the scene off up the mountain. Jesus doesn’t covet the title, the prestige of being a King – it would look very likely that he never sought to be a King. The disciples, confused as always, sought normality – ouch that word again – so they sail across the lake to their base of Capernaum. Jesus catches up with them half way across – and they are scared witless – wouldn’t we? Perhaps we can identify with this bunch of mis-fits? Still loved by God for all of their issues. The crowd soon join them at Capernaum.

Bit of a Blether

Jesus explains that he has fed them…oh but they want more? “What must we do to get more of this incredible amazing food?” 

Jesus responds believe…and the crowd wince….is that it?

The crowd respond again: “Give us a sign like Moses did!”

Jesus may have, internally, shaken his head before saying  “That was Manna, this is different bread, bread that lasts for ever!”

The crowd erupt in joy “Bread that last forever, better than a bogof”

Jesus says “No, bread for you, to give you life”

The crowd don’t really understand. How do you like your bread?

You see, the people saw every wonder and miracle from Jesus on face value: Jesus’ saw them as providing a need then, immediately, but also to reveal who exactly Jesus was! It’s a BOGOF, every miracle look for both of these facets, not merely at the superwow aspect.

So if God saved the Israelites across the desert, because it wasn’t Moses, and if God fed all those people, Jews and Gentiles, because t wasn’t the lad who brought the food, what can we conclude: God gives.

So what of today and our Church? If people come to our church, what are they expecting? Do they wish to be raised up, given a boost for a short while, like some tonic, or something more longer lasting.

Do they wish for an Eveready or Duracell moment?

As Matt Redman saw in his Church in Watford, they needed to re-focus their worship, hence that song When the music fades…. Was it the band or the singing which was important or God?

Are people attracted due to the work on behalf of the poor, the unemployed? First and foremost, it is being in Christ, with Christ, because of Christ. Long after that feeling of being fed by the service, our lives need to continue to be re-freshed with God. I have been visiting one person recently – they are struggling with life, they desperately want to live life. When it comes down to it, when they see life in all of its tragic complexities, they saw that Christ was the focus from which everything flows. 

Jesus isn’t asking anything from us. It is not us paying our annual subscription, and we then get God. We are not a consumer, Jesus is not wishing to be seen as the King: this is a Kin_dom of love, where our lives are enriched by being with God. The bread that Jesus handed out that time, on that mountain, was for Jews and Gentiles alike. How do you like your bread?

Paul’s contribution

This letter from Paul, (Ephesians 4: 16) written to the people of Ephesus, population of a quarter of a million, resplendent with some of the wonders of the World, would have been a far cry from what they were used to reading. This passage could be split up into 2 sections. The first 10 verses ask us to live right and accept each other as we are. It was Michelle Obama who used that phrase “When they go low, we go high” – Jesus got there first.

Metaphorically Jesus went low so that all of us could flourish. Jesus would rub his hands in the muck of life to give sight to the blind, to restore a woman accused of adultery. No matter who we are, Jesus calls to live a life of abundance. In verses 11-16 there’s a list: Apostles, prophets, evangelists, pastors and teachers. And the Church has often pulled them together into one role: minister. They were never seen as such originally. The Methodist Church is focussed to be one of a flat structure. The Trustees of the Church are the ones who make the decisions, the ministers seek to facilitate that. The people of the church are the ones who meet with folk on a daily basis, and the minster facilitates that. My job is not to be pivotal but to make myself redundant. Not because I wish to leave Glasgow – please No – but a heartfelt desire to see the kin_dom of God here flourish, to bring life to all it sees, meets, to worship our living and loving God. We are all on a journey. Where it reads Wholeness in the passage it means that is what we strive for. It’s the acceptance of the brokenness, where we can bring peace.  In our Church today, across the land, there are fractures, groups of people who are struggling to understand and cope with recent decisions made by Conference. This is not a time for separation, there’s never a time for separation, but one for inclusion, for welcome of those with whom we disagree with, and to find common bonds, to be a Kin_dom.

How do we know we have reached this standard?

The Church, God’s Church doesn’t have metrics, measures of effectiveness, that can be analysed using scales. Our standard is faithfulness. Do we strive to be faithful? So feel free to be released from those bonds of what must I achieve. I work with folk who provide such things, their talents and gifts are so designed, honed, for that task. But that’s not my gift. My focus is to be faithful to God: am I doing everything I can to serve God, my family, to serve you, the people of Pollokshaws, Partick and Woodlands? And each day I can converse, dialogue with God about this.

This is life, this is being released, being fed not by manna but by God. In our week ahead, I invite us all to consider what ways do I use to measure why we walk with God – is it by what we achieve or by being faithful? 

Fancy Pizza?

With no disrespect to the bakers of Italian or American bread, nice as they are to crunch or soak up gravy or to make peanut butter & jam sandwiches, let us strive for that food which God gives everyday, not for our bellies but for us: now that is wholesome. How do you like your bread?

It’s looking at life from another perspective, 180 degrees from society perhaps. It’s not what I can get out, as a customer, what does God give to us, freely, and how might I serve God wherever I live and work. Being faithful is the key.

Cover Photo by Gabriella Clare Marino on Unsplash