Friday, April 12, 2024
Jesus, the Bread of Life
An excerpt from John 6:11
Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted.
Reflection from Kristin Saylor, St. Lawrence: The first church I served was across the street from a large commercial bakery. The church had several feeding programs and the bakery was generous with their stock. Between those two things, the building was almost always filled – quite literally – with bread. Stacks of bagels atop the copier, piles of baguettes in stairwells, perilously wobbly towers of sandwich bread atop every available table…absolutely ridiculous quantities of bread, everywhere you looked. Needless to say, this experience changed how I read this story of the loaves and the fishes that is shared by all four Gospels. When it comes to contemplating divine abundance, we often struggle with an impoverished imagination. What would it be like to imagine an abundance so profound, it’s almost comical? What would it feel like to imagine ourselves tripping over abundance, so surrounded by the Bread of Life that we cannot avoid it, no matter how hard we try?
Photograph by Kristin Saylor, St Lawrence, Libertyville.
ADDITIONAL READINGS:
For further study and prayer, the readings assigned for today are:
• Psalm 27:1–9
• Acts 5:34–42
• John 6:1–15
MUSIC: “Let Us Break Bread Together”
by William Lawrence,
sung by Robert McFerrin
“Let us praise God together on our knees…
When I fall on my knees, with my face to the rising sun,
Oh Lord, have mercy on me.”
Tags: Easter to Pentecost 2024