Sermon

 ” Daily Bread & Bread of Life.” (2)

Welcome to yet another Bread Talk!

You probably all know the Ted Talks – and as one of you wrote to me: “ I am looking forward to the continued Bread Talks in August.”

The Gospel readings in August are all from John 6 – and this chapter of the Gospel is filled with bread and talks about bread.

So on this second Sunday in August we will continue with our Bread Talk.

Just for a moment: close your eyes and try to envision a freshly baked loaf of bread. Just taken out of the oven, warm, golden, rounded and delicious. Remember the smell of a freshly baked bread….

You may open your eyes again. But let the smell of freshly baked bread linger, as worship involves and should involve all of our senses.

The light filtering in from the stained-glass windows.

The colors of the vestments.

The words we read in our Bibles and prayer books may fascinate us visually in worship.

The sounds of musical instruments and voices raised in song grip us audibly.

The feel of the wood on the pews and the fine new blue fabric.

The altar rail softly supporting our knees as we kneel.

The cover of the hymnals may engage our sense of touch.

The warm handshakes of our fellow congregants.

The gentle cooling air from the AC.

The sensation of being home, belonging.

All these sensations come together to form our worship experience.

It is about what we hear, what we see, what we feel, what we touch, what we smell, what we eat.

 

The smell of bread may evoke memories in us. The smell of bread may make our stomach grumble. The smell of bread may make us remember that we might not live by bread alone, but we do live by sharing it, breaking it, believing in it.

 

The old Psalm 34 also spoke to our senses and even told us to “taste and see that the Lord is good; happy are those who take refuge in him.”

How do we even taste goodness, we might ask? What flavor has goodness? Well, you do know the taste of bitterness and deceit, don’t you? Let us remember the taste of goodness, sweetness and community that may fill us, strengthen us and sustain us this Sunday morning.

In the reading from Paul’s letter to the congregation in Ephesus we also focus on how our faith should be reflected in what not only what we put in our mouth but what comes out of our mouths:

“Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. “

And this beautiful reading from Ephesians continues:

“Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice and be kind to one another, tenderhearted, forgiving one another ,as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefor be imitators of God, as beloved children and liv in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.”

Be daily bread in each other’s life, be kind, be tenderhearted, forgive and give. Believe in the life of Bread, fragrant and deliciously divine, given to us. That is what God goodness tastes like.

 

“I am the bread of life.” Jesus said.

He did a lot of bread talks. Always extending the blessing of the bread, the welcoming at the table, the second chances of forgiveness to everyone.

Take and eat this.

Take and drink this.

Share this meal. Share this life. Share this faith and hope.

 

Daily Bread and Bread of Life.

Food pyramids have changed over the years, but one thing has remained constant: Dessert, unless you are talking about fresh fruit, is not foundational for the food pyramid. Deserts and cakes and cookies and candy is not on the nutritionist food pyramids.

But as we might love the smell of freshly baked bread, most of us also like the taste of a delicious desert, a homemade cake or chocolate filled cookies.

Do we sometimes put Jesus and the Bread of life in that category – as a Sunday Treat, a small piece of bread and a small cup of wine. Do we sometimes put Jesus in the desert category. As the extra. The Sunday Sweets.

 

But bread is essential. Bread is fundamental. As our daily bread and as the Bread of life that stills our spiritual, mental and religious hunger.

To say and to believe that Jesus is the bread of life is to say that he is the stable food of life, necessary and needed for us to live.

Jesus is not a cake, a cookie or desert. Jesus is not caviar only for the rich or as a luxury of excess. Jesus is “the main course. The rice and beans of life, the potato of life. “

In the small Catechism Martin Luther wrote about the daily bread:

The Fourth Petition

Give us this day our daily bread.

What does this mean? God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

 

What is meant by daily bread? Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

 

Daily bread is what we put in our mouths, what we eat and drink, what nourishes us, clothes us, makes us safe and feel loved. Daily bread is what comes out of our mouths too: our words, our thanksgiving, our blessings, our hope, our faith and our love.

 

Every Sunday we are invited to the table of Christ.

Every Sunday we share bread and share our faith.

Every Sunday we tasted the Goodness of God.

Every Sunday we sing the beautiful Communion hymn:

In this meal we taste your sweetness, bread of hunger, wine of peace.

Holy word and holy wisdom

satisfy our deepest needs.

Christ own body, blessed and broken, cup overflowing life outpoured

Given as a living token of your world redeemed restored.

We are given a small piece of bread that taste of God’s sweetness. We are given a small cup of wine that is filled with red and divine compassion and the taste of second chances.

 

Let us let this sweetness dwell in us as we leave: to live, to love ,to speak, to act with that sweetness in our tone.