PostScript: True food
We are hungry for many things but Jesus asks us to satisfy our hunger with true food, so that we can abide in him (John 6.55-56).
Introduction
The bread of God is food for the life of the world – broken to give us life; broken so that it might be shared. So it is with the body of Christ, the Church. ‘Though we are many we are one body’, gathered together, made one by the cross and fed by God’s hand so that we can be ready to give ‘true food’ to the hungry.
Context
Home, security and belonging are basic human needs. This week, Philip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, caused an outcry by referring to ‘marauding migrants’ and suggesting that Europe’s way of life will be harmed by migrants who are seeking a share of our wealth.
We are ‘fed’ stories on a daily basis by the media. Our views of issues may be shaped by the perspectives that we digest from our feeding on the news. How do we feed our understanding with facts?
Our food costs money effort and time to produce – are we ready to pay the price? This week, farmers took their claim for a fair price for milk right into the supermarkets and the boardrooms of Morrisons.
King Mensah, a west African musician, speaks of singing ‘the rhythms of his own country’ and of the orphanage he set up to help poor children. ‘I know what it is to be hungry,’ he said.
How do we as Christians move, sing and live to the rhythms of the kingdom, where the hungry are fed and the poor are welcomed to the feast?
Reflection
This week, the gospel of John turns a spotlight onto what drives us – what our real motivations are. We could see the strength of language in this passage as indicative of how much we defend ourselves against the demands that God may make of us. Look at your life! Is it based on things of lasting value? Do my words stay in your head or do they reach into your heart, where lasting change can be made? Does faith mean agreeing to an idea of me or following me? No wonder some of the followers left Jesus because the teaching was ‘too hard’.
The emphasis on ‘flesh’, both in this week’s Gospel and in John’s account of the ‘word made flesh’, was offensive to the Greek mind. But how often do we separate our bodies from our minds? The focus on the materiality of bread, the link to the elements of the Eucharist and the flesh of the incarnation, are perhaps reminding us that Jesus did not come to get our assent to a set of propositions but to transform the whole of our lives – in all their messy reality. We might consider this through reflecting on these questions:
- Forgiveness and the gift of eternal life come to us through the broken body and spilled blood of Jesus, but are we in danger of sanitising this aspect of our belief?
- How does brokenness become for us such a powerful symbol of wholeness?
- In our culture, we are hungry for stories about celebrities – but what else in us do these reports feed?
- What are people fed in our church? Words or actions?
- Where might our hunger for money and for material things lead us? If it leads us to defend our ‘way of life’ at all costs or to build walls to protect ourselves from those we fear, what would Jesus say about our choice of ‘food’?
Prayer
You might like to use this prayer as part of the intercessions or as personal meditation during the week.
Feed me, God.
When I am hungry for a sign,
let me look in the darkness.
Let me see you at work in the ordinary places;
let me feel the bread in my hands;
the taste of wine in my mouth;
and know that you are with me
though the way ahead is hard.
Feed me, God.
Inspire my imagination;
challenge my complacency;
renew my love.
Feed me with truth:
the hard-to-take
unpalatable reality about myself;
keep me from swallowing lies.
Feed me with hope:
signs of your glory
amongst the broken dreams
and the disappointments of today.
Feed me with courage:
give me food to keep me going.
Give me enough –
just enough –
of the bread that is good to eat.
Guard me against running after food that will not last.
Give me instead the bread of trust that warms the soul;
the bread that can be shared.
May I be hungry for your word.
Feed me, God,
with bread that endures:
stories of hope and possibility;
of challenge and change;
of justice.
May I break this bread with the poor.
Feed me with kindness.
May I be gentle with others.
Feed me with company and friendship along the way.
Feed me with fragments from your table.
Feed me with the wine of forgiveness.
Feed me with the gospel dream of humanity restored –
with the longings of home.
Feed me until I am full.
Amen.
Questions
- How can the hunger for hope, shelter, home, belonging and justice be ‘fed’ by your church community?
- The Eucharist is ended – the work begins. How do we take the Eucharist out into the world in acts of kindness, courage, hope, justice…?
Action
Invite someone to share coffee or a meal with you this week, giving thanks for the gifts you have.
Young people
Reflect on what the media ‘feeds’ us and how this affects our view of ourselves, of other people and of the world.?
What stories are adults ‘fed’ about young people (or any other people as a group) and how can misconceptions be challenged?
Diane Craven is a freelance writer and education consultant. She is a licensed lay minister in the Church of England.
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