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My flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.

John 6: 53-58 (The Message: A Modern Translation by Eugene Peterson)

Friends,

Flesh and blood are deeply visceral symbols. Flesh and blood are bizarre statements to make, in the context of worship. When I was a kid, I thought it was almost cannibalistic to talk about flesh and blood, like God was asking me to eat my arm or something. Honestly, it freaked me out for years, until I took my first communion course and understood more deeply about what this is all about. Its about something I cant create.

That still doesn't give a reason why flesh and blood are necessary, if its about something I cant create. Why is Jesus talking about bread and flesh/blood in the same way? Well, on the face of it, Jesus is pointing to a truth: the bread that is his body gives us more security, more purpose, more understanding than any bread we can bake ourselves. And heres why that matters.

Bread is ubiquitous in the world as a staple of many diets. Bread can also be so cheap that we do not think twice about the costs, maybe even throwing it away when its stale or no longer the flavor we want that day. We cant do the same to Jesus, because the remarkable thing with Jesus is that we so often leave church fuller than we’ve ever been- with only a tiny piece of bread and sip of wine to show for it.

It's enough to break our minds thinking about how this small symbol can be enough to fill us up, but it does. I think it does because of what it points too- it points to our re-membering in community. It points to how we are reconnected to our friends and neighbors every week here.

A reconnection which brings us home to our truest selves. A reconnection which gives us a tangible taste of God’s grace in our lives, so that we can be a force for love in the world.

How are we a force for love in the world? Come Sunday to find out!

Blessings,

Alex+