49 were present in church on a partly cloudy day with moderating temperatures in the high 70’s, low 80’s. We had several people back from vacation, such as the Pogues. The scriptures continued with John 6 "the bread series" in the lectionary but the sermon concentrated on the Old Testament reading from Kings and Ephesians. Readings are here and the bulletin
This past week two diseased sycamores in front of the church were cut down providing a different look for the exterior:
Inside, the sunlight provided a constantly changing series of light and shadows
The Wisdoms celebrate their 44th wedding anniversary this week. Barbara displayed her new Nikon camera as part of that celebration.
Thom Guthrie paid a visit to us on a Sunday he had off. He played a hymn and sang the solo parts for "Taste and See" . We also wished him a happy birthday for Monday. Here pictured in the gallery with Helmut and Brad.
We provided both a blessing and commissioning of the Mission Team at the service who are leaving on August 22nd to Staten Island, NY to work in the Moravian Church clothing distribution. We had 9 of 13 members present:
Catherine presented them with booklets of 7 days worth of mediations and information on the labrynth they will visiting. Here is the first page with St. Peter’s clear light from the windows shining up on it.
We have a several links dealing with the trip – one on the Moravians that explains their history and a slideshow on their clothing distribution which they have been doing for nine years.
The Mission Team will soon venture outside of the community they know (Port Royal, a small town) to a new place (Staten Island) in the midst of a large city, within a different faith tradition (Moravians) to work on a project that is common to us all – the need for humanity. They are working outside of their frame of reference but they should be able to incorporate what they learn into theirs by the obvious need for clothing. Not so with the Jews in the Gospel.
The readings in the past week had the people following Jesus. Now Jesus has to confront the Jews around this issue we have deal with for the past two Sundays – bread
The Jews try to put Jesus in their frame of reference – and it just doesn’t work. They don’t get Jesus – the carpenter’s son saying he has come down from heaven They cannot accept what he said based on the fact that they know his parents. Jesus is too ordinary, in other words, to be the bearer of God’s living bread, let alone to be it himself. His interlocutors, in other words, do not believe him, which is significant given that Jesus has just defined the only work that matters as, in fact, believing in him.
Jesus as the bread of life ? As with clothing, it is a necessity but they don’t understand Jesus as the "bread of life. "Bread equals manna in the wilderness. The miracle of the feeding equals the food that filled their ancestors. Anything outside that context is not available for consideration.
Jesus explains this disbelief with the pronouncement that no one can come to him apart from the will and activity of the Father. God is the one who pulls us close to Jesus or, apparently, pushes us away. This outcome has cosmic significance, as Jesus offers bread that does not feed for a day or even a season but satisfies unto eternal life. More than that, Jesus doesn’t just give heavenly bread; he is the heavenly bread — that is, his very flesh and blood mediates the living presence of God.
Jesus reveals God’s character and provides direct access to relationship with God, something formerly mediated by covenant, law, or leader which is the Jewish perspective but now is directly accessible through him. It’s not history as with the Jews but something yet to come.
The Jews in another way fear Christ. As the sermon stated "Fear of losing control and having no power can lead to us to resort to the list of vices that we have heard spelled out for us today in the letter to the Ephesians—lying, anger, stealing, and evil talk." The latter "talk" is the issue. They are in the critics box but don’t pursue Jesus directly to want to learn more. They don’t confront him directly. As Jesus said "Do not complain among yourselves."