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SESSION SIX:
I AM THE BREAD OF LIFE
In this session we look at the notion that the whole of life is sacramental.
Opening Prayers
I am the bread of life,
anyone who comes to me shall not hunger,
anyone who believes in me shall never thirst.
Alleluia. Lord, give us this bread always.
The bread of God comes down from heaven,
and gives life to the world.
Alleluia. Lord, give us this bread always.
Anyone who eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life,
And I will raise him up on the last day.
Alleluia. Lord, give us this bread always.
It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is of no avail.
the words I speak, they are spirit and they are life.
Alleluia. Lord, give us this bread always.
Walk with us, Lord,
Along the road of resurrection!
Explain for us, so slow to believe,
the things that scripture says of you.
Break the bread of the Eucharist with us
whenever we share our lives with our brothers and sisters.
Stay with us each time night approaches
and the daylight fades in our hearts.
Amen.
Conversation
Share with each other as a way of summing up all that we have explored in this course the things that God has done for you in Christ that you particularly experience in worship. You might also like to mention where you have seen and encountered God in daily life, and what you think your future pattern of worship and daily prayer will be. Allow this session more time than usual and give each person in the group a chance to speak.
Reflecting on Scripture
Reading
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. 36But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. 37Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; 38for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. 39And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day.”
JOHN 6:35-39
Read the passage through once.
Keep a few moments’ silence.
Read the passage a second time with different voices.
Invite everyone to say aloud a word or phrase that strikes them.
Read the passage a third time.
Share together what this word or phrase might mean and what questions it raises.
| Reflection | JOHN PRITCHARD |
The sacramental principle
God uses material things as signs and pledges of grace, and as a means by which we receive them. More than anywhere else we see this principle lived out in the life of Jesus himself. Jesus is the outward and visible sign of God’s presence in the world always and everywhere. He was the human face of God, God’s self-portrait. Quite simply, like Father, like Son.
Jesus seems to be claiming such a special sacramental identity when he says in John’s Gospel, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.” Christians recognize the truth of this sacramental identity as they understand themselves to be receiving the life of Christ in the bread and wine of the Eucharist.
Once we’ve recognized what we call the “sacramental principle” in the person of Jesus, it becomes easier to see it working out all over the place. The God who we recognize in Jesus is disclosed in and through people, actions, and things that carry what we might call “added weight.” For example, things such as water, fire, bread, wine, and oil may all carry added weight in particular situations. Or certain actions may do the same, such as washing, anointing, and breaking bread. The “things” and the “actions” are symbols of something greater than themselves, but even more than symbols, they may make God’s presence and action so vividly alive and real to those encountering them in particular settings that they become sacramental. They become actual agents of change.
The Episcopal Church defines this sacramental principle like this: a sacrament is an “outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace.” So the outward sign of baptism is water, and the inward grace is union with Christ in his death and resurrection, the forgiveness of sins, and a new birth into God’s family, the Church. The outward sign of Holy Communion is bread and wine. The inward grace is the Body and Blood of Christ.
I am the Bread of Life.
Pushing further still, it’s clear that nature can take on a sacramental reality. “Earth’s crammed with heaven, and every common bush afire with God,” wrote Elizabeth Barrett Browning. “But only he who sees, takes off his shoes...
