Sunday, August 06, 2006

Summertime Reflections

if you missed last week @ the crossing, a new brother in the circle -- dana moore -- did a beautiful job leading us in yoga and reflection, and christine j. has been turning out some stirring tunes for worship (last week, with help from her friend, hannah, a rabbinical student who plays a haunting flute). dana and christine will turn it out again this thursday. check out the bottom of this post for the scripture and themes ...

as always, come anytime after 5:15 p.m. on thursday to help with set-up. kendra will love you forever AND you'll get an extra big piece of the bread at communion . and if you'd like to stick around after clean-up for the discussion of next week's gospel lesson and practice, it's turned into quite the fruitful gathering. (basically, i think we just started a thursday night bible study without meaning to.)

big planning note: we've floated taking off the thursday before labor day, august 31, and all who have responded have said it sounds good. if we publicize it now and make sure no one comes wandering in, and then come back on september 7 with a big start (perhaps with our new publicity ready to roll out?) ... well, it might be a great use of all of our energy.

now, for the scriptures & themes: john 6:35, 41-51
-- jesus as bread of life. relationship with him nourishes us from the inside-out. it's alright to make that bold christian claim of who jesus is for us.
-- and yet, god is teaching and speaking to EVERYONE, not just christians. jesus and the spirit are beyond the church.
-- try an energizing practice, one that gets us into our bodies, where we can really feel the bread/spirit/nourishment that comes from jesus right at our core.

John 6:35, 41-51
Jesus said to the people, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

Then some of his fellow Jews began to complain about him because he said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." They were saying, "Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, `I have come down from heaven'?"

Jesus answered them, "Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, 'And they shall all be taught by God.' Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father.

"Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."