Bread

Earlier, I spent some time reflecting on the cup and the significance of that seemingly insignificant vessel. Now, I feel it is important to take the next logical step and speak about Bread.



It is simple enough. This combination of flour, water and dashes and pinches of other make up a large part of our diet. We marvel at the flavor and the necessity of it all and, we realize that there is power in bread. We toast it, we butter it, we peanut butter and jelly it, and we consume it bite after bite and, when we don't have it we notice that hunger too. Bread always seems to be on the grocery list as well. It is one of those elemental ingredients...milk, eggs, bread. Yet, when we take a walk down the isle in our stores we see that bread is not exactly bread. 12 grain, Cinnamon raisin, white, rye, pumpernickel. Hot dog buns, Hamburger buns, flat bread, dinner rolls. Bread fills in the gaps. A meal may not feel like a meal unless bread is on the table. Consider the phrase which goes back to our holy scripture, "breaking bread together." There is something elemental to who we are not just to the make-up of our menus. For, when we gather together walls are broken down by bread. Enemies are made into friends with bread. Rich and poor are equalized with bread. When bread is broken between people all that has been wronged has the possibility of being made right. When bread is shared freely, it suddenly doesn't matter whose bread it was in the first place. And, if we as followers of the risen Jesus gave bread to those who need it, there would be untold richness in experience that would follow. Bread is meant to be shared. Bread is meant to be broken. Bread is meant to be taken in with those we love and those we don't. Maybe that is why Jesus spoke about himself as bread. He gave himself up to live into God's plan of redemption for this world. He gave himself as the perfect sacrifice on the cross so that we might share the wonderful effects of that sacrifice with the rest of the world. Maybe we as the church could learn to be bread and take bread and give bread and eat bread and share bread and bake bread and break bread. Maybe the next time we celebrate the Eucharist we could experience the realness of the risen Jesus in bread so that we may be bread.



Grace and Peace