Weekly Bulletin

The eyes of all look to You, and You give them their food in due season. You open your hand; You satisfy the desire of every living thing.      Psalm 145:15-16

 

And if you spend yourselves in behalf of the hungry and satisfy the needs of the oppressed, then your light will rise in the darkness, and your night will become like the noonday.    Isaiah 58:10

 

“Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.  For on him God the Father has placed his seal of approval….”  Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven.  For the bread of God is the bread that comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”   
“Sir,” they said, “always give us this bread.”  Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”       John 6:27, 32-35

 

[The new believers after Pentecost] devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer…. All the believers were together and had everything in common…. They broke bread in their homes and ate together with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and enjoying the favor of all the people.  And the Lord added to their number daily those who were being saved.      Acts 2:42,44,46-47

 

 

A very long time ago, I read something written by Quaker minister/teacher/philosopher/author D. Elton Trueblood to explain Friends’ somewhat unique understanding and practice of the sacrament of communion.  Rather than paraphrase it, I’ll let Trueblood’s excellent explanation speak for itself.

 

A sacrament may be defined as “an actual conveyance of spiritual meaning and power by a material process.”  Because a family meal meets the qualification of the definition, each meal should be sacramental.  The Quaker ideal is to make every meal at every table a Lord’s Supper.  Christians should seek to remember Him, every time they break bread.  The reality lies, not in the nature of the material substance, but in the way in which it can stir up the human heart.  It is a serious mistake to think that Quakers are negative about the sacraments.  They are, indeed, vigorously affirmative.  The sacraments are not merely two, or merely seven, but seventy times seven.  Friends can appreciate the experience of other Christians who feel that they need the ceremonial observances, and can share with them when invited to do so, but the life to which we are called is one which is deeper than all ceremonies.   (An Introduction to Quakers, Elton Trueblood, Friends United Press)

 

Like so many other principles of genuine spiritual life, this understanding of the sacredness of God’s provision of the physical and spiritual food and drink which sustain life is subject to abuse by the two extremes of license and legalism.  Quakers can say they commune with Christ at meals when they really don’t – repeating “God is great, God is good, let us thank him for our food…” may or may not suffice.  Folks from more liturgical traditions can insist they have communed because they ingested a certain kind of food and beverage received from a religious official on a certain day in a certain place – but those specifics can only “set the table” for communion to take place, not guarantee that it actually does.  Regardless of one’s tradition, true communion only takes place when there is a sincere acknowledgment of need, confession of unworthiness, acceptance of “God’s menu,” savoring and gratitude for what is provided, and willingness to share it with others who hunger (Matt. 5:3-7).

 

Air, Food, and Water are Everywhere in Scripture  because they are everywhere in life.  God created us to need oxygen, nourishment, and hydration regularly in order to function and to sustain life.  After creating the earth filled with water and edible plants and animals, Genesis 2:7 indicates that God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, then “breathed into his nostrils the breath of life.”  He gave Adam and Eve careful instructions about which plants and animals were edible and which were not – so of course, as creatures given the ability to reason and choose, they had to sample the one which was not.  Food was involved in their son Cain’s murder of his brother Abel.  Wild game, bread, and lentil stew played a part in the trajectory of Jacob’s journey to becoming the patriarch known as Israel.  Water wells he dug in Palestine were a daily fixture in the lives of his descendants.  The food supply in Egypt motivated the Lord to lead Joseph to build and fill granaries in advance of a lengthy, severe drought. God’s miraculous provision of bread and meat “from the heavens” and potable water from desert springs (and a rock!) were a daily reminder of the Lord’s protection and purpose for Moses and the Israelites fleeing from Egypt.  Many of the festivals which were instituted in the Law to remind the Hebrews of that history included feasting and the sharing of food. 

 

In Jesus’ Own Work     Soon after Jesus began his three years of public ministry, he performed his “first” miracle at a wedding in Cana, in Galilee (John 2).  He changed jars of water into fine wine to spare the hosts of the celebration the embarrassment of having run out.  Before long, as large groups of people began following him, he miraculously fed multitudes of 5000 and 4000 who were hungry, had not brought food to the gatherings, but didn’t want to leave.  John 4 tells the story of Jesus and the disciples traveling through Samaria and stopping at the village of Sychar for water at Jacob’s well.  A Samaritan woman doing her daily chore of hauling water came near (someone a Jewish man wasn’t supposed to speak with), and Jesus asked her to share a cup of water with him.  A lengthy conversation ensued about the well and “living water”, the region’s history and religion, the woman’s somewhat sketchy past, and Jesus’ identity and work as the Messiah.  Before Jesus moved on towards Galilee, the woman became a believer in him and persuaded many of her Samaritan friends to believe, too. 
             On the evening of his resurrection, Jesus appeared to his disciples who were hiding out behind locked doors for fear of being arrested and killed like Jesus had been.  Jesus was suddenly in their midst and pronounced peace upon them to calm their fear.  He reminded them of their assignment to continue his redemptive work on earth, and then he breathed on them and said “receive the Holy Spirit” (a preview of Pentecost) before leaving them, probably just as he had arrived (John 20:21-23).

 

In the Church      I have always appreciated the description in Acts 2:42-47 of the simplicity of the early Church’s efforts to carry out that assignment Jesus had given them – “they devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer.”  My understanding of the word “devoted” in scripture implies a full, total commitment, not a partial, occasional one.  And as I look at those four things to which the first Christians devoted themselves, it describes a commitment to live lives which are the best, fullest, most consistent with God’s created intentions of which we’re capable, both spiritually (the apostles’ teaching, prayer) and humanly (fellowship, breaking of bread).  Those are lives of deep spiritual listening, learning, and growth, and positive relationships of sharing real life and sacrificial love like Christ’s.  As 2:47 indicates, God can build a Church on that simple foundation.

 

What’s the Point?      For me, interactive, continuous communion with Christ should for his disciples be as frequent and constant as their own breathing, eating, and hydrating.  Just as those human processes nurture and strengthen the physical body, so does spiritual communion strengthen and nurture the soul.  Every breath we inhale can be a reminder of the miracle of life Adam received from God’s breath, and of the Spirit of life whom Jesus imparted to the disciples by breathing on them.  Every meal we eat should remind us of the miracle of nature that produced it and us, and of the Lord’s gracious provision of it for our strength and endurance.  It also should remind us of the spiritual Bread of Life who nourishes our souls by his presence there to enable lives of obedience and service.  I have found also that periodic spiritual fasting increases my gratitude for physical food, and my compassion for neighbors who lack adequate nutrition.  Every drink we take of soothing, cooling water can remind us of its miracle, too – that we are able to obtain it without a two-mile walk to a well, that it can be safely consumed without fear, and that it miraculously does its work in our bodies to regulate temperature to keep us healthy and functioning.  That should remind us of Jesus’ words (John 4:13,14) about the Living Water his Spirit delivers which wells up within our souls and satisfies our thirst for God and his merciful love, not on a ceremonial schedule, but every day, all the time.

 

Not Everyone Gets It      I heard a heartbreaking radio newscast this week reporting that monitoring by the US Department of Agriculture shows that food insecurity in the US is now greater than it was at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.  How can that be possible?  Their definition of food insecurity is rather complicated, but it boils down to meaning “the lack of consistent availability or access to the quantity and quality of nutritious food needed for healthy living.”  The increased recent traffic at the local food pantry would tend to support the USDA’s assessment.  It highlights the importance of Isaiah’s words (58:10) at the top of page one, that true communion with Christ can motivate his disciples to “spend themselves in behalf of the hungry” in ways that bring light into the world’s physical and spiritual darkness.  We cannot alone solve the crisis, but we can spread a little light.

 

Step One     A year ago or so, our Ministry & Oversight asked that going forward, each 5th Sunday during the year be designated as a fellowship potluck Sunday.  It is interesting that in doing that, we invite Friends to devote this morning to the apostles’ teaching, to fellowship, to the breaking of bread, and to prayer – all four of the “foundation stones” in Acts 2:42.  We stress again that it’s not just a Sunday thing, but an every day thing.  And it’s not a church growth program, just an effort to increase our own level of devotion, and to put ourselves in a place of readiness for when the Lord sends new people our way in need of friends who practice those disciplines.  For those who have joined us today, thank you for the gift of your time and participation.  For those who haven’t, you’re always welcome to come join us.  Let’s be his faithful disciples.  Let’s be Friends.

 

 

 

1) Why do you think people nowadays share visits and meals with others in homes less often?  What has changed?

2)  If you enjoy church fellowship potluck lunches, why do you enjoy them?  If you don’t enjoy them, why don’t you?

3)  What should we learn from the success of the Samaritan woman at the well in bringing her friends to Jesus?

4)  How are the needs of the physical body and the spiritual soul the same/similar?  How are they different?