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St Clement Church Community Twelfth after Trinity Sunday Service

Good morning to you all and welcome to our service.

A challenging week in so many ways, not the least being that we have yet another Gospel reading where Jesus is emphasising again that He is the Bread of Life. Not only that, but we must eat His flesh and drink His blood. Whilst I accept fully what He says, writing yet another Reflection on it, is definitely not easy!

My love to you all

Liz

Let us pray:

Lord of all, as we gather to worship You, we ask for hearts open to Your presence. Fill this place with Your Spirit and our souls with Your peace. Let every song, prayer and word spoken glorify You and draw us closer in communion with You and each other. In Your holy name, we worship.

Amen

We say together:

Dear Lord, You who were, who is and is to become. We worship You this day. Thank You because Your promises are true every morning. We praise You for the wonderful deeds in our lives. Your grace has enabled us to gather here for worship. We glorify You for always being there for us. You promised never to leave us or forsake us. Help us to worship You in truth and Spirit for the honour of Your name.

Through Jesus Christ, our Lord and Saviour, we pray.

Amen

Hymn: 473 When morning guilds the skies (omitting verses 2,3,4, 5)

Prayer of Penitence

Dear Lord, I confess that I have not always been the person You have created me to be. I often fail to love You with my whole heart, mind, and soul. I do not always love my neighbours as You love them.

Please forgive me, O Lord.

Transform my heart and renew my mind so that I can draw closer to You.

Amen.

Let us pray our Collect for the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity

Almighty and everlasting God, you are always more ready to hear than we are to pray and to give more than either we desire or deserve: pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy, forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid and giving us those good things which we are not worthy to ask but through the merits and mediation of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever.

Amen

Readings:

Proverbs 9. 1 - 6

Ephesians 5. 15 - 20

Hymn: 339 Be thou my vision

Gospel: John 6. 51 - 58

(Hear the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ according to John.

Response: ‘Glory to you O Lord.’)

Jesus said to the crowd: ‘I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’ The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, ‘How can this man give us his flesh to eat?’ So Jesus said to them, ‘Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; so my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live for ever.

(This is the Gospel of the Lord. Praise to you, O Christ)

Reflection

There was a German soldier during the first World War whose job was to capture enemy soldiers for interrogation. Because of the nature of trench warfare at that time it was extremely difficult for armies to cross the no-man’s land between opposing front lines; but it was not so difficult, for a single soldier to crawl across and slip into an enemy trench position.

The armies of the Great War had experts who regularly did so to capture an enemy soldier who would be brought back for questioning. This particular German expert had successfully completed such missions in the past and was sent on another.

Once again, he skilfully negotiated the area between the fronts and surprised an enemy soldier in his trench. The unsuspecting soldier, who had been eating at the time, was easily disarmed. The frightened captive with only a piece of bread in his hand then performed what may have been the most important act of his life. He gave his enemy some of the bread.

So affected was the German by this gift that he could not complete his mission. He turned from his benefactor and re-crossed the no-man’s land empty-handed to face the wrath of his superiors.

There is a message here for us. The bread of Christ is not to be hoarded but to be shared with the world, just as God has shared the ‘Living Bread’ with us.

I bumped into a friend that I hadn’t seen for some time. ‘How are you?’ she asked.

‘Oh fine – plodding on; very busy as usual!’ I replied.

‘Really? Are you trying to convince me or yourself?’

I suspect that I’m not the only one who’s had this sort of conversation. Most of us have these sorts of conversation several times a day and we offer the usual answers. Sometimes we add something about our family, our health, where we’ve been, or what we’ve been doing.

More often than not, these conversations focus on the circumstances of life. We might be fine and busy, getting the jobs done and loving and caring for our families but there is a difference, a vast difference, between doing life and having life within us.

Doing life, or having life; that’s the issue that Jesus is concerned about. That’s the focus of today’s Gospel reading. It is important enough that it has been the subject of the last several Sundays of Gospel readings. Each week has brought us closer to the unspoken question behind today’s Gospel: Is there life within you?

That’s a hard question and one which many will avoid or ignore. They will turn back and walk away rather than facing the question. “Fine,” “busy,” “good,” “doing well” do not answer the question. They cover it up. The question pushes us to discover the hunger within us and the life that Jesus wants to feed us. That’s what Jesus has been after these last few weeks.

Three weeks ago 5000 people showed up. They were fed with five small loaves and two fish. They didn’t understand. They thought it was about the loaves and fish. It was really about life and where it comes from. Two weeks ago, Jesus challenged us to consider the bread we eat. Is it perishable bread or does it endure to eternal life? Last week, Jesus declared himself to be the bread of life, the living bread that came down from heaven.

Today, He says, “Eat me, drink me.” This is the only way we ever have life within us. Jesus is very clear and blunt about this. His flesh is true food and His blood is true drink. Any other diet leaves us empty and hollow, hungry, and bereft of life. “Very truly, I tell you unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood you have no life in you.”

Those are ominous words, words that haunt and challenge us to consider whether there is life within us.

Jesus is talking about more than physical or biological life. Most of us spend a fair amount of time, energy, and prayer trying to create and possess the life we want. In spite of our best efforts, so often we live less than fully alive. Sometimes the outside and inside of who we are don’t match up. We ask ourselves, “What am I doing with my life?” We wonder if this is all there will ever be. Is this as good as it gets? We lament at what has become of us and our life. Nothing seems to satisfy. We despair at what is and what we think will be. Despite family and friends, we find no place in which we really belong.

Those questions and feelings are not so much a judgement on us, but a diagnosis of us. They are symptoms that there is no life in us. We are dying from the inside out. There is, however treatment for our condition and food for our hunger. Life in Christ, not death in the wilderness, is our destiny. The flesh and blood of Christ are the medicine that saves; what St Ignatius called ‘the medicine of immortality.’ One dose is not enough. We need a steady diet of this sacred medicine, this holy food.

Jesus is our medicine and our health. He is our life and the means to the life for which we most deeply hunger. We don’t work for the life we want. Wherever human hunger and the flesh and blood of Christ meet, there is life.

There was once a king who engaged a street artist to make a painting of the Last Supper. He wanted a picture of Jesus and His friends at their farewell meal for his banqueting hall. The artist had Jesus and his friends around the supper table, but he also included all kinds of people around the table, showing people from many races. They were people who were sick, lame and disabled; men and women; young and old; beggars and misfits and some thoroughly undesirable people.

When the king saw the painting he went into a rage, and shouted at the artist, ‘Of what is this painting?’

The artist said, ‘Your Majesty, this is a painting of God who delights in all people; all saints and all sorts are welcomed to the Kingdom and the earthly banquet … and that is my understanding of the Last Supper, Holy Communion and Eucharist.’

In the eating and drinking of Christ’s flesh and blood He lives in us, and we live in Him. We consume His life that He may consume and change ours. We eat and digest His life, His love, His mercy, His forgiveness, His way of being and seeing, His compassion, His presence, and His relationship with the Father. We eat and drink our way to life. So, leave nothing behind. Push nothing to the side. Clean your plate!

“Whoever eats me will live because of me,” Jesus said.

Amen

Affirmation of our faith

Let us declare our faith in God

We believe in God the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named.

We believe in God the Son, who lives in our hearts through faith, and fills us with his love.

We believe in God the Holy Spirit, who strengthens us with power from on high.

We believe in one God; Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

Amen.

Hymn: 239 Lord of all hopefulness

Our Intercessions by Helen Dunbar

Let us pray to our loving and merciful God

We pray for the Church throughout the world; for all political leaders, that we may have justice and peace between and within nations; for all people holding positions of power, that they may be guided by you Lord, and make decisions that benefit all and not just a few; for all those that cannot worship in safety, living in a country where their Christian faith is prohibited. We pray for all who worship in this church, and for all people who live in the surrounding area.