[Propertalk] Gospel quotes for August 2 sermon - Part 5

[Joe Parrish]

I know what its like to get excited about "free bread." A few years ago, my brother Dan was visiting us over the Christmas holidays. On Christmas eve, we went to a nearby Safeway grocery store to purchase a few last-minute items, knowing all the stores would be closed on Christmas day. When we got to the checkout counter, I thought I overheard the clerk tell someone there was free bread. Did my ears ever perk up! When I inquired, the clerk said that since the store would be closed the next day, all the bread on the shelves was free. 

You should have seen what happened from this point on. Some folks were too proud to go back for free bread; others made their way back to the bread and discretely picked through the loaves, taking one or two of their favorite varieties. Then there was me. I should begin by telling you we had come in our van-a large van. Signaling Dan to gather up some shopping carts, I proceeded to clear the shelves, raking the loaves into the carts, and with Dan's help, wheeling multiple cart loads out to the van. Now some of you would not have wanted to be anywhere near me as I "gleaned" in the "field" of that Safeway store. I must tell you, though, that some of you in the audience ate that bread. Dan and I loaded the van, then I proceeded to call everyone I knew in our church who could use some free bread, and we had a number of takers.

http://bible.org/seriespage/bread-life-john-622-71

Bob Deffinbaugh
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Jesus had given them more than free bread. The bread that Jesus gave them wasn't just free, it came out of nowhere. And it came to them in the middle of nowhere. 

<>

But then he makes a bold move. He says, "I AM the bread of life." He identifies himself with Yahweh, the great I AM. He identifies Yahweh as the bread of life for the world. This is in contrast to the bread which feeds but does not satisfy. The question is how? How is Jesus the bread of life? How does Jesus satisfy hunger and thirst? How does Jesus provide life for the world.

One analogy, suggested by Walt Wangerin Jr. in his book, Ragman and Other Cries of Faith, is found in a particular species of Spider. While most spiders leave their eggs in a sac and wander off, one species does not leave them thus to chance, but stays to protect them and find food for them. Like all spiders, when this one eats, she injects her poison and digestive juices into her prey and the victim becomes her stomach as she sucks out the life and the food from the bodies empty shell. Except when there are no victims. When there is no food for the little spiders, the mother of this species will inject her poison into her own body and give her young one last meal, herself. She dies and gives them life.
Wangerin, Walter, Jr. Ragman and Other Cries of Faith, Harper and Row, Publishers, San Francisco, 1984, pp. 26-27.

http://www.predigten.uni-goettingen.de/archiv-8/060806-5-e.html

 Luke Bouman, 6 August 2006

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God, we thank you for your amazing, abundant grace that supplies us in times of need. Help us to know that you are always watching and always providing. Let your word go forth and find fertile souls, listening ears, and hearing hearts. And we'll be careful always to praise you. In the name of your Son, Jesus Christ, we pray with thanksgiving. Amen.

http://day1.org/504-what_do_you_want

The Rev. Dr. Ozzie E. Smith, Jr., pastor of Covenant United Church of Christ, South Holland, IL
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Jesus is at the grocery stores of our lives, in all those common and public places that we visit everyday. The bank. The post office. The highway. And we need to be people of infinite love, gentle love, compassionate love for everyone. The bread of life and energy of love needs to be living inside of all of us as we visit all those public places in our lives each day. 

<>
The basic food staple of the world is bread and Jesus is the basic spiritual staple of the world. There is a shortage of physical bread in this world of ours, but there is even a greater shorter of the bread of love.

http://www.sermonsfromseattle.com/series_b_bread_of_life.htm

Pastor Edward F. Markquart, Grace Lutheran Church, Seattle, Washington

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Hunger hurts.
One estimate is that 12 million children and 19 million adults in the U.S. can not afford the food they need. [From the website of Bread for the World: http://www.bread.org/  ] If you have ever encountered hungry child "up close and personal", you have never forgotten it.

Some years ago, I was riding with a sheriff's deputy who was a member of our church.  He was called to an apartment building to investigate possible domestic violence. When we arrived at the apartment, there was a young woman and a small child about 18 months. The woman (actually just a girl about 17 or 18 years old) said her boyfriend had been yelling at her during an argument and the neighbors had called the police. The place was filthy and smelled. The little girl wore diapers which had obviously been soiled for some time. She followed us around the apartment crying and clutching empty,  dirty bottle. The apartment was almost empty.  There was an old couch in the living room, a mattress on the floor in the tiny bedroom. Cushions on the floor were likely the girl's bed.

My friend went to the refrigerator and there was a single small jar of mustard and a plastic bread bag with two or three moldy pieces of bread.  That was it. There was no other food or drink in the place.  The deputy called human services and the child was taken to a foster home that night.

My friend said to me the next day, "The poor thing was starved. The child welfare worker told me she ate for half the night!" 

http://www.lectionarysermons.com/aug06.00.htm

John Jewell, 2000

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