St. Andrew's Day

In September last year I was part of a Study Group that visited Geneva to learn more about the Reformers, particularly John Calvin and John Knox.

On our first morning the weather was glorious and I was delighted to see a St. Andrew's cross in the sky created by two jet contrails. The moon was still visible shining faintly between the ends of the two right-hand arms just up from the centre.

With today being St Andrew's Day I share with you my photo of that St. Andrew's cross. Today we give thanks for Andrew, who brought his brother Peter to meet Jesus the Messiah, and for all the subsequent generations of Christians who have brought that revelation into today's world.

Calvin and Knox played their part in bringing the Good News to their generation. Today each of Christ's followers have the challenging task of introducing our generation to Jesus of Nazareth, who came as a baby, died on a Cross, and rose from the tomb to demonstrate his victory over death itself.

Truly He is the Messiah, the Christ, the Lord and Saviour of the whole World.

Change - for the Better?

Some people say that a Change for the Better is a contradiction in terms. In other words that it is impossible for any Change to be for the Better.

But I think that such people only make that statement when they are reasonably content with the way things are at that moment.

When people are in an unpleasant situation then they almost always want some kind of change to occur. For example, if you are feeling cold, then you would like to be warmer.

So whether you are happy about some upcoming change depends not only on the change but also on your current circumstances. If you are too hot already then you don't want to get warmer at all!

Some people are happy with the current state of the Church of Scotland. But I think that people who are happy with the Church's Status Quo don't have much of a vision for what the Church could be.

Jesus gave the church a job to do. He told us to go and make disciples of all people.

Most people in Scotland don't go to any church. This suggests that the Church needs to be different if we are to accomplish what Jesus told us to do. Jesus' commission to us suggests that we should consider the church is more for the people outside the church than it is for the people inside the church.

Perhaps we should be asking the people outside the church how we should be changing to become the kind of church they need us to be.

In my study of Physics I learned that every molecule is moving. Even the molecules that make up a solid object are continually moving. They vibrate back and forward at a speed depending on the temperature of the solid, liquid, or gas. The hotter it is the faster they move. The colder the material the slower the molecules move.

The only way to make something become totally motionless is to cool it down until it reaches Absolute Zero. At that temperature an object has Zero energy and it becomes totally still. In other words it becomes static and unchanging.

Lord Kelvin discovered and defined the temperature of Absolute Zero in 1848. It is -273°C. It is such a significant value that physicists use the Kelvin temperature scale, which defines -273°C as 0K, and 0°C as 273K, and 100°C as 373K, etc.

So the people who want the Church of Scotland to remain unchanging, static, motionless, need to cool themselves down to 0K. At that temperature it wouldn't be very comfortable to sit, stand, and sing, through a standard one hour long Church of Scotland service.

The next time someone in Church asks you if you are OK, you might like to consider whether they are asking about your health, or if they are asking whether you are at Absolute Zero, 0K, OK?

Exciting Stories

This evening I heard exciting stories from two guys who have moved to Edinburgh in the last few years. One guy, called Dave, works in the city centre in a high-flying IT job.

Dave's work provided him with all his material needs - but despite working on some of the most famous computer games in the world he was still dissatisfied. He needed something to believe in - a foundation for his life.

Recently Dave attended an Alpha Course and shortly afterwards he realised that he had found something to believe in - or to be more precise - someone to believe in.

We also heard from John, who came to Edinburgh from China to study Computer Science four years ago. He attended various church events in the city in a search for friendship and social contacts. One of his church friends seemed special and when John was invited to an Alpha Course he decided to go along. A few weeks afterwards John realised that he had found a new life. Now instead of attending church occasionally for social reasons he gets involved in everything that's going on.

Two guys whose lives have been completely transformed through meeting with Jesus Christ. It makes me excited to be in the family of God!

Christmas is Coming!

But the Old Man is not getting fat!

Some people say that Christmas seems to appear on the horizon earlier each year. I think that this year I would definitely agree with them!

However, officially we shouldn't start preparing for Christmas until this coming Sunday - which is Advent Sunday. It's the start of the Christian Year, so it could also be called New Year's Day - but that would just confuse everyone!

Despite this coming Sunday being the official start of Christmas preparations, last Sunday has a traditional name of Stir-up Sunday - because for many people it was the day that they made their Christmas puddings, which involved a lot of stirring!

And in the shops we have been seeing messages about the approach of Christmas for weeks, if not months! I wonder if this year there will be some must-have product that will have everyone searching the shops for right up to the last minute.

For me, Christmas appeared earlier than usual this year. Since I first arrived at Abercorn and Winchburgh in September the service plans have been showing Christmas in the distance. And as the weeks have gone by we have been adding in the detail.

Church services, school services, Christmas lunches and dinners - the diary is getting quite full. And I rather suspect that by the end of it all the Old Man will be getting rather fat after all!

If we are to start celebrating Christmas from the beginning of Advent, then we just have to start preparing for Advent in plenty of time. So for some of us, Christmas begins to approach quite early on.

Some people seem to think that Christmas is so much bother, and so little to celebrate, that they leave all their preparations until the last minute, the big day is more of a damp squib, and as soon as it's over they want to head back to work and forget all about it. They get irritated at the endless Christmas Carols, and the continual shaking of the charity cans, and the unavoidable Christmas images in all the shops.

For me, I like Christmas. I have enjoyed thinking about it early. I am looking forward to selecting Carols for our services, and then to singing about, and celebrating Christmas, for as long as I can get away with it!

In some ways I wish that New Years Day was farther away from Christmas Day. Then we could celebrate Christmas for longer. After all there are supposed to be Twelve Days of Christmas - but these days we are lucky if we get Seven never mind Twelve.

Today we began the process of choosing this year's Christmas Hymns and Carols. By my count I reckon that we will have about 23 different Christmas services during the 26 days of Advent - nearly one every day, although on some days we will have several events, such as on December 21st when we will have four services through the day.

So I think we'll be singing some of the old favourites many times during the next month. It's not Advent yet - but I can hardly wait for the starting gun!

Wintry Scene

I've not yet properly got used to the idea that we are in Autumn, so I was rather shocked when I got to Abercorn this morning to discover snow lying on the ground!

Apparently, at 4am this morning the whole area was blanketed by snow, most of which had melted by the time I arrived at 9:30.

Later on, someone commented that after this cold morning they were looking forward to getting back to their lovely warm house. And it stimulated us to recall that life used to be much harder.

On a day like today it would be a frequent physical task to fetch in the coal or logs to keep the downstairs fire burning. The fire(s) would have to be made up in the morning, raked out, kept stoked and burning throughout the day to keep the cold at bay. And if you were lucky then you might get a fire in your bedroom grate for a little while before bedtime.

In these days of electric, gas, or oil-fired, central heating it is an easy task to keep the house warm. Although with the recent dramatic rises in fuel costs it's not so easy to pay the bills.

There again, when we think of the rise in global carbon dioxide levels from burning fossil fuels, that have set the world on a path of rising temperatures, perhaps we should be thinking harder about heating our homes.

When it is cold outside we like to come into a warm house and take off all our cold weather clothing. But perhaps we should be thinking about wearing warming clothing indoors and turning down our thermostats by several degrees.

It's not become standard practice in our house yet. But I think we might start practicing before much longer!

Still Here!

Another sunrise, and another day.
I'm still here!

It was not intentional - to leave such a long gap between posts. It's just been a busy week - again! I was wondering whether, after my previous post, you might have thought it was my Last Post - and that I had departed.

Well, I'm still here!

It's been rather a theatrical week, visiting the Luv Esther musical at Meadowbank with some of our Bible Study on Monday evening. It is a great show and I recommend catching it if you can.

My two (late-)teenage lads can't wait to get their hands on my CD from the show. The show is more of a Pop Opera (to quote the web site) rather than a conventional musical. The songs are full of great beats, strong words, and a captivating story line. And you can read all about it in the Old Testament, not surprisingly, in the book of Esther!

And then on Wednesday my family and I went to see this year's Edinburgh Gang Show at the King's Theatre. The cast were full of energy and the sound system worked well enabling us to hear all the contributions. There is perhaps less of a storyline this year than in previous Gang Shows, but nonetheless it was an enjoyable evening out. My daughter Katie is one of the senior Gang members and seeing her radiant smile always livens up the Show.

This coming Sunday the Parish Singers will be leading worship at Winchburgh (at 11:30am). I am sure it will be a great end to very musical week!

Departing Friends

Shortly before his crucifixion Jesus explained to his disciples that he was going to leave them (John 14).

It's a situation that we face also in our lives here.

Maybe it’s a friend or neighbour who is having to move away. We’ve come to know them, to love them, to depend on them. And then, all of a sudden, we find out they they are going away.

What will we do? How will we cope? How sad it will be.

Like Jesus’ disciples, sometimes such departures are the result of a death. The person may have been ill for a while, or they may have died suddenly. Either way, we are sad, upset, in mourning.

The disciples were used to sudden death. It was commonplace in these days. Even in our country, until 50 or 60 years ago, death was a frequent occurrence. It was just around the corner. Although we never expected it, we knew how to deal with it.

With the excellence of our present-day National and Private Health Services there is sometimes a belief that nothing can deprive us of our three score years and ten. But serious illness can strike us at any time. Accidents are no respecters of persons.

And so when death strikes it can undermine all our confidence. It shakes all our assumptions. And sometimes it leads us to question our beliefs about who God is and what life is all about.

That’s the circumstance that Jesus was addressing with his disciples.

Since he had been baptised by John in the wilderness a short three years previously, Jesus had gradually built up a core group of 12 disciples. They were the guys that refused to leave when everyone else had gone back home.

They have been everywhere with Jesus. They have seen him do mighty miracles - with Peter even walking with him across the Sea of Galilee. They have become one with each other.

Jesus has always been there for them. Even when he sent the seventy out in pairs, and they came back rejoicing that even the demons submitted to them, Jesus was still there.

His physical presence underwrote everything that happened. Sometimes people only needed to touch his cloak to receive healing. The centurion’s son was healed at a distance, but only after his father had had a physical meeting with Jesus, and Jesus spoke the word.

How would the disciples manage without Jesus?
What would they do?
How would they carry on?

You may already be wondering why on earth I am talking about the Holy Spirit just now. The time when we usually celebrate the coming of the Holy Spirit is at Pentecost, in May, 50 days after Easter.

Wit it being only a fortnight away from Advent Sunday, surely we should be getting ready to be getting ready to celebrate Jesus’ birth?

All that is true. And that’s why today we are not looking at the story in the Acts of the Apostles about how the early church started that first Pentecost.

Here we are, coming up to the end of the church year. It’s time to think back over all that’s been going on since last Christmas. It’s time to remember some of Jesus’ last words to his disciples, before we go start thinking about how Jesus was born as a real baby.

And you may feel that it’s all a bit irrelevant now. I mean it’s 2000 years since Jesus spoke his final words to his disciples. What use is it for us in these days to spend time studying what Jesus said so long ago? How can Jesus’ words mean anything today, in this world of computers, internet, and mobile phone?

I can see that point of view. The way we live our lives today is almost totally different from the way Jesus’ disciples lived their lives. We eat and drink like they did - but almost everything else is different.

I think the relevance comes from thinking about what we are doing here this Sunday morning (at Kingscavil Church). Why have we come to this place? Why do we sing about Jesus, read about Jesus, talk about Jesus?

Is it not because we are trying to Follow Jesus?

Just like his disciples that walked with him, talked with him, and even sang with him, we too want to shape our lives according to the way that Jesus taught.

Indeed, in another of his ‘I am’ statements, like the ‘I am the Bread of Life’ statement that was our focus last week, Jesus said,
“I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life. No-one comes to the Father except by me.” (John 14:6)

We too want to find our way to the Father. Jesus offers to us all the resources of heaven if we love him and obey his commandments.

Jesus said that we should "Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. And love your neighbour as yourself." (Luke 10:27).

Jesus was preparing his disciples to carry on his work after his death. He was telling them of the central role that the Holy Spirit would play in empowering them and directing them to be God’s people.

Instead of Jesus having only 2 hands, 2 feet, and 1 mouth, now the Church would have millions of mouths speaking God’s word in every nation of the world.

And not only speaking God’s word, but performing signs and works like Jesus did. And even greater things than Jesus did.

Why? Not because we are greater than Jesus was. But because the Holy Spirit is the same today as in Jesus’ time. He can do more because there is more opportunity to do.

Jesus submitted himself to baptism by John. Not because he needed it, but because God had commanded it. (Matthew 3:13-17)

Although Jesus was God, he was not to act in his divine authority, but he was to act and speak as a man, empowered by the Holy Spirit.

In John 14:16-17 , Jesus says he would ask the Father and he would give us the Holy Spirit, who would be with us for ever, - be with us and in us.

And in verse 19, Jesus tells his disciples, and tells us, that through the Holy Spirit we will know that Jesus is in the Father, and we are in Jesus, and He is in us.

This is the culmination of John’s teaching about who Jesus is.

This is John’s declaration of the Trinity of God. That God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, are in each other, and are One.

And by the Holy Spirit, given to each one of Christ’s followers, we are invited to become part of God’s family, just as he becomes part of us.

In my previous job as an electronics engineer, one of the things I had to do was to make sure that every electronic part communicated properly with its neighbour.

In your computer, if you have one, the Processor talks to the Memory, and to the Graphics Card, and to the Hard Drive, etc. All the parts must operate correctly, and communicate with each other accurately and efficiently; otherwise your PC is just a bunch of metallic, ceramic, and plastic junk, lying in the corner.

The Holy Spirit is here to enable us to communicate with God.

He comes into every part of us. He is the breath of God. God breathes out, and it’s like we breathe Him in.

And just as we breathe in the Oxygen in the air, that through our lungs, enters the bloodstream, and supplies every cell in our bodies, so too the Holy Spirit seeks to enter and energise every part of our lives.

He wants to be part of our thinking, our feeling, our talking our loving, our working, our learning, our sleeping, our worshipping - every part.

Only with the Holy Spirit in us, can we hope to be followers of Jesus. Real followers. People who act like Jesus, who speak like Jesus, who love like Jesus.

That’s an awesome challenge for us. None of us is perfect. Everyone falls short of who God wants us to be. Jesus was the only one who lived life perfectly.

We let God down. We are not good disciples. We might even admit that we are bad disciples.

Yet we are all the disciples that Jesus has got. He loves you and he loves me. He forgives us of all our failures and our misdeeds. He wants us to follow so close to him that we know we are with him; that we are in him, as he is in us.

Look around you. There’s just us. There are no crowds outside the door, thronging the streets, clamoring to get in and become part of our community.

Jesus twelve disciples were not perfect either. Peter was impetuous and foolhardy, denying Jesus during the crucifixion. James and John argued over who was to be the greatest. Judas betrayed him.


Yet those twelve disciples turned the world upside down.
Twelve is enough - and we are more than Twelve!

In only 300 years the Roman emperor, Constantine, had acknowledged that it was not the Roman Caesar who was God, but that Jesus is God.

Now Christianity is present in almost every nation, and is still growing strongly, especially in Africa and many other Third World countries.

But we have lost our direction here. The Church of Scotland is struggling to survive in many parts of Scotland. One in every six churches is having to make do with temporary ministry while they search for someone who will become their Parish Minister.

There is much for us to do also in this place. To be the people that God wants us to be, we must breathe in the breath of God to every part of lives - healing, loving, forgiving, empowering, directing, inspiring - bringing us abundant life, life to the full, full and running over, forever, eternally, with Him.

As we approach the Christmas season, let us look over this past year, and prepare to go forward into the new Christian year, as it begins on Advent Sunday.

That’s the day that we officially begin our preparations for Christmas. Not from the end of August like we see in the world round about us!

It’s our chance to take a fresh look at what Jesus is all about.

He came amongst us as a baby, rose again from the grave, and sent his Spirit to be with us now and always.

Downs and Ups

Yesterday's Federer & Murray tennis match, that was part of the Master's Cup, was full of downs and ups. Although, like a see-saw, what is down for one player, is up for the other.

Federer was in pain for the latter part of the match and twice needed treatment. But he refused to give up.

He has never abandoned a match-in-progress in his professional career. And so he persevered even although the pain sometimes slowed him down.

Eventually, he was beaten by Murray - but he didn't give up.

The Vendee Globe round the world yacht race has been full of downs and ups too - and I'm not talking about the large waves!

The storms of the first few days caused 8 of the 30 competitors to return to port for repairs. None of them wanted to give up - especially so early in the race.

One of the eight returnees rejoined the race after only a few hours delay. He has already caught up and overtaken the last of the non-returners.

Another two rejoined several days later and will be racing each other to rejoin the fleet. A fourth competitor is intending to rejoin tomorrow, a week after the start.

For four others, the repairs were too big to accomplish, and they abandoned the race.

Those who carry on with this race around the world will have many disheartening days - as well as their exhilarating days. It will take 80 days or more of continuous racing in extremely difficult and dangerous conditions befothey rach the finishing line back in Les Sables d'Olonne from where they started. No doubt there will be more damage - which now can only be repaired at sea.

Only those who are resourceful enough, and persistent enough, will manage to persevere to the end. Only those who finish will be eligible to win.

In the New Testament, Paul was determined to run his race to the end (1 Cor. 9:24-27). He would finish. And he would take his prize. It might not be first prize, but he knew that a prize awaited him at the finishing line.

Jesus showed us the Way. Indeed, he said, "I am the Way, the Truth, and the Life." (John 14:6). He told his disciples that for everyone who finishes the race there is a prize - a place in the Father's house - for ever.

5 Things......

Shuna has challenged me to list 5 things I have always wanted to do, having done so herself. So here goes:

1. Find a girl who wants to spend her life with me, and me with her.

2. Watch my children growing up to be happy and contented.

3. Own a Rover family car like my father did.

4. Own a sailing dinghy - again like my parents.

5. Travel round the world including visiting Australia & New Zealand.

Objectives 1 and 3 have been accomplished, and number 2 is in progress!

No sign yet of me achieving number 4, but one can always hope!

As for number 5, I have reached the West coast of the USA, and to Taiwan in Asia, and down to 12.5 degrees North latitude. But I have not yet travelled across the Pacific, nor have I ventured into the Southern hemisphere.

All of which makes me slightly envious of the yachtsmen and yachtswomen in the Vendee Globe race who will have sailed right round the world before St. Valentine's Day next year!

Only 'slightly' mark you. They can keep the hardships - and I'll watch on the internet from my comfy chair!

Teachers deserve huge respect!

Today I spent my longest day in school since I left Liberton High School in 1975!

We have two primary schools in my placement area and we were in both of them today. It was the first time I had been tasked to prepare and deliver the class activity in each of the classes that we visited. And with six classes to visit in one school, and three classes to visit in the other school, it was a rather daunting prospect!

After spending four hours in school today I was exhausted - and full of admiration for the teachers who help our children learn how to live in this world of ours.

Since we are coming up to Advent, with it's Christmas theme of helping those in need, often through charities, I decided that today's theme would be helping.

For the core story we looked at Jesus' story of the Good Samaritan. For those who heard it the very name was a contradiction in terms. At that time, all Samaritans were considered to be 'bad'. How could there be a 'Good Samaritan'?

But such was the radical message that Jesus brought. We should not only love our friends, not only love our neighbours, but we should love those who we think are 'bad', and even love those who openly declare themselves to be our enemies.

Of course, we didn't go into that depth in school. But in most of the classes we touched on helping those in need, be they 'orphans, widows, or aliens' that we are commanded to care for in the Old Testament, or just people who need our help in our everyday lives.

In the last class we visited today, the children have been studying the disastrous sinking of the liner Titanic on 14th April 1912. That day 1504 died, and only 704 people were saved, despite the theoretical lifeboat capacity of 1178.

The figures are shocking, for in the panic and distress of the evacuation, many people were left to die, instead of being saved.

In Jesus' story, the people who should have helped - didn't. And the person who was not expected to help - did.

Let us all do our best to be people who help.

Remembering at Winchburgh

All-Knowing God,
We come before you today,
With all that we are,
With all our burdens.

This is a time of Remembering for us.
We remember good times, and hard times.
You know our deepest thoughts,
Our most secret memories.

You have journeyed with us.
You have walked with us.
You have cried with us.
You have carried us.

We do not need to tell you of these hard times.
You were there - with us - for us.
Indeed, in some mysterious way, you were there before us.
And in the same mysterious way, you are there still.

Time is not the same for you as it is for us.
You created the universe before there was time.
And when the sands of time run out, you will still be there.
You don’t have to remember -
You are then, You are now, You are forever.

We bring you our burdens today,
For you are able to lift them from our shoulders.
Indeed you want to lift them from us.
You offer us freedom from our bitterness and pain.

Jesus Christ, Son of God, grant us your peace.
Our peace is not enough.
Our peace is fragile and partial;
A mere papering over the cracks.

Your peace is strong and complete.
Your peace is deep and everlasting.
Your peace sets us free from our regrets and worries;
Sets us free from bitterness and hatred;
Sets us free from the past to journey into the future.

Holy Spirit of God,
Assure us of your forgiveness
as we forgive others who have wronged us.
Fill us with your comfort, your love, and your power.

On this day of Remembrance, as we remember those who have gone before us, we pray together the prayer that you gave us 2000 years ago:

Our Father, who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name, Thy kingdom come.
Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread.
And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors.
And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory, for ever.
Amen

Vendee Globe starts

The four-yearly, single-handed, round-the-world, yacht race, called the Vendee Globe, started on 9th November from Northwest France.

The 30 yachts, with only one person onboard, will sail nonstop down the Atlantic, round the southern tip of Africa (Cape of Good Hope), skirting the Southern Ocean that surrounding Antarctica as they pass across the southern Indian and Pacific Oceans, before rounding the southern tip of South America (the notorious Cape Horn) and back up the Atlantic to Les Sables d’Olonne.

This year there are seven British entries. Mike Golding & Dee Caffari are a male/female team, sailing two identical yachts, which will give an interesting challenge between the sexes. The other female competitor, Samantha Davies, is also a British entry. Alex Thomson, sailing Hugo Boss, is another well-known British entrant, previously abandoning ship (in the Velux 5 Oceans race), and being rescued by Mike Golding in the Southern Ocean. Steve White, Jonny Malbon, and Brian Thompson, are the other three British entries.

It hardly seems like it is 8 years since Ellen MacArthur came 2nd in 94 days. And 4 years since Vincent Riou finished ahead of Jean Le Cam who was only 7 hours behind after 24,000 miles and 87 days at sea!

This year there is speculation that the new generation of yachts will come close to, or even beat, the fictional Phileas Fogg's achievements, emulated by Michael Palin, in travelling Around the World in 80 Days.

It's going to be a high-speed blast around the World. I'll be hanging on via the Vendee Globe race website. Who will win? And will they beat 80 days? I can't wait!

Life - don't talk to me about life!

Today's title is a quote from Marvin the Depressed Robot in Douglas Adams' Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy.

On Wednesday I was with one of the Primary School classes on a visit to Edinburgh Zoo to learn more about Uganda and its animals. The main focus of our visit was the Budongo Forest in Uganda, where Edinburgh Zoo has a partnership with a local research and conservation group.

The Zoo's new Chimpanzee House is called the Budongo Trail. It is a very imaginative place, with three big interconnected indoor areas, as well as a large outdoor 'forest' area.

The Chimpanzees were very active - even although the eldest is approaching 50 years old. However, as with people, some of the time they spend resting. And it's much easier to take photos of resting animals than it is when they are more active!


Hence the photo above - with the Chimpanzee watching all that is going on - while resting at the same time. Both of these Chimpanzee photos reminded me of the Marvin quote!

And then after lunch we had an hour to explore the Zoo in smaller groups - and the European Owl below was perched on the boulder, rotating its head around through almost 360 degrees, keeping its eyes on everything going on round about it.

Beautiful Red-legged Partridges!

I saw many of these birds today but I had never seen that kind before.

At first I thought they would be Red Grouse, but these are the wrong colour. I also thought they might be Ptarmigan, but they are usually only found in the mountains, and seem to be whiter than these ones.

After a deal of searching on the RSPB site I reckon that they are Red-legged Partridges. I've definitely never seen them before.

If you can confirm, or contradict, my identification I'd be glad to hear from you.

Bread of Life

I decided to share with you the sermon I preached this morning. Although you won't get the benefit of my smiling face, or the theatrical gestures, or the excitement and tension of my delivery, at least you'll be able to read the words!

The Bible readings were Exodus 16:11-31 & 35, and John 6:27-35.

I'd be glad to hear any comments or suggestions that you may have.

------------------------------------

Did anyone have some bread for their breakfast this morning?

If you had a roll and jam this morning it would have given you about 250 calories, which is enough energy for 2 and a ½ hours.

If you had cereal and milk then that’s only about 150 calories, so only enough energy for an hour and a half.

If you were able to tolerate the fat and cholesterol, one slice of bacon and an egg is only 136 calories.

And a cup of black coffee and a Custard Cream biscuit is only 65 calories, not even enough to keep you going through this service!

When Jesus told his followers that he was the bread of life and whoever came to him would never be hungry - what did he mean?

That’s what I’ve been thinking about this week, and I hope you find my musings helpful. If you have some different answers I’d be glad to discuss it with you at the end of the service.

When Jesus told the crowd around him that he was the ‘Bread of Life’, it was immediately after the story of the feeding of the 5000. In verse 26, Jesus told the crowd that they had come looking for him again because they wanted more food, and not because they were trying to find God.

So Jesus tells them not to work for food that perishes, but for food that will last for ever, which the Son of Man, in other words Jesus himself, would give them.

Immediately the crowd come back to him with the question: so what work must we do?

They knew it would be some work for God, but what was it?

Perhaps they were expecting Jesus to give them the same answer that he gave to the lawyer who asked, “What good deed must I do to have eternal life?” in Matthew 19. Jesus replied on that occasion, Keep the Ten Commandments, and “love your neighbour as yourself”.

But no, this time Jesus gives a spiritual answer. It is not what you do that gives you eternal life, it’s what you believe. Specifically, it is who you believe in. And they should believe in Jesus.

The crowd around Jesus were not very happy with that answer. They were the people of Moses. Long ago they had followed Moses out of Egypt into the desert. And they told Jesus that Moses had given them Manna to eat - bread from heaven.

If they were to turn their allegiance from Moses to Jesus then they wanted to see a sign. And it would have to be a sign that was greater than the sign that Moses had given them. Some challenge indeed.

Manna, what is it? That’s literally what the word means. When the Israelites woke up in the morning, and the dew evaporated, left behind was “a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground.” And we have seen some of that this past week.

They did not know what it was. They asked each other, “What is it?” And that’s how the stuff got its name. The Hebrew word ‘Manna’ means, “What is it?”

As we read earlier, it tasted like ‘wafers made with honey’. It must have been some brave soul who was the first to taste it. The camp had been covered with a flock of quails the night before. And now there was some white stuff on the ground.

Moses said, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”

Hmm. I would have said, “It looks like bird poop to me. How about you eat it first?”

And who knows, maybe Moses was first to eat it. Whatever it was, they not only liked it, but it sustained them through the next 40 years in the desert.

This was the miraculous sign that Jesus was invited to compete with. It was a tall order. The Jews had honoured Moses for hundreds of years.

But Jesus straightened them out. It wasn’t Moses who had given them the Manna. It was God.

God had given life to all creation back in the beginning. In Genesis chapter 2, we read that ‘God formed Man from the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being.’ (NRSV)

God had given Manna to the Israelites in the desert and it had given them life for 40 years. And now Jesus offered his listeners, “The bread of God which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

Still the people did not understand. They thought that Jesus was speaking of physical bread. They wanted Jesus to give them that heavenly bread always.

But Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”

Jesus here uses a double negative. It doesn’t mean a positive like in English. It means a very strong negative. They will never never be hungry and never never be thirsty.

This is the second of seven times in John’s Gospel that Jesus says who he is beginning with the phrase , “I am”. These are the same words that God used when he told Moses, “I am is who I am.” To his listeners Jesus was hinting, “I am God.”

Some of those listeners began to get uncomfortable at this point. Jesus was making extravagant claims about himself.

In our reading today, we didn’t carry on with the story, but Jesus claims that it is God’s will that everyone who comes to Jesus, and follows him, and believes in him, will not be lost, but will be raised up on the last day, that they will have eternal life.

The discontent among the Jews now becomes open complaint. How can Jesus say he has come down from heaven?

This is Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose mother and father we know. Or as we might say it here, “I kent his faither.” How can he have come from heaven?

Jesus continues to explain. Their ancestors ate the Manna in the desert, and they all died before they entered the Promised Land. But those who eat the living bread that is Jesus himself will never die. Jesus says that it is his flesh that is the living bread that gives eternal life to those who eat it.

Here we run into the most obvious difficulty with the assertion that Jesus is the bread from heaven. The Jews speak it out in ridicule. “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” And the thought might have continued, “Does he think that we are cannibals to be eating human flesh?”

Jesus says, “Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, then you have no life in you. Whereas those who eat my my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day.”

Here we have the answer to the mystery that we have been pursuing, although it is still in code.

Jesus is talking about those who will celebrate the meal of the Last Supper. Jesus held up the bread and said, “This is my body.”, and he held up the cup and said, “This is my blood.”

Eat his body and drink his blood, and believe in Jesus. He is the one who gives us eternal life.

Today, as you eat the bread, and drink the wine, consider the fact that over the next few hours, they will be absorbed into your body, and be distributed into every cell that is within you. They will energise and empower you and all that you are.

This is the offer that Jesus makes to everyone who will follow him. Not only will he give us bread and wine to energise our earthly bodies. He will also give us his Spirit - his very self - giving us spiritual and heavenly power to energise our spiritual and heavenly bodies. Every part of you. Life to the full. For ever.

And what was the sign that Jesus gave to the Jews?
It was indeed greater than any sign Moses performed.

Jesus rose from the grave. Not brought back to life like Lazarus. But raised in his heavenly body, to eternal life, just as he promised that we shall be, if we believe in Him.