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 The Body and Blood of Christ

 June 26, 2011

 Jn 6:51-58

 Gospel

Jesus said to the Jewish crowds:
"I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world."

The Jews quarreled among themselves, saying,
"How can this man give us his flesh to eat?"
Jesus said to them,
"Amen, amen, I say to you,
unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood,
you do not have life within you.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
has eternal life,
and I will raise him on the last day.
For my flesh is true food,
and my blood is true drink.
Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood
remains in me and I in him.
Just as the living Father sent me
and I have life because of the Father,
so also the one who feeds on me
will have life because of me.
This is the bread that came down from heaven.
Unlike your ancestors who ate and still died,
whoever eats this bread will live forever."

I guess in many respects we could say that June is a wonderful month to be alive.  Not that any month isn’t, but there seems to be something special about the month of June.  The kids are out of school, the summer is bursting with possibilities, and the air is sweet with flowers in bloom and the trees and the grass, all in green; the taste of summer fruit explodes on our taste buds; we have packed the winter coats away and taken out the summer clothes; the kids are now splashing in swimming pools, or if you live in the country such as I, then they are swimming the creeks; we are also looking forward to vacation time, but due to the cost of gasoline these days, we might have put that on hold till next year, or maybe just not going so far away from home.

        All these sensual experiences of summer delight us because there is new life around us.  We are embodied, enfleshed, in touch with God’s great creation through our senses.  If Christmas, celebrates God’s embodiment in Jesus, why not, through the understanding of this reading which talks about the Body of Christ, be a time to honor the spark of the divine in our own bodies?  Religion has often been accused of being too “spiritual” in general, that is, of emphasizing the spirit over the body so that the body is demeaned, de-sacramentalized, cut off from meaning and value.

But we do not experience ourselves as hunks of flesh with some kind of an armored pilot-house on the deck of a warship as a blob of body with a secret chamber inside.  We live as whole persons, flesh and blood, body and soul, human beings, persons made in the Masters own image, as the Genesis creation story describes.  That is the biblical root of the Christian principle dignity of the human person.  We are endowed with human dignity by God, not by anything we do or earn or say.  That dignity cannot be forfeited, or stripped away.  In a sense, Jesus’ words, “This is my body, this is my blood,” are true not only of the consecrated bread and wine but also of the dignity and sacredness of ourselves, our bodies, and our blood, our persons.

        While God assures us that we have human dignity just by being human, we see much abuse of the human persons around us, if not have been ourselves:  neglect, poverty, homelessness, exploitation, greed, power, money – the list could go on and on.  When isolated, folks get messed over and messed up badly.  It is only when we see ourselves as a people in community with others that we have a chance to protect human dignity.  In community with each other, we can stand up together, not only for our own rights and responsibilities, but also those of others.  Isn’t that why we continue to oppose those wanting to take prayer and God out of our schools, our government, and our lives?

This body of community takes care of the human bodies – our own and others – because of the dignity in each pair of eyes, the gift of each pair of hands, the love, and intelligence in our hearts and heads.  To worship this living God personally perhaps means we nurture our own life, caring for the health of our minds and bodies, shunning self-destructive acts, and giving thanks for the beauty of our divine spark.  So, perhaps this day we honor our body and our dignity.  We eat our self full of the one who gives life.  We drink deep of God’s creative fire, the wealth of beauty and possibility open to us through our senses.  If nothing else, we might come to know that we are part of the body of Christ, alive on earth today.  That is what we admit each time we approach the altar of God and say “Amen.”  In our lively bodies, the body lives – with dignity, with hope, with the promise of divine life for each human being.  That is a reason to celebrate on this fresh sweet (no matter the weather) Sunday summer June day!

Deacon Steve!

© June 26^th, 2011

Bridge Of Dreams by Eva Dimel

I want to walk across the bridge of dreams

and linger for a while,
Thinking of all the dreams I’ve had

especially the ones that make me smile.

I want to think about the things

I have and forget the dreams I lost,
Knowing that I am so blessed because

of what those dreams would of cost.

I want to take my time and enjoy the view,

and all the beauty I see,
On this beautiful bridge of dreams

that God has created for me.

I want to just let my mind wonder

as I sit here all alone,
Breathing in fresh air, looking up at the sky

talking to my Father on His throne.

I want my heart to always be filled with hope

every time that I come here,
Grateful for this bridge of dreams

and all the things my Father shares.

I want to feel the peace in my soul

that only my Father can give,
As I sit back feeling so loved

because I know I’m His.

When time goes by way to fast

and I know that I must leave,
I smile as I am on my way

taking so many good things with me.

And I know that I will always come back

I always do it seems,
To spend some time with my Father above,
on His beautiful bridge of dreams.

Written By Eva Dimel

© June 24, 2011
Inspired By God

We Are One Body