The Eleventh Sunday after Trinity - Reflection by Canon Leslie

​Today’s Gospel reading is the fourth of a series of five readings drawn from chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. In this chapter John has developed a clear progression of thought from feeding the five thousand, to Jesus as the bread of life, and to Jesus giving his flesh for the life of the world.  Now in verses 52-58 John leaves us in no doubt that this progression of thought is driven by the church’s experience of the eucharist.  Now the two elements of the bread and the wine are linked as Jesus proclaims, ‘Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you.’
 
For those of you who wanted to do some thinking and preparation for today’s service during the preceding week, I invited reflection on the image of communion cup. In today’s picture, from their book, Bread, Aled and Sian are with their friends Peter and Mary. Peter and Mary’s mother (who is priest in the local Anglican church) has baked a special loaf of bread for the Sunday communion service. Here Aled and Sian are placing that loaf of bread alongside the eucharistic paten and chalice.
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
you teach your people
to share your bread
and to drink your cup.
Come and stand among us
when the bread is broken
and when the wine is poured,
that we may know your presence;
for you are the Bread of Life.
Amen.
 
Next Sunday concludes the series of five readings from chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. The image to help us to prepare for next Sunday’s theme is festival flowers. You can find out more about that theme here https://www.prayerforliverpool.org/prayer-resources.html. We would really appreciate you letting us know how you are using these materials. Please send us your ideas and photos of the things you may create; email them to [email protected].
 
To read the story, Bread, in its entirety, follow this link to the resource on the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/Exploring%20Why%20Series/Bread/Bread%20Short%202016%20WEB.pdf. To learn more about the Exploring Why series and more adventures with Aled and Sian, follow this link to the appropriate page under the Resources section of the St. Mary’s Centre website: http://www.st-marys-centre.org.uk/resources/Exploring%20Why.html.
 
You are warmly invited to join us in worship online. We are livestreaming our 10:30am service on both our Facebook and YouTube pages. To stream the service on Facebook, follow this link to our Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LiverpoolCathedral. To stream the service on YouTube, follow this link to our YouTube page: https://www.youtube.com/user/LiverpoolCathedral/videos.
 
Aled and Sian send their Sunday greetings to all.
 
Canon Leslie