The Tenth Sunday after Trinity - Reflection by Canon Leslie

Today’s Gospel reading is the third of a series of five readings drawn from chapter 6 of John’s Gospel. This chapter begins with John’s account of Jesus feeding the five thousand people.  The feeding leads into Jesus teaching that he is the bread of life.  Now this teaching about the bread of life is linked directly to the church’s experience of the eucharist or communion.  Jesus says, ‘Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
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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 bread. In today’s picture, from their book, Bread, Aled and Sian have been helping their friend’s mother (who is priest in the local Anglican church) to bake a special loaf of bread for the Sunday communion service.
 
Lord Jesus Christ,
you feed your people
in the eucharistic feast.
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 continues with a further reading from John’s Gospel that links the feeding of the five thousand even more clearly with the Church’s experience of the eucharist. The image to help us to prepare for next Sunday’s theme is communion cup. 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