Words of Welcome

  John 6:56-69 Last Sunday I shared a word from John Calvin, who wrote about the connection between Jesus’ declaration that he was the Bread of Life and the Lord’s Supper. He wrote:  [T]he Lord intended, by calling himself the “bread of life” (John 6:51), to teach not only that salvation for us rests on faith in his death and resurrection, but also that, by true partaking of him, his life passes into us and is made ours—just as bread when taken as food imparts vigor to the body.   [John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, IV:17.5].    I invite you to keep these words in mind as we dive into the reading for today from John 6, which continues the discussion from last Sunday. To set the stage, I invite you to envision Jesus teaching in the synagogue in Capernaum. He’s telling them that he is the bread from heaven. He also tells the congregation that those who partake of his flesh as true food and his blood as true drink will abide in him, and he w...

John 6:51-58 Welcome to the sixth chapter of the Gospel of John. This morning we jump right into the middle of a long and complicated story that began with Jesus feeding the 5000 but has taken some interesting twists and turns. So, this morning we’re doing something similar to jumping into the middle of a TV series that’s been on for several weeks and we don’t have a clue as to what is happening. Therefore, I need to catch you up with the story. According to John, after Jesus fed the 5000 the crowd tried to make him their king, but he slipped away to a quiet place where he could pray. Then, when evening came, he took a stroll across the lake toward his home base in Capernaum. But, first, he caught up with the boat carrying his disciples across the lake. The next day the crowd gathered once more in Capernaum hoping Jesus would give them more bread. That leads to a conversation about bread from heaven. You know, like the manna Moses provided, or, rather, God provided in the wildernes...