Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Eleventh Sunday after Trinity. Our Sunday services this week are at the usual times of 9.15 am at St Agnes’ and 11 am at St Thomas’. If you are unabe to be with us in person, you will find resources below to worship at home.
Our first hymn this morning is "Be Still, For the Presence of the Lord"
Today's Gospel
John 6:35, 41-51 Jesus the Bread of Life
Jesus said, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.”
Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, “I am the bread that came down from heaven.” They were saying, “Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, ‘I have come down from heaven’?” Jesus answered them, “Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, ‘And they shall all be taught by God.’ Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.”
Reflection
If you look back over the last three weeks there is a lot about bread throughout chapter 6 of John’s gospel and there is more to come. So why is this so important that Jesus keeps going on about it?
Over the years that I’ve been writing these reflections I’ve learned a lot more than I imagined, but a key thing is that there is so much still to learn and I need to keep my mind open to new revelations. It’s about letting the Holy Spirit show me new interpretations and meaning of God’s word.
The religious leaders and friends of Jesus in today’s reading think they have a grasp on the scriptures and God, but the problem is that they also know Jesus and his earthly mum and dad, Mary and Joseph. So when he starts telling folk that he is the ‘bread of life’ and that he was sent by God to give us eternal life - well it all seems a bit far-fetched to them. I guess that’s understandable, I mean how would you react if the kid down the street started saying he was the son of God?
It should be a little easier for us to get our heads around because we have the knowledge of the whole gospel story and the Good News of the risen Jesus. But given that we have a wider knowledge of the story of Jesus, does that make it easier for us to fully understand Jesus’ message? Are we truly open to grasping his point?
We accept that Jesus was fully human and fully divine, someone who existed from Nazareth and also from heaven. We want to be shaped in Jesus’ image and spiritually righteous. We want to feed on Jesus – the bread of life. But how do we do this in reality?
I suggest a simple analogy, if you had a full loaf of bread and met a starving man, I hope you would realise that the right thing to do would be to share it. So if we have the knowledge about Jesus who wants us to love one another, what do we do with that knowledge? The simple answer is that we share it; we act like Jesus and feed those who have yet to learn the good news. As Jesus said: ‘Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me.’ Paul
Our Prayers
Heavenly Father,
We pray that you will open our minds to hear your word and learn from you.
Guide us to follow Jesus, who wants us to share in the bread of life and also to share it with others,
that they too can have eternal life.
Amen
Our final hymn today is "Bread of Heaven on Thee we Feed"
Notices
Tuesday morning services of Holy Communion are at 10 am at St Thomas’ Church every week. There is no Worship for all Generations during the weeks commencing 12th and 19th August, but we’ll be back on Tuesday 20th and Wednesday 21st August at 6.30 pm at St Agnes’ for the second of our Pet Services for the summer.
It is with great sadness that we reflect on the passing of two true ‘gentlemen’ in our parish who have served Jesus and the church for many decades – Peter Brooks and Trevor Jones.
Both of them were always there for others. Quiet, yet always there. Full of humility and unassuming but always willing to lend a helping hand when something needed to be done in the parish.
Supporting us quietly behind the scenes, always in their own jovial and affable ways.
We will miss them both dearly.
Whether standing out in the rain and cold, meeting and greeting people or sorting out planned giving returns and bonus ball they were always doing their bit. Never seeking the limelight, just a steady constant presence serving us all.
Please join us in saying a prayer of thanks for all that Trevor and Peter have done, and for their families and friends at this time.
God bless them both.
Trevor’s funeral is at St Thomas’ Church at 1.45 pm on Tuesday 13th August, and Peter’s is at 11.30 am on Thursday 15th August, also at St Thomas’.
Several of you will remember a young curate called Karen, who served with us under Revd Howard Smith in the early 2000’s. We’re really pleased to tell you that Revd Canon Karen Smeeton has recently been appointed as the Archdeacon of Rochdale, which includes our Deanery of Oldham and Ashton. It will be wonderful to welcome Archdeacon Karen back to our parish in her new role after all these years.
