Bread of Heaven

We are here broadcasting live from Grace Place Episcopal Church, and this happens to be the first place that I ever had the opportunity to preside over communion at an Episcopal worship service. Now Lutherans and Episcopalians share a lot in common, but when distributing communion, the words of administration I have always been used to hearing or saying In Lutheran churches when giving the bread are, “The body of Christ given or broken for you.”

So, I was surprised when it came to my attention that it is more customary to hear something different during communion in an Episcopal church. Instead of the body of Christ given for you, the way Episcopalians distribute bread is by saying, “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.”

It took me some getting used to that the first time I presided here, but after a few times it felt natural and I think about those words, “The body of Christ, the bread of heaven.” especially in light of today’s story of the miraculous manna that rained down from heaven for the Israelites to eat while they wandered in the wilderness, the connection finally came full circle.

The manna fed the Israelites in the wilderness and now in this wilderness of life and pandemic that we find ourselves in, we too are fed with the bread of heaven in the feast of communion. This direct connection to the embodied Christ is also a connection to our Jewish ancestors. Jesus even confirms this in John chapter 6 when he tells the disciples, “Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat. Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”

I draw this connection not to imply that Christ's body given for us in communion is now the true bread of heaven superseding the manna the Israelites fed on, but to say that just as our providential God has fed the Israelites in the wilderness, God now feeds us as well in our own wilderness, but with the body of Christ, the bread of heaven.

I don’t know about you, but I could use some of that bread right about now. We have, after all, been wandering in the wilderness, haven’t we? This pandemic struck and halted everything back in March during Lent, right in the middle of our Lenten wilderness journey. In many ways even though we celebrated Easter, it feels like we haven’t left that Lenten wilderness. Not to mention, here at HTLoop, since that time, we have not shared this bread of heaven together, but tonight we finally have the opportunity to break the fast and share this feast of holy communion once again.

And I am excited, we’ve got some fresh baked communion bread to celebrate with here and I cannot wait to be filled with that bread of heaven once again with you.

Because there’s something about this bread that we break together. In it we experience Christ’s true presence, at this table we all have been prepared a place, and when we reach out our empty hands to receive it, we are always given enough. At this table the rules of time and space are broken, heaven meets earth in this bread and we are no longer bound by the limitations of this world.

Scarcity? Nope, there’s more than enough. Inequity? Nope, we all receive what we need. Exclusion? Nope, who are we to put restrictions on God’s table where we are all guests?

In a way, in this meal, we are practicing for the way our world could and should be. A place where all have enough, where all we are all treated with equity, and where no one is refused. Also, we practice consent at this open table, there is no pressure or obligation put on anyone to participate! That is the world I want to live in. And our feast tonight is just a foretaste of that feast to come, because filled with the broken body of Christ, we then become that broken body for the world, encouraging sufficient, sustainable consumption, resisting inequity, and making sure no one is left out or left behind. We are practicing what it’s like to live in that world, at this table, and filled with the bread of heaven we are liberated to create that world.

As we have been learning through our study of the Exodus story, this is a story of liberation, so ultimately liberation is where we, like the Israelites hope to someday arrive. And you might say, well didn’t the Israelites experience that liberation from Egypt last week when they passed safely through the Red Sea? Well kind of, but God’s work is not complete yet, the Israelites are still in the wilderness, somewhere between their departure and their ultimate destination.

Being in this in-between space is tough, it’s a place where we, like the Israelites might start to doubt if we’ll ever reach our promised land and we complain when it seems like we have made the wrong decision to follow God towards liberation. But even though we are in this liminal space, between departure and destination, the decision to follow God towards liberation is always the right decision, and even when we might begin to lose faith, God provides bread for the journey so we can carry on.

The Israelites received that bread for their journey as manna from heaven, and we receive that bread of heaven as the body of Christ here at this table.

This God given bread for the journey is needed more than ever, because we need to be filled with something different than what the world is filling us with. I know for me personally, when I turn on the news, or open my social media feed I am filled with fatigue as we close in towards our eighth month of the pandemic, I am filled with existential fear for our climate future as wildfires and hurricanes rage, I am filled with frustration at the partisan divides that toxically pit us against one another, I am filled with anger at continued racism and police brutality, and now I am filled with grief over the death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Filled with all of those things, you might think there can’t possibly be any room for anything else, but there is still a hunger for liberation. And, in order for us to carry on towards our liberated promised land, we’ll need some bread for the wilderness journey, some true bread of heaven that comes from God and gives life to the world. So tonight, in this liminal space between departure and destination, let’s feast on this bread of heaven until we’re filled with the true presence of the living God who is leading us to liberation. Amen.