Jesus – “The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.”
“Sir,” they said, “give us this bread all the time!”
Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty…” – John 6:33-35
It is our tradition, at the congregation we attend, to celebrate The Lord’s Supper the first Sunday each month. For me, the occasion always precipitates an acute awareness of the “coming home” aspect of being in church.
This weekend I found myself thinking about people who have that deep longing for home yet are not in church.
They feel the tears come when they hear familiar hymns… or think about taking communion… or remember the church they grew up in. They desperately want to rest in that sense of belonging and they feel the truth of it in their hearts – yet they just cannot (for whatever reason…) take the step of opening that door again.
Not nostalgia but something real:
And they know that what they long for is not sentiment or nostalgia but something real. They feel an ache in their soul that they want to fill. They can taste the bread and the wine in their hearts. And the melodies of the hymns well up inside them (yesterday we sang Guide me O thou Great Jehovah)… and it is almost too much to bear.
Yet the hymn lyrics (like “Bread of heaven, feed me till I want no more” and “I know that my Redeemer lives,” and “Great is Thy Faithfulness”) they ring true because they are true. And ideas such as the communion of the saints resonate because they are real.
Fact is, taking the bread and the wine literally connects us – not only with those who are living but also those who have passed on: my parents, Rebekah’s parents and sister, my brother, our great friends Sandee and Margie, my birthday twin Hannah, friends and aunts and uncles and grandparents – and the family of faith through the ages.
If you are one of those hesitant people, I get it; but hear this:
- We do not need to be “good” to go to church, we are welcome regardless.
- We do not need to know the answers, just a few honest questions will do.
- The Creator does not expect us to have it all together, God will hold us so we don’t fall apart.
- Jesus does not want us to pretend, he wants us exactly as we are.
- The Holy Spirit does not fill us with guilt, the Spirit fills us with love and hope and light.
- There is a reason church stuff can make us teary – it’s because this is our heart’s true home.
I understand. I do. Sometimes what holds us back is our fear that we will be known. It’s okay, because, “God did not send the son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him” (John 3:17)
God did not send Jesus to criticize, reject, excoriate, run down or condemn anyone. Instead, the Lord of Love came into this world to invite us into something beautiful, and to join in with God’s initiatives of grace, love, mercy, life, healing, encouragement and justice.
And for you – hesitant, nervous, scared, tentative and suspicious as you may be – God’s invitation is this simple: Come home. Won’t you just come home?
In love and because of love – DEREK