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.’
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 by looking at the Educational Resources and the Preparation Resources.
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Works by Anish Kapoor unveiled to celebrate Liverpool Cathedral’s Centenary!