Consider the Word, August 5, 2021

 
Consider the Word, August 5, 2021
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Meeting ID: 923 9542 3097
 
Readings for August 8:

• 2 Samuel 18:5-9, 15, 31-33
• Psalm 130
• Ephesians 4:25-5:2
• John 6:35, 41-51

 
Collect

Almighty God,

you sent your Holy Spirit

to be the life and light of your Church.

Open our hearts to the riches of your grace,

that we may bring forth the fruit of the Spirit

in love, joy, and peace;

through Jesus Christ our Lord,

who is alive and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever. Amen.

 
Reading: John 6:35, 41-51

Jesus said to the people, "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 Questions

1. What feeds your spirit these days?
2. Who or what is your bread of life?

 
Closing Prayer

God of our pilgrimage,

you have willed that the gate of mercy

should stand open for those who trust in you:

look upon us with your favour

that we who follow the path of your will

may never wander from the way of life;

through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

 
The Message: John 6:35, 41-51

³⁵ Jesus said, “I am the Bread of Life. The person who aligns with me hungers no more and thirsts no more, ever.

^41-42 At this, because he said, “I am the Bread that came down from heaven,” the Jews started arguing over him: “Isn’t this the son of Joseph? Don’t we know his father? Don’t we know his mother? How can he now say, ‘I came down out of heaven’ and expect anyone to believe him?”

^43-46 Jesus said, “Don’t bicker among yourselves over me. You’re not in charge here. The Father who sent me is in charge. He draws people to me—that’s the only way you’ll ever come. Only then do I do my work, putting people together, setting them on their feet, ready for the End. This is what the prophets meant when they wrote, ‘And then they will all be personally taught by God.’ Anyone who has spent any time at all listening to the Father, really listening and therefore learning, comes to me to be taught personally—to see it with his own eyes, hear it with his own ears, from me, since I have it firsthand from the Father. No one has seen the Father except the One who has his Being alongside the Father—and you can see me.

^47-51 “I’m telling you the most solemn and sober truth now: Whoever believes in me has real life, eternal life. I am the Bread of Life. Your ancestors ate the manna bread in the desert and died. But now here is Bread that truly comes down out of heaven. Anyone eating this Bread will not die, ever. I am the Bread—living Bread!—who came down out of heaven. Anyone who eats this Bread will live—and forever! The Bread that I present to the world so that it can eat and live is myself, this flesh-and-blood self.”

The Message (MSG)
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson