Skip to main content

bread of life

a conversation from my imagination (based on John 6)

me: hey, that was pretty cool what you did with the whole feeding all those people with just a little bit of bread and fish.
jesus: thanks. amazing things happen when people come together in faith.
me: i guess so. i mean, thanks for the bread and all, but i could have done without the sardines. some maple sugar ham and a slice of provolone with a little mayo would have been nice.
jesus: i wasn't taking orders.
me: right. but even peanut butter and j...
jesus: i can take it back, you know.
me: oh yeah, sorry. i forgot about your omnipotence and all that. not used to talking to God's Son. anyway, thanks for the grub.
jesus: i am the bread of life.
me: what? you say the strangest things. you are the bread of life? what does that even mean?
jesus: whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
me: umm...okay. that sounds pretty good.
jesus: it should sound very good. i am the bread of life. and unless you eat my flesh and drink my blood you have no life in you.
me: so you're saying you want me to take a bite of your arm? i'll stick to the sardines, thanks.
jesus: that's not exactly what it means.
me: so what does it mean, because, to be totally honest, its kind of confusing, and i wish th...
jesus: it means that my brokeness, my sacrifice, is what can truly sustain you. the cheesesteak you ate for lunch can sustain your body for a time, but only i can sustain your spirit for eternity. and it is only in my brokenness - my death - that i can do that. and you can only receive it by believing.
me: so you're saying that if i believe that you died for me, my soul will be sated? i will find all the nourishment i need?
jesus: and not only that, but i am leaving you with a totally unique way of remembering and celebrating and participating in that. when you gather together, you should pass the bread and the cup around and remember that my body was broken like a loaf of bread, and my blood was poured out like wine. for you. and remember that my death brought life -brought victory - brought hope. remember that that hope, that victory, that life is yours. celebrate that. and remember that it isn't for you alone, but for everyone who comes to the table. i am the bread of life.
...
i hope to see you in church on sunday, as we gather around the table to celebrate the bread of life, who was broken that we might be made whole. bring your own sardines.
gracepeace,
greg.

Comments

Fred Muller said…
Thank you! You continue to inspire me from afar!!
Fred
Happy said…
I really like this!

Popular posts from this blog

bad haircuts (for a laugh)

everybody needs to laugh.  one good way i have found to make that happen is to do a simple google image search for 'bad haircut.'  when you do so, some of the following gems show up.  thankfully, my 9th grade school picture does NOT show up.  otherwise, it would certianly make this list!  please laugh freely and without inhibition.  thank you and have a nice day. 

happiness is dry underwear

we started potty training jack on thursday. we followed a program called POTTY TRAIN IN ONE DAY, which, by the way, i think is kind of crazy. i mean, if someone were to offer you a book called, "ACHIEVE WORLD PEACE IN ONE DAY" i don't think you would take it seriously. and yet here we are, trying to accomplish an equally daunting task in one 24-hour period. it is intense. the day is shrouded in a lie because as soon as your happily diapered child wakes up you tell him that it is a big party. we had balloons and streamers and noisemakers and silly string - all the trappings of a legitimate party. but it is most certainly not a party. it is a hellishly exhausting day. as soon as jack got out of bed, we gave him a present: an anatomically correct doll that wets himself. jack named him quincy. several times quincy successfully peed in the potty and even had an accident or two in his "big boy underwear." he also dropped a deuce that looked and smelled sus

the crucifixion of Robert Lewis

  "the crucifixion of Robert Lewis" mixed media collage with leaves, acrylic paint, and found objects by gregory a milinovich october 2023 this october i was invited to participate in a three day trip which was called a "pilgrimage of pain and hope."  while that may not sound super exciting to many of you, it actually really intrigued me.  i am the kind of person that wants to feel big feelings, and i am drawn to the deep places, so  i was interested in traveling to the scranton area, where the trip was planned, to see what it might look like to be a pilgrim that was wide-eyed and listening to the pain and the hope in the stories of others.   this trip included hearing the stories of immigrants to the northeastern pennsylvania area, and the work in the coal mines that many of them did.  it included hearing from folks who are working for housing justice and equity in downtown scranton.  it included hearing from those indigenous people who first inhabited that land.