325 Staff of Life

   (Note: This blog entry is based on the text for “Staff of Life” originally shared on August 21, 2024. It was the 325^th video for our YouTube Channel, Streams of Living Water (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCB7KnYS1bpHKaL2OseQWCnw), co-produced with my wife, Rev. Sally Welch.)

   What image comes to mind when you hear the phrase, “The Staff of Life”? Today, we’re going to learn a new one, and what it has to do with the renewal of the Church.

   I walk with a hiking stick that we bought at the Rancho Santa Ana Botanic Garden (now renamed the California Botanic Garden) in Claremont. Some might call it a “staff”.

   I carry it in case we run into coyotes or the occasional stray dog when Sally and I walk around our neighborhood.

   I’ve been told, though, that with my gray hair and long-ish gray beard, walking with a staff also creates a certain impression! 😊

   A staff can also be a group of people working to support an organization.

   Years ago, I was at a workshop on church staff leadership and development when one of the professors said, “Of course, Jacob leaned on his staff and then died” Hebrews 11:21 😊

²¹ By faith Jacob, when dying, blessed each of the sons of Joseph, “bowing in worship over the top of his staff.”  (NOTE: “bowing” is translated “leaning” in some other versions)

   Bread has been called “the staff of life”. Why? Today, some people avoid bread. Too much gluten, a legitimate concern for some. Too many carbs. 😊 But in many places throughout the world, and for a very long time, bread was seen as nourishing, available, and affordable. Bread supports human life, like a staff supports human beings. Or maybe the expression comes from Leviticus 26:26, among a list of penalties for disobedience,

²⁶ When I break your staff of bread, ten women shall bake your bread in a single oven, and they shall dole out your bread by weight; and though you eat, you shall not be satisfied.

   Bread as the staff of life is a reminder that we need something to support us. Like the woman who was asked if her faith in Jesus wasn’t just a crutch said, “He may be a crutch, but he holds me up.”

   We see how that works in the reading that will be shared in the vast majority of churches in the world this coming Sunday, John 6:56-69. Jesus is the bread of life. His body and blood are broken and poured out for us on the cross to restore a living relationship with God for all who believe. He is present in the forms and bread and wine in Holy Communion, broken and poured out for you, which means that the transformational relationship with God becomes who we are.

   It is as close to us as the food and drink that we consume becomes our physical body. It is us, temporarily. By contrast, Holy Communion brings us forgiveness of sins, life and salvation for eternity.

   It will be the fifth of five Sundays in a row in which the reading from John, one of the Gospels, is focused on bread. Bread, Bread, Bread, Bread, Bread. 😊

   The reading begins with a few overlapping verses from last Sunday, verses 56-58,

⁵⁶ Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷ Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸ This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever.”

   A weird, hard to digest, analogy and a bold statement. And Jesus doesn’t try to explain his words or make it easy for us.

   In fact, our Gospel reading from John 6 begins by grounding them in history and then acknowledging their difficulty, in verses 59-64,

⁵⁹ He said these things while he was teaching in the synagogue at Capernaum.

⁶⁰ When many of his disciples heard it, they said, “This teaching is difficult; who can accept it?” ⁶¹ But Jesus, being aware that his disciples were complaining about it, said to them, “Does this offend you? ⁶² Then what if you were to see the Son of Man ascending to where he was before? ⁶³ It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life. ⁶⁴ But among you there are some who do not believe.” For Jesus knew from the first who were the ones that did not believe, and who was the one that would betray him.

   The life that Jesus is talking about is eternal life. It is given in the Holy Spirit. It has already begun in our baptisms. It can only come from God. And it does. And it has consequences.

   Jesus states this in the conclusion of this Sunday’s Gospel reading, in John 6:65-69,

⁶⁵ And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

⁶⁶ Because of this many of his disciples turned back and no longer went about with him. ⁶⁷ So Jesus asked the twelve, “Do you also wish to go away?” ⁶⁸ Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom can we go? You have the words of eternal life. ⁶⁹ We have come to believe and know that you are the Holy One of God.”

   It’s no secret that most churches in the Western World are in decline.

   There are many broadly cultural reasons for why that is.

   But I want to extend an invitation to you who have left the Church, and who may or may not have left your faith, to reconsider, to return and reform.

   It’s time.

   The church is the Body of Christ. Christ is the head of the Church, and all baptized believers are the members of that Body. We are all different, and we each have something necessary to contribute.

   Maybe you’ve been put off by churches that are run to maintain merely human traditions and personal legacies, static cultural expression, social service agencies using religious language, or ones that are monuments to one generation’s values. You are a member of the Body of Christ. Return and reform.

   Martin Luther, the 16^th century Church reformer said that as long as the word is rightly preached and the sacraments are rightly administered everything else is important, but not necessary. Return and reform.

   Maybe you’ve been drawn away by some other generation’s values. Maybe it was the sexual revolution. Maybe the Enlightenment. Maybe it was a time witnessing the decline of all Western institutions, values, politics, educational systems, cultures, whatever. You have gifts to give. Return and reform.

   Maybe Eastern religions have seemed more pure to you in the past, but you have become acquainted with them in practice, and you have become disillusioned in the present, as you were once disillusioned by Christianity and its lack of a consequential culture.

   You can go to a “Christian” culture, and you will find it appear to be secular. Look into the history of Western civilization for the reasons why. The Church was somewhat cowed by the “Enlightenment”, yet the objections to religion of those days seem quaint today. Ironically, they seem driven by more ignorance than enlightenment, at least in terms of what Christianity looks like from the inside, as opposed to those who shoot out its windows from the outside.

   It’s time for a second look.

   Live in our country and disparage Christianity itself, insult Jesus, burn Bibles, worship as you choose, even start your own religion, and see what happens. Nothing. We will even be polite; we will seek your welfare.

   Go to any other country in the world and act in the same way to its, in many cases, exclusive religion, or even just its majority religion, and what will happen? You will be very fortunate to just be expelled from that country. More likely you will be expelled from your freedom, or worse.

   Why is that? Because the Christian influence on Western Civilization has included the value of each individual self, the external nature of truth, and the love and grace of God for each person as a liberating force.

   Maybe you’ve grown up a bit. There’s a kind of American energy in being independent, but it brings its own restrictions, and even its own illusions. Learn the freedom of being dependent on Jesus. Help bring the church to its core self, a community of people who love Jesus. Return and reform.

   Returning is normative in Christianity.

   But here’s the really difficult concept of John 6. It’s expressed in verse 65. It’s knowing that returning is not up to us. It comes from God.

⁶⁵ And he said, “For this reason I have told you that no one can come to me unless it is granted by the Father.”

   The birth of Jesus, the parable of the lost sheep, and of the Good Shepherd, the cross, the Resurrection, the Day of Pentecost all remind us that God seeks us out.

   Maybe you have just tried to be a good person, but wondered if you have been good enough? Has not, as one of my philosophy professors once said, most if not all of the world’s evil been done by people who, in their heart of hearts sincerely believed that they were doing good? And does that not tell us that our need is not to think that we are good, but to acknowledge that we need a savior, and that we have that Savior in Jesus Christ? Return and renew.

   Churches will welcome you, even it for some it will only be superficially so. Be better. Be understanding. Love them. They are your brothers and sisters, they are fellow members of the Body of Christ. Return and renew.

   Maybe you’ve just lost touch with the basics of being a Christian, and now need to name the Name.

   Pastor and author Tim Keller said, “When people tell me that they once were believing Christians but now have rejected it all-I often ask them (after long, close listening) why they originally believed Jesus rose from the dead and how they came to decide that he now didn't. They usually say it's a helpful question.”

   The world is changing. It’s always changing, but we are the generation that has experienced accelerated change. We are feeling the effect. We know something new is coming. Will it be something better, or something worse? Return and reform.

   What is God calling you to be? What is God calling you to do? I think it was Rick Warren who said, “Our task is not to ask God to bless what we are doing. Our task is to ask that we may do what God is blessing.

   A guy goes into a restaurant and sits down. The server comes by and gives him a menu and a breadbasket and says, “Please take your time. I’ll be back in a few minutes.”

   The guy is looking over the menu when he hears, “Nice tie.” He looks around and sees no one. He goes back to the menu and hears, “Nice shoes, too.” He spins around but sees no one. He focuses on the menu and hears, “Nice haircut.” But no one’s around.

   Just then the server comes to take his order and the guy says, “Excuse me, but I keep hearing nice things being said about me but there’s no one around me.”

   “Oh,” says the server. “That’s the bread. It’s complementary.”

   Jesus is the bread of life, and that bread is free. He is the bread that transforms and becomes us, the staff that supports us.

   Jesus says, in John 6:51,

⁵¹ 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.”

   Some people may have been avoiding carbs in the past, but carbs are making a comeback among dieticians as a necessary part of our diet.

   In fact, when I was competing on a Masters Swim Team, carb-loading the night before a meet was a common practice among swimmers because the body consumes carbohydrates as energy.

   Be that. Be a person who is fed with the food that is true food. The food that feeds us forever Be fed for life in the world as a member of the Body of Christ, and for eternity with the gift of Jesus on the cross, the staff of life.