Finding Peace Within

I wonder if you have ever experienced a time when you needed, or were strengthened or nourished, by another person? Alternatively, it might have been you who were there for a person who needed your help or strength or wisdom? Perhaps all they needed was your presence to support them – or to be someone who would listen to them as they worked through what they needed to do? Or they may have turned to you for some practical help, and your offering made all the difference in whatever crisis they were facing? You may not have thought or seen your contribution as life-giving, but as Mahatma Gandhi once said:

The Gospel will be more powerful when practised.... A rose does not need to preach. It simply spreads its fragrance. The fragrance is its own sermon…the fragrance of religious and spiritual life is much finer and subtler than that of the rose.” ^1.

Over the last few Blogs we have been exploring this topic in many different ways as we have reflected on the Disciple John's attempt to convey his experience and understanding of some of the significant moments he had experienced with Jesus. In the process we have seen how Jesus willingly shared his wisdom with a wide variety of people – from those who held the highest local authority in their community and who, by and large, were forever challenging his words and actions – to the poorest people within their community and who hung on every word Jesus spoke.

Not an easy task for Jesus nor for John, nor for us because often, the only way for us to enter into the realm of spiritual language, and share and understand what we have  experienced is through the gateway of metaphors, and images.^2.

John was not alone in trying to faithfully record the things Jesus said and did so that we, centuries later, using quite a different language and speech pattern, can still engage with the wisdom Jesus shared both then and now, as we, in our turn, ponder over what he is saying to us today, in our time and culture. And the authors of our Gospels were not alone in dealing with that challenge. Take, for example, the metaphors for faith – a concept that lies at the heart of Jesus Teaching – offered by the following authors:

• Khalil Gibran – “Faith is an oasis in the heart which will never be reached by the caravan of thinking”.

• Helen Keeler – “Faith is the strength by which a shattered world shall emerge into the light”.

• Martin Luther King – “Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase”.

We see a similar challenge happening over and over again with the fishermen-disciples Jesus chose to train and whose responsibility it was to share his teachings after his death. Perhaps that is why we have at least four differing records (or Gospels) of Jesus' life, ministry and teachings.However, at it's heart, faith is always a challenge, because it's about building relationships. It includes sharing one's self with those in need. It includes being open with those who might challenge us or with those we may not instinctively like! But most importantly, it is also about building a living and ongoing relationship with our Spiritual Source...and this is essential, because our divine source has the power to transform our life, and that is why it is so important... and because we can only share what we have received and internalized for ourselves.

Spirituality is not about how much time we may spend in prayer or in meditation, nor how often we might go to church. Spirituality is about our willingness and capacity to be guided, and our willingness to be actively engaged with our spiritual source. This is the main reason why Jesus called us into relationship with himself. In him we find and are fed with the food our souls long for – and which is given to us to share – like the fragrance of fresh bread.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1. Dkhar,  Damankhraw. R.:Mahatma Gandhi and Christianity                                                https://theshillongtimes.com/2021/01/30/mahatma-gandhi-and-christianity/

2. Elliot,M: Universalistic Style of the Gospel of John                                                                   https://bibleinterp.arizona.edu/articles/universalistic-style-gospel-john

                                                     Food for Thought

Hélène Schumacher once wrote an article for BBC where she suggested that the vocabulary we have acquired over the years actually helps us understand the world around us. However, we have become so familiar with the metaphors that are woven intricately into the tapestry of our language “we often don’t even notice them, but metaphors and similes help us think more deeply – and make sense of the world around us” ¹

We all have built up our own unique vocabulary and collection of favourite words and phrases. However, in using metaphorical language to enrich our conversations can raise it's own issues; if, for example, the listener doesn't understand the metaphor or simile, or if they take it literally – they run the risk of missing the point we were making.

My recent Blogs have been exploring the metaphor of 'Bread', for example. During my research for this particular Blog, I came across an article written by Peter Reinhart. Reinheart is both a baker of bread and also a master of metaphor. For him, bread is at the same time the “staff of life for our bodies” but also the “staff of life for our souls”.²

You will be aware that bread has been a staple food for centuries and has come to represent sustenance, nourishment, and survival. It has also accumulated many other associations. For example, it has been a symbol of comfort, community and sacrifice and has also been associated with plenty, poverty, redemption, temptation and transformation.³

Bread has also been a common symbol of comfort, and a symbol of communion – as found and used in the Christian Eucharist or Mass.

The “Sharing bread” or “Breaking of Bread” with family, friends or strangers has also been considered as an act of generosity and hospitality. When Jesus fed 5000 people with a boy's lunch is one example, and whether we take this Bible story literally, or prefer to see the boy's simple generosity of offering to Jesus his packed lunch, stimulated a similar wave of generosity amongst the crowd as they all began to share the food they had brought with those around them so everyone was fed⁴.

In many cultures Bread has become a symbol of life, growth, renewal and plenty–however it also has its dark-side when bread has been associated with hardship and oppression, as well as gluttony, greed, and excess. I wonder what association bread holds for you? And this is not a random question, because the word 'Bread' has been used as a metaphor throughout the history of humankind.

For example, it is a reoccurring theme in the early Hebrew writings where it occurs over 492 times and carries a deep spiritual significance and holding a wealth of symbolism. It particularly represents God’s provision, spiritual nourishment, salvation and forgiveness. We find it's importance woven into both the Jewish and Christian faiths, and is recorded within their respective sacred writings where bread served as a reminder of God’s faithfulness, grace, and provision; and we have been reflecting on this understanding, as presented to us by the author of John's Gospel, during the last few Blogs where we have been reflecting on the question: “What nourishes our life, what inspires my hearts' delight? What speaks to our soul? What inspires me, and enables me to experience the abundant life of which Jesus spoke?

Whether we choose to understand that promise physically or symbolically– in the end this week's reading from John 's Gospel (Ch 6:35, 41-51) reminds us of our dependence on God and God's continuous care for us.

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1https://www.bbc.com/culture/article/20200710-the-words-that-stretch-how-we-think

2https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Reinhart

3https://edenbengals.com/what-does-bread-symbolize-in-literature/

4Matthew 14:13-21

                    For What Do We Hunger?

In his week's Gospel we are given another slice, if you like, of the bread of life.

In fact for 5 weeks in a row we have slowly sliced our way through John 6. It began with the feeding of the 5000 followed by John's meditation on the life and mission of Jesus. In the process John used the metaphor of 'Bread', and in my recent Blogs we have been exploring the implications of Jesus being the 'Bread of Life'.

However – there is yet more! There are three more slices from the same loaf¹ waiting for us to sample as we continue our way through the readings set for August!

The repetition of bread as a metaphor of Jesus' life and ministry certainly raises interesting and contemporary questions – For example: 'What personal metaphor would we choose to describe our life's purpose?– What difference do our gifts and the vision for our life make in our life and the life of the wider community in which we live?

While you may spend time pondering those questions – I also came across a number of metaphors for Bread

• Mahatma Gandhi (1869-1948) “There are people in the world so hungry, that God cannot appear to them except in the form of bread.”

• Louis Bromfield, American novelist (1896-1956) “Bread is the king of the table and all else is merely the court that surrounds the king. The countries are the soup, the meat, the vegetables, the salad but bread is king.” 

• Sarah Josepha Hale, 'The Good Housekeeper' (1839): “Among those kinds of food which the good housekeeper should scrupulously banish from her table, is that of hot leavened bread....I believe it more often lays the foundation of diseases of the stomach, than any other kind of nourishment, used among us.” ( Maybe Bread has it's dark side as well!)

• And finally, The New World campaign featured a real estate agent who uses smell of fresh bread to sell a house

These brief comments remind us of the power and significance bread has even when used as a metaphor. Perhaps one reason for this is because people have used and relied on bread for more than fifty centuries and 'Every morning the world wakes up hungry' ² which is a reminder that to know the story of Bread also means to know also something of our world and its history and its ongoing progress. We find a very similar thing happening when we widen our focus and include the significance the bread when it is used as a metaphor as Jesus did:

I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, 

and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.

When Jesus used bread as a metaphor, he was quoting an ancient reference that has it roots in the early Jewish writings (or Midrash). For example:

• In the Jewish story of Moses, he is recorded as being given Manna (a miraculous edible substance that fell from heaven each day and sustained the Hebrew ancestors physically and also renewed their faith in God's presence and guidance during their slow 40 year journey through the wilderness.

• In the Jewish story of Elijah, when he needed renew hope and vision to continue his life of faith, he also received food (or Manna) from heaven to sustain him on his journey to meet with God.

• In a similar way, when composing his Gospel, John poetically used the historic Hebrew concept of Manna – which would be freely understood by his contemporary Jewish readers – to symbolized Jesus, as being “the living bread”– or “the bread of life” – sent by God from heaven – which we also need to receive so that our hope might be renewed and our faith be sustained through the struggles and disappointments we face in our life.

In his book 'How to Believe Again' , Helmut Thielicke (the Professor of Theology at Hamberg University), gave these answers when questioned on “What does it mean to be a follower of Jesus?”

• When Jesus first called his disciples – there were no 4 Spiritual Laws the Disciples had to first memorize – Jesus simply invited them to “Come and learn from me” and in that way they began a shared life together.

• Or when a person came to Jesus with a genuine need, Jesus had no catechism of right answers they had to learn before he would listen to them or speak to them– because while their need may have helped them to start their journey of faith, in the end it was the person of Jesus that fulfilled their hunger – or as St Augustine of Hipo said many centuries later :

“We would not be able to seek God if God had not already found us”.

Surely that simple statement summarizes the whole message of the Jewish-Christian Faith!

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1John Chapter 4

2Barker, E.L., 1911, The story of bread, International Harvester Company, Chicago. http://dx.doi.org/10.5962/bhl.title.25970   

 

Food for the Hungry

Richard Rohr once suggested that “all language about God is necessary symbolic and figurative”¹ and while the Bible contains a wide variety of literary forms, this is certainly true for Sunday's Gospel reading (John 6:24-35), where Jesus described himself as being the “bread of life”:

“Jesus said ...I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never by hungry and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty”! (John 6:35).

If we find this saying of Jesus is a little hard to understand, no wonder his audience though Jesus had lost the plot: and they began to complain about him because they were well aware of who his parents, and his brothers and sisters were (v41).

Yet the author of John's Gospel often quotes Jesus as using metaphorical forms of speech. We find this, for example, in John 16:5-7, when Jesus told his disciples he wouldn't be with them forever:

“In a little while you will see me no more,

and then after a little while you will see me.”

Such language also puzzled his disciples:

(“We don’t understand what he is saying!” John 16v16).

Yet Jesus often used metaphorical language. For example, when he told his disciples that he was a vine and that they were branches, he was making an important and significant point because a vine has an organic relationship and its branches – it is never static. Out of necessity it changes and grows, it has its seasons of flourishing and fruitfulness, and other-times it needs to withdraw, to be pruned, and to be content with a time of waiting. Such a metaphor also acknowledges that our life also has it seasons; that our life is never static; we also experience moments of joy and sadness, hope and disappointment, we also have our triumphs and challenges.

In some ways, I find comfort in the difficulty the disciples and the Jewish leaders had in trying to follow, or even understand what Jesus was saying sometimes, or planning to do next! And if you and I find that so, we are in good company, because our journey of faith will have its seasons of doubts and darkness, and sometimes we also may end up wondering “Has my faith – or my religious practice – been worth it?”

There are a variety of reasons that may cause such moments:

• they maybe due to cultural differences, or because slowly we suddenly discover the faith we once had, that may have been shaped by our early years of Christian teaching, has now lost its freshness;

• or it's ability to support us through the challenges life has thrown at us; or we way have built up our own understanding of who Jesus was and is for us based on our own wants, desires or needs.

• Then the time comes when we discover that we no longer believe what we once found meaningful; or such a faith has become too difficult or it demanding for us – just it it had for many of Jesus disciples who simply gave up on Jesus and walked away (John 6:60,66). Perhaps they failed to grasp what Jesus meant when he described himself as being “The Bread of Life”?

While we may also experience such moments in our life – one part thing that stands out in John 6 is that Jesus wasn't the first to walk away. And when Jesus turned asked his disciples whether they wanted to follow the crowd and leave him as well, Peter replied

“To whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life and we have come to know you are the Holy One of God” (John 6:67-69).

While we may have some sympathy for those who left Jesus, because the claims Jesus made when, for example, he said he was the 'Bread of Life', were not meant to be taken literally – they we not meant as to be academic ideas for his listeners (including us) to take away and ponder or argue over. That was never his intention – because, in a very real sense, when Jesus' words are simply repeated, or discussed, or even argue over, we also run the risk of simply defining the vocabulary of our religious faith – rather than actively creating or developing our faith.

I suggest such language and imagery is deliberately obtuse so that if we are interested enough we will take the imagery and metaphor's away and begin to ponder what was Jesus meaning – and more significantly – what is Jesus saying to me today, in all that is happening in my life, right now, when he described himself as being 'the Bread of Life'?.

It is also important to note he was not saying he had come to to give us bread – but he came to be our bread. And in case we miss the point, Jesus repeats himself again in verses 48, and again in verse 51:

I am the bread of life...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.” (John 6:48-51)

So I found the challenge Jesus was offering to his listeners (and us) was to reflect on the nature of our life and the values we seek to live by. Or to put it in another way, Jesus didn't come to meet our wants and desires, he came to change our wants and desires so as we seek to follow him and grow our living relationship with him, we allow his to become the central focus of our existence.

“Do not labour for the food which perishes, but for the food which endures to everlasting life, which the Son of Man will give you,” (John 6:27)

It is as we allow this to happen, we discover that we have also grown closer to our spiritual understanding and appreciation of all the ways that a faith in God is enriching our life as he becomes our Focus, our Way, and our Guide..

Kia mau te rongo me te pai ki a koe i to haerenga

May you find peace and goodwill on your journey.

Phil

1'All Language is Metaphor' from Richard Rohr, https://cac.org/daily-meditations/all-language-is-metaphor-2017-01-11/