Bread of Life

Jesus said, “Do not work for the food that perishes, but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.” Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. But I said to you that you have seen me and yet do not believe. Everything that the Father gives me will come to me, and anyone who comes to me I will never drive away; for I have come down from heaven, not to do my own will, but the will of him who sent me. And this is the will of him who sent me, that I should lose nothing of all that he has given me, but raise it up on the last day. This is indeed the will of my Father, that all who see the Son and believe in him may have eternal life; and I will raise them up on the last day.” John 6:27-40 

Every culture has a bread that speaks of comfort and home. Among Indigenous folks in the US, that bread is frybread. "Way back when, we were havin' a feast on our reservation. A good old feast.

We didn't have 

a whole lot of food...just a little bit of deer meat, a huge vat of mashed potatoes...some Coke and fry bread. But the fry bread made all the difference in the world. You see, a good piece of fry bread...turned any meal into a feast. " Thomas Builds-the-Fire explains the importance of frybread to his people, from the movie Smoke Signals. Despite the fact that frybread is not an historical part of the diet in most tribes, with the arrival of government commodities, it became a staple among us. We often look to comfort foods, when troubles surround us. We are reminded today that God provides us with the bread of life in Jesus.
Loving Creator, you feed us with good foodand invite us to your table every dayhelp us to cling to you in our worriesand lift our hearts to you every morning.Some are suffering for lack of breadothers for the lack of love and community.Give us the bread of life so we might shareyour love and healing with our people. Amen.