Bread of life

The gospel scripture reading at church yesterday talked about the miracle of feeding the five thousand and Jesus declaring that he was/is the bread of life. the new testament reading talked about being a part of the body of Christ and uniting under one hope and maturing into the fullness of Christ. The old testament was the icky one about david's fallenness when he kills Uriah to have bathseba.

I don't have too many great insights into these passages. I'm not really in a place of hunger for anything, nor do I really feel part of the church body in any significant way (which is why it's probably good to be reminded of Ephesians 4's one body, one spirit, one hope). I guess I should be en garde for any prideful temptations lurking beyond my palace walls (new job, a more exciting lifestyle?), but I'm pretty sure child number two and my inability to function when pregnant will keep those ambitions at bay.

What then? Why the blah, the laissez faire attitude with regards to the spirit? Is it just a reflection of my energy level as I enter the last weeks of pregnancy? Or is it a sign of being filled, establishing maturity, being secured in my faith and my place in the body of Christ? Christ is my bread, so he fills me. Righteousness is bestowed, not mine, but his, so that i can wear it without being tossed to and fro. Just as I wear the helmet of salvation and know I am saved, the breastplate of righteousness protects my heart so that I can love and serve. So that I can promote righteousness that IS SO NEEDED in so many places. I've worked in too many places that send me into the midst of unrighteous aka the wrong way to live aka a way that will destroy from the inside out because of some combination of ignorance, neglect, and lack of leadership. Sure you can have an extreme of white washed tombs of righteousness going on, but boy, it's probably better than the outright gnashing of teeth and destruction.

And Jesus who is the bread sustains that service. There are too many place without righteousness and it is my call and duty to seek and serve those places. It's every Christian's call. And I think that a huge part of the Christian journey is using up bread like fuel in service. Living for others, pouring out in some way and daily needing Christ and his righteousness to sustain you. It's part of being mature in Christ that Ephesians 4 talks about. It's the next step of faith, to depend upon christ's righteousness so I don't have to be tripped up by my trivial and petty woes ( another critique of the modern american church that I feel spends way to much time assuaging people's egos and ignoring true places of need- places where the gospel can speak so powerfully. But I'll keep my over privileged christian impotent bubble condemnations for another time). I don't proclaim myself, but Christ in whatever ways (whatever gifts) he calls me to.

And I guess I'll wrap up by saying I am satiated by Christ. I don't want anything for myself, but more for others who want and need righteousness.I am driven by the power of reconciliation available to all because of Christ's death and resurrection. I see the need for Him to come and change the status quo and I am transformed by being apart of that process. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness for they will be filled- by Christ, by being a part of the body of Christ. And once filled, the blessed will share that bread of life with others.