Thinking about this week’s lectionary

Unfortunately Pastor Roland is away this week, dealing with a family tragedy, and so we do not have a message from the Pastor’s desk.

But we can leave with you these thoughts about the Gospel reading for this week:

JOHN 6:24-35

Today’s headline is the last sentence of the first dialogue after the multiplication of the loaves. It is an indication of the distance existing between Jesus’ message and the understanding of his words on the part of the people who surround him. The Lectionary omits Jesus’ crossing of the Sea of Galilee, so our story begins in Capernaum. There is a moment of puzzlement among the people, for they do not understand how Jesus has arrived there. The atmosphere of wonder about the sign of having been fed, and their desire to make Jesus their king, manifest that they still do not understand the events before their eyes

The dialogue we find today is just the beginning of a long series of parallel lines of reasoning which very rarely meet. And when they meet, some kind of fuse blows up and the communication is interrupted. Jesus knows quite well what is going on in their minds, and tells them openly what he feels. They are not looking for him because they desire to discover the message he tries to convey, but because they “ate the loaves and were filled” (6:26). They have not discovered the real miracle behind the bread: God’s presence acting through Jesus. For the crowd, the sign Jesus performs, the multiplication of bread and fish, is not a means but becomes an end. Hence their question about how they can do the works of God and obtain more bread. Even when Jesus invites them to work for the food that endures for eternal life, and explains that what God demands from them is faith in him, they seem lost and demand another sign to in order to believe in him. They think of the manna that Moses gave to the Hebrews in the desert (today’s first reading), but their minds cannot go any further, and again they cannot understand that it was God, not Moses, who had fed their fathers.

For reasons that depend on the cultural and religious backgrounds of Jesus’ disciples, of the religious authorities and the crowd, and of ourselves living in the 21st century, the truth is, Jesus’ words will always give rise to misunderstandings and will demand us to reconsider ideas that we have taken for granted as “essential Christian truths.” The basic question we should pose today is: to what extent does our personal and traditional understanding prevent us from accepting the Gospel? To what extent, in spite of our “unquestionable” Christian mentality, do we still think and feel as Gentiles and non-believers?

O God, eternal goodness, immeasurable love,

you place your gifts before us;

we eat and are satisfied.

Fill us and this world in all its need with the life

that comes only from you, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

THIS SUNDAY AT BALBOA UNION CHURCH

Worship Service at 10 a.m. – ALL ARE WELCOME!

SPEAKER: Beth Anne Gray

Sunday School Teachers:  We will have activities for the children, but not Sunday school over the holiday period

Upcoming events

Movie Night -All BUC Members and Friends are invited to Participate

Friday, July 31st   8:00 p.m.-BUC Saloon

This movie came out in 2014, and is based on events in the 1960s. It has won more than 50 awards, including Golden Globe & Oscars!

Disfruta de una excelente película con popcorn y soda gratis. Una excelente oportunidad para aprender, compartir y discutir temas de actualidad y éticos.

 Congo Dancing classes, Saturday, 5.00 p.m.

You are all invited to come and join us Saturday, 5.00 p.m. for the inauguration of the “Escuela Nacional de Danza Congo”, which will be starting it’s weekly classes in the Fellowship Hall (4.00 – 6.00 p.m.) on Saturdays.

They are inaugurating with an open class for adults and children, and you are all warmly invited to come along and join in the fun!

Other News 

First visit to Fundación Vida Nueva last Sunday after service

On Sunday, after our morning service, Pastor Roland, Beth and Sherrie visited Fundación Nuevas Vidas in Howard.
We are very pleased to let Martha know that her friend Ruth is still in the home, but she is in building three with other residents that require full care (because they are bed-ridden or have other problems).
We also discovered that their building two is semi-detached apartments for independent living (basically studio apartments).
We hope you will join us on our next visit in August.

In  BUC Missions we are Collaborating with “Good Deeds ” Program: