8/8/21
News from the Benwell & Scotswood Team
Sister Corita Kent, that they may have life, 1964 Serigraph on paper, Corita Art Center, Los Angeles
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Dates for your diary
Tuesday 17th August
Members of St James Development group to meet
2pm at St James'
Sunday 5th September
Services in all 4 churches:
9.30am - St James' Benwell
9.30am - Venerable Bede
11.15 am - St Margaret's
11.15 am - St John's
Wednesday 8th September
Members of 'Mission Action Planning' group to meet
2pm at St Margaret's
Wednesday 15th September
Treasurers meeting
7pm on Zoom
Sunday 26th September - Sunday 3rd October
Newcastle Diocese Generosity Week
Wednesday 6th October
PCC meeting
7.30pm on Zoom
News
Next month worship in all our churches - Sunday 5th September
9.45am - Venerable Bede
9.45am - St James
11.15am - St John's
11.15am - St Margaret's
As our last attempt at four services was scuppered by unforeseen circumstances, we are going to try again with a Sunday service in all four of our churches for the first time in over a year! We are trying out different patterns for our clergy to sustain worship in all our buildings without calling in outside help. This is not necessarily the times we will go with in the future
Covid-19 update
No doubt you will have heard that covid restrictions are being relaxed. As case rates are still high in our area you won't see too much change just yet! But we do have plans to reintroduce activities.
Most importantly - please get your vaccine if you haven't yet! And stay at home if you develop covid symptoms. Find vaccine times and locations here >
Reading and intercessions
Would you like to help us lead Sunday worship? Even if you haven't read in a service or led the prayers before, or if you are not sure but might be interested, then just let us know! We can do training and have a practice run with you so you can give it a go before committing. Speak with Chris or any of the clergy.
Cornerstone Community Cafe open!
Wednesdays & Thursdays 10am - 2pm
62 Armstrong Road, NE4 7TU
Delicious affordable meals
Outdoor Seating
Dog Friendly
Kids Corner
Computer and Internet Access
Computer help
Food pantry and emergency foodbank
and a great pre-loved shop!
Bible study with Farsi translation - every Tues 4.30pm
At St James' Benwell
Every week we meet to read and discuss the Bible. We have a translator for our Persian members, but anyone is welcome to come whatever language you speak!
Worship texts
Collect
Let your merciful ears, O Lord,
be open to the prayers of your humble servants;
and that they may obtain their petitions
make them to ask such things as shall please you;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
Amen.
Reading
Ephesians 4.25 – 5.2 So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbours, for we are members of one another. Be angry but do not sin; do not let the sun go down on your anger, and do not make room for the devil. Thieves must give up stealing; rather let them labour and work honestly with their own hands, so as to have something to share with the needy. Let no evil talk come out of your mouths, but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear. And do not grieve the Holy Spirit of God, with which you were marked with a seal for the day of redemption. Put away from you all bitterness and wrath and anger and wrangling and slander, together with all malice, and be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, as God in Christ has forgiven you. Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
Gospel
John 6.35, 41–51 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. Then the Jews began to complain about him because he said, ‘I am the bread that came down from heaven.’ They were saying, ‘Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How can he now say, “I have come down from heaven”?’ Jesus answered them, ‘Do not complain among yourselves. No one can come to me unless drawn by the Father who sent me; and I will raise that person up on the last day. It is written in the prophets, “And they shall all be taught by God.” Everyone who has heard and learned from the Father comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father except the one who is from God; he has seen the Father. Very truly, I tell you, whoever believes has eternal life. I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. 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 for ever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.’
Sermon
The Revd Dominic Coad
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”
The pastor of a church I once went to was fond of telling us that if Jesus were incarnate on Earth today he wouldn’t say, ‘I am the bread of life’ but ‘I am the Big Mac of life’.
Now, I understand the point he was trying to make. He was trying to explain that Jesus was an ordinary person, living amongst us, deeply imbedded in the everyday things of normal life. And that, in him, God is present with the poor and working people, not just the religious and political elites. Jesus spoke to people in a language that they understood about things that mattered to them. To fishermen he spoke about fish, to day labourers he spoke about labouring and to shepherds he spoke about sheep. And so he communicated the gospel in such a way that people understood it was for them and they didn’t need to aspire to be a different class of person to accept it.
Nevertheless, I’m not so sure that Jesus would have compared himself to a Big Mac. This is not because I think this would be somehow beneath Jesus - he always made it clear that no-one was beneath him - nor is it because I’m snobbish about McDonalds - the truth is that I really like Big Macs. But I do know that as delicious as Big Macs might be, they aren’t really all that good for you and they’re not really all that good for the environment either. And whilst they might be okay once in a while, they can’t occupy the place that real, proper bread plays in a good diet and, indeed, in a good life.
This was shown to be true last year as the COVID pandemic took hold in the UK. In the four weeks up to 22nd March 2020, there was a 92% increase in sales of flour. This led to a shortage of flour that continued through the first lockdown, as you might remember. I myself bought flour directly from a mill online and even that took 5 weeks to come!
It’s interesting to note that the increase in flour sales came before lockdown was even announced. As life became more and more uncertain in the UK, people turned to bread making, and baking in general, to provide them with a sense of security and comfort as we faced up to an unprecedented challenge to our sense of safety and equilibrium.
You see, it wasn’t just about trying to avoid running out of bread, it was about everything that baking bread means. In fact, whilst there were flour shortages for many weeks, there was never really a shortage of bread in shops. And whilst people certainly did panic-buy toilet paper, no one was posting pictures of their loo rolls on social media, whereas Facebook and Instagram were flooded with pictures of people’s cob loafs, focaccias and, of course, sourdoughs.
If you’ve ever baked your own bread, as I’m sure many of you have, you’ll know how delicious it is. But it’s not that kind of artificial, sugary-salty, chemical deliciousness of fast food, it’s something deeper and more nourishing than that. There’s a difference between quick-fix, convenience food that gives you a hit, and truly delicious, deeply nourishing, wholesome food. It’s the difference between comfort food, and food that it truly comforting.
Of all the things that can be made with flour and yeast (including Big Mac buns) there is nothing quite like proper, crusty, chunky, home made bread. The smell of it from the oven, that yeasty, rich taste, free from the preservative flavour of supermarket bread; substantial and filling. And it is more than just the eating of it, it is the satisfaction of making something so basic from scratch, the calming rhythm of the knead, the magic of the rise given by the yeast, the sharing with family and friends, the knowledge that you are partaking in something almost as old as human culture. Real bread is food for body, mind and soul.
“Jesus said to them, ‘I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.”
Bread wasn’t a metaphor chosen at random by Jesus, it conveys the deep truth of what he wanted to say. Just as we need real bread, real food, real nourishment, so we need Jesus the bread of life. He essential to us, not disposable, not optional, not junk food but not boring food, either. The bread of life is lively, vital, real.
But to receive this continual sustenance requires something of us; we need to respond, we need to receive it. Receiving the bread of life is work. Perhaps this sounds somewhat hard, but the Christian life is work. Our spiritual lives, the renewing of our hearts and minds, our commitment to church; all of these things are work, and sometimes that work seems hard or unappealing. And, just like with junk food, we needn’t berate ourselves when sometimes we give in and take an easier path. But we should also understand that the easier path does not last, it does not provide us with the enduring wellbeing that Christ has to offer us.
The bread of life is also available to everyone, as we hear Jesus say: whoever eats of this bread will live for ever. It’s available to everyone. All we need do is ask. There are no prerequisites, no qualifications needed. Christ is freely available to all. Yet so often we deny ourselves the good things that he has for us simply because we fail to ask. We are too clouded by our own self-doubt, or holding on too tightly to the things we value - the things that we think make us secure and important. Or we’re not happy that this offer is open to everyone, like the prodigal’s brother, cross that Jesus is so generous to everyone.
But bread is meant to be shared: placed in the middle of the table and torn into chunks, or sliced up for rounds of toast. The bread of life is for us all, to share, together. And if we can only accept what Jesus has to give us all it will be life changing; we will never be hungry, he tells us. As tempting as junk food might be, my guess is that the most memorable meals you’ve eaten have had a bit more about them. The bread of life is not eaten and then forgotten, Christ remains with us, he continually sustains us. If we can receive it, it will change our diets, rid them from all those many things we consume that do not sustain us and do damage to others, and fill us with true nourishment that lasts.
Christ is offering us this delicious, fragrant, enduring, comforting, soul strengthening gift that is his life for us. Let’s not hesitate to take it.
Intercessions
Baptisms:
Keenan and Kenna-Ray Nielsen
Prayers for others:
Liz Holliman
Joan Finley
James, Christina, and baby Xavier
Ali Zareie and his family
The Riches Family
Jill Sorley
Joyce Phillips
George Snowden
Claire Mozaffari
Eric Harling
Herbert Agbeko
Anastasia Miklewright
Edward Fraser
All those who are Struggling at home or in hospital with Covid-19
Rest In Peace:
Michael Bell
Richard Ferguson (Priest)
All who lost their lives from Covid 19
Post-Communion
God of our pilgrimage,
you have willed that the gate of mercy
should stand open for those who trust in you:
look upon us with your favour
that we who follow the path of your will
may never wander from the way of life;
through Jesus Christ our Lord.