Who Is Jesus, Really?

Who Is Jesus, Really? is our worship theme for the eleventh Sunday after Pentecost, August 12, 2012. Our focus scripture is John 6:35, 41-51.

Last Sunday we explored the contrast between work and belief. Jesus feeds a huge crowd of five thousand men plus women and children. The next day members of that crowd come looking for him, not for who he is, but to be fed again. One of John’s peculiar but spiritually fascinating dialogues follows. The crowd members are intrigued by Jesus’ talk about bread from heaven and want to know what work they must do to receive this bread. “Just this,” Jesus tells them, “your work is to believe in the one whom God sends to you.” As Eugene Peterson translates this in The Message, what Jesus is asking them to do is to align with him. So belief is not an abstract, intellectual thing. Rather, it is a spiritual joining. Their hearts and souls will connect to and come under his influence, and they will be transformed. But the crowd is only dimly aware of what he is telling them. They are not expecting to hear him say that their work is to believe in him, and they grow suspicious about Jesus’ identity. Is he as good as Moses, who day by day gave their ancestors manna in the wilderness? Jesus points out that it was not Moses who fed their ancestors – but God. Now he says, God is blessing them with something even more important: living bread that can give life to the world. And that is where we left the dialogue last week.

This week the concern about just who Jesus really is continues. “Look,” the crowd members say to each other, “what can he possibly mean about being ‘the living bread who comes down from heaven?’ We know his father and mother. We know where he grew up. This makes no sense!” But Jesus persists. “It may be a mystery to you,” he says in effect. “But if people see who I really am, it is because God draws them to me. And whether you can get it or not, God is doing a new thing here. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness and all of them still died. The bread I am sent to give is the bread of eternal life. Eat it and you are impervious to death, for at the right time I will raise you from death. Whoever eats this bread (aligns their selves with me) will live forever. And the bread I will offer so that the world may have life is my flesh.”

In John, eternal life is both a present and a future state of being. As we align our selves with Jesus, we become citizens of heaven even while we live on earth. Jesus lives and comes into the world as a sign of God’s blessing and love. And he dies and returns to God as a sign of God’s blessing and love. Understand the signs and we understand a whole new roadmap to the meaning and conduct of life. It has everything to do with who Jesus is, really.

Here are several Calls to Worship and two Unison Prayers based on the Lectionary passage from Ephesians 4:25-5:2. And there is a Call to Worship based on one of the psalms for the day, Psalm 130. It is somewhat different than the one first printed for June 10, 2012. Please feel free to use or adapt anything that is helpful to you.

Call to Worship    from Ephesians 4:25-5:2

L: Dear ones, as we gather in community, let us recall how the Bible teaches us to act!

P: Tell the truth. No more lies. No pretending. In Christ’s body we’re all one.

L: Get angry, but don’t take revenge. Anger is the devil’s tool. Don’t go to bed angry!

P: Don’t steal. Use your hands for honest work. Then be generous to others.

L: Watch your mouth! Don’t swear. Don’t cut others down. Build them up.

P: Don’t grieve God. Revere God’s Spirit moving in your soul. It’s who you are.

L: Be kind and tenderhearted to each other. Forgive others as Christ forgives you.

P: Imitate God in everything you do. You are a child of God!

All: Follow the example of Christ. Live a life of love!

Call to Worship

L: We gather to be nourished again by the grace of Christ,

     which is for us and for all people.

P: We come to be changed by his love.

L: May we bless the world and each other with kindness,

     tenderheartedness and forgiveness.

All: Let us strive to let Christ’s love grow to rule our lives in everything.

Unison Prayer

We come to this time of worship, eternal God, trusting your love that has no end.  We confess that sometimes our lives do not reflect the abundance of your love. 

Our selfishness and anger get the best of us. 

If you kept a list of the things we did wrong, we would not stand a chance. 

But you don’t: you forgive us. 

You call us to be loving, forgiving, tenderhearted people. 

And so we come to worship to praise you; 

To be renewed by your Word and Spirit.  

Cleanse us. 

Transform us and make us new. 

In Jesus’ name we pray.  Amen.

Call to Worship

L: God calls us here to meet Jesus Christ and one another.

P: We are all to be gifts to one another – knitted and joined together in Him.

L: God invites us to receive the love of Christ which is for us and for all people.

P: We desire to be changed by this love that we might bless the world

     and each other with kindness, tenderheartedness and forgiveness.

L: We come today to celebrate the living God and be built up in faith and love.

All: May Christ’s love grow to rule our lives in everything.

         

Unison Prayer

Merciful God, we are so grateful for your love.

Your love defines our lives, giving shape and direction to our days.

Give us the wisdom and the courage to live according to the                              

graceful, challenging, exhilarating rule of your love. 

Empower us to speak the truth in love

Help us encourage and equip one another to serve.  Amen.

Call to Worship   From Psalm130

L: Out of the depths we cry to you, O God! Lord, hear our call!

P: Look beyond our faults, and see our needs.

L: If you, Great God, should keep track of our sins,

    none of us could survive in your presence.

P: But you offer us forgiveness, and we bless you for that.

L: In times of darkness, let us wait for the Lord.

    May our souls rest in God’s promise of hope.

P: Our souls look for the Lord to act

    more than sentries search for the dawn.

L: Sisters and brothers in Christ, let us hope in the Lord!

    For God holds us in covenant love; God has all power to redeem.

All: It is God who redeems our church from all our sins.

    Praise God!