At a recent vacancy meeting, Rev Roger Jones, our Interim Moderator, led the opening devotions with a piece from a booklet he had written. In church recently we have been thinking about Bread, and Jesus being the Bread of Life, so I thought I would share Roger’s words with you.
Introduction
Out of the mouths of babes and infants… we know there were plenty of children around Jesus when he walked the earth. Jesus sat with them, picked them up, blessed them, healed them and probably a whole host of other things. Did he play? joke with them? learn from them…? Of course he did. Like everyone else encountering children.
I wonder what a child’s dialogue about these encounters with Jesus may have been. How would a child have made sense of the stories, the healing, the teaching? Did they misunderstand? Misinterpret the signs? Think of themselves? Enjoy the moments? Learn something new? Of course they did. Like everyone else encountering Jesus.
This is a possible dialogue by a child who possibly encountered Jesus and put their own child like spin on the special moments.
Luke13; 20-21
20 Again he asked, “What shall I compare the kingdom of God to? 21 It is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into about sixty pounds[a] of flour until it worked all through the dough.”
The bread of loaf
Mum showed me how! She said it was time I learned how to make bread! But it was hard! All that dough and kneading. Makes your arms ache. Makes your hands ache. Makes your fingers ache.
We made it with three measures: ‘bet we could feed any army of a hundred men with all that!
Mum said whenever you made the bread you had to make more than enough. You never knew who was going to visit. And we didn’t like turning people away. You never knew if you were going to run out.
But it was tough pushing and pulling and flicking and turning.
But the best bit was definitely the yeast! That made it leavened. Made it rise. We would even keep some of the yeast separate and share with the neighbours. You didn’t need much. But it had spectacular results.
You had to work it in. You couldn’t see it! You had to bury it deep into the dough and keep kneading and kneading.
You worked it work in! You didn’t know what it would turn out like.
Yes, the yeast was the best bit, although we often didn’t use it on special religious occasions. We also had to make unleavened bread. It was like the leaven was wicked or bad somehow! But we used it anyway. The first time, when my hands were really aching, this man stood and watched me!
“Working hard?” he asked.
I was embarrassed at first. I thought he might be angry I was using yeast. But he took an interest in this work – this women’s work.
So, I told him about the yeast. “It was leavening,” I said, “and the yeast was a really important bit. It was there working even though you couldn’t see it. It was there but you would not know how the bread would end up. It was there to work even though it was not very religious. It really brings this loaf to life!” “Umm,” he said. That’s all he said.
Then I offered him some to eat. But I got the impression he was thinking about something else!
Taken from the September Edition of The Record
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