Wonder Bread // Bread Bath and Beyond // Jan 4

``What if Jesus is the starter batch in us? What if rather than making an exclusive claim about himself, Jesus is giving us the recipe to become as he is, to become living bread for the life of the world. And what if that's how god works in this world? Something in you and something in me gets leavened. Something in each of us becomes bread and hunger is fed and for us as well as for another human being. [00:23:00] (44 seconds)  #StarterBatchWithin

Store bought white bread or fresh, hot, butter melting, homemade bread, well, you get to choose as I get to choose what I'm gonna do today. Living bread or manna, that's the choice that we have for this day and for the next day and the next day. If you want life, eat the bread of life. If you want to bring life to another, become the bread of life. And don't forget, you are what you eat. [00:23:44] (52 seconds)  #ChooseLivingBread

And yet, too often, we are willing to settle for manna or store bought bread. Our emptiness and our hunger are real. Jesus knows that. He also knows they are more about just filling our stomach. It is not just about what we have to satisfy this down here. That hunger is also about our hearts. It's about our souls. It's about our minds. It's about the quality of life that fulfills more than the quantity of life that fills our life. [00:16:35] (48 seconds)  #HungerForSoul

We're hungry in all aspects of our lives, are we not? We hunger in our spirituality. We hunger in our prayer life. We hunger in marriages. We hunger in family relationships. We have hunger in relationships. We hunger in how we respond to conflict and how we respond to injustice in this life. We hunger as we deal with our pain or in the pain of another human being. We hunger as how to deal with those things. We hunger in our work life. We hunger in our daily life. We hunger in our search for meaning and purpose with this life that we've been given. [00:15:51] (45 seconds)  #HungryInEveryWay

Look at the way Jesus fed his people. Fed his people. He was present. He listened. He loved. He welcomed and connected with people. I call that feeding, isn't it? He told stories about life and help people find meaning. He offered forgiveness and mercy to people. That's feeding hunger, is it not? He offered a vision for a new way of living, a different way of being in this world. He reminded people to not be afraid or not let their hearts be troubled. That's feeding, isn't it? [00:19:15] (44 seconds)  #FeedLikeJesus

I've often been stuck there that Jesus is the only loaf in the basket, but here's the new thought. What if he isn't just the only loaf in the basket? What about us? What if Jesus isn't claiming to be the only loaf of bread in the world? What if he's showing us what living bread looks like so we can find it in this world and so we can become that bread so we can share this bread of our lives with others. [00:21:35] (46 seconds)  #NotTheOnlyLoaf

Starter dough batch has the capacity or the potential to become bread, to feed, and to nourish. And starter dough bread is meant to be shared. What if Jesus is the starter batch in us? What if rather than making an exclusive claim about himself, Jesus is giving us the recipe to become as he is, to become living bread for the life of the world. [00:22:40] (40 seconds)  #ShareYourStarter

What are you feeding what are you feeding that hunger with these days? Is it is it the bread of life, or are you settling for manna? More than likely, we're settling for manna, aren't we? Those two options describe two ways of being and living, I think. It's a choice that we make every single day. We can go to the store and buy that white bread, or we can be fed with the bread of life. [00:18:11] (35 seconds)  #WhatAreYouFeeding