News: Reflections
The first Holy Communion perhaps?
Bread Song It’s not in the bread but in the breaking that the mystery of God’s story is told. It’s not in the seed but in the dying not in the treasure but in the digging for it. It’s not it’s mountain but in the moving.
It’s not in the wine but in pouring out that a new world is purchased for weary. It’s not in the cross but in the crucified, not in the nails but in the nailing. It’s not in the grave but in the rising from it.
It’s in the giving that the gift becomes life; it’s in the living that the word becomes flesh.
It’s in this taking this receiving, this sharing of supper this pointing to a future that is promised paid for and pressed into our hands; it’s in this everyday mealtime miracle that the universe is born to new life. John 10.7 I tell you the truth I am the gate for the sheep
Jesus is alluding to the round stone sheepfolds in the high pastures, built with an open gap so the sheep could pass through in safety and the shepherd himself would then lie down across the gap becoming himself the door that kept them safe.
I am the Door for the Sheep Not one that’s gently hinged or deftly hung, Not like the ones you planed at Joseph’s place, Not like the well-oiled openings that swung So easily for Pilate’s practiced pace, Not like the ones that closed in Mary’s face From house to house in brimming Bethlehem, Not like the one that no man may assail, The dreadful curtain, the forbidding veil That waits your breaking in Jerusalem.
Not one you made but one you have become: Load-bearing, balancing, a weighted beam To bridge the gap, to bring us within reach Of your high pasture. Calling us by name, You lay your body down across the breach, Yourself the door that opens into home.
Malcolm Guite
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