Breadbreaker
Today an amazing experience with god worshippers when we re-enacted one of Jesus' famous feedings stories.
People came beforehand and washed their hands in the warm, clean, fresh water and dried them with a towel and we made an offering for the work of building a well for Africa. People were sharing in solidarity with each other. Friends and near-strangers decided to invite those they were sat next to in worship to wash their hands and then later they shared bread and fresh grilled fish with each other in their hands. Breaking bread and eating it hand to mouth. We sat around in a half-moon and some people were really uncomfortable and we chatted about why that could be. But we worshipped anyway, meeting god and each other in a renewed way. The feeding was physical and spiritual - both. There's no getting away from it and in that context it couldn't have been one without the other. It was amazing, strange, moving, nerve-wracking and a huge priviledge to share in worship with people today - sharing discomfort, hunger, wisdom, Word and welcoming...the stuff of life with god. We were about 30 people gathered from Taiwan and Manchester and Cheshire - nowhere near the 15,000 that may have gathered with Jesus and his mates. And just when he thought he was going for some renewal and me-time it was time to heal and feed people but with a difference. Jesus said do it yourself - you have the stuff in your hands, in your midst, amongst you (like the kindom of heaven?) and so they fed each other with the things that matter. So even in the resting there is nurture, in the feeding there is new hunger and in the sharing there is god's community and it happened today in Wythenshawe.
