Thanksgiving 2015

Thanksgiving 2015 (John 6:25-35)

“I am the bread of life.”

Jesus is life. He is in fact the source of life. That life is abundant in the here and now. That life is everlasting in the hereafter.

The very essence of life is love.

On this Thanksgiving day in the United States, our nation asks us to ponder what we are thankful for. Our secular culture seduces us to overindulge and to spend money we don’t have. The One Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church invites us to cultivate an attitude of gratitude to God.

God is the very source of life. There is no life apart from God. Apart from God there is the slow steady entropy, the slow steady decay of life. The process of decay in the human spirit comes from pride, self-will and fear. Fear distorts and diminishes the joy of Creation. Fear robs us of the joy of salvation. Fear extends and perpetuates original separation. Sadly, this is part of the human condition we have chosen to manifest.

The great gift of God is a new way of being human. It is the way of the original pattern of Creation. It is the way of blessing. It is the Way of Jesus Christ.

Jesus is the original pattern of life who has come into the world to reset the pattern. He is the very essence of life- the bread of life. The bread of life he offers us is His own body and blood. It is the gift of Holy Communion. It is a gift that sustains and transforms.

By all means consider the many material and emotional blessings you enjoy this day. Consider the poor, the sick and the lonely who lack these things. Make a real choice to enter into the real presence of abundant life and eternal life by receiving the Bread of Life, Jesus Christ. Walk in the way of life. Receive the blessing, give thanks for the blessing and make a real choice to become the blessing to others. As Jesus is himself the eternal bread of life make a real choice in Jesus to become a channel of blessing to your families, friends, neighbors and the strangers at our gates. Choose the Jesus way of Blessing. Choose life.

Jesus says to us today on this national day of Thanksgiving. “I am the bread of life.”