On this last of our four Sundays centered around John’s Bread of Life teachings, perhaps we can easily identify with the disciples who blurt out in today’s gospel reading: “Lord, this teaching is difficult! Who can accept it?”

Last week we explored how the Bread of Life feeds our hungry hearts. But that’s just the beginning, not the end of the story. Lest we become preoccupied with our own needs, our own hurts, our own hungers, God in Christ Jesus, the Bread of Life, feeds us, and then turns us around to become those whose lives are spent feeding others the same bread.

As those who partake of the Bread of Life that is Christ Jesus, we take on his life, his gospel, and his message. As we participate in the Bread of Life that is Christ Jesus, we become that bread for others. We take on the work of sharing with others the gift of life that he is for us, being for others the bread that heals, that reconciles, that strengthens, that sets free. It’s our turn now and today’s Gospel reading reminds us that for many, it’s just too hard, and they drop away.

We sign up for this work at our baptism, though perhaps we don’t think about that too much when we baptize on a beautiful day in Santa Monica and we’re baptizing a precious new little baby. And thanks be to God, we’re going to be baptizing babies for a whole season now at First United Methodist Church. It’s so wonderful and it gives us such joy in the moment and hope for the future!

But Jesus tells us that we’re baptized into his life and his death. We’re baptized into his ministry. And no one can know in advance just where those baptismal vows will take us. We cannot know what life will bring our way or what may be required of us. If we’ve grown a bit complacent, each occasion of baptism should be a time for each of us to revisit our own baptismal commitments and find the courage within to again answer “yes.”

”Do you renounce the spiritual forces of wickedness, reject the evil powers of this world, and repent of your sin? Do you accept the freedom and power God gives you to resist evil, injustice and oppression in whatever forms they present themselves? Do you confess Jesus Christ as your Savior, put your whole trust in his grace, and promise to serve him as your Lord?”

To put it another way: Will you be bread for the world? Bread for one another?

It’s not easy work. Healing, peace, truth, justice, reconciliation, and love for all---these things are no more popular in our day than they were in the time of Jesus and his first disciples. That’s why Paul knew for that gospel work, we would need the whole armor of God.

“Put on the whole armor of God,” he says, “so that you may stand firm…Fasten the belt of truth around your waist, and put on the breastplate of righteousness. As for shoes for your feet, put on whatever will make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. With all of these, take the shield of faith…the helmet of salvation…the sword of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.”

I’m going to invite you just for a moment to close your eyes and imagine yourself getting dressed in the morning. And see what it feels like to put that belt of truth around your waist. Pull the breastplate of righteousness over your head and put on the shoes that make you ready to proclaim the gospel of peace. Put on the helmet of salvation and pick up the shield of faith in one hand and the Word of God in the other…and now you’re ready to face your day. Whatever it may bring, you’ve got truth, righteousness, peace, and faith--all at your readiness.

Most days, we, who are baptized in the Lord, don’t think much about needing the whole armor of God. But it’s there for us and sometimes we will need to put it on. Because, as the disciples were learning, this Gospel business can be hard. Hard to understand and even harder to live.

The whole world was shocked and saddened this week at the loss of life in the car bombing of the U.N. headquarters in Baghdad. Among the 23 persons who died, were the head of the mission, a life-long career diplomat, 55 year-old husband and father of two, Sergio Vieira de Mello. De Mello, a Catholic from Brazil, dedicated his life to working in the hardest places of brokenness in this world—Lebanon, Rwanda, Kosovo, East Timor, Iraq. He was described by his friends and colleagues, and by Kofi Annan, Secretary General of the United Nations, as a servant of humanity, a man dedicated to relieving suffering, to resolving conflict and to building peace.

Also killed were the 32 year-old director of UNICEF in Iraq, and representatives of the Christian Children’s Fund, and Save the Children, CARE, Bread for the World—from nearly all the humanitarian and relief agencies working to bring healing and reconciliation to that hurting land. They were dedicated workers committed to going wherever the problems were, to seeking solutions, to moving things forward, to finding reconciliation.

Among the list of those killed were Catholic and Methodist and Episcopalian and evangelical and Lutheran and Iraqi Christian Kurds. When you read their obituaries, you may find only brief reference to their religious affiliation. They testified by their lives to the depth of their commitment to a God of peace and reconciliation. Their work was committed to the fullness of life for all people. They worked for the women and children, the refugees. They worked to rebuild schools and hospitals. They worked to rebuild roads and governments. They worked to restore broken relationships and shattered dreams.

They went out every day wearing the belt of truth, the breastplate of justice and the shoes that enabled them to proclaim peace and they gave their lives for what they believed.

Kofi Annan, himself formed in a Methodist mission school, said: “How can we thank our lost colleagues for their life’s contribution? Only by vowing to work on, every day, to continue the work they began.”

This is the calling we share in Christ Jesus through our baptism:

To be bread for the world

To bring hope and healing in the places we are called to serve

To create reconciliation in every place of brokenness

To be the voice of peace

To bear witness to what is right

To lift up those who are bowed down.

To reach out to those who are estranged

To witness to our faith through the living and the giving of our lives

Most of us will shy away from the most dangerous places of service. But within the circles we travel, in our families, our neighborhoods, our work setting, our congregation, we, too, are called to be bread for one another.

Mother Teresa said: “In each of our lives Jesus comes as the bread of life—to be eaten, to be consumed by us. This is how he loves us. Then Jesus comes into our human life as the hungry one, the other, hoping to be fed with the bread of our life--our hearts loving, our hands serving. ”

Let us this day remember our baptism, give thanks to God and go forth as those dedicated to serving others.

Amen

Notes: Annie Dillard: Teaching a Stone to Talk.