Word in the Hand

Sunday Gospel John 6 Jesus said: 'For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.' I had already written the previous post on this Sunday's Gospel before I went away for a few days to Lindisfarne, the Holy Island of Celtic Christianity. The Celtic air has given me another view, and following the advice of another writer, I am sharing the words that refuse to be 'saved for another day'.  Some places are known as 'thin places' and as a description that is about as much as you can say without being there; and too much to say once you have. My first step on the island, many years ago now, brought me to a home I have never known and I now try to visit at least once a year. One year, my friend Andy, wrote a quote in my prayerbook -  'I am an emptiness for Thee to fill, my soul a cavern for Thy sea' - by George MacDonald. At the time it was an evocative quote as I was, I thought, quite full of God. ...

Sunday Gospel John 6:24-35  When the people saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into those boats and crossed to Capernaum to look for Jesus. When they found him on the other side, they said to him, ‘Rabbi, when did you come here?’   Jesus answered: ‘I tell you most solemnly, you are not looking for me because you have seen the signs but because you had all the bread you wanted to eat. Do not work for food that cannot last, but work for food that endures to eternal life, the kind of food the Son of Man is offering you, for on him the Father, God himself, has set his seal.’ Then they said to him, ‘What must we do if we are to do the works that God wants?’ Jesus gave them this answer, ‘This is working for God: you must believe in the one he has sent.’ So they said, ‘What sign will you give to show us that we should believe in you? What work will you do? Our fathers had manna to eat in the desert; as scripture says: He...