How Do We Share the Gift of Ourselves in Life-Giving Ways?

John 6:30-33,48-51 (NRSV)

So they said to him, "What sign are you going to give us then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.' " Then Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."

I am the bread of life. Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

This is such an appropriate Gospel reading from our Daily Prayers after the Season of Epiphany began yesterday. On Epiphany we went with the Magi to Bethlehem by the guidance of the star to present gifts of Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh to the Christ Child. God manifested God's Self through all the nations as was foretold by the prophets.

In this Gospel reading of John 6: 30-38 and 48-51, we hear Jesus giving us the gift of himself as the Bread of Life. Here God makes of God's Self that offering to us through the Body and Blood of Jesus that we receive in the Holy Eucharist by which our souls and bodies are nourished and sustained. In the Eucharist, Jesus makes a total offering of himself to God from the altar of the Cross, through which our sins are forgiven and we are connected to his universal Body of Christ, which is the Church. This is not just the Roman Catholic church that is led by a worldly dominating power structure. This is the One, Holy, Catholic and Apostolic Church formed by Jesus Christ, through which the Apostles proclaimed Jesus Christ, crucified and risen from the dead. This is that universal Faith that tells the story over and over again in our Liturgy that God became one of us in the incarnate Word who gave himself for all of humanity, so that we could have eternal life through the Name of Jesus Christ.

Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people are called to give of ourselves in life-giving and wonderful ways. We are empowered and called to offer ourselves in service of God and our neighbor in ways that lift up, heal, give new life and meaning in a world that is full of power hungry religious conservativism, prejudice and division. LGBT people are offered the gift of the Eucharist, so that we can make a gift of ourselves to point people who have given themselves over to discriminating ways of thinking about sexual orientation and/or gender expression/identity to consider new ways of thinking and acting. God knows that we cannot achieve this on our own, by our own strength. So God offers to us the gift of God's Self through Jesus Christ, the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation, so that we can be nourished and energized to continue our missionary work of helping the world to know that God loves unconditionally and all inclusively.

How is God calling us to give of ourselves today? In what ways is God asking us to share God's life-giving good news that Jesus is the Bread of Life and the Cup of Eternal Salvation? How do we allow that Bread of Life to nourish us in the middle of hard economic times? In what ways are we allowing ourselves to be the broken Body of Christ for the world and his Blood shed for the life of the world? In what ways are we allowing the Body of Christ to help heal a world broken by division, prejudice and power control hungry people? How are we as LGBT Christians helping people to know God's unconditional and all inclusive love?

O God, by the leading of a star you manifested your only Son to the Peoples of the earth: Lead us, who know you now by faith, to your presence, where we may see your glory face to face; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen. (Collect for Epiphany, Book of Common Prayer, Page 214)