Bob Stillerman

Let me start by offering two phrases for us to consider this morning: Scope of Work and Power of Conviction. Scope of Work is a set of expected and agreed-upon parameters for an endeavor that someone undertakes. Hey, Neighbor, do you think you could help me move next weekend? Hello, Mr. Contractor, do you think you could help me paint a small room?

If you come over to my house after supper time, well really, anytime, but especially after supper time, all the talk is about animals and nature.

My little girls want to know what God has created. And HOW fun it is to see the world through their eyes – people experiencing a giraffe, or a tree, or puffy clouds for the first time.

In the 27th Psalm, the psalmist proclaims, “I am confident, I believe, I trust that I shall see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.” Fifty-seven psalms later, this good living is manifested in the house of the Lord. God dwells in Jerusalem’s temple, and God makes room for God’s people, and indeed every created being.

If you have been paying close attention these last five weeks, yes, we have been talking about bread the whole time. But we haven’t been talking about the same kind of bread the whole time. Jesus has been explaining a process. We’ve moved from Jesus talking about the bread of heaven to living bread to flesh and blood.

God gives daily bread, manna, to the Israelites as they wander in the wilderness. Don’t me wrong, this is a remarkable gift. We need our daily bread and our daily watering to exist. And each week, this is a specific petition we offer collectively to our Creator. Give us something, God, that keeps us alive, allows us to move forward.