Flesh to Eat

Flesh to Eat
Pentecost 13; John 6:51-58
How can this man give us his flesh to eat?
Not cannibals, communicants are we!
To give his flesh as bread subverts defeat,
forgiving our betrayals yet to be.
So often he disturbs our literal sense,
upsets convention, challenges what’s right,
and then must bear the brunt of our offence,
flesh broken, blood poured out, the looming night.
His body swallowed whole by death and tomb
is by his rising free for all to share:
to eat this bread will make in us the room
for flesh to mate with Spirit, if we dare.
Then we will bear the Christ. Our hands and feet
will do his work, creation made complete.
	Barbara Messner 11/08/2021