The Bread We Need

Forty-eight years ago the world was reeling in the shock of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy on November 22. The unthinkable, the totally unexpected and unncessary had occured. To this day, those of us who were alive then can recall exactly when and what we were doing as the news hit us like an earthquake. And shake this world did, and has not recovered since. If anything, we have grown insensitive to the encroachment of evil as one atrocity after another forces us to harden our shell to prevent further trauma to our psyches. It appears that there is little shock expressed when bad news hits us; we tighten and continue on. Is this the way we were meant to be? Is this the life that God envisioned for us?
In the aftermath of the French Revolution a counter movement of damage control, repair, and re-creation took place in southern France where several religious congregations came into being with similar purposes: to educate, to rekindle the faith, to satisfy the soul's hunger for the bread that endures, The Bread of Life. Our own day calls for a re-founding of the congregations that arose to meet the need then. Or, (and there are) new congregations need to be started. It's not over, it's never over, as bad as things might look. There is a positive side. When our country was attacked in the Pacific, and threatened in the Atlantic, the nation rose up in defense. Young men in their late teens came forward; women took their places in the work force. We bonded and succeeded. And because of these "givers" we are able to worship freely and celebrate thanksgiving. As we break bread today and over this Thanksgiving Weekend, let us ask God to bless us with the strength and courage to do what we have to do to find the bread we need to restore life and hope.
Bro. Rene