Dear Friends

“Believe what you see, see what you believe and become what you are:
the Body of Christ.” – Augustine of Hippo

“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give is my flesh for the life of the world.” – Jesus

When I was a student in Cambridge, I frequently attended services at a monastery www.ssje.org nestled on the banks of the Charles River. Students and faculty of every faith from all over the university (including the historically Unitarian Harvard Divinity School where I was matriculated) flocked to this little island of medieval spirituality for its quiet beauty. I remember before communion we would pray a simple prayer of St. Augustine: “May we become what we receive.” This prayer helps make sense of the mystical discourse we read in this week’s gospel from John 6:51-58 in which Jesus invites us to “eat of his flesh.” Of course. it is poetry, and Jesus’s invitation to live eternally gives us solace when we face the trials of this life.

Rather than shy away from the strong language, I want to really dig into it and reconsider how we become the Body of Christ in the world today when we struggle for justice. To that end I hope you will join us in person (masked, of course) or in spirit for our March for Racial Justice in Central Park, San Mateo, on Sunday afternoon from 1 to 3 pm. Rev. Dr. Penny Nixon will be our keynote speaker, and we have about a half dozen inspirational speakers planned before our one-mile loop along El Camino Real and back into the picnic grounds. The event is sponsored by the Peninsula Multifaith Coalition of which our church is a principal sponsor, with generous support from the Silicon Valley Foundation.

Come join this Interfaith Witnessing of the Spirit of John Lewis. Hope to see you there!

Yours in faith,
Rev. Jim Mitulski