Family Communion for the 11th Sunday after Trinity: celebrant Revd Tola Badejo.

First reading: 2 Samuel 18. 5-9, 31-33
Gospel: John 6. 35, 41-51

Our first reading continues the story of David, and of the consequences both of his sins and of his misjudgements. As Nathan foretold, there is strife in his family: one son, Amnon, has been killed by another, Absalom, in revenge for the mistreatment of his sister Tamar, and now Absalom has set himself up to challenge David for the throne. He is defeated and, contrary to David's express orders, is put to an unheroic and humiliating death. David thus suffers the double loss of a beloved son - first through treachery and then through death - and has to face the fact that his trusted generals decide which orders to obey and which to ignore. At the moment of his outward military and political triumph, spiritually he is brought low.

The Gospel similarly continues from previous weeks, with Jesus's self-characterisation as the 'bread of life'. For modern Europeans who can usually choose what to eat, this metaphor can lose its force, and 'bread' might seem a plain and uninteresting staple; for those for whom each future meal was or is uncertain, or can imagine what that might be like, it symbolises security.