Jude and I have learned a few things in our first few weeks in Fort Worth. First, St. Christopher’s is a place where the welcome never seems to end. Thank you again for giving me this lovely stole. I am really grateful for your generosity.

Second, our habit of walking to the restaurants in our neighborhood is one that we have had to break in July and August: three blocks in 105 degree heat will ruin your appetite.

Third, early mornings are really great in Fort Worth for getting outside before the heat of the day begins at 8:00 am.

We’ve taken to walking in Trinity Park with our dog, Annie. We park and walk north along the river, cross at one of the pedestrian bridges and then walk south. Not knowing the city very well, it’s easy to get turned around as to where you are on the larger map … the beauty of the river and the trees and the sound of the birds make it so that it doesn’t really matter.

The other day, we went to lunch and afterward we took a wrong turn out of the parking lot. I got a little spooked as I made my turn. I had this notion that I was going to try it without the computer and try to navigate on my own. To be honest, I hadn’t a clue which way to go. The guy behind me was getting a bit impatient.

Finally, I just went and made what I call one of my “adventure turns” because I didn’t know where I’ll end up.

Interestingly, though, we turned out of the parking lot, drove down a side street, and found ourselves in trinity park, where we walk every morning.

I said: "Huh! I had no idea where we were."

And he said, rather prophetically for this sermon, “Our place was right here, all along.”

In today’s Gospel passage, we come to a crescendo of Jesus’ bread of life speech. Have you noticed over the last few weeks that the readings from the Gospel of John focus on Jesus as the bread of life.

It would be easy to believe that Jesus has been prefiguring the eucharist over the last few weeks, and perhaps he is but keep in mind that the disciples and those who heard Jesus at the time John writes about had no experience with the Eucharist.

I wonder if the climax of this story has to do with something more profound.

Today’s Gospel calls us to remember that Jesus is everything: the message has two equally important parts:

“I am,” he says, using the same name that God identified himself with in the Hebrew scriptures. God’s very word is with us. Emmanuel.

“The bread of life!” The very stuff that sustains us in a world in which regular meals, safety, and security, are assumed but not guaranteed. This bread of life, Jesus tells us, gives us what we need to live a life that God designed for us, not the life the world promises.

It's as if Jesus is saying: if you’re with me, then the insanity around you does not define you, I do. Your crazy family? I got it. The frailty of your earthly body. You belong to me. The worry and anguish about what is to come: be not afraid, it is I!

The bread of life speech that we read today and have been reading takes place in the frame of a bigger story. We are told of things that threaten our calm. Remember, the crowd of 5,000 who were fed on five loaves and two fishes. Phillip was so typical of we humans: How are we gonna feed all these people: six months wages isn’t enough!

And yet, Jesus feeds the crowd with 12 baskets left over. You should read that number 12 carefully because there were 12 tribes of Israel. Jesus is saying that the scraps of his feast will feed a whole nation!

The speech also takes place just after the storm on the sea of Galilee. We the wind and the rain terrify the disciples, but Jesus appears walking on the water and he calms creation itself. Do not be afraid. It is I.

The cares of this world: food and shelter, yes, but also anxiety and family, health, death … these are things that we worry about constantly. They disorient us. They keep us from knowing where we are on the map of the universe that God has drawn for us.

So much of our own story here at St. Christopher’s has also been disorienting at times. What will we do? What is going to happen? And yet, here we are in the midst of a new chapter, with new families and new things happening every week. I felt it the first week I visited here and even before.

This community has long relied on Jesus as the bread of life even during moments of dislocation, in which the metaphorical wind and rain were blowing fiercely. If we had turned to the world for sustenance, we would have gone hungry. If we had relied on our own wits, the boat might have sunk. But Jesus is the very bread of life that sustained us and sustains us at this very moment.

Jesus in his bread of life speeches calls us to focus on our god, and our god alone as we navigate the challenges of this life. He is at the center of a map on which the side streets don’t matter, and from which wrong turns do not exist if we would but orient ourselves towards him. He satisfies our hunger. He calms our anxiety. His life means that we will have life, even life everlasting with God.

Huh! I had no idea where we were.

Yeah, Jesus said, "Your place was right here, with me all along."

Amen.