Jesus said, “I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh.” John 6:51

There is an event coming to Richmond this month, an immersive experience with the art of Vincent Van Gogh. It’s been touring around the country for several years now and I saw it in Washington, D.C., several years ago. I plan to see it again while it’s in Richmond, because in retrospect, to me this event seems a lot like church. There were readings, music, and a community of people gathered to share a love of Van Gogh’s art. There was even a craft room that reminded me of Sunday School, where we could create some hands-on art.

Van Gogh is my favorite artist, and I love viewing his art hanging quietly on museum walls, but this is different. This is truly an immersive experience, and you are surrounded by the art on the walls, ceiling and floor. It is art in motion, a living, moving, experiential event.

Vincent’s life was not perfect, not always healthy, and at times was a great struggle, but he was a person of faith, who in his early adulthood explored a call to ordained ministry. It turns out that his art became his ministry. We entered a room where everything was moving, which reminded me of our liturgy as we all move toward the table to receive the Body of Christ.

In all of our diversity we are connected in a life that is both beautiful and hard; connected to one another and to the greater presence of God. The art of our lives endures for those who come after us, and even though things change all around us, the life of Christ continues and abides in us.

I wonder if this is what Jesus was conveying to his listeners when he explained to them that he is the living bread that came down from heaven. I imagine that what Jesus wanted them to understand was not something that could be explained with words alone, but something that needed to be experienced. And so he spoke in a metaphor they could understand because we all know that we must eat in order to live. And Jesus was never afraid of inserting some shock value, some hyperbole, into his messages, so he tells them he is the living bread that they will need to eat in order to live, really live. He is the flesh that becomes their flesh, that becomes the life of the world. He is the Word made flesh, the Incarnation.

Jesus offers us an immersive experience that allows us to take it all in, that invites us to literally take Jesus inside of ourselves. We can be filled, immersed in, Word and Sacrament when we gather in this place. We come here to focus on the One we love, our holy and Triune God, in all the ways our bodies have been created to experience – with sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. All of our senses are engaged in worship, as we receive the living bread from heaven.

Of course, we can come to church for all sorts of reasons. Maybe we come out of habit, or because we love connecting at coffee hour. Some of us come longing to help those in need, to be inspired and motivated to do acts of mercy and justice in the world. Others of us are here because we need respite from the world and are hungry to experience a moment of peace. We come to sing or to sit in the silence, to find comfort and support, and to be forgiven and healed. All of these reasons are an expression of our hunger and longing to experience Christ, and we have come to the right place. This is where Christ feeds us. This is where we experience his abiding love when we receive him in the Eucharist. This is where we receive the food that gives us eternal life, and Jesus invites us into this full, immersive experience.

In our Eucharistic Prayer as the bread and wine made flesh and blood are lifted up at the conclusion of the prayer, the priest says, “Behold what you are.” And the people respond, “May we become what we receive.”

It is in the abiding that we become like Christ, come to deeper knowledge of Christ. May we remember that we are abiding in the One who came down from heaven and who abides in us; we are abiding in the One who longs to create a work of art on the canvas of our lives. Always and everywhere we are invited into an immersive experience with God, and it is overwhelmingly beautiful.