I want to preface this sermon with a simple statement: I am an ignorant man.
Why would I say this? Because it is true. How am I ignorant? I am as most of us are – I do not see the world clearly for what it is. I do not see other people clearly for what they are. I do not see myself clearly for what I am. And most importantly, I do not see God for Who He Is.
I don’t think I have always thought I was ignorant – indeed, I know I did not always think this. But as years have gone on, either I’ve become more ignorant, or I’ve become more aware of how ignorant I truly am. What do any of us actually know of another human being? The Scriptures tell us that our true life is hid with Christ in God (Colossians), thus the truth of any person is a mystery. And I know almost nothing of this mystery – not only towards myself but also and especially towards those around me. How do I know what another man needs? I do not know. God knows. (Fr. Stephen Freeman)
There are a few things that we know. Here's one-
We know that God truly loves the world and gave us His only begotten Son that we might have life, true life, communion with the true and living God;

We have communion with the true and living God.
I want to spend the next couple of weeks talking about The Lord's Supper. Not the 'Last Supper', because that's not true. We partake of the Lord's Supper every week-- and Christ did eat with his disciples again.
This week, I did a word study on the words loaf... bread.
Bread is a fundamental part of the diet- It's a basic staple- it's been called "The Staff of Life" because it contains all the nutrients necessary for survival. It's used symbolically throughout the Old Testament- there was a bread sacrifice and a table of shewbread that was kept in the Tabernacle and eventually the Temple. When the Israelites cried out for food in the desert, God gave them bread... it seems pretty straightforward; God takes care of our needs.
So, with what I'm praying is adequate humility, lets take a look at the loaf; the body of Christ
John, chapter 6:4
Now the Passover, a Jewish festival, was near. 5 Therefore, when Jesus looked up and noticed a huge crowd coming toward Him, (D) He asked Philip, (E) "Where will we buy bread so these people can eat?" 6 He asked this to test him, (F) for He Himself knew what He was going to do.
    7 Philip answered, "Two hundred denarii (G) worth of bread wouldn't be enough for each of them to have a little."
    8 One of His disciples, Andrew, (H) Simon (I) Peter's (J) brother, said to Him, 9 "There's a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish—but what are they for so many?"
    10 Then Jesus said, "Have the people sit down."
    There was plenty of grass in that place, so they sat down. The men numbered about 5,000. (K) 11 Then Jesus took the loaves, and after giving thanks He distributed them to those who were seated&md;so also with the fish, as much as they wanted. (L)
    12 When they were full, He told His disciples, "Collect the leftovers so that nothing is wasted." (M) 13 So they collected them and filled 12 baskets with the pieces from the five barley loaves that were left over by those who had eaten.
30 "What sign then are You going to do so we may see and believe You?" they asked. "What are You going to perform? 31 Our fathers ate the manna (AD) in the wilderness, (AE) just as it is written: He gave them bread from heaven to eat. " (AF) [f] (AG)
    32 Jesus said to them, " I assure you: Moses (AH) didn't give you the bread from heaven, but My Father gives you the real bread from heaven. 33 For the bread of God is the One who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world."
    34 Then they said, "Sir, give us this bread always!"
    35 "I am (AI) the bread of life," Jesus told them. "No one who comes to Me (AJ) will ever be hungry, (AK) and no one who believes in Me (AL) will ever be thirsty (AM) again. 36 But as I told you, you've seen Me, [g] and yet you do not believe. 37 Everyone the Father gives Me will come to Me, and the one who comes to Me I will never cast out. (AN) 38 For I have come down from heaven, (AO) not to do My will, but the will of Him (AP) who sent Me. 39 This is the will of Him who sent Me: that I should lose none of those He has given Me but should raise (AQ) them up on the last day. 40 For this is the will of My Father: (AR) that everyone who sees the Son (AS) and believes in Him may have eternal life, and I will raise (AT) him up on the last day."
    41 Therefore the Jews started complaining about Him, because He said, "I am the bread that came down from heaven." 42 They were saying, "Isn't this Jesus the son of Joseph, (AU) whose father and mother we know? How can He now say, 'I have come down from heaven'?"
    43 Jesus answered them, "Stop complaining among yourselves. 44 No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws [h] him, and I will raise him up on the last day. 45 It is written in the Prophets: (AV) And they will all be taught by God. (AW) (AX) Everyone who has listened to and learned from the Father (AY) comes to Me— 46 not that anyone has seen the Father (AZ) except the One who is from God. (BA) He has seen the Father. (BB)
    47 " I assure you: Anyone who believes [i] has eternal life. 48 I am the bread of life. 49 Your fathers ate the manna (BC) in the wilderness, (BD) and they died. 50 This is the bread that comes down from heaven so that anyone may eat of it and not die. (BE) 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread he will live (BF) forever. (BG) The bread that I will give for the life (BH) of the world is My flesh." (BI)
    52 At that, the Jews argued (BJ) among themselves, (BK) "How can this man give us His flesh to eat?"
    53 So Jesus said to them, " I assure you: Unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man (BL) and drink His blood, (BM) you do not have life in yourselves. 54 Anyone who eats My flesh and drinks My blood (BN) has eternal life, and I will raise (BO) him up on the last day, 55 because My flesh is real food and My blood is real drink. 56 The one who eats My flesh and drinks My blood lives in Me, and I in him. (BP) 57 Just as the living (BQ) Father sent Me and I live because of the Father, so the one who feeds on Me will live (BR) because of Me. 58 This is the bread that came down from heaven; it is not like the manna [j] your fathers ate—and they died. The one who eats this bread will live forever." (BS)
Even illuminated by Christ's actions at the passover feast to come, this is a difficult passage. Christ talks about being the bread of life, but he also compares himself to the manna given in the desert wanderings.
Deut 8
2 Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands. 3 He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD.

Even from the very beginnings of the nation of Israel, The Word of God and Bread have been equated.

Ever watch mission impossible? There is always a master of disguise-someone who puts on special rubber masks to usually impersonate someone else. The magic of TV always works so much better than in real life- I have never seen a rubber mask that looks even CLOSE to what it's supposed to... it may resemble the target slightly, but usually... you can barely see the resemblance.

Since we fell, the whole of creation is wearing a rubber mask. We do not see what we were meant to see, and sometimes it's very hard to get a glimpse of what lies beyond our feeble senses. I can see a tree- and perhaps get a glimmer of the Tree of Life. There's also that glimmer of the tree of life in the image of the cross; from one point of view, the cross of Christ is a cruel instrument of torture. From where we are, though, the cross is our lifeline- the only way to eternal life.

(Talk about hypostatic presence)

Which just goes to show you how ignorant of what's really real we really are.
Let's look at the passover meal that Jesus celebrated with the disciples:
Matthew 26, vs. 17ff
 17On the first day of the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the disciples came to Jesus and asked, "Where do you want us to make preparations for you to eat the Passover?"
 18He replied, "Go into the city to a certain man and tell him, 'The Teacher says: My appointed time is near. I am going to celebrate the Passover with my disciples at your house.' " 19So the disciples did as Jesus had directed them and prepared the Passover.
 20When evening came, Jesus was reclining at the table with the Twelve. 21And while they were eating, he said, "I tell you the truth, one of you will betray me."
 22They were very sad and began to say to him one after the other, "Surely not I, Lord?"
 23Jesus replied, "The one who has dipped his hand into the bowl with me will betray me. 24The Son of Man will go just as it is written about him. But woe to that man who betrays the Son of Man! It would be better for him if he had not been born."
 25Then Judas, the one who would betray him, said, "Surely not I, Rabbi?" 
      Jesus answered, "Yes, it is you."[a]
 26While they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks and broke it, and gave it to his disciples, saying, "Take and eat; this is my body."
 27Then he took the cup, gave thanks and offered it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you. 28This is my blood of the[b] covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. 29I tell you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom."
 30When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

In order to understand this, we should look at the Passover, the feast they were celebrating.

There was lamb, bitter herbs, horseradish,water, wine, unleavened bread....
Christ could've easily chosen lamb to represent his body, but he didn't. He could've chosen horseradish...which would've made this morning's communion very interesting.... He chose the humble matzah. Unleavened bread Not puffed up like chametz...

(Talk about Matzah here)

What do you do with bread? You eat it.. you digest it and it becomes a part of you. In the same way, when you partake of the loaf in communion, you consume Christ, you internalize him and he lives in you and through you. This is the mechanism by which we become the Body of Christ.

We tend to separate the two ideas- the Church as the body of Christ and the body of Christ in communion.... but they really aren't that different. It really is as simple (and as complicated) as 'you are what you eat'. And as all of us are partaking of the same spiritual diet, we all become the Body of Christ.