What does fasting have to do with justice? In this Sunday teaching, Janelle explores Daniel 10 and the practice of fasting as a way to make room for grief, deepen solidarity, and see the systems that shape our lives.

Through a story about two parakeets and a church challenge to live on a pantry guest’s grocery budget, she asks us to consider where we hold power, where we feel constrained, and how our choices affect others. This isn’t fasting to prove our devotion or change our waistline; it’s a temporary practice that can shift our perspective, help us mourn, and renew our hope for a more just world.

Learn more about us and the work we do at oceansidesanctuary.org/mission

• (00:00:00) - Introduction to Practices of Belonging series
• (00:01:09) - Recommended books: Sacred Balance and This Here Flesh
• (00:02:55) - Bonhoeffer and mutual belonging
• (00:05:28) - Welcoming vs. true belonging at Oceanside
• (00:08:07) - Setting up Nehemiah chapter 9
• (00:08:37) - Reading Nehemiah 9:1-6
• (00:12:30) - Opening prayer
• (00:13:37) - Act one: Breath prayer teaching
• (00:15:38) - Practicing breath prayer together
• (00:19:26) - Act two: History of Israel's exile and return
• (00:21:07) - Feast of Booths and collective celebration
• (00:22:52) - From celebration to repentance in Nehemiah 9
• (00:24:01) - Remembering Israel's story of rebellion and faithfulness
• (00:26:54) - Is there room for repentance in a progressive church
• (00:29:23) - Act three: Our story vs. the Exodus story
• (00:30:20) - The Lord's Prayer as our collective story
• (00:31:58) - Food, forgiveness, and deliverance from self-destruction
• (00:34:13) - Goodness and peace will win in the end
• (00:36:01) - Church as collective breath prayer
• (00:36:57) - Closing prayer and thanks

What if the simple act of breaking bread together could teach us how to build a world filled with love, peace, and joy?

In this sermon for World Communion Sunday, Jason Coker continues the Practices of Belonging series by exploring Acts 2:43–47 and the early Christian community’s practice of sharing food, resources, and life together. Looking beyond the miracles traditionally associated with this passage, Jason invites us to consider three often-overlooked miracles represented by bread: love, peace, and joy.

Sharing bread is a basic act of love. Working together to ensure everyone has what they need is how that love becomes peace on a larger scale. And embracing the incredible diversity of human experience is how we make room for joy. From Navajo fry bread and Mexican tortillas to croissants and cinnamon rolls, the beauty of bread reminds us that life is about more than simply surviving. It’s about celebrating the many ways we can flourish together.

With a powerful message about food insecurity, economic justice, human cooperation, and LGBTQ+ inclusion, Jason challenges us to imagine a faith that doesn't just talk about good news but makes it tangible, nourishing, and delightful for everyone.

Because the world is better when we share what we have, work together for the good of all, and celebrate the beautiful diversity that makes us human.

This sermon is a production of Oceanside Sanctuary Church in Oceanside, California.

Learn more at oceansidesanctuary.org

• (00:00:00) - Introduction and World Communion Day
• (00:01:40) - Reading Acts 2:43-47
• (00:04:31) - Opening Prayer
• (00:05:36) - Story: Meeting Family Over Short Rib Fries
• (00:08:07) - First Miracle: Sharing Bread as Love
• (00:09:50) - Food, Scarcity, and Violence
• (00:12:07) - Bread as a Symbol of Basic Love
• (00:14:42) - Second Miracle: Bread as Peace and Cooperation
• (00:17:38) - Humanity's Capacity for Peace
• (00:19:07) - Third Miracle: Bread as Joy
• (00:21:24) - The Diversity of Bread Around the World
• (00:23:11) - Cinnamon Rolls and the Beauty of Difference
• (00:24:11) - Bread as a Metaphor for Queerness and Diversity
• (00:25:10) - Cole Arthur Riley on Communion and the Body of God
• (00:27:27) - Gospel as Love, Peace, and Joy
• (00:29:42) - Closing Prayer and Outro