In a manger stark and cold Lay One who came from eons old The place where animals came to eat Lay the “Bread from heaven” smiling sweet Eat His flesh and drink His blood To save you from death’s whelming flood His body broken for sin’s due His blood poured out for me and you The perfect sacrifice came down To bear sin’s curse and wear its crown Remember when you come to eat The meal from heaven, bittersweet Debbie Furey December 11, 2021 John 6:48–55 – “I am the bread of life. 49 Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, yet they died. 50 But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which anyone may eat and not die. 51 I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” 52 Then the Jews began to argue sharply among themselves, “How can this man give us his flesh to eat?” 53 Jesus said to them, “Very truly I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. 54 Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood has eternal life, and I will raise them up at the last day. 55 For my flesh is real food and my blood is real drink.” Exodus 16 John 6:25–69 Matthew 26:26-29 In the approaching Christmas season, I thought of Jesus, the Lamb of God, being born in Bethlehem. Why did it mention that He was laid in a manger, the place where animals eat? Surely, He was laid other places but they did not mention those places. As I meditated on it, many scriptures came to mind about Jesus being the bread of life. Then I thought about the scriptures where we are called His flock, and Jesus is our shepherd. He leads us to the places where He wants us to eat and drink. So, I asked the Lord for a poem about it. This is what came to me: In a manger stark and cold…... The first place we see the baby Jesus, the Bread of Life, is a place where food is offered, a manger.