Have you tried some of the exercises related to each phrase
of the Lord’s prayer so far? We are about half way through the prayer. If you
would like to share some insights, feel free to comment. In our adventure,
we’ve met our Father, who is God in heaven and yet who wants to be in
relationship with us to bring about the Kingdom and reign of the Holy will of
God. We are an integral part of that process.
This week we turn from looking at God's greatness and glory, to asking God that
our physical and spiritual needs be met. “Give us this day, our daily bread” is
the first real petition in the Lord’s Prayer. Bread is a basic food in all
cultures. The harvesting and grinding of grains was one of the earliest
evidences of civilization. In asking for our ‘daily bread’, we acknowledge that
we need sustenance.
In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus told his followers, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or what you will drink,
or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the
body more than clothing? Look at the birds of the air; they neither sow nor
reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you
not of more value than they? And can any of you by worrying add a single hour
to your span of life? And why do you worry about clothing? Consider the lilies
of the field, how they grow; they neither toil nor spin, yet I tell you, even
Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so
clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown
into the oven, will he not much more clothe you—you of little faith? Therefore do not worry, saying, “What will we eat?”
or “What will we drink?” or “What will we wear?” For it is the Gentiles who
strive for all these things; and indeed your
heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for
the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to
you as well.” (Matthew 6:25-33 and Luke 12:22-31)
We are assured that God does ‘know our needs before we ask’
(Matthew 6:8). In fact, the most important thing is to ‘strive for the kingdom
of God’. Isn’t that exactly what the entire Lord’s Prayer is about-aligning our
wills with God’s will? I heard a sermon recently which reminded me of this
important aspect of faith. Mother Carolyn stated that as Paul says in Romans
6:6-9, ‘our old self was crucified with Christ…so that the body of sin might be
destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin.’ Because of this, we need
to work at fitting our lives into God’s plan. As she pointed out, that includes
welcoming and giving ‘a cup of water to these little ones…’ (Matthew 10:42)
Enter the Presence: We are also
asking for the ‘Bread of Life’ when we pray. The ‘true bread which came down
from heaven’ (John 6:58) in the form of Jesus, is what we seek to make us fully
alive and members of the body of Christ. It is not surprising that we compare
Jesus to bread because we need daily bread for living, and we need spiritual
food as well.
The
Bread of Life is found in the bread of the Eucharist and in the bread we eat
for nourishment. Have you ever paused to think what it takes to make bread?
When I was a little girl, I had a Children’s Book of Prayers (not sure if
that’s the real name) that had in it a poem about a child thanking God for his
toast. He thanks the farmer who grew the wheat, the miller who ground it, the
baker who baked it, the trucker who brought it to the store, and the store
keeper. He even thanks the sun that made the grain grow.
How
often do you think about where your physical daily bread comes from?
Do you
pause on Sunday to think of the spiritual nourishment we receive from the
Eucharistic bread?
Stand In Awe: Hold a piece of bread in
your hand. Consider, like the little child, the road it traveled from the seed
in the ground to your meal. Communion bread has a similar journey whether it is
a loaf baked for the service, or wafers. Whether it’s a simple biscuit or
tortilla, or a loaf of yeast bread, the process is similar. The wheat is
planted, grown, harvested, ground, packaged, purchased, mixed and baked. The
grain of wheat is nothing like the final product.
Communion
bread has an additional step before feeding you. In the consecration, the
priest asks the Holy Spirit to come and transform the physical bread into
spiritual food. The wheat seed is nothing like the bread or wafer. Neither are
we the same after eating the bread of life.
The
next time you receive communion, remember you are receiving spiritual food to
strengthen you for your daily journey.
Involve your Heart: This week you may want
to make some bread from scratch.
Draw
a loaf of bread and on it list the many people you need to thank for having
bread to eat.
There
are many in the world who lack the basic daily bread. Do a fast
for a day. Perhaps
you will feel moved to make a donation to some organization that feeds the
homeless or refugees or those in famine struck areas.
This week focus on daily bread.
Next week
we will turn to the difficult task of being forgiven.
