Lord's Prayer - part 5

And give us this day our daily bread

Not more than a few days into the wilderness after fleeing Egypt and the Pharaoh, the mud on their feet from crossing the Red Sea still not fully dried, the People of God start complaining to Moses and God about being hungry. And God does not get upset and say, "I just help free you from enslavement!" God doesn't say, as I do sometimes in a proud parenting moment, "Can you just give me one minute?"  Instead God sends bread or manna, which is a fine flaky like substance, kind of like the frost flakes I used to enjoy as a child.  Manna is actually the residue left behind by an insect, sounds tasty, right?  I don't know if Jesus had Exodus 16 in mind when he offered this phrase, but when I pray this part of the Lord's Prayer it is in the back of my mind.  

I connect deeply with the Hebrew people.  Like them, I can get caught in grumbling and mumbling my way through life.  Like them, I can forget about the joyful, amazing things that happened yesterday (like crossing the Red Sea for example) when faced with the challenges of today.  Like them, I am not pleasant to be around when I am hungry.  

I give thanks that even before Maslow came up with his hierarchy of needs, God seemed to know that our physical needs hold the trump card.  If we are hungry, tried, sick, hurting, afraid, nervous, etc..., it is difficult to notice God in the midst of our lives.  But as our physical needs are met, it is like our eyes are open and we start to see others around us, we start to be able to see beyond ourselves.  Maybe that is why Jesus ate so often with people, so much so that people called him a glutton.  But maybe he knew that feeding people first was a way to live this prayer and open their eyes to the sacred.  Maybe that is why on Easter, when Jesus traveled the Road to Emmaus with two of his followers, it was only after he broke bread in their presence that they finally noticed him.

Part of the way the church lives this part of the Lord's prayer is to celebrate communion, which we will do at the church I serve this weekend as part of World Communion Sunday.  This Sunday we gather not only as one community, but we celebrate our connections to brothers and sisters around the world.  We put an extra leaf in the communion table, set extra chairs up so that we can truly say, "There is a place set for everybody." 

And yet, communion, breaking bread, and living this part of the Lord's prayer is not only an act we celebrate in the church, but also at every meal.  I encourage you to think about that tonight when you sit down for dinner.  How is the meal in front of you a response to this petition about daily bread?  How does that food help you connect with others around the table or maybe those who have no food at all?  May the bread you eat today sustain you.  And may the bread we break on Sunday be a tangible reminder of God's grace.

May the trace of God's grace be felt today and throughout the days to come.

Blessings!