Week 1: Our Daily Bread

Introduction:

Counting carbs? Need to eat gluten-free? We live in a society with countless food options. We can pick and choose according to our needs and our preferences. If we don’t want or can’t eat something, we have aisles and aisles of other options at the grocery store that we can even have delivered with just a few clicks on our cell phones. Not having food, not having bread is inconceivable to most of us. Yet, for most people, in most times and places, not having enough food and fearing starvation has been very real. Bread, for those who are hungry, is truly a necessity of life rather than a source of unwanted calories or gluten.


Bread is more than filling hungry bellies. To produce bread, grain needs to be sown and harvested; dough needs to be made and baked; people need to gather to eat. Bread needs stability, home, and community, and these all go into the importance of bread.


As we begin our series of reflections, we begin with hungry people. The Israelites are wandering in a wilderness. They have no stability, no homes, and are a very grumbly community. Bread is out of the question. Or would be, except that God is present as their stability, their refuge, and the heart of their community. And so, there is bread! Day after day for 40 years, until the people come to a habitable land, God provides their daily bread.


Scripture:

The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day.” In the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp.  When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the Lord has given you to eat.”  The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey.  The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.  Exodus 16

Invitations:

  • Reflect on this week’s scripture. What words or phrases speak to you?  Is there anything here that is uncomfortable for you?
  • What memories do you have of bread?  Think of everything from pb&j sandwiches to high class dining!
  • Reflect on stability, home, and community in your life.  What nourishes these? What disrupts them?  Where might God be in the nourishment?  Where could you ask God to be in the disruption?
  • Eat bread this week!  Even if it’s gluten-free.  Pay attention to the bread’s taste, smell,
    and texture.  Think of all that went into making it. Give thanks for it.

 

Prayer:

Jesus,

You taught us to pray: "Give us this day our daily bread."

Teach me to pray these words in all their fullness.     Amen.