This year for our ecumenical midweek Lenten worship series, we are focusing on the Lord’s Prayer, looking at one or two lines per week, influenced by the devotional book The Lord’s Prayer for Lent, by Vern Gundermann (available for Kindle on Amazon here).
For this week’s service, Pastor Daniel Flucke looks at the next line of the Lord’s Prayer, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Those words “daily bread” include everything we need for life, and when we pray, we acknowledge everything we have is a gift from God.
For this Lent series, I’m doing individual blog posts for the weeks I preach, but you can watch the entire series from myself and Pastor Joan Thomas online here. Here’s the message for March 3, 2021.
Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Already in this prayer, we’ve established who God is – the Creator of the universe, and at the same time, our Heavenly Father. We’ve established what we’re praying for: The renewal of this broken world, for this world to become more like heaven, more like the way God intended it. We’re praying for God to act in this world.
And what does God’s activity look like? That’s what we’re praying for in the next line: Give us this day our daily bread. Give us the things we need for life. Lord, give us enough to get through this day.
When Martin Luther reflected on this line, he wrote that those words “daily bread” means “everything included in the necessities and nourishment for our bodies, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, farm, fields, livestock, money, property, an upright spouse, upright children, upright members of the household, upright and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, decency, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.”
Did you know that when you pray the Lord’s Prayer, you’re praying for our government leaders? There’s a lot included in daily bread! And of course, Jesus uses bread as just an example, a jumping off point, so when you pray, add your own words. It’s ok to ask God for what you need; in fact, Jesus tells us to bring our cares and our burdens and our needs to God. The answer might not always be yes—God’s not a cosmic vending machine—but it’s ok to ask, and to trust God to provide.
The real point of this prayer, I think, is for us to recognize that everything we have comes from God. God provides us with all we need for life. Sometimes that’s actual bread, or other food, but it’s also all our other needs, food, clothing, and even the less obvious ones, like the very air we breathe and the blood that flows through our veins. It’s all a gift from God. When we pray, we recognize the gifts and we give thanks to the giver.
It’s even more than tangible, physical things. Luther in his Large Catechism (the first quote was from his Small Catechism – this is from his larger one) he writes, “When you pray for “daily bread” you are praying for everything that contributes to your having and enjoying your daily bread, and conversely you are praying against everything that would prevent you from having and enjoying it…briefly stated, this petition is meant to include everything that is connected with our entire life on earth because it is only for the sake of this life that we need daily bread. Now, what we need in order to live is not only food, shelter, and other necessities for the body, but also peace and harmony between us and those among whom we live and move.”
There’s a lot here, but basically, we’re praying for God to work in our world, and to provide us with what we need, and the ability to enjoy it.
In his notes on this line of the prayer, John Wesley wrote along similar lines as Luther, that when we pray this, we’re giving credit to God for God’s gifts to us. Here’s a little from Wesley: “O Father, for we claim nothing of right; only of your free mercy; for we take no worry for tomorrow. We trust you for all things needful for our souls and bodies, not only the meat that perishes, but the sacramental bread, and your grace, the food which endures to everlasting life.”
Last week, Pastor Joan talked about how we on earth are called to do the same kind of work as the angels do in heaven, praising God and carrying out God’s commands. Sometimes, we get to be the answer to prayer. God works through us, God’s people, the body of Christ, the church.
Look at the story from John of Jesus feeding the 5,000. All four of the Gospel writers—Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John—think this is an important story, so they all include it in their Gospels. In fact, this is the only one of Jesus’ miracles all four of them include, but I like John’s version the best, because he includes a detail none of the others mention.
Jesus is teaching, and a huge crowd of people is following him and listening, and it’s going great, but there’s a problem. It’s getting to be dinner time, and there’s about to be a lot of hungry people. Andrew comes to Jesus and mentions this boy who has five barley loaves and two fish. That’s the detail only John mentions – the other gospels mention that they had five loaves and two fish, but not where they got them from. Only John mentions the boy who provides the food.
It’s not much food. It’s not daily bread for more than one or maybe two people. Basically, this kid brought a sandwich with him. But he’s willing to offer it to Jesus. And Jesus takes it, and in Jesus’ hands, it’s enough. Jesus does a miracle with it. Jesus is the one doing the work, answering the prayer, but he does it through this boy’s contribution.
Sometimes we get to be the answer to prayer. We can’t solve all the problems of the world. We don’t have enough to feed all the starving people in the world. If I gave everything in my pantry to the food bank, it would maybe cover one week’s distribution? Maybe?
But when we give what we have, when we recognize that what we have is all a gift from God and we offer it back to God, when we allow God to use what we have to offer, even if it’s just a little, God takes it and uses it and does miracles with it. Sometimes God uses us to be the answer to prayer.
As you pray for God to provide daily bread, not just for you and me but for the whole world, may God use you to be part of the answer, that all may have what is needed for life.
Amen