Jan. 27 Reflection: Daily Bread
Dear Holy Covenant Community,
I’ve been thinking a lot this week about bread. Daily bread.
What comes to mind when you pray: “Give us this day our daily bread”? Actual bread? Other material needs: shelter, clean water, nourishing food? A call to give to others? Or perhaps daily bread resonates as a desire for spiritual food, asking God to fill up our emptiness. And what does it mean to ask for “this day’s” nourishment, not tomorrow’s or next year’s? What kind of longing is this part of the prayer addressing in your life right now?
This small phrase is packed with richness and meaning; there is no definitive answer to the questions above. Join us on Sunday as we continue moving through the Lord’s Prayer and explore what Jesus meant by “daily bread”. As we continue to meditate on this phrase, I leave you with this thought-provoking prayer by biblical scholar Walter Brueggemann:
Waiting for Bread…and for God’s Future
We are strange mixtures of loss and hope.
As we are able, we submit our losses to you.
We know about sickness and dying,
About death and mortality,
About failure and disappointment.
And now for a moment we do our
Failing and our dying in your presence,
You who attend to us in loss.As we are able, we submit our hopes to you.
We know about self-focused fantasy
And notions of control.
But we also know that our futures
Are out beyond us,
Held in your good hand.Our hopes are filled with promises of well-being, justice, and mercy.
Move us this day beyond our fears and anxieties
Into your land of goodness
We wait for your coming,
We pray for your kingdom.
In the meantime, give us bread for the day.
See you Sunday, and think about who you can bring with you to church.
Grace and Peace,
Kate
