Words for Worship

Ministry Today

Exodus 16.1-8

Luke 11.5-13

 

I don’t know if you heard this week’s true story from I think – Norwich.  It was there a prospective employer tried to place an advert in his local job centre for a cleaner who was reliable. To which they replied they could not take the notice as it was discriminatory. Because the advert was considered to be against the human rights of – you’ve guessed it - unreliable cleaners.

 

Well you would have thought there was no problem with the line from the Lord’s prayer that says – Give us our daily bread. But hold your horses there. For it depends on what you mean by bread. Since, if you think about it-  it could be physical bread or it could be scriptural bread. Certainly, Christ was not making a case out for a balanced diet in when he said in the wilderness – man does not live by bread alone. Yet he was also fully aware of the need for the simple sustenance of food. That is made very clear in his compassion for the hungry crowds who he feed in hills of Galilee. And so too does God understand our need for physical nutrition. Since after all he created the cells of our bodies as well as our souls and minds; throughout scripture he also offered manna and bread as the tangible symbols of his covenant with people and supremely he came down to earth in the flesh and blood of Jesus Christ. Let us then never belittle God concern for our physical wellbeing. Indeed may we as Christians never loose sight of the salvation that is on offer uniquely in Christ. Because the Church’s teaching has always been the resurrection of the body as well as the soul and mind.

 

Yet there is no doubt that there is a dimension of our asking for bread that goes beyond the molecules of wheat and yeast that makes up Goodfellow and Stephen’s finest. Put another way, we are spiritual as well as physical beings. And that begs the observation that the former needs feeding up as much as the latter. That means in asking for our daily bread we are also recommitting ourselves to expecting it to come in both kinds as it were. We must look for spiritual bread in our daily reading from scripture and should be ready to consume the spirits sustenance as it is delivered in our prayers. Ultimately, we must salivate over the greatest food basket exotic that is there for picking. For, in devouring the very presence of Jesus Christ within us, we are not only sustaining ourselves, we are doing far more. For, we are actually relishing him as the supreme bread of life.

That is beautifully illustrated by a poem by Matthew Arnold. One day he met a clergyman labouring at his mission in the sweltering east end of London. Afterwards the poet wrote this  of this saint’s motivation:

 

T'was august and the fierce sun overhead

Smote on the squalid streets of Bethnal green

And the pale weaver, through his windows seen

In spitalfield, looked thrice spirited.

 

I met preacher there I knew and said:

Ill and o’er worked, how fare you in this scene

Bravely – he said – for I of late have been

Much cheered with thoughts of Christ, the living bread.

 

 

 

I notice that this year’s Pitlochry theatre is putting on the play ‘noises off’. Well, that is a play about a play being put on by a repertory company of actors. The first half depicts the audience’s view of the proceedings on stage. The second half is a repeat of the same play but now see what was doing on literally behind the scenes. Needless to say it is only when have seen both acts do you really know what is going on. So to is it with the second aspect of today’s phrase from the Lord’s prayer. For the most obvious interpretation for daily bread is that we are asking for a plentiful supply. But there is something else possible back stage as it were. We could also be asking for no more than enough bread for the moment. Like the Israelites manna – we are indeed asking for sufficient unto the day. And here is a debate that is very relevant in our affluent country  where physical food is nearly always taken for granted. For it seems that timescales are at the root of much of our economic problems today. On the one hand we are constantly being advised to invest for the future or mortgage our future earnings. On the other hand, adverts continually tempt us to spend now and forget about paying latter. By asking for sufficient for today then means both living in the moment without fear of the future. But it also means preparing for that future through the wise stewardship of God’s gifts to us. In other words, allowing ourselves to be sustained now and forever through the spiritual bread of Christ. Because it is his wise council alone that ensures that we look for no more than sufficiency of the day yet do not squander that which we have within this day nor fear of insufficiency in our  tomorrow.

 

Indeed, it is only by being grateful for God’s sustenance now, being open to being feed through prayer in the next moment and being confident of ultimate salvation in the future, can we live in the genuine trust that a rabbi once said:

 

The person who possesses what he can today and says – what shall I eat tomorrow? -  is person of little faith. But he or she who asks for no more than daily bread has learned to trust God.

I once heard of a wee Glasgow man who was a guest at a wedding. Something way laid him between the church and the reception. So when he arrived the other guests had already drunk to the health of the bride & groom. The waitress seeing him without a glass said – I am sorry Sir there’s no toast left. To which his wife replied – don’t worry - breed do him!

 

Well bread will do us too. As long as we remember that we do not live by bread alone but every word of God. The word of forgiveness we hear in communion, the word of advice we hear in prayer and scripture; the word of hope and support we hear and see and sense in the living Christ Jesus.

 

Whatever place you find yourself then at the moment - be it dessert or oasis, may you pray – give me my daily bread - certain of its provision, certain that you have enough for now and certain that when the time comes a further abundance will be provided so that you cup will indeed runneth over.

 

Amen

 

Offering

 

HYMN…………….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bread of Heaven