Our Daily Bread, NL, TLC, The Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6 9-15, Luke 11 1-4, June 9, 2024

Grace and Peace to you from God, giver of all good things, and our Lord and Savior Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.

Americans have a love affair with bread. I’m not sure about you, but bread was connected to many of my memories growing up. Every weekday, Mom made sandwiches for Dad and all the school-age kids: PB&J, bologna, or lunch meat and cheese. There was baked Italian bread or garlic bread with spaghetti, rye bread with Friday night fish fries. And dinner rolls on holidays. One of our wedding gifts, a print of an older man praying over his bread and soup, titled “Grace,” hung in our dining room for decades.

Do you have a favorite memory around bread?

<TAKE MEMORIES FROM THE CONGREGATION>

I think St. Louis folks may be the heart and soul of America’s bread mania. While we newcomers call it Panera, you long-timers call it ___________. You have it all: Ciabatta and Focaccia, Baguettes and Brioche. Why waste a bowl when soup can be served in bread?? And bread even serves as dessert: bread pudding or banana bread, just to name a couple.

So that’s the starting point for today’s words from the prayer that Jesus taught us: Give us today our Daily Bread.

Bread is one of the world’s staple foods. The Bible, written by Middle-Eastern peoples, is filled with bread, starting with God telling Adam that he would have to toil for his bread outside of the Garden of Eden. The Israelites made unleavened bread on the night God delivered them from Egypt, and ate the manna God provided in the wilderness. Jesus was tempted in the wilderness, but told Satan that bread alone is NOT the stuff of life, that people need God’s word. But Jesus turned a handful of bread and fish into a feast for thousands of hungry people on a hillside one afternoon. And it was over a simple meal that Jesus took bread and wine and told his disciples that this was now his body and blood, given FOR YOU, at this ever-widening table, for the forgiveness of sin. Just a few of the times when bread was central in scripture.

But bread is only one of the world’s staple foods. The bread metaphors, coming out of Middle Eastern culture, play well to Europeans and North Americans. Not so much in Central and South America, where the staple food is Maize, or Corn. And in Southeastern Asia and the Pacific Rim, rice is the staple food.

So, bread is just a metaphor for what we are asking in this prayer. What exactly DO we mean when we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”?

Those of you who grew up in the Lutheran Church may remember this little booklet. Martin Luther wrote the Small Catechism as a way for parents to teach their children about the faith. And Luther explained “Our Daily Bread” like this:

It’s everything that nourishes our body and meets our needs, such as: Food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a devout spouse, devout children, devout employees, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these.

It seems like “Daily Bread” to Luther was a LOT more than just enough to keep people alive! I think Luther’s definition looks a lot like Jesus’ words in John 10: “I came that they may have LIFE and have it ABUNDANTLY.” 

*****

But when I read Luther’s definition, which is so expansive, it brought to mind the illustration that hung in my office when I worked for a poverty-relief organization, similar to Gateway180. Maybe you’ve seen the pyramid shape that is Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs? Abraham Maslow was a psychologist, and about 80 years ago, Maslow proposed a theory. In short, if people are struggling with basic needs, more complex human motivations aren’t even considerations. They have to meet basic needs first. 

Just some examples of how Maslow’s theory plays out:

• If people are living in substandard housing and wondering where their next meal is coming from, relationships take a back seat.
•  If children are not safe, they can’t focus on schoolwork.
• If a person doesn’t have decent employment, creativity and future planning are beyond them.

So, for the person who doesn’t have decent housing and enough food, daily bread may be a prayer for food. And for the couple who just found out they are expecting a second child, perhaps daily bread looks like a better job or a home in a safer neighborhood.

Does that make Daily Bread a subjective thing? Perhaps in this broken world, Daily Bread looks different to people who are fairly well off, and those living on the edge of survival. We don’t have equity. We’re still praying that God would work out God’s will and bring in the kingdom through us. 

***** 

But let us not forget one important word in this line. Jesus didn’t teach us to pray “Give me today my daily bread.” The Lord’s Prayer is always for ALL of God’s people, and ALL of God’s creation, every time we pray it, whether we are praying it in community, or praying it individually. It’s “Give Us Today OUR Daily Bread.”

So, when we pray, we are asking God to take care of the basic needs of ALL of us. To raise all of us to a way of living that is not just surviving, it’s thriving. To give the whole world its daily bread means to pray that everyone would have what they need to have life, and have it abundantly.

And not only to pray this, but to live it. We become kingdom bearers in helping people everywhere have their daily bread.

In those six words, we are praying that all people have what they need to live into God’s vision for them.

In saying “Give Us This Day Our Daily Bread,” we pray: 

• For an equitable world where all children and adults have adequate, healthful food.
• For a just world where artificial barriers to achieving one’s dreams disappear.
• For a livable world where all people have resources like clean air and fresh water.
• For a peaceful world where families do not have to flee the terror of war and violence.

Obviously, we are not there yet. And perhaps this is why we pray the Lord’s Prayer every time we worship, every time we meet, as part of the focus of our own prayer time, to remind us of these beliefs, at the core of Jesus’ teachings: 

• First, that we all are children of a loving God.
• Second, God’s kingdom is both here and coming, and our every day words and actions bring in the kingdom.
• Third, that we pray for Our Daily Bread, and we respond in love to create a world where all of God’s children have everything they need too.

*****

Danish theologian Soren Kierkegaard wrote something about prayer that has stuck with me for years.

"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."

Let me say that once again:

"The function of prayer is not to influence God, but rather to change the nature of the one who prays."

Kierkegaard is not the last word on prayer. Some people disagree completely. I’ll admit I’m not committed to the first part, but I’m pretty sure about the second part. If we pray with an open heart for all people and all creation, prayer does change us. If we continue to pray “Give us today OUR daily bread,” we will live into the ways to make that happen for all of God’s people.

 

Amen.

Your Kingdom Come, NL, TLC, The Lord's Prayer, Matthew 6 9-15, Luke 11 1-4, June 2, 2024

Grace & peace to you from God, who entrusts us to do Kingdom work, and from our Savior, Jesus, who is our Christ. Amen.

Have you ever thought about the first time you prayed the Lord’s Prayer? Perhaps it was together with your family, or beside your bed, ever since you can remember? Or maybe you learned it in Sunday School or during worship?

I know that I was praying the Lord’s Prayer long before I ever read the verses in Matthew that explain how this prayer came about: that Jesus was teaching his disciples HOW to pray – not that they were required to pray THIS specific prayer, in this way, every time. However, the disciples took Jesus literally and thought THIS was the exact way to pray, and Jesus’ followers all over the word have been praying the Lord’s Prayer ever since.

Perhaps the most interesting way I’ve ever heard the Lord’s Prayer was during the pandemic, attending LSTC seminary chapel services by Zoom. As you probably know, trying to do anything in unison over Zoom turns into complete audio disorder. (The only thing worse is trying to sing together on Zoom!). So, at that point in the service where we would say the Lord’s Prayer, the presider would tell us “Unmute yourselves and pray the prayer that our Lord taught us, in its many translations and versions.” What followed was 30 seconds of utter chaos as everyone worshipping prayed in their native tongue, or the English translation that was most familiar to them. Sort of like a Pentecost moment for our time: Germans and Salvadorans, Indonesians and TanzaNEans, People from India and the United States, all praying together in their own languages.

But that beautiful discord, or even our reciting of the Lord’s Prayer in one language and one version each Sunday in worship, really gives us no time to break down the significance of this prayer. It’s when I pray individually and meditate on the prayer, phrase by phrase, that I realize what we are asking in this prayer. Not just what we are asking God to do, but what we are asking God to do … to transform us.

Last week, Pastor Chris talked about what it means to live in relationship with God as Parent, as Father, and to understand the name of God as Holy. And that brings us to the second portion: “Your Kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as in heaven.”

A dozen words. They fly off your tongue in five seconds. And sometimes, I wonder, if people realized what they are asking, would they really dare to pray this?

In the explanation of the Lord’s Prayer in The Small Catechism, Martin Luther says that God’s kingdom and God’s will WILL come, regardless of our asking for it. However, in this prayer, we are asking that God’s kingdom would come ALSO to us, and that God’s will would ALSO become our will.

See what I mean? That’s a BIG ASK!! We are requesting God to transform us, to humble us, so that our will becomes God’s will, and that we work for the Kingdom God is already ushering in

What did Jesus tell us the kingdom would be like? This instruction on how to pray comes smack in the middle of Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in Matthew. Jesus wasn’t just giving his disciples a beginning course on prayer, to be followed by a quiz at the end!

Jesus was teaching them the master course about how God’s kingdom was going to turn the world upside down. No longer would the world belong to the powerful, the rich, the inhumane, the evil, but in God’s kingdom, the tables would be turned, and now the meek, the poor, the merciful and the persecuted would be blessed. The first would be last, the last would be first. If someone strikes you on the cheek, turn and give them the other cheek. If someone sues you for your coat, give them your cloak as well. Treat others the way that you would want to be treated. That’s what it will look like in God’s kingdom.

And that’s what we’re praying – we’re asking that WE become part of that transformation.

Full Stop.

A month ago, three of our young people stood before us during their confirmation. And along with their stirring words of faith, they each picked hymns. Each one of them picked verses that talked about faith as a journey, as transformation. Our hymn of the day, Andre Johnson’s hymn, started with these words: “Change my heart, O God. Make it ever true. Change my heart, O God. May I be like you.”

That’s EXACTLY what we are praying today! Change us. Make our wills extensions of your will, God. Help us do everything in our power to bring in your kingdom throughout this broken world.

Some would ask: Is that even possible?

And I think the only faithful response is: Is it possible to follow Jesus and not try? Can we follow Jesus and not strive for justice and peace, can we see needs and not want to serve? Can we see evil and not want to counter it with love?

Fortunately, it’s not a question I’ve ever asked here.

What I see at Trinity is hundreds of people who have committed to those phrases in the Lord’s Prayer. To allow their own will to be shaped, little by little, to God’s will. People who gather to prepare a freezer full of meals regularly, so this corner of the world can be fed. People who give time and donations to Gateway 180 and Circle of Concern, so others have the necessities to live. And God’s kingdom expands, one action at a time.

People who support Trinity Preschool, so families have a safe place for their littles to come and learn about a God who loves them. Unconditionally! People who change the future for students and families near Ensenada, Mexico, by your accompaniment of the Lantern Hill Mission. And God’s kingdom expands, little by little. Family by family. Community by community. 

And don’t forget, so many of you have your own ways of growing the kingdom, through whatever people and programs touch your hearts, using your own gifts. Some of you have the spiritual gift of generosity, and you give to other causes outside our five core missions. Some of you have the gift of helping and you care for your grandparents or your grandchildren. Some care for a neighbor, a friend, or a spouse. Maybe you volunteer hours at a school. Sit on the board of an agency. Walk shelter dogs. Cuddle premature infants. Give hugs to marchers in the Pride parade. Tend a community garden. Coach youth sports.

And God’s kingdom expands, one interaction at a time.

*****

And you know what gives me the most hope, my friends? That in the First Century, there were challenges that seemed insurmountable. In Jesus’ day, people lived under Roman occupation. Died in the midst of unnecessary violence. There were many people who didn’t have a decent place to live, didn’t have enough food, succumbed to treatable illnesses, were persecuted for being who they were. And Jesus didn’t say to his disciples, this is too much for you to ask. You can’t change this.

No. He said, pray like this: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as in heaven.”

Still today, people are dying in unnecessary violence. We still have people who don’t have decent places to live. Don’t have enough food. Are dying of treatable illnesses. Are persecuted for being who they are. And still, Jesus asks us to pray this prayer, to ask to be changed. To conform ourselves to God’s will and do whatever we can to bring God’s kingdom to the entire world.

So we continue to pray: “Your kingdom come. Your will be done. On earth as in heaven.”

Amen