This morning I ate a piece of Milton’s bread with my coffee, and perhaps it is the best store-bought bread I’ve ever put in my mouth, a whole grain bread with black sesame seeds and a variety of textures and twice the calories of regular bread. I enjoy bread, daily. I’m on a high carb diet, making up for all the carnivores tipping the planet with their angus and jerky eating.
After all, Jesus teaches us to ask, in the Lord’s Prayer (or Disciples’ Prayer), for daily bread, not daily meat. My meaty tongue is in my cheek, but still it is true that bread is the chosen metaphor of the Lord and implied daily food of humanity.
Yet eating meat is not without significance. The Levites ate meat as part of the sin offering. Israel ate their share of the fellowship or well-being offerings as joyful celebration of God and the community.
The idea of daily bread takes on incredible importance, however, in that we are a people who have been given manna from heaven, the sun, water, air, bread from the ground. And bread is a vital part of passover, the Lord’s Supper, and it is not only a symbol but a real food that we put in our mouths as we remember that Jesus is the living word, the bread of life.
I’ll close with a poignant quote from St. Francis of Assisi about bread and God:
Surely we cannot be left unmoved by loving sorrows for all this; in his love,
God gives himself into our hands; we touch him and receive him daily into
our mouths.[comments imported from my Radio blog]
Hi, Greg–remember me, the foreign exchange Christian in a Babtist Church choir? I’ve written a hymn-here are the words. The tune and 4 part harmony if you want it.
Manna from Heaven, how you feed your people. Bread of your word feeds my heart every day. Give us our daily bread, Jesus the Bread of Life. Jesus the Word of life, feed me today.
Hungry for you! Oh, feed me Lord! Here at your table, a feast for my soul. Hungry for you! Abba I cry! Nothing else satisfies, you’re my delight.
Just as a deer pants for streams in the sesert, So must my soul drink of you to have life! River of Life, may I drink of your goodness. Jesus, the Water of Life, flow in me!
Thirsty for you! Oh, let me drink! Streams of pure water flow down from your throne. Thirsty for you! Abba my own! Pour out your spirit, oh fountain of grace.
Hungry for you! Thirsty for you! Jesus the Bread of Life, Jesus the Word of Life, fount of all life, nourish me with your love.
We sang this once at Highland with Thom Lemmons leading, and never again for some reason. Everyone in the chorus wanted to do it again, but Mike never heard it, so it’s never gotten “air time” again. You’re welcome to the whole thing if you want it.
sarah–
sarah l stone • 8/11/04; 6:55:42 AM #Great thoughts. I’ve long desired to have daily “communion”. I remember hearing Don Finto once talk about how eating bread at a meal can become a holy moment where we can commune with God. Ever since then, I’ve longed for that experience. Perhaps my wife and I need to share daily bread (perhaps a glass of wine) together in order to daily draw us into the presence of our Sustainer.
Great St. Francis quote!
Travis • 8/12/04; 10:26:25 AM #
Your comments