In a society that often worries both about eating too much, but yet never feeling like we have enough of anything, how do we think about and pray for daily bread?
Worship this week: Saturday at 5:00 p.m. in Chapel
Sunday worship will be outside on the lawn (weather permitting) at 8:30 and 10:00 a.m. We’ll have some chairs, but feel free to bring your own. If the weather is too cool or wet, we’ll move back inside.
Stop by the Youth Brat stand on Main St. after worship through the Frolic Parade!
Our Daily Bread
June 9, 2013
Matthew 6:11
Key Verse: Jesus said, “Give us this day our daily bread.” Matthew 6:11
Time: 30-33 C.E.
Background: “Daily bread” does not mean only food. It refers to all human needs: food, clothing, shelter, companionship, healthy touch, love. Jesus teaches us to pray boldly for all our needs. God will always respond to our needs, not always in the way we expect or in the timing we expect. But God will always provide.
This petition, however, does not ask God to provide for all our wants. We may want an object that we don’t need, but praying for it doesn’t guarantee getting it. We may want healing for a loved one or self, but perhaps what we need is for God’s strength to carry us through, even in the midst of illness or suffering. But pray boldly anyway. Sometimes God grants healing, too.
Community: How do you reconcile Jesus’ teaching to pray boldly for basic human needs with the reality of poverty and suffering that exists in the world? How might your prayers include the needs of others in the world? Are your words a strong enough prayer, or could you pray for these needs with your actions? Make one change in your life this week that can positively impact lives around the world.
At Home: What do you need that you are praying for these days? Let go of the anxiety that surrounds the desire, and surrender to God’s will. How does surrender change the way you view your need? How does it change the way you view God?
Read This Week:
Monday: Goodness of the Lord, Psalm 145:15-19
Tuesday: Bread from Heaven, Exodus 16:13-21
Wednesday: Elijah Fed, 1 Kings 17:1-7
Thursday: God Provides, Isaiah 40:6-11
Friday: Provide for the Needy, Deuteronomy 15:7-11
Saturday: I Shall Not Want, Psalm 23
Next Week: Forgive Us, Matthew 6:12
