Our Daily Bread - A Midweek Lenten Sermon

The following are lessons and a sermon preached by the Rev. Keith Larson at a midweek Lenten worship and learning event at Bethlehem Lutheran Church on March 18, 2009. This was the third in a series on “The Lord’s Prayer.”

Matthew 5:45b

… for God makes the sun rise on the evil and on the good, and sends rain on the righteous and on the unrighteous.

Luke 12:22-34

He said to his disciples, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat, or about your body, what you will wear. For life is more than food, and the body more than clothing. Consider the ravens: they neither sow nor reap, they have neither storehouse nor barn, and yet God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds! And can any of you by worrying add a single hour to your span of life? If then you are not able to do so small a thing as that, why do you worry about the rest? Consider the lilies, how they grow: they neither toil nor spin; yet I tell you, even Solomon in all his glory was not clothed like one of these. But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, how much more will he clothe you—you of little faith! And do not keep striving for what you are to eat and what you are to drink, and do not keep worrying. For it is the nations of the world that strive after all these things, and your Father knows that you need them. Instead, strive for his kingdom, and these things will be given to you as well. “Do not be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom. Sell your possessions, and give alms. Make purses for yourselves that do not wear out, an unfailing treasure in heaven, where no thief comes near and no moth destroys. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.

John 6:8-13

One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets.

Grace to you and peace from God our creator and our Lord and savior, Jesus Christ,

Give us today our daily bread.

We have prayed this prayer thousands of times. It rolls off our lips without so much of a thought. Oh, if we think about it very long, we have to say “thank you God” for God has not only provided us with bread today, but cookies, cake, a home, with at least one television and may two or three or more, and a car and maybe a truck and on and on, and probably a savings account and a retirement plan and some insurance policies. And even though the times are troublesome and worrisome, we can all look at what we have – our daily bread – and we can say “God has been good – Very good!

But like I said, we pray those words with hardly a thought. But let us look at the words mare carefully. Give us this day – give us today our daily bread. Give us today what we need today.

There is no story that better illustrates this than a story from Exodus. You remember God’s people were slaves in Egypt. Life was hard and difficult. They were the slaves who built the great Egyptian cities and pyramids. When they thrived and survived in spite of being worked almost to death, the Pharaoh instigated a genocide – calling for the killing of the all the little Hebrew baby boys. We know how Moses’ mother saved in a basket she put in the water, how Moses grew up, and by God’s hand led the people from Egypt. They crossed the sea and started into the wilderness towards freedom, and they were so happy and so thankful, right? Not!



Listen to the story.

(Exodus16:1) The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. (2) The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. (3) The Israelites said to them, “If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger.”



(4) Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. (5) On the sixth day, when they prepare what they bring in, it will be twice as much as they gather on other days.” (6) So Moses and Aaron said to all the Israelites, “In the evening you shall know that it was the LORD who brought you out of the land of Egypt, (7) and in the morning you shall see the glory of the LORD, because he has heard your complaining against the LORD. For what are we, that you complain against us?” (8) And Moses said, “When the LORD gives you meat to eat in the evening and your fill of bread in the morning, because the LORD has heard the complaining that you utter against him—what are we? Your complaining is not against us but against the LORD.”

(9) Then Moses said to Aaron, “Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, ‘Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining.’” (10) And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. (11) The LORD spoke to Moses and said, (12) “I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, ‘At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God.’”

(13) In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. (14) When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. (15) When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, “What is it?” For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, “It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. (16) This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents.’” (17) The Israelites did so, some gathering more, some less. (18) But when they measured it with an omer, those who gathered much had nothing over, and those who gathered little had no shortage; they gathered as much as each of them needed. (19) And Moses said to them, “Let no one leave any of it over until morning.” (20) But they did not listen to Moses; some left part of it until morning, and it bred worms and became foul. And Moses was angry with them. (21) Morning by morning they gathered it, as much as each needed; but when the sun grew hot, it melted.

(22) On the sixth day they gathered twice as much food, two omers apiece. When all the leaders of the congregation came and told Moses, (23) he said to them, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Tomorrow is a day of solemn rest, a holy sabbath to the LORD; bake what you want to bake and boil what you want to boil, and all that is left over put aside to be kept until morning.’” (24) So they put it aside until morning, as Moses commanded them; and it did not become foul, and there were no worms in it. (25) Moses said, “Eat it today, for today is a sabbath to the LORD; today you will not find it in the field. (26) Six days you shall gather it; but on the seventh day, which is a sabbath, there will be none.”

(27) On the seventh day some of the people went out to gather, and they found none. (28) The LORD said to Moses, “How long will you refuse to keep my commandments and instructions? (29) See! The LORD has given you the sabbath, therefore on the sixth day he gives you food for two days; each of you stay where you are; do not leave your place on the seventh day.” (30) So the people rested on the seventh day.



(31) The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers made with honey. (32) Moses said, “This is what the LORD has commanded: ‘Let an omer of it be kept throughout your generations, in order that they may see the food with which I fed you in the wilderness, when I brought you out of the land of Egypt.’” (33) And Moses said to Aaron, “Take a jar, and put an omer of manna in it, and place it before the LORD, to be kept throughout your generations.” (34) As the LORD commanded Moses, so Aaron placed it before the covenant, for safekeeping. (35) The Israelites ate manna forty years, until they came to a habitable land; they ate manna, until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.



From the beginnings of the story of God and God’s people, God’s people – our forebears and we have often lacked trust in God’s promise to care us each and every day. The people who had been enslaved under cruel taskmasters soon forgot their hard days of slavery and oppression and complained about life as free people. One of my most memorable experiences as a teacher was as a grade school teacher where we had daily bible classes. We had been working our way through the story of the Exodus, the story of the Hebrew people leaving Egypt and traveling through the wilderness. For about the 5th time we read how they complained to God and Moses about something. A 9 year-old boy rose up out of his chair and pounded his hand on the table and said, “Those stupid Israelites. After everything God did for them, and they keep complaining. God should just smash them.” “Michel, Michel, Michel,” I said (he was part French), “You are right. God should have been angry. But this is more than a story of people long ago. It is our story. And getting mad and punishing is not God’s way”.

Instead God provided food for them – daily bread – something that appeared on the ground each morning and they asked “what is it?” or Manna? in their language. So they had manna each morning and game birds each evening. Just enough for the day. If they took too more manna than they needed, it spoiled and turned nasty for them.



And so it is for us. God promises to provide for us what we need each day. And has God not done that for you? Have you ever been in want? Have you ever gone more than a day without food? I know some lived through the depression or have heard stories of the depression. Things were not good. But I have heard more stories of wonder and awe at God providence from those days. “Time were tough, I’ve heard many say, “but we always had something to eat”. I have heard stories of grad students form the 50’s living on macaroni for 3 years. I have been with families who have gone bankrupt, families whose main income earner has lost a job. And in all those cases people have told me, that somehow God provided.

And today we face some of the most dire financial times that many remember. And we become frightful and fearful. I am not immune to some of those fears. I hate to open those quarterly statements about my retirement account. It nags a bit in the back of my mind that my wife’s job ends in three months. I fret more about my kids and their jobs. One son works in a zoning office, of all places, in a county where construction has dried up in the past months.

But at the same time I have to ask myself, “Keith why would you doubt God’s goodness, God’s promises?” Why would we doubt? Why would we question or wonder that God might quit providing for what we need in our life, in our family’s life, in our congregation’s life next week, or next month or before the year is over. Bethlehem has been here in Lost Nation for 128 years and St. Mark has been in Oxford Junction for 148 years. And God has always provided what we have needed. Oh, there have been some lean years – to be sure. But we are still here. And we are not in too bad of shape – as far as our physical structures, our programs for ministry and our service to the community and world. In fact, when I look around and hear stories from our neighbors in our community, in our synod – we are thriving!

How has that been possible? God has provided. God has continued to raise up generous givers. And how could that be? In each of our congregations, no matter what has happened – in the Great Depression, during two world wars, in the farm crisis of the 80’s , after September 11, God has always provided. Oh I am sure there are plenty of times when the treasurers over the years may have wondered how he or she would write checks next week. But we have never had to close our doors.

Do you think God will quit providing what we need next week or next month?

We pray “give us today our daily bread,” as we have prayed it for years. But today we pray it in the midst of times of financial uncertainty. We pray it before we have to decide whether we should provide an opportunity for a seminary student to finish one of his or her requirements needed to become a pastor. We pray it before we decide at Bethlehem about the importance of a church basement fix-it at St. Mark before we need to make individual decisions about supporting our camp. And we have to ask as we pray, if we think God will quit providing what we need and what our Church needs.



I have to take a deep breath and gulp a bit before I continue, because I do not like the implications of what I need to say, next. This story about manna, Jesus’ sayings about the birds of the air and flowers of the field, and many other parts of scripture ought to raise for us serious questions about savings accounts and insurance policies. Now I will never say those things are bad. They are part of being financially responsible in our culture, in our world. I have them. But if we really trust that God will provide what we need each day, where is the point at which we stop fretting and fearing every potential calamity or misfortune? Where do we say, enough is enough. God will have to provide, because right now there are neighbors with needs, there is the people of God seeking to serve others through the greater church that is in need.

Each one of us will have different answers to those questions. And each time we pray the words, “give us today our daily bread,” we ought to reconsider again answers to those questions. For each one of us, the answers to those questions are related to how we have seen God at work in our lives, and how we have been shaped by experiences with money, and the attitudes about money we have learned from those before us. (I have placed on the table in the back, some questions that some of you may wish to consider in the weeks ahead and in the process develop a little money autobiography.)

And while we may come to some conclusions, as a matter of faith, others come to different conclusions because their faith has been shaped in different ways. Therefore, the big challenge for us in congregations is to come to corporate decisions when we all have differing levels and experiences of faith. May God give us all openness to one another and to God in the days ahead as we prayerfully consider these matters.

Give us today our daily bread. They may be so familiar that they just roll off our lips. But those 6 little words challenge us in just about every decision we make each day.

Let us pray. O God, when we pray, “Give us today our daily bread,” help us see your gracious abundant love and the needs of those around us, and give us the faith you live in the promises of your care. Amen.