A REVOLUTIONARY PRAYER
Give us this day
our daily bread.
It rolls of the tongue so easily.
The phrase just flows and tumbles out
of our mouths like water flowing over pebbles
and, some days, like rubble tumbling from a
demolition dump truck.
Give us this day our daily bread.
It is imbedded in the prayer like a
drone or an antibody;
waiting, lingering, seemingly insignificant.
Jesus’ prayer was a model.
And the model was to ask
for what we need this one day.
In the prayer He models, we ask for bread
even before we ask for forgiveness of our sins,
forgiveness of the sins of others.
We are encouraged to ask for what we need
because God is that kind of God.
Our bread – having enough – is not contingent on
our being good, or sinless or even contrite or cleaned-up.
We are invited to ask for enough
before all that.
The question is not
whether or not we deserve the bread.
We do.
The question is,
how much bread are we willing to grab.
And what does that grabbing do to the relationship with
the God who gives us what we need
while we take what we want
simply because we seem
to be able to get away with it.
To pray this prayer with authenticity,
means to be willing to have enough
for this one day;
which would, mathematically, make it possible for the whole
planet’s population to eat to their satisfaction.
Give us this day our daily bread
is not about me asking that I be fed.
It is about me asking to be part
of a system in which we all are.
