The Lord’s Prayer - Day 5
 

We now come to the petitions focusing on our needs and the needs and aspirations of all mankind. in this, the first of these petitions, the 'Bread' relates both to the Body of Christ as a Sacrament, and to the food  we all need for health and fitness. It is not just that we and our families be fed, or even us and our country. Our request applies equally to Africa as it does to Europe. "Give us this day our daily bread" is a plea that everyone be adequately fed. God has provided us with a world which has the resources to feed everyone. Man’s sin is that these resources are so divided that half the world is malnourished while a large part of the other half lives in a cornucopia of plenty, with supermarket shelves overflowing and obesity a serious medical problem. Equally challenging is the growth of secular societies, secular education and the growing fear of proclaiming the life and message of Christ in National life. 

Whilst the whole of creation is of God, food is a particular sacrament, coming as it does from the life which God gives to plants, fishes and animals. Our ancestors were much more aware of this than we are. They hunted and grew much of their food themselves. They were dependent on the weather and the absence of crop destroying organisms, such as potato blight, foxes and locusts, for all they ate. Here in Scotland, within living memory, the failure of a harvest brought malnourishment and even death. We should never partake of food without giving thanks to God for his bounty and praying that it may continue and be shared fairly. Having prayed this we have to decide what we can do to help bring this about.

Finally, we need to remember the way in which bread symbolizes three core truths of Christian belief.

• At the Last Supper Jesus took bread and broke it. He told us that it was His Body and we were to remember him by eating bread which has been sanctified.

• The Church is the Body of Christ, and it is here that we come to break bread and remember him.

• That hospitality is a sacred obligation on all Christians. Not for nothing is Communion bread called the 'Host'

Meditations
Think or say, "Give us this day our daily bread" several times to yourself slowly. Think on the meanings of these words. Ask yourself how you interpret them.

Jesus intended that his listeners gave no thought beyond the day for the food that they would need. (Manna was delivered fresh daily, except on the Sabbath). With our ability to preserve food, is there any relevance today for this concept?

Does the especial sanctity of food have anything to do with how it is produced? In Scottish Law, food and land have been recognised as having a degree of 'sanctity'. A poor man stealing food to feed his family had the especial plea of 'Burthensack', which meant that he could not be hanged for the offence. In England, sheep stealing was punished by death, up to the time that deportation to the Colonies became an alternative option.

How can I ‘do my bit’ to help those who have less decent food than they need?