Again I say to you, if two of you agree on earth about anything they ask, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three are gathered in my name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18: 19-20)

Give us each day our daily bread… (Luke 11:3)

Sometimes, when introducing the Lord’s Prayer we say “we are bold to pray in the words that Jesus taught us.” It is true. Not only do we pray about what Jesus teaches us about God’s name and God’s kingdom on earth and in heaven, but we pray about the will of God. It seems like we are being very bold to presume that we might know the will of God. But we pray in words Jesus taught us and so we feel comfortable talking to God in such a familiar way.

Even more boldly, after acknowledging God’s greatness, we begin to ask for things that we want and require. Make sure God, we ask, that we have all that we need. “Give us each day our daily bread.”

It seems like a no-brainer. God provides at least the daily essentials, food, shelter, and clothing. And so we acknowledge that in this prayer, and we give thanks.

Each day when I drive home from work I exit off of 35W at Diamond Lake Road. There is usually someone standing at the top of the exit ramp holding a sign that says something like this: “homeless, totally desperate, anything helps, God bless.” I always hope that there is a green light or a line of cars on the ramp so I will wait a little farther back. This prevents me from sitting in my car close enough to the homeless person to make eye contact. I am ashamed to admit it, but these people make me uncomfortable and I don’t know what I can or should do to help them. I’ve heard that handing money out of the car window isn’t the best idea. So every day I just drive past with a pang of guilt.

Henry French reminds us of one important word in this petition of the Lord’s Prayer. “Our” We are not praying for just ourselves individually. We are praying for the whole people of God. He reminds us that “When anyone suffers, we all suffer; when things go well for anyone, things go well for everyone. As the seventeenth century English poet John Donne so beautifully put it, “Any man’s death diminishes me because I am involved in mankind.” (French p 68)

Even as we pray and hope for God to give us our daily bread, and as we give thanks for what we have, we know that there are many people in the world who do not have what they need. My prayer today is that we will do whatever we can with whatever we have to make sure that all people receive their daily bread. God help us.

Prayer for today

Good and gracious God, please help us to act when we can help, share what we have, and to remember that we live in an imperfect world. We are your hands and your feet. Show us the way. Amen.