8/8/2019 Our Daily Bread - A Reflection for Labor in the Pulpits
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Labor in the Pulpits
Our Daily Bread
...give us this day ourdaily bread.... (Matthew 6:11)Jesus o
Nazareth, carpenter and rabbi, was part o aprophetic tradition. His
lie, preaching, and minis-try were grounded in the Biblical vision
oshalom(peace, justice, and wholeness) proclaimed in theHebrew
Scriptures. And his approach to humanrelationships, both individual
and institutional, wasshaped by this vision.
exts such as Leviticus 19:13 (Do not oppressyour neighbor and do
not rob him. Do not keep thewages o the worker with you until the
morning)and Deuteronomy 24:14 (Do not oppress the hiredlaborer, who
is poor and needy, whether he is oneo your people or one o the
sojourners in your landwithin your gates) would have been very
amiliar toJesus as he preached and taught about the comingreign o
God.
Little wonder then, that when Jesus taught his dis-ciples how to
pray, one o the petitions put beoreGod was give us this day our
daily bread. For in theBiblical vision o shalom assumed and
proclaimedby Jesus, bread is more than ood: it is both themeeting o
basic human needs and the armationo the human labor that produces
all that is neededor human beings to survive and thrive.
It is or this reason that the Lords Prayer so closelyidentifes
our daily bread with the reign o God(thy Kingdom come), the year o
the Jubilee
(orgive us our debts), and the ultimate purpose ohuman
existence: the glorifcation o God (thine isthe kingdom, the power,
and the glory or ever andever). Bread meeting human needs and
arm-ing the human labor that produces it is necessaryor ull
participation in the world desired by Godbecause it is
indispensable to the abundant lie towhich all people are called by
God.
For this reason, Christians have rightly linked inChristian
worship the Lords Prayer and the Lordsable: Te bread we ask or in
the Lords Prayer isthe same bread we bless and receive at the
Lordsable. And because this bread is the work o hu-man hands, the
labor that produces this bread isdeeply and permanently taken into
the very heart othat which is remembered and celebrated and
ap-propriated in the memorial and eschatological meal:the
transorming power o the death and resurrec-tion o our Lord and
Savior, Jesus Christ.
In our coming together at the Lords able, ourdaily bread becomes
or us the bread o lie: Bro-ken people rom divided communities are
sacra-mentally brought together, transormed into the oneBody o
Christ, and empowered to bring wholenessto a ragmented world
[Mission Statement o theChristian Church (Disciples o Christ)]. In
the pro-cess, Christians even now participate in the realityof
shalom and thereby experience the truth that theessence o authentic
human existence is solidaritywith other human beings.
Give us this day our daily bread, thereore, is muchmore than a
prayer that asks God or ood. It is aplea or justice grounded in the
Biblical vision oshalom. It is the public proclamation, through
wordand sacrament, that true aith in God requires thesatisaction o
lies basic needs or all Gods chil-dren. And, through its
association with the body oChrist at the Lords able, it is both the
recognitiono the sanctifcation o human labor and the arma-tion that
solidarity is essential to the transormingpower o authentic
Christian community.
Te Rev. Dr. Ken Brooker Langston is an ordainedminister in the
Christian Church (Disciples ofChrist).
Interfaith Worker Justicewww.iwj.org
