"Give us this day our daily bread …"

We pray it from memory; we pray it without ever needing to look at the words. But how much thought have we given to what we are saying in that clause of our Lord’s Prayer? I think, in this Thanksgiving week, it is worth a moment’s pause.

In the early church’s context, bread was the “staff of life” for the impoverished with whom Jesus’ message of life resonated loudly. You might not have much, but if you had bread, you could subsist; you could get by. So for Jesus to teach his disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread,” he was teaching not just a simple prayer and a simpler diet, but a simpler lifestyle—dependent on God’s grace and one that made room for sharing more with the neighbor in need.

As we gather in abundance this week, might we indeed give thanks for our daily bread—our “enough”—but also for the extra resources that can then be shared beyond ourselves . . . as Jesus always did.

Blessings on you and yours this Thanksgiving week.

Matt Gaston
Lead Pastor