Our Daily Bread
Christian reflections for the IF Campaign
These Christian reflections are a project by CAFOD, Christian Aid and Tearfund for the IF campaign. This week's reflection is a contribution from Christian Aid.
Saying Grace
When I read the verse in Luke 11, my initial thoughts are ‘What was my daily bread?’ And the answer is usually the same – breakfast, lunch, dinner and plenty of snacks in between.
I am surrounded by an abundance of food which means I often forget that God is our source of provision. I forget to look outside of my immediate surroundings and realise that not everybody has this abundance, and not everybody has this wide range of choice. And I forget that each new day - I need God. When I sit down to eat a meal, I thank God for the food I am about to eat, but this for me can quickly become a habit. It’s something that I’ve done for years, as a Christian, just because Jesus does it a lot in the Bible, and I had always seen others pray before meals. It is easy to recognise the extraordinary things God does around me and forget the everyday provision that I could not survive without. God provides all of our meals and all of our snacks for which I should be very thankful.
On a recent trip to Zimbabwe, I sat down with a local woman, Sophilisiwe, and she told me of her daily routine. Sophilisiwe’s daily ‘bread’ was one meal of sadza (cooked cornmeal and maize) in the evening. She described to me what it was to be hungry – she often felt very tired and she had a strong pain in her stomach. However, she was still extremely grateful to God for providing for her family everyday with food and other essentials. Sophilisiwe showed me what it was to truly seek and depend on God each day and to ask him, with great need, for her daily bread. My prayers of grace became much more real.
One thing that strikes me is that the verse does not say ‘Give me this day my daily bread’ but Jesus says ‘our’. We are all part of the body of Christ, one body. If one part of the body suffers, then the whole body suffers. If one part of the body goes to bed hungry then the whole body suffers.
“Give us each day our daily bread” teaches me to trust God. It gives me a hope for those in our world who go to bed hungry. But, it also shows me that we must pray for others and we must get up and do something about it. God has provided more than enough food for everyone in this world and we have most of it. We are certainly responsible for our brothers and sisters all over the world who are hungry. We need to act to ensure that everybody gets food and the pain of hunger ceases.
Catherine Falconer, Youth Intern at Christian Aid Scotland
Reflecting grace
The Earth is the Lord's (leader)
And everything in it (all)
Faithful God you have blessed us in so many ways (leader)
We will not forget your goodness to us God (all)
Your love and grace are our daily companions (leader)
We rejoice in our journey with you (all)
Lord Jesus, You were moved with compassion in the face of suffering (leader)
Soften our hearts, make us a compassionate people (all)
Lord Jesus, on a crowded mountainside, you fed the hungry (leader)
From what you have given us, help us ensure that everyone has enough food (all)
Lord Jesus, you stooped to bring hope to the leper (leader)
Make us never too busy to bring hope to the hopeless (all)
Lord Jesus, you displayed your love for us in your life and your death (leader)
Save us from cynicism and help us live sacrificially (all)
Lord Jesus by your actions you brought transformation to the world. (leader)
By your power help us to be agents of change in the places of need (all)
In your name (leader)
Amen (all)
From Fred Drummond, EA director for Scotland who also heads up the Prayer ministries of the Alliance