Holy Food
A prayer for food seems strange, doesn't it?
When I hear this portion of The Lord’s Prayer being discussed among Christians I most often hear something to the effect that “we don’t have issues with food, so we should remember how blessed we are” or “other people in other countries struggle for food daily.”
While this may be true, I want us to think one level deeper.
What is Jesus asking us to pray for when he says we should pray, “Give us today the food we need”?
Because I don’t think it’s about food.
It might be. I don’t know.
Because I think Jesus was, instead, teaching us about what it means to rely on God.
If you need to pray that you know where your next meal is coming from, then do so. But if you aren’t concerned about your next meal but you are concerned about your next bill…then that’s valid as well.
Now, let’s take it one level even deeper.
What do you need to survive?
Because I think each of us takes for granted what it means to have this life we live…
Quite literally, we don’t exist without God’s act of creation. God has and always will provide for what we need…just by God’s existence.
There is a book by C.S. Lewis where he states that, in the story, a character goes to a place where everything is gray. People just sort of “exist” but don’t really live.
You don’t need to eat.
You don’t need to sleep.
You just kind of “are.”
And the character asks where they are and someone replies (not an exact quote), “You could call this purgatory…but if you stay long enough, then you could call it hell.”
Life without God’s presence is no life at all. It is just a pure state of “existence” without rhyme or reason or purpose.
…so maybe Jesus isn’t asking us to pray for our food, but for something more fundamental to our life?
My prayer for today
Our Father, we thank you for sustenance and life. I thank you for your presence that I constantly take for granted. Help me to recognize you in every moment. Amen.
Remember
Breathe in. And thank God for the breath of life.