I could tell you all the ways this prayer hit my heart when I first read it. I could list all the tender places it touched and the bold challenges it issued to my sagging spirit. I could explain that I’m certain it was supernaturally nudged into my path today…in this very now of my life. But I don’t want to add my baggage to this gift.
Instead, I want to place it gently in front of you, like a platter of french pastries or a necklace from Tiffany’s in a turquoise box. Like something very fine and very perfect and sacred for your very now.
On our own, we conclude:
there is not enough to go around
we are going to run short
of money
of love
of grades
of publications
of sex
of beer
of members
of years
of life
we should seize the day
seize our goods
seize our neighbours goods
because there is not enough to go around
and in the midst of our perceived deficit
you come
you come giving bread in the wilderness
you come giving children at the 11th hour
you come giving homes to exiles
you come giving futures to the shut down
you come giving easter joy to the dead
you come – fleshed in Jesus.
and we watch while
the blind receive their sight
the lame walk
the lepers are cleansed
the deaf hear
the dead are raised
the poor dance and sing
we watch
and we take food we did not grow and
life we did not invent and
future that is gift and gift and gift and
families and neighbours who sustain us
when we did not deserve it.
It dawns on us – late rather than soon-
that you “give food in due season
you open your hand
and satisfy the desire of every living thing.”
By your giving, break our cycles of imagined scarcity
override our presumed deficits
quiet our anxieties of lack
transform our perceptual field to see
the abundance………mercy upon mercy
blessing upon blessing.
Sink your generosity deep into our lives
that your muchness may expose our false lack
that endlessly receiving we may endlessly give
{Walter Brueggemann}
oh. my. gosh. Perfection. Thanks, Bo.
Wow!
As I was studying The Lord’s Prayer, I came across this teaching on the passage where we ask for bread- The traditional translation “give us our daily” seems odd and repetitive because the task of translating the original language here is so difficult. However, the old Syriac commentaries (earliest and closest culturally to that of Jesus) translate it like this- “Give us the bread of continuity” – or “the bread that doesn’t run out”. So…Jesus was addressing this fear of being in need that is in all of us. He wants us to be free from that fear.
I know that I, for one, need to be reminded of this truth daily. The prayer you shared is a beautiful, tender whisper from a gracious Father that His child will have enough. Amen and amen.
This takes my breath away.
WOW… Thankful for HIM!!!
“They found grace out in the desert,
these people who survived the killing.
Israel, out looking for a place to rest,
met God out looking for them!”
God told them, “I’ve never quit loving you and never will.
Expect love, love, and more love!
And so now I’ll start over with you and build you up again,
dear virgin Israel.
You’ll resume your singing,
grabbing tambourines and joining the dance.
You’ll go back to your old work of planting vineyards
on the Samaritan hillsides,
And sit back and enjoy the fruit—
oh, how you’ll enjoy those harvests!
The time’s coming when watchmen will call out
from the hilltops of Ephraim:
‘On your feet! Let’s go to Zion,
go to meet our God!”
That was just what I needed this morning, and probably again in the afternoon, and before bed. Brueggemann….love it.
wow. just wow.
Beautiful!!! Love this prayer. This is one for my office wall.
Pure gold.
Lord Jesus, please transform my thinking; renew my mind.
Bo, thank you.