Give Us Today the Bread that Is Needful

Hi, friends, and welcome to the Weekly Dulin Podcast, a brief weekly reflection from Dulin United Methodist Church in Falls Church. Here, we take time to think together about faith, community, and what it means to live as disciples of Jesus in today's world.

Hello, Dulin Church. It's me, James , your pastor, and it's good to be with you for another week of the Dulin Weekly Moment or Dulin Weekly Podcast, however you consume these moments we have together. I will tell you what's been on my mind recently and what's on my mind today. It's about the things that feed our souls. I, as you all know, I spend time most every day saying the Lord's prayer in my morning prayer time.

And I just happened to use the Aramaic version. It's not a better version. It's just a different version. It's one that I've spent the last couple of years learning so that I can ponder it and spend time going more deeply. And the phrase that's been kind of capturing me is give us today the bread that is needful.

Give me what I need to make it through the day. Now, growing up, and I said this in my sermon on the same phrase, and I've said it before. But growing up when I thought about daily bread, was just thinking here in Western society, three square meals a day, Breakfast, lunch, dinner. The things that feed the body I'm in. And I do think Jesus means that at least in part.

But when he talks about bread, in Aramaic, when he talks about bread, he's talking about more than what feeds the body, more than what builds us up, more than what we need just to sustain this physical presence in the world. It's important. Our physicality is a part of who we are. This body, this incarnation, this being real matters. I mean, this was part of the whole design.

We are meant to be human beings living in this world. And part of our experience of the divine is the ordinary everyday lives we live from the time we get up till the time we get up the next day, including our sleep and the patterns of our lives, the way that we live and the things that we do. All of those are a part of helping us perceive and connect with the divine. But there are also other things about our lives that we learn over a lifetime. And some of what I think Jesus is talking about, and in fact, the idea of bread is what feeds the body.

It's also what feeds the mind, what feeds the soul, what feeds us. You know, so sometimes when I'm sitting in my chair in the morning and I'm praying, meditating, I'm using the Lord's Prayer and I get to that thing that will sustain me. Sometimes it's a question in the midst of the week as I'm writing a sermon or perhaps the Dulin Weekly Podcast Moment, as the case may be. It is give me the insight of what I need to know to speak the kind of truth that Dulin Church needs to hear, that I need to speak, that is mine to speak, that you have given me. What is the insight?

Sometimes I realize what I need to feed me this day is insight about how to face some challenge that's arising in my life. What is it that I need to know that will remind me of who I am and how I might live it out? What is the insight that will help me find that next step in faith for me, that next piece of the path that takes me where God would have me go? Give me that insight and let me be awake enough in that moment that you give me the insight that I'm actually, I take it in, and it becomes the insight that I need. Give me today the bread that I need, the insight that I need, the wisdom that I need, the patience that I need.

There are certainly moments in life, whether you're driving in traffic or you're in the middle of a meeting that you're beginning to believe could have been an email or you're waiting in a long line at some store where you're shopping or the internet is slow or you can't download your favorite show. Whatever it is, you might need that insight to remind yourself. And you ask God for that. That's part of that give us today the bread that we need. Give us during the time that we're working, during the time that we're focused, that we're engaged in this life.

Give us what we need so that we can be the people you made us to be. Physical as well as spiritual, mental, emotional, all those pieces. And we need an insight because we're struggling emotionally. We are in the midst of grief. And what we're asking for when we need as for daily bread is a moment by moment strength to get through the weight of the grief that is holding us down.

Maybe we are fearful of something that's coming up. Recently, I've had several moments when I was fearful of what would you can't control moment by moment what is going to happen in say a meeting or some other space. And there was a part of me that entered those spaces or at least thought of those spaces in fearful ways. How can I be the best self? How can I be the self you've called me to be, God?

And I was afraid I might not quite measure up in those moments. And I prayed for my daily bread, my daily insight, my daily fortitude, the insight, the strength, the emotional wherewithal, the wisdom that comes with age and experience perhaps to be who God was calling to be, calling me to be in that moment. Because after all, that's what this path, this journey is all about, I think. I mean, there are lots of ways you can categorize the journey of faith, the path to follow Jesus. And I encourage you to articulate those for yourself and take a look at them because that's really a good way to understand what are you trying to do?

What is this worship thing? What is it doing for you? What is this Bible study thing? And what is it doing for you? What is Sunday school doing for you?

What it helping you see about the path you're on? It's not what's in it for me, but how can what I get as an insight right now invite me to take that next step. That is a step of faith on the path of Jesus. And so when I ask for my daily bread, sure, I'd like some delicious food today that will sustain this body of mine. But I'd also like the insight to know how I'm going to talk about Pentecost this coming Sunday in a way that is meaningful.

How am I going to engage in the Dulin Weekly PodcastDulin Weekly Moment? What you're watching right now? Am I bringing the best? Am I bringing the right thing that you need? Right?

Wrong? I don't know. Am I bringing something ripe to you? Something that you need to hear because this is the right space in your life? And that's all I can hope when I do these things.

And it's all you can hope too, that in the best moments you will be ripe for God's purpose in your life. I believe God is always present in our lives, always moving. And when we ask God for daily bread, daily insight, daily wisdom, daily emotional fortitude, intellectual acumen, whatever it is that might appear, you don't know what's coming. But you hope that it's going to be enough to help you to be the best you, the person God made you to be. So what will you do with this?

Well, I encourage you to ask right now. Stop right at the end of this Dulin Weekly Podcast Moment to sit back and say, Lord, I am facing this challenge. Lord, I am struggling. Lord, what is it that would sustain me, that strengthen me? What is it that you can bring into my life?

Help me to be vigilant so I will be aware when it comes. When you send it my way, help me to see the goodness you are sending my way. You could pray that prayer every morning before breakfast. Give me today the bread that I need. Whether that bread is bread or that bread is insight, wisdom, emotional strength.

What is it that you need today? And if you haven't figured it out, asking God for what you need today is an invitation for, if nothing else, bring to your mind the fact that you are needful this day. That you are relying on sort of a divine insight to come into your life. And by recognizing it in a prayer like the Lord's Prayer. Or in the simple prayer give Lord please give me today what I need.

But it is needful for this day. When I ask that, when I bring it to mind, I make myself more attentive to the possibility that it will show up. And I also make myself more attentive to recognizing the possibility when it actually happens. So those were my thoughts for this week for the Dulin Weekly Podcast. What is needful?

What is your soul craving? What is your body craving? What is it that is needful for today that will feed you, strengthen you, encourage you, help you to walk more closely the path to which Jesus has called you. Those are those thoughts. I wish you all the best in this journey of faith.

And I hope I hope for you that you will receive what you need and you'll recognize it when it comes. Thanks for joining me. Until the next time.