Bread for the Journey

In a lower desk drawer in my church office is a stash of mid-afternoon snacks. In bags and wrappers are an assortment of salty and sweet treats to help tide my hunger from a lite lunch. Yes, there is little redeeming nutritional value in my snack collection, but sometimes it’s flavor satisfaction that I’m craving.

I might do well to read Wendy Shah’s illustrated book “Is this Stomach, Mouth or Heart Hunger?” After all, sometimes our eating has to do with physical needs, other times to fulfill cravings of our senses, or because we’ve created a habit of eating when we are stressed or afraid. Food becomes one of a variety of items we hope will fill us when we feel empty. Peeling open a Reese’s cup takes far less investment than deeper reflection on an emotional need. Yet, as delicious as the chocolate and peanut butter may be, they may not answer the question for that which we truly hunger.

Are you hungry? A significant number of people struggle with food insecurity and physical hunger. Some of those same individuals and others experience heart hunger as well. Loneliness, bitterness, unworthiness, and shame are only a few of the feelings we seek to satisfying with any number of fillers. Jesus reveals deep attention and compassion for both the stomach and the heart.

The good news of Jesus often begins with resourcing the community for mealtime. Around the table, Jesus provided bread with equity so that everyone had enough to eat and leftovers to share. Equally, Jesus responded to the spiritual starvation of the people, feeding them with company, acceptance, forgiveness, and love. His act of breaking bread with humanity reveals God’s attention to every hunger.

Barbara Brown Taylor writes, “Follow the bread and it will lead you to the source of all life.” Perhaps she is suggesting that as we follow Jesus, who is dispersing sustaining appetizers to all, we will find the fullness of grace and provision. Or maybe she is describing the search of scripture for bread basket stories and there we will find God’s spirit of life. Or is she pointing out that as we gather for bread we receive life in the fellowship around the table? After all, the word companion literally means to “share bread with.” Certainly, there is deep meaning dining from all of the above.

You are invited to reflect on hunger and God’s nourishment in our worship series “Bread for the Journey,” which began Sunday March 9th as the first Sunday in Lent. In both Classic and NewDay worship we will explore bible stories about bread to discuss its rich significance in the narrative of the people of God. We will be fed with God’s sustenance, the intimacy of the Spirit as we grow in understanding and faithfulness. We will move through this season of Lent, in spiritual preparation for Easter, turning with commitment to the things of God that fulfill our cravings. We will find belonging and fellowship as we experience bread through our senses, even some taste testing after services. We will be reminded that as we follow the bread we do experience life in the one who answers every hunger.