Give Us Today
Give Us Today
- Brandon Waybright
- Psalm 4-5 & Matthew 6:25-34
- Praying for Reign
- 28 mins 44 secs
- Views: 844
Small Group Questions
- Jesus' prayer turns to asking God directly for our “daily bread”. What do you imagine this bread to be? What are our daily needs?
- Much of Jesus' ministry included sharing and providing food. What is the significance of God attending so closely to people's physical hunger?
- This prayer is not individualistic. Jesus prays for "our" daily bread. How important is it for Christians to be concerned with the physical needs of others in their communities?
- This petition immediately follows Jesus' prayer for God's kingdom and will to be established on earth. How might providing daily bread be connected to God's kingdom work?
- How can Jesus' example of asking for daily bread impact our own prayers? How might we answer this prayer for others we know this week?
Sermon Notes
- Intro
- I know what all you regular attenders are thinking
- i. ...that’s the wrong Waybright.
- I know what all you regular attenders are thinking
- Arts Weekend
- It’s an honor to be here on this Arts Weekend.
- Who am I
- I am the Pastor’s son.
- I studied Studio Art at Westmont College
- an MFA in Design from Otis College of Art & Design
- I am now the Co-chair of the art & design department at George Fox University in Newberg, OR.
- I’ve worked in museum curation, exhibition, branding, multi-sensory experiences, and marketing.
- There are things that I am fully qualified to talk about.
- I just want you to understand that when I say that today, I am here to talk to you about bread.
- As we broach this controversial subject matter.
- Unfortunately for this message…there is no gluten-free option.
- But really, opening up the bible is dangerous business.
- In a political age where we decide what we believe and then shoot down anything that contradicts it.
- It’s hard for us to be willing to be challenged.
- Today, I ask you all for a little grace….and a little willingness to be challenged by Christ’s words.
- Context: How do we read this prayer?
- This passage has the character of some of my favorite verses in the bible: It’s Strange
- The prayer is so grand in nature.
- i. Our father.
- ii. In heaven
- iii. Your kingdom come
- iv. your will be done
- v. and then bread.
- Give us bread
- Father, heaven, kingdom, bread.
- After this lofty praise….when our eyes lower to look to see the earth...we come down to a basic human need.
- A request for bread.
- It’s practical. Its’ needed for survival.
- Historically, it’s been difficult for us to think about this passage as including something so humble and practical as bread.
- i. We instead read it as a call for spiritual nourishment, or time spent with the bible.
- ii. [daily breads] We see daily bread as feasting on the word of God.
- I have an easy time assenting to theology. If daily bread is just about spending time with the bible...then I don’t have to trust God to provide for me because I know the bible is there.
- But when God get’s practical...when the requests become measurable...when God is the one i’m meant to rely on for my physical nourishment.
- i. I have a much harder time trusting.
- iii. Alternatively, we might see this prayer (as we often do) as an opportunity to ask God for things.
- It’s tempting to take our desires and interpret them as needs.
- come to God saying look God you’re supposed to supply my needs….well here’s my list. Deliver please.
- It doesn’t sit right with me.
- But Daily bread isn’t a luxury. It’s the stuff of survival.
- When you think about it…daily bread is the kind of thing served at a prison so that people can survive. It’s the kind of thing handed out to take care of basic needs.
- It’s a ration. a provision.
- ii. Daily bread is not about luxury…it’s about sustenance.
- This is not a verse for us to ask God for everything we want and a pony.
- If we look at it correctly...its about sustenance.
- When we pray give us this day our daily bread, we’re not looking for gifts…we’re looking to be sustained.
- This prayer is a reminder that we rely on God for daily sustenance..
- iii. Daily bread is physical and spiritual.
- I do not want to discount the picture of daily bread as spiritual.
- God absolutely is providing spiritual food for us.
- But I am convinced that this passage is more a metaphor.
- It’s about how he takes care of his creation.
- The sustenance that God has to offer us is physical as well as spiritual.
- I do not want to discount the picture of daily bread as spiritual.
- iv. God’s kingdom is not just a place where we are spiritually cared for.
- It’s where his people...all his people...are provided with their needs for survival.
- Let me tell you a story….
- i. Students Visit with Spiritual Crises.
- “Why am I here?”
- I don’t know what I should be doing? Spiritually dead?
- i. Students Visit with Spiritual Crises.
- I used to spin into a craze...of have you been praying?
- Have you been going to church?
- Do you have a spiritual mentor?
- After a few years of teaching I started to realize that the most important question I might ask them first
- i. When was the last time you actually slept?
- ii. What have you been eating for the past week.
- If the last time you slept was 36 hours ago.
- If all you ate for the last week was ramen.
- We may have just found the root of your spiritual crises.
- God made us as physical creatures. Body and spirit are not separate. Food matters.
- We cannot be provided for spiritually. If we are not provided for physically.
- Anyone who has been hungry knows…
- Your intellect and spirit aren’t detached to from your physical existence.
- You can’t think straight when you haven’t eaten
- We need to be provided for as the holistic beings that we are.
- We need physical daily bread in order to be nourished by spiritual daily bread.
- I don’t think it’s an accident that you see Christ so often offering food as he enters people’s lives. That so much of his change in people’s lives revolves around feeding and being fed, drinking and offering drink.
- ii. As we look to see God’s will be done on earth
- iii. We ask….
- Physically, Spiritually, Mentally
- Give us today our daily bread that we might be sustained in the mission of God.
- When we ask Give us this day our daily bread.
- We’re looking to God as the one who sustains and guides creation.
- The Bread that helps us Understand the Gospel
- bread has a great deal to teach us about the Gospel.
- It is physical, shared, grown, and for today.
- Physical
- i. Even if we read bread as a metaphor…we can’t understand the metaphor without understanding the physical existence.
- ii. By which I mean you cannot understand bread without experiencing it physically.
- Let me show you what I mean…
- Bread is a staple food prepared from a dough of flour and water, usually by baking. Throughout recorded history it has been popular around the world and is one of the oldest artificial foods, having been of importance since the dawn of agriculture.
- Proportions of types of flour and other ingredients vary widely, as do modes of preparation. As a result, types, shapes, sizes, and textures of breads differ around the world, though most bread is produced through a combination of yeast, water, flour, a rigorous kneading process and the application of heat.
- Wasn’t that was some good bread?
- No
- You can read every recipe.
- Follow every breadmaker on instagram.
- You can watch every last hour of the great british bake-off.
- No matter how much you do those things. You won’t really know bread.
- Let me show you what I mean…
- iii. To understand bread, you need to smell it. You need to get your hands on
- Hear the crunch of it and taste it on your tongue.
- iv. As with bread, so it is also true of the Gospel.
- The Gospel is not merely to be read.
- It is not a philosophy alone.
- It is not simply theology or right thinking.
- It is a way of living.
- We must engage it physically to understand it.
- v. Just like the bread, the gospel is relatively easy to read. It’s a whole other thing to roll up your sleeves, knead some dough and get to the business of seeing it become a reality.
- vi. As Christ shares the gospel, this physicality is something that Christ appeals to again.
- Have you ever noticed how physically nourishing Christ’s ministry is?
- How often he uses food in his missions?
- i. His first miracle is the creation of wine.
- ii. He feeds the five thousand.
- How often he uses food in his missions?
- Wherever he goes
- Perfumes
- Fish
- Sand
- Mud
- Christ speaks a physical language.
- vii. The very kingdom of God is presented to us not just as an idea but as a feast.
- viii. The ways he gives us a foretaste of heaven are
- Milk and Honey
- Manna
- Isaiah’s picture of God’s kingdom is Christ preparing a rich feast with well-aged grape juice (wine).
- ix. When he tells his disciples to do something in remembrance of him—its not while he is on the cross. It’s not when he walked on water. There are a lot of really cool things he could of asked them to do in remembrance.
- x. He asked that they have a meal.
- xi. When he teaches us how we should pray...he tells us part of that prayer is to ask for bread. Perhaps the very bread needed to have that meal in remembrance of him.
- xii. If we long to understand the gospel, we must engage it with our physical selves. Ministering by offering physical and spiritual sustenance.
- If we want to understand Christ, we need to not just mentally assent, but physically engage his words.
- It seems particularly appropriate to make this point on arts weekend.
- i. Mark Terry—How ceramics help you understand God’s Kingdom.
- —people use metaphors about being formed from the clay.
- —they don’t really know what that means until they sit down at the wheel and try to form a pot.
- —how terribly unruly clay is…how prone to collapse. How steady of a hand and how true of a centered position the clay must have on the wheel in order to.
- i. Mark Terry—How ceramics help you understand God’s Kingdom.
- —If people would take the time to work with clay…to get their hands dirty…they would understand a great deal more about our relationship to Christ.
- something that art and art does so very well…is help us understand and engage our physical senses.
- i. When we hear a great singer…we gain a greater appreciation for the way
- ii. Our senses…which I might add…were designed by God for our edification and survival.
- Logic and reason and sermonizing….these aren’t bad things…but we cannot think our way into the gospel. We cannot understand God or live for him if we only do so verbally.
- i. We need to experience God and the gospel through our many senses. We need to hear it. We need to taste it. We need to see it. We need to smell it on the streets. We need
- ii. If nothing else, I hope you will hear these words:
- iii. God’s call to us is not to simply think that the Lord is Good.
- It is “taste and see that the lord is good.”
- iv. The Gospel is physical as well as spiritual and must be lived out physically as well as spiritually. Therefore we should care for physical existence.
- Shared
- i. There are two words that are easy to miss when reading this part of the lords prayer.
- ii. Give us today our daily bread.
- Give me today my daily bread.
- Give him today his daily bread.
- iii. This request is a shared request.
- This stuff that sustains us…physically and spiritually.
- It is not for me. It’s given to us. Therefore it is not something to be horded away or stockpiled.
- We need to remember, as we take our daily bread...that there are millions who did not have bread yesterday. That the bread we have is a gift from God...not our own...and perhaps in that light...we should make some room at our table to share.
- The picture this prayer gives to us is of a gathering around the family table.
- Brothers at the Table.
- Imagine if you will
- A father walks out to a table of four sons with a basketful of bread.
- Quickly, ravenously, like teenage boys who recently finished football practice, three members of the table dive onto it and devour it.
- Meanwhile...one poor child in the corner...who hasn’t had bread...nearly faints from lack of food.
- One brother, with crumbs falling out of his mouth says
- “If he wanted food he should have moved faster”
- What would a good father say about that?
- If the bread the God provides is meant to provide US with nourishment and sustenance rather than luxury or overindulgence, than we need to carefully consider
- That the things that sustain us are meant to be shared.
- That from our abundance, rather than taking a few extra rolls because they are so good...we should give...that all may be sustained.
- Van Gogh
- Was a Missionary and he was not rich.
- Famously, he essentially never sold a single painting in his life. He was completely dependent on others to provide for him.
- He got into trouble for a variety of reasons. As a short, redhaired man with an apparently high pitched voice. Some questioned whether he could really preach.
- But even more so...he often got into trouble with his local preisthood for his habit of living a meager life and giving away his best possessions to others.
- When he was given money to buy a bed, chairs, for himself.
- He didn’t buy a nice bed for himself...he bought a bed made of cheap wood to sleep in so that he could buy a sturdy bed made of walnut that he would never sleep in but would be available for those he invited over and were in need of rest.
- Instead of a nice chair for him to rest. He bought a cheap chair, so that he could buy a nicer chair that he would never sit in so that he could offer it to others.
- Van Gogh did not receive a great deal of daily bread in his life, but with what he received…he looked to see how he might serve or provide for others.
- Rather than horde his abundance...he took what was needed for him to be sustained.
- And offered the rest to others .
- I think we can learn from this.
- .let me put it this way. If we wish to act like christ...when we have abundance...we must use that as an opportunity to make space at the table for those who do not.
- Like Van Gogh, we don’t just make a space, we pull out the good chair.
- isn’t that what Christ was saying when he said to the man with two tunics should give to the man who has one.
- If we are in this church family…we see a brother who is hungry…rather than take a second helping…we need to make a space at the table.
- Because daily bread is about sustenance and sustenance is not gluttony—its about providing for God’s family.
- Transition: But this doesn’t necessarily…mean that the right way to live is to just offer a handout. Because for God to give bread to us…we really need to be at the table together.
- iv. The way we share the gospel should be the way Christ shared.
- [ Last Supper da Leonardo Vinci ]
- It’s not about throwing scraps someone’s way. It’s about welcoming people to the table.
- [ Mean Girls ]
- Anyone who has been to high school or watched mean girls knows…the people you sit a table with says a great deal about you. In fact, the people who share a table with you tend to define you.
- So then clearly…if we wish to be identified with Christ, we should share our table with the people he did.
- Who are those people?
- As you read the bible, it’s pretty clear.
- If you want to share at a table like Christ, you need to share your table with all the wrong people.
- Your friends, family, yes they might be there…but more often than that…you share the table that sinner, that adulterer, that corrupt city official, that tax collector, those fishermen.
- v. At the heart of Christ’s work...central to his mission...recorded through history...his depiction of the kingdom was a banquet table where people who were willing to follow him were welcome to join. WIthout other conditions. They didn’t need money...they didn’t need to have their act together. They didn’t have to understand everything—that particularly is true when you look at the disciples....they were welcome because he made them welcome.
- Are the people you share a table with the people Jesus shared a table with?
- We can and should pray for the hungry...but better yet...and far more like Christ...we should pray with the hungry
- vi. To not do business as usual...offering lip service to the suffering of others...but to place ourselves physically alongside them. Inviting them to join us. To be identified with them and have them identified with us and to share in what has been offered to us.
- Grown
- i. I’m no saying there are bread trees.
- I’m saying bread is a product of the ecosystem of God’s Creation
- For us to be sustained, we must sustain His creation.
- i. I’m no saying there are bread trees.
- ii. To receive our daily bread we must live in a world capable of producing the seeds to grow the plants...supported by hands skilled at harvesting...
- iii. The creation of bread requires many hands and quality ingredients.
- Newberg Bakery
- In my new hometown in Oregon, there is a small bakery. Because I’ve developed a good bit of hometown pride, I’ll have no qualms about saying it’s just about the best bakery you could ever visit.
- It’s not particularly fancy, but the minute you bite into something they’ve made...you realize...these people know bread.
- I once bought a scone from them left it in my backpack for three days only to find it later
- When i bit into it, it was still the best scone I ever had.
- i. I asked them what on earth they’re putting into their bread.
“The farms we get our ingredients from are run by our friends. Our come in every morning from less than 15 miles away. We live here. We know the weather and how it affects the crops. We know when the marionberries are going to be ripe and when we need to move on to something else.
We have our own recipes but we’re not using anything unusual, we just start with the best ingredients we can and then do our best to make sure those ingredients aren’t ruined in the process.”
- Bread is part of an ecosystem
- The making of great bread requires a environment to cultivate ingredients, a wide variety of people who can provide the ingredients, and even more people to convert those ingredients into bread.
- As with bread, so it is with the Gospel.
- iv. Living the gospel well requires many hands and many different ingredients.
- As bread is made...its not just a baker that we need. There’s a farmer who maintains land to grow the ingredients. There are harvesters.
- The ingredients you supply are not likely the same ingredients that I supply.
- v.
- I wonder what life would look like if we thought of providing sustenance as a collective goal… If we saw that we are part of an ecosystem of God’s creation.
- And in that system, we commited to making bread together.
- I wonder what life would look like if we thought of providing sustenance as a collective goal… If we saw that we are part of an ecosystem of God’s creation.
- As bread is made...its not just a baker that we need. There’s a farmer who maintains land to grow the ingredients. There are harvesters.
- By that I mean if we each took our unique giftings and considered them the ingredients God has provided us.
- In order that we might offer daily bread to and sustain one another.
- An Example
- I am a person who makes things. When I see my sister struggling to build something…I don’t ignore her or throw a few dollars at her.. I take the ingredients God gave me and I see how I might work.
- My sister writes things. When I have an important text to work on and I’m struggling with it…she doesn’t ignore me….she doesn’t throw me a few dollars to pay for an editor. She welcomes me and offers the ingredients that she brings.
- vi. Our ingredients are not the same…but in their proper season, they are incredibly significant.
- We need the broad range of artists.
- The ground we walk on is part of God’s creation too. Without that ground. We cannot care for God’s human creations...without concern for the vast ecosystem that he has crafted.
- Today
- i. There is a desire to read the request for daily bread as a metaphor for the future—as looking forward to a day when God’s kingdom...but when you read it only as that...your missing a rather important word...today….daily. Daily bread isn’t once and gone.
- ii. Give us Today
- iii. This is not something that is meant to wait.
- iv. Nor is it to put off for some future time.
- v. It is not distant or far.
- vi. It is for now.
- vii. So our challenge is to live today in light of this prayer.
- viii. When we pray give us this day our daily bread.
- We’re asking God to physically and spiritually provide for our community—today.
- That happens through God’s providence and through what he has offered to us.
- We’re asking God to physically and spiritually provide for our community—today.
- We’re asking for the wisdom and hospitality to share our bread. TO not horde it or greedily stock up, but to see the bread we have as from God and given to his family.
- We’re asking for help in welcoming those in need to being brazen in our invitation to come and share bread at the table.
- We’re asking for the environment we live in to be capable of producing life-sustaining bread.
- And we’re asking for the God of the universe to intervene today.
- ix. It turns out this unassuming, humble phrase, may have a great deal of meaning.
- Quaker Reflection
- Write or draw…don’t just think about it. You need to move this thinking from your brain into the muscles God crafted for you. From mind to fingertips…from fingertips to your body.
- In your life, how has God sustained you or offered you daily bread?
- What has he given you an abundance of that might be shared?
- This week—In what ways might you be used as daily bread in your community?
- Think very tangibly..practically.
- I want you to challenge yourselves to think on earth as it is in heaven...what are a few practical ways that you can
- Family...have you been faithful.
- Prayer
- The gospel is Spiritual and physical. It is not meant to be merely thought about. It is meant to be lived.
- “We are still far from being what we long to be, but with Your help, and your providence, we will succeed.”
- Help us remain faithful…to go and do what we have considered.
- Communion
Of all the Christ did and said...this is the place he requested that we do this in remembrance of him.
This was his favorite place to gather.
Today, I want to welcome you to the family table.
Know that as you come forward, you are admitting to being part of this family. Neither more nor less significant than any other part.
Here is bread...Physical, born from his creation, present today, to be shared with all who are willing to come to the table.
This moment embodies Christ’s mission, to provide for his people, spiritually, physically, psychologically, emotionally.
We are here to receive from His abundance….and encouraged by it to share our abundance with others.
Here at the table...we continue the feast he started. A feast full of all the wrong people...including us…
As we take communion, we echo Christ at the table with his disciples.
He sits at a table...with fisherman, accountants, a man who he knows full well will bring him harm.
Whether fisherman or accountant...whether you wish to praise him or are plotting his undoing….you are welcome here at a table full of all the wrong people for all the right reasons.
I challenge you to consider....who might you invite to your table this week. How might you reflect christ...and open up a place at your table for someone else.
As you take this cup today...might you take with a challenge….that when you see someone in need of daily bread or a drink to quench their thirst….that you would simply offer them a handout...but that like Christ, you might also invite them to share a table with you.
In remembrance of Him and the table he kept. Take. drink.
Christ, your life offers us life. Your resurrection is a testament to the futility of death. You work as an artist, rendering our whole selves, flesh and spirit, into instruments of your praise. May we learn to glorify you and provide for others as you have provided for us.
Amen
Chinese Translation
- 介紹
- 常來教會的會友們以為
- i. ...Waybright 搞錯了
- 常來教會的會友們以為
- 藝術週
- 榮幸親臨藝術週
- 我是誰
- 我是 牧師的兒子
- 我在Westmont 大學修的工作室藝術
- Otis藝術設計大學藝術創作碩士
- 現任俄焵崗州紐伯格市George Fox大學藝術設計部的聯合主席
- 從事博物館,展覽館,多功能感應體驗和市場方面工作
- 很多我蠻有資格來談的話題
- 我想要說明的是,我今天來這裡談日用的飲食
- 有爭議的話題
- 沒有免麩質的選項
- 現實中,打開聖經是件危險的一樁事
- 在政治年代人们决定自己相信的,凡是与其对立的通通槍斃
- 面对挑战的勇气
- 我請求大家一点恩典的心来接受耶稣话语的挑战
- 内容: 怎样来读主祷文
- 这段信息中我最喜爱的一些句子
- 祷告的性質宏大
- i. 我们的父
- ii. 在天上
- iii. 你的国降临
- iv. 你的旨意運行
- v. 然后是日常饮食
- 赐给我们日用饮食
- 父,天,国,食
- 崇高的赞美之後。。。我們的眼朝地下一望。。面對基本的人类需求
- 祈求饮食
- 现实生存的需要
- 思想這段信息不容易,包括要謙卑和实际地面对日用饮食
- i. 我們把主禱文當作灵性的呼召,或在圣经上花時間
- ii. 日常饮食——我们看日常饮食为每天飽享神的话语
- 如果日常饮食就是花时间在圣经上-那么我們就不需要信靠神的供应了,因为我知道圣经的存在。
- 但是神很实际。。当我们所祈求的可以衡量的时候。。。当神成为那个我们身体需用所仰赖的
- i. 我在這點上信靠更困難
- iii. 另一種可能,我們把禱告看作是向神求東西的機會
- 容易落入把欲望看成需要
- 神你必須供應我的需要。。。這裏是我的清單。請救我脫離
- 但是日用的飲食不是奢侈,是生存的必須的東西
- 日常飲食是囚犯都需要的,基本生存需求
- 是一種供應
- ii. 日用的飲食不是奢侈品。。。而是基本食糧
- 不是向神想要什麼要什麼
- 正確的看待是有關基本的食糧
- 不是求禮物,而是生存所需
- 這裡的禱告提醒我們仰賴神供應我們的日用食糧
- iii. 日用飲食同時是身體也是靈性上的
- 不是降低靈性食糧的意義
- 神絕對提供我們靈性的食糧
- 但是我相信這段信息更多是一個比喻
- 有關神如何看顧他的創造
- 神給我們的食糧包括身體和靈性的方面
- 不是降低靈性食糧的意義
- iv. 神國不只是顧念我們靈性的需要
- 是 所有的人都得以供應生存所需
- 故事….
- i. 靈性上面臨危機而來的學生
- 我為什麼來這裡?
- 我不知道該做什麼。靈性死亡?
- i. 靈性上面臨危機而來的學生
- 我曾經想不通,你曾經這樣禱告過嗎?
- 你有沒有去教會?
- 你有靈性輔導師嗎?
- 教了幾年書以後,我開始意識到我首先要問的最重要的問題可能是
- i. 上回你什麼時候睡過好覺?
- ii. 過去的這周你吃什麼?
- 如果你上回睡覺是36小時之前
- 或者這周你吃的都是拉麵
- 我們可能找到你靈性危機的根源
- 神造人類身體。身體和靈性不可分割。 食物也很重要
- 我們需要靈性的供應,也需要身體上的供應
- 挨過餓的人都知道…
- 人的理性和精神與身體分不開
- 肚子餓的時候思路打結
- 我們需要全人的供應
- 我們需要身體上的日常飲食
- 不奇怪基督進入人的生活時常常供給人們吃的。他改變人的生活常常都圍繞吃喝。
- ii. 仰望神的旨意運行在地上
- iii. 我們祈求….
- 身體,靈性和頭腦
- 賜給我們日用的飲食叫我們可以在神的事工上持久
- 當我們求神賜給我們日用的飲食
我們仰望神是供應和引導萬物的供應者。
- 日用飲食幫助我們明白福音
- 飲食教給我們很多有關福音的道理
身體上,分享上,成長上和今日的
- 身體上
- i. 即使麵包作為比喻來來看 …也要了解麵包對身體意義
- ii. 意思是缺乏了解其身體上的意義,我們對麵包不能有深入的了解
- iii. 明白日用飲食,需要知道其滋味
- 聽見碎的聲音,用舌嘗過其味
- iv. 福音也是如此
- 福音不只是靠讀
- 不是哲學的思考
- 不只是神學和正確的思考
- 而是生活的方式
- 身體力行來明白
- v. 和日用飲食一樣,福音讀起來容易,輓起袖子來,開始擀麵成為麵條又是另一回事
- vi. 基督分享福音,在身體上基督向我們顯現
- 你注意到耶穌宣教中對人身體上的滋養供應?
- 他常用食物做宣教
- i. 耶穌的頭一個神蹟是造酒
- ii. 他餵飽五千人
- 他常用食物做宣教
- 不論他走到哪裏
- 香料
- 魚
- 沙子
- 泥土
- 基督說的是身體的語言
- vii. 神國提供給我們的不只是思想,而是一場筵席
- viii. 他給我們的是天堂的初嚐
- 奶與蜜
- 嗎哪
- 以賽亞神國的畫面是基督預備醇酒的筵席(酒)
- ix. 當他告訴門徒做件事來記念他-不是在十字架上,也不是在水面上行走。
- x. 他叫門徒們一同吃晚餐
- xi. 他教導我們怎樣禱告。。其中教導我們祈求日用的飲。也許那個晚餐唯一需要的就是要記念他的麵包。
- xii. 如果我們渴望認識福音,就應該身體力行,在身體和靈性上服事。
- 明白基督,我們不僅需要頭腦上,而且在身體上參與他的話語
- 在藝術周提出這點的合宜性
- i. Mark Terry—陶瓷藝術幫助人了解神國
- 藝術體現恰到好處在於藝術幫助我們了解和身體各種感官的參與
- 邏輯和理性的佈道-不是不好-但是不能光靠說。只是口頭的講道不足以叫人認識神並為祂而活。
- 分享
- i. 讀主禱文容易忽略的兩個字
- ii. 今日賜給我們所需用的飲食
- 我的日用飲食
- 他的日用飲食
- iii. 分享的祈求
- 維持我們的。。。身體和靈性的
- 不是為了我,而是我們。因此不是囤積的
- 記住享用日用的飲食的時候,許多沒有麵包吃的人。我們的日用飲食是從神賜的禮物。。。不是我們占有的。我們應該在桌上留出位子給人分享。
- 禱告文的畫面-圍繞家庭餐桌前一同享用
- 在聖餐桌邊的弟兄們
- 想像一下
- 一位父親拿著一籃子的麵包走到四個孩子的桌前
- 就像家裡幾個青少年的孩子,足球賽後奔來,桌邊狼吞虎嚥,三個孩子一搶而空
- 同時...角落上的一個餓昏的小子...沒有麵包...
- 其中一兄弟嘴上掛著麵包屑說 “他想吃就跑快些呀”
- 一位好父親會怎麼說?
- 如果神預備的飲食是為了提供給我們的日常生存需要,而不是奢侈的暴飲暴食,我們應該留心
- 日常生存所需是用來分享的
- 從我們的豐盛中,而不是因為太好吃了,就多拿幾條。。。我們應當給予。。。好叫眾人都得以維持
- Van Gogh 梵高
- 這樣說,如果我們要像基督....當我們享有豐富...我們就應當使用這個機會為那些沒有的人留出位置。
- 像梵高一樣不只留出坐位,乃是搬出好椅子。
- 基督豈不是說那有的要與沒有的分享嗎
- 如果我們教會家庭…看見弟兄餓了…與其找幫助,乃當為其在桌前留位。
- 因為日用飲食是生存所需-為神家預備的
- 過渡: 神預備我們麵包 …我們需要先來到桌前。
- iv. 我們分享福音的方式應該是耶穌分享的方式
- v. 耶穌工作的核心,祂宣教的中心,記載在歷史上的,祂的國的描寫是一場筵席,與那些願意跟隨他的人都歡迎進入的。沒有任何的條件,不需要錢。。。也不需要他們的行為。 他們不需要明白一切-對門徒來說更是如此,他們被歡迎只是因為受歡迎
- vi. 不是在口頭上服事受苦的人...乃是親自親為伴在身邊。彼此認同,一同分享耶穌給予我們的。
- 成長
- i. 麵包不是現成
- 麵包是神創造的生態系統的產品
- 我們得以生存維持,首先需要維護祂的創造
- i. 麵包不是現成
- ii. 得以承受日用的飲食,需要世界能夠產生可以長出植物的種子... 和靈巧的手來收獲日用飲食
- iii. 麵包的出爐需要許多手工和成分
- 日用飲食是生態系統的一部分
- iv. 活出福音需要許多雙的手親手動工和諸多的因素
- 麵包出爐...不只是需要做麵包的人, 還需要農場的地,叫其中的成分可以生長。還有收獲的工人。
- 你下的料和我下的料不一樣
- 我稀奇我們的生活會是什麼樣子的如果我們可以集體合力 …如果我們看到我們都是神創造的生態系統中的一部分
- 在這一系統中,我們委身一起共同造出麵包
- 麵包出爐...不只是需要做麵包的人, 還需要農場的地,叫其中的成分可以生長。還有收獲的工人。
我的意思是如果我們每個人都能使用我們的恩賜作為神供應給我們加入的成分。
- 好叫我們有份可以給予日用的飲食,彼此維護。
- 例子
- 我喜歡動手建東西。當我看到我姐姐有難處建東西時。。。我不是忽略她。。。或者給她幾塊錢,而是用神給我的,看我可以做出點什麼。
- 我姐姐擅長寫東西。我有重要的文字要要寫又掙扎的時候。。。她沒有不理我。。。給我幾塊錢去雇一個編輯。她樂於幫助我提供一些我需要的思路。
- v. 我們給的成分不一樣…但是在合適的時候,他們出來的效果可不一般
- 我們需要廣泛的藝術家
- 我們同行的工場是神創造的一部分。沒有這一共同場所,我們不能顧念神創造的人類。..缺乏對祂設計的廣大生態系統的關心。
- 今日
- i. 日用-人喜歡把麵包看成是未來的比喻-前瞻神國來到的時候,但是這樣念的時候失去了一個很重要的字,就是今日。 麵包不是一次性的事件,完了就沒了。
- ii. 今日賜給我們
- iii. 不是可以等的
- iv. 也不是可以推後的將來
- v. 不是久遠的
- vi. 而是今日
- vii. 我們的挑戰是在這禱告的光中活在今日
- viii. 我們禱告求主賜給日用的飲食
- 我們求神今日在身體靈性上供給我們社區今日的需要
- 我們求智慧和好客的心來分享飲食。
- 求需要的人得以在我們的邀請中來分享桌前的飲食
- 我們求生活的環境有能力產生可以生產維持生命的食物
- 我們求宇宙的神今日的管理
- ix. 如此謙遜,卑微的句子產生極大的意義
- 桂格的反思
- 禱告
- 福音包括靈性和身體。 不只是用來思想,而是用來生活
- “我們與渴望成為的自己還相距甚遠,蒙祢的幫助,供給,必定成就。”
- 幫助我們忠心…去做
- 擘餅
這是基督行的事,說的話..這是吩咐我們如此行來記念他的地方
這是他最喜愛聚集的地方
今天我歡迎你們來到家庭的聖餐桌前
知道你們來到桌前的便是承認自己是家庭中的一分子,沒有輕重都一樣的重要。
這餅。。。有形的同在,從他的創造中生出,今日與所有願意來到聖餐桌子前的我們分享
此時此刻體現基督的使命,供給人靈性,身體,心理,情感的需要。
我們在此領受祂的豐盛…受激勵與人共享豐盛
在聖餐桌前...我們繼續祂已開始的筵席。筵席裏坐滿不該坐席的人...包括你我…
擘餅的時候,我們回應基督與門徒同桌
他與漁民,稅吏,還有他已經知道那個會害他的人同桌
不論你是漁民還是稅吏,讚美他還是要機謀害他的,在擘餅的桌上坐的都是情理不對的人。
我挑戰你考慮。。。這周你會邀請誰來?你如何可以反應基督。。。或者為某一個人在桌上騰出一個位置。
今天我們拿著這個杯。。。願你面對挑戰。。。當你看見人需要日用飲食,你可以給予麵包以充飢,遞上一杯喝的以解渴。。。像基督一樣伸出你的手,也許可以邀請他們與你一同坐席。
為著記念他和他留出的坐位。拿起杯來,喝了。
主呀,你用生命換給我們生命。你的復活證明死亡已經廢除。你如匠人,賦予我們肉體和靈性的全人,叫我們成為讚美你的器皿。願我們學習榮耀你,像主你供應我們我們一般供應人。
阿門