Luke 11:3-4, Matthew 6:11-13
Exodus 16:1-9
I Corinthians 11:23-26
Colossians 3:12-17
A reminder that these are the things Jesus puts in a prayer for us.
These are the basics, the absolute essentials, the needs, not the wants.
We need daily bread. We need forgiveness. We need to forgive. We need
to not be tempted, and we need to be delivered. These are not just nice
things that would make our lives better. These aren’t the huge matters of
holiness, family relations, or God’s kingdom.
These are the huge matters of daily survival. These are the things
that matter. And Jesus wants us to ask about them. Jesus wants them
included in this prayer. Our liturgical life mentions bread, our scriptural
history speaks to God providing for daily bread, manna from heaven, and
the bread of life. Forgiveness and the need to forgive cycle through the
story of us and God. We know we need help, both in avoiding temptation
and in being delivered from our own mistakes. And we need the reminder
that when we pray this, we pray this for ourselves, and for our world. We
pray this about us – about what we need – as a reminder that this is what
all of God’s children need.
