Sharing Our Daily Bread
A Reflection on Luke 16:19-31
The Lord’s Prayer has been on my mind recently, perhaps because we just studied it together in our “Here I Stand” Lenten devotional series based on Martin Luther’s Small Catechism. Something that Seth Muller wrote in his Monday, March 20, devotion really stuck with me:
“The prayer starts out with Our Father. OUR FATHER! Not MY Father. We have been made for community. It’s not all about me, me, me. It’s about us, us, us.”
Have you ever stopped to consider that, when we pray in this prayer for “our daily bread,” the same lesson applies? We pray for daily bread (that is, the necessities for this body and life) to come to us… the entire human family. Yes, indeed: daily bread is not just for me, me, me – it’s for us, us, us.
How can we, who have more than what is needed for daily life, pray “give us this day our daily bread” and not share what we have, with those who lack life’s most basic necessities?
In the Gospel lesson for this weekend (linked above), Jesus tells a parable of a rich man who had everything he needed, plus so much more. He was aware of Lazarus, a poor man in the community who literally wasted away outside of his gate on a daily basis, and yet did nothing to help him. You could say that his attitude toward Lazarus was “Not My Problem!” Only in death does the rich man begin to understand the responsibility he had toward his neighbor in need…however, for him, it was too late.
It is not too late for us to share with our neighbors in need – indeed, the time for us to share is now. Jesus told this parable in order to stir us awake, that his mindset would become ours.
Sometimes the “Lazarus” God calls you to help might be someone you know personally. Other times, “Lazarus” may show up when you learn there’s been a disaster in a neighboring community, or you are aware of the plight of a group of refugees on the other side of the world. Even if we are not loaded with excess money and material goods, like the rich man in Jesus’ parable, we all have something to give: time, friendship, prayer, advocacy, awareness, compassion.
Another simple thing we can do to keep our neighbors’ needs before us is to stay connected to groups that are committed to the act of sharing daily bread with others. Many great organizations exist, but I’ll link to just three below. You can donate, take action, or sign up for emails today.
I can’t wait to dig into this story more with you on Sunday. See you in church!
Pastor Katherine
Links:
Bread for the World
ELCA Relief and Development
Lutheran World Relief
Lost and Found
As we listen-in to the Master story teller himself this coming weekend … I’d like for you to consider the three main characters whom Jesus describes in his parable of “The Prodigal Son” (Luke 15:11-32). With whom do you most closely identify? I think most of us probably say it’s the Younger Brother (a.k.a. the prodigal kid). Right? Cuz we know all-too-well how we too, in all of our self-centeredness, have often been seduced by the tempting voices and choices of the world … shamefully telling the folks to “drop dead” … leaving home … and then regretfully finding ourselves in a distant country. “Toto, I’ve a feelin’ we aren’t in Kansas anymore.”
Or … maybe some of us identify with the Father Figure in this parable: those of us who know the heart-ache of a love that’s not been seemingly “good enough.” Losing a child in some-way-or-another and left waiting on the front porch. Feeling half-dead as we look with deep longing into an empty horizon, hoping-against-hope … “Over the river and through the woods.”
Or could it be … could it be … that Jesus is calling us to identify as equally with one of the characters who doesn’t even make Rembrant’s version of the parable. Doesn’t even make the “front page”? How subtle are the thoughts and feelings that go with this family member. And how important it is for each of us, as members of Christ’s church, to identify with him. For actually, he’s the one for whom Jesus’ tells the story in the first place, with the face of a Pharisee (cf. Luke 15:1-3). Hmm. “Why does Jesus hang out with all of these sinners?” (Luke 15:2) … “Bazinga!” Come and see.
j.r. christopherson
Senior Pastor
Repentance
Why is it that the word “repent” shows up so often in the Bible? All the prophets refer to it and both John the Baptist and Jesus speak of it often. And why is repentance apparently so hard to come by? In the Gospel passages for this Sunday, Luke 13:1-9, 31-35, Jesus both pleads for it and later laments its absence.
Perhaps we can all relate to how hard it is to admit being wrong, how vulnerable one feels in asking another person for forgiveness, even those closest to us. And some of us may look back on periods of our life where we simply could not or would not recognize our need to change. And, of course, in such a state of mind, nothing did change, except the mounting consequences of our mind-set, or our soul.
As I prepare to preach the sermon this Sunday, I’ve been reflecting on what happens in repentance and why we so often instinctively resist it. And yet, if it were not important, why does it appear so prominently in the preaching of the prophets and the church? Why even is repentance a traditional emphasis in the season of Lent? I suspect that the answers lie in the “basement” of the human heart and psyche, a place where finally only the gospel can shine a redeeming light.
Pastor Peter Strommen
A Dual Truth
The parable of the Good Samaritan and the story of Mary and Martha are a well known pair. In the first, the lesson seems to clearly push toward serving with our entire being, while in the second Jesus reminds Martha to not serve, serve, serve. So which one is it? To serve or not to serve? Which one does Jesus want us to do? As always, following Jesus is not as easy as it sounds. As soon as you think you've got it just right, Jesus points out that you've missed the mark. Somewhere in between the words of these scriptures, there is a dual truth. Our neighbors in need need our service, but serving does not make us right. There is no moral high ground to stand upon to point out how much more we have done than others. Serving is not something we get to boast of for ourselves. So what do we boast of? Where are we right? Where can we finally rest and sure of ourselves? Only in hearing the word of Jesus Christ who has been merciful to us.
Pastor Lars Olson
Listening
Transfiguation Sunday
February 26, 2017
Dear Family and Friends of First Lutheran Church: This coming weekend, let us go up to the high mountain of prayer …
To a high transfiguring place where the earth touches the heavens
To a misting mystical place where Christ’s Holy Spirit leads his disciples still
A place filled with God’s wondrous light and presence
A place filled with awe, wonder, and worship
A place where all mortal flesh keeps silent in order for us to listen carefully …
In preparation, read Luke 9:28-45 and a Bible Study Worksheet: “Listening”
j. r. christopherson
Senior Pastor
Photo: "Transfiguration" by Cathy Christopherson