Prayer Changes
October 02, 2024
Reading: John 6
It is hard to believe Jesus is the “Bread of Life” if there is no bread in your belly.
Such is the practical theology I learned through personal experience working at two city churches where poverty and hunger were the norm of the neighborhood. It is difficult to understand theology that does not tend for the physical and the spiritual needs of persons, and yet it is more common than you might realize. Some religions focus more on saving a soul for the future heaven, than creating a heaven on earth. Other theology can become so wrapped up in meeting practical needs of a hurting world, that soul food is considered irrelevant. For me, both physical and spiritual nourishment is what Jesus alludes to when he says “I am the Bread of Life” in John 6.
For Jesus has just fed five thousand people, an impossible task with only the 5 loaves and the 2 fish presented by a young boy. The miracle occurred with the physical provision offered from those listening to Jesus’ teachings. That physical provision invited the question the disciples ask afterwards – how is God providing now, like back in the days of manna in the wilderness? It’s a good question for us all to reflect on in how we live our faith. Do we expect Jesus’ provision to come down falling from the sky, or are we to share what has been given to us and offer it for Jesus’ miraculous work? We can’t expect God’s miracles to occur from nothing if we as the church are called “the Body of Christ.”
As we wrap up our missions this summer, there is still one need left to provide – bread. Specifically sack lunches. We will be providing 160 sack lunches per day – for 5 days August 5-9, that will be delivered to children who are normally reliant upon the free school lunch. These lunches fuel their bellies during the summer months, but just as importantly are an expression from the people who make them. Through bread provided, we are telling these children of Lewisville ISD: God sees their need. God sees their hungry tummies and says – let me give you something to eat. Their physical need is met through us, Christ’s body. This makes our sandwiches spiritual food as well. For Christ’s body is doing the work, not just us. The power to make sandwiches comes from a will beyond our time constraints, physical restrictions, or emotional limitations. It is a truly spiritual power at work beyond the confines of what we physically experience. Only then, can we truly reflect Christ in the Body’s work through us. When God is the One doing the feeding through us, the physical and spiritual are in harmony.
May our actions provide an assurance to others, that God sees their needs, and provides the physical and the spiritual nourishment as the Bread of Life.
Remember, you are a blessing,
Pastor Alex
