Lectionary Readings for August 1, 2021
Reading One: Exodus 16:2-4,Exodus 16:9-15 (NRSV)
Song: Guide Me, Oh Thou Great Jehovah (lyrics here)
Reflection
Last week we looked at texts that spoke of God’s abundant provision. This week, we find ourselves in similar texts that are linked by a theme of bread and heavenly gifts, so once again we are sitting with the images of God as the one who gives us all that we need.
Except right from the start, as we enter this text from Exodus, we are brought face-to-face with an ugly truth that puts a different spin on our reflections: the truth that as human beings we don’t always appreciate God’s good gifts to us. Look at the Hebrew people, having been freed from slavery in Egypt, having been miraculously delivered through the Red Sea in a mighty display of God’s power, and yet here they are, less than two months later, complaining about their situation and yearning for their days of servitude. And what is the main cause of their distress? Hunger. In their eyes, being slaves who were well-fed was a better option than being free people whose bellies are rumbling.
How soon they forget. How soon we forget. God doesn’t deliver us only to forsake us. He is faithful to the very end. And yet, even when God provides for our needs, it doesn’t take us long to hold up another need to him and express our anger and impatience about it. We are a fickle people, aren’t we?
As we begin our reflections on this week’s texts, let’s come to God in the prayer of a Welsh poet named William Williams (you read that correctly). His classic hymn “Guide Me, O Thou Great Jehovah” is the cry of a heart eager to be led through a “pilgrim land” with sure and certain trust in the one who alone provides for our every need. It’s the plea of a soul that desires to be reminded, as often as it takes, that it is in our weakness that God’s strength is best on display. That’s the kind of prayer that provides perspective and silences complaints.
Spend some time before God making this prayer your own.
Guide me, O Thou great Jehovah,
Pilgrim through this barren land.
I am weak, but Thou art mighty;
Hold me with Thy powerful hand.
Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and evermore;
Bread of heaven,
Feed me now and evermore.Open now the crystal fountain,
Whence the healing waters flow;
Let the fire and cloudy pillar
Lead me all my journey through.
Strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.
Strong Deliverer,
Be Thou still my Strength and Shield.When I tread the verge of Jordan,
Bid my anxious fears subside;
Death of death, and hell's destruction,
Land me safe on Canaan's side.
Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee;
Songs of praises, I will ever give to Thee.
Reading Two: Psalm 78:23-29 (NRSV)
Song: Psalm 78 (The Lord Gave Them Bread From Heaven) (lyrics here)
Reflection
I’ve mentioned before in these reflections that I believe there is great power in singing Scripture. Musician Francesca LaRosa has spent much of 2021 releasing responsive songs based on various Psalms, including this version of Psalm 78.
I really have nothing I can add by way of reflection, except to point out that the image of “heavenly bread” takes on new meaning when considered in light of what Christ has done for us. When the psalmist declares that “mortals ate the bread of angels; he sent them food in abundance,” there are echoes of today’s passage in John, when Jesus refers to himself as the bread of life and declares, “Whoever comes to me will never be hungry.” When we consider that amazing truth, the refrain we’re invited to sing, “The Lord gave them bread from heaven,” becomes more than an historical statement. It speaks to the very truth which we ourselves have experienced.
If you are able (depending on your environment), I would invite you to listen to the song and join in the sung refrain. If you are unable to do so, for whatever reason, then simply meditate on the words she’s adapted from the Psalm, and spend some time thanking God for the way they are true in your own life.
REFRAIN:
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
VERSE ONE:
What we have heard and know, and what our fathers have declared to us,
We will declare to the generation to come the glorious deeds of the LORD
And his strength and the wonders, the wonders that he wrought.
REFRAIN:
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
VERSE:
He commanded the skies above and opened the doors of heaven;
He rained manna upon them for food and gave them heavenly bread.
REFRAIN:
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
VERSE:
Man ate the bread of angels, food he sent them in abundance.
And he brought them to his holy land, to the mountains his right hand had won.
REFRAIN:
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
The Lord gave them bread from heaven.
Reading Three: Ephesians 4:1-16 (NRSV)
Song: One Bread, One Body (lyrics here)
Reflection
The nature of the Revised Common Lectionary during this season of the church year means that, in the version we are using here, the Old Testament texts are paired thematically with the gospel reading. This often makes the weekly epistle reading seem like the “odd one out” at times, and (speaking from experience) many pastors often perform feats of exegetical calisthenics to try and develop some connection to the other texts.
I don’t think it’s too much of a leap, though, to see a common thread in our Ephesians text that finds resonance with our other readings this week. The image of heavenly gifts (especially in v. 8) definitely echoes the story of manna, and when we consider the concept of “building up the body of Christ,” the gifts which Paul refers to here have a certain element of sustenance to them. The spiritual gifts God gives to the church are used to feed his people. I’ve actually heard more than one church member through the years refer to a teaching that blessed them as being “manna from heaven.”
And there is yet one more link to be made, I would suggest. Paul’s famous declaration that there is “one body, one Spirit…one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and Father of all” (vv. 4-6) finds its fullest expression, in my opinion, at the table of Christ. The very word we often use for the Lord’s Supper, “communion,” reflects both a vertical and horizontal truth: we commune with Christ, and we also commune with each other.
At a time when the body of Christ seems more fractured than ever, let’s continue the prayer which was encouraged a couple of weeks ago, asking God to bring unity to his church. And let’s include in that prayer petitions that God would fan the flame of the spiritual gifts which he has poured out onto the church, that all who minister to the body of Christ would desire to see “…all of us come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to maturity, to the measure of the full stature of Christ.” (v. 13). As you pray, consider the gifts which God has given to you. How might you offer them to God in deeper commitment to the work he is doing in the world?
Reading Four: John 6:24-35 (NRSV)
Song: Hungry (lyrics here)
Reflection
Having experienced a miraculous feeding, the people now come to Jesus looking for more. Their interaction with him reveals that, having eaten their fill and found satisfaction for their appetites, their minds are very much set on earthly satisfaction. Jesus is quick to point out that satisfying the hunger of their bodies is not the real gift he offers, but instead he has come to offer satisfaction for hungry souls. As they plead with him for understanding, they reference the story of manna in the wilderness, and Jesus reminds them that it wasn’t Moses who provided for the people, but God himself. And here we come to the true understanding of “bread from heaven,” bringing our readings full circle. Jesus is the living manna, who has come down from heaven to give life to all who eat.
As I sat with this text, it strikes me that I often come to God with my requests in ways that are similar to this crowd: my motivations are suspect, my understanding is dim, and my demands for a sign are plenty. And just like the crowd, I often don’t even fully grasp what I’m asking for. It’s at times like these that I sense God inviting me to strip away all the things which I layer onto my requests—all the preconceived notions of what he’s up to and all the misguided impulses that drive my prayers—and simply come to him with this simple acknowledgement:
I’m hungry.
When we admit to God the ways we have sought satisfaction outside of him, the false assumptions and motives that often drive us, we are freed to admit that we’re hungry. We’re hungry because we have not been feasting on the bread of life which Jesus offers, but instead have been seeking our sustenance from worldly sources which have no spiritual value.
As we bring our reflections to a close, let’s spend time before God admitting our need and our hunger. Let’s confess the things we have looked to apart from him, the appetites that have consumed us and now drive us to our knees by their emptiness. And let’s ask him to meet the needs of our souls anew, feeding us with the living bread from heaven (John 6:51). Ask the Spirit to search your soul and bring to the surface anything which needs to be offered to him, so that you might be his without reserve.
Broken I run to You, for Your arms are opened wide.
I am weary, but I know Your touch restores my life.