A pastor and author of a study on the Lord's Prayer writes:

"I venture that we are the most security-conscious people in human history. Security used to be measured primarily in military terms; thus the U.S. Constitution spoke of the government's responsibility for the common defense of the people. [A few] generations ago, the word security took on new political significance with the Social Security Act. During the latter half of the twentieth century, the insurance industry burgeoned into one of the major players in the American economy. Since 9/11, security is measured by taking off your shoes and displaying your toothpaste and hand lotion at the airport. And from a political point of view, in every race from the state legislature to the presidency, the issue seems to be health programs and provisions, a security measure that is intended not only to protect us from illness and the costs associated with it but also to promise us longer life.

"With all of this, you and I ought to feel secure. Two or three generations ago...security meant having children who would care for you when you grew old--and if you had no children, a sibling or a niece or nephew. Now we have Social Security, retirement programs, 401(k) plans, and insurance of every imaginable variety. If ever anyone should feel secure, it ought to be this generation in which you and I live.

"But obviously, we don't feel secure...In truth, so many factors are beyond our control."

What does it mean, in an affluent, security-conscious society like ours, to modestly pray for "daily bread"? We can easily understand this petition when prayed by the poor or homeless. But, with the world of medicine and nutrition and fitness warning us that obesity, even among children, is growing to epidemic levels in our country, and diet and exercise industries are thriving, doesn't it seem oddly contradictory to be asking God for food?

With cupboards and refrigerators bulging, our prayer for the modest gift of daily bread can be a prayer asking God to curb our hunger and greed for more, more, always more; to help us distinguish where our true security lies. Jesus isn't teaching us to pray "give us this day the whole bakery" after all!

As we've reflected on the last two Wednesday nights, Jesus begins the prayer with God: the adoration of God and the concern for God's kingdom and will. Why? Because to do otherwise gets everything out of order, and us turned in on ourselves. Our security doesn't really begin with a strong military or insurance policies or retirement plans or...daily bread, does it. To hallow the name of God and seek God's kingdom is to put the right foundation under all of life. Like the Ten Commandments, if we could only obey the first three: 1) worship only one God (no rivals), 2) honor God by keeping God's name holy among us, and 3) give God not God's due by keeping the entire "sabbath" holy, but giving God a mere nod by at least keeping a short 60-70 minutes every Sunday morning holy...if we could obey those three, then obeying the other seven commandments would naturally, effortlessly follow.

So, too, with the Lord's Prayer. Our relationship with God, God's unrivaled holiness, and the importance of God's will of redeeming human life being done on earth, all come first. From there, the rest of the prayer follows. Jesus is also telling us that our simple, recurring, day-to-day needs (theologian Helmut Thielicke said that 90% of life consists of trivialities), even those things are important to God. If it's part of life, it is worthy of prayer.

Luther is both expansive and extremely practical about this. He writes in The Small Catechism: "What is meant by daily bread? -- Answer:

Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, health, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the like.

Interestingly, in his explanation of this seemingly simple petition, Luther has much to say about 1) what constitutes "good government," and 2) if we already know that God is a gracious provider, why we need to pray for our daily bread?

Luther has no problem mixing religion and politics. About good government, Luther writes in his Large Catechism:

"Now for our life it is not only necessary that our body have food and covering and other necessaries, but [if peace and quiet among our neighbors] do not prosper as they ought, the necessaries of life also are impeded, so that ultimately life cannot be maintained. And there is, indeed, the greatest need to pray for temporal authority and government, [through] which most of all God preserves to us our daily bread and all the comforts of this life. For though we have received of God all good things in abundance, we are not able to retain any of them, or use them in security and happiness, if God did not give us a permanent and peaceful government. For where there are dissension, strife, and war, there the daily bread is already taken away, or at least checked.

Therefore it would be very proper to place in the coat-of-arms of every pious prince (we might say the letterhead of every senator, governor, and president) a loaf of bread instead of a lion or a wreath of rue*, [we might say, a loaf of bread in the claws of the bald eagle instead of arrows] or to stamp [a loaf of bread] upon the [money], to remind both them and their subjects that by their office we have protection and peace, and that without them we could not eat and retain our daily bread. Therefore they are also worthy of all honor...as to those through whom we enjoy peace and quietness... We also pray for them that through them God may bestow on us the more blessing and good.

Footnote: Wreaths of rue were hung in doorways and windows to keep evil spirits out and to bring blessings and protection to one's home. The expression "rue the day" is said to come from the practice of throwing rue at an enemy while cursing him.

On our need to pray for daily bread, Luther writes in the Small Catechism: What does this mean?

God certainly gives daily bread to everyone without our prayers, even to all evil people, but we pray in this petition that God would lead us to realize this, and to receive our daily bread with thanksgiving.

And in the Large Catechism he writes:

God wishes to indicate to us how God cares for us in all our need, and faithfully provides also for our temporal support. And although God abundantly grants and preserves these things even to the wicked and knaves, yet God wishes that we pray for [these things] in order that we may recognize that we receive them from God's hand, and may feel God's [parental] goodness toward us.

And, once again in this petition, we find that pesky word "our." We cannot pray this prayer selfishly. Jesus gently continues to call us from Me to We. We don't appeal for our own singular hunger, physical or otherwise, but we include the needs of others alongside our own. We are inextricably bound with our neighbor, just as Jesus summarizes the Ten Commandments when he says: The first and greatest commandment is to love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, strength, and mind; and the second is like it, love your neighbor as yourself."

Remembering he wrote this in the 16th century, Luther continues on this petition:

How much trouble there is now in the world only on account of...daily oppression and [rising prices], bargaining, and labor on the part of those who wantonly oppress the poor and deprive them of their daily bread!

This simple, seven-word petition teaches us to relax a little, to look to God not just for "spiritual" blessings, but for those practical and daily needs which allow us to be secure, and to actually ENJOY life. This petition helps us learn what Jesus means when he says in John chapter 10, "I have come that you might have life, and have it in abundance." Notice, Jesus doesn't say, "I have come that you might have affluence, and have it in abundance"!

Part of thankfulness, on our part, is active concern for the injustices that result in poverty and unjust treatment of the poor. When we pray, "Give us bread," and we have more than enough while another person is empty-handed, while the Food Shelf is experiencing increased need but shortage of food - well, what do you think?

This prayer doesn't help us grow in affluence. Rather, it helps us to grow in generosity, as we think of those not only in so-called "third world countries" but in our own county who are truly and necessarily anxious about how they will get adequate food, clothing, and medicine for their children today. And tomorrow it starts all over again.

God doesn't need daily reminding to provide for our needs. We need reminding -- daily! -- that all we have is not a matter of our deserving, but is a gift of God's loving and gracious hand.

When today ends, you and I know that God will be here. God will be here tomorrow when we wake up. God will be here when the economy changes, whether the government is just or unjust, when inflation eats away at the dollar, when our work is discontinued, or when our skills diminish. You and I know that no matter what, God will be there, caring for us, and very often...using us to answer our own prayer -- give us, all of us, what we need this day. Amen.