How many of you have ever used those Pillsbury refrigerated dough products? Dinner rolls or biscuits or croissants? The ones where you peel off the paper and then rap the cylinder smartly on the corner of the counter and it bursts open? They’re really popular because you can make so many things with them. The ones I liked best were the croissants, you know, the little triangles of dough that you can roll up in a crescent shape to actually make croissants, or you can make turnovers by piling some kind of filling on top of one flat triangle and then topping it with another and sealing the edges with a fork, or you can press out a whole crust for making something else. It’s really cool, especially if you’re in a hurry but
want something that looks as if you spent some time on it.
But you know, they never caught on in France. As a matter of fact, none of Pillsbury’s frozen or refrigerated or even many of the packaged foods ever caught on in France, at least up until 1990 when I left the company. You know why that is? Well, first of all, I think that just the thought of a croissant that wasn’t baked right then and there was close to blasphemy. But what researchers found out was that freezers in French refrigerators were only big enough to hold a tray of ice and if you were really lucky a pint of ice cream. The French don’t use frozen foods. In fact, if I recall correctly, the British are the only Europeans who use frozen or even refrigerated foods to any significant extent at all.
They French go shopping every day. They buy their bread from the patisserie and their meat from the charcuterie and their vegetables - well, you get the idea.
Americans, by and large, don’t do that. We buy in bulk and freeze ahead to save time and get better prices. We make double recipes and save half to save time. We buy frozen dinners and refrigerated dough so that we can throw together a meal without working at it.
Tell me, what’s more important than food? What’s more important than taking time to prepare a good meal from good food and sit down at the table with your family?
Now I know we have some awesome cooks here, and many of you do put serious effort into feeding your families wholesome and nourishing meals and furthermore really relish the dinner time as family time together. But it’s getting less and less common. We’re so busy that saving time is more important than cutting preservatives and other artificial additives out of our diet, more important than making sure we get the freshest possible vegetables - although here in south Jersey we are lucky enough to have places like Puglia’s and other farm markets for our tomatoes and corn and peaches.
I think part of the problem is that it’s gotten too easy for us. We take it for granted that we can have food at our fingertips at any time, day or night, and just having the store open 24 hours a day isn’t enough. The store is too far. It’s got to be right there, in the house. To save time.
Another part of the problem is that we’re always in a hurry. Books like The One-Minute Manager spawned dozens of imitations - from the One-Minute Millionaire to the One-Minute Mother to - believe it or not - the One-Minute Bible.
But an even bigger problem is that few of us know how to wait. We haven’t learned to slow down and let things unfold at their own time, to appreciate or even delight in the preparation, the anticipation. And we don’t know what to do when we have extra time on our hands.
You know, I think that part of the political problem with the Iraq war is that people expect things to be solved in an hour (with time out for commercials) and think something has gone wrong with the world if all the loose ends aren’t neatly tied up when the credits roll.
We want instant everything. Instant wealth, instant obedience in our children, instant solutions to our problems. Cable on demand... How many of you have that? Fortunately I’ve resisted the temptation so far. But I, too, want what I want when I want it. When I was little I wanted to be able to play the piano like my mother without spending the hours every day at the scales and exercises she had mastered... and I got good grades too easily to learn how to work really hard for a goal until much later in my life. And for years I had trouble with credit, because I couldn’t wait to save for the things I wanted.
This third petition in the Lord’s prayer - after "May your name be kept holy" and "May your kingdom come" asks God to provide our daily bread. And of course that means more than the stuff you make sandwiches with. It means everything we need for our daily lives.
There are several different kinds of needs. The first are purely physical. Food, shelter, and clothing. And we really do need them. Jesus recognized that when he told his disciples "Do not worry, saying, ’What will we eat?’ or ’What will we drink?’ or ’What will we wear?’ For it is the Gentiles who strive for all these things; and indeed your heavenly Father knows that you need all these things. But strive first for the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well." [Mt 6:31-3]
Jesus isn’t telling his disciples that they don’t need food; he’s telling them not to be anxious about it. These are people, mostly, who aren’t sure they’ll always have food on the table. There’s still danger of famine. And while most of us don’t worry about where our next meal is coming from, many people in our community still do. Being poor tempts us to doubt God’s provision. But it also forces us to rely on it.
But on the other hand there’s the rich fool Luke tells about, whose land produced so much that he decided to "pull down [his] barns and build larger ones, [to] store all [his] grain and goods." [Luke 12:18] He had the other problem. He was so rich that he didn’t need God, because he had everything he wanted.
Starvation forces us into dependence, abundance frees us from it. Which is better?
The next levels of need are for a different kind of security. We need to belong, to be valued, to have people who care about us, and to have work to do that suits us and makes a difference. Those needs are just as real, just as important, as the physical needs. And God provides for those as well. He provides for our need to belong by adopting us as children. He gives us people who care about us by making us brothers and sisters of one another, no matter what our last names may be. And he gives each one of us work to do that matters. One of my favorite passages in Scripture tells us that "we are what he has made us, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared
beforehand to be our way of life." [Eph 2:10]
But the highest level need of all is spiritual, it’s for a relationship with God. And he’s made provision for that need, too, through Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit, through Scripture, through the invitation to come into God’s presence in prayer at any hour, day or night, without having to go through ritual cleansing or through a priest or anything but confession of need.
It’s all there. God provides for every single one of our needs. Martin Luther wrote in 1529: "What does daily bread mean? Everything that nourishes our body and meets its needs, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, yard, fields, cattle, money, possessions, a devout spouse, devout children, devout employees, devout and faithful rulers, good government, peace, health, discipline, honor, good friends, faithful neighbors and other things like these..." As Paul told the Corinthians, the same God who provides for our physical needs also provides for our spiritual needs. The same God who makes the seeds grow and produce grain will make our lives produce the fruit of righteousness..
But you know what?
We often treat these other needs just the way we treat our food needs, by seeking shortcuts or by hoarding. But even though we can get away with freezing our food, or buying mixes, or filling our shelves with every conceivable ingredient, we can’t do that with either or social needs or our spiritual needs. There is no such thing as instant friendship, instant love, instant success, or instant spiritual maturity. And we can’t stockpile it, either. All of these things have to be renewed on a regular basis.
Today’s passage from Exodus is a great illustration of what I’m talking about. Remember that the Israelites were to gather only as much manna as they needed for each day. If they gathered more, it would spoil by the next morning. But some people apparently didn’t believe that God would continue every day to provide for them, and so they tried to get enough extra just in case God didn’t live up to his promises. But manna didn’t last. It wasn’t intended to. God was trying to train his people to be dependent upon him every day, for every aspect of their lives. But you’ll note that whenever people have more than they need, they start forgetting about God and think about building bigger barns instead.
Well, I really don’t think God minds that we buy food in bulk, and I really don’t think he’s offended when I eat frozen dinners. I sure hope not, because I don’t really cook at all any more. I live on frozen dinners and canned soup. But that’s because I am busy, and I do have more important things to do. And I’m afraid that we’ve come to expect to develop a spiritual life in much the same way.
You can’t stockpile kisses from your kids, and you can’t heat up last year’s Bible study. Neither love nor God’s word is perishable, and neither love nor God’s word will ever run out or run short. But you only get enough to last until the next trip to the store. God is open for business 24-7, but you have to show up personally to get your rations. You can’t delegate, and although you can occasionally grab a quick bite on the run, you won’t get enough nourishment to keep you going for the long run.
Give us this day our daily bread. Give us this day what we need for life to be as abundant as Jesus promised. Give us. Give me. And God says, "Everything you need is here for the asking. Come and get it."
