Brothers and sisters, this month I ask you to knead your understanding of the fourth petition of the Lord's Prayer. "You must," as Luther writes in his large catechism, "therefore expand and extend your thoughts to include not just the oven or the flour bin, but also the broad fields and the whole land that produce and provide our daily bread and all kinds of sustenance for us. For if God did not cause grain to grow and did not bless it and preserve it in the field, we could never have a loaf of bread to take from the oven or to set upon the table."1

In this petition, we pray for daily bread, but "(w)hat is meant by daily bread?" "Daily bread includes everything."2 Martin Luther goes on from here in his small catechism, but really I think that we can just leave it at that: everything. From the poor person who needs daily bread to the governing authorities who keep us in order so that our daily bread is not stolen, we pray for each of these and more so that we may sustain this body and life.

To some, this may seem contrary. Dying young may seem appealing, as many find that the longer you live life, the fun of living it leaves. Scripture, on the other hand, says something quite different. If we remember the fourth commandment - the only commandment connected to a promise - we honor our father and mother so that it may go well with us and that we may live long on the earth.3 St. Paul says it is better to go to heaven, and yet he still acknowledges that it is good for him to live here so that he may bring others to the truth of Christ.4

Christ Jesus is the Bread of Life,5 having lived a righteous life and dying on the cross to take away our sins, and rising again to new life. But that is not what we are praying for in this petition. Here, we pray for common, everyday bread, and for all things connected to it.

When you expand your thinking about bread and knead it around a bit, you can see that bread is so much more than the ordinary. It is extraordinary how we have a God who supports this body and life through governing authorities and those who work to bring us that bread! This is what we pray for in this petition. Next time you pick up a slice of bread, you may just want to pray the Lord's Prayer in addition to the Common Table Prayer.

Continued blessings to you this month and always through our Lord Jesus Christ!