When We Meet to Break Bread--Oct. 31, 2021

[From Nov. 3, 2013 archive]

 

You who search out our path and our lying down, 

you, God, are acquainted with all our ways. 

 

You know that we must have food to stay alive—

and how little we share with the starving. 

 

You know that we are preoccupied with our own welfare 

and how meager is our trust in your loving care. 

 

Teach us, O God, what a blessing it is to have food 

 and to break bread in fellowship with friends.

 

And teach us how to share our food with the hungry, 

for that is a part of striving for your kingdom. 

 

Lectionary Readings

Ps. 103; 150; 117; 139

Neh. 5:1-9 OR Ezra 1:1-11

Acts 20:7-12

Luke 12:22-31

 

Selected Verses 

Ps. 139:3 

You search out my path and my lying down, 
          and are acquainted with all my ways. 

 

Neh. 5:2 

For there were those who said, “With our sons and our daughters, we are many; we must get grain, so that we may eat and stay alive.  …” 

 

Acts 20:7a 

On the first day of the week, when we met to break bread, Paul was holding a discussion with [his friends]… 

 

Luke 12:31 

“…Instead, strive for [God's] kingdom, and [what you are to eat and drink] will be given to you as well.  …”  [Jesus to his disciples]