March 11, 2016

Bread

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

Each morning I finish my daily devotions by saying the Lord's Prayer, but when I come to the above petition I do hesitate and feel I should include the word “thank-you” for providing our daily bread. When we go into the supermarket, what a choice of breads is there. I prefer to go to our local market hall where I can buy my favourite “Spelt & Honey loaf” - spelt flour is one of the oldest flours in use and is mentioned in the Old Testament.

But I am also very conscious of the millions of people in the world for whom this petition is heartfelt and desperate. Just as it was in Jesus's day – if the harvest failed or was poor in yield – there could be long periods when families would go hungry.

In January a three-part series was shown on television entitled “Victorian Bakers.” Four modern professional bakers began their journey in 1837 when they used a centuries-old method of bread-making, doing everything by hand, sweat dripping off their faces and arms into the dough! Then delivering the finished products door to door. In the 1840's the rocketing price of wheat meant making barley bread to feed the poor (John 6:9) and “crammings” which were known as Victorian chicken feed – these looked and apparently tasted disgusting. The Industrial Revolution in the 1870's brought the bakers into an urban bakery, but because manual labour was cheap, kneading was still done by hand or by using their feet. Adulterants were also added to the flour to improve the appearance and taste of the bread, much to the horror of the modern bakers. By the 1900's they had a new workplace and shop on the High Street which boasted huge steam ovens and an electric dough mixer enabling them to produce a wide range of pastries, cakes, and bread. This is only a brief résumé of three very interesting and informative programmes which only reminded me of how vital a part bread has played in our lives, and throughout Scripture we are also aware of this.

Let us not forget Jesus's words when He was tempted in the wilderness, “Man does not live on bread alone, but on every word that comes from the mouth of God.”

“He took bread, gave thanks and broke it, gave it to them saying, 'This is my body given for you, do this in remembrance of me.'”

Thought for the day:

Be gentle

when you touch bread,

Let it not lie

uncared for – unwanted.

So often bread

is taken for granted.

There is much beauty

in bread.

Beauty of sun and soil,

beauty of patient toil.

Winds and rains have caressed it;

Christ often blessed it.

Be gentle

when you touch bread.

– Anonymous

Dorothy Williams

The Avenue Church

Newton Abbot, England