Food in the Wilderness
Exodus 16:9-31
The house of Israel called it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and the taste of it was like wafers with honey. v. 31
Life doesn’t run smoothly when the ex-slaves from Egypt find themselves wandering in the Sinai Desert. The journey is a logistical nightmare. Hungry, thirsty people complain long and loudly.
The God who provides, protects, and preserves God’s own hears their complaints and responds. Flocks of quail come in the evening, and this dew like substance, manna, covers the ground in the morning.
It’s a free lunch with only one condition: that each family gather only enough for the day except on the 6th day when they would gather enough for the 6th day and the 7th or Sabbath day. Otherwise if they tried to put away some for the next day (to hoard it) the manna would spoil
Today we pray as Jesus taught us, “Give us today our daily bread.” As we travel through our own wilderness, God promises food for the journey, enough for the day with promises of enough for tomorrow.
We still have trouble believing those promises. We gather more than we need and find ourselves with more than we can consume and so end up having it spoil. Up to 40% of the food we produce is thrown away. Perhaps part of our Lenten discipline could be to walk more mindfully through the grocery store.
We walk day by day in the shadow of the cross that lies across all of life. We inhabit mortal bodies that require food to survive and thrive. God provides even in wilderness days what we and all humanity needs.
Friday
Friday
Pray: God of all creation, you nourish us with an amazing abundance and variety of food for our bodies. We pray for all who till the soil and who take their chances with seeds planted in the soil. Bless those who farm the earth. Amen.
Fast: By eating one simple meal of rice and beans.
Act: Set aside a jar or can such as pasta sauce for a local food pantry
OR set aside $1 to give to the ELCA World Hunger Appeal.
...the least of these... 