Bread throughout history has been a symbol of many things: a modern day slang term for money; the body of Christ in the eucharist; a staple during the Great Depression when thousands of unemployed people stood on line each day for free bread.  So what did Jesus mean in the Lord’s Prayer when he said “give us this day our daily bread?”

Jesus was able to demonstrate God’s infinite supply to the 5,000 gathered on the shores of Galilee when he multiplied the loaves and the fishes.  While this demonstration was necessary for the people at that time, the bread they received was actually a symbol of the real bread Jesus talks about in the Lord’s prayer.  When tempted in the wilderness to turn rocks into bread, Jesus replied “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.”  Living by God’s every word signifies that it is spiritual substance which sustains life, and not material bread.

The bread that is sought in the Lord’s prayer is this spiritual substance.  Jesus was once asked by the Jews to produce manna the same way Moses did in the wilderness.  His response was “Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he which cometh down from heaven, and giveth life unto the world.”  Jesus knew, and sought to teach others, that our substance, our essential nature, came from Spirit, God.

This Wednesday, September 2nd the readings for our 7:30pm Testimony Meeting will be on the topic of “Substance: Our Daily Bread.”  Join us for readings from the Bible and the Christian Science textbook as well as testimonies of healing.

Can’t come in person? Join us on the phone:

Dial-in Number: 1-310-372-7549
Access Code: 607611