The Bread of God: Lent Daybook 29
Take a few deep breaths, settle your body, mind, and heart into a quiet space, and let’s begin with prayer.
Opening prayer: Heavenly Father, make me more like Jesus and more like the true self you’ve created as I savor your loving presence today. Please guide my thoughts and impressions by your Holy Spirit. Amen
Look: 1. The residents of the area have banded together to buy as much food as they can for the rescue teams, Feb. 2023, Ahmad al-Salim/Al Jazeera - Source
2. Preparing hot meals for quake survivors in northern Syria, (“A month on, WFP staff work flat out to assist Türkiye-Syria earthquake victims”), March 2023, WFP/Ghazawari Jabasini - Source
Listen: Nobody Knows, Pastor T.L. Barrett and the Youth for Christ Choir - Lyrics | Spotify | YouTube
Read: Psalm 101, 109; Psalm 119:121-144; Jeremiah 18:1-11; Romans 8:1-11; John 6:27-40
Excerpts:
I will sing of loyalty and of justice; to you, O Lord, I will sing. I will study the way that is blameless. When shall I attain it?
I will walk with integrity of heart within my house; I will not set before my eyes anything that is base.
I hate the work of those who fall away; it shall not cling to me. Perverseness of heart shall be far from me; I will know nothing of evil.
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Do not be silent, O God of my praise. For wicked and deceitful mouths are opened against me, speaking against me with lying tongues. They surround me with words of hate and attack me without cause. In return for my love they accuse me, even while I make prayer for them. So they reward me evil for good and hatred for my love.
They say, “Appoint a wicked man against him; let an accuser stand on his right. When he is tried, let him be found guilty; let his prayer be counted as sin. May his days be few; may another seize his position. May his children be orphans and his wife a widow. May his children wander about and beg; may they be driven out of the ruins they inhabit. May the creditor seize all that he has; may strangers plunder the fruits of his toil. May there be no one to do him a kindness nor anyone to pity his orphaned children. May his posterity be cut off; may his name be blotted out in the second generation. May the iniquity of his father be remembered before the Lord, and do not let the sin of his mother be blotted out. Let them be before the Lord continually, and may his memory be cut off from the earth. For he did not remember to show kindness but pursued the poor and needy and the brokenhearted to their death. He loved to curse; let curses come on him. He did not like blessing; may it be far from him. He clothed himself with cursing as his coat; may it soak into his body like water, like oil into his bones. May it be like a garment that he wraps around himself, like a belt that he wears every day.”
May that be the reward of my accusers from the Lord, of those who speak evil against my life. But you, O Lord my Lord, act on my behalf for your name’s sake; because your steadfast love is good, deliver me.
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I have done what is just and right; do not leave me to my oppressors. Guarantee your servant’s well-being; do not let the godless oppress me. My eyes fail from watching for your salvation and for the fulfillment of your righteous promise. Deal with your servant according to your steadfast love, and teach me your statutes. I am your servant; give me understanding, so that I may know your decrees.
It is time for the Lord to act, for your law has been broken. Truly I love your commandments more than gold, more than fine gold. Truly I direct my steps by all your precepts; I hate every false way.
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Then the word of the Lord came to me: Can I not do with you, O house of Israel, just as this potter has done? says the Lord. Just like the clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel. At one moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will pluck up and break down and destroy it, but if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from its evil, I will change my mind about the disaster that I intended to bring on it. And at another moment I may declare concerning a nation or a kingdom that I will build and plant it, but if it does evil in my sight, not listening to my voice, then I will change my mind about the good that I had intended to do to it. Now, therefore, say to the people of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem: Thus says the Lord: Look, I am a potter shaping evil against you and devising a plan against you. Turn now, all of you, from your evil way, and amend your ways and your doings.
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Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the law of sin and of death. For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: by sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in the flesh, so that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit. To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
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Do not work for the food that perishes but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. For it is on him that God the Father has set his seal.” Then they said to him, “What must we do to perform the works of God?” Jesus answered them, “This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent.” So they said to him, “What sign are you going to give us, then, so that we may see it and believe you? What work are you performing? Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ ” Then Jesus said to them, “Very truly, I tell you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said to him, “Sir, give us this bread always.”
Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never be hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty.
—Psalm 101:1-4; Psalm 109:1-21; Psalm 119:121-128; Jeremiah 18:5-11; Romans 8:1-6; John 6:27-35
Pray: On Wednesdays, we'll pray the Confession and Litany of Penitence from the Ash Wednesday service in the Book of Common Prayer. Include the specific names of people and places that come to mind as you pray. If you are able to pray this with someone else, one of you can pray the unbolded words and then pray the bolded words together.
If possible, offer this prayer while kneeling.
Let us humbly confess our sins to Almighty God.
Silence
Most holy and merciful Father, we confess to you, and to one another, and to the whole communion of saints in heaven and on earth, that we have sinned, through our own fault in thought, word, and deed; by what we have done, and by what we have left undone. We have not loved you with our whole heart, and mind, and strength. We have not loved our neighbors as ourselves. We have not forgiven others, as we have been forgiven. We have been deaf to your call to serve, as Christ served us. We have not been true to the mind of Christ. We have grieved your Holy Spirit.
Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For all our unfaithfulness and disobedience; for the pride, vanity, and hypocrisy of our lives; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our self-pity and impatience, and our envy of those we think more fortunate than ourselves; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our unrighteous anger, bitterness, and resentment; for all lies, gossip, and slander against our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our sexual impurity, our exploitation of other people, and our failure to give of ourselves in love; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our self-indulgent appetites and ways, and our intemperate pursuit of worldly goods and comforts; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our dishonesty in daily life and work, our ingratitude for your gifts, and our failure to heed your call. Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our blindness to human need and suffering, and our indifference to injustice and cruelty; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our wastefulness and misuse of your creation, and our lack of concern for those who come after us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you
For all false judgments, for prejudice and contempt of others, and for all uncharitable thoughts toward our neighbors; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our negligence in prayer and worship; for our presumption and abuse of your means of grace; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For seeking the praise of others rather than the approval of God; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
For our failure to commend the faith that is in us; Lord, have mercy upon us: For we have sinned against you.
Show favor to your people, O Lord, who turn to you in weeping, fasting, and prayer. For you are a merciful God, full of compassion, long-suffering, and abounding in steadfast love. You spare when we deserve punishment, and in your wrath you remember mercy. Spare your people, good Lord, spare us; in the multitude of your mercies, look upon us and forgive us; through the merits and mediation of your blessed Son Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Silence
Stand for the remainder of the prayer, you might consider holding open your hands as a gesture of receiving God’s forgiveness.
Almighty God, our heavenly Father, who in his great mercy has promised forgiveness of sins to all those who sincerely repent and with true faith turn to him, have mercy upon us, pardon and deliver us from all your sins, confirm and strengthen us in all goodness, and bring us to everlasting life; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
Hear the Word of God to all who truly turn to him: If anyone sins, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. (1 John 2:1-2)
The Peace of the Lord be always with you. And also with you.
Share God's peace with someone else as you return to your day.
Do: On Wednesdays through Lent, consider fasting from spending money, and feast on giving alms instead. This week, consider giving to The Anglican Relief and Development Fund’s Earthquake Relief for Turkey and Syria
Almsgiving is a traditional Lenten practice. This week pray that the Lord would show you his face in the most distressing of your neighbors, and lead you to ways that you can show compassionate mercy.
Let each necessary purchase remind you of the reality of our complete poverty and helplessness before God and without the work of Christ.
You might also find helpful: Lenten Disciplines: Almsgiving
*Sunday Scripture readings are taken from Year A of the Book of Common Prayer 2019 (Anglican Church of North America). Daily Scripture readings are taken from the 1979 Book of Common Prayer and include both Morning and Evening Psalms (Year 1)