BREAKING OF BREAD AND THE PRAYERS DEVOTIONAL 4
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The “breaking of the bread and the prayers” are both part of the rhythm of the church and of our lives. We are “taken, blessed, broken, and given.” Not only the pulse of the eucharist, it is also a discernable part of our cycle of metaphysical existence and the sequence itself an act of prayer. Haven’t we all felt blessed and broken at various point in our lives? Perhaps exceedingly blessed when we feel secure and happy and perhaps especially broken when we feel isolated or our body and spirit injured. In the last two years of ongoing pandemic, feeling broken has risen rapidly to the top of the pile of struggles in many places around the world. “Breaking bread and the prayers” — these are the portions that are given and things we actively do. We make a promise to continue in these actions with our words “I will with God’s help.” Breaking bread leads to sharing.ur prayers to God are often for others.
Just as the disciples on the road to Emmaus didn’t recognize Jesus at first and knew him as he was revealed in the breaking of the bread, we too recognize Jesus in ourselves and others as we share our bread, working together for the Kingdom of God. Jesus’ act of breaking bread feeds us spiritually. While our stomachs may be filled with bread and our hearts growing together in community, spiritual nourishment also involves the prayers. Praying involves the process of being emptied of self and leaving room for the richly filling movement of the Holy Spirit. It is in the risks of being genuine in prayer and in breaking bread in community that we become more tightly bound in love. Take a moment to meditate on being a vessel for the Holy Spirit’s love, both through community and in self-emptying.
When we “break bread together on our knees” as the hymn sings, we fortify our connection with God and with each other. What a privilege! Take a moment and consider how you can break bread together and by so doing, recognize Jesus in everything you do in community.
What about the times when we break bread and it produces crumbs, or periods when our personal or corporate prayer life lies fallow? There are dusty particles of prayers and fragments of bread. And what of these crumbs and dust? Just as the size of each crumb or how many wafers are on the paten changes neither the presence of Christ nor the essence of the Body of Christ, the scattered soil of our distracted prayers is still swept together, heard, and treasured by God. We are dust and to dust we shall return. Perhaps we are also precious crumbs as well and will rise into new bread. In Christ, we are made worthy to gather ourselves up from under the table. And by so doing, we experience revival and refreshment.
