September 16, 2007

Lesson: Matthew 6.11

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INTRODUCTION:

1. If you access E-Cookbooks: The Food & Cooking Network you will find Our Top Ten Rejected Cookbook Titles: ⁽¹⁾

10. Getting Even: Hillary's High-Fat Cookbook

9. Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches for Dummies

8. Bob Vila's Sawdust Cuisine

7. Granny Clampett's "Yer Throwin' Away the Best Parts!" Entrees

6. Mud, Sticks, and Leaves: Cooking with a Four Year Old

5. Cooking with Condiments - An Apartment Dweller's Guide to
   Making Something Out of Nothing

4. 101 Ways to Wok Your Dog

3. Everything's Yogurt... Eventually!

2. Lions and Tigers and Beets, Oh My!

...and the Number 1 Rejected Cookbook Title:

1. Newman's Stone: Cooking for Older Gall Bladders

1. There's a list of intriguing ingredients.

2. Not the ones we need to tempt the taste buds.

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MAIN BODY:

1. This morning we are speaking about bread.

"Give us this day our daily bread," or "Our bread for the morrow."

1. What is bread?

1. Bread is bread!

2. A better questions might be, "What's in the bread?"

2. I was reading the February 2, 1980 issue of The Saturday Review and was astounded to discover what was in a loaf of white bread.

1. Bread and Factories ⁽²⁾

1. Ingredients listed on a loaf of bread.

Enriched flour (barley malt, ferrous sulfate, niacin, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin), water, corn syrup, partially hydrogenated vegetable shortening (soybean and or cottonseed and or palm oil), yeast, salt, soy flour, calcium sulfate, sodium stearoyl 2 lactate, mono- and diglycerides, whey dicalcium phosphate, potassium bromate, calcium propionate, potassium bromate.

2. Some of the flour additives and processing chemicals that need not, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, be listed on the package.

Oxides of nitrogen, chlorine, nitrosyl chloride, chlorine dioxide, benzoyl peroxide, acetone peroxide, azodicarbonamide, plaster of Paris.

2. In 27 years not much has changed.

1. The ingredients in a loaf of Wonder® Bread, Soft, 100% Whole Wheat, include: ⁽³⁾

Whole wheat flour, water, wheat gluten, high fructose corn syrup, contains 2% or less of: soybean oil, salt, molasses, yeast, mono and diglycerides, extholated mono and diglycerides, dough conditioners (sodium stearoyl lactate calcium iodate, calcium dioxide), datem (DATEM is an emulsifier primarily used in baking. It is an acronym for Di-Acetyl Tartrate Ester of Monoglyceride), calcium sulfate, vinegar, yeast nutrient (ammonium sulfate), extracts of malted barley and corn, dicalcium phosphate, diammonium phosphate, calcium propionate (to retard spoilage).

2. Gary Null, The Complete Guide to Sensible Eating, 3^rd Edition ⁽⁴⁾

"Some flour additives and processing chemicals that need not, according to the Code of Federal Regulations, be listed on the package include: oxides of nitrogen, chlorine, nitrosyl chloride, chlorine dioxide, benzoyal peroxide, acetone peroxide, azodicarbonamide, and plaster of Paris."

3. When Helga immigrated to this country she was not familiar with the bread one finds in the grocery store.

1. She was shopping and had her string bag into which to put her groceries.

2. She simply stacked one thing upon another.

3. The bread wound up on the bottom.

1. When she got home the bread was flat.

2. It had no substance.

4. It was also lacking in nutrition.

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2. What are we asking for, when we ask for bread for today or tomorrow.

   1. We are acknowledging that God is the provider.

   1. God made the world and filled it with nutritious food.

   2. God is deeply interested in what we eat.

   2. So, What's for dinner.

   1. He Haw

The cast would yell, "Hey Grandpa (really loud), what's for supper?"

While polishing the make believe window, Grandpa would usually say something along the lines of "ham hocks, black eyed peas, biscuits, gravy and home-made apple pie."

2. The National Cattlemen's Beef Association "What's for dinner?" ⁽⁵⁾.

1. While Aaron Copland's "Hoedown" played in the background, Sam Elliott would narrate the dinner scenes unfolding. He would meaningfully intone things like,

"Whether you're in Texas having a steak sandwich with Texas toast, or in the San Francisco valley cooking up a barbequed shish-kabob... beef, it's what's for dinner."

2. The commercials featured various beef-laden dishes being laid out by stereotypical American families, mostly made up of two parents and two kids, all of whom were practically melting in an orgy of beefy anticipation as their dinner was laid out before them.

1. Maybe its not "What's for dinner," but "What's in the dinner?"

3. There is a growing concern for developing a healthy life-style.

1. What you eat is a large part of your good health.

2. A little junk food is good.

4. You cannot live on junk food.

1. What additives are in the meat?

2. What pesticides, herbicides and fungicides are in the vegetable and fruit food chain?

5. You could spend a lot of time reading labels.

1. We probably ought to spend more time reading labels than we do.

2. We need some help.

G. K. Chesterton said that the purpose of having an open mind is the same as having an open mouth - so that we can close it on something nourishing.

3. There is help with Nutrition labeling ⁽⁶⁾

1. With all the different products grocery stores offer, it can be hard to make the best food choices.

1. Food labels can make the task a little easier.

2. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration requires packaged foods to carry labels.

1. On every food label you will see:

1. Serving size, number of servings and number of calories per serving

2. Information on the amount of dietary fat, cholesterol, dietary fiber, dietary sodium, carbohydrates, dietary proteins, vitamins and minerals in each serving

3. Definitions for terms such as low-fat and high-fiber

4. Information to help you see how a food fits into an overall daily diet

2. Andrew Martin wrote an article for the September 6, 2007 issue of the New York Times, Hannaford Brothers, a grocery store chain, said that shoppers tended to buy products that had a higher nutritional rating. ⁽⁷⁾

A grocery store chain based in Maine declared success yesterday for a year-old experiment in using a rating system to direct customers to healthier food items.

Hannaford Brothers, a supermarket chain, has developed a system to guide customers to healthier foods. Some manufacturers are not pleased...

The system that Hannaford developed, called Guiding Stars, rated the nutritional value of the grocery items in the store on a scale of zero to three stars, with three representing the most nutritious products...

But when Hannaford ran its 25,500 products through the formula devised by its advisory board, many products that were marketed as healthful received no stars, usually because they had too much salt or sugar. Twenty-eight percent of the items in the store received one star or more.

Hannaford's formula used data from a product's nutrition facts panel and the ingredients list, and credited a food for having vitamins and minerals, fiber and whole grains. The system took points away for trans fats, saturated fats, cholesterol, added sugars and added sodium.

4. We do not have a Hannaford's in the area.

1. We will need to do the work ourselves.

Comedians Jack Benny and George Burns were having lunch in a restaurant.

Benny, whose wife Mary had put him on a strict diet that prohibited any butter, agonized aloud for a few minutes about whether or not to butter his bread.

Burns evidently got tired of listening to him dither and demanded that he "just make this one decision for yourself!"

Benny buttered his bread and ate it with great satisfaction.

When the check came, Burns told the waiter to give it to Benny, who complained, "Why should I pay?"

"If you don't," Burns replied, "I'll tell Mary about the butter."

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3. What is true in the material world, is also true in the spiritual world.

1. What are you eating to feed your mind, soul, and spirit?

1. There is a lot of junk food out there in print, radio and TV land.

1. Some junk food is okay.

2. How much junk food are you consuming?

3. How much is TV watching interfering with your spiritual needs?

2. I like to read mysteries.

1. Many of them come from the library.

2. Some come from St. Vincent de Paul in Prairie du Sac.

3. It is important to ration my reading so that I have time to read the theological stuff.

3. The ratio between junk food and nutritious food is vital for your health.

1. In Matthew 16.5-12 you will discover that Jesus taught his disciples about healthy living.

⁵When the disciples reached the other side, they had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶Jesus said to them, "Watch out, and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees." ⁷They said to one another, "It is because we have brought no bread." ⁸And becoming aware of it, Jesus said, "You of little faith, why are you talking about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not perceive? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you gathered? ¹¹How could you fail to perceive that I was not speaking about bread? Beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees!" ¹²Then they understood that he had not told them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees, (Matthew 16:5-12, NRSVA).

2. Beware of the yeast, the bread of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

3. They were using a short measure.

A baker came to suspect that the farmer from whom he bought his butter was serving short weight on his order. ⁽⁸⁾

So for an entire week he carefully weighed the butter at home, and sure enough, his suspicions were confirmed.

Irate, he had the farmer arrested.

A hearing was scheduled without delay. "I assume you use the standard weights when measuring out your goods?" the judge asked the farmer sternly.

"As a matter of fact, I don't," responded the farmer calmly.

"Well, then, how do you do your measuring?"

"You see, Your Honor, when the baker began buying butter from me, I decided to buy his bread," explained the farmer. "And I measure out his butter by placing his one-pound loaf of bread on the other side of the scale."

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2. In John, chapter 6 Jesus provides a simple healthy meal and then uses the continuation of the story to speak about the health of the mind, soul, and spirit.

John 6:1-13, NRSVA

¹After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷Philip answered him, "Six months' wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little." ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, said to him, ⁹"There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?" ¹⁰Jesus said, "Make the people sit down." Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost." ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets, (John 6:1-13, NRSVA).

John 6:25-34, NRSVA

²⁵When they found him on the other side of the sea, they said to him, "Rabbi, when did you come here?" ²⁶Jesus answered them, "Very truly, I tell you, you are looking for me, not because you saw signs, but because you ate your fill of the loaves. ²⁷Do 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." ²⁸Then they said to him, "What must we do to perform the works of God?" ²⁹Jesus answered them, "This is the work of God, that you believe in him whom he has sent." ³⁰So 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? ³¹Our ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness; as it is written, 'He gave them bread from heaven to eat.'" ³²Then 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. ³³For the bread of God is that which comes down from heaven and gives life to the world." ³⁴They said to him, "Sir, give us this bread always," (John 6:25-34, NRSVA).

John 6:35, NRSVA

³⁵Jesus 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, (John 6:35, NRSVA).

John 6.48-58, NRSVA

⁴⁸I am the bread of life. ⁴⁹Your ancestors ate the manna in the wilderness, and they died. ⁵⁰This is the bread that comes down from heaven, so that one may eat of it and not die. ⁵¹I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats of this bread will live forever; and the bread that I will give for the life of the world is my flesh."

⁵²The Jews then disputed among themselves, saying, "How can this man give us his flesh to eat?" ⁵³So Jesus said to them, "Very truly, I tell you, unless you eat the flesh of the Son of Man and drink his blood, you have no life in you. ⁵⁴Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood have eternal life, and I will raise them up on the last day; ⁵⁵for my flesh is true food and my blood is true drink. ⁵⁶Those who eat my flesh and drink my blood abide in me, and I in them. ⁵⁷Just as the living Father sent me, and I live because of the Father, so whoever eats me will live because of me. ⁵⁸This is the bread that came down from heaven, not like that which your ancestors ate, and they died. But the one who eats this bread will live forever," (John 6:48-58, NRSVA)

3. Do we need to be told how to eat the bread that Jesus offers.

1. Jesus said in verse 63:

It is the spirit that gives life; the flesh is useless. The words that I have spoken to you are spirit and life, (John 6:63, NRSVA).

2. Jesus Christ provides "Bread for the Journey."

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CONCLUSION:

1. Here is a prayer by Wesley Taylor ⁽⁹⁾

Give me daily bread, dear Lord, I pray.

I am so much in need of bread to feed all the hungry parts of me.

Keep me aware, please, that food for mind, and feeling, and spirit, is as important as my body's bread.

And give me love, and hope, and trust, and openness, too, on which to feed, on which to live.

In Jesus' name. Amen.

2. Dear God, Give us this day our daily bread. or our bread for the morrow.

Amen!