Prayer, the Church's Banquet

Prayer is something we struggle with and yet prayer is essential to our lives. 

Prayer is more than asking for stuff or blessing food or a quick call to God when we’re in a jam. Prayer is placing ourselves in God’s hands.  As David Hansen suggests (in his book Long Wandering Prayer), it’s not sending messages to God, it’s sending ourselves to God in the Holy Spirit.  Prayer is dependency upon God.  Prayer is nourishment.  In prayer, we are sustained; we are fed; we are nourished.  That is why the poet/pastor George Herbert could write, “Prayer, the church’s banquet.”

And so, our passage today (John 6:22-59), in which Jesus uses the image of bread, teaches us about prayer – about us, about Jesus and about being nourished through prayer.

The first thing we learn from this passage is that we often settle for less.  The crowd that followed Jesus (after the feeding of the 5,00) was looking for a handout.  They wanted the free food.  Roman emperors were known to pacify the people with ‘bread and circuses’.  That is what this crowd was looking for.  Jesus then uncovered their true motivation for following Him when He said, “you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill.”  These people were not as interested in Jesus as in what He could give them.  They were tragically settling for less. The messiah and Savior of the world was standing before them and they wanted the complimentary breakfast.  Jesus told them, “Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.”

Sadly, we are often like them.  We settle for less in prayer.  We pray because we want what God can do for us, but not necessarily God Himself.   We often pray because we want specific answers to specific problems, not because we want to lay all that we are before God , seeking His will in every area of our lives.  We want answers to prayer rather than a relationship through prayer.  We settle for less and our prayers reflect that.  We pray little prayers when God says that He is able to do immeasurable more than all we ask or imagine.

We need to pray big, expansive, deep, foundational prayers – all we are crying out for all God is – fervent, honest, broken, vulnerable, personal, faith-filled, confident, continual, believing prayer.

And we can pray such prayers because though we often settle for less, Jesus offers more.  The crowd wanted free bread.  However, Jesus offered them the Bread of Life.  Bread satisfies physically and temporarily, but the Bread of Life satisfies the deepest longings of one’s soul -eternally.  Truly, when we feed on that bread we will never be hungry.  Jesus offers more than a free meal and a full belly, He offers a satisfied soul and eternal life.  He offers not a thing, but Himself.  And He offers Himself not as a band-aid, but as the ultimate and only remedy.  He gives us more than we could ask or imagine.

Jesus is the Bread of Life and He calls us to feed on this Bread.  “I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. I am the living bread that came down from heaven. If anyone eats of this bread, he will live forever…”  Jesus invites us to feed on Him.  How do we do that?  By coming to Jesus and believing in Him (the one who comes to me will never be hungry, the one who believes in me will never be thirsty).  We come to Christ and believe in Him through faith and obedience and also through prayer.

We often speak of having a ‘personal relationship with Jesus Christ’.  Well, we do that through prayer.  God’s will is that we belong to Him, know Him, have fellowship with Him, love Him and be loved by Him.  God invites us to come to the throne of His grace.  He paved the way in Christ and so we can approach confidently.  Prayer is the Church’s banquet.  In prayer we feed on the Living Bread, the True Bread from Heaven, the Bread of Life.

So if this is the message that God has for us regarding prayer: that we often settle for less; that Jesus offers more and that we are called to feed on Him – that prayer is nourishment (and not simply a checklist), how does that change the way we pray?  It changes it in three ways we have already looked at:  priority, fervency and vulnerability.

Prayer becomes a priority.  Prayer is not something peripheral to our lives or our life together, but rather is at the very center.  Prayer becomes the posture and the rhythm of our lives.  Prayer becomes central to worship and ministry – it saturates our worship, drives our ministry and fuels our mission. 

Prayer becomes fervent. When we realize that we are entirely dependent upon God and His grace; when we recognize our great need and God’s great resources; when we understand that prayer is our lifeline, prayer leaves the realm of nice, neat little prayer ditties and moves into honest, open, desperate prayer – big, expansive, deep, foundational prayer – all we are crying out for all God is!

And Prayer becomes vulnerable.  Then we are not satisfied with a list of chores we would like God to do; we are not satisfied merely with praying for this or that request, rather we open ourselves up to God.  We are open for Him to move and act in every area of our lives – for Him to renovate us.  We stop hiding from God and holding back from God, afraid of what He might do if we honestly stand before Him and we trust Him with our lives; we trust Him to do what is best; we trust that He works for the good of those who love Him and have been called according to His purpose.

Prayer is the Church’s banquet.  In prayer, we feed on the Bread of Life – Jesus Christ, who Himself told us to pray, “give us today our daily bread.”  In prayer, we ask not only for food and provision for each day (for man does not live on bread alone), but we ask for and seek and find and feast upon the Living Bread, Jesus Christ – the Bread of Life. 

Beloved of God, join the banquet of prayer!