Blunder

Jesus said to the crowds:
“I am the living bread that came down from heaven;
whoever eats this bread will live forever;
and the bread that I will give
is my flesh for the life of the world.”
–John 6:51-58

How could the Maker blunder,
who shaped us from the earth?
We should have been a wonder—
his fingers twitched and jerked,
or something broke asunder
and left us bent, besmirched,
for we have always hungered
and evermore shall thirst.

But nothing we have eaten
has left us satisfied,
for, oh, how we have feasted!
And, oh, how we have died.
We lost the fruits of Eden,
and now how shall we find
the end of endless needing
that eats us from inside?

In you alone, O Savior,
who did not spurn our need,
but came, like us, to break here,
and came, like us, to bleed.
You know the bread we're craving;
we beg true food, true drink.
And you, who have its savor,
you bid us take and eat.

German or South Netherlandish; Relief; Sculpture-Stone By This file was donated to Wikimedia Commons as part of a project by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. See the Image and Data Resources Open Access Policy, CC0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=60870093

Eat

Before the breaking of the bread
or walking on the sea,
before your rest in manger-bed
or Mary's “let it be,”
before you spoke and bid us hear
or our own tongues unfurled,
before our hunger called you near
you fed us in the world.

You did not wait 'til Bethlehem
to join us in the dust,
nor for the new Jerusalem
to break your bread with us,
but you who kneaded Eden's soil
to sculpt us as your face
you labored with us in our toil,
in our meals took your place.

There's not a crumb upon the board
that did not come from you,
and whether we could see you, Lord,
or not, you lay there, too.
You made the stomach of our need
and made it to be filled.
You made yourself the bread we eat,
and you will feed us still.

Slab stele from mastaba tomb of Itjer at Giza. 4th Dynasty, 2543–2435 BC. Itjer is seated at a table with slices of bread, shown vertical by convention. Egyptian Museum, Turin. Photo By Ian Alexander – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=54612130

Hunger

So 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 hunger,
and whoever believes in me will never thirst.”
–John 6:24-35

I believe, but still I hunger;
Lord, I trust you and I thirst
as if all we have are crumbs here
in the desert of our hurt.
There are days that have no comfort,
nights when all is at its worst,
and we long for signs and wonders,
manna scattered on the dirt.

Bread of life, true bread from heaven,
every day I eat my fill
yet I wake each morning empty,
hunger crying for you still.
Let me take the bread you give me,
take the cup where mercy spills;
let it tell me of forgiveness,
that my cries shall yet be stilled.

For the bread is you, O Savior:
We will eat and we will live,
and the wine we are partaking
is your life upon our lips.
Though I rise again unsated,
let me kneel today for this:
heaven's feast of your own making
that some day shall be my bliss.

The Gathering of the Manna by James Tissot – https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26365-the-gathering-of-the-manna, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8849141

O God of Hunger and of Want

O God of hunger and of want,
of every hollow space,
you made us empty in the dawn:
Come, fill us by your grace.

As vessels from the potter's wheel,
so we were made to hold
and shaped, each one, but to be filled,
as you made all the world.

And from your hand we come the same,
all hungry, all athirst
for all the fruits of sun and rain,
of labor and of earth.

Now empty all we stand and wait
for what your goodness gives,
to savor heaven in the taste
of all that lets us live.

O, bless us with our daily bread,
in fasting and in feast:
It's from the table you have set,
choice wine and finest wheat.

And let us pour your bounty out
as you have poured it first.
O, let your rains on all come down
to fill us in our thirst!

The Gathering of the Manna by James Tissot – https://thejewishmuseum.org/collection/26365-the-gathering-of-the-manna, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=8849141

Because You Are My Shepherd

Because you are my shepherd, 
O Lord, I should not want.
I should embrace the desert,
and love the endless drought,

should not desire the pasture
or hunger for the feast.
Beside no restful waters
should I lie down and sleep,

but to that very meadow
you lead me day by day,
and when I walk in shadow,
that longing lights my way.

For you have set a table
and bid me sit and eat.
You kneel amid my craving
and ask to wash my feet.

If I had no more hunger,
I'd have no need for bread.
Your wine would be no wonder,
your mercy could not bless.

You know my deep desiring,
for you have thirsted, too;
let my want entice me,
that I may thirst for you.

Fifth-century Ravenna mosaic illustrating the concept of The Good Shepherd By Meister des Mausoleums der Galla Placidia in Ravenna – The Yorck Project (2002) 10.000 Meisterwerke der Malerei (DVD-ROM), distributed by DIRECTMEDIA Publishing GmbH. ISBN: 3936122202., Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=155308

Fill Us

All-present God who fills all things
beyond what they can bear
and spans the spaces in between,
now fill the empty here.

You who sustain us, give us food;
our hungry stomachs fill.
You made us and you called us good:
Now hold us in your will.

For you do not desire the death
of anything you made;
then fill our bodies with your breath
and still come to our aid.

Fill every darkened cell with light
and every shade with rest;
fill every sprirt with delight
to hear you called them blest.

Come fill us in our every need
as you fill every world
in every spinning galaxy
across the sky unfurled.

You made us hollow, hungry hearts:
Now all your mercies pour
and overflow all that we are.
Fill all of us, O Lord.

Pieter Claesz (c. 1597–1660), *Still Life with Salt Tub* – http://www.rijksmuseum.nl : Home : Info : Pic, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=22074009

We Are Hungry

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
Matthew 14: 13-21

To the tune PASSION CHORALE (“Oh Sacred Head Surrounded”):

The spirit, Lord, is willing,
but still the flesh is weak,
a hungry satchel filling
before it goes to seek
for hopes that bear fulfilling
and light in darkness bleak,
'til wand'ring steps all stilling
we come to hear you speak.

You, Christ, are worth the searching:
refreshing as the dew.
This desert of our thirsting
is verdant earth in you.
We give our all to purchase
this treasure that renews,
and deeply drink your mercy,
but we are hungry, too.

Should we again go wand'ring
to ease our hunger's pain,
our bond with you, Lord, sund'ring
and losing all we've gained?
To go forever wond'ring
what would be if we'd stayed?
Can you not stop our hung'ring
and hold us fast today?

We, at your feet reclining,
behold you blessing bread,
and breaking, multiplying
the gift for which we pled.
We come at your inviting
and by your grace are fed,
so we can rest, delighting,
where all our hopes have led.