Daily Bread & Polyvagal Theory

Sunday, March 23, 2025

Scriptures: Matthew 6:11

• Sermon Summary

  Summary: In the third sermon of our series, How to Pray, Bobbi examines the first of four “human-centred petitions” that make up part of The Lord’s Prayer. Bobbi explores insights regarding each word of, “Give us this day our daily bread.”

  What to do about what you need: Bobbi starts with the first word of the passage, “give.” Requesting God to meet our needs is something Jesus is serious about and wants us to do. The first step in our needs being met is naming them and bringing them to God in prayer.

  Not just you: Bobbi shows us how our request for our daily bread is more than just corporal and spiritual nourishment, but also a reminder of our connection to our neighbour, communities, and our environment. Bread is grown, kneaded, and sold by us. Therefore, we rely on each other for our needs. We need enough to live, yet notably, Jesus’ prayer does not leave room for overindulgence.

  Daily bread: Daily bread points to a world where provision is a given. Harkening back to the Israelites in Exodus, rhythms of sabbath, and Jesus encountering the pharisees on the sabbath, we are reminded that Jesus’ abundance mindset extends beyond the sabbath and is available for us each day of the week—and also for tomorrow.

  Polyvagal meets prayer: Bobbi takes us on a survey through our evolutionary biological systems, known as the vagus nerve, which operates to keep us alive and safe. You are designed to have your needs met, which is only possible in connection to others. Bobbi teaches us to see our needs being met all around us and to even start to look at meeting the needs of others.

• Discussion Guide

  Community is shaped by the conversations we share. These questions and reflections are a tool to help you meaningfully engage with the themes of this week's teaching.

  Connect: Bobbi shared a bit about her childhood prayer life and all the ways she’s prayed throughout her life. Do you have a preference for a style of prayer? Perhaps you are drawn to recited prayers, more organic prayers, or something meditative like Lectio Divina. Feel free to share why you think you are drawn to a specific style of prayer too.

  Share: your thoughts regarding the connection between your prayers and your needs being met, and the idea that it’s about “more than just you.”

  Bobbi reminded us of the political and economic dimensions of “our daily bread,” and helped us consider that humans play a part in fulfilling The Lord’s Prayer. She also showed that there is a correlation between overconsumption and the inevitable social impact to our communities.

  How then, does the request for “daily bread,“ in The Lord’s Prayer effect the way you think about your needs being met in light of your relationship to others?

  Reflect: on the the idea of our daily bread as being sufficient for today and tomorrow. Consider Bobbi’s words,

  “Bread and sabbath go hand in hand. 

  The Exodus story lived in Jesus’ body, so when he teaches his audience to pray for bread, he points to a world where provision is a given. 
  Our daily bread is about enough food every day for every one.
  AND it’s about what Jesus had in mind when he pointed out how he embodied the Sabbath itself. 
  Not one day a week, but everyday. 
  […]
  For Jesus, grain and bread and sourdough starters
  are all reminders of the dream of the sabbath.
  That rest, restoration, and provision for tomorrow,
  can be lived realities today. 
  

  So our daily bread is about today,
  but it’s also about a new kind of tomorrow.”

  How might seeing daily bread as Sabbath provision—enough for today and hope for tomorrow—reshape your understanding of what God wants for your life?

  Engage: with the idea of being designed to trust others to meet your needs and to lean into community. Reflect on Bobbi’s words,

  "You are designed and you have evolved to get your needs met. 
  But you cannot meet your needs alone. 

  The farmer grows your food. 
  The therapist points out your family system. 
  The friend makes the joke only you will get. 
  The stranger gives you a smile that makes you feel seen. 
  The doctor prescribes the meds that haul you out of your depression. 
  The pastor reminds you how much your prayers are alive in your own body. 

  Someone you meet today is already making your bread for tomorrow. 
  Your needs are being met. 
  Now, all you have to do is look around you and meet the needs of another.”

  Who are the people in your life today helping to meet your needs?
  How might you recognize them as part of God’s provision?

  Take away: This week, try taking account of all the ways you find God is providing your, “daily bread,” whether through family, friends, the church, or some other means.

  Consider writing down the names of the people who show up for you and pay attention to the ways that they show up. Feel free to emulate one or two of the ways someone met your needs last week, in this coming week.

  Prayer from the sermon:
  “Our Good Creator, 
  Ground of being to sky above, 
  Sacred is your presence. 
  We ask for your collaboration to come, 
  Your love to be done,
  On earth as it is in Divine friendship.
  As we open our hands, place in them our daily sustenance. 
  As we open our hearts, make light the heaviness we carry. 
  May we see the best in each other, even when we’re hurt. 
  And may we not fall into traps we lay for ourselves and others. 
  Set us free as we are being set free. 
  For everything, now and always, is yours
  The strength and the beauty,
  World without end.
  Amen.”

• Service Songs & Prayers

  CALL TO WORSHIP Psalm 16

  MUSIC Curated by Kevin Borst
  Bethel Music - Raise A Hallelujah
  Elevation Worship - God Is Not Against Me
  Mission House - Whole Heart
  Bethel Music - Heaven Come

  PRAYER OF CONFESSION
  Written by Jeremy Duncan

  Confession is an old word that probably doesn't get enough use today.

  It is form of awakening.

  A soul-searching honesty that can restore hearts and communities. 

  It is an offer of spiritual healing.

  Reminding us of how interconnected we are and how what is left undone impacts not just our lives but those near us as well. 

  It is an acknowledgement of truth.

  Both in our failures, but also in our ability to be restored.

  To make amends,

  and to chart a new course into tomorrow.

  So let's pause together in humility and honesty, acknowledging the ways we have fallen short as persons and as community.

  And join me in this prayer of confession as we seek forgiveness, healing, and renewed guidance.

  We come to you together, aware of our brokenness and the ways we've missed the mark. As a community, we acknowledge that we have often preferred certainty over curiosity, comfort over compassion, and conformity over courageous love.

  We confess the moments when we've spoken harshly instead of gently, judged others instead of listening deeply, and guarded our resources instead of sharing generously.

  Forgive us for turning away from voices we don't understand, for not welcoming those who differ from us, and for allowing fear to dictate our actions instead of faith and hope.

  Open our hearts to humility, our minds to learning, and our hands to serving. Teach us again to embrace the beauty of doubt, the gift of questions, and the grace found in community.

  Restore us, renew us, and guide us toward becoming people marked by genuine love, radical welcome, and transformative grace.

  In the strong name of risen Christ, we pray

  Amen.

  SERIES BUMPER
  How To Pray Series