(Ex 16:2-15; Mtt 20:1-16) 

10:30 am, Sun, Sept 20, 2026; JGW, FBC Amherst

What is it? Manna. Manna for bread in the wilderness. And quail for meat. The manna gets more press in the scriptures that the foul, and the story is remembered over and over. The story of weary people in need and complaining. The story of amazing God providing a simple solution that seems so miraculous, though it could be a boring diet. At least it was food. 

It is the food that called out to me from the scriptures this week. For we also had a vineyard of grapes, to tell of the drama of the labourers there. The Christian prayer that is likely prayed more often than any other includes: Give us this day our daily bread. Food is as important as anything in this life; why are there never any sermons about it? Perhaps there have been, and I missed them.

Jesus’ parable today can remind us that the labourers that work for our food are so important. Long before the recent ‘elbows up’ shop Canadian movement, a farmer friend of ours, in Hants County, always said, “Shake the hand that feeds you.” Know where your food comes from. Know it grew up nearby. Know the farmers and workers in your neighbourhood. Know how the animals are treated, and the land, and the waters. 

Jesus’ story takes me to the place of saying: people need food, whether they earn it or not, whether they work for it or not. I know that’s not what the story is saying at face value, but it does get at the values of God. A God who would give freely what is needed to everyone, no matter how many hours they put in out in the vineyard. ‘Give us this day our daily bread.’ Is it a given, a gift, in the prayer?

We know food as gift. We give food as a gift. Many people are good at this, natural, generous. And many are actually ‘beautiful cooks.’ In recent years, the political cartoonist Michael DeAdder has published some books about local life. Such as ‘You Might Be From Nova Scotia If…’ I remember this cartoon from his book. It simply shows an older woman with her grey hair pinned up, with an apron on, rolling her rolling pin over some dough on the counter. 

“You might be from Nova Scotia if… when you hear a neighbour is in trouble, you start baking.”

The challenge of getting food today is showing up, more and more, in our own society. Not comparing our situation with other places in the world, we are seeing the rising prices and the growing needs among so many people. You who are involved in our local Food Bank know all about this. We who shop for food know the costs. And the labourers who only get hired on for a few hours a shift in our world only get paid for those few hours. 

I think again of the old saying, “Live simply, so others can simply live.” How does this work? It might be worth pondering. How can I use less in order to be more generous? Even how we cook food has options. One of my old, favourite cookbooks is the More With Less Cookbook, published by the Mennonite Central Committee, fifty years ago, 1976. It declares, on the cover, “Suggestions by Mennonites on how to eat better and consume less of the world's limited food resources.”  

So we take all food and drink as gift, as grace, as provision. 

We respect and attend to the workers and farmers of our world.

We remember food is not a luxury, a reward, a right, as much as it is simply and seriously a need. So we remember the needy. 

We have out in the Vestry a lovely grocery cart, ready for our food donations for our Food Bank to come in before Thanksgiving.  Above and beyond the usual cardboard box that is off in a corner as we arrive, this extra campaign can prime our pump for generosity. Can I live a bit more simply, so others can simply live a bit better? It is an act of love. To give food. To use less of our riches for our own rich food. To teach a man to fish, instead of simply feeding for a day. 

A minute ago, I said, “We remember food is not a luxury, a reward, a right…” But let me admit this is only a half truth. Because it is also worth living it up with food. Food is for celebrations! Luxurious food is worth making and sharing. It is a great reward on many occasions. Should it even be a right that people – everyone – gets to celebrate and feast once in a while? We certainly feel this way at Christmas, I suppose. We want Xmas Cheer boxes to go out.

It’s even biblical. And we don’t need to stick with Jesus and the imagery of the Kingdom of God as a wedding banquet, a party for days with good food and drink. The Hebrew Scriptures sure teach this. Hospitality is essential. Celebrating is essential. 

Once every three years in Church we have that reading from Nehemiah 8 where the lost Hebrew scrolls are found and read to the huge crowd of people, and interpreted for them. Then the people are aghast at what they have not known about their Hebrew faith. But they are told to celebrate. Don’t cry and weep. Celebrate! We read: “Go your way, eat the fat and drink sweet wine and send portions of them to those for whom nothing is prepared, for this day is holy to our Lord, and do not be grieved, for the joy of the Lord is your strength.” (N 8:10) Send food to those who don’t have any, for the celebration of this holy day of the Word of God.

Or, earlier on, there is the amazing example of what a tithe can be for. The first ten percent of the crops are the LORD’s, and are for feasting upon, enjoying together. For a party! Deuteronomy 14 instructs:  And you shall eat there in the presence of the Lord your God, you and your household rejoicing together. (D 14:26)

God’s provision is for joyous celebration. Such as a Christmas Tea. Such as a turkey dinner in December. Such as cookies after service and for a treat and at a local shelter. 

We instituted the cookies for people at the shelter, once a week, as a way of having some connection and care there. I thought of it as a beginning. And still, we have only begun. I wonder about our ministry to the most needy and sometimes troubled people in downtown Amherst, but, unfortunately, I have only wondered. I have not wandered enough around the shelter or in the square beside us, and taken next steps. I have not led you any closer to our neighbours. These people matter to Jesus. What they eat matters to Jesus. How much of our calling, First Baptist, is to the people of our neighbourhood in this town? We are good at making good food. We have amazing facilities. Would God speak to us about this?

Food, actual physical food, matters to our Creator. As much as it matters to us. We sometimes connect the nourishment of our bodies with our faith in sacred meals, religious foods. We have the Lord’s Supper, our Holy Communion with the Spirit of Jesus. And we have the day-to-day cups of coffee and a cookie with friends. From the sublime to the ridiculous, our shared food is fantastic. It is part of our walk of Faith. It connects us one with another. To give food is love. To share food with others is love. To be hospitable is holy. Preparing a meal, and sharing together, is sacred. It certainly can be.

I will end with a happy story, one of the delightful, old fashioned stories about Safed the Sage, a very old-timey preacher of a century ago. I could tell you a story or two of my own life that has different people and foods involved, but the message is almost the same. This is the story of The Cocoanut Cakes by Rev. William E. Barton.

I was not always aged, but was once young. And I sojourned in a School of the Prophets. And on the day before the Sabbath I rode every week Nineteen Miles that on the Sabbath Day I might speak the word of God to the people in a Little White Synagogue with a Tall Steeple. And on the day after the Sabbath I rode back again. And there were times when the Roads were bad, so that for every foot that my horse went forward, he sank in the mud unto the depth of an half of a foot; so I went down through Nine Miles and the half of a Mile of mud before I got there. But when I arrived then did the good people welcome me into warm homes and clean beds and set before me hot suppers.

For I boarded around among them.

And at the first place where I abode for a Sabbath, the good woman set before me Cocoanut Cake. And I ate plentifully thereof.

Now the women of the other homes inquired of her, saying. How didst thou like the Young Minister? And is he hard to entertain? And doth he cause thee much trouble? And is he fussy? And what doth he like to eat?

And she said. He is not fussy, and he keepeth out of the kitchen, and when he hath a book he doth not bother the hostess with Theol-ogy; and he said unto me that Cocoanut Cake is his Favorite Cake.

Now all the women told all the other women, saying, The Young Minister loveth Cocoanut Cake.

And they all knew how to make Cocoanut Cake, & they all made it. And wherever I went, there did they set before me Cocoanut Cake.

Now thou wilt surely think within thine heart that I got so much Cocoanut Cake that I abhorred it, and that I have never liked it since. But thou hast another Think coming. For thou knowest not what sort of Cocoanut Cake the women of that Parish make. Yea, for three years did I eat it with scarce ever a break in the record, save that there also they make Cake with Maple Sugar Frosting. & he that hath eaten that kind of Cake knoweth that that is about the best ever.

For there be some things of which no man can ever have too much. And when mine heart goeth back across the years, then do I remember the long rides, and the times that I drave up in the dark and the cold, and how they stabled mine horse knee-deep in clean straw, and put a sack of oats under the buggy-seat when I departed, and maybe also a Bushel of Potatoes or a Sack of Apples or a Can of Maple Syrup. And I know that I shall never have too much of any of the good things which they bestowed upon me, nor of the love that was in them all.

And now and then as the years go by, and one and another of those I loved is called unto his long home, then do they send for me to come and say a word of love before the dust returneth unto dust. And ever there is some good woman who hath a table set for me in her home; and there do I always find Cocoanut Cake.

And whenever I eat of Cocoanut Cake that is Unusually Nice, then do I remember the friends of my early Ministry as a Messenger of God, and I love them yet.

Praise God for the love that shows up in our feeding and feasting. And to our God let us always say, “With the bread we need for today, feed us.”