365 Days of the Great Names of God, Day 207: Living Bread

Living Bread

"I am the living bread that came down from heaven. Whoever eats this bread will live forever. This bread is my flesh, which I will give for the life of the world.” (John 6:51 NIV)

*Bread Recipe*

Basic ingredients:

1. Flour: the foundational building block of your bread.

2. Yeast: gives your bread its lift and rise.

3. Salt: for flavoring and preservation.

4. Water: hydrates your flour, activates your yeast, and brings all the separate pieces of your bread together into a cohesive unit.

Procedure:

1. Mix all ingredients together using a wooden spoon until a rough, shaggy dough forms. At this point, you will need to get your hands dirty. The dough must be kneaded. It must be worked and twisted and turned and pushed and pulled so that the strands of gluten (like invisible elastics) in the flour will be activated, giving the finished loaf structure and stability and resiliency. The dough will resist your efforts. It will want to snap back to its original shape, but keep at it. Kneading is not a process that can be shortened or skipped. It requires effort and patience, but the end result will be worth it.

2. After the dough has been kneaded, it must rest. Protect it with a cover during this rest so it doesn't dry out and put it somewhere warm and draft-free...a gentle environment for the yeast to do its unseen work.

3. Once the dough has risen, it needs to be punched down. It will look at though it has gone back to its unrisen state, but here again, unseen work has been done. It is further along than it looks at this point. Trust the process and deflate it and let it rise again. This will make the gluten strands stronger and develop the flavor of the bread. It will have more character and value.

4. Once the dough has risen again, gently turn it out onto a secure surface and form it into the shape you want to end up with. Let it rise once more while you heat your oven. It will need to be hot. For all the bread has gone through so far, if it is not subjected to a blast of heat, it will never be useful. It will never nourish and sustain.

5. Bake your bread until deep golden brown. Remove it from the oven and let it cool. Tempting though it may be to push it into service right away, it will be more useful and easier to handle if it has had time to rest.

*Living Bread Recipe*

Basic ingredients:

1. Flour of faith: the building block of your spiritual bread.

2. Yeast of praise: what will give your bread its rise and lift.

3. Salt of seasoning: flavors and preserves your bread.

4. Water of communion and community: fellowship with God and with other believers hydrates your faith and brings all the pieces of your living bread together.

Procedure:

1. Mix together your faith, praise, seasoning, communion and community. Living bread is just that—alive—so different proportions of the various ingredients will be needed in different seasons. When your faith is heavy, you may need more praise to lift it up. When it is dry, you may need more communion and community to hydrate it. When it is bland or going stale, you may need more seasoning to give it flavor and make it last. You can stir these ingredients together easily at first, but eventually, you'll need to get your hands dirty. Your living bread will require some muscle and effort. There will be pushing and pulling and twisting and turning required. Your dough will resist. It will want to spring back to its original shape. But keep working it. All your effort is activating the invisible strands of elasticity and strength that will give your bread its form and function.

2. Once your dough is formed, you need to protect it and let it rise. Patience will be necessary. The yeast of praise must have time to do its lifting work; it does not always happen immediately. And even once your bread has risen and looks ready for the heat of the fire, it is not. Painful though it may be to do, your dough must be punched down and deflated so that it can rise again, stronger and more flavorful. Once it has risen again, it is ready to be shaped into the form its Maker desires for it. At this point, it will be set aside for another rest. (Rest and waiting, as you can see, are essential elements of the bread-making process.) During this final rest, the oven is being prepared. High heat will be required, but if the bread is not subjected to this heat, it will not be suited to its ultimate use. It will not, in fact, be bread. It will be incomplete and unusable.

3. Finally, your bread goes into the fire. All the work that has come before has prepared it for this stage. And this fire is not intended to consume but to complete.

4. Once your bread has baked, take it out of the oven and allow it to rest again. Resist the urge to immediately put it to use. Be gentle with it. Portion it out wisely. Be nourished by it, and do not take it for granted. It has the power of life in it.