outWORD by Matte Downey

For the past few weeks, I have been reading through the book of Leviticus. If you are not a detail person, you might find the text less than engaging. I have a great affection for details, but even so, this book presents some challenges for me. There are so many particulars regarding sacrifices, rituals, and legal and moral practices. In addition, some of the instructions sound brutal to my pacifist, non-violent ears. The text also has the feel of "way too much information," no doubt due to the desire of the priestly writer to compile somewhat of a textbook for those who served in a Levitical capacity. The main challenge I have in reading Leviticus is being able to recognize the God revealed in the person of Jesus, especially in the midst of all the boring and brutal minutiae of priesthood. However, considering that Jesus is identified as the ultimate high priest by the writer of Hebrews (Heb. 4:14-16), it stands to reason that the priestly documents contain more than a f...

Over the summer, our faith community has been making its way through what is commonly known as the Lord's Prayer. This week we looked at the phrase: "give us this day our daily bread." At first glance, it reads like a simple request for God to grant supplicants food for the day, but there is a lot packed into these these few words. BREAD: The Greek work here is artos , meaning leavened, regular bread. In this particular context, it is used as a synecdoche, a word which names a small thing, a part, but actually refers to the whole, to something much greater than its literal meaning. Like saying "wheels" when referring to a car or saying "hired hand" when meaning much more than just someone's hand, bread here is not just a loaf of baked dough. It is a meal (to break bread with someone is to share a meal). It is shorthand for sustaining food (bread is considered a staple). It is provision (to take bread for the journey means to take provisions, s...