That we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal.

That statement is the core of today’s collect.
Simple enough statement. Short. Pithy. Spiritually deep.
But what does it mean?

Well, let’s start by defining terms. Webster’s dictionary offers three definitions for temporal:

(a) “Lay or secular rather than clerical or sacred.” Don’t like it. Bad theology. Sets up an unhealthy, unscriptural dichotomy between clergy and lay people.

(b) “Of or relating to earthly life.” Again, bad theology. Another unhelpful, unbiblical dichotomy: that our experience in this life has no relation with the next.

(c) “Of or relating to time as opposed to eternity.” Now we are getting somewhere. No churchy code words. Basically, that which is finite and that which is infinite.

O.K. Now eternal:

(a) “Of or relating to eternity.” Not bad. But nothing new either.

(b) “Having infinite duration.” Same thing. Nothing to see here, folks… move along.

(c) “Characterized by abiding fellowship with God, as in ‘good teacher, what must I do to inherit eternal life?’ (Mark 10:17).” That’s better. This begins to tell us something of value, something of depth, rather than lock in black and white categories.

It’s so easy to fall into those categories. And when we do we make one of two errors: Sometimes, we divorce our so-called “spiritual life” – what we do in church on Sunday or what we say in private prayer – from our “secular life” – what we do for work or at school, or what we do for fun or with friends. Other times, we think of eternal life – what we think of as heaven – as somewhere off in the future. As the saying goes: “pie in the sky, by and by, when I die.”

I don’t think that’s what this prayer means. And I don’t think it’s what Jesus was getting at when he was teaching his disciples the “Lord’s Prayer.”

“Give us this day our daily bread.”

He ain’t talking about no pie in the sky, by and by, when we die. He’s talking about bread. But not just any bread. He’s making an illusion to the manna that God feed the children of Israel in the desert. It wasn’t spiritual or other-worldly; it was real, tangible, food that you could touch, taste, chew, and swallow. Yet not just any food but something more than mere food. Israelites called it “mann hoo” – literally, “what’s that?”or “whatsit” in Hebrew. Sure it nourished their bodies. But it also nourished their relationship with God. Because it only was edible until sundown and they couldn’t save any for the next day, they had to depend utterly on God for their daily bread. And because they did not want rotting whatsit all over their campsite every morning, they had ever incentive to follow God’s order that they be sure to share it with each other, and anyone who happened to be in their camp. So, every morning, when they saw the whatsit on the ground once more, it was a reminder that God was still with them as their “ruler and guide.”

We can learn from this.

As followers of Christ and members of his body, the Church, we occupy two worlds simultaneously: the temporal AND the eternal. Each just as real as the other, but the former so much easier to see that it blinds us to the latter. Not separate and distinct realms that “never the ‘twain shall meet,” but both affecting each other. What we do in our spiritual life teaches how to live in our secular life. That much we know (or say we do). But what we do in our secular lives – and even the mundane things we do around the Church – can also help us become more aware the spiritual in our midst. Making thin places, our Celtic forebears said: places where the boundaries between our so-called real world and God’s “otherworld” that we can see and touch and taste the things of both worlds at once.

The way we “live and move and have our being” in real world – on our jobs, in our relationships with friends and neighbors, in the way we play – can speak volumes to people about our relationship with God and make them curious about and even hungry for that relationship. When we feed the hungry, visit the sick and the prisoner, free the oppressed, we are cooperating with God’s Holy Spirit to bring into view God’s eternal realm right here and now. When we give of our time and our talent and our treasure at Church, when we volunteer to do things that need to be done, when we make and fulfill our giving estimates so that staff can be paid for the work they do for us, and our utilities and mortgage can be paid, so that this building can be open for worship and for service, we are making all of this into a thin place, where we can more easily come into contact with God.

O God, the protector of all who trust in you, give us each day our daily bread. without whom nothing is strong, nothing is holy: Give us our daiy bread. Increase and multiply upon us your mercy; that, with you as our ruler and guide, we may so pass through things temporal, that we lose not the things eternal; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.