Navajo Devotion: Fry Bread
Terri was on the Utah-Idaho LWML Mission Trip in 2014, which inspired her to write the following devotion. “Fry Bread” is one in a series of eight devotions, each relating the history and culture of the Navajo people where she served as a volunteer at Shepherd of the Valley Lutheran Church in Navajo, New Mexico. Terri went back this year.
Fry Bread
One of the delicious specialties of the Navajo is their Fry Bread. The women patty out the dough into skillet-size flat bread and place it over an open fire to cook. Once it’s done, seasoned ground meat and other toppings (like cheese and onions) are wrapped inside. Sometimes these are called Navajo Tacos. Both the Navajo and visitors look forward to these scrumptious meals.
In biblical times, God provided the Israelites with life-sustaining bread, too. As Moses led God’s people through the wilderness in search of the promise land, they worried they would not have enough to eat in the desert (See Exodus 16:4a). The people needed faith that God would provide a new portion each day because the bread would not keep for a second day. Since God’s people were to rest on the Sabbath, they gathered twice what they needed on the sixth day and only then did it last them two days.
All bread is given from heaven. In the Lord’s Prayer, Jesus taught His disciples to pray, “Give us this day our daily bread.”
Luther’s explanation of daily bread is: “Daily bread includes everything that has to do with the support and needs of the body, such as food, drink, clothing, shoes, house, home, land, animals, money, goods, a devout husband or wife, devout children, devout workers, devout and faithful rulers, good government, good weather, peace, self-control, good reputation, good friends, faithful neighbors, and the life. So that encompasses just about everything imaginable.”
When people followed Jesus around, they asked Him, "… What work do you perform? Our fathers ate manna in the wilderness; as it is written, ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.’ Jesus then said to them, ‘Truly, truly, I say to you, it was not Moses who gave you the bread from heaven, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. For the Bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world’”(John 6:30b-34).
Jesus is the most fulfilling bread we can have since He is the Bread of Life. He will sustain us every day we delight in Him.
Dear Jesus, please give us this day our daily bread so that we are nourished in the Word and fulfilled with Your Spirit. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
Read more of Terri's Navajo Devotions:
Download a PDF of this devotion here to share with friends!