Now He who supplies seed to the sower and bread for food will supply and multiply your seed for sowing and increase the harvest of your righteousness. 2 Cor. 9:10
Recently MGCC were invited to the ladies luncheon at the Canadian Mennonite Assembly. The song that follows, which was new to me, was sung during the program. Later I came across the verse from 2 Corinthians and was struck how Jesus used the images of seed, bread, vines and wine to teach us how He multiplies the blessings of these two elements.
The seeds grow into wheat which is ground into flour that is baked into bread which feeds us. The vines flower and produce grapes that are crushed to quench our thirst. The wheat and grapes bring sustenance for physical life.
Secondly, they are given to us as symbols of the great love God demonstrated in sending Christ to sacrifice His body and blood to cover our sins. These symbols bring us together - over a meal with a common purpose - to remember what He has done for us - providing both salvation from our sins and the promise of eternal life.
Finally, the seed and the vines are a lesson in multiplication - of what God does when we spread the seed of God's word and share the fruit of the spirit. He takes our labour and turns it into a harvest of righteousness.
May the words of this song touch your heart as they did mine.
Seed, scattered and sown,
wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one,
the living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land,
wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all,
the living Cup, the living Bread of God.
1. Is not the bread we
break,
a sharing in our Lord?
Is not the cup we bless,
the blood of Christ outpoured?
Seed, scattered and sown,
Wheat, gathered and grown,
Bread, broken and shared as one,
the living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land,
Wine, work of our hands,
One cup that is shared by all,
the living Cup,
the living Bread of God.
2. The seed which
falls on rock
will wither and will die.
The seed within good ground
will flower and have life.
Seed, scattered and sown,
wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one,
the living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land,
wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all,
the living Cup,
the living Bread of God.
3. As wheat upon the
hills
was gathered and was grown,
so may the church
of God
be gathered into one.
Seed, scattered and sown,
wheat, gathered and grown,
bread, broken and shared as one,
the living Bread of God.
Vine, fruit of the land,
wine, work of our hands,
one cup that is shared by all,
the living Cup, the living Bread of God.