baker parable

i've been working on this for a while -- as a result, it's pretty long. the breaks during our week at our national convention and the theme of the convention ('reach the lost') provided the motivation to finish it. looking forward to your comments...

i'm a baker

in fact, i'm a fourth generation baker--the last three generations have baked for the same franchise. i even married a baker's daughter--though of a different franchise. That doesn't matter to me though--i learned a long time ago that the franchise is not as important as the Baker's Oath: feed the hungry.

You would think that all bakers would bake with that purpose--and i think that most, if not all begin with that in their hearts. But some time, through all the early mornings with the ingredients, the hours in the heat of the bakery, and the endless requests of the customers--it's easy to just forget the Baker's Oath.

There appears to be a couple of common pitfalls when this happens. The first is that the bakery ceases to make bread the primary product. Instead, pastries are offered. People love pastries--their light and flaky crust along with the sweet filling brings people back. But people who only eat pastries, also grow to be selfish, lazy, and poorly nourished . The world offers a lot of artificial sweetened alternatives that continue to leave people hungry and looking for real bread. As a result, some hungry come and see little difference to what they're offered in the world, while others come and stay because at least the atmosphere is better. Eating takes place, but nourishment is lacking.

The other pitfall to abandoning the oath is to just placate the well-fed.
It seems that more and more bakeries are giving in to the wishes of the well-fed. i'm not trying to judge them, but it's evident in the growing numbers of hungry, even starving, folks while the bakeries continue to demonstrate declining clientele.

i understand that feeding the hungry has no immediate return--there's more loss than gain in such a venture. But how can a bakery with all the ingredients and storehouses of bread just watch as so many daily die of starvation?

Anyway, back to my story, my present situation. i was called to serve in a little bakery with a long, established history. Great bakers have come through this bakery and many of the current customers tell of getting their first or best tastes of bread from their efforts. It's been an honor to be serving bread in such a bakery.

But the appreciation and fascination with previous bakers and their bread is more than unsettling. In fact, it's almost rebellion when it comes to offering fresh bread.
Each week, i sit with the recipe and the ingredients to prepare the bread for the week. The bread is offered fresh and in a similar manner of baker's before me--but the well-fed customers prefer the day old bread.

i actually grew up on more day old bread than fresh bread. The day old bread is still good--it offers nourishment, and could be offered to those in need. But my objection to the day old bread is that it's appears less appetizing to the hungry and starving--as a result, they're more likely to pass up on what they really need in search of something less filling, less satisfying.

However, the well-fed customers of our bakery cling to their day old bread--they're mad when it is not offered as frequently as the fresh bread or if it's not presented the same way it was when it was fresh.

The well-fed customers aren't interested in making bread deliveries to the hungry. They're supportive of those on delivery routes, but insist that's a special calling.

The well-fed customers are not opposed to feeding the hungry--they know that's the Baker's Oath. They're open to and welcome any hungry person coming to get bread from their bakery. In fact, they argue that more hungry people would come ('as they did before') if we would go back to exclusively offering the day old bread.

Instead of making deliveries, they want to study the recipe and ingredients. They know the recipe, many by heart. But what good are the ingredients and the recipe if you're not going to bake? And what good is baking if you're not to take bread to the hungry?

Growing up in bakeries, i was aware of demands and expectations of the well-fed customers. When i accepted the role of baker, i made up my mind that i was going to keep to the oath, that i wouldn't give in to please the well-fed customers.

i was committed to offering fresh bread, not only to the well-fed customers, but more importantly to the hungry. It was obvious that they were not compelled to come to the bakery for day-old bread. i had been to other bakeries and baked in other bakeries whose bread was fresh and the hungry seemed more likely to come for fresh bread.

The well-fed customers started objecting and picketing the change of menu that we brought to the bakery. i refused to placate their demands, but in my zeal for fresh bread, i did something just as bad. i became involved in a bakery dispute over fresh bread vs day-old bread.

Meanwhile, the hungry were starving, and the starving were dying for bread

Recently, i was reminded by the Master Chef about the Baker's Oath. i was reminded of all those in need of bread. The opposition were not the well-fed proponents of day-old bread. The opposition was starvation. We had bread--day-old and fresh. The issue was not the bread, it was delivery.

We had to quit expecting the hungry just to come marching into our bakery. We needed to get out and share the bread we had received--then, after they had a taste, they would see that it was not only good, but satisfying. Maybe then, they would go to the bakery, maybe even our bakery. But if they came or didn't, or worse, rejected the offer of bread, we would have fulfilled our reponsibility, our oath: feed the hungry.

Psalm 34:8 " Taste and see that the LORD is good."

John 6:35 "Jesus told them, "I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never become hungry, and whoever believes in me will never become thirsty."