In today's Gospel, Jesus and the Disciples are out and about doing God's work and encountering the Kingdom of God. They assess the need, both spiritual (words of encouragement and faith) and physical (food). They find themselves unable to fulfill the task. They get a little discouraged. They look to Jesus. Jesus looks to someone unexpected and everyone eats until they are satisfied, with loads of leftovers to share.
I thought it would be
interesting to have you all empty your pockets and purses and see what kind of
pile of food, candy, gum, and mints we could get going, but maybe not practical
in our setting, and then the question of what to do with the pile once we all
got a look at how God provides--give it back or consume it all? So what
does this story teach us about discipleship and being a follower of Jesus?
Number one--go out. Today's Gospel doesn't take place in a
synagogue or house of worship, but Jesus and his disciples are out in the
world, in nature, in God's good creation, among the people.
Our buildings are places where we’ve made beautiful memories,
seen our children and grandchildren, nieces and nephews baptized and confirmed,
shared many potlucks, made new friends and laid good friends to rest, and been
inspired by God’s love and grace. Here we sing together, shed tears, and
been supported. Yet, buildings have barriers. They may be dear to
us, but they can be intimidating to other people who don’t share the same
memories or who have been hurt by the church. We are so fortunate to have
this amazing building that people worked very hard to build and maintain.
We also work to maintain this building, because it is a place we are filled,
where we get our marching orders for service in the world among those who are
vulnerable. We come here to be filled, to be together, and we go out to
do God's work. Sometimes we get distracted by the idea of how can we get people
to come here. Really God is sending us out, as he does the disciples in
today’s Gospel. This story is telling us as followers of Jesus, we are to go
out into the world to serve God.
The next thing the Disciples do is listen to the needs, hopes,
and dreams of the people. The people are hungry to hear the Good
news. They crowd the area, invite their family and friends and listen to
Jesus share his vision of justice and peace. Jesus has the teaching
covered, but bodies have needs as well as spirits, and the Disciples know it is
coming. In assessing the need, it is important to listen. Listen to
the signals. Listen to people's stories. Hear what the pressures
are in their lives. Listen without the need to fix. That's where the
disciples get a little off track today.
A large crowd of people are about to be hungry and they feel
responsible to fix it. When we're at a festival or large gathering the
food trucks are invited now days. They would be grilling all day.
This is not the case, of course. The disciples are afraid and they fell
inadequate. They aren't going to be able to meet this need. They
are uncomfortable. They are out of their element. They don’t have
their brand new refrigerator and weeks of sign ups to bring food for coffee
hour. They see a need and their usual ways of responding are not
available to them. But there is no shame in that.
The idea of how to proceed comes from the margins. A
little person has an idea, one that he's taught every day. It is so
simple it seems silly. But adults put a lot of energy into making sure
kids remember this and then quickly forget it applies to all of us.
Sharing is a core value that can make all the difference. It couldn't have
come from a disciple, because they are established, realistic, and
practical. They first of all think it is up to them to fix this problem
so their imagination shuts down about other possibilities. This
suggestion could only have come from an innocent child, naive and on the
margins. He has little, but he has more than enough for himself.
Even if only he shared his lunch 2 people could eat. Certainly he wasn't
the only one to bring his lunch. Many people probably were prepared,
while others weren't. But it didn't matter who was prepared and who
wasn't. Everyone ate and there were leftovers, lots of leftovers, like a
Trinity potluck's worth of leftovers with togo containers being filled in the
kitchen.
When we are following Jesus out in the community and assessing
needs, we're going to feel inadequate. We're going to feel the need to
fix everything. We can resist that urge. We can ask ourselves how
to be part of the conversation about what resources the community brings and be
absolutely sure to consult with the ones on the margins to make sure we're
considering all the options, all the possible solutions.
And let's not forget to look to Jesus, breaking the bread, his
body, and providing everything needed for satisfaction of body and soul.
He took the bread and broke it and passed it around and everyone ate, and there
were 12 baskets leftover. Sometimes in our humanity we fear there won't
be enough, so we hoard and gather and forget to share. We fear we don't
have enough young people or we don't have enough money, or that we aren't good
enough to do God's work. But with Jesus the true miracle is that with
Jesus there is abundance. There is abundance of the earth, green growing
things if only we'd have the faith to share it. There is an abundance of
food, an abundance of friendship, and abundance of water and clothing and
everything else we need, when we share as God has shared with us.
You have already begun going out—in partnership with our cluster
churches, Covenant Presbyterian, Gethsemane, St. Timothy Lutheran, Resurrection
Lutheran, in partnership with Santa Cruz.
At the end of August we will go out to Main City Park to worship. You have already started to listen for needs,
joys, and dreams in our Church check ins and on Wednesday Evenings in Advent
and Lent. Your council is listening to
each other in a series of 1:1 relational meetings. From this listening we will grow closer as a
community and closer to our neighbors.
We will listen for ideas, areas of common good we can work on together,
we will be energized and connected. We
will be out of our element and humbled.
And we will learn from those on the margins how to proceed. We will find Jesus, feeding, healing, and
making miracles in our midst. Let us
celebrate the abundance of Jesus, go out, listen for the needs, to collaborate
with those on the margins, and to meet Jesus at the table where there is more
than enough for all.
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