Sermon on feeding the 5000 (John 6:1-4 with Eph 3:7-21)

This sermon is not the one I worked on all week. This is the one that rewrote itself Saturday afternoon. It is something they needed to hear, but nothing something I would have planned to say as a pulpit supply; but I am told the Spirit was in it's delivery. I came out thinking it never really came together, but many who heard it say it did. God is good. The Spirit does indeed have our backs in the pulpit. This is also (of course) not exactly as delivered.

Jesus has been performing miracles and teaching to the crowds, but he has pulled away with his disciples to get in a little teaching time with them, away from the crowd. There are still many things they need to know, things he can’t say in front of the crowds, so they go up a mountain to get away. But that isn’t to be. The crowds have had a taste of miracles and they want to see more. They’re intrigued by this teacher, this prophet, and they wonder if he could be the promised one. Remember, Israel is occupied by the Romans, and they want to be free. Civil and religious writings tell us there were many messiah pretenders in the time before and after Jesus; most advocating revolt against the political power of Rome. The crowd wonders if this might be the one. So they follow.

It is also important to know the time of year. Our passage tells us that it was close to Passover. Passover – when the Jews celebrate liberation from Egyptian domination. When God caused the plagues and parted the Red Sea, then cared for them for forty years in the desert feeding them miraculously every day as God rained down bread from heaven. The great Prophet Moses had told them that one day there would come a prophet like him. These people’s imaginations were looking for that promised “prophet like Moses”. Jesus had just said (in verse 5:46 ) “If you believed Moses, you would believe me, for he wrote about me.”

Maybe this miracle worker was the prophet Moses wrote about. Maybe they’d finally be free of the Romans! So they follow and crowd around. But it’s getting late. And no one has food. And there are no parkway plazas or fast food restaurants to stop in. As a matter of fact, the crowd is bigger than most villages nearby. They wouldn’t have resources to feed that many extra people. So what is Jesus to do? Ah, a prime teaching moment. He turns and asks the disciples.

Jesus has set up the context. It is Passover time. He spoke of the fact that Moses wrote about him. What presumption! And they’ve gone up the mountain to receive teaching – like Moses went up Mt Sinai. Now the hungry masses need to be fed like God fed them at Moses’ request when they were in the wilderness. Jesus is gearing up for the punch line. To see if the disciples have started to understand what he’s been teaching. Jesus turns and asks the disciples. He knows what he’s going to do. And he knows He can do it. but do the disciples get it? Jesus turns and asks the disciples.

In the other gospels, the disciples recommend that Jesus send the people away to find their own food. Now there’s a solution. Punt. Walk away from the entire predicament. “Not my problem. They brought it on themselves when they didn’t pack a lunch. Send them away, Let’s get back to that special teaching you had in mind, Jesus.” They chose to ignore the plan.

Jesus didn’t accept that proposal. That wasn’t His plan. Jesus turns and asks the disciples.

Phillip sees the enormity, the impossibility of the task. It would take more than 6 months’ wages to buy enough bread to give them a little, let alone actually FEED them– and that’s assuming they could even find that much to buy. Phillip sees all the reasons it won’t work and starts listing them. He laughs at the plan.

Jesus didn’t accept that, either. He had a plan, he knew what he was going to do. Jesus turns and asks the disciples.

Andrew doesn’t understand either, but he trusts Jesus to know what’s going on. So, he says, here’s a kid with his lunch. Just enough for the one child. “what is that among so many?” Maybe he was discouraged, maybe he was hopeful, maybe he was daring Jesus; we don’t know. But Andrew chose to give the information Jesus to see what he would do with it.

NOW Jesus acts.

of course, Jesus could have done it without the child’s lunch. In the temptation stories, Satan tempts Jesus to turn stones into bread, so he must have been able to. So Jesus could have taken that route. But he didn’t. God, throughout history has worked primary through people. Even parting the Red Sea, God had Moses hold up his staff. God doesn’t do all the work while we sit back and watch. He expects us to play our part, to make our contribution.

Ah, there’s the rub. We’re supposed to make our contribution and there are some common mistakes we make when God asks for our contribution.

The first mistake we tend to make is when, like Phillip or the other disciples, we try to take over the plan. God asks us to play a role and we try to come in and direct the play. "Lord, you can’t really mean THAT, this would be so much more practical." Or "This is how we do things here, so just move over and I’ll show you." "God, this thing I’m comfortable with would be sooo much better than what you’re planning on doing."

Sounds kinda silly when I put it that way, but come on, be honest. We’ve all done it sometime.

Sometimes we do this here in the church, because, we think the plan is to be and do what we’ve always been and done even though the neighborhood and the world and even we are very different; we’ve quit listening and we’re working on old instructions. Sometimes we think the plan for our church is to be just like that church down the road, as if different churches and different people didn’t have different jobs assigned in the kingdom. In either case, we come to God with a list of what WE think our programs and outreach should be instead of listening for God’s plan. Sometimes instead of listening to God, we listen to what the media and culture tell us church should be. We end up being like the disciples who didn’t want to participate, or like Phillip who just criticized the plan.

God knows what God is going to do: here at [our church], and in each of your lives. Just like Jesus knew. He asked the disciples as a test. And they didn’t do too well. Hopefully we’ll do better; because if [our church] is to be a healthy Body of Christ it won’t get there by following our plan. Not by following [Pastor]’s plan or even session’s plan. We have to follow God’s plan; get our plans in line with his, then we will succeed -- because we got on board with the winning plan.

A second mistake we make when God asks for our contribution is by withholding what we’ve got. Not giving what he asks of us. Maybe that’s from selfishness. After all It’s MINE, I earned it! Sunday Morning is my only time to sleep in, I deserve that.

And what does scripture say about that? In Psalms, God says that “every animal of the forest is mine, and the cattle on a thousand hills.” God created this earth and everything in it and on it belongs to Him. You are given the responsibility to watch over some of God’s world (and some of God’s children); but you’re just the steward, the caretaker, not the owner. James tells us “Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father”. And Job told us “Naked I came from my mother’s womb, and naked I will depart. The Lord gives and the Lord takes away; may the name of the Lord be praised.” And don’t forget the Parable of the rich man who built extra warehouses to store all his wealth. “God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God.”

Everything we have, and everything we are belongs to God. Ever wonder why we use the term, “I gave my life to Christ”? He has a plan to use you, your life, this church, but he asks for your willing contribution.

Sometimes we withhold our contribution because we fear it is so little. Look back at our storey, Barley loaves and fishes – dinner rolls and anchovies (the fish would have been pickled so they didn’t spoil, and little fish like anchovies were common in that area) – a poor boy’s box lunch. And look what Jesus did with that!

Another guy who called himself the least of men, the greatest of sinner, was described by one contemporary writer as “a man little of stature, thin-haired upon the head, crooked in the legs, of good state of body, with eyebrows joining, and nose somewhat hooked.” This man didn’t deserve anything, had little to commend himself, but became the great apostle to the Gentiles, speaking in the great Greek halls of learning, because Paul gave what he had to the Lord.

So, instead of complaining about what we do not have, or using it as an excuse for not following God’s plan, we need to give thanks to God for what we do have, and God will make it go farther; just like those barley loaves and fishes.

I went to a concert on Friday night, and heard a song about this passage by a man who, 13 years ago, was given 6 months to live. After surgery to remove the brain tumor, he says he was reading the parable and thought, “pretty good for 5 loaves and 2 fishes”, so he asked God “what can you do with a brain tumor and a guitar?” the answer: 12 year (so far) recording and concert career; a chance to tell people all over the world about the hope he has in Jesus, even though his cancer has recurred.

But letting go is scary. Letting go of our plans and searching for God’s plan is scary. But we are free to give because Jesus loves us; and perfect love casts out fear. If we know the all-powerful God loves us and wants the best for us, we don’t need to protect our own interests. Sometimes it hard because we don’t understand, because, by human standards, things are NOT going well. But still, as Christians, we place our trust: our lives, our talents and our money in the hands of a God who loves and cares for us.

A God who dwells in our hearts through faith. As Paul says, “I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God.”

Filled with the Holy Spirit, we can let go of our own agendas and get on board with God’s plan to be the people and the church He wants us to be. All the different gifts and skills needed to accomplish God’s plans for [our church] are here in [our church]. But God leaves it to us whether we will bring them forward. God knows there’s not enough in what we bring to accomplish his plan, but God who by the power at work within us is able to accomplish abundantly far more than all we can ask or imagine, will multiply our gifts to fulfill his plans. Look what he can do with 5 loaves and 2 fishes, or with a guitar and a brain tumor, and who on earth knows what he will do with your gifts.

Graduation

Today I will graduate from seminary.

Three years ago we sold our house and moved 2 states away so I could go to seminary. I quit my job/career and DH took a part time job at a grocery store to help pay bills.

It's been a long road, with health issues, and the fear of returning to academia alongside kids who were born after I got my undergraduate degree.

Today I graduate. Health issues are (largely) resolved and the job search has begun. Soon (God willing) we will sell this house and pack everything up to move to another state and start life over again. The kitties are now 9 and 11, I'm pretty sure they won't like that part. The humans are 46 and 57, they're not thrilled either.

Next week we head out, for a final (God willing) visit with CPM and then to Atlanta for the face to face at the Big Tent event, so I can convince someone to take the time to see if God is calling this first call, middle aged woman to their church.

But today, I graduate. A master of divinity. Yeah, right. :)

Vacation Friday Five

Mary Beth over at RevGalBlogPals says: Let's think about VACATIONS! I certainly am!

1) What did your family do for vacations when you were a child? Or did you have stay-cations at home?
I went to summer camp some years and we did family vacations alternate years.

The biggest was Dad deciding we would fly to Vegas, rent a car, and see the west. I think my brother was 13 and I was 11. Yeah. That was fun. not. Although we do have pictures of Dad giving a burro water from a "for radiators only" tank in death valley (which we drove through with AC blazing despite the warning signs).

Then there were the trips to Dad's conferences which he turned into family vacations. It worked for me. I got to go to the Bahamas, to Disney World (the year it opened!), Sanibel Island...

2) Tell us about your favorite vacation ever:
Probably the 10 day trip to Ireland where DH and I just rented a car and drove where we wanted, staying in B&Bs using the coupons that were part of the package. Each evening we would decide what to do for the next day. It was great.

3) What do you do for a one-day or afternoon getaway...is there a place nearby that you escape to on a Saturday afternoon/other day off?
I do not. I need this, I just never found it here.

4) What's your best recommendation for a full-on vacation near you...what would you suggest to someone coming to your area? (Near - may be defined any way you wish!)
I have no idea. I moved here three years ago for seminary, and have seen little. Need to figure out the touristy things for next week with the folks are in town for graduation! (although the amusement park is probably out of the picture with them)

5) What's your DREAM VACATION?
Mountains, River, Kayak, hammock, good books.

Bonus: Any particularly awful (edited to add: or hilarious) vacation stories that you just have to tell? ("We'll laugh about this later..." maybe that time is now!)
Well, on the aforementioned trip out west, my family had our first taste of fresh cherries from a roadside stand in CA. We'd never had fresh cherries because they didn't truck them to our part of the states back then. Well, the whole family enjoyed quite a number of those cherries. We didn't make much mileage the next day, but we found lots of interesting rest areas!

taking a break...

Songbird, over at RevGalBlogPals offers us the following Friday Five:

Where we live, it's February School Vacation Week!

Yes, that's an odd thing, a vacation extending President's Day. But it's part of our lives here. Some people go South or go skiing, but we always stay home and find more humble amusements.

In that spirit, I offer this Taking a Break Friday Five. Tell us how you would spend:

1. a 15 minute break -- tea, earl grey, hot.

2. an afternoon off -- wandering the mall. Window shopping, just getting out and moving. No money to spend, but at least away from the desk and the papers!


3. an unexpected free day -- Heard a sermon in class on the unexpected blessing of a snow day; but snow days don't allow for much more than maybe -- shocking -- non-class reading! I seem to remember something called "novels." At this point that would be quite novel.



4. a week's vacation -- down to best place on earth! We are going to get to the river in the early summer. Hopefully I'll also be interviewing in the area.



5. a sabbatical -- I think I am just sort of completing a 3-year sabbatical. Some of my seminary friends point out that in another 3 months we'll be done! I, however, point out that in 3 months, we'll be unemployed (at least most of us will be for at least a few months).

Pets

Sophia at RevGalBlogPalssays: My son's tiny beloved lizard, Elf, is looking and acting strange this week. His skin/scales are quite dark, and he is lethargic. We are adding vitamin drops to his lettuce and spinach and hoping and praying that he is just getting ready to shed his skin--but it's too soon to tell. Others in the ring have also been worried about beloved pets this week. And, in the saddest news of all, Songbird has had to bid farewell to her precious Molly, the amazing dog who is well known to readers of her blog as a constant sacrament of God's unconditional love.

So in memory of Molly, and in honor of all the beloved animal companions who bless our lives: tell us about the five most memorable pets you have known.

1) Creslin -- my love kitty. He would cuddle and purr and climb on your head to do it, especially if you had a towel on your head out of the shower. Problem was he was a 13lb lanky cat. That's a lot of cat to wear as a turban. We lost him at only 6 to congestive heart failure. (named for a character in an LE Modesitt novel)

2) Niniane -- So frightened when I first got her from a "free to good home" ad. Solid grey with a small white clerical tab. I named her after the "not quite" priestess in Mists of Avalon (which I had just read). In the 16 or so years I had her she became really lovey -- on her terms, of course. She was nearly blind and deaf when we had to let her go.

3) Pavarotti -- Mom's cat. You can guess what he did the entire first night they had him home. This was a BIG cat (orange tabby). We called him mountain lion. One day he went out the cat door and came back in and Mom heard a strange noise in the family room. She went in there and Pav had brought in, through the kitty door, .... the neighbor's teacup poodle. I guess Pav thought that thing was too small to be out alone. Mom had to take the little doggie (perfectly safe, Pav had grabbed it by the scruff) back to the neighbor.

4) Mister -- Big white kitty: 1/4 persian; 1/4 manx; and his father was from a nice neighborhood. He had the persian fur and tail, the manx hind legs; He was 36 inches from tip of nose to tip of tail (I measured). He could put his nose on the counter while you were fixing his dinner. I once saw him treed by the neighbor's (dumb) german shepherd who then proceeded to bark treed at him for an hour or so. Until Mister just jumped out of the tree onto him. Dumb dog never chased my cat again. Mister was also known to bring home baby opossums and drop them on your pillow as presents.

5) Dawg -- A big yellow dog that just took up at our house, Mom wouldn't let us name her, because we weren't keeping her. We didn't have pets. (The Vet spelled it this way because they wouldn't just write "dog") Well she stayed, at least until she had her pups and weaned them, and then she left as she had come.

Singing Owl at RevGalBlogPals says: Here in snow country we are settled in to what is a very long stretch of potentially boring days. The holidays are over. It is a very long time till we will get outside on a regular basis. The snow that seemed so beautiful at first is now dirty and the snow banks are piling up. Our vehicles are all the same shade of brownish grey, but if we go to the car wash our doors will freeze shut. People get grumpy. Of course, not everyone lives in a cold climate, but even in warmer places the days till springtime can get long. Help! Please give us five suggestions for combating cabin fever and staying cheerful in our monochromatic world?

I speak as one with a brand new alternator in a 10 year old car. (a special thank you to the unknown longhorn Spiritual Direction student who provided a jump in the seminary parking lot!)

1) well you could join me in ordination exams... Exegesis will take 5 days of my life while life adn classes go on around me.

2) Chili. Not monochromatic or boring. and if you put enough peppers in you get to enjoy it all day! OK, maybe that's not a benefit.

3) looking at the gardening catalogs. Thinking of the flowers that will bloom in spring.

4) reading church information forms (especially for churches in the south) and dreaming of getting permission to start sending out my resume.

5) facebook. nuff said.

gluten free pancakes. Just not the same.

Sophia at RevGalBlogPals writes:

Last week Sally gave us a beautiful, spiritually reflective Friday Five, so it's time for something light and fluffy (literally). It's inspired by the fact that as I write this my dear spouse TechnoGuy, with the assistance of daughter Ladybug, is making a batch of chocolate chip pancakes with two Christmas presents. One is the Knott's Berry Farm mix which came along with jam, boysenberry syrup, and biscuit mix from my aunt (we ended up with two sets, since my parents passed theirs on to avoid sweet and carb-y temptation). The other is the large size Black and Decker electric skillet he was thrilled that I got him online -- our trusty wedding present normal size one still works at going on 20 years, but the Teflon is getting worn, and he wanted more cooking space. So pull up a chair to the kitchen table and tell us all about your pancake preferences.

1. Scratch or mix? Buttermilk or plain?
Well, this has all become so complicated in the past 4 years since I found out I have celiac. So, now I generally use a gluten free mix, but they all kinda stink. (Trader Joes frozen GF pancakes are an OK substitute) I used to use the krusteaz. it had the best flavor/texture for a mix that I had found. My mom, on the other hand is always from scratch.

2. Pure and simple, or with additions cooked in?
pecans (pe CAHNS not PEE cans) or blueberries when I make them (plain for the boring DH).

3. For breakfast or for dinner?
breakfast, although I remember going out with my grandfather for pancakes for dinner at a local diner out near the interstate.

4. Preferred syrup or other topping? How about the best side dish?
Well, either a little peanut butter and syrup (that's sir-rup not sea-rup) or some frozen strawberries that I nuke for a few minutes to go mushy and warm.
The best side dish is thick-sliced, applewood smoked bacon.

5. Favorite pancake restaurant?
IHOP, the ones that had nuts and such in them (back in the day before I knew better. Now, no can do.)