Pentecost 8 Year B

John 6:1-21

Someone once said, well, probably many someones, that you can find anything in the Bible. Well, this morning we have one such example. Here, in today’s gospel reading, we have an example of one of the first church potlucks. Yes! Potlucks are Biblical!

Now, some of you may think that I am being a bit sacrilegious here. Why would I describe the feeding of the 5000 as something as mundane as a potluck? This is supposed to be one of Jesus’ big miracles! Over 5000 people fed with only five loaves and two fish! For Jesus to have made this happen is incredible!

And truthfully, on that last point, you would be correct. For Jesus to have fed 5000 with just five loaves and two fish would be incredible. In fact, I had a comment from a colleague who asked how to teach about the gospel reading without making Jesus seem like a magician. If we get caught up in the whole “miracle” thing, all we get is Jesus as a magician. But if we can expand our understanding, we can move beyond Jesus just being a magician and meet the Jesus who is the man who can change our lives and the world.

Looking at a humble potluck can really help us to see what a miracle the feeding of the 5000 really was. Making food appear is a magic trick, or maybe something from Santa Clause. Feeding five thousand people really incredible.

Potlucks bring out the best in us. We bring what we can. We make the best that we know. Each person brings what they can, and takes what they need. OH NO! Potlucks are communistic! But really, isn’t that what a potluck is? Those who may have a bit more bring a bit more. Those who do not have as much bring less. But in the end, everyone leaves the potluck full. It does not matter that some may have contributed more to the feast than others, what is important is that each contributed what they could and that all people shared.

Using the image of the potluck may not seem appropriate for the gospel reading, though. In the gospel reading, all we have is one person giving up his lunch. We are only told that boy gave up his food, not that everyone shared. This sounds more like a banquet than a potluck. In a banquet, one person provides the food and everyone else eats. If the boy is the only one providing the food, then it is a banquet. And since we know that five loaves and tow fish cannot possibly feed that many people, to have a banquet, we would have to make Jesus into a magician. But if we really think about the Biblical times, what happened is probably closer to a potluck.

During Biblical times, there weren’t a bunch of restaurants and stores around. Now, that may seem obvious, but we need to think of how that would change life. People who were traveling would not just be able to stop of at McDonalds or Speedway to get something to eat. If someone was traveling and got hungry, that person would either need to find something, kill something, or have brought something along. Getting caught out in the wilderness without food could be a deadly mistake. So I think we could be fairly safe in assuming that the boy with the fish was not the only one without food. Probably there were many people who had brought food with them.

But also, we need to think about this situation from the point of view of a person in the crowd. If I have some food and I look around and see thousands of hungry people, I am not going to be very likely to get out my food. If I pull out a sandwich or something, I may get mobbed by people trying to grab if from me. So, in fear of losing what little I have, I am going to keep the food that I have hidden way.

So this is the problem that is before Jesus: Lots of hungry people, and a lot of food being kept hidden away. But no one wants to share for fear of getting stampeded by the crowd. How is a Savior supposed to get the people to share?

Jesus gets the people to sit down! (I know you were all saying, “Well of course!”) Actually, this is a very good idea on many levels. Sitting helps to keep peoples’ anxieties in check and also, when people are sitting, they can’t stampede! But also, if people are sitting in groups, they are probably sitting in small circles and can see each other. It is so much harder to deny someone when that person is sitting there right next to you. It is difficult to eat something when there is someone starving looking on. It is also easier to share when you have an example to follow. And it is easier to share when you feel that what you are sharing will have some effect. Giving even a large amount of food to over 5000 people will not make much of a difference, but giving some of my food to the person sitting next to me will help that person.

When we look at the situation in this way, the gospel reading is much more about a potluck than a banquet. The people brought what they could and they shared it with the people around them. No one there was expected to feed all of the people. Each person was just asked to do what they could. And when those who could help, did, in fact help, suddenly all the people were fed with so much left over.

The gathering of the scraps at the end of the story may seem like a bit of showboating, but it is very important. What this shows to all of us is the incredible blessedness that we have been given as a people. Separately, we may not feel like we have much of anything, but when we are brought together and we give of what we have, and we trust and follow the lead of our Savior, we find that we have more than we could imagine! When we are willing to share, we can do so much more than we could ever do alone. The potluck is such a wonderful lesson for us. No matter what, there always seems to be something for everyone.

As a child, I went to a very large church, so the church potluck was not something that I really experienced until I was in college. And I still remember my reaction to all of the food. I was a camp counselor and there was a church having a potluck at the camp. The church invited the whole camp staff to their picnic and to share their food. We didn’t have anything to bring, but we were welcomed anyway. What amazed me is that we all ate and there was still enough food for a small third-world nation. Just having everyone bring a bit made a feast possible!

I think this is something that we need to remember, the miracle was not that Jesus did something magical and made all the food multiply; the miracle was that the people came to realize that they were if fact highly blessed and chose to share that blessing with those who were around them. The miracle was that the people followed Christ’s example of generosity and generously shared what they had with the people they encountered.

How are we being called to share? How has Christ gifted us? How is Christ calling us to share these gifts with others? We are not being called to change the world, but we are being called to change our little corner of the world. We have been called and we have been blessed. Now we are to go out and be a blessing to those whom we may encounter.

Pentecost 7 Year B

Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

I seem to apologize a lot for my sermons. Like today’s sermon, I feel this need to apologize because it just seems way to personal for me. But I guess that is the way of scripture; they speak to us, no matter where we are in life. Even the same passage of scripture can have new depth depending on what is happening in life.

So we have the gospel reading for today. Jesus and the disciples were out and quite busy. The disciples were in need of a rest so Jesus tells them to go out and get away. Take a break.

I am sure that taking a break sounded pretty good to the disciples, they had been working hard! But there was a problem; the hassles of the world would not leave them alone. As whey went away to take a break, the people continued to follow them. The people, with their needs, wants, and desires, would not leave Jesus and the disciples alone.

I don’t think that I am alone when I say that often I feel like the disciples. Often life just seems to be too much. There is always something that needs attention. There is always another fire to put out. We try to get away from it all, but, unfortunately, all of the problems just seem to keep following us!

The thing that we need to remember about this story from the gospel is that even thought the crowds were pressing in, Jesus still wanted the disciples to rest. He didn’t see the crowds and then decide to tell everyone to get back to work. No, when the crowds continued to press in, Jesus took care of the needs himself. He knew that rest was important to the disciples so Jesus himself continued to heal when the disciples went off to rest.

Granted, we need to pay attention to life, but we also need to remember that even if we weren’t around, the world would continue to spin. God uses us to carry his love into the world, but we are not alone in the work. We aren’t even the chief managers. God wants us to do what we can, surely, but God is not going to expect us to carry the weight of the world on our shoulders. We may feel like it is up to use to make sure that the crowds are cared for, but quite often, Jesus is telling us to rest.

As we can see in the gospel reading, the one who does carry the burden of healing those who come is the one who will later carry the weight of the sins of the world on his shoulders. We see that when the disciples are told to relax, Jesus continues to heal. Any good manager knows that wearing your workers to a frazzle is not a good thing. Jesus would know this too! Actually, God knew this to be true and that is why one of the Ten Commandments tells us to keep holy the Sabbath. The purpose of this commandment is to not only provide a time to worship and to thank God, but also to provide a time for rest. This is a time of renewal, a time to be restored, a time to regain our strength and health.

This time of renewal is a gift of a caring God! Far too often I think we look upon the Sabbath commandment as a burden and not as a joy. So many stipulations have been placed upon the Sabbath that is had become another form of work! It would be like saying you need to sleep but then saying that you had to go to bed at 10:30 pm, even if you were tired earlier or even if the movie wasn’t over until 11 pm. Sleep is good, but so is finishing your movie! We can see that if we place too many stipulations on even a good thing it can become a burden. Unfortunately, for many people, this is how keeping holy on the Sabbath has been interpreted. So many rules have been placed on it. We feel we cannot keep all the rules so we pitch the whole thing.

But keeping holy is about worship, rest AND knowing our place in the world. Resting keeps us happy and healthy, but it also lets us know that ultimately it is not our place to hold the problems of the world. We can only do so much and then the rest we must leave up to God. In the gospel, there was only so much the disciples could do, to ask them to do more would be to wear them out. So Jesus told them to “come away.” Even though there were people who still wanted to have their needs healed, Jesus told the disciples to rest.

I often feel that I can’t rest because things will not get done. And I am pretty sure I am not the only one who feels this way. Those of us who feel like the work of the world has been placed squarely on our shoulders need to pay special attention to this week’s scripture. We are called to head the commandment to rest just as the disciples were expected to rest. We need to do what we can, but then we need to back off and allow Jesus to continue with the crowds.

The crowds will always be there. The needs will always be present. We could wear ourselves to a frazzle. But wearing ourselves to a frazzle is not how we show our faith in Christ. Faith is being able to back away when we hear the call to rest, knowing that our Savior continues to work.

This is a hard thing for us to do, but then again, no one ever said that faith was going to be easy! But that is the way of God. We are called to go out and to work among the people, but we are also called to take time to rest and to restore. We are called to lead, but we are also called to follow. We are called to use our strength to work for the kingdom, but we are also called to take time to back off trusting that God will provide as is needed.

Sometimes I think it would be nice if the Bible just gave us hard and fast rules, but it doesn’t; life is not hard and fast and the Bible helps us to survive in the world. God would not insult us by giving us a schedule like having to go to bed at 10:30 pm every night. The Bible gives us tools for dealing with the world. We are told to give, and we are told to receive. We are told to be in community and we are told to be alone. We are told to be workers in the vineyard and we are told to be at rest. How we grow as Christians is in working through these situations and finding the fit that works for each of us. And that fit will be different for each of us. But part of our life is finding how we deal with these ebbs and these flows.

The one thing that we can be sure of is that whether we are working too much or resting too much or whatever, Jesus is there with us. We can trust that Christ will continue to work on into the night, even when we may be too tired to go on. Ain’t it great we have a God that loves us enough to send us to bed when we don’t have the sense to go there ourselves?

Pentecost 6 Year B

The Rev. Benton Quest

Ephesians 1:3-14

If you watch televangelists or listen to the prevalent feelings about what it means to be a Christian, you will hear lots of ways to NOT be a Christian. Some people will say if you think abortion should be legal; then you cannot be a Christian. Some would say if you are divorced; then you can’t be a Christian. Others may say if you condone homosexuality then you aren’t a Christian. And still others would tell you that unless you tithe, then you definitely are NOT a Christian. But I think we need to have a different standard. I think we hold dearly to the concept of scarcity, then we really shouldn’t call ourselves Christian.

If we look in the Bible, one of the words we don’t often find is the word “scarce.” The words we find much more frequently are words like “abundance,” “lavish,” “riches,” and “generosity.” God is described as lavishing gifts upon the people and providing for them abundantly. And this ultimate act of love and generosity was the gift of Jesus and the gift of forgiveness we receive through his life, death, and resurrection. Nowhere do we hear about God rationing out love or holding back when God bestows gifts. When God gives a gift, God gives these gifts in abundance.

So, if God gives us gifts in abundance, where is my new wardrobe? Where is my new iPod? Where is my HUGE house? And if I am going to have a huge house, WHERE IS MY MAID! Where are all of these things? How can we believe in the generous abundance of God when all we hear about is lack and want. No job. No new cars. No iPhones! If God is the God of abundance, then where is all the stuff!?

Well, I hope you can tell that I am having some fun with you here. But still, isn’t this the way we tend to look at things? We tend to buy into our society’s belief that we need to possess more and more. We are told that unless we possess the most or the best, then we are not acceptable. This is the vision of life that is continuously placed before us through TV and advertising. We are only as good as our possessions. And our possessions must be better than anyone else’s. This is the way of the world, but it is not the way of God. God’s way is not to just sit there and amass the most; in God’s way, amassing the most does not make sense. God’s way is that of sharing all that we have because we know that there will always be enough.

In my opinion, it is our fear of scarcity that holds us back. It is our fear of scarcity, not only of our money and things, but of our time, that prevents us from being the people that God intended. If we look at the epistle reading for this morning, the one thing that should jump out at you is the total description of abundance that we hear. “…freely bestowed.” “…richness of his grace.” “…lavished upon us.” When Paul speaks of the gifts of God to the people of Emphasis, there is nothing skimping about it. When God bestows gifts upon us, God gives big time!

If we are not seeing the abundance of gifts in our lives, one of two things is happening. The first possibility is that God has chosen to not bestow any gifts upon us. But really, you should know by now that I am not going to endorse this option. I truly believe that we are all richly blessed in more ways than we can ever imagine. So if God is not leaving us high and dry but we still do not see the abundance that is in our lives, then there is the second possibility, and that possibility would be that we are just not looking in the right place.

One of the fun things about gifts is that they are often a surprise. If a gift wasn’t meant to be a surprise, why would we spend so much time wrapping and disguising the identity of the gift? Why would we hide the gift away until the time it is to be given? Part of the fun of the gift is the opening of the gift and the surprise that we find. In the same way, gifts from God can also be surprising. Gifts from God may also be packaged in a way that is not always readily apparent. But it is in finding the gifts in our lives and opening them that we find the surprise and the joy!

When we look at our lives and see scarcity, what we are not doing is seeing the gifts of God. What we are doing is buying into the lies of our world. We are believing that all of our lives have to do with the stuff we have. And so often, we get caught up in the tales of the “stuff” that we miss the great blessings and gifts that we truly have! The God who would bless us with the abundant blessing of forgiveness found in Jesus, wouldn’t want us to live a life of need and want. But what we may think we need and what we truly need are often two different things.

One of the more interesting images of Hell is found in C.S. Lewis’ book The Great Divorce. In this book, Hell is a very small place, and it is populated with people who have everything that they could ever want. They have lavish homes, wonderful cars, everything! The only problem is that they are entirely alone. Their search in life for all the things to make them feel fulfilled didn’t do anything for them except separate them from the very things that could help them to be blessed; each other. So they are left in death trying to find fulfillment in all the stuff they so earnestly sought for in life.

In a similar way, our belief in scarcity and the search for things of the world to fill in that scarcity often drives us away for those very things that can give us the abundant, enriching life that God desires for all of His children. We may not be blessed with things, but if we search, we find that we are blessed with an abundance of gifts that are beyond price. We have friends, family, and people who care about us. We have talents and skills. We have all kinds of surprises and events that bring joy to our lives. When we think about our lives, do we say, “When I got my new car, then my life changed”? Probably not. More likely, we may say something like, “When I met my husband or wife, then my life changed.” Or “When we had children, then we knew we were truly gifted.” Or possibly, “When I learned a new skill or talent, then my life opened to so many new possibilities!”

If we look, we can see that the things that make our lives abundant are not things at all! They are the wealth of people, places, and experiences that we have. And even more so, it is not keeping these abundances to ourselves; the more we share them, the richer we become. If we, as Christians, truly believe in the abundance of God, then we know that we can reach out with the gifts that we have been given, knowing that our God of abundance will not leave us high and dry. We have been given an abundance so that we can share that abundance among others.

Our God is not a God of scarcity. Our God is a God of Abundance! We, as followers of Christ, have been given many gifts, but we are not to keep these gifts to ourselves. As Christ’s followers, we are called to share as our Savior shared. To love as Christ loves. To spread our abundance to the world. We may think this is impossible, but that is the world speaking. In God, we have gifts beyond counting. It is just up to us to find these gifts and share them with the world.