Monday, August 11, 2014

the one about having enough

I came back from Minneapolis to be with you today.  Got in early this morning.  Minneapolis is a wonderful city full of Lutherans.  I was sent there to become an official mission developer, a church planter, called to start new ministries, new communities, new adventures with Jesus. I went because I was invited.  I came back to share my morning with you, because communion with you matters to me. It is my soul's delight.
Life with Jesus is an adventure. The gospel story we heard is a story that lives in my heart and bones.  This is why I serve, why Peter's Porch exists at all, and why faith matters.  Everything we need to know about Jesus and church can be found here.  It starts with "after having heard this" which begs the question "heard what"?  It reads like we walked in on a conversation or story that began without us, doesn't it?  And seeing that what they heard compelled them to retreat from their primary mission field, you might ask why are they taking a hiatus? I’m a few hours from my first vacation of 2014 myself. We all need a break from the mission field. Turns out they heard that John the baptist was dead, executed in prison by political rival Herod Antipas because John was an outspoken public figure who spoke unwelcome truth to threatened power.  His death stirred in them a need to retreat.  Was it grief or fear that sent them off? Or were they just exhausted from the ministry?         
Feeding of 5,000 is not a miracle to demonstrate God's power at work in Jesus. They had already seen that in his healing work.  No doubt Jesus had power.  This was about something else. I think it’s about having enough.
At the end of the day, the disciples are weary.  They want to send the needy away, direct them to fend for themselves. After John’s public ministry ended in death, maybe they wanted a private life.  Resources are scarce. They are living a subsistence lifestyle with Jesus.  There is simply not enough.  What they have is not enough. Do you know what it’s like to not have enough of what someone else needs?  It can be frustrating and painful to have unfulfillable demands upon you, to be unable to provide.  Sometimes, at the end of a long day, I want to send the needy away too.  We do a lot of ministry here, feed a lot of people.  It is unceasing.  Given their weariness and ours, how would you feel about Jesus unreasonable request, about the hungry crowd?  They were in a difficult situation until Jesus acts.  He turns scarce resources into abundance to share.  He does so through prayer, offering the bread and fish to God.  What he does is trust God and surrender.  But he does it precisely so that two things happen:  the hungry are fed and the disciples are participants in grace---free, unearned gift. They get to share what they did not have.  Jesus directed them to give them something to eat and Jesus made it possible for them to do so.  The writer tells us that they did so until all were satisfied.  Everyone had enough.  And then there were leftovers--Jesus makes it possible for this to be repeated again.  Serving with Jesus is never a one- time event.  It’s a way of life.   God does the work of making what is needed, the church's calling is to make it available and accessible for the hungry crowds.
The crowds came because they needed God.  They were hungry, sick, tired, sick and tired, weary, afraid.  They needed relief and hope.  They needed God or Jesus to do what they could not do, to do an impossible thing.  They came because they needed to encounter a God who loved them and they needed that encounter to be real, tangible, embodied in a person or a community that demonstrated genuine love with acts of compassionate mercy. 
Some of us come because we are hungry.  We are hungry for food. Physical nourishment. Some of us discover that we are hungry for something else too---healing, community, compassion---we are unsatisfied, we don't have enough. Enough of whatever it takes to live a good, whole, healthy, peaceful, joyful life on earth with others. We may not be subsisting like they were.  But we are hungry too.  A friend of mine said that the fastest growing demographic in the US are people who have never experienced the gift of genuine community.  They do not belong.  And people want to belong. Maybe you have felt like an outsider or a misfit or not good enough. I meet people every day who tell me they are alone in their circumstances and they need help. I have felt alone, that no one cared, had my back, held me. Maybe you have too.     
Some of us wonder if God can or will provide.  We see scarce resources and excessive need.  We feel inadequate, small, and powerless. We wonder if there is enough.  I don't have enough______.  Fill  in the sentence.  Or howI've had just about enough of______.  Or I'm not ________enough.Its about vulnerability and insecurity.  Will we have enough?   Am I enough? 

The story teaches that there is enough.  God does provide.  We have been recipients of food since before we were born because we are enough. We are worthy because God made us so.  We continue to receive. The center of this gathered community is a table with bread and cup because God comes to us and for us there.  Our task is to receive and to give and to take up the leftovers and to never stop doing it until all know the love and grace of God. That is called communion. Living in healthy relationship with God, self, and others. May you encounter the grace of God in the sharing of bread at this table today and may you share the leftovers with those who did not come yet. Amen           

No comments: