Zion 6 Aug

Gracious God, we can often feel very ordinary and inadequate, worrying that we are not good enough. Teach us in these moments to treasure ourselves as your creation, and let your hospitable love flow through us to others. Amen.

A PRAYER OF ADORATION

Almighty God, you are the creator of all that sustains us. Lord Jesus, you are the host whose hands and heart are ever open in hospitality. Holy Spirit, you are the unseen power that binds us in the miracle of spiritual nurture. Holy Trinity of compassion and grace, we bow before you. Amen.

A PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Lord Jesus, we confess that we usually put our own needs first. Burdened with griefs and problems, we withdraw into ourselves. We fail to notice that others carry burdens, too, or selfishly fail to respond even if we do. Yet you, Lord, are ever open to our needs. When you walked among us in Galilee, you knew grief for your cousin, John, and fear for your own safety, but still you welcomed the crowd who followed you, healing their sick and meeting their needs of body and soul. You set an example to your disciples when they would have sent the people away, and you enabled these humble, human men to share in the miracle of your making. We thank you for your example of self-sacrificing compassion, and we commit to greater hospitality of spirit, mirrored in our actions. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF FORGIVENESS

The psalmist says, ‘The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.’ Father, we thank you for your saving grace. The psalmist says, ‘The Lord is just in all his ways, and kind in all his doings.’ Father, we thank you for your assurance of forgiveness when we have fallen down in our sin; when we have failed to be open to others, when we have neglected to show hospitality. Thank you for never failing to be a generous host to us, forgiving and nurturing always. Amen.

StF 158: Lord, you sometimes speak in wonder.

READING

Isaiah 55:1-5

“Come, all you who are thirsty, come to the waters; and you who have no money, come, buy and eat! Come, buy wine and milk without money and without cost. 2 Why spend money on what is not bread, and your labour on what does not satisfy? Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good, and you will delight in the richest of fare. 3 Give ear and come to me; listen, that you may live. I will make an everlasting covenant with you, my faithful love promised to David. 4 See, I have made him a witness to the peoples, a ruler and commander of the peoples. 5 Surely you will summon nations you know not, and nations you do not know will come running to you, because of the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, for he has endowed you with splendour.”

Matthew 14: 13-21

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

StF 104: God moves in mysterious ways.

SERMON

At the begining of our OT reading Isaiah shouts out “Come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters.” I suppose it was a way to get the people’s attention. Isaiah points to a future where those who have nothing will be able to eat and drink For free.

Jesus echoes this in John chapter 7 on the last day of the feast, at a time when the priest would go down to the waters of Siloam bring bowls of water and pours it over the alter.

It was that moment when Jesus drew the people’s attention to himself “to the living water” he basically tells the people who he is and invites them using the words from Isaiah come all you who are thirsty, come to the waters and drink.

He invites us too to come to drink this living water.

Jesus knows our needs better than we do and will supply all we really need not necessarily what we think we want, but what we really need.

A few years ago, flight attendants on some Airlines began spicing up their pre-flight instructions to passengers with a bit of humour. The thoughts behind this were that why talk to passengers when they’re not listening? I’m sure you’ve seen the scene as the stewardess or steward points to the exit and people are reading papers or distracted by other things.

Here are a couple of the messages:

One flight attendant began her routine this way, “In the event of a sudden loss of cabin pressure, masks will descend from the ceiling. Stop screaming, grab the mask, and pull it over your face. If you have a small child traveling with you, secure your mask before assisting with theirs. If you are traveling with more than one small child, Choose your favourite.”

Another attendant concluded a flight like this, “As you exit the plane, make sure to gather all your belongings. Anything left behind will be distributed equally amongst the flight attendants. Please do not leave children or spouses.”

A man was on route to a conference when the plane he was on made an unexpectedly long layover at an airport. A truck that was supposed to deliver the refreshments for the next leg of the journey broke down. Finally, the pilot decided that it was more important to get his passengers on their way than to wait for the snacks to arrive, so he took off.

As soon as they were in the air the passengers started grumbling. “A ticket is a contract,” one said loudly, “and snacks are part of the contract.” “I ought to sue,” another muttered. A man stood up and said, “I’m a lawyer. How many are willing to join in and sue the airline?”

Then something interesting happened. A flight attendant came on the public address system. She began with the familiar information on such flights: “Ladies and gentlemen, the captain has turned off the seatbelt lights. We have now at a cruising altitude of 30,000 feet.”

Then she said something quite extraordinary: “Having served many of you on the first leg of this flight, I know some of you still have your bags of peanuts, which you stuffed in your pocket. How many do we have? Five? Please open them and share them with the people around you. I’m sure some of you have mints. Would you pass these around, also? Those of you with newspapers, you can only read one section at a time. Spread the other sections around for others to read. Some of you are parents or grandparents. Take out the pictures of your children or grandchildren and show them to others.” With that brief announcement she changed the emotional climate of that flight.

Later, when the flight attendant came near the man’s seat he asked her, “What’s your name? What’s the name of your supervisor? I want to write a letter of commendation. That was the best example of group leadership I’ve ever seen.”

To which, she replied, “The loaves and fishes still work.”

Do you know what she was referring to? There are many scholars who believe this is exactly what happened when Jesus fed the great multitude with only five barley loaves and two small fish. People shared with one another.

You know the story from this morning’s reading. An enormous crowd of people had followed Jesus out into the wilderness. Evening was approaching. Jesus knew that the crowd would be getting hungry. “Send them away,” advised Jesus’ disciples. “Let them go into the villages to buy food for themselves.”

“That is not necessary,” Jesus replied, “You feed them.”

Well, you can imagine the disciples’ reaction one of surprise when he said that. How are they supposed to do that. They had five loaves and two fish.

We need to notice that all four gospels tell variations of this story of the feeding of the 5.000. Matthew and Mark tell some version of it twice (Matt 14:13 21; 15:32 39; Mark 6:32 44; 8:1 10; Luke 9:10 17; John 6:1 15). There are very few miracles that Jesus performed that have that level of reporting.

So, it would be difficult to say this event never occurred. The evidence is overwhelming. On at least one occasion, we can say for sure, that Jesus fed a great number of people.

We also need to understand. “Five barley loaves” is not the same as having five loaves of bread. According to biblical scholar, William Barclay, the “loaves” were small rather like little rolls. The fish were little salt fish the size of sardines.

Such a small amount but Five rolls and two tiny fish are plenty in the Lord’s hand. Remember, that when they were finished distributing the food, there were twelve baskets full left over.

How did this happen? How did the Jesus feed so many with so little?

Some scholars believe the crowd brought food with them but kept it to themselves until according to John’s gospel this small boy offered to share his lunch and shamed the others into sharing theirs. This is the principle to which the flight attendant was referring too. When we share, the amount we have seems to multiply. You know, if you have ever been to a church lunch together, why is there so much food left over.

But for many this act was purely a miracle. I mean the crowd must have brought a lot with them to leave 12 baskets full at the end of the meal.

And we are told that many people followed him and hope of more free food.

In reality most of us don’t really care how he did this with only five barley loaves and two tiny fish. What is important to us is what this story says to us about Christ.

First, this story shows us Christ’s compassion. In fact, the first thing we read in this story is that Jesus, seeing the large crowd of people, “had compassion on them.” But we expect that don’t we? Jesus came with one purpose to seek and to save the lost. When he saw Jerusalem, he wept with compassion (Luke 19:41). He knew the heartaches, the headaches, and the hungers that go with being human. And he still has compassion. He still weeps over the plight of the people.

He has compassion because he has been where we are. he was doubted, denied, betrayed, and his body broken. So, when we hurt, he understands, because he has been hurt too.

A man named Al Wiener survived the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. He entered a labour camp when he was 15. Over time his weight dropped so much he was a walking skeleton; he was weak and always hungry. He was slowly starving to death.

In one camp he was put to work in a textile factory. There were German women who worked there.

The women were forbidden from speaking to prisoners. They were not even allowed to look them in the eye.

One day a German woman pointed, motioning for Al to go to another part of the room. Al waited until no one was looking, and he went to the spot she had picked out. She pointed to a crate and walked away. Al lifted the crate and found a sandwich. A precious, precious sandwich. How we take such riches for granted. Al ate the sandwich quickly while no one was looking.

Every day for two months the woman left a sandwich under that crate for him. She risked her life for him. Al says her sandwiches probably saved his life.

Al believes that God used this woman’s heroic and charitable act to save him so that today he can tell others his story and the story of millions of unfortunate people who were executed by the Nazis.

What would the world be without compassionate people, people who are willing to feel the pain of those less fortunate than themselves? Compassion is a gift from God.

“You may call God love you may call God goodness. But the best name for God is compassion.” No one had more compassion than Jesus of Nazareth he who lay down his life for all of us.

And he is capable. That’s the second thing we need to understand. Is that he is capable. Our needs may be physical or emotional or spiritual, but Christ’s power is sufficient.

This may be the point at which many of us miss the joy of our faith.

We believe that God cares about us, but do we really believe that He is able to help us. Which means we end up living a joyless, life.

There is one more thing that needs to be said: note the young lad in John's report of this event. What if that youngster had not been willing to share his five loaves and two fish?

I believe, Christ would still have found a way to feed the crowd, but it does seem to be a clear principle of faith that Christ works best when He has something to work with.

It may be fishes and bread it might be a tiny baby hidden in the bulrushes but it’s obvious that God likes something to work with.

We are all called to be part of God’s plan, it may not be obvious to us, but the amazing truth is that the creator of everything want us to work out his plan for those around us.

St. Paul said this in 2 Corinthians 5:18 when he wrote, “All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation . . .” This is what our purpose is in life.

It is to work with God in building a better world, a world that is as God intended it to be. God provides the inspiration; we provide the perspiration. God provides the miraculous power, but someone needs to offer the barley loaves and the tiny fish.

Christ has compassion for each of us. And he can more than meet our needs.

But Christ needs something to work with. Look at your life right now.

Do you have a need?

Christ can meet that need. Is there something, though, that you need to place into his hands first, something you can do to help the situation?

Look at the needs of those around you. Does someone you know have a need? God can meet that need.

Is there something you can offer for God to work with?

Christ cares, Christ is capable. All Christ needs is for us to give him something to work with. Then we will see the amazing things God can do.

In our reading Jesus used his disciples to distribute the food to the people, he could have just called on the Father and each person would have had their fill.

But he didn’t he first told them “That they should feed them.” And that is his call to us today to be the hands and feet, of the God who loves us, it is a great responsibility, but an even greater privilege to be part of his great plan.

OFFERING DURING HYMN

StF 544: As the deer pants for the water

PRAYERS OF THANKSGIVING AND INTERCESSION

Lord, you are the ultimate host; we praise you for your generosity of spirit. Thank you for your ever-open heart and hands, swift to forgive and to bless, to feed our souls and to unburden our spirits. Thank you for your nurturing nature, enfolding us in compassion and encouragement every day. We praise you for having all the time in the world for us, even when we do not honour you in the same way. Day by day, may we grow in love and grace, learning from you, becoming more like you, we pray. Amen.

Lord, today, we pray for people who have little or nothing: for those who feel trapped in their situation, and can’t see the bigger picture, or even any tiny glimmer of light. We pray for people who are hungry: for parents who struggle to feed their children, and themselves. We thank you for the work of food banks, and pray that they would have the resources to continue to meet so many needs. We pray that you would give us an appreciation of our food: the work that goes into producing and distributing it. Teach us not to be wasteful, but to preserve and pass on the goodness of your earth. Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,

Hallowed be thy name,

Thy Kingdom come,

Thy will be done,

On earth as it is in heaven,

Give us this day our daily bread,

And forgive us our trespasses,

As we forgive those who trespass against us,

And lead us not into temptation,

But deliver us from evil.

For thine is the kingdom, the power, and the glory,

For ever and ever Amen.

StF 545: Be, thou, my vision.

BLESSING

Loving God, thank you for using our small contributions. Help us not to doubt that each of us has something to offer, and that, when we trustfully offer it to you, you do amazing things for us, among us and through us – in Jesus’ name. Amen.

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