You are the Miracle, First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 7/31/2011

I would suggest watching the two videos that I showed for todays worship, prior to reading the sermon as it will help round out what I spoke about. I used one video during children's time and the other at the start of the sermon. Titles in order are: What is your " 5 Loaves & 2 Fishes"?, the other was, Fish Eyhes - Feeding of the 5000 (US Film version) staring Jason Hildebrand and Ted Swartz. These can be found on Youtube. Remember, You are the start, and you are the miracle!
You are the Miracle!
By Rev Steven R Mitchell
First Congregational UCC, Rock Springs, WY 7/31/2011
Based on Matthew 14:13-21

We have had several versions this morning in looking at the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand, through the two videos that we watched as well as with the reading from Matthew. I hope that you haven’t come this morning thinking that I will be able to explain to you how Jesus was able to turn those few loaves of bread and two fishes into a banquet that could feed over five thousand men as well as all the women and children that were also there listening to him, because I can’t do that. But I can address how Jesus was able to use those few loaves and fishes, so that everyone was not only satisfied but there were left-over’s.
Are you aware that “reality” is fluid? No two people sitting in this room, has exactly the same experience as to what is going on in this service. Take the glass with water that is filled to the middle. To some people the glass may be half filled; to others it may be half empty. Ink blots on a card are always interpreted differently by everyone who looks at them. If you were to take two people, one who is colored blind to say, green, the other who is not color blind, have them look at a garden filled with flowers, the person who is color blind to green’s will see the garden very differently from the person who isn’t color blind. Reality of the garden is different to both of the onlookers.
Today’s lessen isn’t really about how the bread and fish were able to multiply enough to feed everyone who was hunger, but rather it is a story dealing with perceptions. As you saw in the video presentation, when Andrew and Peter were asking Jesus to send the people away, to go back into town, so that they may eat, Jesus gives them the opportunity to feed them. In the eyes of the disciples, they did not have enough resources in which to feed such a massive crowd. Jesus asks them, “What do you have?” After they looked around, they discovered they only had a few loaves of bread and a couple of fish, hardly enough to feed 5,000 hungry men much less all the women and children who must have been there.
To the disciples, the glass was half empty. To Jesus, it was a start. Think about the number of people who have placed their faith in the actions and teachings of Jesus over the past two thousand years. Jesus started out with only a few followers, and they told their friends about Jesus and his teachings, and eventually there were twelve disciples. A small core of men for such a great undertaking of spreading the “Good News” that Jesus was teaching. When he looked at the twelve disciples do you think he saw this core group as not being enough to accomplish such an important mission? Or do you think he saw them as, “it’s a beginning”?
The heart of Jesus’ ministry and his teaching is what we call today, “social justice”. Jesus saw the injustice of those who had more than “enough” to live on, and how they gave very little concern to those who were poor, des-enfranchised, needing health care, needing adequate housing, needing food to eat, those suffering with mental-illness, those who are victims of racism and sexism. It is the same topics we struggle with in today’s world.
Today’s sermon is ideal for a stewardship lesson, an opportunity for us to look at the abundance that we have and examine our perception of what we have been given by God and about our attitudes toward Social Justice issues. As a nation we have been teetering on the verge of a financial collapse not experienced since the Great Depression. We have had some recovery but according to some economic experts the worst is not over and we will see even a larger economic dip in about a year and a half from now. This is very disturbing news, and should this actually occur, it is going to be through our perceptions as to how well we will survive through that period of time.
I bring this up to point out an observation about how we as a society and as individuals react and handle prosperity and depression. During the Great Depression, when practically nobody had any money, to speak of, there was a willingness to help out our neighbor, or the stranger who was in more need than you. Winnie VanValkenberg shared a few weeks ago of how her parents house was marked by the hobo’s as a house to come to for food. Their home was not unusual. Yet today we live in untold wealth, compared to the 1930’s, yet we keep our house locked, we are hesitant to speak to strangers, and we give less to charities and to our churches, per capita. The point that I am bringing out is, it seem that the more wealth that we accumulate the less giving we become. When we are in a position to share from our abundance to those who need, we actually give less. Why do you think that is? It comes from a perception of scarcity, “If I give, I may not have enough for myself.”
We speak of God’s economy in the church, about the abundance of God’s love. We speak about extravagant hospitality, yet we give to social need with the attitude of scarcity. We need more money to do a program, we need more members to survive, and we need more help, God. We don’t have enough; it is up to you God to do something about this.
Wrong, wrong, wrong! When the disciples asked Jesus to act, he said, “No, you do something about it.” “You figure it out and do something about it.” The late President John F. Kennedy said it this way, “Ask not what your country can do for you, but rather, ask what you can do for your country.” The church needs to ask less about how God is going to help us, but start asking more of God, “What do you want us to do?”
Once the disciples started to look around, asking, working with what they had, they realized that they had more than what they needed. When Jesus gave a blessing over the food, it wasn’t blessing the food so much as it was, blessing God for God’s faithfulness. Two years ago, this church was asking, “How are we going to keep the doors open?” Now we are asking, “How are we going to make the budget?” Is the glass half empty or is the glass half full? Are we like the disciples, wanting to send people home hungry because we don’t have enough faith to recognize the abundance that God has given us?
Two years ago, there was no Sunday school for the children. Two years ago, I heard people asking where are the children? Through the concern and dedication of some of our people, we provided a program for our children. Bingo! We average 15 children during the year in Sunday school. Out of this has come the opportunity to hire someone to work at developing even a better program for our children. We started out with two fish and some bread, we are now experiencing more than what we started with!
Are we going to be true to the call of Jesus, to not look at what we can’t do, but rather, trust in the extravagance of God to provide what we see needing to be done? Are we just two fish and some loaves of bread or are we the start? I think if Jesus was here this morning, He would see you as the start, He would see you as the miracle! Amen