August 23, 2020 Sermon by Jim Kauth

"GROWING OLD AIN’T FOR SISSYS" 

CULTURAL VIEW OF AGING

Our culture is obsessed with the idea of youthfulness! (which is the opposite of aging) How long ago did we hear that 40 is the new 30, 60 the new 50! Everything we see advertised is either about masking the bodily pains of aging or touting a drug, natural or synthetic to keep aging at bay or even reversing it. We advertise communities where our golden years are spent bike riding, golfing, swimming, our social life filled with friends and our sleep restful!!

Remember the comedian, Jeff Foxworthy and his “you know you’re a redneck if….”  well, you know you’re getting old if…:

· You’re riding a bike and your knees make more noise than the bicycle chain!

· You don’t so much break your new year’s resolutions as just forget what they are!

Here are some adages from the comic strip "Maxine":

· I don’t know how to act my age, I’ve never been this age before! 

· I don’t want to say I’m old and worn out but I make sure I’m nowhere near the curb on trash    day! 

· I’ve finally figured out what I want to be when I get old, I want to be young! 

· Don’t let aging get you down – it’s too hard to get back up!

Now, what our culture says about aging is not so much out-right lies, there are small truths in our jokes and skewed views on aging. But really, our golden years are not so golden for everyone. 40 in not the new 30! Yes, as we age we collect aches and pains and yes, we are fortunate to have ways to ease our pains though we can’t always afford all these ways! We cannot stop our aging, we cannot reverse our aging and no we don’t always sleep all night uninterrupted. Yes we can play golf or basketball or swimming or other activities, but when we do we pay for it immediately and are always reminded that we are not young anymore!

Let’s talk about two other cultural misconceptions about old people; the first is we don’t like change; we resist change and are incapable of adjusting to change. I’m reading a book by Will Willimon. Will is theologian (he and I are on a first name basis, Will just doesn’t know this). Will is also a retired Methodist pastor and bishop, and is currently a professor at Duke Divinity School. He is one of the most read authors by pastors. In his book “Aging” Will references an article he read concerning the 6-8 most difficult transitions we make in life; most of them will occur after the age of 65. Transitions such as declining health, loss of independence, unemployment, loss of a spouse, loss of friends and the decline of institutions we relied on to keep us centered are among the major transitions we must make in life, and not by choice. It is true we old folks don’t like change, right along with everyone else; yet, we still make changes. We older folks, in truth, are drowning in changes, serious traumatic changes and we’re still chugging along.

And how about the second thing - us losing our mental agility? Yes we do have a reduced capacity to multi-task, this is a scientific fact, obviously this is the truth because science says so. Where once we could keep 7-8 balls in the air, we now can only keep 2 balls in the air. Additional proof of this is in the direct relationship with the number of steps we take to work our smart phones. Our kids and grandkids will gladly show us how to do one thing or another on our cell phones by rattling off 5 or 6 steps to take. Right?! By the time they reach step #6, we are just coming to terms with step #2, thus proving we can keep only 2 balls in the air at once. I think this reduced mental capacity is something we all can live with, don’t you?

Yet science has also shown we older folks have an increased capacity to reflect. I didn’t say day-dream; we are able to reflect more deeply than we could when we were younger, maybe this is because we have more uninterrupted time. Science has shown our brains do change as we get older but whatever the reason, thinking deeply about life is a gift, a gift from God and this gift can benefit our community, if we share it.

BIBLICAL VIEW ON AGING

What does the bible say about aging? Let’s take a deeper look at our 2nd scripture reading, Ecclesiastes 12:1-8. Here’s a little background on this puzzling book.

Ecclesiastes is “Wisdom Literature”, Wisdom literature deals with the way the world “works.” In this book, one of the most important words used to describe life is the Hebrew word, hebel. It is used 38 times. In Ecclesiastes, the word implies that life is fleeting, like a breath, like morning mist; it suggests that everything that happens lacks permanence and is ultimately provisional. After carefully examining nearly every aspect of life, the teacher, in Ecclesiastes, concludes that nothing lasts; nothing and no one can escape death, the great equalizer of all. Nevertheless, human beings are wired differently from other creatures, for God has placed eternity in our minds,

11and I know God has made everything beautiful for its time. God has also placed in our minds a sense of eternity; we look back on the past and ponder over the future, yet we cannot understand the doings of God. (3:11)

And the teacher summarizes the entire book with these words,

13when all is said and done, here is the last word: worship in reverence the one True God, and keep His commands, for this is what God expects of every person. 14For God will judge every action—including everything done in secret—whether it be good or evil. (12:13)

Now lets take a look at Ecclesiastes 12:1-8 (NRSV).

12 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2 before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain; 3 in the day when the guards of the house tremble, and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few, and those who look through the windows see dimly; 4 when the doors on the street are shut, and the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird, and all the daughters of song are brought low; 5 when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road; the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along and desire fails; because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets; 6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it. 8 Vanity of vanities, says the Teacher; all is vanity.

“ 1 Remember your creator in the days of your youth, ” 

Well, we now know we will hear some advice; from an elder to a youth.

“ before the days of trouble come, and the years draw near when you will say, “I have no pleasure in them”; 2  before the sun and the light and the moon and the stars are darkened and the clouds return with the rain; ” 

Yes, this is definitely about getting old.

‘ “I have no pleasure in them”, ’
I think we can see right off, this advice is not about fairy tale views of our “golden years”.
This reading from Ecclesiastes is a poetic but sober view on aging!

“ 3 in the day when the guards of the house tremble, ”
i.e., your hands begin to shake, your grip weakens.

“ and the strong men are bent, and the women who grind cease working because they are few ” 

Your legs get weak and your teeth get fewer.

“ and those who look through the windows see dimly ”
Your eye sight weakens,

“ 4 the doors on the street are shut ”
You get lonely, many of your friends are gone, the things you depended on, the things that allowed you to stay centered are all gone, changed or are changing.

“the sound of the grinding is low, and one rises up at the sound of a bird and all the daughters of song are brought low”,
You can’t get a good night’s sleep anymore and your voice gets weak and trembles.

“ 5 when one is afraid of heights, and terrors are in the road ”
You become timid and fearful.

“ the almond tree blossoms, the grasshopper drags itself along ”
Your hair becomes white, your limbs creak and you stumble.

“ and desire fails ”
Need I comment.

“ because all must go to their eternal home, and the mourners will go about the streets; 6 before the silver cord is snapped, and the golden bowl is broken, and the pitcher is broken at the fountain, and the wheel broken at the cistern, 7 and the dust returns to the earth as it was, and the breath returns to God who gave it. “
You die.

I know what I just said isn’t poetic, not like this reading from Ecclesiastes but it is equally blunt. Are we prepared for this? Well prepared or not - this is us!

The Old Testament’s view of old age, poetic at best, is still bleak but not without purpose. Listen to God speaking though the prophet Joel.

“28 Then in those days I will pour My Spirit to all humanity; your children will boldly and prophetically speak the word of God. Your elders will dream dreams; your young men and women will see visions. “  (Joel 2: 28) The Book of Joel is placed around 900 year BCE.

Your elders will dream dreams! This isn’t referring to dreams of bygone day or nostalgic dreams. God’s Spirit is the living Spirit, for the living people of God! These dreams are saturated with God’s imagination, filled with God’s instructions and when we dream these dreams are we to keep silent, tell no one? NO, God calls us to share our God-filled dreams with God’s people.

The New Testament’s view of old age is equally up front, no change in this getting old then we die, but the New Testament also emphasizes getting old but with purpose. Because God does have a purpose for each of us, no matter how old we are. We don’t die having no purpose! Hear what the Lord says!

2Exhort the older men to enjoy everything in moderation, respect yourselves and others, be sensible, and dedicate yourselves to living an unbroken faith demonstrated by your love and perseverance. 3And the older women: Be respectful. Steer clear of gossip or drinking too much so that you can teach what is good to young women. (Titus 2: 2-3) 

Be a positive example. We elders are given instructions on how we should behave as an aged Christian, how to be role models. 

Now listen to this wonderful example of God’s use of Old People: Luke 2:21, 26-32 our first scripture reading.

21 Eight days after His birth, the baby was circumcised in keeping with Jewish religious requirements, and He was named Jesus, 26 The Holy Spirit had revealed to (SIM ih uhn) Simeon that he would not die before he had seen the Lord’s Anointed One. 27The Spirit had led him to the temple that day, and there he saw the child Jesus in the arms of His parents, who were fulfilling their sacred obligations. 28 (SIM ih uhn) Simeon took Jesus into his arms and blessed God. 29 Now, Lord and King, You can let me, Your humble servant, die in peace. 30 You promised me that I would see with my own eyes what I’m seeing now: Your freedom, 31 Raised up in the presence of all peoples. 32 He is the light who reveals Your message to the other nations, and He is the shining glory of Your covenant people, Israel.

There are many other examples in the Old and New Testaments, showing God’s sacred use of us, elderly people of God for the people of God.


WHAT DOES THIS MEAN FOR US?

We’ve looked at our current cultural fantasies, we’ve looked at some cultural misconceptions and we’ve taken a brief look at the true story of aging and purpose as told in the bible. So what’s left?

What’s left is our personal discernment for God’s chosen purposes for us, the aged, the elderly, the not young anymore. What’s left is for us, as a community of faith to encourage, exhort, and support each other in retelling the true story of aging. All around us we hear of aging congregations and what’s inferred is we; the old are of no more use, we are irrelevant, out of step, stuck in a past that is no more. This is not the true story of aging as told in the Word of God and by the living Word of God! God still has uses for us. God still calls us to service, yes; I know it’s not the same service God called us to when we were younger, God knows us better than we know ourselves! It’s time to reflect on God’s Word more deeply, to consider our life and the lives of others more deeply. It’s time we proudly live as positive examples of living, aging and yes, dying! The price for this sacred, beautiful, generous gift of life is death, yet, this cost is a small price to pay for being transformed in physical life, and dying to live the true life we are promised.

You are hearing all of this today because right here, right now, this family of faith is discerning God’s desires and God’s directions for this family of faith. To rightly discern God’s Will we need to hear the prophetic words of our children, we need to hear about the God given visions of our young men and women and we need to hear from each other about the God given dreams for our future walk with God.

I know you people, you’ll arrive at the pearly gates, enjoy the music, bask in the glory of the Almighty for a while, then you’ll say Ok, thanks, what can we do to help, what can we do to serve. And our Creator will give a great big belly laugh and our Lord, Jesus will be grinning from ear to ear and the Holy Spirit will nod and smile because we were listening and our joy will overflow as we continue to serve our Holy and Sacred Triune God. AMEN.

Matthew 5: 14-16, August 16, 2020, Sermon

"It Only Takes a Spark" 

Ginger Rembold

It only takes a spark to get a fire going….
It only takes one match to light a candle that shines in the darkness…
It only takes a tiny mustard seed to grow a mighty tree...
It only takes one stone thrown into the pond to make circles rippling in an ever-widening reach.

We have all heard of the “Ripple Effect”. And how small acts of kindness and love can ripple with no logical end to the good the results, in ways we could never imagine, in a cascade of change.

Mother Teresa wrote of this phenomenon, “I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the water to create many ripples.”

Or the Dalai Lama who said, “Just as ripples spread out when a single stone is dropped into water, the actions of individuals can have far-reaching effects.”

The late Robert Kennedy voiced, “Each time a man or woman stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, they send forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from different centers of energy and daring, those ripples build a current that can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.” Those are pretty strong words.

Some well-known people have talked about the power of one stone, one spark, one match, one mustard seed, one person, one act, to change the world. As teachers, we aren’t as renowned as the aforementioned, but after the fact we often realize the impact our one word of encouragement might have had on a struggling student when they return years later to say, “You made a difference.”

Country recording artists, The Chicks, have a song called “March March”, in which they remind us that we are all an army of one, capable of promoting positive change in action, word, and deed.

Another singer, one of my favorites, John Denver, sang a song, "What One Man Can Do" with the following chorus:
What one man can do is dream
What one man can do is love
What one man can do is change the world
And make it young again
Here you see what one man can do.

If we need any greater example of what ONE MAN CAN DO, just look to our Lord Jesus. One man who changed the world. We’ll get back to Jesus later.

But for the sake of gender equality in today’s world, just sing the words in your head as one person! Man or woman, the power of one is there!

Lily Tomlin said, “I always wondered why somebody doesn’t do something about that. Then I realized I was that somebody!”

Matthew West has a song titled, “Do Something” which includes the following lyrics….
I woke up this morning
Saw a world full of trouble now
Thought, how’d we ever get so far down
How’s it ever gonna turn around
So I turned my eyes to Heaven
I thought, “God, why don’t You do something?”
Well, I just couldn’t bear the thought of
People living in poverty
Children sold into slavery
The thought disgusted me
So, I shook my fist at Heaven
Said, “God, why don’t You do something?”
He said, “I did, I created you”

Christian activist Shane Claiborn wrote a book, entitled Becoming the Answer to Our Prayers. We can’t just pray to God and expect a miracle. God works his miracles through ordinary, flawed, fearful people just like you and I. We ARE the answer sometimes to our prayers. I saw a quote on Facebook just the other night that said, “If we pray to God to move mountains, we had better be ready to wake up in the morning lying next to a shovel.”

I want to share a couple stories of two men, on either side of the world, both who woke up to a shovel, and chose to become the answer to their prayers, who chose to be the spark, the stone thrown into the waters.

The first is Ron Finley who is known as the Guerilla Gardener of South Los Angeles, an area known as an unresourced, food desert for fresh produce. In 2010, Ron looked out his front door at the bare strip of dirt along the curb between sidewalk and street, took his shovel, dug into the dirt, and planted some seeds – he struck the match that sparked a revolution in Southern California. However, the city of Los Angeles owns that strip of land, the easement, and cited Ron for gardening without a permit. Sometimes, as Jesus showed us in the overturning of the temple tables, it takes a little bit of creative defiance to enact justified change. Ron fought back with petitions and publicity, and the city backed off. Now whole stretches of streets in South LA are lined with pumpkins, peppers, sunflowers, kale and corn. Ron has become a community leader and all he started out wanting was some affordable, nontoxic vegetables. One man, one seed, one spark, one stone – a community changed.

On the other side of the world in India, Dadarao Bilbore was a father in mourning. He had lost his son to an accident in 2015, an accident involving a pothole in the street. And in India there are many potholes which cause many accidents. 2017 statistics cite at least 10 deaths a day caused by potholes, racking up a total of approximately 3600 lives lost and 25,000 injured by the end of the year. Simply from potholes. So what did this grieving father do? One by one, he started filling in potholes, one shovelful at a time. At first he filled in potholes outside his small shop, then he continued throughout his community to the tune of over 600 potholes and still counting. Bilbore didn’t wait for some “bigger power” to sweep in and solve the problem. Yet his simple action inspired others, again one pothole at a time. One individual, one shovel, one spark, one stone, one light shining and lives are saved.

Let’s get back to this morning’s scriptures: In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus calls us the Light of the World, a light that must never be hidden, but allowed to shine. I love the way The Message translates that to “reveal the God-Colors of the World”. For a tie-dye lover, God-Colors speaks my language! Our light must shine, not for our glory, but to reveal God to the world. To shine is to project light. The moon does not shine on its own, it reflects the light of the sun, yet it can illuminate a dark night. Our light can shine through our words and our actions, but we must always remember it is the Light of Christ shining through us.

But, you say, my light is just a mini flashlight. I am just a spark, just a tiny stone. I am only a mustard seed. I don’t have the skills, I am afraid to take the risk. No one will listen to me. All that might be true if the light shining is just YOUR light, but it is the Light of Christ, it is GOD-Light and that makes all the difference!

Our OT scripture from Isaiah reminded us to “Fear not, be not dismayed. I am with you, I am your God. I will strengthen you, I will help you.” Or Philippians 4:13 which reminds us that “We can do all things through him who strengthens me.” Ephesians 2:10 assures us that ‘we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we CAN DO THE GOOD THINGS he planned for us long ago.” We are not alone in this job. We are not without help when we strike the spark or toss the stone or plant the seed.

If ever there was a time in our lives when the power of our individual actions is needed to spark a revolution of positive change, it is now. With our country and world in the midst of pandemic turmoil, political unrest and conflict, uncertainty and darkness. Our actions don’t need to be grand-scale. Remember sparks! Stones! Think small! Take a moment right now, to think of one small action you can take this week that could ripple beyond. It might be as insignificant as a phone call or a postcard, a meal, or a letter to your congressman. It might be a prayer seeking God’s guidance in which pond your stone might ripple. But to quote Matthew West, DO SOMETHING!

Back in February, Pastor Randy preached a sermon on "Salt and Light" with words I found profound enough to scribble a picture, the picture you found inserted in your bulletin this morning. A picture I will include in the print sermon for those of you on-line. Randy said, “Deep within us all there abides an amazing Sanctuary of the Soul, a light within where the slumbering Christ waits to be awakened and shine.” Take your picture and put it in a place where it will remind you to shine!

So folks, let us dig deep into the sanctuary of our soul and awaken our light! May we set a spark to our match and plant a seed of change in our world. We each and all have the power to make a difference if we are willing to risk throwing the stone into the pond. LET YOUR LIGHT SHINE! Amen.

Matthew 14:22-33, August 9, 2020, Sermon

“Taking the First Step”

by Pastor Randy Butler 

Vs. 22-23 - Immediately he made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead to the other side, while he dismissed the crowds. And after he had dismissed the crowds, he went up to a mountain by himself to pray. When evening came he was there alone.”

Let’s first take note that Jesus dismisses the crowd. Twice Matthew says that he dismissed the crowd. He said goodbye to them, he didn’t just take off without some common courtesy. He is with them the whole way, right to the end.

But more importantly we see that Jesus dismisses the crowd and then goes to a place to pray by himself, all alone. What is true for him is true for us. There are occasions when we need to dismiss the crowd and go to a place to be alone and pray, all by ourselves. This doesn’t have to be a literal crowd. You may not have crowds of people following you. But just ask a young mother with two children if she needs time alone, if she doesn’t feel sometimes like a crowd of kids is following her and making demands of her. Grandparents who are babysitting their grandchildren can often feel the same way. But it also means that we dismiss the crowds following us on Facebook or other social media. It means that we have to take time alone and dismiss the thoughts and ideas that crowd our minds and hearts, to turn off the news, put down the paper and just be alone.

When we do it is kind of scary – no more crowds, no more distractions, left alone with our thoughts, but we have to do it, make time alone with God, just like Jesus did.

Vs. 24 - but by this time the boat, battered by the waves, was far from land, for the wind was against them.

We can just picture the disciples out on the water, struggling. Matthew has three ways of saying that it is tough going – the waves were battering the boat, they were far from land, and the wind was against them. Ever feel like the waves are battering your boat, that you are far from land, and that the wind is against you?

I remember fishing with a friend on a lake in Eastern Washington a few years ago. It was a good day but in the afternoon the wind came up, and it really started blowing. I had a small pontoon boat, and I anchored up on one side and kept on fishing. My friend though was in his favorite canoe. Canoes don’t do well in the wind, and as I was fishing I could see that he was struggling. But I wasn’t too concerned, he wasn’t in any danger, but about an hour later I saw my friend walking up the opposite bank. I called out and said, “What happened, where is your canoe?” He said, “The wind blew me to the end of the lake, and I couldn’t row back.” So I paddled over and we walked down the length of the lake, hoisted up his canoe and walked it back to the other end. A couple of months later he bought a pontoon boat. He never fished in a canoe again.

The wind was against us that day. You may feel that the wind is against you at times, maybe even right now. You are worried about your family and friends, in the midst of COVID-19. You are worried about the economy, your job, your savings. We are worried about our community as the wind blows against us, and the waves batter us. We wonder about the winds of change blowing against our church, the culture has changed so much that we feel like we are far from the land that used to be so familiar. The wind of our own breath is even against us today for fear of breathing a virus on each other. Like the disciples the wind does indeed seem to blow against us sometimes.

Vs 25-27 – And early in the morning he came walking toward them on the sea. But when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were terrified, saying “It is a ghost!” And they cried out in fear. But immediately Jesus spoke to them and said, “Take heart, it is I; do not be afraid.”

Immediately we are told, Jesus assures them, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.” Sometimes when someone says, “Don’t be afraid,” it can seem kind of trite, and it doesn’t help. It sort of depends who says it, and in this case it is Jesus, the same one who came to them walking on water.

In the ancient world, the sea was a symbol of chaos, darkness, even evil. They didn’t know what was under there in those days, no scuba diving, no submarines, no way to know what was lurking there under the surface. I did a little scuba diving when I was younger, and I didn’t really like when before or after a dive I was just bobbing on the surface, waiting for some creature to grab me by the legs. I have seen Jaws the movie. I know what can happen. I always felt more comfortable when I put on my mask and started to dive. Then I could see. I would rather see that Great White shark coming for me, than imagine being grabbed from underneath the surface.

The first words of the Bible, in Genesis 1, describe this: “In the beginning when God created the heavens and earth, the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, while a wind from God swept over the face of the waters, Then God said let there be light.”

Matthew is telling us that Jesus is the master of the deep, that he rules over our chaos and confusion and darkness. Whatever fears, and anxieties are swimming around within us or in our midst, Jesus is there saying, “Take heart, it is I, do not be afraid.”

Vs 28-33 – Peter answered him, “Lord, if it is you, command me to come to you on the water.” He said, “Come.” So Peter got out of the boat, started walking on the water, and came toward Jesus. But when he noticed the strong wind, he became frightened, and beginning to sink, he cried out, “Lord, save me!” Jesus immediately reached out his hand and caught him, saying to him, “You of little faith, why did you doubt?” When they got into the boat, the wind ceased. And those in the boat worshipped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.”

We know that Peter is somewhat impulsive. He is always jumping into the water or something else. But it is not just impulsiveness here that drives him. He wants to do what Jesus is doing. And that is really what every disciple then or now wants to do. We want to do what our Lord is doing. We watch and then we say “My turn,” and we try to do what he is doing. And do you see how Peter puts this: “Lord, command me to come to you on the water.” He waits for the Lord’s command before he jumps, and we presume he won’t jump unless he hears that command. Not only that, he isn’t just planning to go for a stroll on the water, with no destination in mind, he is going to go straight for Jesus. “”…command me to come to you.”

Still that first step is a doozy. Notice that Peter’s decision to step off the boat takes place under stormy conditions. That is the way life is – often a difficult choice between two less than ideal options. A woman who is trapped in an abusive relationship knows this difficult decision. Do I stay or step into the unknown? Maybe you’ve been in a kind of dead end job, “do I stay or do I leave and take my chances elsewhere? Again, COVID-19 puts us in this position too. Do we lock down and watch the economy suffer or do we open up and watch COVID cases spread.

So when life presents us with challenges, we can either stay in the wave battered boat, the wind against us, of we can get up, step out of the boat and take our chances with Jesus on the water. The first step is the hardest but as Presbyterian pastor John Ortberg says, if you want to walk on water you’ve got to get out of the boat. And Jesus is saying to us, “Come.” Bible teacher Dale Bruner translates, “Come on Church.” It is an invitation to the church to walk with and toward Jesus in turbulent times. “Come on Church, walk with me on the water, and I will be there when you fall.”

Which is exactly what Peter does – fall. When he starts looking around at the water and wind he gets scared and falls, and Jesus catches him. Peter, like most of us is a mixture of faith and fear, of feats and failure. That’s the way we are, the way Peter is, and Jesus’ rebuke I think is gentle – O you of little faith why did you doubt? I think he says it with a warm smile on his face.

Now we can emphasize with the failure – his fall. And we often do, even criticizing ourselves for our lack of faith in the tough circumstances of life. But we often forget what Peter really did here. When they get back in the boat, and the wind calms down, Jesus is in the boat with them now. And they are all amazed at Jesus – “truly you are the son of God.” Peter too – amazed with the Lord, perhaps discouraged that he couldn’t keep going with Jesus. But then I imagine that one of the other disciples, Andrew his brother, or James or John turns to him and says, “Too bad you fell, but don’t forget for a minute there you were walking on water.”

He invites us to come, to walk with him on toward him on the turbulent waters of life. Let’s take that step together and see what happens.

Matthew 14:13-21, August 2, 2020, Sermon

“Our Reality - God’s Reality”

by Pastor Randy Butler

I have to be honest with you. It has been a long time since I have preached on this text. It’s possible I have avoided it, because I always read it with some confusion, perhaps even skepticism. I mean, five loaves and two fish multiplied to feed 5000, and in one of its more sexist references, 5000 men, besides women and children. Now I have always found it a credit to the writers of the Gospels that they don’t get too caught up in how the miracles of Jesus take place. They don’t give spectacular or fantastical details. They simply report that they did indeed happen. That to me gives the gospels credibility. But I find myself wondering, how were the fish especially multiplied? Did they just start appearing in the baskets? Were they alive? Did someone cook the fish, or did they eat the fish raw? Perhaps if you’ve read this passage you have had the same kinds of odd and perhaps challenging questions.

But this miracle story shows up in every one of the four gospels, one of the few that does. And in some cases there is a second feeding as well, a feeding of 4000. So somebody is trying to tell us something. The gospel writers wanted the church to know these feeding stories, and to live by them. And God’s Spirit through them wants to continue to teach us through this story today. So we’ve got to read and listen to this text.

The text starts by saying that Jesus had just heard that his relative John has been beheaded. John the Baptist spoke truth to Herod, the king of that region, and he paid for it with his head. And Matthew tells us that when Jesus heard this he withdrew to a deserted place. I don’t want to overlook that this morning because it is a reminder of the dangerous circumstances in which Jesus operated. The stakes were really high. But when Jesus goes into the deserted place crowds follow him. And Matthew says he had compassion for them. One translation says his heart went out to them. Here is Jesus, grieving the loss of his friend, a little wary. Perhaps if we give his humanity full expression, even a little fearful. Whatever the mixture of difficult emotions filling him, he has room in his heart for this crowd. He has compassion for them, and he cures their sick. Jesus has a big heart for the world.

Not so much the disciples though. When they see the crowds they tell Jesus, “Send ‘em home, it’s late, there are no stores out here – send them back to their villages so they can eat.” The disciples see the situation as the reality. It is true there is no provision for them in the wilderness. It wouldn’t be wrong to send them back. They are realists, like most of us. “I mean there are thousands of people out here, we can’t handle this.” And Jesus might have lost his cool right here just a little. They are sort of telling him what to do. He might have rebuked them. But he doesn’t. He simply says, “They don’t need to go home, why don’t you feed them.” And you can hear the disciples go, “Right, we have five loaves and two fish here, no problem – we’ll get on this.”

Clearly Jesus is operating with a different view of reality, a bigger view of what is possible. Our reality comes face to face with his reality. “All we have is these five loaves and two fish” - their reality. “OK, bring them here to me” - his reality. We are about to see how his view expands their view and our view. When he prays over these five loaves and two fish, he looks to heaven – that is his reality, a heavenly reality, a life and reality informed by, abiding in a divine perspective on what is possible and what isn’t. Elsewhere he says, “The Kingdom of Heaven is at hand,” as if to say “Leave your narrow cramped kingdoms where you are in charge, and let me be in charge. Bring the five loaves and two fish to me and let’s see what happens.”

And so we say, “But Lord, we don’t have enough to provide food packs for Baker students.” “Well, bring what you have to me.” “Lord we aren’t sure how to feed middle school students breakfast if Open Door can’t be open this fall.” “OK, bring what you have to me, and let’s see what we can do.” “O Lord, we don’t have enough volunteers.” “OK, but bring to me the ones you do have.” Our kingdoms are realistic maybe but also small minded and fearful, based on not having enough. His Kingdom is focused on a multiplication of what we have, little as it may be.

And this is surely what all four gospels want to make the new struggling church to understand, and us to understand: Jesus uses what the church has in its hands and gives to him to multiply for the serving the world.

Now Jesus again, could have simply said, “Five loaves and two fish? Get rid of those, “I’ll just snap my fingers and presto we will have 5000 full meals.” He doesn’t do that. He uses what we have. Jesus puts to use what we bring him. He uses the raw material that we offer him. He goes from five and two to 5000 with the ingredients on hand.

Some of you have probably seen that cooking show “Chopped.” It’s a cooking competition in which three or four chefs are given a basket of very strange and unmatched ingredients and are told to make an appetizer out of this strange mix. They do, and the panel of expert chefs tastes and offers critique and then eliminates/chops the chef whose dish doesn’t quite measure up. They do this through the main dish and dessert, each time with new baskets of weird ingredients. On Chopped you have to make something out of what you have, whatever it is, even it is five loaves and two fish.

In Jesus’ Kingdom then, in his reality we simply bring what we have. And he uses that. We could say that the miracle is supernatural but he uses the natural ingredients we bring to him. And he multiplies it for those in need. So it is a miracle of transformation, not a magic trick. He needs our contribution. And he needs our service. He takes the five loaves and two fish, looks to heaven, offers a blessing, and then he gets quite organized – telling the crowd to have a seat, and then giving the food to the disciples and directing them to serve the people who are seated. Jesus is like the head chef and the disciples have become waiters, and busboys and girls, they serve and clean up afterwards. So Jesus needs what we bring and he needs our partnership in the serving of the meal. Once again he doesn’t just bypass us with some magic act. He uses us, needs us, so that those in need are fed and filled.

Matthew points out that there were even some leftovers. Maybe the leftovers were sent home with the crowd. When I was a young man, after I had moved out of my childhood home, but was still living in Sacramento where I grew up, I often went to my mother’s for dinner, not being a very good cook living on my own. And it was always a great dinner, but the best part was when my mom would send me home with the leftovers, leftover sliced roast beef, a bowl of home-made macaroni and cheese (“bring back the bowl”), cookies. On my way home I was full, satisfied. I had been on the receiving end of my mother’s abundant provision, and her abundant love. It is like that with Jesus, who shares with us the love and abundance of God. The apostle Paul says in his letters that this love and grace is lavished upon us. He says in another place that God’s love is poured into our hearts by the Holy Spirit given to us. In our text this morning, Matthew wants us to know that life with Jesus is an abundant life. There is always more. God’s love never runs out.

So we can offer it to others. Here is a question, Bible teacher Dale Bruner asks this question related to this passage. Who is our 5000? Who is our crowd? Of course, it doesn’t have to be 5000 literally – in our case that would be half of Baker City. But who are the people, the crowd God has given to us? That is a good question as we continue to clarify our sense of mission and purpose during this interim transition in our life together. To whom is God sending us? We don’t have to do everything. We just bring what we have to Jesus, let him multiply, help him serve, and even share what’s leftover.