SPEAKER_00: Welcome to the First Love Church Podcast.
SPEAKER_00: This is a collection of Sunday teachings inspired by the Revised Common Lectionary and recorded weekly in Ocala, Florida.
SPEAKER_00: I think it matters for us to remember ten Sundays since we celebrated together the giving of the Holy Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: Ten Sundays, ten weeks of practicing attunement with the Holy Spirit, of practicing alignment with love, of remembering who we truly are, ones made in the image of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: And so it's with a lot of joy this morning that I get to read the text with you.
SPEAKER_00: And I do get to talk about Jesus with you, one of my favorite things of all times to talk about.
SPEAKER_00: And I love to talk about Jesus, and I also love to talk about the Spirit.
SPEAKER_00: And in the verse that we just read together, it says the Holy Spirit is given to us as proof that God lives in us, and we live in God.
SPEAKER_00: And the invitation for us this morning is to look at the text, to re-examine it, to allow the spirit to increase our ability to have a holy imagination, and for us to say, where is the transformation that the scripture promises?
SPEAKER_00: Where are the miracles among us?
SPEAKER_00: Where is the good news for the whole world?
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, today we're going to go to the text in Matthew's gospel.
SPEAKER_00: And here in this particular Sunday, this is where we see the turn in the lectionary in this part of the year where we begin to look at the miracles of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And I am so excited to look over these texts with you to reimagine what it is like to be in the text, to experience these things.
SPEAKER_00: And then I would ask that you would ask the Holy Spirit, what now that you have seen God in this way, Jesus is the perfect image of the invisible God.
SPEAKER_00: Whatever we see Jesus doing, that's what God is doing.
SPEAKER_00: And so today we are in Matthew's Gospel, chapter 14.
SPEAKER_00: As soon as Jesus heard the news, he left on a boat to a remote area to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: If you know the text ahead of time, the news that Jesus heard was that his cousin was killed by Herod Antipas.
SPEAKER_00: This person that he loved, that he followed, that he believed in.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Jesus is baptized into John's baptism, has been murdered by empire, by a political system that intended to dominate, to control, and to use and abuse women.
SPEAKER_00: And it was, in fact, John who was calling this out and saying, no, you're not allowed to do that.
SPEAKER_00: Not if you follow God.
SPEAKER_00: You are not allowed to be oppressive.
SPEAKER_00: You are not allowed to take from people.
SPEAKER_00: And John called that out, and John lost his head.
SPEAKER_00: And so this puts us right here in the story.
SPEAKER_00: And you have to, or you know, you don't have to do anything, but you get to imagine what it would have been like for Jesus who loved someone and watched Empire murder them.
SPEAKER_00: Was he thinking that that was his place next?
SPEAKER_00: When would it be his head because he stood against Empire?
SPEAKER_00: What about all his followers?
SPEAKER_00: Were they also in fear for their lives?
SPEAKER_00: Were they also mourning?
SPEAKER_00: John, John had his own followers, John had his own disciples.
SPEAKER_00: There were people who were committed to this way and to watch the empire murder them.
SPEAKER_00: This is where we meet Jesus in the story.
SPEAKER_00: So Jesus hears the news and he leaves in a boat to a remote area to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: This is his intention, to take his grief and to be alone with it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe he was going to pray, I don't know what he was going to do, take a nap, eat something, he went off by himself.
SPEAKER_00: But the crowds heard where he was headed and followed him on foot from many towns.
SPEAKER_00: I began to think about this part over the week because the crowds heard about it.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they also heard, I'm sure they did, because Rome was really clear about the propaganda and making sure that people heard of their violence in order to enforce fear to keep people in order or in place.
SPEAKER_00: And people heard about this and they heard where Jesus was and they followed.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder if this wasn't people who just loved him and said, I don't want him to be alone and suffer.
SPEAKER_00: We all recognize collective pain.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe they had needs and they needed a miracle worker, but maybe they were friends and people who were also afraid.
SPEAKER_00: And they're following Jesus from many towns.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat.
SPEAKER_00: I just I want to hang out here just for a moment because his plans were foiled.
SPEAKER_00: And there's so many people, and he sees them.
SPEAKER_00: The scripture tells us so much about who God is in this verse.
SPEAKER_00: And he had compassion on them and he healed their sick.
SPEAKER_00: What he wanted was to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: And what happened was he saw someone in need and he suffered with them.
SPEAKER_00: And he saw someone who had a problem and he made it better.
SPEAKER_00: This is who God is, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: God is compassionate all throughout the Hebrew text.
SPEAKER_00: God is compassionate and full of mercy.
SPEAKER_00: To be compassionate means to suffer with.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for us to be people who are, again, if you look at the stories of Jesus, you will see over and over again the text tells us that he was actually moved by compassion?
SPEAKER_00: When is the last time that you were moved by compassion?
SPEAKER_00: Because very often what we are moved by is an autopilot that this world has given us.
SPEAKER_00: We get up and we go to work and we do our thing and then we come home.
SPEAKER_00: We get up and we do our work.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time that you allowed compassion to move you?
SPEAKER_00: To say, This is where I'm headed.
SPEAKER_00: Where is someone suffering and where can I alleviate it?
SPEAKER_00: He healed all their sick.
SPEAKER_00: This is an important part of the verse, too.
SPEAKER_00: This is what Jesus did from the time that we see them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is concerned with healing.
SPEAKER_00: Love is concerned with healing.
SPEAKER_00: God is concerned with healing.
SPEAKER_00: And what we're invited into, into the life of the kingdom, is we are invited to be pealers.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited to be people who heal.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited to be people who use the gifts that God has given us and say, How can I be a part of the healing of the world?
SPEAKER_00: The evening came and the disciples came to him and said, This is a remote place.
SPEAKER_00: I like that part because Jesus went to a remote place intentionally.
SPEAKER_00: He knew where it was.
SPEAKER_00: He said his GPS.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure that's exactly true, but he got there and he went intentionally because it was a remote place.
SPEAKER_00: And the people there are stating the obvious.
SPEAKER_00: And I bring that up because sometimes when we don't know what to say, we start saying the obvious.
SPEAKER_00: This is a remote place.
SPEAKER_00: Yes, that's why we came.
SPEAKER_00: And it's getting late.
SPEAKER_00: Again, I'm sure Jesus knew that because he also could see the sun going down and he also recognized the time of day.
SPEAKER_00: And this is where the disciples have an idea.
SPEAKER_00: Send the crowds away so they can go to the villages and buy food for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, the disciples say, Let them fend for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: It's getting late.
SPEAKER_00: Give them what they need, but let them fend for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Let them go make it work for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: Let them pull themselves up by their bootstraps.
SPEAKER_00: Let them go and make food for themselves.
SPEAKER_00: This was the idea of the disciples.
SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people here.
SPEAKER_00: We sense a need.
SPEAKER_00: Hope it all works out for them.
SPEAKER_00: Send them away.
SPEAKER_00: Best of luck.
SPEAKER_00: Hope, hope, see you next time.
SPEAKER_00: That's what the disciples are actually saying to Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And they're giving him this advice as like his advisors.
SPEAKER_00: All these people with a need, send them away.
SPEAKER_00: I hope it works out for them.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is fun in the story if you just look at it here, but what about in our culture today?
SPEAKER_00: Who are we sending away and saying, I hope it works out for them?
SPEAKER_00: I hope the poor can feed themselves.
SPEAKER_00: I hope the sick can heal themselves.
SPEAKER_00: And we see Jesus here, who is immensely concerned about health care and about food.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus is telling us this is what God cares about.
SPEAKER_00: Over and over again, Jesus is the healer and Jesus provides, and he's inviting us into this same kind of transformative living.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus said, I love this verse.
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, thank you for that.
SPEAKER_00: That's the right thing.
SPEAKER_00: Oh boy.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, that's not necessary to send them off and let them do it themselves.
SPEAKER_00: You do it, you feed them.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what the disciples had in their mind, that they were going to be responsible for all these people and their needs.
SPEAKER_00: And beloved, that's how the kingdom comes.
SPEAKER_00: When we all become responsible, when the compassion moves us, just like Jesus did, to say, where can I alleviate this pain?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said that's not necessary.
SPEAKER_00: He didn't say God will feed them.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not say manna will fall from heaven.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus did not say the birds, the quail will fall down to the earth.
SPEAKER_00: He said, You feed them.
SPEAKER_00: Who in your life is Jesus asking you to be the miracle worker for?
SPEAKER_00: Where is compassion moving you?
SPEAKER_00: And I love that it says, but we only have five loaves of bread and two fish.
SPEAKER_00: Now we know this story from other gospels.
SPEAKER_00: And the story in the other gospels gives us a little bit more information.
SPEAKER_00: I mean, did just one guy pack a lunch?
SPEAKER_00: No, that's not what happened at all.
SPEAKER_00: Some mom.
SPEAKER_00: This story should be called the woman who fed thousands.
SPEAKER_00: It really should be because she packs a lunch for her kid.
SPEAKER_00: You know, the kid didn't pack it for himself, the mother did.
SPEAKER_00: She made the bread and she got the fish, and the kid was running, and she was like, take lunch.
SPEAKER_00: And she gives him the lunch.
SPEAKER_00: In another gospel, it tells us that they asked around who had food, and the kid said, My mom made some.
SPEAKER_00: So they bring it to Jesus and they're like, We got this.
SPEAKER_00: Five loaves of bread and two fish.
SPEAKER_00: Not enough for thousands.
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if you're caterers or not, but I'm just telling you, that's not gonna work.
SPEAKER_00: We need more than this.
SPEAKER_00: But this is only what we have.
SPEAKER_00: And very often, I think, as people, we see a need and we're like, I don't have enough for the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: I don't have enough.
SPEAKER_00: I can't change this.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, change what's right in front of you, what is in your hands.
SPEAKER_00: Is it five loaves and two fishes?
SPEAKER_00: There is an Old Testament account of a man, and he is looking at the destruction of Jerusalem, his homeland, and he is overwhelmed.
SPEAKER_00: And he is like, This is such a big mess.
SPEAKER_00: And I feel so despondent.
SPEAKER_00: And an angel of the Lord appears to him, and the angel says, Use what's in your hand.
SPEAKER_00: Well, that's a novel thought, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: We're just waiting for God to do something else.
SPEAKER_00: And God is saying, What's in your hand?
SPEAKER_00: What do you have that you can alleviate suffering with?
SPEAKER_00: We only have five loaves of bread and two fish, they answered.
SPEAKER_00: Then bring them here, he said.
SPEAKER_00: And this is how the miracle happens, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You take what you have and you put it in the hands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: You take what you have, whatever it is you have.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a whole lot of pain, put it in the hands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have a whole lot of heartache, put it in the hands of Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: Maybe you have five loaves and two fish, put it in the hands of Jesus and watch for miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, Jesus who said, I am he who is the same yesterday, today, and forever.
SPEAKER_00: We serve a God who does miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us who God is.
SPEAKER_00: God is compassionate.
SPEAKER_00: Bring them here, he says.
SPEAKER_00: And he told the people to sit down on the grass.
SPEAKER_00: We see the loving God here, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Not on the rocks, not on the hot sand.
SPEAKER_00: Sit in the grass.
SPEAKER_00: There's details like this that remind us sit where it's comfortable.
SPEAKER_00: Sit down, everybody come together.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus took the five loaves and the two fish, and he looked up to heaven and he blessed them.
SPEAKER_00: What was the last time you had not enough and you blessed it?
SPEAKER_00: Very often when we find ourselves in any kind of scarcity, we panic and we curse everything.
SPEAKER_00: And we see the way of Jesus is blessing everything.
SPEAKER_00: Bless it.
SPEAKER_00: Bless it for the good of everything, for the good of all.
SPEAKER_00: And then breaking the loaves into pieces, he gave the bread to the disciples who distributed it to the people.
SPEAKER_00: This part of the story is important because the miracle came when somebody gave something and then other people gave it away.
SPEAKER_00: Everyone, we get to the end of the story, and everyone was fed, and not just fed, it said they were full.
SPEAKER_00: They were full, they were satiated.
SPEAKER_00: In this particular time, that would have been an incredible time because Rome was an empire that just took everything.
SPEAKER_00: The people were under such oppression, the regular people, only the elite had the money, only the elite had food.
SPEAKER_00: The people lived on such scarcity.
SPEAKER_00: And when Jesus shows up and says, This is the way, share what you have, and then together they take it and they break it and they bless it, and it goes around.
SPEAKER_00: This is such a beautiful picture, too, of the communion table that we will practice at the end of the service, that we will embody at the end of the service, we will take the bread and we will pass it to each other and we will receive and we will eat, and it will be enough for the forgiveness of our sins.
SPEAKER_00: It will be enough to satiate us, to remind us that every time we come to the table of the Lord, it is exactly what we need.
SPEAKER_00: And they all ate as much as they wanted.
SPEAKER_00: And afterward, the disciples picked up 12 baskets of leftovers.
SPEAKER_00: 12 baskets, one for each of the house of Israel.
SPEAKER_00: Twelve baskets, one for all the tribes.
SPEAKER_00: Everybody has enough.
SPEAKER_00: Where do we put these leftovers?
SPEAKER_00: Did the baskets have the lid that fit, or was it a different lid?
SPEAKER_00: You know, like when you go to your cabinet and you're like, where is the lid to this one thing?
SPEAKER_00: I don't know how it all worked out, but I'm telling you, there was organization at some point, but there was also some disorganization and people just saying, Well, here, take this.
SPEAKER_00: About 5,000 men were fed that day.
SPEAKER_00: In addition to all the women and children.
SPEAKER_00: I reject the fact that only the men were counted.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of women and there were a lot of children there.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of people who were really hungry.
SPEAKER_00: There were a lot of people who weren't counted, and Jesus is saying, You matter, your hunger matters to me.
SPEAKER_00: When was the last time that you heard the Spirit say, Whatever it is that you are suffering, whatever it is that you are feeling, it matters to Christ.
SPEAKER_00: Your loneliness matters.
SPEAKER_00: Your feelings of despair, they matter.
SPEAKER_00: They matter to Christ, and Christ is saying, I have another way.
SPEAKER_00: 5,000 men were fed that day, in addition to all the women and the children.
SPEAKER_00: We see in this text a miracle that people talk about with the fish, but the miracle actually starts with compassion.
SPEAKER_00: The miracle starts with opening your heart and seeing someone in need and saying, What can I do about it?
SPEAKER_00: What can I do to alleviate the suffering?
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes you don't have the medical answer, but you have presence, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: You can attend to someone, you can witness their suffering.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the best thing is not to talk a lot, but to just show up in prayers, in thoughts, in spirit, but also sometimes just show up.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes it is in our suffering that we want to do what we see Jesus did.
SPEAKER_00: When we suffer, we want to be alone.
SPEAKER_00: And I see this full circle.
SPEAKER_00: There is this grief.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus wants to be alone, but people are there and they have need.
SPEAKER_00: And so he extends himself, and then we see community.
SPEAKER_00: And then in the community, we see miracles.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, that is one of the reasons why we gather together, that we recognize that in our midst there are people who are experiencing great joy, but there are also people who are experiencing great pain.
SPEAKER_00: And when we together recognize this, we begin to say, What is available?
SPEAKER_00: What are the hands around us?
SPEAKER_00: What are the fishes and the loaves?
SPEAKER_00: What is here so that I can offer, so that a miracle can be done.
SPEAKER_00: We're going to go to Matthew chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: This is the beginning beforehand.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is talking to a group of people that are his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: These are people that have followed.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus said, Here, there's going to be three things, and we're not going to read all of them, but I'm going to tell you what they said.
SPEAKER_00: You can check it out in your own Bibles later.
SPEAKER_00: Matthew chapter six.
SPEAKER_00: When you pray, this is how you'll pray.
SPEAKER_00: The disciples said to Jesus, Teach us to pray.
SPEAKER_00: They knew prayers.
SPEAKER_00: The rabbis had already taught them prayers.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus prayed and it was different.
SPEAKER_00: And so they said, You teach us how to pray.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things that Jesus taught them to pray was this give us this day our daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: Somebody in the crowd could have said, Well, Jesus, just pray.
SPEAKER_00: Have those people pray and ask God for the daily bread.
SPEAKER_00: But daily bread looks like sharing your loaves and fish.
SPEAKER_00: Daily bread looks like you being at the feet of Jesus and learning compassion from him.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is the most excellent teacher because you see the compassion of Jesus, but you don't see Jesus overextending himself, getting enmeshed, and losing his own boundaries.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, after service, Sue will tell you about a class that you can take together, trying to figure out our boundaries and trying to live a more whole life where love leads us and not scarcity or fear.
SPEAKER_00: But there is an invitation here to recognize that we don't just say to someone, in fact, one of the ancients said this, this is how you pray.
SPEAKER_00: Pray for the world to be fed and then feed them.
SPEAKER_00: That's how you do it.
SPEAKER_00: You pray and then you do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: You don't pray and then just hope that it magically happens.
SPEAKER_00: You do something about the pain.
SPEAKER_00: You do something about the injustice.
SPEAKER_00: You do something about the marginalized.
SPEAKER_00: And one of the things that we do is we bring people to the table.
SPEAKER_00: Not just in this place on Sundays, but to our tables.
SPEAKER_00: We invite people into fellowship, into friendship, into renewal.
SPEAKER_00: We pause here for a moment to thank you for joining us today.
SPEAKER_00: If you're finding this episode meaningful, would you take a moment to share it with a friend?
SPEAKER_00: This podcast is made possible thanks to the generosity of people just like you.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like to support the ongoing work of First Love Church and the continued work of our podcast, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org, reminding you to like, follow, and subscribe.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus says when you pray, and then Jesus said when you fast.
SPEAKER_00: People like that one a whole lot.
SPEAKER_00: When you deny yourself, what if you denied yourself all of the negativity that you feast on all the time?
SPEAKER_00: What if you just said, I'm not going to, I'm not going to think in those kind of ways?
SPEAKER_00: What if you denied yourself all of the self-loathing that you have?
SPEAKER_00: What if you denied yourself those things?
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, when you do this.
SPEAKER_00: You can read Matthew chapter 6.
SPEAKER_00: But Jesus says in this verse, when you give to someone in need.
SPEAKER_00: Not if you ever get around to it.
SPEAKER_00: Not if you have to be convinced.
SPEAKER_00: Not if you had so much that you didn't know what to do with it.
SPEAKER_00: Just when you, right now, when you give.
SPEAKER_00: Don't let your left hand know what your right hand is doing.
SPEAKER_00: There's a couple of things that happen in that.
SPEAKER_00: First of all, the dignity of the receiver, the person who is getting it, is whole.
SPEAKER_00: And the other thing is, it takes a lot of humility.
SPEAKER_00: There's no prize for you, there's no parade that said, good job for you.
SPEAKER_00: You had compassion.
SPEAKER_00: When you give in secret, when you give and nobody else has fanfare, that's between you and Jesus tells us the Father who sees every gift that is given, every need.
SPEAKER_00: Give your gifts in private.
SPEAKER_00: And your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_00: Your father who sees everything.
SPEAKER_00: I want to talk about this for a moment because how you hear this voice, these words, will largely depend on your view or who you think God is.
SPEAKER_00: Give your gifts in privacy, and your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_00: I grew up in the church and in faith, and many of you have.
SPEAKER_00: And I commend you for finding a faith that has a bedrock in Jesus, and we can still say, I trust you.
SPEAKER_00: I am learning to trust you more.
SPEAKER_00: But I have heard this verse and many like it.
SPEAKER_00: God is always watching.
SPEAKER_00: And let me tell you what it did to me.
SPEAKER_00: It scared me.
SPEAKER_00: It scared me so badly.
SPEAKER_00: It scared me.
SPEAKER_00: And people used it in that way to scare me.
SPEAKER_00: Don't do anything wrong because you know, God is watching.
SPEAKER_00: God is watching.
SPEAKER_00: When I say to you that God is watching you, does it put fear in your heart or is it delight?
SPEAKER_00: Oh, yes, my father is watching, and there's not a need that I have that he will not make.
SPEAKER_00: There's not a provision that he has that I will not experience.
SPEAKER_00: My father is watching.
SPEAKER_00: This takes a lot of time to change like old fearful scarcity habits and embrace these new ones.
SPEAKER_00: But I want to tell you this is who Jesus is.
SPEAKER_00: All of them ate and were filled.
SPEAKER_00: That's the kind of Jesus we serve.
SPEAKER_00: His love is filling us.
SPEAKER_00: You give your gifts in private.
SPEAKER_00: Doesn't say if you give your gifts, just give them.
SPEAKER_00: Give them.
SPEAKER_00: You give them.
SPEAKER_00: It's your choice, but you give them.
SPEAKER_00: And your father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_00: This was startling to me, like in my face of a place where I needed to change some of the things that I said I would tell to my children, and I would certainly preach to you, because I believe it to be true in my mind that God watching us is only for our delight and for our good.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, the scripture says when God looks at you, he sees only Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: He does not see your failures, he does not see you as anything less.
SPEAKER_00: He only sees you and looks at you with loving eyes.
SPEAKER_00: You are his delight.
SPEAKER_00: Silas was very little playing on the floor in his room.
SPEAKER_00: I was going down to the other side of the house and I was giving him some instruction.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Okay, I trust you, whatever he was doing.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, and just remember, God is watching.
SPEAKER_00: And I said that because I have been handed that way of control.
SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to be here to see everything, but God is.
SPEAKER_00: And you see the inflection in my voice, and God is watching you.
SPEAKER_00: When you give, God is watching you.
SPEAKER_00: It's completely different.
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to tell you, we got to change this up.
SPEAKER_00: Silas preached to me.
SPEAKER_00: He was about two years old at the time, playing with his little people.
SPEAKER_00: And I said, Remember, God is watching.
SPEAKER_00: And I walked out of the room, and from the room, he's still playing with his toys.
SPEAKER_00: And he said, Yes, because I am dearly loved.
SPEAKER_00: That beloved is why we give, because we are dearly loved.
SPEAKER_00: Not because we are forced to, because we have to, but because every good thing has already been shared with us.
SPEAKER_00: There is an illusion that we have where there is scarcity, that if you give, you will not have enough.
SPEAKER_00: If you give your loaves and fishes away, then what will you eat?
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, not only will you eat, but the whole crowd will eat.
SPEAKER_00: You put it in the hands of Jesus, and Jesus multiplies it.
SPEAKER_00: When you have a word of encouragement, when you have an energy of healing that you can give to someone, it's not just that.
SPEAKER_00: It is in the hands of Jesus where it becomes the miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, we are all invited to be miracle workers.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited to be the change.
SPEAKER_00: We are invited to say, this is how the kingdom comes.
SPEAKER_00: Again, Jesus taught us to pray, Your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
SPEAKER_00: I want to ask you for a moment to use your holy imagination and to imagine heaven with me in this way.
SPEAKER_00: Are there any hungry children in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: No.
SPEAKER_00: Is there war in heaven?
SPEAKER_00: Then, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: I heard someone recently quoting from Isaiah.
SPEAKER_00: Here I am, Lord, send me.
SPEAKER_00: I remind you, the next verse says this.
SPEAKER_00: Well, they will no longer train for war.
SPEAKER_00: They will no longer send their sons to fight.
SPEAKER_00: God has a plan for us, and beloved, it is peace.
SPEAKER_00: And it is peace for all people at all times.
SPEAKER_00: It is that every, not just child, would not be hungry, but that is who we're invited to be, people who do something about it.
SPEAKER_00: And what does it look like for us practically?
SPEAKER_00: It's great to have this idea and have these theologies in our head.
SPEAKER_00: But if your theology does not meet the suffering around you, then get a better theology, get a better understanding of who God is.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus shows us the way.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is compassionate to the needs.
SPEAKER_00: Even when his disciples said, let them work it out.
SPEAKER_00: We worked it out.
SPEAKER_00: We ate before we came.
SPEAKER_00: We're not hungry.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus said, Feed them, you feed them.
SPEAKER_00: You do something about the suffering that is around you.
SPEAKER_00: You be the hands and feet, not by yourself, beloved, in community.
SPEAKER_00: It said Jesus gathered them together, put them on the grass, and then the disciples, those who followed Jesus, began handing things out.
SPEAKER_00: What does it look like for you as a follower of Jesus to be an instrument of peace everywhere you go?
SPEAKER_00: For you to hold on to the peace that is yours, knowing that you are loved, knowing that there's enough love for everyone.
SPEAKER_00: We read the scripture today in 1 John.
SPEAKER_00: God is love.
SPEAKER_00: You are being watched, beloved, because you are dearly loved.
SPEAKER_00: And God is also watching every single person in the margins, every single person that is oppressed, every single person that is in need.
SPEAKER_00: And God sees you going to them.
SPEAKER_00: God sees you meeting those needs.
SPEAKER_00: And so we're invited into the realm of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: We're invited into this kind of living.
SPEAKER_00: We're invited into the transformation.
SPEAKER_00: I like to use my imagination in these stories a lot of times, and I just want to tell you that everyone went home with a really good story.
SPEAKER_00: For the people that weren't there, there was somebody there that was saying, you should have been there.
SPEAKER_00: Oh, we want you to be there.
SPEAKER_00: And so this morning, I invite you, we're coming up upon the communion table, and we are entering the holy mystery.
SPEAKER_00: We are remembering.
SPEAKER_00: To remember something is not just a thought, it is to bring all the different pieces from there.
SPEAKER_00: You are the body of Christ, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: I am the body of Christ.
SPEAKER_00: You are the temple of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: I am the temple of the living God.
SPEAKER_00: When we remember, we all come together and we come to the table and we eat with people who do not vote like us.
SPEAKER_00: We eat with people who have harmed us.
SPEAKER_00: We eat with people who we have harmed.
SPEAKER_00: We eat with people who need our patience.
SPEAKER_00: And we eat with people who have been patient with us.
SPEAKER_00: And the communion table settles us into this holy mystery where Jesus said, I want you to do this.
SPEAKER_00: And in doing this, you will embody this way of living.
SPEAKER_00: When you give, you can give financially and be a part of the work that the church is doing.
SPEAKER_00: And we do that in the boxes, and you can do it online, you can give your gifts in private.
SPEAKER_00: It's one of the reasons why we don't make a big show of it here.
SPEAKER_00: Again, we saw this in the scripture.
SPEAKER_00: Do this between you and Jesus.
SPEAKER_00: And if this is my holy imagination, too.
SPEAKER_00: If you ever want to find where Jesus is beyond the margins, scripture says that he was by the offering box.
SPEAKER_00: And so he was watching a situation where a woman who was a widow was being taken advantage of.
SPEAKER_00: And Jesus was not having it.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is not having a world where the oppressed, the marginalized.
SPEAKER_00: If this all sounds big to you, I remind you of the Beatitudes.
SPEAKER_00: They are the big deals in the life of the kingdom.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are the poor.
SPEAKER_00: That is not what Rome said.
SPEAKER_00: In fact, Rome said the poor were cursed.
SPEAKER_00: They said that instead of Rome looking at itself and saying, Oh, we might be the ones that are the reason that they're poor.
SPEAKER_00: It might be our greed that is causing this poverty.
SPEAKER_00: And so the invitation that Jesus is telling us is to enter into the suffering and the needs of others, but also to remember that in our suffering and in our needs, Jesus is present.
SPEAKER_00: Spirit is present.
SPEAKER_00: And this is how the world changes, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: We become a community that follows the way of Jesus and we care for those around us who suffer.
SPEAKER_00: One of the things we do together as a church is we feed.
SPEAKER_00: And we feed once a month together, but we feed on Thursdays together.
SPEAKER_00: And we look at things and say, what does it look like for us to be a part of something that is so much bigger than ourselves?
SPEAKER_00: Mercy is here, beloved.
SPEAKER_00: Jesus is here, and Jesus is offering us a new way of living.
SPEAKER_00: The Father who sees everything will reward you.
SPEAKER_00: There is a hope for us.
SPEAKER_00: I want to tell you the best reward of all.
SPEAKER_00: Give your gifts in private, and your Father who sees everything will reward you with more of God.
SPEAKER_00: With more of wholeness.
SPEAKER_00: Before the world was formed, God had you in mind.
SPEAKER_00: And God had settled on you to be the object of God's affection.
SPEAKER_00: That you would be made whole and holy by God's love.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, that is the end game.
SPEAKER_00: That you would be whole and holy by God's love.
SPEAKER_00: That is why Jesus came.
SPEAKER_00: This is one of the reasons that we eat the communion together, that we remember the way of Jesus that shows us how to be fully human, how to embrace our humanity and how to be people who are believing for miracles.
SPEAKER_00: And the miracle isn't just, I hope God fixes it, but what are you going to do about it?
SPEAKER_00: What are you going to do about the marginalized?
SPEAKER_00: How will you invite them?
SPEAKER_00: How will you widen your table?
SPEAKER_00: I tell this story about my family because it made an impression on me.
SPEAKER_00: Sometimes the things that we do are better sermons than anyone ever preached.
SPEAKER_00: We had people over our house all the time after church to eat.
SPEAKER_00: My grandmother would make a big pot of something.
SPEAKER_00: It was always something.
SPEAKER_00: They were immigrants and it was uh some kind of stew, usually a big, huge soup, something for a lot of people.
SPEAKER_00: And one day the invitation got way bigger than what my grandmother had anticipated.
SPEAKER_00: I remember her blessing big pots of things, foods all the time.
SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have to bless it, Lord.
SPEAKER_00: You did it once, you'll do it again.
SPEAKER_00: You made the loaves and fishes make sense before you can do it again.
SPEAKER_00: And she saw how many people were coming and we didn't even have a place for them to sit.
SPEAKER_00: And so my grandmother said to my mom, Take the door off the hinges and make a table out of it.
SPEAKER_00: So my mother took the door off the hinges and put legs under it, and we threw a tablecloth over it and it was bigger.
SPEAKER_00: And I wonder in your life, where do you need to take the door off the hinges?
SPEAKER_00: Where do you need to keep from people keeping them out to say, Come and eat with us, come and dine, come and eat the feast of love that is prepared for us, that reminds us.
SPEAKER_00: We have a good shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: The Lord is my shepherd.
SPEAKER_00: I shall not want any good thing.
SPEAKER_00: He leads me in paths of righteousness.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, righteous paths will lead you to a banqueting table of love, will lead you where God is feeding not only you, but all of your enemies, where mercy and goodness will follow after you all the days of your life.
SPEAKER_00: Together, we are going to celebrate this holy communion.
SPEAKER_00: But I offer you a blessing.
SPEAKER_00: I wrote this blessing yesterday for you as I was thinking about us paying attention and hearing the loaves and the fishes.
SPEAKER_00: If you've been around a while, you've heard this story before, but I hope that it will inspire you to have in your mind a God full of compassion.
SPEAKER_00: And then I hope that you will hear Jesus say to you the same thing that he said to his disciples.
SPEAKER_00: You meet the need.
SPEAKER_00: You find friends and make this work.
SPEAKER_00: You find a way.
SPEAKER_00: Now, this is not overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: It's not now what do I have to do?
SPEAKER_00: It's just an invitation to be a part of this miracle.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, blessed are you who will hear this story not as a tale from long ago, but as a holy invitation to the unfolding now.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you who will remember that hungry people are not metaphors, that aching hearts are not abstractions, and that the compassion of Jesus Christ is always directed at real people, real bodies, real lives.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you who will understand that Jesus did not send the crowds away.
SPEAKER_00: He saw them, he welcomed them, he healed them, he fed them.
SPEAKER_00: And when his heart was broke open with compassion, he called others to do the work of love.
SPEAKER_00: May your hearts be opened to the holy ache of Jesus Christ, the deep and tender mercy that refuses to look away from the world's suffering.
SPEAKER_00: May you discover that miracles often begin not with that that falls from heaven, but that which is released from human hands, a loaf of bread that is offered, a fish that is shared, a table that is widened and a burden that is carried together.
SPEAKER_00: May you understand that the way of Jesus is the way of open hands.
SPEAKER_00: And may you find the courage to trust that what is given in love will be multiplied by love itself.
SPEAKER_00: Blessed are you who become disciples in the story, passing nourishment from one person to another, offering hope, offering kindness, offering yourselves, because this is how the kingdom comes.
SPEAKER_00: Through compassion that becomes action, through prayer that becomes bread, through blessing that becomes generosity, to ordinary people saying yes to extraordinary love.
SPEAKER_00: May the Holy Spirit free us from the illusion of scarcity.
SPEAKER_00: May we remember that there is more than enough love, enough mercy, enough grace, enough courage for the work that is before us.
SPEAKER_00: And may we be a people who do not grow weary of in compassion, who do not send the hungry away to fend for themselves, who do not close our hearts when the need of the world seems overwhelming.
SPEAKER_00: Instead, may we hear the voice of Jesus say again, You give them something to eat.
SPEAKER_00: May we discover again and again that when we place what we have into the hands of love, there is always more than enough.
SPEAKER_00: Beloved, may your prayers become bread, may your faith become generosity, may your compassion become actions, and may the God whose abundance knows no end fill you until you overflow for the healing of the whole world.
SPEAKER_00: May it be so.
unknown: Amen.
SPEAKER_00: We hope you've enjoyed this week's sermon.
SPEAKER_00: If you would like more information about us, visit us online at firstlovechurch.org.