7-29-12 - Look at all that God does through little, ol' us!

7-29-12

Jerusalem

6After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. ²A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. ³Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. ⁴Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. ⁵When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” ⁶He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. ⁷Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” ⁸One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, ⁹“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” ¹⁰Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. ¹¹Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. ¹²When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” ¹³So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. ¹⁴When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”

¹⁵When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself. ¹⁶When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, ¹⁷got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. ¹⁸The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. ¹⁹When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. ²⁰But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid.” ²¹Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.

It is amazing how God can do so much with so little.  Here are thousands of people, and all they have to eat is five loaves of bread and 2 fish to eat, and yet they fill 12 whole baskets with all the leftovers.  I don’t care how big those loaves of bread were, or if the fish were actually whales, there is no human way that all those people were fed and all those leftovers were left.  And yet there are the twelve baskets, filled with food, and none are left hungry at all.

            Out of so little, something great was able to happen and there was plenty more to go around.  It can sometimes feel as what we give and what skills we are given can be far less than what is necessary.  There are times that we can feel inadequate or that we can begin to focus on fear of not having enough instead of looking at the abundance that we are given by God.  Yet we are given assurance by God that even the smallest of gifts, no matter how futile they might seem, are worked through God to do amazing things.

            Through just some bread and fish, Jesus is able to feed 5,000 people.  And through our hard work and our offerings, we are able to help feed the community and our world.      Our offerings here go to feed those who are here in this community, through gifts to United Social Action and the Way Station, as well as to help those who come to the congregation for help with food or rent money.  It goes to the larger church, which helps to start new congregations both here and in other countries, as well as fight against malaria, hunger and thirst, as well as helping children get schooling and advocacy for the poor and oppressed  both in the US and abroad.  

            In April of 2011, tornadoes ripped through Alabama, destroying the homes of many people.  When that happened, ELCA Disaster Relief came to help.  They helped people rebuild their homes, often being the first ones to get the homes built and people moved back in.  With your help, the homeless are given a home. 

            In Cambodia, there is a village called Preah Khae, where everyone had to walk miles in order to get water.  Think about that for a minute.  Who here has to walk miles to get water?  And think about the weight of water.  A single gallon of water weighs over 8 pounds. The average 10 minute shower takes 25 gallons of water, with means that if someone tried to carry that water home for a shower, and just that shower, it would be 200 pounds of water.  This of course would be completely unreasonable to walk miles for, so instead these families would have to suffice with just a few gallons a day, walking hours in order to get it all home.  Water that would have to be used to bath, if they dared waste it on themselves, to drink, to give to animals, to wash their clothes… not nearly enough to do all that we need water to do for us.  But with your gifts, with your offering, ELCA World Hunger was able to create an irrigation canal to the village, so that the people could get water in their homes.  Something that we take for granted every day, yet they find to be a miracle and literally a life saver.  They are now able to drink all that they need, and to grow crops that they used to have to buy and could barely afford.  And it didn’t even cost much, just two hundred and fifty dollars brought safe water to a village full of people.

            Then here in our Synod, in Euclid, our Synod supported a Children’s Defense Fund Freedom School, which helps children learn how to read and to express themselves through the arts, to open their minds to the possibility that they can do amazing things.  With the support of all the congregations in our Synod, we were able to educate children and to give them hope, at a time when the world can seem hopeless for those who are poor.

            I know that this can all sound like a bad infomercial at times.  And I also know that anytime a pastor talks about money, one can easily see it as the pastor asking for the money to get paid with.  But you know what?  What we do with our resources really does matter and the ministry of the church, whether it be Jerusalem, or at the synod level, or the church-wide level, all of the ministry matters.  It matters because with each thing that we do and with each dollar that we give, God does amazing things that changes lives.

            It can be easy to say no to God.  We all have.  When I was in college, I had almost nothing to do with the church.  I was too busy being a college student.  My time could be better used being with my friends and my money better used on beer or video games, or so I thought.  And what did that get me?  There are only 3 people I still even really talk to anymore and my money went down the drain, only giving me a bad morning after.  Each of us can always find an excuse to not give of our time and our resources.  Whether it be sports, or naptime, or desire to go out more, or get something new for ourselves, or something else, we can always have an excuse ready for why we don’t give of our time and resources.

              But then we have to ask ourselves, why is it that God is such a lower priority than all these other things?  Why is it that God loses to sports and to nights out and to our own pleasures?  I have had many a pastor tell me that one can easily see where one’s priorities lie if they look at someone’s checkbook or account summary.  They don’t have to see anything else to know what a person cares about, because that is the thing that they will spend the most on.  The same goes for looking at someone’s calendar.  What is it that we spend our time on?

            In the moment, it can all look so small.  What does it matter if I don’t get up and go to church?  Well, if you don’t come, then you lose out because you don’t get to be a part of this wonderful community that we have here at Jerusalem, and the love and support that comes with it.  And we miss out too, because each person here is valuable, each person here, whether you are a member or a visitor, whether you are a child, a youth, middle aged, or well seasoned, each person here enlivens this community and is a blessing from God.  And so what if I don’t give much, if I spend my money on what makes me happy instead?  How much does my offering matter anyway, compared to such a big budget.  Well, then you miss out on being a part of the ministry of God, which brings hope to the hopeless, homes to the homeless, food and water to the hungry and thirsty, and clothes to the naked.  And we miss out as a community, because we lose the ability to give more to those who suffer.

            We can fall into the trap of believing that what we have is too little, that we can’t do much good.  Yet what we do as a church changes lives, here in Columbiana, through our region, and through the world.  And that is the good news of God.  That each and everyone one of us matters and each and every one of us is capable of amazing things through the power of God.  God works wonders through the smallest of things, with even some pieces of bread and two fish, so God can definitely do wonders with us.  Let us rejoice in the wonder of God and let us be glad to be a part of God’s mighty acts. 

Amen.