Feeding God’s People

I am not much of a baker. I bake cookies for the Christmas season, of course, to carry on that  family tradition. Other than that, I do very little baking.  

Except for pumpkin bread. Years ago I found a great recipe for pumpkin bread and I bake that on a  regular basis. It’s a simple recipe and the bread is tasty and a good source of vitamin A. The recipe  makes four small loaves so there is plenty to share with other people. Our grandchildren, in particular,  love this bread! It’s satisfying to feed the ones we love with good food, is it not?  

As I have noted before, we are currently in the season of the church year known as “time after  Epiphany” or “ordinary time”. It is the season of the year when we hear stories about how the early  disciples learned to follow Jesus. We ponder these stories seeking to learn how we, too, can learn  to follow Jesus in our daily lives.  

Starting today and for the next 4 weeks, we will hear the good news told to us from the gospel of John, chapter 6. We will hear Jesus speak again and again about the bread of life – about feeding  people with bread that gives life in abundance. I encourage you to spend time in the coming week  reading through chapter 6 in the gospel of John – read it slowly and deliberately – let the words of  the chapter dwell in your heart and your soul and your mind – hear Jesus say to you – in several  different ways – “I am the bread of life.”  

This morning we hear the story of Jesus feeding five thousand people in one sitting. This large  crowd of people had followed Jesus up the mountain because they knew Jesus was healing people;  they had seen signs of his healing along the way and they wanted to be healed. When Jesus saw  the crowd gathered around him, he asked Philip, one of his disciples, “Where are we to buy bread  for these people to eat?”  

Notice – Jesus did not ask Philip “Should we feed these people?” or say to him “Do you think these  people are hungry? Maybe we should feed them.” And he didn’t give Philip the opportunity to  disagree with him, either. Jesus knew the people were hungry – hungry for food and community  and healing – and he knew it was his job – and the job of his disciples – to feed them.  

What did Jesus and the disciples have to offer the hungry people? Not much, really – 5 barley  loaves (the bread that poor people ate) and 2 dried and preserved fish (again, the food that poor  people ate). Yet it was enough food and more than enough.  

We are told that Jesus TOOK the bread and fish; GAVE THANKS; BROKE THEM and HANDED THEM  OUT to all the hungry people who were there, as much as they wanted. Then Jesus had his  disciples gather up the left over pieces and they filled 12 baskets.  

Notice – Jesus fed all the people who were gathered around him – not just those who looked like  him or spoke like him or acted like him or believed like him. He fed all of them. This is particularly  noteworthy since this story takes place on “the other side” of the Sea of Galilee – on the side where  the Gentiles lived, where Jesus was the foreigner.  

When all was said and done that day, there was plenty of food that day, an abundance of food,  more than enough food to share with every hungry person who was there.  

What is the message of this story for those of us gathered here today?  

There are people around us today who are hungry – hungry for food and community and healing.  Perhaps you are one of those people.  

It is our job – as disciples of Jesus – to feed them. Feeding the hungry is a fundamental description  of the Christian life, according to Lutheran theologian Gail Ramshaw.  

Jesus expects us to TAKE the gifts we have been given, no matter how small we think they are,  and GIVE THANKS for them and BREAK THEM and HAND THEM OUT to the hungry people who are  around us.  

We are called to serve God’s people in the world out of the abundance of grace that we receive  through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus Christ and by the power of the Holy Spirit.  

Holy Trinity Lutheran Church, as many of you know, is going through a time of transition. Your  pastor retired in April and you are working your way through the process of discernment that leads  to calling a new pastor. I’m here to guide and support you through that process.  

Currently you are in the phase of Self-Study and Visioning. This is a time of assessing the current  state of Holy Trinity; of taking the pulse of the congregation, so to speak, to find out what is most  important to people here and what gives life to the congregation. You have started this work by  taking the CAT – the Congregation Assessment Tool – and the Transition Team will share a summary  of those results with you and give you an opportunity to respond to them in September.  

Then we will dive deep into the work of discerning where God is leading Holy Trinity next. We’ll do  this work through a series of congregation forums, where we explore God’s call to Holy Trinity by  pondering scripture together and having open and honest conversation with each other about what  you think and feel and hope and dream for the ministry of Holy Trinity.  

We’ll take some time to look back at the history of Holy Trinity. We’ll notice patterns in the  ministries this congregation has valued and the challenges that this congregation has faced and  overcome in the past. We’ll identify and give thanks for the abundance of gifts that Holy Trinity has  been given, gifts that can be used in new ways to feed the hungry people who are around you.  

We’ll take some time to look forward – to consider the purpose of Holy Trinity – to discover what is  Holy Trinity’s “Why?” – that is, what is your reason for being God’s church on this site in North  Easton in this divisive and chaotic time in our country’s history. What is God calling you to do?  Where is the Holy Spirit leading you? Knowing your “Why?” will help you notice where Holy Trinity’s  gifts are best suited and most needed to feed the hungry people in your community.  

The good news for today is that Jesus feeds us all with the food that sustains us for the work we  are called to do. In the sacrament of communion, Jesus TAKES the bread and the wine and GIVES  THANKS for them; and BREAKS them; and HANDS THEM OUT to the hungry people who gather  around him – people who are hungry for food and for community and for healing.  

The good news for today is that, when all is said and done, Jesus provides plenty of food for all  people, an abundance of food, more than enough to share with every person who hungers for food  and community and healing.  

“Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?”, Jesus asks his disciples.  How will Holy Trinity answer that question?  

Where will Holy Trinity find the satisfaction of feeding the ones you love with good food? 

To God be the glory. Amen.