loaves & fishes          
           
  Sermon Reflections and More!
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The Ninth Sunday after Pentecost                                     July 26, 2015


This Weekend's Readings (click each reading to view the passage)

2 Kings 4:42-44Psalm 145:10-18Ephesians 3:14-21John 6:1-21
 

Pr. Christine's Sermon - Salvation is a Slice of Pizza
Pr. Christine's Sermon - Salvation is a Slice of Pizza

Children's Sermon - Putting Together Fragments
Children's Sermon - Putting Together Fragments





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Sermon Notes from Pastor Christine... 

 

One of the major challenges of parenthood, especially parenting teenagers whose schedules rival that of the President of the United States, is mealtime. In theory, I am 'all for' family dinners which take place at an actual dining room table, with all members of the family in attendance. And, when time allows and my freezer contains more than freezer burned chicken nuggets and Eggo waffles, I am more than happy to serve up grilled pork chops, rice, and green beans on ceramic plates.

But let's be honest...much of the time our family meals resemble a drive through diner rather than an utopian communal gathering. We won't even talk about how I could really use that magical skill of multiplying fish and loaves when it comes to my grocery bill...

There's also this other byproduct of meal provisions in my life that is especially difficult. I'm divorced. Sometimes, I really just want to buy a pizza to make life easier, even if it's not the healthiest option out there. And nine times out of ten, they will have had pizza the night before, because their dad faces the same challenges I do.

I can't serve them pizza two days in a row....

At least in my mind I can't.

However, if you ask Cooper, he'd be all for it. We could have pizza for breakfast, lunch, and dinner seven days a week and he'd be perfectly content. It's his go-to food.

Actually, I think it's many people's go-to food. Jesus would be serving up pizza in today's day and age. We aren't fish and bread people; we are pepperoni or Hawaiian or sausage and mushroom people.

Certainly there are gourmet pizza shops, specializing in deep dish Chicago style pizza or thin crusted New Haven style, but by and large, you don't need to go far to find a cheap, greasy slice of pizza when you're in a hurry, your cupboards are bare, or you've got the 'hangries'.

You know the mishmash word 'hangry'? It's a conglomeration of angry and hungry, which is the phenomenon whereby some people get grumpy and short-tempered when they're overdue for a feed.

Cooper gets the hangries a lot. I have the Dominos pizza app on my iphone to deal with such emergencies.  

The disciples were not as fortunate. No fish and loaves app or late night delivery service to deal with this band of hangry people.

Nope. They've got a boy with some fish and two loaves of bread. Well, they also have Jesus, but rather than just 'fix' the situation, he apparently thinks now is a good time to start asking questions, "Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" 

Dude! Aren't you the guy in the miracle and sign business? Why are you asking us?

Now, there are a variety of interpretations for the loaves and fishes story. It can be thought of as a supernatural miracle - where a boy's meager lunch was able to serve thousands with just the slight of Jesus' hand.

These unexplainable miracles - that some of us have experienced - I cannot begin to explain. Often they speak better on their own, when they are not dissected and scrutinized to death. Not because the miracles of God can't withstand examination, but because our need for understanding often reduces God to theology and concept, rather than movement and presence.

And another interpretation, which holds just as much validity, is: what if everyone, following the boy's example, simply shared what they had, therefore ensuring everyone's hunger was satisfied?  

In a world where we all too quickly hold on tight to what is 'ours' and are awfully slow to allow others needs to infringe upon our own rights and lives, the latter seems to be just as amazing.

Maybe I prefer the second interpretation because it seems more logical, more doable, more conceivable.   The problem with this is I can begin to think it's all under my control, which, well, we all know - it isn't.

Regardless, perhaps both interpretations illustrate the truth at the heart of a miracle. A miracle is whenever 'hope' is answered.

When Hope. Is. Answered.

I do not believe Peter or the disciples could have ventured, "There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people," if he didn't have any hope. Why even bring that fragment of food up, if he didn't at least think something could come of it?

Here, the hope for 'enough' food is fulfilled. A miracle no matter how you look at it.  

This Gospel story highlights the truth that there's 'enough' to go around. Enough food, enough space, enough resources, enough money enough kindness. Enough...

This is the lesson we learned as children at the foot of our Sunday school teachers, so much so that I think it's hard to hear Jesus saying anything else in it.

But what about other interpretations to this well-told story? Well, as I said, we aren't fish and bread people, but pizza people... So, I have a modern day version of today's Gospel text.

(See pizza video below)

 


So, the story is pretty remarkable, right? Possibly even miraculous. I mean this guy, Wartman, at last reporting, has given away more than 23,000 slices of pizza just in the last four months! That's more than 100 people per day. And it all started with something as insignificant as a dollar bill and a post-it note. $23,000 materialized seemingly out of thin air.

Multiplying pizza slices. Multiplying post-it notes. Multiplying smiles. Multiplying grace.

And it started with the notion expressed in the video of 'paying it forward'. This isn't a new concept. We've all heard of it. But as I was thinking of it in light of what I know about Jesus and it didn't seem to fit.

We don't have to do good deeds and share what we have to earn favor with God. Nor do we have to do good deeds and share for miracles to happen. If we reduce the fish and bread story to share everything, there's enough to go around, [which is a fabulous moral construct] then we take Jesus out of the picture and place our salvation squarely in the hands of ourselves.

Part way through the video there's a guy who makes the most profound and articulate statement about God which highlighted for me where our interpretation of the fish and loaves story has fallen short. Of course, he thought he was talking about pizza

The guy postures, "It was almost like I had bought the slice, but I know I didn't."

He hands in his post-it note and is freely given sustenance... and he did absolutely NOTHING in order to receive it.   If that is not a statement on God's redeeming graces and saving mercies, then I don't know what is.

For the homeless folks, Jesus is a slice of pizza.

Or a 2000 years ago, Jesus was piece of fish or a chunk of bread. Their bodies, minds, and souls were nourished and sustained and they'd done nothing to deserve it.    

It seems the crowd would have postulated, "It was almost like we had brought our own dinner, but had we stopped and thought about it, we knew we hadn't."

I can't help but wonder in a crowd of 5000+ how many even recognized the miracle that was happening right before their very eyes, no matter how the food multiplied. This is often true of me. I don't have the viewpoint to recognize tiny graces that are fed to me daily. The love and mercy that I have done nothing to earn, but desperately need to satisfy my soul and heart.

See, maybe these aren't as much stories about there being enough, but rather about redemption and grace. God doesn't love us if we share or because we do good- God loves us. Period.

Jesus may not be feeding you with fish or bread or even pizza, but the story of the 5000 and the story of Rosa's pizza promises us that God does feed us with exactly what we need to sustain our souls in times of need.

You know how that guy in the video said, "It was almost like I had bought the slice, but I know I didn't?".

Maybe upon reflection we would say, "It is almost as if we thought we could save ourselves, but had we stopped and thought about it, we would realize we couldn't possibly...".

That every step of the way Jesus has been filling us with grace, mercy, love and forgiveness. Amen.