Matthew 14:13-21
Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat
to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him
on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he
had compassion for them and cured their sick. When it was evening, the
disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now
late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food
for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them
something to eat.” They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and
two fish.” And he said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the
crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked
up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples,
and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled;
and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets
full. And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and
children.
It was 1989, I was 29 years old, married for a couple of
years with a new born daughter. On
Thursday March 16th the phone rang in the parsonage in Plymouth
Indiana. The call was from Wilber Yates,
District Superintendent of the Warsaw District inviting Nancy and I to pack our
belongings and move in 90 days to Warsaw to plant a new church. I would be lying to you if I said that it
wasn’t one of the most terrifying phone calls I have ever received.
A few weeks later I was on my way to meet with my Steering
Committee for the first time, a group of local lay members of other United
Methodist Churches who were to give me guidance and support.
Keep in mind, I had never met this group and they had not
met me. I saw two people sitting in some
chairs in the lobby of the hotel where we were to meet and as I got closer I
overheard one of them saying to the other: “Why in the world are we starting
another church here in Warsaw, aren’t there enough churches here already?”
What a nice way to be introduced to some members of my team.
But that question has stuck with me through the years. Especially what the question was really
asking. Not just in regard to church
planting, but also as it relates to life in general.
Is there really enough . . .
In 1881, the Rev. C.C. McCabe was on a train headed toward
the Pacific Northwest, he was on his way to plan, fundraise, and eventually
plant Methodist Churches throughout Oregon, Idaho and Washington states
In the newspaper that morning was a copy of a speech
delivered by Robert G. Ingersoll, the famous agnostic philosopher, to the
Freethinkers Association of America convention that was being held in Chicago.
In his speech Ingersoll declared: “the churches are dying
out all over the earth; they are struck with death.”
At the next train stop, Rev. McCabe sent a telegram to
Ingersoll who was still in Chicago at the Freethinkers convention.
He wrote:
Dear Robert,
All hail the power of Jesus name
--- we are building one Methodist Church for every day in the year, and propose
to make it two a day.
C.C.
McCabe
Word of the telegram leaked and someone wrote a folk hymn
that became popular among the preaching missions and camp meetings.
The infidels, a motley band
In counsel met,
and said:
“The churches are dying across the
land,
And soon they’ll
all be dead.”
When suddenly, a message came
And caught them
with dismay:
“All hail the power of Jesus’ name,
We’re building two
a day!”
We’re building two a day, dear Bob,
We’re building two
a day
All hail the power of Jesus’ name,
We’re building two
a day
In our Gospel lesson this morning, the disciples come up to
Jesus ---
who has been busy all day preaching
and teaching and healing
and
say:
“Hey Jesus, we’ve got a problem
here ----
It is starting to get dark and this
crowd of over 5,000 people (not counting women and children) have yet to eat
---- and there is not a McDonald’s in sight --- face it --- we are in the
middle of nowhere.
Why don’t you do all of us a favor
and sent them all home!”
Jesus reply was quite simple: “You give them something to
eat.”
But the disciples went on:
Jesus, you aren’t listening --- you
know we only have $1.75 in the treasury, and even if we had the money --- there
is nothing out here to buy.
Face it, all we have is these five
loaves of bread and two fish, and that’s hardly enough even for us!
“Bring them here” --- was Jesus reply
The disciples looked and only saw a coming disaster --- a
hungry mob and no way of feeding them.
Jesus on the other hand saw not a disaster, but instead saw
possibility.
Jesus saw the chance for a miracle --- an opportunity to
trust in God
Rabbi Harold Kushner, author of the famous book, When Bad
Things Happen to Good People, has said:
God is like a mirror. The mirror never changes, but everybody who
looks at it seems something different.
There is a marvelous little movie about an eccentric old
woman titled: “Ruth Stout’s Garden”. I
wish I had a copy of it and could show it to you.
In the movie Ruth tells about herself and her unique
gardening techniques
She has this garden, and she would till the soil and weed
it, and carefully place each of her vegetables in neat rows with a stick
identifying what it was that was growing there.
One day –
Ruth decided that this method was a waste of time
So instead she just cast the seeds and lets nature take over
They grow
anyway she would say
People used to love and watch her garden --- she said it was
so strange that people would just stop and stare --- maybe it was because she liked
to garden in the nude . . .
In the movie Ruth tells about a time when she was a little
girl.
She said that she was sitting in
front of a window looking out and watching her brothers bury her beloved dog.
While she is looking out the window, with tears streaming
down her face, her grandfather comes over to her and says:
Ruth, do you remember that rosebush
that you planted last year?, come and look a the beautiful rosebud that is
blooming on it.
Why Grandpa? Ruth asks
Because Ruth, you are looking out
the wrong window.
God is like a mirror.
The mirror never changes, but everybody who looks at it seems something
different.
In 1941, Rev Herman Thomas, was pastor of the Methodist
Church in Algoma, Wisconsin. One evening
Rev Thomas was walking through his neighborhood when he decided to stop at the
home of Robert G. Ingersoll III, a brilliant engineer and grandson of the
famous agnostic philosopher.
The Ingersoll’s had moved to Algoma a year earlier.
Mrs. Ingersoll was a strong believer and had joined the
Methodist Church and sang in their choir --- Robert visited occasionally.
Outside the Ingersoll house, Rev Thomas prayed: Asking God
for strength before he knocked on the door.
Ingersoll answered the door saying: “Pastor Thomas, I am
glad you dropped by, I’ve been saving some questions for you.”
He asked his questions and seemed to appreciate the understanding
and clarity of Rev. Thomas’ replies.
Ingersoll asked: “Pastor Thomas, how can I become a follower
of the way? Will you help me?”
Herman Thomas explained that the Spirit knocks at the door
in one’s heart --- and that the person who opens the door will experience the
grace of Christ, and know that they belong to him.”
Before he left, Rev. Thomas led a prayer with the family.
The next Sunday, Ingersoll came to church and during the
singing of the closing hymn he walked forward and asked to be baptized.
The following year, in 1942, the Algoma Methodist Church had
another memorable service.
During the service Pastor Thomas baptized two infant boys
into the Christian family.
One was his
own first born son
The other was
a baby boy named Robert G Ingersoll, IV
Had the church been silent for just a moment I am willing to
bet they would have heard some singing in the distance:
We’re building two a day, dear Bob,
We’re building two
a day
All hail the power of Jesus’ name,
We’re building two
a day
It is easy for us to look at the negative side of
everything.
It is easy for us to sit in front of the window of sorry ---
rather than the window of joy.
It is easy for us to be like the disciples and say:
"Lord, there is not enough!"
The hard part is for us to recognize and accept what Jesus
told us:
Matthew 9:37-38 (NRSV)
Then he said to his disciples,
“The harvest is plentiful, but the laborers are few; therefore ask the
Lord of the harvest to send out laborers into his harvest.”
People tell me all the time that we do not need to reach out
into the neighborhood, that the people who live close to the church are already
involved in a church.
According to the Pew Research Center
·
71% of American's claim Christianity as their religion
·
6% are other non-Christian faiths (Jewish,
Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu, etc)
·
23% are what we call "the nones" today
And when you read that data --- it indeed sounds like most
people are involved in their faith journeys.
However, the group that we call Christians --- 71% of the
population can be broken down into three categories
·
Cultural Christians ---- They call themselves
Christians because of heritage or culture.
·
Congregational Christians --- They have some
connection to a local church but do not attend regularly (We have a little over
1,000 members here at Meridian Street)
·
Active Christians
Only about 25% of those who call themselves Christians
practice their faith in an active way.
The greatest mission field in the world is in our
neighborhoods.
Most of our friends, many who call themselves Christian ---
do not attend any church.
The question of abundance is two-fold.
·
Yes --- we know that there is plenty of
opportunity for us to reach out and share our faith --- most of our neighbors
and friends are not active in their spiritual journey.
·
But the second question is really the more
important one --- do we believe that there is ENOUGH that if we invite others we
will still have a place here, for us, at Meridian Street.
And the answer to that is, of course, YES.
Like the people in Matthew's story --- we have been called
to share what we have so that all can come to know the love and grace of Jesus.
There is a commercial that is very old that has always stuck
with me.
The commercial was about a man named Bill Demby.
Bill is your pretty typical person: a father, a patriot,
courageous.
The commercial went something like this:
When Bill Demby was in Viet Nam he
dreamed of coming home and playing a little basketball, a dream that all but
died when he lost both legs to a Vietcong rocket. Then researchers discovered a DuPont plastic
that could make truly lifelike limbs.
Now Bill is back, and some say he hasn't lost a step.
Bill was interviewed and said that he really didn't like the
recognition that the commercial gave him.
But, he said ---
there was a time when a man came up
to me. He explained his troubles and
told me that he had given up on everything.
But he said seeing me in that commercial had turned him around. He thanked me for changing his life. ME?!
Bill said that he had to walk away so that the man wouldn't
see him crying.
What kind of witness are you to those that you meet or even
to those who know you?
Do any of you remember Squeaky Fromme, she was a member of Charles
Manson’s “family” but never charged in the Tate/La Bianca murders.
In 1975, Squeaky Fromme attempted to assassinate President
Ford, she waved a gun at the President, but did not shoot.
Years later she was interviewed by a leading psychiatrist
who concluded rather interestingly that if instead of meeting Charles Manson,
if Squeaky Fromme had met some Christians who had invited her to get involved
in their church that she probably would have.
Her life would have been totally different. She was just looking for a place to belong.
Each of us are called to do our part --- to see the
possibilities --- rather than the dead ends.
To see God's multiplication in action
We’re building two a day, dear Bob,
We’re building two a day
All hail the power of Jesus’ name,
We’re building two a day
Let us do our part, as we go out into the neighborhood,
knowing that the harvest is rich, and that there is more than enough!
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