Genesis 32: 22-31Psalm 17: 1-7 & 15
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14: 13-21
Usually...this is the moment...for the Pastor... to plunge into the Sermon for the day...BUT...as I already mentioned during the “Greeting” ...this morning......I am going to invite you...all of you...really...to come along with me...on that Sermon “plunge”...well...at least...for a little bit of our time this morning...
Now...to be sure...the purpose of such an endeavour...at least on my part...is not to expose you to the vagaries of the text...nor...to hang you out to dry...if you will...but...rather...for us to have a little fun with our text this mornrning...in particular...with our Gospel Text for today...the loaves and fish story that we find in Matthew’s Gospel ...and...as well...since this also is one of those lazy hazy mid-Summer Sundays...this long weekend of August...in the middle of Pentecost Season...your “faith growing Season”...to invite you...into a different way of living and being with this story...about loaves and fish...and grass...
So...then to start...and...I am hoping for...and trusting in some feed back here...when you read this story...or ...when you hear this story...what is it that you hear...what is this story all about for you...what’s happening here...what is this story telling us...??? _______
As we begin our look at this text...then...did you know...that this very same
story is repeated...four times...in our Canon of Text...it is found in each of the Gospel Texts...Matthew...Mark...Luke and John...with a different twist...here and there...in each case...
In Matthew...Jesus withdraws...into a boat...to a lonely place....but...the
crowds follow...
In Mark...again...we find reference to both the lonely place and the boat... but...in this story...Jesus is found...getting out of the boat...rather than into theboat...
In Luke...there is neither a lonely place...nor boat...but...rather...a City...
and...finally...then...
In John...the story has been expanded...Jesus crosses a Sea...climbs a
mountain...and...withdraws with the disciples...
Remember...of course...the significance of Mountain top ...and boat and water stories...in our texts...nevertheless...in each case...the loaves and the fish... are multiplied...
Now...with this story...I much prefer working with John’s Gospel...and...you will see why in a moment...I prefer John’s Gospel because...because...if I may...I wish to suggest to you this morning...that... there is latent in this story in John’s Gospel...one phrase that...sums it all up...if that’s the right way to put it...there is one phrase that tells us everything that we need to know about God...if...indeed...we are listening...listening in the midst of our...faith growing...faith greening...Pentecost Season
So...are you ready...for one of the most profound theological statements that you will find...well...ready or not...here it is...in John Ch6 v 10b...it says...in about the midst of the loaves and fish story...“now ...there was much grass in the place...” pardon me???
Yes...that’s is!...“Now...there was much grass in the place...”...do you get that ...well...of course you do...you live on the Prairies...much grass...means that there has been rain...much grass means that we can feed the cattle...that the crops will grow...much grass also means that ...in fact...not only are we going to survive...but...we are going to prosper...much grass...truly tells us all about abundance...in this story...much grass tells us all about God’s Abundance...
This text is all about God’s Abundance...in God’s world...it’s a vignette...a
snap shot...if you will...on the one hand...our story about our human notion of scarcity...which says...there is not enough for everyone...we are out of bread and fish...the life giving...food stuff...over and against...on the other hand...the notion that not only is there enough...there is more than enough...there even is abundance left over...plenty...God’s Abundance is so overwhelming...there is more than enough to go around...
Yet...as so often is the case...in the face of such God Abundance...we quibble about scarcity...how did God do that... no...I can’t believe that...no...you can’t make more fish and bread just like that...that’s crazy...no...that can’t be done ...there isn’t enough...just watch...
Yet and still...in John’s Gospel...the text goes on to read...Jesus then 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...a Eucharistic meal... to be sure...which...by the way...is the very same Eucharistic meal that Jesus shares with his disciples...after he was raised from the dead...a story also found in John’s Gospel...in the Epilogue of John’s Gospel...Jesus came...and took the bread ...and gave it to them...and so with the fish...this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead...indeed...God’s victory over death and darkness...much abundance ...bread and fish...for all...for you...in Christ...that’s the story...
The miracle in our story...well...in all of these Gospel loaves and fish stories ...is not so much about the method of making the gift...how did this happen ...as much as it is about the abundance of the gift...the gift of God...for the people of God...
Of course...God’s Abundance for us...really and truly...began...in...with and
through Creation ...remember in Genesis Ch 1...God created humanity ... us
...male and female...in the image of God...it was intended...God intended that there be abundance...after all...this was the Garden of Eden...but... remember also...the Fall...the Fall from God’s Grace...if you will...Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden...with the radical Protestant view being...that...after the Fall...here...read Luther and the Confessions...the radical view being...no image of God in us...for us...with us ... rather...corruption...broken-ness...sin yet...with God doing what God does best...the God with us...the God for us rekindled the relationship ... beginning with that Promise to Abram...become Abraham...remember the stories of Abraham...Issac and Jacob...of Sarah... ...Rebekah... Leah and Rachel...and we read about Jacob...For I have seen God face to face...and...yet...my life is preserved...our Psalmist for this day...
also concluding...as for me...I shall behold thy face in righteousness...God
creating...God renewing...God healing...God transforming...
In our case...your case and mine...of course...that story of God abundance
continues...in...with and through Christ...the new covenant...the new wine...
the new promise...for God so loved the world...that God started over again... for us...there being enough for all...bread and fish...and bread and wine...and things like redemption...salvation...wholeness...healing...and...much grass...
And God had compassion on them...and...God healed them...just as God has compassion on us...and said...bring them...here... to me...and then said...take and eat...come and drink...loaves and fish for you...the gift of God...for the people of God...likewise...God gathers us up on our sandy beach of life...and says...the Body of Christ...given for you...the Blood of Christ...shed for you...come...the gift of God for you...
Thanks be to God...
Amen
Pastor Glen
03 August 2008
Now...to be sure...the purpose of such an endeavour...at least on my part...is not to expose you to the vagaries of the text...nor...to hang you out to dry...if you will...but...rather...for us to have a little fun with our text this mornrning...in particular...with our Gospel Text for today...the loaves and fish story that we find in Matthew’s Gospel ...and...as well...since this also is one of those lazy hazy mid-Summer Sundays...this long weekend of August...in the middle of Pentecost Season...your “faith growing Season”...to invite you...into a different way of living and being with this story...about loaves and fish...and grass...
So...then to start...and...I am hoping for...and trusting in some feed back here...when you read this story...or ...when you hear this story...what is it that you hear...what is this story all about for you...what’s happening here...what is this story telling us...??? _______
As we begin our look at this text...then...did you know...that this very same
story is repeated...four times...in our Canon of Text...it is found in each of the Gospel Texts...Matthew...Mark...Luke and John...with a different twist...here and there...in each case...
In Matthew...Jesus withdraws...into a boat...to a lonely place....but...the
crowds follow...
In Mark...again...we find reference to both the lonely place and the boat... but...in this story...Jesus is found...getting out of the boat...rather than into theboat...
In Luke...there is neither a lonely place...nor boat...but...rather...a City...
and...finally...then...
In John...the story has been expanded...Jesus crosses a Sea...climbs a
mountain...and...withdraws with the disciples...
Remember...of course...the significance of Mountain top ...and boat and water stories...in our texts...nevertheless...in each case...the loaves and the fish... are multiplied...
Now...with this story...I much prefer working with John’s Gospel...and...you will see why in a moment...I prefer John’s Gospel because...because...if I may...I wish to suggest to you this morning...that... there is latent in this story in John’s Gospel...one phrase that...sums it all up...if that’s the right way to put it...there is one phrase that tells us everything that we need to know about God...if...indeed...we are listening...listening in the midst of our...faith growing...faith greening...Pentecost Season
So...are you ready...for one of the most profound theological statements that you will find...well...ready or not...here it is...in John Ch6 v 10b...it says...in about the midst of the loaves and fish story...“now ...there was much grass in the place...” pardon me???
Yes...that’s is!...“Now...there was much grass in the place...”...do you get that ...well...of course you do...you live on the Prairies...much grass...means that there has been rain...much grass means that we can feed the cattle...that the crops will grow...much grass also means that ...in fact...not only are we going to survive...but...we are going to prosper...much grass...truly tells us all about abundance...in this story...much grass tells us all about God’s Abundance...
This text is all about God’s Abundance...in God’s world...it’s a vignette...a
snap shot...if you will...on the one hand...our story about our human notion of scarcity...which says...there is not enough for everyone...we are out of bread and fish...the life giving...food stuff...over and against...on the other hand...the notion that not only is there enough...there is more than enough...there even is abundance left over...plenty...God’s Abundance is so overwhelming...there is more than enough to go around...
Yet...as so often is the case...in the face of such God Abundance...we quibble about scarcity...how did God do that... no...I can’t believe that...no...you can’t make more fish and bread just like that...that’s crazy...no...that can’t be done ...there isn’t enough...just watch...
Yet and still...in John’s Gospel...the text goes on to read...Jesus then 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...a Eucharistic meal... to be sure...which...by the way...is the very same Eucharistic meal that Jesus shares with his disciples...after he was raised from the dead...a story also found in John’s Gospel...in the Epilogue of John’s Gospel...Jesus came...and took the bread ...and gave it to them...and so with the fish...this was now the third time that Jesus was revealed to the disciples after he was raised from the dead...indeed...God’s victory over death and darkness...much abundance ...bread and fish...for all...for you...in Christ...that’s the story...
The miracle in our story...well...in all of these Gospel loaves and fish stories ...is not so much about the method of making the gift...how did this happen ...as much as it is about the abundance of the gift...the gift of God...for the people of God...
Of course...God’s Abundance for us...really and truly...began...in...with and
through Creation ...remember in Genesis Ch 1...God created humanity ... us
...male and female...in the image of God...it was intended...God intended that there be abundance...after all...this was the Garden of Eden...but... remember also...the Fall...the Fall from God’s Grace...if you will...Adam and Eve were expelled from the Garden...with the radical Protestant view being...that...after the Fall...here...read Luther and the Confessions...the radical view being...no image of God in us...for us...with us ... rather...corruption...broken-ness...sin yet...with God doing what God does best...the God with us...the God for us rekindled the relationship ... beginning with that Promise to Abram...become Abraham...remember the stories of Abraham...Issac and Jacob...of Sarah... ...Rebekah... Leah and Rachel...and we read about Jacob...For I have seen God face to face...and...yet...my life is preserved...our Psalmist for this day...
also concluding...as for me...I shall behold thy face in righteousness...God
creating...God renewing...God healing...God transforming...
In our case...your case and mine...of course...that story of God abundance
continues...in...with and through Christ...the new covenant...the new wine...
the new promise...for God so loved the world...that God started over again... for us...there being enough for all...bread and fish...and bread and wine...and things like redemption...salvation...wholeness...healing...and...much grass...
And God had compassion on them...and...God healed them...just as God has compassion on us...and said...bring them...here... to me...and then said...take and eat...come and drink...loaves and fish for you...the gift of God...for the people of God...likewise...God gathers us up on our sandy beach of life...and says...the Body of Christ...given for you...the Blood of Christ...shed for you...come...the gift of God for you...
Thanks be to God...
Amen
Pastor Glen
03 August 2008
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