Hi everyone,
Welcome to worship for this 10th Sunday after Pentecost, landing on July 28, 2024!
The bulletin for this service can be found here. In it, you’ll find the order and words of the liturgy as well as the full sermon that you could use to follow along with the service. Alternatively, the words that you need to know will also be on your screen, and the sermon is included on this page below the worship service video.
To enhance your online worship experience, you are welcome to have a candle in your space, lit at the beginning of the service and extinguished near the end when the altar candles are put out. You are also welcome to participate in communion by having something small to eat and drink ready for the appropriate time in the service. Further instruction will be given then.
May God’s unending love and presence be seen and felt by you, today and always!
Holy God, by your Spirit, may we be empowered to see your love in our lives, sustaining us and supporting us, through Jesus our Lord. Amen.
So it’s been another one of those weeks for me, both personally and professionally. And I know what you might be thinking, “You’re having a tough week professionally? Isn’t today your Monday and Friday?” Because you know, pastors only work on Sundays. But be that as it may, there was a lot of things going on for me the past 7 calendar days, so much so that I’m really looking forward to my holidays. Not because I want to get away from all of you, don’t get me wrong on that, it’s just that life has been difficult as of late, and it’ll be nice to have a bit of time just to catch my breath.
But still, it can’t be that bad, can it? I still have my health, my family, and a pretty sweet car outside, so shouldn’t I just count my lucky stars? But that’s the thing, I fully recognise and acknowledge how lucky I am for so many reasons. Like living where I do, having a job that pays much more than just a living wage, and this body that is in tip top shape and has no problem moving heavy objects without getting hurt (much). I know I’m lucky in so many respects, and that there are people who have it way way way worse than I do. And honestly, that is kind of the problem for me.
I mean, I see those who do have it so much worse than I do, and to be honest, I feel bad.
I feel bad for the climbing number of friends and family who are currently going through health crises. I feel bad for the increasingly more frequent deaths that are happening in our circles. I feel bad for the people around the world who face disaster after disaster, hardship after hardship, wildfire after wildfire. I look at my own privilege and fortune and I feel bad that there are so many out there that don’t and can’t share in them.
Like I feel so bad for all these difficulties I see around me, that all I want to do is help. I want to wave some magic wand that I don’t have and make it all better. I want to offer everything I can to alleviate all this pain and brokenness. But who am I kidding? What can I even do or offer?
I’m not a doctor. I’m not a firefighter. I’m not even really rich enough to donate enough money to make any kind of difference. I just don’t have a lot to offer.
And maybe you know what I mean. Not just in the “I don’t have much to offer” part, but maybe you too, see the hurt and pain around us and you want to do something. Maybe you see the injustices of the world and you want to stand up for what is right. Maybe your heart breaks when you see the destruction and devastation that war and natural disasters bring and you just wish you could do more… but can’t. For whatever reason, we just can’t. And that might make us feel bad. Or at least, maybe it does now.
And so we might want to give up. Turn a blind eye. Sweep it under the rug and say this is someone else’s problem, in hopes that will alleviate our guilt.
Truth be told, I wouldn’t blame you for thinking this, because I think this way more often than I’d like to admit. I don’t like it, but that’s just what comes to my mind. With so many disasters that happen, it’s hard to keep up and so it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by it all. We don’t have enough to help. We aren’t enough to do anything meaningful. We aren’t capable enough to make any difference. We think so, at least.
And I guess we wouldn’t be the only ones.
Not just us in this room, but we see this kind of thinking with the disciples in the story we get from today’s gospel reading. This isn’t an unfamiliar story whatsoever, probably because we get like 6 versions of it in our 4 gospels. So I guess it’s a pretty important story.
Depending on the version of the story, the people urgently followed Jesus out and away from civilization, where there would be enough field space to set up comfortably. But they were in such a rush that perhaps they didn’t have the chance to properly plan and prepare for a day out. So they might not have enough to eat. Might not have enough to drink. Might not have what they need to survive a day out in the hot Middle Eastern sun. And more often than not, the story has the disciples seeing this blaring need in front of them, and just want to shoo them away.
“We don’t have enough to feed them” they say. “We have nothing to offer the hungry” they conclude. “We can’t help or solve this situation” is what they ended up with.
They were too concerned with what they could or couldn’t do. They were too worried with what they could or couldn’t offer. They were totally caught up with how they could or couldn’t save these people from their discomfort, their need, their scarcity. But the thing is, it isn’t up to the disciples to save them.
That’s Jesus’ job. And Jesus does it.
Jesus sees the scarcity and provides for it. Jesus sees the need and meets it. Jesus sees the despair that we all feel, and brings us together in community.
This doesn’t mean that we just wash our hands from helping in disasters. This doesn’t mean that we should turn a blind eye to the need around the world. This doesn’t mean that we don’t bother to offer any kind of help. But it does mean that we can keep an open mind to the leading and calling of the Spirit. It does mean that we can look and see how God provides for those in need and how we can be a part of that. It does mean that we can recognise and acknowledge where we might feel like we aren’t enough, and see how God remains present with us and by grace, multiplies the blessing that can come from where we least expect: in our scarcities, in our insecurities, even in our shortcomings.
See we aren’t called to save but we are called to be in community. We are called to reflect of the love of God onto all people. We are called to be compassionate, to care, and to walk alongside our siblings around the world as we together share in our need, in our brokenness, and in the solutions that are provided to us by the God who created the universe.
And that is the miracle of this story. Sure, multiplying food is pretty amazing, but so is community. Creating something out of nothing is pretty wondrous, but so is caring for others and having compassion for them. Meeting the needs of the multitudes is indeed miraculous, but so is seeing and recognising where we might be lacking and falling short, and acknowledging how God provides for us all forgiveness, redemption, and salvation.
I know this might seem like such a far off goal, but just as the disciples soon discovered after the people were fed and the pieces picked up, they can find themselves alone and scared in the middle of the vast dark ocean of life. And in their fear of where they are and where they’re going, they and we can rest assured that Jesus was always with them and with us, not just leading and guiding us on where to go, but to reveal to us that we are already there.
We are there in our welcome and how we are regarded by God. We are there in our role in the body of Christ and how we can relate to others. We are there in who we are, whose we are, and as part of the great grand community of the Spirit, showing care and compassion to all those in need.
See, in our feeling inadequate and perhaps not enough to be part of any kind of solution in the world, we can trust and believe that God provides, God multiplies, and God joins us together to collectively support, actively care, and welcome each other into this wide and vast community that spans across borders, culture, and even time. The solution might not be to provide, but perhaps to just listen. It might not be for us to fix, but maybe just support. We don’t have any way to magically and miraculously feed people out of our own scarcity, but we can invite, welcome, and cultivate community where love, compassion, and peace can be found.
So as we continue in this season after Pentecost and these summer months, may we see God’s provision for us and those around us, that we might be joined together in our welcome and support as a church, a community, and this part of the body of Christ. Thanks be to God. Amen.