It’s Time for A Picnic

Ephesians 3:14-19 John 6: 1-21
July 26, 2009

Opening Song Bread and Roses

As we go marching, marching, in the beauty of the day,
A million darkened kitchens, a thousand mill lofts gray,
Are touched with all the radiance that a sudden sun discloses,
For the people hear us singing: Bread and Roses! Bread and Roses!

As we go marching, marching, we battle too for men,
For they are women's children, and we mother them again.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; give us bread, but give us roses.

As we go marching, marching, unnumbered women dead
Go crying through our singing their ancient call for bread.
Small art and love and beauty their drudging spirits knew.
Yes, it is bread we fight for, but we fight for roses too.

As we go marching, marching, we bring the greater days,
The rising of the women means the rising of the race.
No more the drudge and idler, ten that toil where one reposes,
But a sharing of life's glories: Bread and roses, bread and roses.
Our lives shall not be sweated from birth until life closes;
Hearts starve as well as bodies; bread and roses, bread and roses.

The feeding of the 5,000 is that only miracle story that appears in all four gospels. And as John’s gospel tells the story, it is one of the Signs that the power of God is made real in Jesus.

The community for whom this story was first written, would hear in it the story of Exodus, the liberation from slavery in Egypt and the journey through the wilderness, hungry and lost, looking for faith as much as they were looking for food and shelter.
It is story of humanity, singing and “crying their ancient call for bread.”
It is a story of humanity looking for a king who will lead them out slavery.
It is a story of the compassion of Jesus knowing that “hearts starve as well as bodies.”

It is a story of God’s blessing the little that we have in ways that are beyond our abilities to forecast or calculate.

This story is the only one that appears in all four Gospels. So it can be enlightening to ask the question, “How does John use this story? What is the context?” Our Gospel reading this morning begins with the words, “After this…” So we go to chapter 5 to learn that Jesus had been in Jerusalem, had healed a man on the Sabbath, which got him in big trouble with the religious authorities.

But Jesus, knowing God, knew that these religious leaders did not know the Scriptures as well as they thought they did. They had turned the Scriptures into what we might call information: facts, rules and regulations. They had lost the radiance of the scriptures. They had lost the understanding that scriptures are alive and point to God’s eternal presence that is always unfolding in new ways. They had put the Scriptures in a box and locked themselves within it.

So Jesus leaves Jerusalem and goes to the country, the other side of the Sea of Galilee, up to a mountain top. The wilderness. Away from the Temple. Away from the religious orthodox community. He is with disciples, praying, studying, and resting.

He sees from his mountain top post a crowd of people coming. After all, they had just seen him heal a man, on the Sabbath, and tell the so-called religious orthodox that they had no knowledge of God.

You know those beautiful golden rolling hills between along either side of HiWay 4 between Vallecito and Angels Camp. Remember them in spring time, all green.
Imagine Jesus and his disciples sitting on top of one of those hills. Seeing over 5,000 people coming towards them.

Jesus knows those people are hungry. For bread. For roses. For beauty. For health care.

Jesus looks at the hungry people and he looks at his disciples and thinks to himself, “This is a teachable moment. I wonder if my disciples have caught on yet to what I have been saying?” So he asks Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for the people to eat?”

Isn’t that one of the scariest moments in our lives? A classroom, surrounded by people we know, some of them friends, some of them smarter than we are, all of them looking at us when the teacher has called on us with a question. We didn’t have time to do our homework the night before. We try really quick to remember what the teacher said in the last lecture. And we haven’t go time to remember and we don’t want to say, “I dunno.”

So Philip says what seems to be a good and factual answer. “We don’t have enough money to buy bread for this crowd.”

Andrew, who has had a little more time to think while Philip pondered, has been looking around and notices a young boy with five barley loaves and two fish. He tells Jesus what they have on hand and he might have gotten an “A” for the day if he had stopped there but he keeps talking and reveals that he hasn’t quite got it yet. Which is OK. That is why Jesus wanted this to be a teachable moment.

Andrew asks, “But what is this, five barley loaves and two fish, among so many people?”
And then, … away from the Temple, …at a time when the Festival of Passover was near… At a time when the people remember their ancestors’ freedom from slavery and journey through the wilderness to freedom …At a time when the people are longing for freedom from the occupying Romans who are stealing their wealth and resources. …At a time when the people are longing for freedom from their religious orthodox leaders who are closing their hearts in restricted reading of Scriptures,

At that teachable moment Jesus turned the hillside into an altar,
He took the little that they had and turned it into manna from heaven,
He broke it, blessed it, and shared it.
And there was more than enough to go around.

Without faith there are no answers.

Without considering the needs of everyone, the right questions are not being asked.

God’s abundant love is for all creation, beginning at the bottom working up, not the other way around.

“What are our expectations for our shared life?
What hope do we have in spite of perceived shortage and scarcity?
Do we see our life together as "a venue for God's glory and mercy to break forth in the world," or "as a means to facilitate the congregation's survival as an organization"?

Have "our expectations and activities lost their prophetic edge"?
This is an especially pressing question during the current recession, bankrupt state governments, and debates over health care, when the temptation to concentrate on survival and maintenance might distract us from our true mission.
We're understandably worried about shrinking endowments and rising costs. However "The story [of the feeding of the 5,000] suggests that the focus of ministry is not simply what good people decide is reasonable to undertake in order to meet basic needs. Instead, ministry is about multiplying resources so that what might have been a social handout becomes a revelation of amazing grace"
(Yust, Feasting on the Word, UCC web page, S.A.M.U.E.L).

“John's Gospel is "all about knowledge as power," not the knowledge-as-information that inundates us, but "love's knowledge" which "multiplies the meager resources and makes a way forward when knowledge comes to its end.
….in the hands of Jesus, little can become much, the few can become the many, and the weak can become strong." Imagine, Johns suggests, God responding to our prayers for the world's needs with the question, "What do you have?"
( Cheryl Bridges, Feasting on the Word, UCC web page, S.A.M.U.E.L).

What do you have?
Take it. Break it open. Bless it. Share it.
Jesus saw the hungry people seeking bread care, he saw the sick people needing health care, he saw the frightened people needing soul care. Knowing God Jesus knew that trusting the bread of life can help us find resources that will help us find the bread for the body.
Trust in God affirms God’s power and presence in all creation.
Even when that begins with five barley loaves and two fish.

What Are You Longing For?
What do you have?
Take it, break it open, bless it, share it.

“ Jesus’ ministry was one of healing, bringing life to the dying, sight to the blind, wellness to the sick, and peace of mind to the troubled. Jesus’ witness was that abundant life includes physical, mental and spiritual wellness. The call upon us, is to make this vision a reality for all.

You are no doubt aware of the debate on health care reform currently taking place in the United States.

In spite of media reports to the contrary, it appears legislators are close to making health care reform happen. There is growing agreement about what a renewed health care system might include: people who like their coverage would keep it, people who are uninsured or lose their coverage would have an affordable option to purchase it, no one would be excluded because of pre-existing conditions, long-term costs would be reduced by streamlining paperwork and emphasizing patient-focused, preventive and wellness care.
The moral vision is there. The policy expertise is in place. It’s the political will that needs our support. Our legislators need our encouragement in the hard work of reform. I urge you, whichever of the possible
options you might support to contact your Senators and Representatives and ask them to achieve affordable, accessible, accountable, and inclusive health care this year.”
(Pastoral Letter, Rev Sharon Watkins,
General Minister and President,
Christian Church (Disciples of Christ)

I have made copies of information about the health care debate and placed them on the table in Fellowship Hall. I believe that we in the faith community can help lend our voices and support for this life giving legislation.

We need bread, and we need roses. The bread of life, the presence of God, revealed in Jesus, can help us find the bread for the body, even when it seems like we do not have enough to go around.
Take it, break it open, bless it, share it.
There is always enough of God who can help us find the always enough of us.
Let the people who love mercy and seek justice say, Amen.