A gift of bread

So I've been sitting in my office all morning, contemplating what to say for my sermon. Now, don't get me wrong, I have finally reached a decision as to what the main point of my sermon will be. Heck, I've even got my Law and Gospel part figured out. But I'll be darned if I can get the actual sermon flowing.



I went home last night still pondering the gospel lesson for the week, and felt pretty certain that I was going to approach the text from the standpoint of abundance... the miraculous gift of abundance that Jesus provided for the thosands in the feeding... and it wasn't just the abundance of a spiritual gift, but the abundance of something that the people really truly needed to survive--he provided the hungry masses with what they needed most: food. Not teachings and words of solace and comfort, not words to feed the soul, but real, tangible food. But this approach left me feeling uninspired, because the truth is, there is not an abundance of the things which we need, and while the argument can be, and has been made that it is humanity's fault--that if we were willing to share more and take less for ourselves, then there would be more than enough for everyone. God provides, but we take too much for ourselves. While this might provide some explanation, and make it a little more "ok" (not that it really is, but you know what I mean) that people do not have enough, I just don't find this satisfactory.

At any rate, I've been playng out a sermon that would follow this kind of thinking, and I'm just not... inspired. Truth be told, it feels like a lie to stand up and say that. So where to now? Well, here's what I've been thinking (and if I come off as full of crap, then so be it, but it has helped a little to think of it this way). What if it isn't so much about needs being met as it is about the small, seemingly insignificant boy (translated from the Greek literally means, "the smallest of children") giving all that he had, and how Jesus used the gift to bring about a miracle? What if it the message is telling us that what reallymatters is the willingness to give to something, and in our giving, God is able to take our small offering and turn it into something wonderful?

And then there's the whole matter of the testing of the disciples.
Jesus had already performed a miracle of abundance before this, at the wedding at Cana. He has already proven that he can take something small and insignificant (aka, water, although arguably not small and insignificant) and turn it into something marvelous. Yet the disciples, who have certainly witnessed the many things Jesus can do, fail to understand that Jesus can provide what is needed. First Philip fails the test. You can almost hear him laugh at Jesus question: "WHAT? You want us to do WHAT?! Buy bread for over 5000 people? You're nuts!" And poor Andrew, he comes so close, pointint to the boy with the loaves and the fish... but then he too fails, as he turns and says, "yeah, we've got those things, but they're a little boy's lunch--nothing compared to the nuber of people here to feed." So really, what is our lesson here? Is it about the giving? Or is it about having faith that God will provide through Jesus?

And so there it is. I don't quite yet know what to do with it, were to go with it, or how to really make it work, but at anyrate, this is what I've been thinking about. Let us hop that something will come out of these ramblings and mind-wanderings by Sunday... and preferably something good, guided by the Holy Spirit...