A Congregational Letter to Morgan’s Point and Forks Road East United Churches
August 2nd, 2020
My prayer for all of you is that everyone has a safe and relaxing long weekend. I forget sometimes about long weekends, because I usually am working on Sunday, but this extra day helps us to catch up on little things like – rest, gardening, yard work, and for me, laundry and reading. Whatever you are up to this weekend, enjoy.
My sermon this week, is entitled “How Are We With Miracles?”. It is based on the Gospel of Matthew 14:13-21. It is the story of the multiplication of the loaves and fish. There are all kinds of questions that surround this miracle story. First, did it happen at all? My answer to that is an absolute resounding, “Yes!” This is one of those handful of stories that appears in almost identical form in all of the Gospels. But, the greater question for many people is the question of how this event took place. In other words, was it really a miracle?
What I would like you to think about is the image of a weary but compassionate Jesus who understood the true power of the Creator God. This was a miracle. Jesus acted in accordance with that knowledge: with miraculous results. According to Matthew, because Jesus had compassion on the crowd, he asked the disciples what food they had. They brought him the five small loaves and the two small fish. Then Jesus blessed and broke the loaves and fish, and told the disciples to hand them out. Jesus sees the incredible need, understands the power of God, takes what meager resources they have, and offers them in true thanksgiving to God. And God does the rest. It is a true miracle of enormous proportions.
The miracle of the loaves and fish is not just a story, not even just a miracle. In addition, it is a way of miraculously living each day. When we are faced with seemingly incalculable difficulties, we cannot, if we are living in faith, wring our hands in worry or complain about how insignificant and lacking our resources are. Instead, we need to take what we have, offer it in thanksgiving before the God who gave us everything, then we should leave our meager resources to be blessed, and broken by God. It is then, that we as God’s hands in the world, have the ability to spread those blessed resources out, and watch as they grow and expand to fill the need. This is how we live miraculously every day.
Have a grand week filled with laughter, surprises, lots of family time, and rest that strengthens and refreshes. Remember that as we pray for one another every morning at 10:30, God grants us wisdom, love and peace to hold each other in infinite care.
Keep well and safe, and have a blessed week.
God’s Blessings,
Pastor Laura