Welcome to Sunday Worship in Leesfield Parish on the Ninth Sunday after Trinity. Today we have just one Service in the parish - at 10 am at St Thomas' Church.
Our first hymn this morning is "Beauty for Brokenness"
Today's Gospel
John 6:1-21 Feeding of the Multitudes
Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.”
Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus 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. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
When evening came, his disciples went down to the sea, got into a boat, and started across the sea to Capernaum. It was now dark, and Jesus had not yet come to them. The sea became rough because a strong wind was blowing. When they had rowed about three or four miles, they saw Jesus walking on the sea and coming near the boat, and they were terrified. But he said to them, “It is I; do not be afraid”.
Then they wanted to take him into the boat, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going.
Reflection
Toilet Rolls!
Well that probably seems like a funny way to start a reflection but my mind sometimes works like that. I had been thinking about today’s gospel from John, and to be honest struggling to think of something different to say about this well-known miracle, when I heard a news story on the wireless that the first report into the Covid crisis was to be published.
One of the things, that came to mind was the sudden panic buying that happened and for some reason one of the first things to be snapped up were toilet rolls, quickly followed by tinned and dried food like pasta and rice. How strange to see so many shelves in the shop totally empty. There were people literally fighting in the shops to fill their trolleys with as much as they could.
The government showed the same behaviour. We wasted billions of pounds on massive orders for personal protective equipment and pre-ordering vaccines that hadn’t even been developed or tested. The consequence of that being that there was very little, if any, availability for poor countries who could not afford the exorbitant prices.
Roll the clock forward a couple of years and we see the same behaviour when Russia went to war with Ukraine. Ukraine, the so called bread basket of the world which used to supply 6.5 million tons of grain per month across the world, found its farms destroyed by bombs and the trade routes blocked by Russia. As a result the price of grain escalated as those of us who could afford it reluctantly paid more. But it also created a humanitarian crisis for those in the third world who couldn’t get it. Whilst the cost of bread and pastries shot up for us and fuelled inflation, the reality for some was starvation.
I’m not trying to make a political point here, but it is worth reflecting for a few moments about how we behave as a human society. At times we have a culture, as individuals and also collectively, to look after ourselves before others. In our panic to make sure we are ‘alright Jack’, we often overlook the consequences for others. I’m not saying that is deliberate, although in some cases it clearly is.
So what does today’s story tell us about how we should behave? Jesus first asks Philip, ”Where shall we buy bread?“ Of course he knows full well what he intends to do, he knows that they wouldn’t have anywhere near enough money to pay for the bread and he also knows that there isn’t a Tesco, or any other shop for that matter, in this deserted place they’ve retreated to.
Then Andrew spots a young boy with 5 loaves and 2 fishes. The boy freely offers his tiny gift. We don’t know how Jesus performed the miracle, but what we start to learn at this early stage of his ministry is that Jesus is not only resourceful, he himself is the resource. Like the poor boy’s lunch, which seemed so insignificant, Jesus can do the same with us.
We all have resources of our own, be that money, time or skills, albeit for many quite modest. (I’m fairly confident that no one has a million pounds in their back pocket to help pay for all the work that needs to be to our two churches). But as Jesus showed, God uses the smallest of gifts to perform his greatest wonders.
We pray to God to ‘Give us our daily bread’, which is not just bread but everything that we have, and we know that everything we have comes from God by his will. We are asked to love God and one another, and that includes giving our time, talents and belongings back when we can, to the church, the community and those in need around the world. Just as importantly, we need to take the time to look at the consequences of our actions when we are tempted to ‘look after number one’ and put ourselves first.
Whatever we freely give will be multiplied over and over again. In the hands of Jesus, shortage becomes abundance, deficiency becomes plenty and nothing that we give to him is ever lost because Jesus himself is the resource.
Paul
Our Prayers
Most merciful Father,
We thank you for all that we have in our lives.
We remember that all things come from you.
Help us to respond with generosity and gladness
freely offering and sharing what we can
in the knowledge that each act of giving, is an act of love and compassion,
