Yesterday morning a friend of mine who has been following my prayer posts all week on CASA sent me a note. He and his wife have been struggling in their relationship with their local church and faith. He wrote this: “I have stopped questioning why someone on the side of the street asks me for help and started asking why God has put them in my path. Then I said if I have money in my pocket and they need money than it must be there for a reason, yup it was… they needed help I could do it. Wow, I get it now I have they need it, just like when I need it and somebody else has it. I never realized it was that simple, I tried to make it harder than it was. I can remember being with a friend and his family when he says grace and he always says “thank you lord for putting those people who need help close to me so I can help them” so simple, yet so complex and I never got it… until today when I read what you posted and it all made sense”.
Today I am preaching on the miracle of the loaves and fishes. I, like my friend think we complicate things in our lives too much. For me this passage of the feeding of the 5000 could be very simple. Imagine as people are gathered with Jesus and are being passed the basket to be fed. Some dive in famished from life’s journey. Some may see the person next to them who needs it more and therefore does not take anything to eat instead passes it on to a person they see in need. And maybe another sees this and does the same. And maybe another is so touched, they contribute what they have brought with them but had not intended to share. And maybe this is the miracle of how the basket stays overflowing so that all in need have eaten and there is more to take with us to share.
Life is about tending to our spiritual needs and the needs of one another. Day in and day out we have people in our churches or out in the world who are so in need. Some days we are the one in need and some days it is the person next to us. The challenge is to share with one another as we bring our sacred story to the table…and there is always enough left over for more because God has blessed and multiplied our generous spirit…
And so today do we need to eat from the basket or is there another who is more in need asking us to be willing to share with them?
And so I offer this prayer…
O Holy One,
You are there in our midst
ready to nourish our hopes and dreams.
You are also present in us that we might nourish one another.
May we see the basket before us
And feed from its abundance and share with those around us.
We ask this with an open heart and Spirit hungry for you. Amen!
