(Disciples walk over to Jesus)
Disciple 1: It’s the end of the day.
Disciple 2: Send the crowd away.
Disciple 3: Yes, so they may go into the surrounding villages and find a place to stay for the night.
Disciple 4: They also need to get something to eat.
Disciple 5: This is such a desolate place.
Jesus: You give them something to eat!
Disciple 1: We only have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish.
Disciple 2: Unless you want us to go and buy food for all of these people.
Disciple 3: There are about 5,000 men and that’s not even counting all the women and children!
Jesus: Have them sit down to eat in groups of about fifty each.
Narrator: So the disciples get everyone to sit down… they try to get the people to sit in groups of 50. More or less
Jesus to disciple: You have 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish? Bring them to me.
(Disciple does this)
Jesus (looking up to heaven): Thank you Father for this food that you have provided for us.
(Jesus breaks the bread and hands them to the disciples)
Jesus (to disciples): Go bring the food to all of the people.
Narrator: The disciples do this and Everyone eats and All are full!
Jesus (to disciples): Go and pick up all of the left-over food.
Disciple 4: Let’s go. This shouldn’t take long.
Narrator: So the Disciples go and pick up the leftovers
Disciple 5: Wait! How can this be! There are 12 baskets full!
Disciple 1: That’s more than when we began.
Disciple 2: WOW. What’s going on?!
Wow. What’s going on? It’s the end of the day. The disciples are probably tired. The people are getting hungry. They’re hungry. It’s time to wrap up and send everyone home. Right?
But you heard what happened. Instead, Jesus says… You feed them. And instead of nodding when he hears their protestations that they only have two fish and five loaves of bread, Jesus says… you have two fish and five loaves of bread?! That’s not “Nothing”. That’s something. And Jesus blesses the loaves and the fish and feeds the whole crowd. Now that’s stretching a meal.
For those of you who are worried that you aren’t going to have enough turkey or stuffing or pie tomorrow, take note.
It’s a miracle – but it isn’t magic. I don’t know how Jesus fed so many people. It may have been that the bread just kept multiplying after Jesus blessed it. As mind blowing as that it, Jesus did lots of miracles that go beyond our reason.
But there is more than one way for a miracle to happen. When I was about 15, I heard a sermon by Herb Brokering, who, in addition to being a hymn writer, was a story teller of a preacher. Brokering told this story:
There were two men from another country, a country that had been torn by war and corruption and drought. Late one afternoon, they stopped in the village square, wondering if anyone would take them in, if anyone would give them a bit to eat. But it had been a dry year, a hard year in this country too. They noticed, as they walked through town, that doors were shut and curtains drawn. Clearly they were not the first people who had come into town.
The two men looked at one another. They were hungry.
The one man said to the other, loudly: Tom, I think we should make some stone soup.
The other man, John, replied, “I think that is a wonderful idea. I’ll find a stone and get some water. You gather some sticks.”
They did and then they started a fire in the middle of the square. A boy bicycled past…slowly.. and then turned and came back. “What are you doing” he asked.
“Making stone soup.” They replied.
“Stone soup? I’ve never heard of that before.
It’s mighty good… You can have some but… it’s better if we add a potato..
The boy said, “I’ll go ask my mom. Be right back.
The men nodded and stirred the soup.
Soon the boy came back – with his mom and a little tiny potato.
She said, “What kind of recipe do you have here - stone soup?”
Yes Maam. As you can see, we have a stone here in the bottom of our little pot… We will share some with you and your son but we could use a bigger pot because then we could feed the whole village.
Well… Rose is the name and I have a pot that you could use… and a couple more potatoes.
“Great!” Said the man. The stone takes a while to really flavor the pot… But it’s better with potatoes and a few carrots he said.. as he kept stirring the pot.
Soon Rose was back with her pot and a few more potatoes. One of her neighbors poked her head out the door and asking what she was doing. Rose said, these guys are going to make stone soup for us. Come and see… And bring a couple of carrots.
Well… it didn’t take long for the whole village to get curious and come out from their houses, bringing with them carrots and onions, turnips, tomatoes and sweet potatoes. One woman brought a sprig of rosemary. Another brought salt and pepper. Soon they were gathered around the pot telling stories and singing songs and enjoying a bowl of stone soup … that tasted remarkably like vegetable stew.
After he told the story of stone soup. Brokering wondered that maybe it was only the little boy who spoke up when Jesus’ disciples asked around for food. After Jesus’ blessed the food, and started to distribute it…maybe a mother added the lunch that she had brought “just for her family” to the basket and maybe a couple of men uncovered the dried fish they had brought in case they got hungry… Who knows?
We do know this: Every single Gospel tells the story of Jesus feeding the crowd of people – so many people there could have been 5000 men, not even counting the women and children. One of the Gospels tells the story twice.
But the point of the story isn’t the fish and bread or even how Jesus did it.
In each of the stories, Jesus takes the food that is offered and gives thanks to God. Jesus thanks God.
Then Jesus instructs his disciples to share the gifts. And then they collect the leftovers…. And there is an abundance of “leftovers;” there’s more than enough.
I think this is what Jesus is teaching us to do too: Give thanks to God for what we have been given. So we are going to do that right now. And we will include these gifts in our prayers
You received three colored papers when you arrived. If you don’t have them, please raise your hand and one of our youth will bring them to you.
On the yellow colored paper, write one gift of creation that you love – whether it is the snow or the rain, the mountains or trees or lilacs or any other flower. Or it could be an animal – including a pet dog or cat or fish.
On the blue colored paper, write one skill or talent that God has given to you – maybe you can sing or draw or write or maybe God has given you the gift of chatting with others or maybe you can pray or cook or maybe you can fish or play a sport or are good with numbers or at making people feel welcome. Whatever it is, write that on the blue colored paper.
Finally, on the last piece colored paper, write one gift of relationship that you have – whether a friend or family member or the gift of being together in this community of faith. Write that on your last piece of colored paper.
After blessing the gifts, Jesus invited his disciples to feed the people, to share the gifts. …And then… when everyone had their fill… they were invited to collect the “leftovers.” Because somehow, when we put our gifts together… there is not only “enough” but… there is an abundance.
So now I’m going to ask you to pass your gifts of thanks -your colored pieces of paper to the aisle for the youth ushers to pick up during the hymn. Please put the same colored pieces together to make it easier for Vicar Becca who is going to take these gifts and use them when we share OUR prayers of thanks to God.
We do not have a scarcity of thanks to offer – God is Good and has blessed us ABUNDANTLY. Thanks be to God! Amen.