Call to Worship:
Praise God for the gift of life!
Praise God for the miracle of creation!
May the lands ring out in a song of praise!
May the morning proclaim God’s goodness!

Unison Prayer: Prayer of St. Patrick
Christ be with us, Christ before us, Christ behind us, Christ in us, Christ beneath us, Christ above us, Christ on our right, Christ on our left, Christ where we lie, Christ where we sit, Christ where we arise, Christ in the heart of everyone who thinks of us, Christ in every eye that sees us, Christ in every ear that hears us.  Salvation is of the Lord; salvation is of the Christ.  May your salvation, O Lord, be ever with us.  Amen.

Words of Assurance: Romans 8:14, Good News Bible
Those who are led by God’s spirit are God’s children.

The Lord’s Prayer
Our Father,
who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
thy will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses,
as we forgive those who trespass against us.
And lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil;
for thine is the kingdom,
and the power,
and the glory forever.
Amen.

Opening Song: Keith & Kristyn Getty, “Be Thou My Vision”

Scripture Reading: John 6:5-11, RSV
Seeing that a multitude was coming to him, Jesus said to Philip, “How are we to buy bread, so that these people may eat?” This he said to test him, for he himself knew what he would do. Philip answered him, “Two hundred denarii 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 lad here who has five barley loaves and two fish; but what are they among so many?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was much grass in the place; so the men sat down, in number about five thousand. Jesus then 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. 

Sunday Sermon

When I was a kid, I wanted to be a magician. I wanted it so bad that I ordered things from the back of comic books and talked my parents into getting me a deck of trick cards. The problem was that I was a horrible magician. I only learned one trick well, but after that I had nothing. But I did have one ace up my sleeve: I had a little sister, who was seven years younger and very gullible, and she thought I was a great magician.

My sister had somehow ended up with two copies of the Golden Book We Like Kindergarten, but I hid one, so she forgot she had two. I would take one copy of the book and throw it under the couch. Then I would take it out of the refrigerator, and she’d be amazed! Then I’d take that copy and put it under the rug, then I’d take it out from under the couch, and she’d be amazed again. Then I’d put it in the windowsill and take it from under the rug. This could go on forever, and it never got old.

Sometimes we can read a Scripture for years and then suddenly notice something about it, even though we’ve never noticed it before. Usually this is because we finally get it, or it finally applies to us. But today we’re going to look at a Scripture that we all know and notice something that isn’t there, and was never there, although all of us probably think it is, because we’ve been told that it is throughout our lives.

The story of Jesus multiplying the loaves and fishes is the only miracle found in all four Gospels, and it’s a story so nice that some writers tell it twice. There may have been a million sermons preached on this story, most of which have to do with how Jesus can multiply things in our lives, which he totally can. But here’s the kicker: there are no words saying that he multiplied the loaves and fishes. You can look at it again and again, and it’s still not there, like the missing 4998 fish and 4995 loaves.

Now I’m not saying that Jesus didn’t multiply the loaves and fishes. I’m saying that maybe Jesus didn’t multiply the loaves and fishes, and the miracle happened another way, and if so, it was one of his greatest miracles, and it was an even bigger miracle than we think, and it all started with a child.

Here’s what we do know about the story. There are 5000 men, which means either there are 5000 people and they call them men, or there are 5000 men plus women and children that they don’t count. Either is a little troublesome, so let’s just say there are a whole lot of people, and they are hungry. They aren’t hungry for the bread and fish of Jesus’ teaching, even though that’s what Jesus wants to give them; they’re hungry for some actual bread and fish and have come to see miracles. And they aren’t going to pay attention to Jesus’ teachings if they are hungry, or hangry, which is going to happen soon, so the whole day is about to be ruined.

Philip is starting to panic and asks, “Where are we going to get the money to feed all these people?”

What’s not in the Scripture is that a lot of these people already had food. Imagine you’re going to an outdoor concert, and you know you’re going to be there for hours, and there’s no concessions stand. You would probably bring snacks. Or if you’re traveling a few hours by car, you probably have something in the car to eat or drink. Or if you’re going on a hike, you definitely have something with you because it could mean your life. Here’s a fun fact: movie theaters make more money on concessions than they do on movie tickets. So if you eat in a theatre, you’re not going to the movies and getting snacks; you’re going out to get snacks and seeing a movie. Anyway, back to the Scripture.

Out of at least 5000 people there, one of them comes up to the disciples and offers what he has. It doesn’t actually say that he offers it, but we talked about this at Bible study and the alternative is that Andrew said something like, “hey, we can grab some food from this kid,” but this doesn’t sound like something he would do. Another person at Bible study said, “Well, maybe his mother made him do it,” which is possible but the mother’s not in the Scripture either, so let’s go back to our original interpretation, which is that there was a boy who wanted to help, and he stepped up.

Andrew says, “That’s not enough.” But Jesus says, “Bring the food here.” In some versions he breaks it and in all versions he blesses it, and they distribute it, and everyone has enough, and in the end they even have leftovers. So how did this happen? One answer is to say that the loaves and fishes multiplied, which is a perfectly plausible explanation when it comes to Jesus. But there’s another plausible explanation: that it’s a miracle of sharing.

Everyone’s eyes would have been on Jesus, so they would have been tuned in to what was happening. They would have seen the boy come forward. The boy probably wasn’t going to eat five loaves and two fish on his own, although if he was a teenager, anything is possible. But he offered all he had to Jesus, like the woman who put her only coin in the offering plate. And whether they were inspired or obligated or shamed, many people might have then started sharing what they had as well. Many years later, this would also become the theme of the story “Stone Soup.”

I saw something like this happen once, when I was coming home from a Christian music festival with a carload of kids. We were stuck in traffic, so stuck that all of the drivers had turned off their engines. It was a hot summer day, which meant the AC was off, so the kids asked if they could get out of the car, and I said okay. They brought their Funchos and Ring Dings and gummy worms and bags of whatever. A few cars away, another group of kids got out of a car, and they brought their Monster drinks and cookies and Combos and so on, and they started sharing, and then other kids got out of other cars, and some of them didn’t have any food, but it didn’t matter, everybody got fed. And I thought this was a good way to get rid of some of our extra food, but when the traffic started moving again we had more food than we started with.

Now you could say, “Well obviously Jesus multiplied the Combos and Ding Dongs,” but you could also say that kids being generous inspired other kids to be generous, which is a greater miracle. And what if Jesus, who spotlighted the generosity of a single boy, inspired 5000 people or more to share what they had? Wouldn’t that be a greater miracle as well?

So here’s the thing. (Speaking directly to today’s baptism family.). Raise your child to be this kind of boy: the kind of boy who sees a need and wants to fill it. The kind of boy who sees hunger and wants to share. The kind of boy who is generous with his own blessings. The kind of boy who does what he can, even when it doesn’t seem like it will make a difference. Because yes, 5 loaves and 2 fish isn’t enough to feed 5000. But that doesn’t stop him. And giving some shoes, or some Cheerios, or a few dollars to the church for mission projects isn’t enough to end poverty in our area. But we do it because there’s a need, and because we’ve already been overly blessed, and because it does make a difference to the recipient.

And here’s the kicker: there is enough food in the world to feed everybody. There is enough money in the world to provide adequate housing to everybody. There are enough resources in the world to eradicate poverty. Or to put it another way, there are enough loaves and fishes in the world that if we all started sharing our loaves and fishes, we would not only have more than enough, we’d have leftovers.

If this story is about sharing, it transforms from a physical miracle to a parable. It’s the epitome of the prophecy, “A little child shall lead them.” It all starts with one boy. We know about all the problems of the world, and we concentrate on the enormity of the needs, but we forget how much a difference a single person and a single act can make. If this is a miracle of sharing, it’s telling us not to give up; if 5000 people can be inspired to share what they have, maybe the whole world can as well. Don’t give up hope in humanity; and while we’re holding onto our hope, let’s be part of that hope as well, doing what we can, offering what we have, and being part of something bigger than ourselves. Amen.

Closing Song: Rend Collective, “Build Your Kingdom Here”

Benediction
May the road rise up to meet you.
May the wind be always at your back.
May the sun shine warm upon your face;
the rains fall soft upon your fields
and until we meet again,
may God hold you in the palm of His hand.
Amen.