15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. Matthew 14:15-20
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Bread and Fish, from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library, Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl?RC=49993 [retrieved July 29, 2020]. Original source: Wikimedia. |
This Sunday's appointed Gospel reading highlights clearly the push-and-pull between scarcity and abundance. Feelings of scarcity thrive on fear - fear that there won't be enough, fear that we'll be left out, fear that the little we have will be diminished even further. Scarcity tells us that we need to hoard what we have, or risk losing it all. Scarcity draws us inward, insists on selfishness, closes our eyes and hearts to the needs of others.
I can feel the fear and disbelief of the disciples here. They're grieving the news that their friend John has been killed. They're exhausted by the relentless crowds, the relentless need that seems to follow Jesus everywhere. How are they supposed to feed all of these people with only five loaves of bread and two fish?
As I reflect on the way that change usually happens in the church, I am reminded of how our knee-jerk reaction to any change is often one of scarcity. "What?! We can't change X - people might leave, or stop giving, or get angry, and we're already just scraping by."
That may be true. And loss is difficult, certainly. But what what would it look like to focus on the people who have already been excluded by our current practices, or who might be newly welcome as a result of the changes we make?
It is constant work to expand our vision in this way, but the results of this perspective-shift are rich and joy-filled. Worship online and on the phone rather than in-person may exclude those who are challenged by technology, but it also makes worship accessible to so many who were never able to worship in our building before - because of illness, steep steps, work schedules, family dynamics, or other situations. When we are able to shift our attention from scarcity to abundance, and from fear to joy, we are better able to notice God at work in our midst.
The disciples may have been focused on scarcity, but Jesus' way is one of abundance. Taking, blessing, and breaking the loaves, what had been not enough became more than enough - all ate and were filled, with twelve baskets left over. May it also be so for us!
I can feel the fear and disbelief of the disciples here. They're grieving the news that their friend John has been killed. They're exhausted by the relentless crowds, the relentless need that seems to follow Jesus everywhere. How are they supposed to feed all of these people with only five loaves of bread and two fish?
As I reflect on the way that change usually happens in the church, I am reminded of how our knee-jerk reaction to any change is often one of scarcity. "What?! We can't change X - people might leave, or stop giving, or get angry, and we're already just scraping by."
That may be true. And loss is difficult, certainly. But what what would it look like to focus on the people who have already been excluded by our current practices, or who might be newly welcome as a result of the changes we make?
It is constant work to expand our vision in this way, but the results of this perspective-shift are rich and joy-filled. Worship online and on the phone rather than in-person may exclude those who are challenged by technology, but it also makes worship accessible to so many who were never able to worship in our building before - because of illness, steep steps, work schedules, family dynamics, or other situations. When we are able to shift our attention from scarcity to abundance, and from fear to joy, we are better able to notice God at work in our midst.
The disciples may have been focused on scarcity, but Jesus' way is one of abundance. Taking, blessing, and breaking the loaves, what had been not enough became more than enough - all ate and were filled, with twelve baskets left over. May it also be so for us!
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