Eighth Sunday after Pentecost

Sustenance Shared
July 26, 2008 – 126th Anniversary Service
2 Kings 4:42-44; Psalm 145:10-18; Ephesians 3:14-21; John 6:1-21
Pastor Anita Hill

Grace and peace to you from God, our Creator, Christ, and Holy Spirit. Amen.

How did they know there were 5,000 people in that crowd?  They didn’t know the number exactly. When there are large numbers in the Bible, it means that the story is to be interpreted as a story for all of humanity. God feeds all of humanity – people of all times and places.

Some people think the real miracle of this story is that people were so inspired by Jesus and the little boy who offered his own bread and fish that they shared what they could. And it was more than enough to feed everyone.i

There are several ways of reading at this parable. On the one hand, Jesus fed people physically; their bodies were important to him, and they needed to eat. On the other hand, Jesus also fed them spiritually; he was teaching them, giving them spiritual sustenance for their daily lives.

I don’t know about you, but spiritual hunger is a part of my everyday existence. It reminds me of a Ray Makeever song, “We come to the hungry feast, hungry for a world released from hungry folk of every kind, the poor in body, poor in mind. We come to the hungry feast, hungry that the hunger cease.” And so the question becomes, what type of spiritual food do we yearn for? And what do we do with the hunger that just doesn’t seem to go away?

Physical and spiritual growth have many similarities. Just as we need food for life, we also need a constant source of spiritual food for wholeness and well-being. What is it that you are looking for in terms of being fed spiritually in your life?  How do you go about seeking that which is actually going to be nourishing and not fake spiritual food, such as drugs, alcohol, or other attempts to find transcendent experience in negative ways?

Historically, for Christians, the idea of being fed spiritual food has been centered in the reality that God is Love. God is ready to feed us with love. In the Creation story, we find that God gave human beings the capacity and a real hunger for loving relationship. Most of humanity is hungry for love. Too many people find it difficult to really experience love. And most human relationships come with a good deal of pain as well as times of delight. God wants us to be perfected in love and in our loving, but that seems a far off dream for too many of us.

We’ve heard of children being starved for attention, and for unconditional love. As children of God, we starve spiritually if we never experience the loving attention that God is willing to give us every day. Kids need love to grow. We all need God’s love to grow spiritually.

The second aspect of the story is the idea of real physical food being given to the people.  In another story, Jesus turns to Peter and says, “Peter, do you love me?”  Peter responds, “Yes, Lord, you know that I love you.”  Jesus says, “Feed my sheep.” And so the church has historically been engaged in issues around feeding people who don’t have enough to eat.

St. Paul-Reformation has been a home to the Hallie Q. Brown Food shelf for more than 30 years. Who was Hallie Q. Brown? Hallie Quinn Brown was the daughter of two former slaves. She graduated from Wilberforce University in the 1870s and became a teacher on plantations in Mississippi. She also started adult classes for migrant workers. Hallie Q. Brown is remembered as the founder of the National Association of Colored Women. Two buildings are named in her honor: a library in Ohio and the Hallie Q. Brown Community Center located here in the Summit-University neighborhood of Saint Paul since 1929.

A volunteer with the food shelf has made arrangements with the new Trader Joe’s. Each Sunday morning at 8:00 a.m. church members pick up items to deliver to the food shelf here. It takes three vehicles to bring it all. If that piques your interest, talk with Jackie Kennedy about how you can help.

The Hallie Q. Brown website notes that “Approximately one-third of St. Paul’s people of color live in the Summit-University area and nearly 50% of the population are minority residents. The area continues to evolve demographically and Hallie Q. Brown provides a wide range of services.”ii

St. Paul-Reformation Lutheran Church has been a presence of sustenance, physically and spiritually, in this neighborhood for 126 years. As our congregation enters a time of strategic planning, we seek, like the Hallie Q.  Brown Community Center, to reflect the character of the Summit-University community as a whole.

Today, we reclaim what we’ve known for so long. God’s abundance and presence in Christ Jesus means that we, as the disciples were, are called to feed the hungry, and to care for those who seek spiritual sustenance. There is enough to go around. Our psalm says God’s wide open hand “satisfies the desire of every living thing.” (Ps. 145:16)

God provides enough. The problem is that human beings are in charge of distribution. It’s an enormous task. Nonetheless, we are called to receive what Jesus gives and to share it with others in the world. Both physical and spiritual sustenance are necessary. “There is something deeper here than calling the churches to greater potlucks.”iii

Jesus moved the crowd to a new sense of holy community. They experienced sharing a meal together that day on the hillside. We are called together to hear God’s Word, and to experience the sacrament of a shared meal at the table Jesus set. Heavenly food. Holy community. God’s grace. Abundant life freely given.

Were there 5,000 fed? Whatever the number that means everyone to us, be that 500, or 5,000, or 5,000,000; that is the number of people we in the community of Christ are called to serve – all of humanity. To us, Jesus comes, saying: This is the bread of life and the cup of salvation. Share it in love. Share it freely. Share it with everyone. Share food. Share stories. Share faith. When you do, there will be enough with more left over.

When Christ dwells in our hearts through faith,
when we are rooted and grounded in love,
when we acknowledge that it all comes from God,
that’s when we know the One
“who by the power at work within us
is able  to accomplish abundantly
far more that we can ask or imagine.
To God be glory in the church
and in Christ Jesus to all generations,
forever and ever. Amen.” (Ephesians 3:20-21)