Aug 3, 2014 8th of Pentecost

Matthew 14:13-21 (The Message)

13 When Jesus got the news, he slipped away by boat to an out-of-the-way place by himself. But unsuccessfully - someone saw him and the word got around. Soon a lot of people from the nearby villages walked around the lake to where he was. 14 When he saw them coming, he was overcome with pity and healed their sick. 15 Toward evening the disciples approached him. "We're out in the country and it's getting late. Dismiss the people so they can go to the villages and get some supper." 16 But Jesus said, "There is no need to dismiss them. You give them supper." 17 "All we have are five loaves of bread and two fish," they said. 18 Jesus said, "Bring them here." 19 Then he had the people sit on the grass. He took the five loaves and two fish, lifted his face to heaven in prayer, blessed, broke, and gave the bread to the disciples. The disciples then gave the food to the congregation. 20 They all ate their fill. They gathered twelve baskets of leftovers. 21 About five thousand were fed.

“A miracle is any event, natural or supernatural, in which one sees a revelation of God.”
The miracle here could have been that once the people saw what Jesus was going to do with a small boys small lunch, they opened their hearts and their lunches for all to share.

If this is how it happened, it is still a miracle!  In fact, this would be the a more difficult miracle for it meant many hearts being changed, opened to sharing.

“Jesus risked his entire ministry on the sufficiency of the infinitesimal.”
“Every social change can be traced to a few determined individuals.”
Walter Wink, “The Power Of The Small”







“When God seeks to turn the world around,
one person is usually enough.”  Walter Wink,








Prayer thoughts for the week:

Lord:        keep me humble so I can be helpful.
help me be a miracle in ways I never dreamed possible.
open my eyes to see how much you can do with so little.
help me do what I can to make life better for someone.

July 27, 2014 7th of Pentecost

Matthew 14:13-21

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
   15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”
   16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”
   17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.
   18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

“With God, A Little Is A Lot”

Where are the miracles of today which match the miracles of Jesus day?

Right where they have always been; hidden in, under, and with the presence of God in the natural, there to be discovered and embraced with the eye of faith.

“A miracle is any event, natural or supernatural, in which one sees a revelation of God.”

The miracle here could have been that once the people saw what Jesus was going to do with a small boys small lunch, they opened their hearts and their lunches for all to share.

Either way, it is still a miracle!  In fact, it is possible this would be the more difficult - for it meant many hearts being changed, opened to sharing.  This is not an easy task.

“When God seeks to turn the world around, one person is usually enough.”
“Jesus risked his entire ministry on the sufficiency of the infinitesimal.”
“Every social change can be traced to a few determined individuals.”
Walter Wink, “The Power Of The Small”

“We can do no great things; only small things with great love.”  Mother Teresa

“To Be A Miracle”

We would believe the miracles if we could reproduce them.  We find it hard to believe them when we can’t.  But a miracle is not a reproduction of something which has happened; it is a happening of something new.

Dare we believe that this miracle would not have happened had the boy not been there with his lunch, and willing to share it?

We are not just to believe in miracles; we are to be miracles as we dare to believe that with God the impossible can happen even through and with us.

July 20, 2014 6th Sunday of Pentecost

Matthew 13:24-43, 36-43

24 Jesus told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. 25 But while everyone was sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat, and went away. 26 When the wheat sprouted and formed heads, then the weeds also appeared.
   27 “The owner’s servants came to him and said, ‘Sir, didn’t you sow good seed in your field? Where then did the weeds come from?’
   28 “‘An enemy did this,’ he replied.
   “The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and pull them up?’
   29 “‘No,’ he answered, ‘because while you are pulling the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest. At that time I will tell the harvesters: First collect the weeds and tie them in bundles to be burned; then gather the wheat and bring it into my barn.’”
    36 Then he left the crowd and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”
   37 He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.
   40 “As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. 42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear.


Judgment is not in our hands.  We are not to separate the wheat from the weeds, the sacred from the secular, the holy from the unholy.  This is God’s doing - God who is “gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love”.

Our task is to live faithfully, as those who are both wheat and weeds - we are not as pure as we would like to be.  As Wm. Saloan Coffin has said, “Remember what history teaches, never do people so cheerfully do evil as when they do it from religious conviction.”

I tried to laugh off being a Pastor/Chaplain.  I couldn’t do it.  So I said yes, no matter how inadequate I felt and how inappropriate it seemed.  God uses all of us in ways we don’t understand to spread his word of Love.  We are to tell of God’s love not try judge our neighbors.  Then it will be good - for them and for us.

“God has invited us to gather rather than to judge, to get together and learn to live with one another, weeds and wheat alike.  There is wheat within each of us as well as those all-too-visible weeds.  From this patchy crop God can fashion a miraculous bread, transforming each of us by the pure wheat of this holy offering, making us into beings shaped by hope.”   Richard I Pervo, New Proclamation Year A2011 p.99

July 13, 2014 5th of Pentecost

Matthew 13:1-9; 18-23
1 That same day Jesus went out of the house and sat beside the sea.  2 And great crowds gathered about him, so that he got into a boat and sat there; and the whole crowd stood on the beach.  3 And he told them many things in parables, saying: "A sower went out to sow.  4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them.  5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they had not much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil,  6 but when the sun rose they were scorched; and since they had no root they withered away.  7 Other seeds fell upon thorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them.  8 Other seeds fell on good soil and brought forth grain, some a hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty.  9 He who has ears, let him hear." ...  18 "Hear then the parable of the sower.  19 When any one hears the word of the kingdom and does not understand it, the evil one comes and snatches away what is sown in his heart; this is what was sown along the path.  20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is he who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy;  21 yet he has no root in himself, but endures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately he falls away.  22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is he who hears the word, but the cares of the world and the delight in riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful.  23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is he who hears the word and understands it; he indeed bears fruit, and yields, in one case a hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty."

 “God’s Word In Us”

A parable is a story you can’t get unless it first gets you.  It is a story designed to “pull another story out of the listener”.  The end result is that “more happens in the mind of the listener then in the mouth of the teller.”

The Word of God (seed) will not fail.  It will do what it is meant to do - create faith in our hearts, stir us up in hope and challenge us to live in love.  Our words fail.  God’s Word will not fail!  Some times it sounds harsh; sometimes it sounds gentle; but it always seeks to make a promise and keep it - no matter what!

The seed is good; it is the soil which has the problem.  We are the soil - all 4 kinds of soil!
We are not always receptive to what God’s Word has to say.  We run hot and cold when we listen to God’s Word.    We have goodness choked out by our indifference.   We also hear and respond - doing that which pleases God.  God takes what comes from the good soil of our hearts and makes more of it then we ever could have dreamed possible.

It is God’s intent that His Word live in us , with us, through us;  so we can be a part of God’s Word living in our day and age.