8/2
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| Home communion |
Up early to finish a sermon and get ready for two back to back services. While finishing the sermon, I realize I need to put together a worship service for West Park as well. Soon enough, I’m meeting the West Park congregation via ZOOM.
Here’s my sermon for the day:
So baseball season finally started last week. With no one in the stands and piped in crowd noise. Before all the first games, all the players took a knee. There was a large black ribbon that all players on both teams held. And a statement, written by one of my favorite players, Andrew McCutchen read by Morgan Freeman:
“In order to achieve or affect a change and lead a new canvas of optimism, empathy must lead the charge. This moment signifies our charge, our brotherhood, our unity. Equality and unity cannot be until there is empathy. Today and every day we come together as brothers, as equals, all with the same goal to level the playing field. To change the injustices, equality is not just a word, it’s our right. Today we stand as men from 25 nations on six continents. Today we are one.”
That phrase…Equality and unity cannot be until there is empathy. ….leads me to where I want to go today…it starts with compassion…
And at first, I’m thinking about Jesus. His older cousin, John, the Baptist, the one who had baptized him, the one who had called him out into ministry, that wild, passionate voice, has just been executed by Herod. All he wants to do is get away. Take a moment to gather his thoughts and emotions. But word gets out and the crowd follows him. When he looks out at them, he feel compassion and takes the time to “heal their sick.”
But that of course is not the end of it. You know this story, it’s one of my favorites, the “feeding of the 5000”…it’s in all 4 gospels…The disciples want Jesus to send the people away. And Jesus says, “No, you give them something to eat..” And our know what they say…” We’ve only got 5 loaves and 2 fish”..
So Jesus gives thanks, breaks bread, as we will do later this morning…and they start to pass it around and there’s 12 baskets left over.
What happened? The story doesn’t say. It’s up to us to figure out. Some say it’s just a miracle, like turning water into wine. Other say that most people had borough something along and when the baskets started passing, they were moved to open up and share what they had brought. Notice…that what Jesus did was not about doing something to show his power, it was to feed people. Respond to their hunger with compassion. Like Leila said last Monday at Bible study, food is real.
And the point is, there was enough. God has given us enough. We have enough resources to feed everyone. Then miracle here is one of distribution, not production. We are currently paying farmers not to raise crops and in some cases destroy what has already been produced. In a world with so much food insecurity, that is crazy. (It’s as crazy as some congress people believing that $600 a week makes people not want to work..) We have enough.
I was talking to Dion about what I’ve learned in working with churches. Don’t start with needs assessments, you always get overwhelmed. Hey we need food for 5000 people! Start with what you have…we’ve got 5 loves, 2 fishes….I remember Wavy Gravy at Woodstock…”what we’ve got in mind is breakfast in bed for 400000 people…” And they did it.
I saw yesterday day my first "open refrigerator.” They’re popping up all over the city. “Take food…leave food…be well…stay safe…take what you need, leave what you don’t…comida gratis…and this one was filled with fresh fruits and vegetables…
It’s easy to say we’re small, we don’t have much, it’s too overhwhelming…but what do we have? We have a committed group of people who have kept a church alive essentially on their own with little outside help… not a bad place to begin..what else do we have?
Jesus says “you give them something to eat…”
And I still feel bad that Jesus still hasn’t had time to rest….
You give them something to eat..
Let those with ears to hear, hear…
After the sermon, thinking of Jesus’ still unfulfilled desire to get away and rest, I share my song “Rest awhile”
)We spend some time talking about what we do have. the contributions that each have made. There are words of thanks and appreciation.
Before prayers, Don who has spent most of his last work years in China, shares his anguish over current US relations with China. What we could be learning from one another during this pandemic. Instead we have a President who keeps talking about the "China Virus."
These services are more demanding than in person and by 1:30, I’ve worked 5 hours without a break.
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| Live at Bar 9 |
I take a walk, read the paper and then go to be a featured performer as part of Bar 9’s “Summer Series.” My first performance in front of real, live people in 41/2 months. At a place I played regularly on Sunday nights but now in this makeshift outdoor cafe on the sidewalk and parking lane cleared for construction. I’m amazed at how nervous I feel not being in front of a screen. I’m dropping lyrics, but then when it’s your own music, they don’t know, just recover and keep going. In the end, my “Open Mic Lament”, which I first played here, wins the day. I even have a request for a download card. And one of the servers remembers me from BC days. (Before Corona.) I made it through. One step back. But I'm beginning to think there is no “back,” just a new place ahead we don’t know yet until we get there, creating it as we go.
Meanwhile, we’re collecting word of mouth rumors as to where real live music might be happening. The word passes, from one to another.
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.
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