Abundant gifts

 “You pray for the hungry, then you feed them; this is how prayer works.” Pope Francis

I read this quote the other day, and I loved it. The fact that you don’t just pray for those who are hungry or in need, but you feed them. You help them with the needs that they have. I remember being in one church where there was a Harvest bring-and-share meal. It was brilliant; there was lots of food and people having fun together. One person questioned the amount of food. I explained that you can’t tell people how generous they can or can’t be. It was then said that the food should be given to homeless people. This was briefly discussed until one person commented that we could do better for a homeless person than giving them a plate of vol-au-vents. Absolutely correct. When there is too much food, what should we do? When we have been given too much, what should we do?

I was thinking this when I thought about the Gospel reading for this morning (Matthew 14:13-21). In the reading there was the description of the miracle of the feeding of the 5,000. I am not sure that this is the best name. After all, when you look at the words, you see that 5,000 were fed, plus women and children. Although, if we knew the account as the Feeding of the 5,000 Plus, we might become more interested in the numbers than in the act.

From a very small amount of food came an absolute abundance. Five loaves and two fish fed all these people. Maths was never my favourite subject in school, but I know that such a small amount of food should not stretch to that many people. I did a GCSE in Home Economics Food, and even that didn’t teach me how to make such a small amount of food feed so many.

We are in church, we have an account from the Gospel of Matthew, so it is clear that Jesus is involved. Out of hardly anything there is an abundance. Jesus blessed the food and it multiplied.

It is a little like the Last Supper Jesus had with His disciples before His trial, as He blessed food and shared it. We will remember this event this morning as we share in bread and wine, thinking of all that Jesus both has done and continues to do for us. How fantastic!

It is a time to be thoughtful and reflect as we think of Jesus dying for us and then rising again. It’s also a time to rejoice. Through the death and resurrection of Jesus, we have all been given the greatest gift ever: salvation and the chance to be in a relationship with God here.

In the account, Jesus had gone away to a deserted place. Jesus often did this; in the Gospels we find descriptions of Jesus going off alone to pray. Jesus had wanted time alone as He had just heard that His cousin, John the Baptist, had been beheaded. I am pretty sure that if I needed some time for peace, seeing that a great crowd had followed me would not have brought much happiness.

Jesus, however, helped them by offering healing, and He had compassion on them. The Greek word used for compassion translates into English as a gut-wrenching pain. This is incredible. Jesus was not cross or frustrated, but He had compassion.

The disciples panicked and asked Jesus what they should do. Jesus replied by getting them to look and see what they could find. Of course, all they could find were five loaves and two fish. They took their concerns to Jesus, and He made everything so much better. Jesus performed a miracle as He blessed the bread and the fish. People were fed, and there was enough left over to fill twelve baskets. This is incredible.

I love this miracle because it reminds us that, in what seems to us a desperate situation, Jesus can make so much more. How amazing! I like the fact that the disciples went straight to Jesus and offered all they had and were to Him, and everything changed. This reminds us that, as a church, the Body of Christ, Jesus can do so much when we rely on Him and offer Him all that we are and have.

There was more left over. I was asked fairly recently what happened to the leftover food. I don’t have the answer, but it has got me thinking about the good gifts that God gives us. In the same way that there was an abundance of food, so there is an abundance of the gifts that God gives us.

We may know the gifts that God has given us and be able to use those gifts. We may feel a bit frustrated that we can’t see the place where God can use our gifts. We may think we are giving enough to God; however, there may be more.

I remember seeing online a mock interview of a young woman who attended an interview and told the interviewer when she could work. She explained that she could never be there at 9 a.m. as she slept until 10 because she liked talking to her boyfriend on the phone until 3:00 a.m. This meant that the earliest she could arrive was 11:00. The interviewer asked if she could change any of her timings for a job. She said that she understood it sounded as if she was being difficult, but surely the company could change its hours to suit her?

Of course, this was a fictional account. I wonder whether we might do this to God sometimes, almost saying that we are happy to use the gifts we have been given, but only on our time. Or maybe that we are doing enough for God, so we do not want Him to keep dropping hints that we should either do more or do something different.

The way that we hear God speak may be a feeling inside us as we pray or think about Him. It may be through the words of other people. If you feel God is talking to you, please talk to someone else. It could be one of the clergy, a churchwarden, or someone you trust.

Out of five loaves and two fish, Jesus fed 5,000-plus people. When we go to Him with all that we have, just think what He could do through us and for us.

AMEN

Exceedingly good !

 I want to think of a perfect morning, where there is lovely weather, good company, sunshine, and being surrounded by God's beautiful creation. In the words of a Mr Kipling's cake advert, this would be 'exceedingly good'. Perhaps almost heavenly?

There is a story about a Sunday school teacher who was trying to prove a point to her class about faith and following God. She asked, "If I sold everything that I have and gave the money to the Church, would that get me into heaven?" The Sunday school class responded, "NO." She asked another question, "OK, if I sold everything that I have and gave the money to the poor, would that get me into heaven?" The response was, "NO," so she tried another tack. "If I gave you all my money, would that get me into heaven?" "NO." "Well, what will get me into heaven?" One little boy piped up, "You have to be dead first."

I have worked with children a lot, and they often seem to want to know important things such as, "Who created God?" and "Why is there evil?" These are the gentle starting questions. However, they have also provided answers. To the question, "What is heaven like?", I read the following answers:

"Everything is free and everyone lives in a mansion."

"Everyone drives a monster truck."

"Heaven is a place that is so beautiful, you would think it was make-believe. It's perfect."

"Heaven is paradise. The weather is nice. It never rains. Nothing can go wrong. We will be perfect."

Well, a write-up like that does tend to make heaven sound amazing. In our Gospel reading, Jesus used short parables to explain what the Kingdom of Heaven is like. Kingdoms always sound magnificent to me. I remember, as a child, being very interested in kingdoms; after all, they have princesses and are magical. As I grew up and my love of history kicked in, I became fascinated by the Tudor period. I don't want to compare the Kingdom of Heaven, or of God, to that. The Kingdom of Heaven and the Kingdom of God are the same; they are about the perfect life that we can have with God, both in the future and now.

We are part of the Kingdom of Heaven by the fact that we follow Jesus, and by being His disciples we try to be more like Him, which means that we seek to point people to a better way, a way that is exceedingly good. We know that there is even more to come; what we have now is a glimpse of what will be.

In the Gospel reading this morning (Matthew 13:31-33, 44-52), Jesus used comparisons to challenge people to make a decision. Were they ready for the Kingdom? Were they ready for a commitment that removed everything that stands in the way of God? And were they ready to spread the good news that they had heard?

This challenge is to us as the followers of Jesus today. Jesus spoke of the Kingdom of Heaven as being like a mustard seed, a small seed that can grow into something huge. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a small piece of yeast that, once put into dough, grows and makes bread rise. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who gave up everything he had for a small treasure that meant everything. The Kingdom of Heaven is like a man who sold all he had for one great pearl, again another treasure.

We have the challenge of how we will react to the life changing news of Jesus. We can be like the mustard seed and the yeast, doing our own bit to spread the good news of the love of God in our lives. You may feel quite insignificant in the whole scheme of life, but to God you are everything. When you love others as God loves, then people will be changed. This does not have to be in any great action that is publicised, but by being as Jesus to people: coming alongside them, loving them, being a good friend, helping those who need help. This is your mustard seed, your bit of yeast from which God's Kingdom can grow, as you help people to see and know the love of God. A love from which we are never separated, as we came across in the reading from the letter to the Romans (8:26-39). I wonder whether this is even better than exceedingly good.

The man sold all he had for a field; the pearl merchant found the pearl of great value. He was a merchant, which meant that he had the job of selling things on. If we thought of God as being like the pearl, then we would be thinking that, for us, it is about giving everything up to follow Him and then wanting to sell the pearl on. Or rather, to fit the analogy better, that we would want to share the good news of this pearl with others.

God offers us His love, which is the best treasure ever. To know God is to know life; it is to know love, and we need to ask ourselves if we have removed everything that may stand in the way of our relationship with Him. It may be time, it may be other people, or we may be so busy trying to do the right thing that we forget to pray and so damage our relationship with God.

The reading from the letter to the Romans had the wonderful words, "I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from the love of God." We also had the reminder that because of all that God has done for us, "we are more than conquerors". When we follow our Creator, when we try to be more like Him, we are on the winning side.

To know God is to know heaven. The Kingdom of Heaven is here in part because it is about following God, knowing that we have the promise of even more. Heaven is here in our lives as we reach out to God, but it is only in part because, in life eternal, we will truly see what heaven is like. In the meantime, I pray that we will all seek to bring heaven to earth by living more and more like Jesus, praying for those in need and loving those in despair. Amen.

The Prodigal Sower : discovering the extravagant love of God

 I want to start this morning by telling you about the prodigal sower. Now, you may not have come across this title in the Bible. This person, like the prodigal son, whom you will have heard of, had the job of sowing seed. Unfortunately, he was like the prodigal son in being careless with his possessions. The prodigal son had his father’s wealth and squandered it. He spent it on enjoying himself, only to discover that none of it made him truly happy.

The prodigal sower was wasteful in the way he sowed the seed. He scattered it everywhere: on the path, on rocky ground, among thorns, and only occasionally on good soil. Some seed never stood a chance. Some sprang up quickly and died just as fast. Some got tangled and choked. Some did fall into good soil and grew.

Of course, there isn’t really a story of a prodigal sower. The parable that Jesus is described as telling in our Gospel reading (Matthew 13.1-9, 18-23)  is rather more well known. When we think of this parable, we often focus on the soil and what happened to the seed and how that applies to us. That’s good and helpful. It helps us reflect on our faith and how we’re growing to be like Jesus.

But before we get to the seed, I want us to think about this irresponsible sower for a moment. After all, if your livelihood depended on growing crops, you would make sure every seed was used wisely. You’d plant carefully. You’d prepare the soil. You’d protect your investment. You wouldn’t just throw it everywhere. Actually, we can think of the sower as being like God, sowing His love for us, being relentless in His reaching out to us, and being generous.

At a wedding, when the confetti is thrown, it’s not counted out into individual pieces, but a great big and generous handful is thrown. We can think of God’s love as being just like this, not given out sparingly but with great generosity.

Like the sower, God is not strategic in spreading His love. He isn’t economical. He is extravagant, generous, even reckless. He throws seed everywhere, on soil that has no hope of producing anything. Even when He didn’t know if we would turn to Him, He died for us.

What about us, though? Sometimes we can be tempted to only want to help those whom we think will accept our help. We want to tell those whom we think would fit into our church about the services that happen.

It’s so good that God isn’t like that. His grace is overflowing, His love is never cautious, and He doesn’t judge who is good enough to receive His grace. He offers His love to all. The parable is also about how we accept God, and how we tell others about Him.

I came across some words the other day about this parable.

One flew off in the belly of a bird.
One sprang up, but withered fast.
One choked by thistles, or so I've heard.
One gained a hundred when it was cast.

Come hear the wise old story
Of a sower and his seed.
He flung it far to fall,
Then battled bird and weed.
Some seed sprouted quickly,
Then withered in the sun -
But some seed fell upon good soil,
And repaid the work he'd done.

But nothing can start growing,
Until we begin sowing.

Gospel Seed, that's what we need,
Gospel Seed, Lord, we plead.
Draw deep truth from God's own Word,
Cast it far until it's heard.
Gospel Seed, new life within,
Gospel Seed, some soul we'll win.
Nothing's growing till we're sowing
Gospel Seed.

Sun and rain and time pass by,
And what was sown awakes.
First the blade, then the bud,
Then the full ear it makes.
Come now, golden harvest,
We'll reap what we have sown.
Seed once watered by our tears
Will be glad sheaves brought home.

But nothing can start growing,
Until we begin sowing.

Gospel Seed, that's what we need,
Gospel Seed, Lord, we plead.
Draw deep truth from God's own Word,
Cast it far until it's heard.
Gospel Seed, new life within,
Gospel Seed, some soul we'll win.
Nothing's growing till we're sowing
Gospel Seed.

Bringing in the sheaves,
Bringing in the sheaves.
We will come rejoicing,
Bringing in the sheaves.

But nothing can start growing,
Until we begin sowing.

We are called to sow the seeds of faith, by both the words that we say and the way we live.

In the parable, some seed fell on the path. This is faith that has no depth, no growth. It is a bit like what we might call nominal believers, who are fine until challenged.

Some seed fell on rocky ground. This can be faith that starts with quick excitement, but has no endurance. This is like a new, excited believer who doesn’t take time to learn how to be like Jesus.

Some seed fell among thorns. This can be a well-meaning faith that can get tangled up with distractions, temptations, and the noise of life.

And some seed fell on good soil. This is a slow, steady faith that becomes strong and fruitful. It’s not glamorous; it is faith for every day, where we are open to letting God change us and where we want to learn more about Him.

In the reading from the letter to the Romans (8:1-11), we were reminded that the Holy Spirit will help us. He will shape us more and more into the likeness of Jesus. He will give us the strength that we need.

I remember once hearing that being filled with the Holy Spirit is a little like when you put a sponge in water and, as soon as you do this, there is water everywhere. However, all sponges will dry out eventually. Being a follower of God means asking the Holy Spirit to fill us with His power so that we can be more and more like Him every day.

We need to make space for God, to put Him first, to ask for His help, and to be refreshed by the Holy Spirit by asking Him to fill our lives day by day.

The love of God is a love that will never let us go. With all this in mind, may the parable of the sower cause us to think and give thanks for His love. May we want to be more like Him, and then may we want to spread the good news of His love every day.

AMEN.

Making mistakes but keeping going.

 The LORD is gracious and merciful,

slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.This was the first verse of our Psalm this morning. It’s a really good job that God is slow to anger and that He abounds in steadfast love. This is because, as disciples and followers of Jesus, we make mistakes. In the reading from the letter to the Romans (7:15-25a), we were introduced to the writer Paul and his blatant honesty. He tries to do what is right, but he can’t always do it. In the Gospel reading from Matthew (11:16-19,25-30), Jesus described the problems of people for whom nothing was quite good enough.The common theme is people struggling with discipleship. I am pleased that we have also had this Psalm praising God for His goodness towards us. Otherwise, we would be left in a state of knowing that we will get things wrong in our life and in our relationship with God. It’s good that God abounds in steadfast love.I want you to think back to your days at school, in particular the school playground. I can remember some of the games that we used to play. There was one about stealing cookies from the cookie jar. There was tag, where, if you were on it, you had to touch someone else so that they were on it and then had to touch someone else. I suspect that game has lots of different variants. I also remember the trouble that would happen if someone cheated or tried to change the game.The reason I am thinking about games in a playground is because of the Gospel reading. As Jesus described people wanting one thing and it never being quite enough, it was almost like imagining a playground. A bit like children disagreeing over a game, they weren’t happy that they had asked for one thing but didn’t get everything they wanted. It’s as if one group played the flute expecting others to dance, and when this didn’t happen, they complained.Jesus was pointing out that no matter what He did, it was not good enough for everyone. John the Baptist had told people all about the good that was before them. They needed to turn from their sin, but when they did this they gained salvation. They would be rescued; a new way of life was waiting for them.Jesus was frustrated, perhaps, that they just weren’t hearing what He was saying. They weren’t turning to Him fully.They wanted to know God, but on their own terms. They were happy when things went their way.I wonder if we can’t all be guilty of this at times. We can be happy following Jesus, as long as we don’t have to do too much. It reminds me of a little boy who told me he wanted to be a shepherd when he grew up. He then told me that he wouldn’t want to look after the sheep himself. I explained that it would be difficult to be a shepherd if you didn’t go near the sheep. He looked at me as if I was talking nonsense.It is the same for us, though. As we follow Jesus, we need to make sure that we are becoming more like Him day by day. We can’t pick the parts of what Jesus said that we are happy to listen to. We can’t be disciples for part of a day once a week and then carry on without asking God for help. We can’t be disciples but try to keep some things that we are less than happy about, maybe with our behaviour, from Him. We need to give our whole selves to Jesus, to follow Him. We can always know His forgiveness and start again; this is a huge relief.I remember a headteacher of a school telling me about a time when she had explained that if we said sorry to each other when we had done things wrong, and if we said sorry to God, we could start all over again and try not to do things wrong. A little later, she apologised to the children because she had forgotten to print out forms for a school trip, but she would print them the next day. A little girl stood up and shouted, “Forgive her, she has said sorry, she can start again.” She had clearly listened and taken in what it meant to forgive.As followers, we will end up in the same situation as Paul did: wanting to do the right thing, but failing to do it. It’s a little like sitting down to watch a nice, gentle TV programme. You pick up your remote control and suddenly you have a totally different programme on, one that is full of noise and violence. No matter how hard you try, you can’t change the programme. Your remote control needs new batteries.It is as though we are a remote control needing batteries sometimes. In order for us to do what is right, we need power to help us. We may still make mistakes, but in the same way that batteries can fix a broken remote control, asking God for help will strengthen us to do the right thing. We will still make mistakes; after all, even long-life batteries need replacing sometimes, but we know where we can go to make things better.Back to the Gospel reading. After Jesus spoke about people not being happy with what they had, He spoke about the fact that we can worry less. In the beautiful words, “Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” We are reminded that when we turn to Jesus, when we ask for His help, things get easier. A difficult problem isn’t suddenly solved; after all, Jesus isn’t our personal magic genie. But somehow, and in some way, maybe through another person helping, God gives us strength.It may be in a very different way from what we expected, but He will help. Following Jesus has some rough times, but it has the greatest reward. We can turn to Him, and He will be there for us. All we need to do is commit to Him completely.After all, as we said earlier:The LORD is gracious and merciful,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.Not only this, but Jesus promises:“Come to me, all you that are weary and are carrying heavy burdens, and I will give you rest.” Amen.