Loaves and Fishes

There are multiple layers of meaning in the scripture before us this day. Were we to look at all of them we would be here most of the day and part of the night. It would be a profitable task that someday we must do – here or on a distant shore. But for this given day, this given hour, let us look at only four of the multiple meanings, and a blessing will be given us for hearing and doing the truth.

The first layer of meaning is the miracle itself – the occurrence and the joy surrounding it. Let us approach this first point by listening to a conversation that could have occurred. Surely, something like this was said:

"We did it! We did it!" shouted the young boy, bounding into his small home near the shores of the Galilean Sea. His eyes blazed with heavenly fire. And on his soul was emblazoned the utter joy of that day.

"Did what, son? What happened?" asked a perplexed father.

"Father, there were thousands of people gathered on the edge of the mountain to see and hear the new teacher from Nazareth. He taught them of his God’s love and of a new kingdom of peace that is now beginning. At the time of the meal, he wanted to feed the crowd; but they had nothing to cook for so large a group. That’s when it happened."

"Son, you talk in riddles. What happened?"

"Father, I offered my food, the five barley cakes and two salted fishes I had in my basket. And he took them in his hands and that is when it happened."

The father sighed. He looked at his son, a handsome lad of eleven, almost to the age of manhood, and he thought, "He is like his mother’s brother Samuel. He talks in circles – around and around until he reaches his destination." He gently placed his hand on his son’s shoulder, looked in his eyes, and said, "Son, tell me exactly what took place."

Their eyes met. Jacob, the young one, smiled, laughter crinkling the corners of his eyes, wrinkling his nose, and said. "It was a miracle. He took my five loaves and two fishes, blessed them, broke them, and fed the whole crowd with them. They all ate and there was food left over. It was a miracle, father. One of the men said, after it was over, that if I had not given my food it would not have happened."

Ari looked down on his son. His old eyes filled with tears that filled his wrinkled skin with little rivulets of water, rushing down his cheeks. He simply smiled at his son and embraced him – a thing he did not often do.

And that is the first layer of meaning. The miracle itself! The sheer joy of one life, giving all, and rejoicing! The boy would never forget, and faithful followers throughout millennia would always remember that sun sparkled day when Jesus sat people down on the green grass and taught them the Words of Life, and fed them the bread of heaven.

This story leads into the dialogue about eating Jesus’ flesh and blood, given for the world. So each time we receive the bread and wine we receive food for eternal life. It is not lost in history; but remembered in every gathering of the faithful – in churches crowded with believers, or in crowded huts where churches, hidden from the authorities, still break the bread of heaven. In lands of ice and snow, in withering tropic sun, in lands where the seasons come and go the miracle is remembered and renewed.

"We did it! We did it!" he shouted. And we catch that childlike joy and smile, we remember and are blessed at the miracle itself. God is always sending life into the wheat and pouring life into the vine. It is a miracle of life when it comes to us, each time. But I wonder if it would happen at all if we did not give ourselves first.

Next, we note the layer of meaning suggested above – that Jesus is the bread of heaven. "I am the bread of life," he said. It is as if he said, "In my person I sustain life, nourish it, feed it. I am the bread, and the bread which I give is my flesh, given for the life of the world."

The one true food that feeds our feelings and understandings, our yearnings and sensitivities is the great sacrifice that Jesus gave on the cross. Christ is our Passover. He sacrificed for us, and you may feed on him in your heart by faith. He will bring cleansing. He will be love. He will bring wholeness. He will be truth. He will be life to you. Feed on the true bread and your soul shall live.

Another layer of meaning is found in the results of that day’s miracle. They all did eat. Let me say it again: they ALL did eat – men, women, children, all ages, all classes! All found the food they needed in the bread that came from Christ’s hands. There are no barriers to the heavenly bread, no walls to keep out the poor, the lame, the blind. No one is excluded from the table of the Lamb. There are no barriers – unless you put one up in your heart. When you absent yourself from the table you are excluding yourself.

And the last layer of meaning is this. It cannot be used up. It cannot be exhausted. Do any of you remember Andee Krueger? He was a member of our church. I held his funeral a couple years ago in this very place. One of his daughters, Rebecca, is the owner of a candy store in San Diego. She and her crew make some of the best chocolate in the world. I order some for my valentine each year. But this Christmas, Rebecca sent us a box of her Meltaway Chocolates, which describes their nature and their end. They melt in your mouth and soon the box is empty. Alas, even the wonderful chocolates leave an empty box. But the bread of heaven cannot be exhausted. It is always replenished. There is enough and more. They all ate and were filled and twelve baskets of leftovers were gathered. Some foods perish with use; but the food, which Jesus gives, multiplies. There is enough for you, always. There is more than enough. And there will be more at the end than at the beginning.

I urge you, though my words are like barley cakes and little fishes, little to offer this gathering of faithful people, feed on Christ, the bread of heaven. Eat and you shall live. He spreads a banquet for you in your wilderness, by your mountains, and feeds you all the days of your journey, and at the last, he takes you to his table in his kingdom, to be with him forever.

Willard Spencer

Text: John 6:1-14

remembering ...

Dear Lord Jesus, We remember that you are the bright and morning star.  You are the sunrise on a cloudless day.  You are the beginning and the end and our companion in between.   We praise your holy name this day, and give thanks for your mercy, ceaseless as waves of the deep, soothing at the gentle rain on the windowpane.  To you we bring our words of praise, our words of need, our unspoken words -- the hopes and dreams of our days.  We look up when we are here, at your calling.  We lift our hearts before you.  We feel our spirits grow light, taking flight, soaring on eagle's wings in the updrafts of your holy wind. Just be with us, and touch us in places of our deepest need, today, in this holy space.  To you be praise and honor, power and glory, forever.

Dear Lord Jesus, we remember this day those who have died in wars, giving their lives in defense of their families and friends.  We mark their sacrifice with our memories and remember them before you this hour. 

We remember that you save us from the insidious enemy named despair.  With all the reasons to be filled with hope, with all the Words of sacred writ before us, we still may fall before that adversary, who tempts us to give up, to lose hope, to quit.  Show us your sunlight that chases every shadow, every mist, and every gloom wrapped wraith of despair.  Give us hope again.

Holy Lord,  we remember all who suffer this day.  Be peace to all whose lives are troubled.  Be with families and individuals.  Be with the children who dream about warm summer days.  Be yourself to all of us, Dear Lord Jesus, and refresh our hearts again.  In your name we speak, and in your name we pray your prayer together.  Pray the Lord's Prayer.
from the prayers of Willard Spencer

"Sentimental Journey"

Gonna take a sentimental journey
Gonna set my heart at ease
Gonna make a sentimental journey
To renew old memories

I got my bag, I got my reservation
Spent each dime I could afford
Like a child in wild anticipation
I long to hear that: "all aboard!"

Seven, that's the time we leave - at seven
I'll be waiting up for heaven
Counting every mile of railroad track - that moves me back

I never though my heart could be so yearny
Why did I decide to roam
Gotta take a sentimental journey
Sentimental journey home.

Les Brown and others in l944

Friends, I've been humming this song all day.  It's an old Doris Day song.  She took it to the top of the charts in 1945.  I remember that my Aunt Ruth played that song on a juke box one day when she took me to Baskins' .. a drug store in Caruthersville, MO.  Aunt Ruth was the poet in the family.  She was the president of the Poetry Society of Tennessee in later years.  Wrote a book of poems, my copy of which is one of my treasures.  We got along so very well.  So, today I am humming her song.  No message yet. No lesson. Just a set of good memories returning to bless the present.  May we all have many more.  Stay on the journey.

Blessings,

Bill

Try Smiling

When the weather suits you not, try smiling.

When your coffee isn't hot, try smiling.

When your neighbors don't do right,

Or your relatives all fight,

Sure 'tis hard, but then you might

Try smiling.

Doesn't change the things of course--just smiling.

But it cannot make them worse--just smiling.

And it seems to help your case,

Brightens up a gloomy place,

Then, it sort o' rests your face--

Just smiling

Author Unknown

Friends, Sounds good to me.  You know I think that laughter is the language of heaven.  There must be smiles galore there. Victory celebrated eternally.  Enjoy the thought...and smile

Blessings,  Bill

p.s.  My son John's poem, which I posted here recently, is being voted on today.  I would ask you to use the following link and vote for Higherhawk if you would.  Thanks.  http://www.voella.com/stories-poems/not-a-word-poetry-challenge-which-are-your-favourites/

A psalm of Praise to the Lord

Dear Lord Jesus, you are our rock and our refuge, our ever-present help in time of trouble.  You are the lion and the lamb, the risen and ascended Lord.  You are the life of everything that breathes and the giver of life beyond this present breath.  We take heart when we think of you.  Our breath deepens and we feel our loads lighten when we speak your name.  Though we try to invest these earthly days with meaning, they only secure true and pure value when we bow before your throne.  There we find our hope, our joy, our peace and our destiny.  

To you, Dear Lord Jesus, we lift praise and honor and glory.  To you we offer the best of voice and instrument, our laughter and our lives, our failures and fears, our burdens and our tears -- we know that you save our tears, our sorrows.  We give our hearts true devotion and our sacred honor.  We give the heartbeat of the moment, and the accumulated rhythms of all our moments and days.  For you are the One whose name is above all names, before whom every knee shall bow and every tongue confess that you are Lord, to the glory of the Living God.  Your light transcends all our sense of loss and despair.  You scatter every darkness!  The sunlight is but your shadow.  You are the creator of all the worlds there are and of all that ever will be.  You are the source and the ending.  All things hold together in you, by the power of your grace.  You are the culmination of every good dream, of every long carried hope.  You are the culmination of history, and by you the battles for truth and justice will be won.  Living Lord you are the one who will wipe away every tear.  And when you come again in glory there will be no more death.  We let our lives be lifted by your Holy Breath, and we revel in the purity, the clarity, the cleansing waters that flow from your throne.  Hear us when we pray.  Call us by name.  Hold us with your everlasting love, and never forsake us.  We give you thanks and thankful living in your name, and to your name we pray this precious prayer... Pray the Lord's Prayer.
from the prayers of Willard Spencer

Poetry Challenge by Higherhawk – Tucked Away

He never wanted love like that The love that we all seek Putting out every ounce of Our flesh for the taking

Too many times he had fallen under The ravens wing His heart tucked away in a corner Somewhere he forgot existed

Years in a world of his own illusion, until now A pinch inside something deep Like a fledgling trying to fly, his heart fluttered Something found its way in

Something he never saw coming he thought Reaching for denial and its reliable sedation Only to grasp wildly at a hope he never found Falling to his knees, a crack in the shell created

Pieces falling from a life he thought he had died for Not realizing he was being reborn Lying in a pile of a shattered nightmare Naked, exposed, weak, free

Realizing what he thought had found its way in Actually never left, buried in that dark corner His heart never let go as he did Only a mask remains from the pile of his past

A reminder to him, that no matter how hard We try to silence ourselves, love finds a way

Friends, The above is by my Son, John.  He was chosen to participate in a poetry challenge.  I am sure that you enjoy his words.  If you would like to help him you could go to VoElla.com.  There you will find a link to the poetry challenge.  You could vote for him there.  Remember his pen name is Higherhawk.  

Blessings,

Bill

Faith and the Old Swimming Hole

It held me up again. It always does. You just have to lift up and let go, and you find yourself borne up with little effort. It always feels great when the hazy fields shimmer with summer heat, to swim in the cool water of the old swimmin' hole. But swimming is not only refreshing, it is an act of faith. It still amazes me to float and glide above the deep.

Can you imagine what it would be like if you had never seen anyone swim and someone tried to tell you about it? On the water? Impossible! Wood floats. Iron and people don't. First you'd have to learn to trust your teacher, then to try the water. You'd have to have a lot of faith before you took your feet off the bottom and trusted yourself to the water. What a joy that first swim would be.

I guess you know that religion is like that too. You find it's claims hard to believe. Impossible! Yet if you can trust The Teacher, try the water, and take your feet off the bottom you will find it holding you up. Faith is like that. When you are knee-deep in life, when the pressure shimmers like haze on the field, or when nothing is moving in your life and you find it torpid and still, take to the water, trusting the Lord, and
you will find refreshment you had not imagined. O yes, and it will hold you up. It always will.

​by Willard Spencer

Blessings,

Bill​

Moon from our porch last night

It is not security or rest that we need.  We need the certainty that here on earth no eye weeps in vain, no wound bleeds in vain, and no one whose hope is in God hopes in vain.  This certainty is God's gift.  

John Biegeleisen in Morning Dew

Friends, The above author was a professor in a seminary located in Webster Groves, MO, where we lived and served for a time.   It was a superb place to live and I enjoyed the use of the seminary library.  It was right on the way to work and often I had a difficult driving past it.  The car seemed to draw to the entrance.  Ah well.  Beiegeliesen was a fine teacher.  He wrote several books to help the folks that enjoyed his keep insight.  What he says is true.  Certainty is a gift that grows on us when we draw closer to the Living Light.  It is there.  It is for us.

Blessings,

Bill

-You know you're stressed when you start getting on your own nerves.

-My exercise program consists of having a lot of stairs in my home and forgetting things.

-Now, I'm not saying you're an idiot. But everyone else is.

-I always thought by 2014 we would have flying cars. Instead, we have blankets with sleeves.

-Unless you can be Batman, always be yourself.

-Ten: Number of fingers children have. Twenty-six: Number of fingers children have when you try to put gloves on them

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NASA would be a lot more popular if once in a while they'd fight some Klingons.

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​Twitter is the only place where you're thrilled when a complete stranger starts following you

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Scientists say the universe is made up of Protons, Neutrons and Electrons. They forgot to mention Morons.

​Friends, Just enjoy the one-line humor above.  Laughter lifts the eyes and the spirit. It can be  a prelude to prayer.

Blessings,

Bill​

"Come off by yourselves; let's take a break and get a little rest."  For there was constant coming and going.  They didn't even have time to eat.

Mark 6:31 (The Message version.)

Friends,  The quote above leads to the feeding of the 5000. The Lord and his apostles were looking for a quiet time apart, but the pressure of the hungry people (not just for food) called them back to work.  Ministry is not about putting in hours. It is about people and God.  The middle sentence above describes much of our time. Most of us are caught up in the sweep of days.. "there was constant coming and going." What follows in scripture is the glorious event of the feeding the 5000. There is a time to take a break.  But when we are with the Lord even our weariness can lead us to holy times, to grace shared, to food for the soul.  Rejoice in the hours! Let the Lord lead you to places of need, and places of rest.  (Worship is a wonderful time for spiritual rest.)

Blessings,

Bill

One Liner -  It's not the torch she carries for me that has me worried, it's the gas can in her other hand.