Striving
Children's sermon
Illustration
Preaching
Sermon
Worship
Object:
News of the nomination of Judge John Roberts for a seat on the Supreme Court has filled the news this week. So for the July 31 installment of The Immediate Word, we have asked team member Carlos Wilton to consider how the issue of striving -- sure to be a part of the confirmation process -- relates the striving of the people in our pews.
We have included team responses, related illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
Striving
Genesis 32:22-31; Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
By Carlos Wilton
The Message on a Postcard
President Bush's announcement of John G. Roberts as his Supreme Court nominee has initiated a new confrontation in the nation's culture wars. The forces of the left and the right have been arrayed against each other for some time now, waiting for this moment. The coming weeks -- and perhaps even months -- are likely to be a time of striving, as the contentious Senate confirmation process works its way to its inevitable conclusion.
Much is at stake. The liberal-conservative balance on the present court is delicate. "Swing votes" -- cast by those justices, like the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, who do not consistently vote in a bloc -- have often determined the outcome of important cases.
At the end of the day, one side or another will emerge victorious. Mr. Roberts -- a favorite of the conservatives -- will either be confirmed, or he will not. The question for the nation is whether anyone will emerge truly victorious, or whether both sides will be diminished by the bitterness of the contest.
In Genesis 32:22-31, Jacob engages in a nightmarish wrestling match with a mysterious divine opponent, who congratulates him in the end: "You have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Jacob receives a blessing as a result of his striving.
The Prophet Isaiah, in today's alternate Old Testament Lesson, asks, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (55:2). This is a sort of warning against futile striving.
Finally, Matthew 14:13-21 tells how Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish: a telling sign that, in the providential reign of God, human striving is transformed into something else altogether.
Many of our people are caught up their own forms of striving. This week's texts provide us with an opportunity to speak a word of grace.
Some Words on the Word
Genesis 32:22-31
The long-running competition between Jacob and his twin brother Esau is a matter of striving. It begins while the two brothers are still in the womb. Jacob is born grasping onto the heel of his slightly older brother. Later, he cons Esau out of his inheritance and goes into exile. As today's passage opens, Jacob has completed some complicated, long-distance negotiations with Esau, trying to secure a truce that will allow him to return home. The negotiations have been inconclusive; when word reaches Jacob that Esau is heading his way with 400 fighting men, he fears the worst. Jacob has real questions about whether, if he allows himself to be caught, his brother will let him live.
Yet before the fraternal enmity comes to a head, there is this wrestling match at the fords of the Jabbok, between Jacob and a mysterious stranger. It's a dreamlike interlude -- and, like many dreams, it is closely related to life. Jacob has been a striver since the day he was born, hanging onto his brother's heel. He's been cunning and pragmatic. For the most part, he's been successful. Yet at the Jabbok, he meets his match.
Who is this mysterious stranger? Some have suggested it is an angel. Others, a demon. Still others, some aspect of Jacob's own self.
Walter Brueggemann thinks it most likely that Jacob's opponent is none other than Yahweh:
Perhaps it is important that the narrative is not explicit. In its opaque portrayal of the figure, the narrative does not want us to know too much. It is part of the power of the wrestling that we do not know the name or see the face of the antagonist. To be too certain would reduce the dread intended in the telling. It is most plausible that in the present form, the hidden one is Yahweh. On the way to his brother whom he wants to appease, Jacob must deal with his God to whom he has made intercession (32:9--12).... "But if it be Yahweh, we are shown something other than the promise-filled aspect of Yahweh known in the daylight. Now Jacob must deal with the terrifying face of the deity, hidden in sovereignty and not to be appeased or even found out." [Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, in the Interpretation commentary series (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), p. 267]
In our striving, we often find ourselves wrestling with others. Sometimes, we wrestle with ourselves. Yet, at the heart of so much of our striving, we are really wrestling with God.
Another interesting aspect of this story is the power of naming. Having wrestled his opponent to a draw, Jacob demands a blessing. The stranger complies, giving Jacob a new name: Israel. When Jacob, in turn, asks the stranger to tell him his name, he demurs. It is always significant, in life, when we are able to name an adversary. When a doctor diagnoses a medical condition and tells us its name, we suddenly feel hopeful of healing. When, in a therapeutic counseling relationship, we learn the name of some destructive pattern that has long recurred in our family history, we feel we are halfway to triumphing over it. If Jacob's opponent is indeed Yahweh, then it is suitable that he refuses to share his name. At the end of the wrestling match, we have the distinct impression that, even though the opponent says, "you have prevailed," in fact this is only because Jacob's mighty adversary has let him win.
The name of the place, Peniel, means "face of God" ("For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved" -- v. 30) -- just one more indication that Jacob's opponent is, in fact, the Almighty.
Isaiah 55:1-5
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (55:2). If you're seeking a biblical example of the type of striving most of our people are engaged in, you need look no further than this verse. The pursuit of material comfort and wealth has become our national obsession, here in the United States -- so much so that, when many speak of "the American way of life" that is supposed to be so endangered by terrorism, what they mean by that phrase is our economic standard of living.
Yet "that which is not bread" ultimately fails to satisfy. There is a sharp contrast, here between the divinely provided banquet fare and the poor substitutes we manage to come up with. "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price," says the prophet (v. 1). The food on God's banquet menu is priceless -- it has no price, because God offers it freely. How counter-cultural is that?
Matthew 14:13-21
Roughly parallel to Isaiah's eschatological image of the divine banquet is this story in Matthew 14 about Jesus' miracle of the loaves and the fish. The crowd is weary from striving; Jesus' response to them is compassion (v. 14). Even though Jesus has been dealing with his own personal tendency toward striving by trying to escape on retreat to "a lonely place," that compassion leads him to put aside his desire for rest, and plan for the provisioning of this vast multitude (5,000 men, but probably many more people than that, if -- as is likely -- there were large numbers of women and children as well).
The early church, of course, saw in this miracle-story a prefiguring of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Perhaps the message our culture most needs to hear is that we can trust God's provision of the essentials of life, and that we ought to back off our frantic pursuit of ever-more-costly creature comforts.
A Map of the Message
The word "strive" can be traced back to the Middle English striven, which in turn comes from the Old French estriver. This word, in turn, is related to estrit or estrif, meaning "quarrel." This is also the root of our English word, "strife." While, in common usage, the word "to strive" has come to mean "to work hard," its etymological roots betray it. To strive is to contend with someone or something, to engage in combat.
Sometimes we strive directly against others -- as in the competition of the marketplace. "Get them before they get you," is the mantra. Other times, we strive against more shadowy opponents: parental expectations that can never be satisfied, or perhaps our own innate fears and insecurities. When we find ourselves striving against no clear opponent -- striving for striving's sake -- it pays to ask ourselves what is really at the root of our competitive obsession.
As Republicans and Democrats in the Senate form the battle lines for the Roberts confirmation hearings, it's appropriate to ask what they're striving for, ultimately. Politics has been described as a "contact sport," although sometimes the conflicts between opposing factions seem to be as much a matter of habit as anything else ("Are they for it? Then, I must be against it.") Yes, there are real issues in the naming of a Supreme Court justice, but in the polarized atmosphere of the Capitol, we can at least wish for a bit of civility: a calm and dispassionate discussion of those issues, without a lot of mudslinging (we can wish for it, though we're not likely to get it). Striving is a habit that's hard to break.
Business magazines are full of stories of extremely wealthy people -- even billionaires -- who continue to strive against their economic competitors, desperate to make even more millions than they already have. ("Enough already!" someone ought to say to them.) But striving is deeply seated in our psyches. It's a lifestyle that's hard to set aside. It's all tied up with our sense of self-worth.
In Jonathan Swift's classic novel, Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver finds himself in the land of Lilliput, where he is a giant, and the inhabitants are small enough to fit in his hand. His very presence is a mystery to the bewildered Lilliputians, but that's not the only thing that seems mysterious about him. Here is how Swift describe the Lilliputians' reaction to Gulliver's pocket watch:
Out of the right pocket hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that chain; which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some transparent metal.... He put this engine to our ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill. And we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the God that he worships: But we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very imperfectly) that he seldom did anything without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action of his life.
The Lilliputians thought Gulliver's watch to be a god he worshiped. The year was only 1727, but already Jonathan Swift seemed to have drawn a bead on one of the chief foibles of modern society, our allowing ourselves to become slaves of time. Is the watch is our god, as Swift says? Is it the gauge by which we measure our insistent striving?
Team Responses
George Murphy responds: Our Genesis text is often referred to as "Jacob wrestling with the angel." Although the word for angel (malak) is never used, the "man" with whom Jacob wrestles is somehow more than human, for the patriarch is said to "have striven with elohim and humans." Elohim may be "God" (as in NRSV) but it can also mean "gods," so Speiser in his Anchor Bible commentary translates the phrase as "you have striven with beings divine and human." (See also the NRSV margin.)
The fact that this adversary has to leave before dawn suggests some ancient idea of a night demon with the kind of constraints that we know of in modern legends about vampires. Nevertheless, Jacob's reaction and his statement that he had seen God face to face indicates that somehow he had indeed contended with YHWH. It's a strange connection but perhaps a helpful reminder that the God we encounter may not be just a sparring partner. This is one of those Old Testament texts that remind us that, gracious and merciful as YHWH may be, we might not want to meet the Holy One in a dark alley at night.
Jacob had had a pretty wild career up to this point and he didn't show any high ethical standards in his dealings with his father, his brother, and his uncle. But later, when two of Jacob's sons trick the inhabitants of Shechem and massacre them to avenge their sister's honor, something we can imagine the young Jacob doing, an older Jacob criticizes them for it. His midnight wrestling match seems to have changed him in more than name.
Maybe a helpful modern analogy is the type of "intervention" that is sometimes arranged for a person with a drug or drinking problem who hasn't been willing to seek treatment. It can seem like an attack on the person, with friends, family members, and coworkers telling the addict frankly of the damage that he or she has done. The group that gathers for the intervention does it out of love and concern for the person and their purpose is healing, but the process itself can be devastating.
That is not a bad illustration to use with this text but we should remember that the story is not just about an individual, Jacob. It is also about the people of Israel, a people that knew itself when this story was told and when our text was finally written down to have striven with God and with humans.
The striving with humans was pretty obvious. Throughout their history, the people of Israel had been involved in various kinds of competition with other tribes and nations, and had won and lost battles. There was nothing unique about Israel's experience in that regard.
Israel's uniqueness was that it also knew itself to be the people that God had called, that God had blessed and would continue to bless as he had blessed Jacob. But Israel's life with God had not been uniformly peaceful. There were all those stories of murmuring in the wilderness and longing for the fleshpots of Egypt, the repetitions of that phrase in Judges about the Israelites doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and all those episodes of unjust kings and the worship of Ba'al. It was in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that God had to keep throwing Israel to the ground and forcing it to say "Uncle," that the descendants of Jacob remained God's people. The author of Lamentations could see Israel's greatest disaster as the result of an attack not just by the Babylonians but by God (2:1-8), and then could say "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed" (3:22).
The most natural application of that theme for Christians is to their own faith community, and we can certainly think of plenty of times in which large parts of the church have (as we see retrospectively) fought with God over the past 2,000 years. But our current events connection is also appropriate because the American people have so often thought of themselves as a chosen people. We can also be sure that some of the things that will be debated in the confirmation hearings for John Roberts will have religious resonances.
Striving with humans? That's what politics is often about. Striving with God? Some Americans see the upcoming confirmation battle as just that -- with themselves on the side of the deity, fighting against people who want to remove God from public life. The abortion issue is the key for many: Overturning Roe v. Wade would strike a blow for God, and upholding it would be to fight against God.
Personally I think Roe v. Wade was a bad decision and that the current culture of abortion on demand to which it has led needs to be changed. (We need to keep in mind that overturning Roe v. Wade would not mean an immediate ban on abortions but a return to states of the ability to regulate the practice.) But there are other issues that the Supreme Court will need to deal with -- environmental protection, various economic issues that affect the welfare of the poor and the middle class, possibly the teaching of evolution and/or "intelligent design," and other issues. I think that God cares about abortion. I also think that God cares about a lot of other things. It's one thing to claim theological support for a particular issue, and quite another matter to think that your whole political agenda is God's agenda.
Those on the right are generally the ones who are thought of as having religiously driven views about what the courts should do. On some issues, however, the ideological views of those toward the left approaches religious commitment. Again abortion is the most obvious example. The refusal of many on the left to consider any sort of legal limitation on abortion or any sort of legal protection for the unborn can match any stubbornness that the religious right can muster.
Barring some unforeseen disclosure, it seems very likely that, with all the striving that will take place, John Roberts will be confirmed as the newest judge of the Supreme Court. What is not clear is whether in the process Americans with different views can conduct their striving with humans in a civil manner even when they think that they are striving on the side of God.
Related Illustrations
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take with it.
-- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
***
Our present economic, social and international arrangements are based, in large measure, upon organized lovelessness. We begin by lacking charity towards Nature, so instead of trying to co-operate with Tao or the Logos on the inanimate and subhuman levels, we try to dominate and exploit, we waste the earth's mineral resources, ruin its soil, ravage its forests, pour filth into its rivers and poisonous fumes into its air. From lovelessness in relation to Nature we advance to lovelessness in relation to art -- a lovelessness so extreme that we have effectively killed all the fundamental or useful arts and set up various kinds of mass production by machines in its place.... And the crowning superstructure of uncharity is the organized lovelessness of the relations between state and sovereign state -- a lovelessness that expresses itself in the axiomatic assumption that it is right and natural for national organizations to behave like thieves and murderers, armed to the teeth and ready, at the first favorable opportunity, to steal and kill.... War and preparations for war are standing temptations to make the present bad, God-eclipsing arrangements of society progressively worse as technology becomes progressively more efficient.
-- Aldous Huxley, from The Perennial Philosophy (1944)
***
As long as you live in the world, yielding to its enormous pressures to prove to yourself and others that you are somebody and knowing from the beginning that you will lose in the end, your life can be scarcely more than a long struggle for survival. If, however, you really want to live in the world, you cannot look to the world itself as the source of that life.
-- Henri J.M. Nouwen, from Life of the Beloved
***
In one of her books, Erma Bombeck tells the story of Ralph Corlis, the youth baseball coach who played to lose. He was something of an enigma. Ralph went to organized ball games and invited the kids who spent most of the games on the bench to join his team. He had but one rule: "Everyone plays." One season, Ralph had gathered enough Little League rejects to create five teams. They played in a farm yard, with no uniforms and with car seat cushions as bases.
There were no spectators at Ralph's games. He didn't care about winning. After observing Ralph's kids from afar, though, the other coaches noticed one thing about them: everyone was having fun.
A few coaches approached Ralph and asked what he was up to. He replied that his kids played to have fun, and didn't care about winning. "Besides," he told them, "no one ever teaches kids how to lose. It's important to know how to lose because you do a lot of it when you grow up."
The other coaches eventually invited one of Ralph's motley teams into their league. The team lost 81 straight games. In spite of all those losses, Ralph Corlis became the most loved coach in the league.
In a subsequent season, Ralph happened to acquire a pretty good pitcher. Suddenly, after years of losing, his team won a game. After the game, the boys were strangely quiet. They noticed Ralph sitting in his car for a long time, evidently thinking about what had just happened. "See you next week coach," one of his players said to him. But he didn't see him next week. Ralph decided to retire. He couldn't stand the pressure.
-- Adapted from a story told by Keith Wagner
***
It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
-- Rollo May
***
Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. That was as harsh a punishment as the ancient Greek mind could conjure up. Today, it seems, we have volunteered to play the role of Atlas.
We have not offended God, we have dismissed him, told him we were grown up enough not to need his help any more, and offered to carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders. The question is, when it gets too heavy for us, when there are questions too hard for human knowledge to answer and problems that take more time to solve than any of us have, will we be too proud to admit that we have made a mistake in wanting to carry this world alone?
-- Rabbi Harold Kushner
***
The rabbi of Berdichev saw a man hurrying along the street, looking neither right nor left. "Why are you rushing so much?" he asked the man.
"I'm rushing after my livelihood," the man answered.
"And how do you know," said the rabbi, "that your livelihood is running on before you so that you have to rush after it? Perhaps it's behind you, and all you need to do is stand still."
-- quoted by Martin Marty in Context, 3/15/96, p. 4
***
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
-- William Ellery Channing
***
Inside the Great Mystery that is,
We don't really own anything.
What is this competition we feel then,
Before we go, one at a time, through the same gate?
* Adapted from Quatrain 1616 of Rumi (Persian Sufi poet)
***
A television commercial for an investment brokerage depicts a rather majestic but menacing-looking lion walking directly toward the viewers. As the beast draws closer, the announcer asks, "Where do you want to fit into the food chain?"
The message is clear: devour others before you are devoured. It's hard to imagine a message more antithetical to the Christian gospel.
Worship Resources
By George Reed
OPENING
N.B. All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
Music
Hymns
"I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath." WORDS: Isaac Watts, 1719; alt. By John Wesley, 1737; alt. 1989; MUSIC: Att. To Matthaus Greiter, 1525; harm. By V. Earle Copes, 1963 Harm; (c) 1964 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 60, Hymnal '82, TPH 253, CH 20.
"Give To The Winds Thy Fears." WORDS: Paul Gerhardt, 1653; trans. By John Wesley, 1739; MUSIC: William H. Walter, 1894 (c) public domain. As found in UMH 129, TPH 286, TNCH 404.
"If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee." WORDS: Georg Neumark, 1657; trans. By Catherin Winkworth, 1863; MUSIC: George Neumark, 1657; (c) public domain. As found in UMH 142, Hymnal '82 635, LBOW 453, TPH 282, TNCH 410, CH: 565.
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken." WORDS: Fred Pratt Green, 1971; MUSIC: From Chants Ordinaires de l'office divin, 1881' harm. From The English Hymnal, 1906; words (c) 1971 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 505, CH 534.
"Stand By Me." WORDS: Charles Albert Tindley, ca 1906; MUSIC: Charles Albert Tindley, ca 1906; arr. By William Farley Smith, 1989; arr. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 512, TNNBH 318, CH 629.
Songs
"I Call You Faithful." WORDS: Bobby Price; MUSIC: Kevin Walker; arr. By J. Michael Bryan (c) 1990, 1996 Dawn Treader Music/Shepherd's Fold Music. As found in CCB 70.
"Humble Yourself In The Sight Of The Lord." WORDS & MUSIC: Bob Hudson; (c) 1978 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB 72.
"Learning To Lean." WORDS & MUSIC: Anon.; (c) public domain. As found in CCB 74.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Let us call upon God
People: Who will hear us and answer.
Leader: Let us walk in the paths of faith
People: where our feet shall never slip.
Leader: Let us look to God, our Savior
People: and we shall be satisfied.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God who strives with us so that we may know you and ourselves better:
Grant us the grace to grapple with your presence and hidden things of our own lives so that we may receive a blessing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Let us confess to God who we have discovered ourselves to be.
People: We come to confess to you, God, who knows us better than we know ourselves those things we have found out about ourselves that trouble us.
As we have been open to you and to ourselves we have found that we are poor reflections of you. Your image is deep within us but we have covered it with selfishness and sin. We have allowed the dark parts of our lives to cover over what you created as good and holy. We have hidden from you and we have hidden from ourselves. We have not trusted that you have created us to be your good children. Forgive us and by the power of your Holy Spirit open our lives to the life you bring to us so abundantly. Amen.
Leader: Trust in the loving kindness of our God. In the Name of Jesus Christ you are claimed and forgiven.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We worship and adore you, O God, for creating us as your children and in your own holy image. You have graciously filled us with you own presence and spirit. We lift our hearts and our voices in praise to you.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.) We confess that we find ourselves not living as your children nor reflecting you image. We hide from you and from the truth of who we are.
We are afraid to face the darkness within our own lives and so we miss the glory that you have placed within us. Forgive us and give us the faith to trust you and welcome you as you wrestle with us and our demons.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received, even to this day. You have given us a wondrous world filled with good things to satisfy and delight us. You have given us one another to love and care for each other. You have given us memories that recall the good things that have been part of our lives. Most of all you have given us yourself in Jesus Christ.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.) We offer up to your love and care those who are on our hearts and minds this day. We know you are with them, sharing yourself and your love with them already. Join our love and our prayers to your gracious presence.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
* PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
Jesus feeds us all!
Object: air
Based on Matthew 14:13-21
Good morning, boys and girls. Doesn't the world look beautiful right now? Today, I want to talk about the great world that we live in and how much God has given us. For instance, have you ever run out of air? (take a deep breath) Would you like to take a deep breath with me? Maybe we could take two or three breaths just to see if there is enough air in the church for all of us. (have everyone breathe deeply at least several times) How many breaths do you think it would take to use up all of the air in the church? (let them answer) Let's have everyone in the church take a deep breath at the count of three. (count to three and take a deep breath) Guess what, there is still plenty of air.
God made sure that we wouldn't run of breath, didn't he? (let them answer) He sure is good to us. Let me tell you a story. Jesus was teaching people near the Sea of Galilee. The people came from everywhere. There was plenty of green grass, a beautiful hill on which they could sit, and blue water. It was a perfect setting.
While everyone else was having such a good time, the disciples were worried about the crowd. It was getting late and they were not close to any place where the people could get food. There were over 5,000 men there plus women and children and no food or very little food. Some of the people had not eaten since morning. Would that make you hungry? (let them answer)
The disciples pulled Jesus aside and asked him to send the people home so they could eat. Because Jesus knew what to do, he asked all of the people to sit down. Then the disciples brought forward a small boy who had some fishes and bread. Jesus blessed the food and the disciples began to pass the food around to everyone who was there. They were amazed! What started out as only a few fish and some bread continued to multiply. Some people had two or three helpings and there was still some left. As a matter of fact when everyone had their fill there were still twelve baskets left. Can you imagine that kind of abundance? (let them answer) On that one day Jesus fed 5,000 men plus many women and children. So, if you think God just gives us air you are mistaken. God gives us a great abundance of it and we need to pray that everyone shares in it and we need to thank him for it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 31, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
We have included team responses, related illustrations, worship resources, and a children's sermon.
Striving
Genesis 32:22-31; Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
By Carlos Wilton
The Message on a Postcard
President Bush's announcement of John G. Roberts as his Supreme Court nominee has initiated a new confrontation in the nation's culture wars. The forces of the left and the right have been arrayed against each other for some time now, waiting for this moment. The coming weeks -- and perhaps even months -- are likely to be a time of striving, as the contentious Senate confirmation process works its way to its inevitable conclusion.
Much is at stake. The liberal-conservative balance on the present court is delicate. "Swing votes" -- cast by those justices, like the retiring Sandra Day O'Connor, who do not consistently vote in a bloc -- have often determined the outcome of important cases.
At the end of the day, one side or another will emerge victorious. Mr. Roberts -- a favorite of the conservatives -- will either be confirmed, or he will not. The question for the nation is whether anyone will emerge truly victorious, or whether both sides will be diminished by the bitterness of the contest.
In Genesis 32:22-31, Jacob engages in a nightmarish wrestling match with a mysterious divine opponent, who congratulates him in the end: "You have striven with God and with humans, and have prevailed." Jacob receives a blessing as a result of his striving.
The Prophet Isaiah, in today's alternate Old Testament Lesson, asks, "Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (55:2). This is a sort of warning against futile striving.
Finally, Matthew 14:13-21 tells how Jesus multiplies the loaves and the fish: a telling sign that, in the providential reign of God, human striving is transformed into something else altogether.
Many of our people are caught up their own forms of striving. This week's texts provide us with an opportunity to speak a word of grace.
Some Words on the Word
Genesis 32:22-31
The long-running competition between Jacob and his twin brother Esau is a matter of striving. It begins while the two brothers are still in the womb. Jacob is born grasping onto the heel of his slightly older brother. Later, he cons Esau out of his inheritance and goes into exile. As today's passage opens, Jacob has completed some complicated, long-distance negotiations with Esau, trying to secure a truce that will allow him to return home. The negotiations have been inconclusive; when word reaches Jacob that Esau is heading his way with 400 fighting men, he fears the worst. Jacob has real questions about whether, if he allows himself to be caught, his brother will let him live.
Yet before the fraternal enmity comes to a head, there is this wrestling match at the fords of the Jabbok, between Jacob and a mysterious stranger. It's a dreamlike interlude -- and, like many dreams, it is closely related to life. Jacob has been a striver since the day he was born, hanging onto his brother's heel. He's been cunning and pragmatic. For the most part, he's been successful. Yet at the Jabbok, he meets his match.
Who is this mysterious stranger? Some have suggested it is an angel. Others, a demon. Still others, some aspect of Jacob's own self.
Walter Brueggemann thinks it most likely that Jacob's opponent is none other than Yahweh:
Perhaps it is important that the narrative is not explicit. In its opaque portrayal of the figure, the narrative does not want us to know too much. It is part of the power of the wrestling that we do not know the name or see the face of the antagonist. To be too certain would reduce the dread intended in the telling. It is most plausible that in the present form, the hidden one is Yahweh. On the way to his brother whom he wants to appease, Jacob must deal with his God to whom he has made intercession (32:9--12).... "But if it be Yahweh, we are shown something other than the promise-filled aspect of Yahweh known in the daylight. Now Jacob must deal with the terrifying face of the deity, hidden in sovereignty and not to be appeased or even found out." [Walter Brueggemann, Genesis, in the Interpretation commentary series (Atlanta: John Knox Press, 1982), p. 267]
In our striving, we often find ourselves wrestling with others. Sometimes, we wrestle with ourselves. Yet, at the heart of so much of our striving, we are really wrestling with God.
Another interesting aspect of this story is the power of naming. Having wrestled his opponent to a draw, Jacob demands a blessing. The stranger complies, giving Jacob a new name: Israel. When Jacob, in turn, asks the stranger to tell him his name, he demurs. It is always significant, in life, when we are able to name an adversary. When a doctor diagnoses a medical condition and tells us its name, we suddenly feel hopeful of healing. When, in a therapeutic counseling relationship, we learn the name of some destructive pattern that has long recurred in our family history, we feel we are halfway to triumphing over it. If Jacob's opponent is indeed Yahweh, then it is suitable that he refuses to share his name. At the end of the wrestling match, we have the distinct impression that, even though the opponent says, "you have prevailed," in fact this is only because Jacob's mighty adversary has let him win.
The name of the place, Peniel, means "face of God" ("For I have seen God face to face, and yet my life is preserved" -- v. 30) -- just one more indication that Jacob's opponent is, in fact, the Almighty.
Isaiah 55:1-5
"Why do you spend your money for that which is not bread, and your labor for that which does not satisfy?" (55:2). If you're seeking a biblical example of the type of striving most of our people are engaged in, you need look no further than this verse. The pursuit of material comfort and wealth has become our national obsession, here in the United States -- so much so that, when many speak of "the American way of life" that is supposed to be so endangered by terrorism, what they mean by that phrase is our economic standard of living.
Yet "that which is not bread" ultimately fails to satisfy. There is a sharp contrast, here between the divinely provided banquet fare and the poor substitutes we manage to come up with. "Come, buy wine and milk without money and without price," says the prophet (v. 1). The food on God's banquet menu is priceless -- it has no price, because God offers it freely. How counter-cultural is that?
Matthew 14:13-21
Roughly parallel to Isaiah's eschatological image of the divine banquet is this story in Matthew 14 about Jesus' miracle of the loaves and the fish. The crowd is weary from striving; Jesus' response to them is compassion (v. 14). Even though Jesus has been dealing with his own personal tendency toward striving by trying to escape on retreat to "a lonely place," that compassion leads him to put aside his desire for rest, and plan for the provisioning of this vast multitude (5,000 men, but probably many more people than that, if -- as is likely -- there were large numbers of women and children as well).
The early church, of course, saw in this miracle-story a prefiguring of the institution of the Lord's Supper. Perhaps the message our culture most needs to hear is that we can trust God's provision of the essentials of life, and that we ought to back off our frantic pursuit of ever-more-costly creature comforts.
A Map of the Message
The word "strive" can be traced back to the Middle English striven, which in turn comes from the Old French estriver. This word, in turn, is related to estrit or estrif, meaning "quarrel." This is also the root of our English word, "strife." While, in common usage, the word "to strive" has come to mean "to work hard," its etymological roots betray it. To strive is to contend with someone or something, to engage in combat.
Sometimes we strive directly against others -- as in the competition of the marketplace. "Get them before they get you," is the mantra. Other times, we strive against more shadowy opponents: parental expectations that can never be satisfied, or perhaps our own innate fears and insecurities. When we find ourselves striving against no clear opponent -- striving for striving's sake -- it pays to ask ourselves what is really at the root of our competitive obsession.
As Republicans and Democrats in the Senate form the battle lines for the Roberts confirmation hearings, it's appropriate to ask what they're striving for, ultimately. Politics has been described as a "contact sport," although sometimes the conflicts between opposing factions seem to be as much a matter of habit as anything else ("Are they for it? Then, I must be against it.") Yes, there are real issues in the naming of a Supreme Court justice, but in the polarized atmosphere of the Capitol, we can at least wish for a bit of civility: a calm and dispassionate discussion of those issues, without a lot of mudslinging (we can wish for it, though we're not likely to get it). Striving is a habit that's hard to break.
Business magazines are full of stories of extremely wealthy people -- even billionaires -- who continue to strive against their economic competitors, desperate to make even more millions than they already have. ("Enough already!" someone ought to say to them.) But striving is deeply seated in our psyches. It's a lifestyle that's hard to set aside. It's all tied up with our sense of self-worth.
In Jonathan Swift's classic novel, Gulliver's Travels, Gulliver finds himself in the land of Lilliput, where he is a giant, and the inhabitants are small enough to fit in his hand. His very presence is a mystery to the bewildered Lilliputians, but that's not the only thing that seems mysterious about him. Here is how Swift describe the Lilliputians' reaction to Gulliver's pocket watch:
Out of the right pocket hung a great silver chain, with a wonderful kind of engine at the bottom. We directed him to draw out whatever was at the end of that chain; which appeared to be a globe, half silver, and half of some transparent metal.... He put this engine to our ears, which made an incessant noise like that of a water-mill. And we conjecture it is either some unknown animal, or the God that he worships: But we are more inclined to the latter opinion, because he assured us (if we understood him right, for he expressed himself very imperfectly) that he seldom did anything without consulting it. He called it his oracle, and said it pointed out the time for every action of his life.
The Lilliputians thought Gulliver's watch to be a god he worshiped. The year was only 1727, but already Jonathan Swift seemed to have drawn a bead on one of the chief foibles of modern society, our allowing ourselves to become slaves of time. Is the watch is our god, as Swift says? Is it the gauge by which we measure our insistent striving?
Team Responses
George Murphy responds: Our Genesis text is often referred to as "Jacob wrestling with the angel." Although the word for angel (malak) is never used, the "man" with whom Jacob wrestles is somehow more than human, for the patriarch is said to "have striven with elohim and humans." Elohim may be "God" (as in NRSV) but it can also mean "gods," so Speiser in his Anchor Bible commentary translates the phrase as "you have striven with beings divine and human." (See also the NRSV margin.)
The fact that this adversary has to leave before dawn suggests some ancient idea of a night demon with the kind of constraints that we know of in modern legends about vampires. Nevertheless, Jacob's reaction and his statement that he had seen God face to face indicates that somehow he had indeed contended with YHWH. It's a strange connection but perhaps a helpful reminder that the God we encounter may not be just a sparring partner. This is one of those Old Testament texts that remind us that, gracious and merciful as YHWH may be, we might not want to meet the Holy One in a dark alley at night.
Jacob had had a pretty wild career up to this point and he didn't show any high ethical standards in his dealings with his father, his brother, and his uncle. But later, when two of Jacob's sons trick the inhabitants of Shechem and massacre them to avenge their sister's honor, something we can imagine the young Jacob doing, an older Jacob criticizes them for it. His midnight wrestling match seems to have changed him in more than name.
Maybe a helpful modern analogy is the type of "intervention" that is sometimes arranged for a person with a drug or drinking problem who hasn't been willing to seek treatment. It can seem like an attack on the person, with friends, family members, and coworkers telling the addict frankly of the damage that he or she has done. The group that gathers for the intervention does it out of love and concern for the person and their purpose is healing, but the process itself can be devastating.
That is not a bad illustration to use with this text but we should remember that the story is not just about an individual, Jacob. It is also about the people of Israel, a people that knew itself when this story was told and when our text was finally written down to have striven with God and with humans.
The striving with humans was pretty obvious. Throughout their history, the people of Israel had been involved in various kinds of competition with other tribes and nations, and had won and lost battles. There was nothing unique about Israel's experience in that regard.
Israel's uniqueness was that it also knew itself to be the people that God had called, that God had blessed and would continue to bless as he had blessed Jacob. But Israel's life with God had not been uniformly peaceful. There were all those stories of murmuring in the wilderness and longing for the fleshpots of Egypt, the repetitions of that phrase in Judges about the Israelites doing what was evil in the sight of the LORD, and all those episodes of unjust kings and the worship of Ba'al. It was in spite of Israel's unfaithfulness, in spite of the fact that God had to keep throwing Israel to the ground and forcing it to say "Uncle," that the descendants of Jacob remained God's people. The author of Lamentations could see Israel's greatest disaster as the result of an attack not just by the Babylonians but by God (2:1-8), and then could say "It is of the LORD's mercies that we are not consumed" (3:22).
The most natural application of that theme for Christians is to their own faith community, and we can certainly think of plenty of times in which large parts of the church have (as we see retrospectively) fought with God over the past 2,000 years. But our current events connection is also appropriate because the American people have so often thought of themselves as a chosen people. We can also be sure that some of the things that will be debated in the confirmation hearings for John Roberts will have religious resonances.
Striving with humans? That's what politics is often about. Striving with God? Some Americans see the upcoming confirmation battle as just that -- with themselves on the side of the deity, fighting against people who want to remove God from public life. The abortion issue is the key for many: Overturning Roe v. Wade would strike a blow for God, and upholding it would be to fight against God.
Personally I think Roe v. Wade was a bad decision and that the current culture of abortion on demand to which it has led needs to be changed. (We need to keep in mind that overturning Roe v. Wade would not mean an immediate ban on abortions but a return to states of the ability to regulate the practice.) But there are other issues that the Supreme Court will need to deal with -- environmental protection, various economic issues that affect the welfare of the poor and the middle class, possibly the teaching of evolution and/or "intelligent design," and other issues. I think that God cares about abortion. I also think that God cares about a lot of other things. It's one thing to claim theological support for a particular issue, and quite another matter to think that your whole political agenda is God's agenda.
Those on the right are generally the ones who are thought of as having religiously driven views about what the courts should do. On some issues, however, the ideological views of those toward the left approaches religious commitment. Again abortion is the most obvious example. The refusal of many on the left to consider any sort of legal limitation on abortion or any sort of legal protection for the unborn can match any stubbornness that the religious right can muster.
Barring some unforeseen disclosure, it seems very likely that, with all the striving that will take place, John Roberts will be confirmed as the newest judge of the Supreme Court. What is not clear is whether in the process Americans with different views can conduct their striving with humans in a civil manner even when they think that they are striving on the side of God.
Related Illustrations
Each of us comes into life with fists closed, set for aggressiveness and acquisition. But when we abandon life our hands are open; there is nothing on earth that we need, nothing the soul can take with it.
-- Bishop Fulton J. Sheen
***
Our present economic, social and international arrangements are based, in large measure, upon organized lovelessness. We begin by lacking charity towards Nature, so instead of trying to co-operate with Tao or the Logos on the inanimate and subhuman levels, we try to dominate and exploit, we waste the earth's mineral resources, ruin its soil, ravage its forests, pour filth into its rivers and poisonous fumes into its air. From lovelessness in relation to Nature we advance to lovelessness in relation to art -- a lovelessness so extreme that we have effectively killed all the fundamental or useful arts and set up various kinds of mass production by machines in its place.... And the crowning superstructure of uncharity is the organized lovelessness of the relations between state and sovereign state -- a lovelessness that expresses itself in the axiomatic assumption that it is right and natural for national organizations to behave like thieves and murderers, armed to the teeth and ready, at the first favorable opportunity, to steal and kill.... War and preparations for war are standing temptations to make the present bad, God-eclipsing arrangements of society progressively worse as technology becomes progressively more efficient.
-- Aldous Huxley, from The Perennial Philosophy (1944)
***
As long as you live in the world, yielding to its enormous pressures to prove to yourself and others that you are somebody and knowing from the beginning that you will lose in the end, your life can be scarcely more than a long struggle for survival. If, however, you really want to live in the world, you cannot look to the world itself as the source of that life.
-- Henri J.M. Nouwen, from Life of the Beloved
***
In one of her books, Erma Bombeck tells the story of Ralph Corlis, the youth baseball coach who played to lose. He was something of an enigma. Ralph went to organized ball games and invited the kids who spent most of the games on the bench to join his team. He had but one rule: "Everyone plays." One season, Ralph had gathered enough Little League rejects to create five teams. They played in a farm yard, with no uniforms and with car seat cushions as bases.
There were no spectators at Ralph's games. He didn't care about winning. After observing Ralph's kids from afar, though, the other coaches noticed one thing about them: everyone was having fun.
A few coaches approached Ralph and asked what he was up to. He replied that his kids played to have fun, and didn't care about winning. "Besides," he told them, "no one ever teaches kids how to lose. It's important to know how to lose because you do a lot of it when you grow up."
The other coaches eventually invited one of Ralph's motley teams into their league. The team lost 81 straight games. In spite of all those losses, Ralph Corlis became the most loved coach in the league.
In a subsequent season, Ralph happened to acquire a pretty good pitcher. Suddenly, after years of losing, his team won a game. After the game, the boys were strangely quiet. They noticed Ralph sitting in his car for a long time, evidently thinking about what had just happened. "See you next week coach," one of his players said to him. But he didn't see him next week. Ralph decided to retire. He couldn't stand the pressure.
-- Adapted from a story told by Keith Wagner
***
It is an old and ironic habit of human beings to run faster when we have lost our way.
-- Rollo May
***
Atlas was condemned to carry the weight of the entire world on his shoulders. That was as harsh a punishment as the ancient Greek mind could conjure up. Today, it seems, we have volunteered to play the role of Atlas.
We have not offended God, we have dismissed him, told him we were grown up enough not to need his help any more, and offered to carry the weight of the entire world on our shoulders. The question is, when it gets too heavy for us, when there are questions too hard for human knowledge to answer and problems that take more time to solve than any of us have, will we be too proud to admit that we have made a mistake in wanting to carry this world alone?
-- Rabbi Harold Kushner
***
The rabbi of Berdichev saw a man hurrying along the street, looking neither right nor left. "Why are you rushing so much?" he asked the man.
"I'm rushing after my livelihood," the man answered.
"And how do you know," said the rabbi, "that your livelihood is running on before you so that you have to rush after it? Perhaps it's behind you, and all you need to do is stand still."
-- quoted by Martin Marty in Context, 3/15/96, p. 4
***
To live content with small means; to seek elegance rather than luxury, and refinement rather than fashion; to be worthy, not respectable, and wealthy, not rich; to study hard, think quietly, talk gently, act frankly; to listen to stars and birds, to babes and sages, with open heart; to bear all cheerfully, do all bravely, await occasions, hurry never. In a word, to let the spiritual, unbidden and unconscious, grow up through the common. This is to be my symphony.
-- William Ellery Channing
***
Inside the Great Mystery that is,
We don't really own anything.
What is this competition we feel then,
Before we go, one at a time, through the same gate?
* Adapted from Quatrain 1616 of Rumi (Persian Sufi poet)
***
A television commercial for an investment brokerage depicts a rather majestic but menacing-looking lion walking directly toward the viewers. As the beast draws closer, the announcer asks, "Where do you want to fit into the food chain?"
The message is clear: devour others before you are devoured. It's hard to imagine a message more antithetical to the Christian gospel.
Worship Resources
By George Reed
OPENING
N.B. All copyright information is given from the first cited place where found. Some copyright information may differ in other sources due to adaptations, etc.
Music
Hymns
"I'll Praise My Maker While I've Breath." WORDS: Isaac Watts, 1719; alt. By John Wesley, 1737; alt. 1989; MUSIC: Att. To Matthaus Greiter, 1525; harm. By V. Earle Copes, 1963 Harm; (c) 1964 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 60, Hymnal '82, TPH 253, CH 20.
"Give To The Winds Thy Fears." WORDS: Paul Gerhardt, 1653; trans. By John Wesley, 1739; MUSIC: William H. Walter, 1894 (c) public domain. As found in UMH 129, TPH 286, TNCH 404.
"If Thou But Suffer God To Guide Thee." WORDS: Georg Neumark, 1657; trans. By Catherin Winkworth, 1863; MUSIC: George Neumark, 1657; (c) public domain. As found in UMH 142, Hymnal '82 635, LBOW 453, TPH 282, TNCH 410, CH: 565.
"When Our Confidence Is Shaken." WORDS: Fred Pratt Green, 1971; MUSIC: From Chants Ordinaires de l'office divin, 1881' harm. From The English Hymnal, 1906; words (c) 1971 Hope Publishing Co. As found in UMH 505, CH 534.
"Stand By Me." WORDS: Charles Albert Tindley, ca 1906; MUSIC: Charles Albert Tindley, ca 1906; arr. By William Farley Smith, 1989; arr. (c) 1989 The United Methodist Publishing House. As found in UMH 512, TNNBH 318, CH 629.
Songs
"I Call You Faithful." WORDS: Bobby Price; MUSIC: Kevin Walker; arr. By J. Michael Bryan (c) 1990, 1996 Dawn Treader Music/Shepherd's Fold Music. As found in CCB 70.
"Humble Yourself In The Sight Of The Lord." WORDS & MUSIC: Bob Hudson; (c) 1978 Maranatha! Music. As found in CCB 72.
"Learning To Lean." WORDS & MUSIC: Anon.; (c) public domain. As found in CCB 74.
CALL TO WORSHIP
Leader: Let us call upon God
People: Who will hear us and answer.
Leader: Let us walk in the paths of faith
People: where our feet shall never slip.
Leader: Let us look to God, our Savior
People: and we shall be satisfied.
COLLECT / OPENING PRAYER
O God who strives with us so that we may know you and ourselves better:
Grant us the grace to grapple with your presence and hidden things of our own lives so that we may receive a blessing; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.
PRAYERS OF CONFESSION / PARDON
Leader: Let us confess to God who we have discovered ourselves to be.
People: We come to confess to you, God, who knows us better than we know ourselves those things we have found out about ourselves that trouble us.
As we have been open to you and to ourselves we have found that we are poor reflections of you. Your image is deep within us but we have covered it with selfishness and sin. We have allowed the dark parts of our lives to cover over what you created as good and holy. We have hidden from you and we have hidden from ourselves. We have not trusted that you have created us to be your good children. Forgive us and by the power of your Holy Spirit open our lives to the life you bring to us so abundantly. Amen.
Leader: Trust in the loving kindness of our God. In the Name of Jesus Christ you are claimed and forgiven.
GENERAL PRAYERS, LITANIES, ETC.
We worship and adore you, O God, for creating us as your children and in your own holy image. You have graciously filled us with you own presence and spirit. We lift our hearts and our voices in praise to you.
(The following paragraph is most suitable if a prayer of confession will not be used elsewhere.) We confess that we find ourselves not living as your children nor reflecting you image. We hide from you and from the truth of who we are.
We are afraid to face the darkness within our own lives and so we miss the glory that you have placed within us. Forgive us and give us the faith to trust you and welcome you as you wrestle with us and our demons.
We give you thanks for all the blessings we have received, even to this day. You have given us a wondrous world filled with good things to satisfy and delight us. You have given us one another to love and care for each other. You have given us memories that recall the good things that have been part of our lives. Most of all you have given us yourself in Jesus Christ.
(Other specific thanksgiving may be offered.) We offer up to your love and care those who are on our hearts and minds this day. We know you are with them, sharing yourself and your love with them already. Join our love and our prayers to your gracious presence.
(Other petitions may be offered.)
All these things we ask in the Name of Jesus who taught us to pray saying, "Our Father...."
Hymnal & Songbook Abbreviations
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
Hymnal '82: The Hymnal 1982, The Episcopal Church
LBOW: Lutheran Book of Worship
TPH: The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
TNNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
TNCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
* PMMCH3: Praise. Maranatha! Music Chorus Book, Expanded 3rd Edition
Renew: Renew! Songs and Hymns for Blended Worship
A Children's Sermon
Jesus feeds us all!
Object: air
Based on Matthew 14:13-21
Good morning, boys and girls. Doesn't the world look beautiful right now? Today, I want to talk about the great world that we live in and how much God has given us. For instance, have you ever run out of air? (take a deep breath) Would you like to take a deep breath with me? Maybe we could take two or three breaths just to see if there is enough air in the church for all of us. (have everyone breathe deeply at least several times) How many breaths do you think it would take to use up all of the air in the church? (let them answer) Let's have everyone in the church take a deep breath at the count of three. (count to three and take a deep breath) Guess what, there is still plenty of air.
God made sure that we wouldn't run of breath, didn't he? (let them answer) He sure is good to us. Let me tell you a story. Jesus was teaching people near the Sea of Galilee. The people came from everywhere. There was plenty of green grass, a beautiful hill on which they could sit, and blue water. It was a perfect setting.
While everyone else was having such a good time, the disciples were worried about the crowd. It was getting late and they were not close to any place where the people could get food. There were over 5,000 men there plus women and children and no food or very little food. Some of the people had not eaten since morning. Would that make you hungry? (let them answer)
The disciples pulled Jesus aside and asked him to send the people home so they could eat. Because Jesus knew what to do, he asked all of the people to sit down. Then the disciples brought forward a small boy who had some fishes and bread. Jesus blessed the food and the disciples began to pass the food around to everyone who was there. They were amazed! What started out as only a few fish and some bread continued to multiply. Some people had two or three helpings and there was still some left. As a matter of fact when everyone had their fill there were still twelve baskets left. Can you imagine that kind of abundance? (let them answer) On that one day Jesus fed 5,000 men plus many women and children. So, if you think God just gives us air you are mistaken. God gives us a great abundance of it and we need to pray that everyone shares in it and we need to thank him for it.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, July 31, 2005, issue.
Copyright 2005 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., P.O. Box 4503, Lima, Ohio 45802-4503.
