The first week in June I received a call from Marlys Waldo. She works at our Churchwide office in Chicago, directing the Mission Partners program for our ELCA. The Mission Partners initiative encourages congregations to partner together in a number of ways; by praying for each other, by working together on projects and also through financial support. Our congregation has been very actively involved in Mission Partners work. We have partnered with new congregations such as Seeds of Faith in Mt. Vernon and Lisbon and we have given money to Abounding Joy the new mission start on the East side of Des Moines. Just last Sunday Dick & Anita Whitaker and Dennis King traveled to La Vos De Esperanza, a Hispanic ministry of Grace Lutheran Church in Des Moines and the council acted to designate our 2005 budgeted Mission Partners benevolence, over $2,000 to La Vos.
Maryls called to invite me to attend one of the two Churchwide meetings for Synodical Misson Partner Coordinators. This year the meetings are being held in conjunction with the two ELCA Global Mission Events. The first was held in Fargo on the campus of NDSU and the second will be held in Baltimore at a Wyndham Hotel. Given our proximity to ND she encouraged me to attend the Fargo Event. She reminded me that by doing so I would be practicing good stewardship of the National Churches resources. I knew by reading the material on the events that the housing for Fargo was in student dormitories that were not air conditioned. In all honesty I would have rather attended the Baltimore event. But I'm a good Lutheran and guilt is a great way to motivate me. So despite the fact that I don't handle hot weather very well, I agreed to go to Fargo. It will be just fine, I said to myself, after all how hot could it get in Fargo?
I found out.
Despite the heat, it was a great experience. The theme for the event was "Gathered by God's grace for the sake of the World." On Thursday and Friday night we had wonderful worship services. On Thursday we had the story of the feeding of the 5,000. I knew that I was going to preach on that very story this Sunday. The only difference was they used the story as recorded in John's Gospel instead of as it's recorded in Matthew's Gospel. So what I bring to you this day, is an attempt for you to experience something of what I experienced in Fargo.
In today's Gospel Jesus traveled to the other side of the Sea of Galilee. But no matter where He went, the crowds followed Him. When He saw the crowds coming towards Him, He asked Philip, Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?" The text makes it clear, Jesus said this to test him.
Philip is dumbfounded by Jesus' question. We don't have the money to buy enough bread for each to get a little. Perhaps word of Jesus' request spread through the crowd or perhaps the disciples started looking through the crowd hoping to find a solution. However it happened, Simon Peter found a boy who had five loaves of bread and two fish or perhaps when the little boy heard about the problem he came forward on his own. I like to think the latter is what happened. Simon reported this to Jesus, but Peter also sees the reality of the situation, "But what are they among so many people?"
But then Jesus told the disciples to have the people sit down. Then Jesus took the loaves and when He had given thanks He distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted."
It was a miracle. 5,000 people fed with 5 barley loaves and two fish. There are two ways Preachers have attempted to explain this event, one of the rare stories that is told in all four Gospels. The first is that what Jesus did was truly miraculous. By an act of divine power, He was able to physically and exponentially multiply the 5 loaves and the 2 fish into enough food to feed 5,000 people.
The other way I've heard it preached is that what happened WAS a miracle. But that it was the small boy's willingness to share everything he had and Jesus lifting this up and giving it that motivated people to reach into their own bags and baskets and share the food they had brought with them and that the result was that all had more than enough.
And even though I believe the first scenario is what happened, I would be surprised if what Jesus did DIDN"T motivate the people there to share the food they had brought with them with their neighbors.
After everyone had eaten, when everyone was satisfied, Jesus told his disciples, "Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost. So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled 12 baskets."
So why was it so important to Jesus that these fragments be gathered? I was taught that a significant clue lies in the number of baskets of fragments that were gathered. The 12 baskets represent the 12 tribes of Israel. And that by gathering the fragments, the disciples were symbolically doing the work, Jesus was sent to do. For Jesus was gathering those who were outcast by society, gathering people who the world had used up and then discarded, gathering those who were broken physically by disease, knitting many of them into the fabric of the new community He was forming. (Hold up basket) What he was doing was like weaving fragments of reed together to make a basket.
If we're honest about our lives, we know what it is to be fragmented. I think fragmented is an apt description of the times in which we live. Our nation is fragmented on the issue of what to do about the war in Iraq. And the church is not immune from this fragmentation. As the ELCA gathers in Assembly later this month the people who gather will have divergent views on the issues on the agenda.
And the fragmentation of this time isn't limited to groups. We as individuals are fragmented. For some of us it's because of all the demands on our time, for others the fragmentation is disease, for others, its just hard to put our finger on a single cause, we just know we are not whole.
Today I will share with you briefly the story of 3 countries who are struggling to recover from events that have left their countries severely fractured, Liberia, Tanzania & India. As you listen to their stories I want you to think about the brokenness you experience in your own life. Each of you was handed a blank piece of paper as you came into worship today. As you listen, think about an area of brokenness in your own life that needs healing. When you find it, I ask that you take your finger and trace what it is on the paper. No one but God will know what it is that you wrote. During the offering the slips of paper will be collected and during the prayers we will lift them up to God and ask for healing.
Broken relationships.
Liberia is a land where relationships have been fractured by two Civil Wars in the last 16 years. In 1989 Samuel Do was ousted and killed by members of the Gio tribe. Do had come to power during a military coup in 1980. This war ended in 1996 and a prominent warlord, Charles Taylor was elected President in 1997. Taylor's brutal regime targeted several leading opposition and political activists. In 1998 the government sought to assassinate child rights activist Kimmie Weeks for a report he had published on its involvement in the training of child soldiers. Taylor's autocratic and dysfunctional government led to a new rebellion in 1999. More than 200,000 people are estimated to have been killed in the civil wars. The conflict intensified in mid – 2003, when the fighting moved closer to Monrovia. As the power of the gov't shrank and with increasing international and American pressure for him to resign, President Taylor accepted an asylum offer by Nigeria, but vowed: "God willing, I will be back."
The situation today is grim in Liberia. In the aftermath of the war, Liberia's economy & its social infrastructure have all but collapsed. Even basic services such as water, electricity and telephone have yet to be restored. Rebuilding the economy with 80% of the population living under the poverty level, a 70% unemployment rate, homelessness for much of the population, given the current state of the infrastructure will be difficult.
In the face of such great need our thoughts and words may echo those of Andrew when he talked about the five loaves and the two fish the boy had offered up to help feed the 5,000, "But what are they among so many people. We could simply worry about our own brokenness. But Jesus calls us to change our focus. To turn ourselves inside out.
In May Pastor Pries heard Pastor Boymah speak at Wartburg Seminary. He told of returning to Liberia and reaching out to children who had lost their hope for a future. He asked those gathered to consider supporting his idea of a soccer outreach program by collecting soccer equipment that he would then distribute in Liberia. When Pastor Pries got back to Pella he called Dave Versteeg and told him about this effort. Dave announced it at the Middle School, his daughter Tressa announced it at the high school; the word spread and the rest was simple. Just this week Pastor Pries learned that the equipment has been shipped to Pastor Boymah in Liberia.
Five barley loaves and two fish. Some soccer shoes and shin guards and a dozen soccer balls. They represent much more.
Sing: Praise the God who Gathers All
We are fractured by death and disease.
Tanzania is a land where virtually every family in the country has been fractured by the death of loved ones who were left vulnerable to disease because of the AIDs virus. In this land of 37 million people there are over 1.3 million infected with HIV. Yet with all these sick people there is only one physician for every 20,000 Tanznaians. The life expectancy for men and women is barely 50 years.
In the face of such great need our thoughts & words may echo those of Andrew: We know how many AIDs orphans & widows there are just in Mwanga.
But through our partnership with the people of Mwanga, the orphans and the widows are being cared for. A few months ago Dick Whitaker came and told the Rostered Leaders in our Streams in the Desert Conference about the Mforo Water project.
On Thursday when Pastor Pries and I attended our July meeting we learned that the children & adults of Good Shepherd in Bloomfield had taken an offering to help buy pipe so the water from the well that is being drilled can reach the villages. They have raised enough to buy two sections of pipe. They were enthusiastic when they heard about this project because as AIM Nancy Pick reported, "people who live in rural areas can relate to the importance of water."
Five barley loaves and two fish. Some school uniforms, shoes and two sections of pipe. They represent much more.
Sing: Praise the God who Gathers All
We are fractured by things that are beyond our control. People lose their jobs due to downsizing or companies relocating. And then there are natural disasters such as tornadoes, hurricanes and the Tsunami.
The coastal region of India was decimated by the Tsunami. Vidhya Rhani is an Indian woman who spoke at the Global Mission Event. She told how many of the men who were fisherman were spared because they were out fishing on the ocean. They were out where the water was deep enough that when the wave went by it was just a few feet high. Though their boats survived the force of the water passing underneath of them shredded their fishing nets. When they reached shore their lives were shredded as well, for many of their wives and children were not spared. She told how proud Indian women are of their hair, but that as the women ran out of their houses to see what was going on and stood by the fences in their front yards many women were drowned when their hair became tangled in those fences and held them under the raging water.
When Vidhya revisited this fishing village before her trip to the GME she learned how the ministry of Lutheran World Relief was impacting the life of the village. In addition to food and water, LWR had worked to reopen the schools. They provided counseling and trained teachers so they could comfort their students. And LWR had brought new nets to the fishermen. When the men of the village learned that Vidhya was traveling to visit Lutherans in Fargo they wanted to do something to show their gratitude.
Then one of the men had an idea. They went and gathered up the fragments of the nets that had been shredded by the Tsunami and asked that the pieces of net be given to those who attended. Here are two pieces of those nets and I will send them around so you can hold them too.
Five barley loaves and two fish. A few dollars each of us placed in an offering plate back in January. They bought some food and water, some school supplies and fishing nets. They represent so much more.
Jesus said to Simon and Andrew who were casting their nets in the Sea of Galilee, follow me and I will make you fish for people.
In the fishing villages of India lives are being restored and the gospel is being heard and the Christian church is growing.
Sing: Praise the God who Gathers All
So we gather together today each of us with our own stories. We gather to confess our own brokenness, to hear God's Word of Grace for us, to gather an offering, and to receive our own piece of bread at the Lord's Table. And we also gather to share the stories of our lives with one another. And we gather this day to bless Bonnie & Carlos Chase as they travel to Arizona to minister to Native American people in Jesus name.
We come together today from different backgrounds, with different gifts and with different needs. Yet despite our weaknesses and our differences we have been gathered together for the sake of the world. Christ has gathered us. We have been woven together in this time in this place to be vessels of God's grace. Together we are greater, we are stronger than the sum of our parts.
The loaves and fishes still abound.
Lord, take the fragments of our living, weave them into holy stories.