From the Rector

Dear Friends in Christ,

We’re in the middle of a rather long stretch of Gospel passages about bread on Sundays. Feeding miracles abound! Some preachers get a little exhausted trying to come up with six or so sermons in a row dealing with these miracles and the bread involved.

I’ve always loved it. It feels like a long stretch in which we get to focus on a key aspect of not only the ministry of Jesus but on our ministry as well.

The feeding miracles are never about physical sustenance alone. They are about, in part, how God fills spiritual hunger. They are about how God provides for our daily needs, what we need to simply exist, as well as providing for what our soul craves beyond simple survival. They are about the generosity of God when we can see only scarcity.

These miracles point us toward the shocking love of God—toward the daring truth that we can rely on him when our need is greatest.

A full person rarely appreciates a buffet! But the person who is starving, who has gone too long without food, can tell us just what a richly laden table means. When our lives are going too perfectly, it is rare that we take a moment to appreciate all that God gives and does in our lives. We make a holiday of it—thanksgiving. Then, the day after, we go out and buy as much as we can as the Christmas shopping begins in earnest!

These miracles of bread bring us back to the stark reality of what Church is. Evangelist DT Niles once wrote, “Evangelism is just one beggar telling another beggar where to find bread.” We come together, as the Church, as people who rely on the mercy and charity of God. In our deepest need, and in our most satisfied days, God is the source of that which fills us and makes us whole.

Ultimately, the Church feeds us not so that we can become comfortably self-actualized but so that we can go out and tell others where to find bread. There’s the beautiful line in Eucharistic Prayer C that reads, “Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal. Let the grace of this Holy Communion make us one body, one spirit in Christ, that we may worthily serve the world in his name.”

In a time of so much hunger, for peace, for connection, for meaning, for love, and for so much more, we have the opportunity to share the story of a God who provides. We can hear and share the story of a God who gathers around himself the hungry and the lost and gives them all the need—who gives them the strength to serve as one Body.

That’s a story worth hearing for a good few Sundays each summer!

Yours in Christ,

Fr Robert