Ninth after Pentecost

United in spirit, and gathered through the power of the Holy Spirit, we worship God with gladness. We encourage you to pray over the words that follow, and follow the links within the liturgy. Prayers in this service are adapted from Celebrate God’s Presence (UCPH). Thanks this week to Dave and Heather!

PRELUDE: “The Prayer” (Foster et al.)

OPENING PRAYER

Come Holy Spirit, come.
Come into every place we worship this day.
Come into each heart, each prayer, each song,
each life open today
so that we may live and love with purpose,
courage, and enthusiasm
serving our world.

HYMN OF PRAISE: “O for a thousand tongues to sing”

O for a thousand tongues to sing
my great Redeemer’s praise,
the glories of my God and King,
he triumphs of God’s grace.

Jesus! the name that charms our fears,
that bids our sorrows cease;
’tis music in the sinner’s ears,
’tis life and health and peace.

He speaks, and listening to his voice,
new life the dead receive,
the mournful broken-hearts rejoice,
the humble poor believe.

Hear him, you deaf; you voiceless ones,
your tongues again employ;
you blind, behold your Saviour comes,
and leap, you lame, for joy!

My gracious Master and my God,
assist me to proclaim,
to spread through all the earth abroad
the honours of your name.

PRAYER OF CONFESSION

Holy Spirit of forgiveness, come to us again:
shake our hearts,
and set our souls on fire with your love.
We hold out to you
all our particular burdens of guilt and sin,
and we ask for your help
to live the way of your justice and love. Amen.

ASSURANCE OF PARDON

God will give us what we need:
strength for today,
hope for tomorrow,
and forgiveness
for all that is past.
Amen.

SPECIAL MUSIC: “On The Wings Of A Dove” (Ferguson)

FIRST READING: Psalm 17

Hear my just cause; attend to my cry, O God.
Listen to my prayer from lips that do not lie.
Let judgement in my favour come forth from your presence;
and let your eyes discern what is right.
If you examine my heart, if you visit me by night,
if you test me, you will find no wickedness in me.
As for what others do, according to the command of your lips
I have kept from travelling with the violent.
My steps have been firm in your paths,
and my feet have not stumbled.

I call upon you, God, for you will answer me.
Incline your ear to me and hear my words.
Show me the wonders of your steadfast love;
for by your right hand you save from their enemies
those who take refuge in you.
Guard me as the apple of your eye;
hide me under the shadow of your wings,
from the wicked who assail me,
from deadly foes who surround me.
As for me, I shall see your face because my plea is just;
when I awake and see your face,
I shall be satisfied.

SECOND READING: Matthew 14.13-21

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.

15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a remote place, and it’s already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food.”

16 Jesus replied, “They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat.”

17 “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” they answered.

18 “Bring them here to me,” he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over. 21 The number of those who ate was about five thousand men, besides women and children.

HYMN: “Praise our Maker”

Praise our Maker, peoples of one family:
God is love, God is love!
Praise our Maker, peoples of one family:
God is love, God is love!

Love our Saviour, followers of Jesus:
God is love, God is love!
Love our Saviour, followers of Jesus:
God is love, God is love!

Care for others, children of the Spirit:
God is love, God is love!
Care for others, children of the Spirit:
God is love, God is love!

REFLECTION

I open the backdoor, I see a new tree. I look up from my book, I see a new tree. I close my eyes and count to ten, I see a new tree.

And not just any tree. This fast-growing and seemingly supernatural tree is known to some as the Tree of Heaven, the Chinese Sumac, the Varnish Tree, the Stinking Sumac (like rotting cashews?) while some cheeky gardeners and landscapers have been known to call it the Tree of Hell.

It grows quickly. It requires no care. It is one of the few trees that will take root in a crack in the sidewalk and make a go of it. And while this constantly reseeding tree will spread and quickly take over any space available, it has some internal weakness, and is known to drop branches or topple over in a strong wind. In most places, it is classed as a noxious weed, and should be avoided, as it pushes out native species and is very hard to eradicate.

I know, you’re thinking, “tell us how you really feel…” But I can confess to you that I have mixed feelings about the tree. It is an attractive tree, and I admire it’s tenacity, but the cost to the neighbourhood is too high. Meanwhile, it does teach us about abundance, and the extent to which nature finds a way. There may be no mustard tree in my backyard, but the Tree of Heaven is the next best thing, if explosive growth from seemingly nothing is what you’re looking for.

Lectionary watchers, attentive to the sequence of readings we follow, are just now wondering if I have the wrong sermon. The mustard seed and the yeast in three measures of flour is so last week, and this week we are supposed to be feeding the five thousand, or trying to understand this moment in the unfolding story. Rest assured I’m on the right week, but I see a parallel—maybe a bridge—from the seeds and yeast to the five thousand on the hillside.

Just ten chapters ago, Jesus was calling the disciples. The first crowd appears, a direct response to the healing and teaching that has begun. He shares the Sermon on the Mount, and the crowd grows. There is more healing, more teaching, and soon Jesus is struggling to keep up. “The harvest is plentiful,” he says, “but the workers are few.” He sends out the twelve to share the load, but this only increases the need. Soon we’re at five thousand, and when Jesus landed he saw them he had compassion on them and healed the sick—but the crowd remained.

Before we talk about feeding anyone, we need to recognize that this is a living parable, a sure sign of the kingdom embodied in the explosive growth of the crowd. Jesus is the leaven, the seed that grows, creating a plant where everyone can find shade. The explosive growth from inviting an intimate group to walk with him, to facing a hillside of hungry souls, is just as kingdom-setting as the mustard seed or the yeast in flour.

So too the premise of the story. “They need not go away,” Jesus said, “we should feed them instead.”

“But Lord,” they said (something I’m sure Jesus was tired of hearing, or is tired of hearing), “we have food for ourselves, and no more.” They actually gave the evening’s menu—five loaves and two fish—but the assumption was the same: few could be fed. Soon, however, we learn that explosive growth is on the menu, and the kingdom comes to the hillside that day and everyone is fed.

I want to interrupt this sermon with an observation. God in Jesus feeds the five thousand, something that all preachers agree. Then things diverge. On one end of the spectrum, feeding the five thousand becomes an early version of stone soup, with Jesus inspiring the crowd to share the food that was already on hand. At the other end of the spectrum, the physical limitations of five loaves and two fish were overcome, in the same manner that the storm was stilled, the leper was healed, and the demons sent away.

I can’t tell you what to believe, I can only point to what the world seems to need. We need God to be active in the world, overturning our expectations, expanding our horizons, overwhelming us with the explosive growth that belongs to the kingdom alone. Efforts to explain (or explain away) don’t live comfortably with the arresting and unexpected nature of God’s own realm. When faced with longing and hunger, Jesus said “we should feed them instead.”

In our time, on many levels, we face an explosive growth in need. The hillside crowd continues to swell, with people who are hurting, lost, broken, afraid, grieving, isolated, alienated, oppressed, confused, angry, bewildered, or simply exhausted. The harvest is plentiful, but the workers are few. Now, more than even, we turn to God to help us address this need, in both ourselves and others. We turn to God to open the kingdom store of loaves and fishes once more, to fill us—that we in turn may fill others. “They need not go away,” Jesus said, “we should feed them instead.”

I want to conclude with words from our passage, words that transform this living parable in a sacrament of compassion:

Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. They all ate and were satisfied.

May it be so. Amen.

PRAYERS OF THE PEOPLE

We remember before you the great company
of every name joined with us throughout the world.
From five thousand to countless millions,
your generosity never ends.
You multiply the gifts you give us,
simple things that become extraordinary,
—and mirror your love.

O Lord, save your people and bless your inheritance;
embrace them also, and lift them up for ever.
We bless your holy name for all your servants
believers that span the world you made.
Bless your church wherever it is found,
in peace or in strife,
and bless the ministry that you provide:
caring for others and sharing your mercy.

We rejoice that we share a holy fellowship.
We pray that we may be united
with sisters and brothers the world round,
we pray for them as they pray for us,
committed to tend the sick, calm the anxious,
and speak for those who cannot be heard.

We pray this through Jesus Christ our Redeemer.
Amen.

THE LORD’S PRAYER

Our Father who art in heaven,
hallowed be thy name.
Thy kingdom come,
Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us this day our daily bread;
and forgive us our trespasses
as we forgive those who trespass against us;
and lead us not into temptation
but deliver us from evil.
For thine is the kingdom,
and the power, and the glory,
for ever and ever. Amen.

HYMN: “Blessed assurance”

Blessed assurance, Jesus is mine!
O what a foretaste of glory divine!
Heir of salvation, purchase of God,
born of the Spirit, washed in Christ’s blood.
This is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long;
this is my story, this is my song,
praising my Saviour all the day long.

Perfect submission, perfect delight!
Visions of rapture now burst on my sight;
angels descending, bring from above
echoes of mercy, whispers of love. R

Perfect submission, all is at rest,
I in my Saviour am happy and blessed;
watching and waiting, looking above,
filled with God’s goodness, lost in Christ’s love. R

BLESSING

Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way,
and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless
until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again. Amen.
—1 Thessalonians 5:23

God be with you till we meet again;
loving counsels guide, uphold you,
with a shepherd’s care enfold you;
God be with you till we meet again.