The Multiplication of Generosity

A Sermon from Journey United Church, Sunday, November 21, Thanksgiving Sunday/Stewardship "Faith Promise" Sunday

Note:  The following message was based on John 6:1-14 "The Feeding of the 5000" and the story "Stone Soup" by Marcia Brown.


I was perusing through possible videos to use to open our worship today when I came across one that set a much-different tone than the one we viewed earlier. The video opened by inviting viewers into a “year in review”. It contained a litany of all the horrible things that have gone down this year. The catastrophic earthquake in Haiti, the oil spill in the gulf, a car bomb in New York City, and a pastor threatening to burn the Quran; it was all mixed in with a reminder of the recession and its effect on the national, state and local budget and how it has impacted so many of us personally in a wide variety of ways. It was a one-minute and 55 second downer.

Now don’t get me wrong. I’m not suggesting that any one of those things isn’t horrible in and of themselves. I’m not suggesting that the reality doesn’t exist. But I do grow weary of only hearing bad news. And I’m growing more and more aware of the impact that constant exposure to bad news is having on our lives. We’ve been drawn into a culture of fear. We’ve been told things are bad and there simply isn’t enough. We’re constantly exposed to a new form of heart disease - cold, closed hearts.  And it seems to have almost reached epidemic proportions.

It's some ways it's not a new disease.  It’s the theme woven in the opening lines of the story of Stone Soup. The local citizens see three soldiers coming down the road and in fear there hearts turn stingy and cold and closed. It's just that today the symptoms may look a bit different.   Today, many Americans are tempted these days to “circle the wagons”, to hold our things tightly and to hold our things more closely than before.

Fortunately, there is a remedy. And it’s found in this season of thankfulness…

The German mystic, Meister Eckhart, is repute to have said that “if the only prayer you make is ‘thank you’, it will suffice. Thanksgiving is the virtue of interdependence, the recognition that our achievements are not fully our own, but emerge from a network of relationships that sustain and shape us, giving us the material from which we create our experiences moment by moment by moment. Thanksgiving as a spiritual practice reminds us that all of our gifts are communal as well as individual.”

Thanksgiving as a spiritual practice reminds us taht all of our gifts are communal as well as individual.  Now that's a theme that becomes apparent as the story of Stone Soup unfolds.  And it's a theme that emerges as Jesus feeds the 5000.

Let’s look at the stories a bit more closely. First the story of the 5000...

Jesus crossed Lake Galilee, which was also known as Lake Tiberias. A large crowd had seen him work miracles to heal the sick, and those people went with him. It was almost time for the Jewish festival of Passover, and Jesus went up on a mountain with his disciples and sat down. When Jesus saw the large crowd coming toward him, he asked Philip, "Where will we get enough food to feed all these people?" Philip answered, "Don't you know that it would take almost a year's wages just to buy only a little bread for each of these people?" Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, was one of the disciples. He spoke up and said, "There is a boy here who has five small loaves of barley bread and two fish. But what good is that with all these people?"

I wonder about the details of the story.  I wonder if there were really only five loaves of bread and two fish among the huge crowd that day? Or was that all the food that anyone who admit to when the disciples polled the crowd to find some food?

Along with other Bible Scholars and Theologians down through the ages, I find it difficult to imagine that that’s all there was. We know that when we leave home for an extended time, we plan ahead. We pack the things we need – including food, water, extra clothes, the list goes on and on. I can’t imagine that people living in that hot, harsh land, would leave their homes and villages so unprepared. Especially in a time when there wasn’t a Stewart’s on every corner. When you could just stop at the local deli and pick something up.

Now let me be clear. I raise the questions NOT to raise doubt about Jesus being able to multiply fish and loaves for thousands. I have no doubts that Jesus was able to do such miracles. I just wonder if the miracle done on that day was a miracle of a different nature. A miracle that involved a multiplication of glad and generous hearts.

Let’s say that the folks on the hillside that day did leave their homes and villages prepared. Could it be that most of them had bags of food and water? Could it be that when the disciples ask only a few were willing to offer up their loaves and fishes due to presence of fearful, untrusting and ungrateful hearts? Could it be that when the disciples came asking for offerings people thought to themselves “well, I have enough for myself and my family here … but if I offer it to everyone, it will be gone in no time at all …”? Could it be that most folks made a decision to keep their food hidden? Could it be that the only one who offered up his food was a small boy who didn’t know any better .. the one who hadn’t learned the cold, hard facts of life yet?

Yet, what looked liked scarcity is miraculously transformed into generosity as Jesus takes the small gifts, gives thanks and begins to distribute them. Could it be that Jesus’ own thankful heart was able to stir up the hearts of those who were there that day … to also open their hearts in thanksgiving? And as they opened their own hearts, could it be that they began to open their bags and break out their food and share it? And could it be that in that act of sharing they found abundance?

A multiplication of bread and fish is impressive, but ISN’T A MULTIPLICTION OF THANKFUL HEARTS AN EVEN GREAT, MORE FAR-REACHING MIRACLE?

Do you see? It’s one thing to physically multiply bread and fish once or twice two thousand years ago. To be able to open up cold closed human hearts, not just that day, but today and every day, is a miracle on a whole new level.

I know because I've been in situations where the absence of that kind of miracle has left me frustrated and confused - especially when it occurs in church.  But the good news is that I've also witnessed first-hand the profound difference that kind of miracle can make.  And many of those miracle experiences have occured right here at Journey.  We know how it works. We’ve seen it in action. It’s why we witness and serve and give as a church, as a faith community and not just alone. Cold closed heart conditions can be contagious, but so can giving generous hearts.

One person alone can’t make much of a different in a country like Uganda, but when we work together, when we team up, not only as a congregation, but also with others in the medical field and others with differing skills, we can really begin to make a difference … together! There’s a multiplication of generous and thankful hearts.

One person might not be able to go to Price Chopper and get all the food needed to feed an extra family this Thanksgiving. But when we work together, the grocery bags overflow and there is more than enough. There’s a multiplication of generous and thankful hearts.

One person alone would find it difficult to help a refugee family on their own. But remember earlier this fall when we worked together to put together a “welcome kit” for a new family? It was so much easier. There’s a multiplication of generous and thankful hearts.

It’s at heart of who we are as faith community.

In our world it’s easy to fall victim to the contagious effects of fearful, cold and closed hearts. Experts may tell us that the trends of the recession may be reversing, but most of us don’t feel it. We know people who are still unemployed and some of us face that fear daily. We feel the effects of cuts in our national budget, our state budget and our household budgets. We may still feel like we only have five loaves and two fish. Fearful hearts are all around us.

Yet, in the midst of what seems like an epidemic, I’ve seen the multiplication of generous and thankful hearts time and time again among the Journey family. It’s nothing short of a miracle.  For that reason, I come before you on this Stewardship Sundy when we make our "Faith Promises"- our pleges - for the new year expecting that same kind of miracle to take place again.  As we consider our comittment to this faith community and the work we do here, may the mireacle continue.  May the multiplication of generous and thankful hearts continue.

And as we enter into a time of Thanksgiving, followed by what we have come to know as the "Holiday Season", may be the antidote to the epideimic of cold, closed-hearted.  As we interact with others in our neighborhoods, at work, at the mall, in the midst of family may our sense of thanksgiving and generosity be contagious.  Together, with God's help, we can begin to be a force for change.