Message:

That film showed  a traditional interpretation of the story but I always say

I love the painting of  The 5000 by Eularia Clarke  in the Methodist Collection of Modern Art. In it, the 5000 are scattered on the grass, eating not the ancient Palestinian staple, bread and fish, but the British working class staple of the 20th century, Fish n Chips, out of newspapers, as is authentic. Cheap in those days, too expensive now. But I like the way Eularia Clarke has emphasised the  ordinariness of the people, the mother with her baby, the primus stove, grannies, dads asleep, head scarves, the bikes discarded, the toddler at the foot of the altar where the Priest/Jesus  figure presides reminding us of the way the story echoes God feeding us in  the Eucharist. It will have been ordinary people like that who were fed, are still fed, people like you and me! They are all chilling on the grass, relaxed at the gospel feast of our first hymn.  

What should we take from this story found in all the gospels? That Jesus suspended the laws of nature and did miraculous tricks with fish and bread? Or , in the presence and example  of Jesus, naturally selfish people will share? A key takeaway for me is this which you won’t get if you only watched the YouTube dramatized clip, is provided in the text by  Matthew the narrator. He writes: Jesus had “compassion” on the crowds of ordinary people who, far away from any supplies were hungry. The disciples wanted nothing to do with  the seemingly insurmountable  problem presented by crowds of hungry people. Send them away, was their response. Not our problem. Go back to where you’ve come from. Sort yourselves out.  Not aggressively but helplessly, still, no compassion. And yet… despite the fact that Jesus had needed to get away from the crowds… despite the fact he’d heard of his cousin John’s awful execution [v 1-12], despite the fact he’d been healing the sick all day, Jesus had compassion and made it his business to feed the crowds, making sure, by the way, that the disciples did all the work of serving and collecting all the baskets of food. 

That’s the message. That’s the nature of our God isn’t it? Unlike the Gods in Homer’s poem or Christopher Nolan’s Film Odyssey who use humans as playthings, manipulating the rich and famous, barely even noticing the needs or existence of poor ordinary men, women or children,  our God in Jesus, the gospels tell us is different. God  cares about our every  need for food, water and comfort. Importantly so too today, we his followers should have compassion and serve to meet the needs of all the crowds of strangers needing food and safety.  In this story Jesus used what he had to hand. Even the packed lunch of loaves and fishes one boy had brought with him, even the reluctant disciples were used to care for  and serve the poor and hungry God loves so much. He can use us too to serve, ensuring the hungry are fed, the homeless are sheltered, and the poor and despairing have a voice. Where can you see such compassion today? How can you serve God this way? 

Hymn ; Brother sister let me serve you.

Prayer:  

Forgive us Father when we don’t want to know. When we don’t want to see the homeless on our streets,  the  desperate people crossing seas and continents to find a safe future. Forgive us when we think it’s too big for us, that it’s somebody else’s problem. Forgive us when it’s us who unthinkingly over-use your resources of energy. When it’s our actions contributing to Earth’s climate change causing people to leave their homes as the flames encroach and the smoke chokes.  Forgive us Lord we pray.  

Lord God we thank you for  the skills and bravery of firefighters, we thank you for your mercy, now send us  your compassion.  

We pray for people all over the world who are hungry and in particular for parents who live locally  who will struggle to feed their children  and themselves, this summer holiday.  We thank you for the work of food banks, charities and churches in our Methodist District who provide summer meals and activities. We pray that they will have the resources to continue to meet so many needs. We pray that you would give us an appreciation of our food: the work that goes into producing and distributing it. Teach us not to be wasteful of food or energy but to preserve and pass on the goodness of your earth to future generations. Teach us how to  serve you with compassion.  Let’s ask God for our daily bread as we say: Our father…

Lords Prayer:

Amen

A Blessing: 

May the love of Jesus sustain you, the compassion of Jesus fill you and the power of Jesus strengthen you this week and for ever more.  

Hymn : Longing for light  

In the darkness of a warming, warring and weary world we sing: