June 18, 2016 

“On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured. The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, “Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.” But he said to them, “You give them something to eat.” They said, “We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.” For there were about five thousand men. And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces.” Luke 9:10-17

In the dollar spot bin I spy “Grow Capsules”. These are little pill like capsules that when you drop them into a cup of water, the outer shell dissolves to reveal something. The something in this case is a pack of little critters – little bug like creatures. Just like sidewalk chalk, every kid likes things that dissolve in water to magically turn into something else.

Some would say that this is what Jesus did in the feeding stories, that he somehow magically turned one thing into many things. Explanations abound as to how Jesus accomplished this miracle – explanations that discount the miracle. Some say everyone had also brought a small lunch with them, besides the young boy, so they all simply ate what they had brought. Others say Jesus and the disciples actually supplied the food. The miracle comes through the hands and words of Jesus and through the actions of the disciples. Jesus blessed the food and distributed the items to the disciples, who then handed out the food to the crowd. It was not magic – it was a miracle. It is one of those things that Jesus did where we marvel at his ability to meet the needs of so many. But isn’t that still the point today? We still marvel at Jesus’ ability to meet the needs of billions today. The key, though, is that just like Jesus needed the disciples to be part of the miracles of their day, Jesus needs current-day disciples to be a part of his miracles today. Go out and be someone’s miracle.

Pastor Dave

June 17, 2016

“Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.” 1 Cor. 13:8-13

It is no surprise that the “Selfie Stick” was invented. You don’t know what a Selfie Stick is? What, have you been living under a rock? The Selfie Stick is a device on which you can place your phone, and then hold the phone up in front of you and snap a picture of yourself, or a picture of you and your friends, or you and Mount Rushmore behind you – there are no limits to the use of the Selfie Stick. But, as I said, it is no surprise that the Selfie Stick was invented, because Americans love to look at themselves. It is another symptom of the “Me” generation. Social media and all of the sites within that web of self-absorption is another symptom of the need to be self-important. It feeds our human need to be the center of attention.

If Paul were alive today, I think he would say something like “For now we see as in a grainy, shaky “Zapruder Film-like” 8 millimeter camera lens, but then we will see face to face.” When you watch news coverage for any event today (for example the protests outside a Donald Trump rally) everyone, I mean everyone has their camera-phone on filming the events, hoping to catch someone doing something wrong so they can sell it to a news show and can get their 15 minutes of fame. We do not need a camera phone or a Selfie Stick to know who we are and how valuable or valued we are. All we need is to remember that G-d loves us, and claims us in our baptisms through the baptism of Jesus, which is all we need to be important – not self-important, but important to G-d. Put the Selfie Stick away in public so that others can see the real you – the one that is claimed by G-d and the most valuable commodity for Christ.

Pastor Dave