Jesus will Provide

August 2, 2020 Matthew 14:13-21 Jesus will Provide Year A 8th Sunday After Pentecost/ proper 12 Children’s Sermon Object: A basketful of pieces of broken bread. Good morning, boys and girls. How many of you have heard of the time that Jesus fed 5,000 people with just a couple of loaves of bread and some fish that a little boy had in his basket? (Let them answer.) We call that happening a miracle. No one else could have done this, except for Jesus, and he did it several times. We can't explain it and we don't even try to. All we know is that a lot of people were with him one day at supper time and no one had anything to eat. The disciples wanted to send the people away, but Jesus told them that they should invite them to stay and be fed. That seemed impossible, but they knew that Jesus could do some amazing things, so they invited the people to sit down and wait for something to happen. Jesus sent the disciples out to find whatever little bit of food they could and bring it back to him. They found one little boy whose mother had packed him a lunch of bread and fish. When the disciples came back with it, Jesus took the bread and fish and thanked God for it and then broke it up into little pieces. Each disciple was given some of the pieces to give to all of the people who were there. Each person thanked the disciples and then ate all that he wanted. Some of the people took more than they could eat at first because they were afraid that there might not be enough. But as the disciples kept going to each group of people and giving them the bread and fish, there was more than when they started. Pretty soon everyone had enough to eat and still there was some left. Jesus told the disciples to take a basket and collect the leftovers. They went out and people started putting back what they could not eat. Do you remember that they started with only five loaves of bread and two fish? When they came back, there were twelve baskets full of bread and fish. What a picnic! No one had ever been to one like it before. Can you imagine what it must have been like to have been there that day with Jesus? You would never forget it, would you? (Let them answer.) The next time you sit down to your table and you see bread in a basket, perhaps you will think about the day that Jesus showed the power of God with a great picnic lunch. Amen C.S.S. Publishing Company, THE ONE-HANDED CLOCK, by Wesley T. Runk Prelude Welcome – communion Opening Prayer Opening Prayer Lord, we come to you this day in the midst of our summer months. For many this is a time of relaxation; but for others, the burdens, worries, and cares continue to weigh them down. Be with each of us as we open our ears to hear your words, our hearts to feel your presence, and our spirits to receive your healing touch. In Jesus’ Name, we pray. AMEN. Stewardship moment John planted zucchini this spring. These small plants he lovingly placed at the edge of his garden. He prepared the soil, made sure that the plants were gently installed in the ground, and watered them. Now, I don’t know too much about zucchini, but my experience says that when they are given that kind of loving care, they flourish, and flourish, and flourish. This was definitely the case for John — he realized that he was going to have far more zucchini than he would ever use, so he offered it to a neighbor — and then another, and another. The little village became recipients of his beautiful zucchini — bread was made from it, casseroles, salads, even a dessert. Nothing went to waste. The bread was shared with neighbors, the casseroles were brought to people in need, salads were in abundance, and the dessert was thoroughly enjoyed by all. John and his zucchini. Simple plants with a bounty that fed many people. We think that we don’t have much to offer — that our gifts, our talents are minimal. Jesus calls us to share our gifts and our talents. We never know what kind of influence and joy they will have with others. Your smile, a very simple thing to do, might cause others to smile and feel better. You may be called to be a reader of stories for children or for those whose eyesight is failing; you may be the one who organizes rides to doctor appointments. Whatever the case, you have so much that you can share — so don’t keep those talents and gifts hidden. Share! You will love doing it. In Jesus’ Name, share! AMEN. Offertory Prayer Gracious God, we bring our gifts to your altar, asking you to dedicate them to do the work of love and compassion in the world. We learned from Jesus, who had compassion on the crowds who gathered to hear him teach, that putting what we have in the hands of Jesus can bring abundance. Multiply these gifts with the love in which they are offered, that they might bring hope to those in need and might glorify and celebrate your love for all your children. In Christ’s name, we pray. Amen. (Matthew 14:13-21) Scripture Feeding the five thousand 13 When Jesus heard about John, he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself. When the crowds learned this, they followed him on foot from the cities. 14 When Jesus arrived and saw a large crowd, he had compassion for them and healed those who were sick. 15 That evening his disciples came and said to him, “This is an isolated place and it’s getting late. Send the crowds away so they can go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16 But Jesus said to them, “There’s no need to send them away. You give them something to eat.” 17 They replied, “We have nothing here except five loaves of bread and two fish.” 18 He said, “Bring them here to me.” 19 He ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. He took the five loaves of bread and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them and broke the loaves apart and gave them to his disciples. Then the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20 Everyone ate until they were full, and they filled twelve baskets with the leftovers. 21 About five thousand men plus women and children had eaten. Sermon I saw a Facebook meme this week that I can so relate to. It said that being an adult means having to figure out what’s for dinner every single night. I can so relate to that – having to cook every day was the hardest lesson that I had to learn after college. Even today, sometimes I intentionally go to bed early, so I don’t have to think about what to cook for dinner. But on a more serious note -I want us to start out this morning thinking about the Lord’s Prayer again. Let us pray it together…… When you think about the words of the prayer, you may notice that there is a specific theme – take one day at a time. The line that I want to point out is “ Give us this day, our daily bread. In this day and age when we have refrigerators, and pantries, and food budgets that allow us to buy food for the week or two – Jesus gives an important lesson – don’t get ahead of ourselves in our life. Just focus on one day at a time. There is another lesson within the Lord’s Prayer – God will provide. Looking back at the sermons for the summer, God will provide is a major lesson of the Old Testament. God provided manna daily for the wanderers. God told them not to store food for more than a day, and when they ignored him they were punished. The prophet Elisha told a starving women that her if she made food everyday, she would have enough to eat. When Abraham needed to make a sacrifice, God provided the lamb. Story after Story shows us that God will provide. In that light, the story of Jesus feeding the 5000 does not seem so strange, even though we find it hard to believe that Jesus was able to feed 5000 with five loaves and two fish. It seems like a miracle, and we wonder if we should believe it or not. If Jesus did it, how did it happen. This is a story of Jesus trusting on the promises of God. Jesus is so sure that God will provide for these people, he does not even worry about it. Unlike the disciples who are being practical about all of this. They tell Jesus to let the people go into the countryside to the stores before they close. Jesus says to the disciples, that they should figure it out and feed the people yourself. We have a hard time with this story in modern times, because we too are practical, sometimes with no sense of imagination or creativity. We don’t have any faith in miracles. But I want us to take a closer look at this story. This is a story about Jesus mission to feed hungry, needy people. As we have been learning about the crowd in Matthew, we know that they did not have much. They were living day to day- and somedays were worse than others when it came to food. They were living in tough times, but so do we. We have many people who are struggling to pay bills, families are struggling, churches are struggling, businesses are struggling, whole communities are struggling. The theology of scarcity is all around us. We cant be in mission to others because we are too worried about ourselves. We cant reach out to help others, when we don’t have ourselves. There was a college that was doing some planning on the needs of the future. As they started to talk about building a state of the art building to house a new technology center, they realized that it was an excellent idea, but the college did not have to money or faculty to make it happen. They did not want to have to students more for tuition. They decided to shelf the whole idea, forgetting that resource follows mission. If it is for the good of the people, there are people who will help to make it so. God will provide. In each bible story where God provides, God tells the person what to do – and then God provides the resources for the person to fulfill God’s words. This story is no different. Jesus tells the disciples to organize the task and the people, take account of what you have, give thanks, say a prayer and God takes over from there. What God Can Do In Virginia, a small church was hosting a bake sale and crafts fair to raise money for missions. The best cooks presented their pies, jams, and cakes. Men offered exquisite woodworkings. But Ellen, old and arthritic, took old clothing and cut the cloth to sew it into a patchwork quilt of red, turquoise, and yellow. It didn't sell, its bright colors so garish. So at the end of the day the money and leavings were boxed up and shipped to Africa to the waiting missionary. He opened the box of tools and money and thanked God for the needful things. The odd colored quilt he draped over a tree limb. That's when the tribal chief who'd been particularly difficult to deal with came by and admired the quilt. He draped it over his shoulders like a cape and admired the effect. "What will you take for this?" he asked the missionary. "A piece of land on which to build a church," the missionary bargained. And the deal was made. One never knows what God can do with an out-of-fashion quilt sewn by an 86-year-old widow with arthritic hands and offered to Jesus in faith. Stephen M. Crotts / George L. Murphy, Sermons for Sundays: After Pentecost (Middle Third): The Incomparable Christ, CSS Publishing Company The feeding of the 5000 is a miracle story because it addresses both the physical needs and the spiritual needs of the persons. Jesus believes that in order for the people to understand the spiritual truth of God, they first have to understand the physical truth of being fed and satisfied. Many Kinds of Bread In the English language, in some contexts, the word "bread" is synonymous with food. In other parts of the world, that's not true. For example, in Eastern Asia, when you say "food," people automatically think of rice. In Malaysia, the same applies to sweet potatoes. For every culture there is a "staff of life." For most it's bread. It's the basic thing you need to stay alive. But all these words - bread, rice, and sweet potatoes - can also refer to the emotional and spiritual basics that keep us alive. There are a few people without whose love and presence in my life, I would find it difficult, if not impossible, to survive. There's one or two I wouldn't mind getting away from a while, just to see how I would do without them, but I need most all of them. And without a faith that receives regular nourishment from the Word of God, all of the Word of God, and all of the people of God, I could not survive. Bread is the biblical metaphor because that was the staple, basic, bottom-line food source of Jesus' day. If Jesus had been from Malaysia, it would have been sweet potatoes, and communion could get a little messy. Johnny Dean, How Much Is Enough? There was a man who said that he is no longer a Christian because if Jesus could feed 5000 people why would he do it only once, when there are 1000’s more who are still hungry. If Jesus was a miracle worker, he would feed people every day and have left his followers the recipe to continue that work. The good news is that Jesus did just that. He could have fed the people himself, but he asks the disciples to take part in the miracle. And Jesus challenges us all to feed the hungry. Whether they are hungry for food, clothing or love. Jesus always says to each of us – you do it. If this is what happened, it was not the miracle of the multiplication of loaves and fishes; it was the miracle of the changing of selfish people into generous people at the touch of Christ. It was the miracle of the birth of love in grudging hearts. It was the miracle of changed men and women with something of Christ in them to banish their selfishness. If that be so, then in the realest sense Christ fed them with himself and sent his Spirit to dwell within their hearts. When people of faith find themselves in the desert, as we often do, especially today, how should we proceed. This scripture takes place in the wilderness. As many of Jesus stories do. The wilderness would have been the place where politicians and upstanding citizens would have abandoned. Wilderness in Hebrew literally means the place beyond words. I would say that the world we live in today is definitely beyond words. Who would have ever thought we would be worshipping in a parking lot, or going to school over the computer. Yet when we have a mission, we are told to take care of others, even in the wilderness. Especially in the wilderness. When we are planning for mission, what happens when we look at what we can do, instead of what we cant do. When we look as what we have instead of what we don’t have. If we look at what we have been given as a gift, rather then a commodity. If we trust God’s mission. If we look beyond the physical and still are able to see the spiritual. What difference would it make. As we take communion this Sunday, the final lesson is that this is definitely a communion story. Jesus blesses the bread, breaks the bread and prays over the bread , says thank you and then gives it to the people. That is what we do in communion. The eucharist is a call to live in thankful living , with thankful practices. We are called into unity, we are called to be grateful, we are called to share what we have with others. When we take communion we are saying that we are confident that God will provide. Let us pray….. Prayer Prayers of the People (Genesis 32, Psalm 17, Matthew 14) O God, hear our cries: for those who hunger, and those who are full; for those who need you desperately, and those who feel no need for you; for those who wrestle with the impact of being your blessed children; for those who are unaware of your offered blessing; and for concerns that are too difficult to express. Hear our cries, O God of our salvation. Amen. Reflection Music Announcements Working on a form of indoor worship in addition the styles of worship we already have but second week in September. But this is a every changing situation, so we are tentatively planning. Scripture for next week is Matthew 14:22-33 Communion – you can take it at home as well - Communion Thanksgiving and Communion The Lord be with you. And also with you. Lift up your hearts. We lift them to you, Lord. Let us give thanks to the Lord our God. It is right to praise you, Lord. It is right, and a good and joyful thing, Always and everywhere to give thanks to you, Holy Triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit. From the rising of the sun to its setting your name is praised among all peoples. Therefore we praise you, joining our voices with your people on earth and all the company of heaven who for ever sing this hymn to the glory of your name: Holy, holy, holy, Lord, God of power and might Heaven and earth are full… Full of your glory. Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest! Blessed is the One who comes In the name of the Lord. Hosanna in the highest! Hosanna in the highest! You are holy, Almighty One! Blessed are you, Jesus Christ! In the power of the Spirit you created all things, blessed them, and called them good. You called to yourself a people To make your mercy and truth known in all the world. We betrayed your calling; You were faithful. We wandered from the way; You called us to return, and led us home. And still we turned from your ways, abused your creatures, and made ourselves slaves to sin and death. At the right time you came and dwelt among us, as one of us, bringing good news to the poor, healing the sick, raising the dead, sharing table with the unrighteous, and teaching the way that leads to life. By your incarnation, life, suffering, execution and resurrection You gave birth to your church, delivered us from slavery and made a new covenant with us by water and the Spirit. On the night of your betrayal, Lord Jesus, you took bread, blessed it, broke it, gave it to your disciples and said, "This is my body which is given for you. Do this in remembrance of me." You did the same with the cup after the supper, saying, "This cup that is poured out is the new covenant in my blood." Blessed Trinity, in remembrance of all you have done to save us, we offer ourselves to you in praise and thanksgiving as a holy and living sacrifice, in union with Christ's offering for us, as we sing (proclaim) the mystery of our faith: Christ has come among us. Christ has died. Christ has risen. Christ abides with us. Christ will come again. Pour out your Spirit on us Pour out your Spirit on us Pour out your Spirit on these gifts Pour out your Spirit on these gifts Make these gifts the body and blood of Christ Make us, through them, Christ's body alive in the world. Benediction Benediction You have been fed with the bread of heaven, and blessed by the presence and peace of God. Now go into the world in the peace of Christ to be bread for the world. We go in Christ's name. Amen. Special Music Additional Illustrations A man once told me he was no longer a Christian. If Jesus provided for the hungry once, why could he have not done it continually and then left us the recipe. Sermon Opener – Our Lord's Abundant Table - Matthew 14:13-21 Charles Swindoll tells a funny story about a nine-year-old named Danny who came bursting out of Sunday school like a wild stallion. His eyes were darting in every direction as he tried to locate either mom or dad. Finally, after a quick search, he grabbed his Daddy by the leg and yelled, "Man, that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was great!" His father looked down, smiled, and asked the boy to tell him about it. "Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. So the Jews ran as fast as they could until they got to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army was gettin' closer and closer. So Moses got on his walkie-talkie and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it! By now old dad was shocked. "Is THAT the way they taught you the story?" Well, no, not exactly," Danny admitted, "but if I told you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Dad." With childlike innocence the little guy put his finger on the pulse of our sophisticated adult world where cool skepticism reigns supreme. It's more popular to operate in the black-and-white world of facts…and, of course, to leave no space for the miraculous. And so when we read the story of the feeding of the five thousand, we tend to focus our attention on the question, "Did it really happen?" There have been a number of attempts to "explain" the miracle. One attempt says that the people were so moved by Jesus' generosity and the generosity of the little boy that they brought forth the food they had hidden under their clothes and in their traveling pouches. This way everyone was satisfied. Another theory says that the story is not really talking about physical hunger but spiritual hunger. When the small amount of food was passed around everyone tore off a minuscule symbolic fragment. In this Jesus is said to have satisfied the thirst of the soul not the stomach. I think these questions say more about us than they do Jesus. If Jesus is the Messiah, and I believe he is, then there is no question but that he performed miracles, and on a regular basis. The point of the story of feeding of the five thousand is not to prove that miracles happen. The point of the story is to teach us three things: 1. Jesus is the Fulfillment of the Word. 2. We Are to Serve at the Table of the Lord. 3. We Can Use Our Abilities in Service. Taking Care of the Crowd Too often, we think that giving our lives to God is like taking a $1,000 bill and laying it on the altar, saying, "Here’s my life, Lord. I’m giving it all to you." But the truth of the matter is that God sends us to the bank and tells us to cash that $1,000 bill in for quarters. And then we go through life giving away twenty-five cents here, fifty cents there, and so on. Instead of watching a ball game, we spend some time visiting a lonely person in a nursing home who has no family. Instead of sipping coffee and reading the newspaper, we get dressed and go to teach Sunday school. Instead of playing games on the computer, we listen to a friend tell us about her problems, even though we’re tired and have problems of our own to deal with. These are the moments in which the grace of God can work through us to help another human being, to feed the hunger of the heart and spirit. They may not be spectacular miracles, but these are the things we can do to bring meaning and significance to our lives. Johnny Dean, How Much Is Enough? We Have Nothing But . . . Barbara Brown Taylor, an Episcopal priest and college professor, tells the story of nine teenagers from Vermont who went to a Navajo reservation out west for a week-long mission work project. When they arrived, the Navajos pretty much ignored their presence. They didn’t give them much of a welcome, nor did they offer to help them with any of the work. It wasn’t that the Navajos were hostile or rude. They just didn’t believe that the kids would actually show up. And even when they did, they doubted that they could accomplish much of anything in one week. Besides, they had been promised all kinds of things before by previous work crews, but had seen only meager results at best. They had good reason to be skeptical. However, these kids from Vermont and their adult sponsors were different. They didn’t know how to do much -- they didn’t know how to build a sheep pen or put a new roof on a house -- but they were determined to give it their best shot. And they did. About halfway through the week, a funny thing happened. The Navajos, who up to that point had been watching from the sidelines, now began to pitch in. A group of Navajo teenagers decided to help fix up Annie Begay’s hogan. Apparently they figured that, if these kids could come all the way from Vermont to work, they could help, too. At the end of the week, the youth from Vermont, their sponsors, and the Navajos who had joined the effort -- all of them working together had completed forty-two of the forty-six projects they had set out to do. Taylor concludes: "We went into the week skinny, with only five loaves and two fish; but we came out fat, with twelve baskets to spare. That’s because God made good to match our gifts . . . . It’s something to remember when our own resources look too meager. How many loaves have you?" Story told by Barbara Brown Taylor, quoted by Richard Donovan in SermonWriter You Feed Them – Generosity A man was packing a shipment of food for the poor people of Appalachia. He was separating beans from powdered milk, and canned vegetables from canned meats. Reaching into a box filled with various cans, he pulled out a little brown paper sack. Apparently one of the pupils had brought something different from the items on the suggested list. Out of the paper bag fell a peanut butter sandwich, an apple, and a cookie. Crayoned in large letters was a little girl's name, "˜Christy -- Room 104.' She had given up her lunch for some hungry person. Jesus says to us, "You feed them!" This is an incredibly rich world. We are rich people and we serve a rich God. "You feed them!" King Duncan, You Feed Them! It IS Enough A few years ago there was an article in The Christian Century about the problem of homelessness in America. It was a long article, discussing every possible aspect of the problem. And in this long article, this extensive examination of a serious problem, in a Christian publication, not one mention was ever made of the church and what the church could do to help. Homelessness? Sounds like a government problem to me! Send them away, Jesus. But Jesus says, "No. You give them something to eat. You take care of their needs." And despite the protests of his followers that they just don't have enough to do that, Jesus takes what they have - a lunch basket brought by a small boy, containing only a couple of loaves of bread and some fish. And he blesses it, breaks it, and gives it back to them and - what do you know? - It IS enough! Johnny Dean, How Much Is Enough? God Works with People Historically, God has always worked with people, and through people, to get things done in the world. Remember, please, that it was with the food the disciples brought to Jesus that he fed the multitude. And he didn't feed them, really; it was the disciples who did that; it was from their hands those people received that food that day. It is the way of God to use human instrumentality to accomplish his purpose. Perhaps he could by-pass the human instrumentality and get his work done without the participation of his people, but he rarely does, if ever. A story has long been told concerning a country preacher who came upon a member of his parish working in his newly-made garden alongside the road. With an air of great piousness, the preacher said, "Brother William, you ought to be very grateful to God for all the beautiful tomatoes and potatoes and beans the Lord will give you in your garden this year." Glancing up and down along neat rows of planted vegetables, Brother William slowly replied, "Yes, Parson, I suppose so, but, you know, you really should have seen this patch of ground last year when the Lord had it all by himself." Leonard W. Mann, Life-Size Living, CSS Publishing Company God Lets Us Help Ethan Allen was a big, voluble, rather flamboyant Vermonter, Colonial patriot, a somewhat controversial hero of the American Revolution. He organized a rag-tag army of freedom-lovers known as the Green Mountain Boys. On May 10, 1775, Allen and his "Boys" captured from the British the strategic Fort Ticonderoga. Having returned from this successful venture, Allen did something which he was wont to do sometimes as the mood suited: on Sunday morning he attended church. During the service the pastor offered a long prayer, a great deal of which was an offering of praise to God for the liberation of Fort Ticonderoga. How great was God, and how good, to have wrested that fort from the enemy! Ethan Allen, having sat through as much of this as he could endure, interrupted the pastor, saying, "Parson Dewey ... Parson Dewey, please mention to the Lord that I and the Green Mountain Boys were there!" The plain fact is, of course, that wherever God has done things in the world somebody has been there helping him do them. Yes, perhaps Jesus could have fed that multitude without the five loaves and two fish which the disciples brought to him, but he didn't. He let his disciples help, and he used what they brought. Leonard W. Mann, Life-Size Living, CSS Publishing Company Cookies and Milk, a Sacramental Meal Albert Schmidt writes of being at the home of little five-year-old George after the funeral of George's seven-year-old brother, who was also his closest friend and playmate. Little George was so distraught at the gravesite that he had tried to jump into the grave himself. Now at home, he had buried himself and his grief under the bottom of the double-decker bed in their room. He wouldn't come out. He just said, "I'm here and I'm never coming out." His mother tried. Schmidt tried, talking until he was blue in the face. Nothing worked. Arguments. Bribes. Nothing. Finally, Schmidt said the Lord got his attention with a two-by-four; and with that, Schmidt got down on the floor, squeezed under the bed frame so the springs almost punctured his chest, and said to the grief-stricken little fellow, "Well, if you're going to stay here for the rest of your life, then I'm going to stay here with you." Schmidt says this is what happened. "After fifteen minutes of eternity, George decided we would crawl out and join the rest of the folks. His mom gave us cookies and milk. It felt like a sacramental meal to me." ("Under the Double-Decker Bed," Tapestry, Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985, pp. 123-124) Cookies and milk, a sacramental meal. Yes, indeed, a taste of God's tomorrow. Even in our greatest pain and deepest hunger, in the limits beyond which none of us can see or go in certain moments of our lives, there is God. Always for us in bread and wine, sometimes even in milk and cookies. Just as it satisfied the crowd fed by Jesus long ago, so it will satisfy you today. You will have tasted God's tomorrow, and that is something. Enough for now. Glen E. Borreson, Taste of God's Tomorrow, CSS Publishing Company Contrary to What We KNOW The chief objection that modernists have with the story of the Feeding of the 5,000 was answered by St. Augustine over 1500 years ago. Augustine said, “Miracles are not contrary to nature, but only contrary to what we KNOW about nature.” The miracle here was that a weary but compassionate Jesus understood the true power of the Creator God – the Father of the universe. And He acted in accordance with that knowledge: with miraculous results. John Bedingfield, Do You Believe in Miracles? At Least One Dollar Dr. H. King Oehmig tells a story of the time that a church congregation from Cartersville, Georgia wanted to begin a Habitat for Humanity group. It was in the early days of Habitat, so the group went to Americus, Georgia to meet with Millard Fuller, the founder of Habitat for Humanity. The group toured the Habitat facilities and saw a presentation on how groups operate. Then Mr. Fuller took time from his busy schedule to go and talk to this group. During the course of their conversation, one of the folks from Cartersville said, “Mr. Fuller, we think this is what God’s calling us to do. But before we begin, how much money do you think we should have in the bank to get us off the ground?” Fuller leaned toward the man and in a very low and serious voice told him, “It would be wholly irresponsible, completely negligent, totally feather-brained if you started an affiliate without at least one dollar.But you have to have one dollar. Don’t dare make a move without it!” King Oehmig says that that day, the Cartersville group learned, “as the disciples discovered with Jesus that evening, when He told them to feed the masses themselves – that faced with the Gospel imperative, we were searching for a reasonable alternative to faith.” Just like modern America searches for a reasonable alternative to a miracle. John Bedingfield, Do You Believe in Miracles? Compassion Is a Gift from God A man named Al Wiener survived the Nazi concentration camps of World War II. He entered a labor camp when he was 15. Years in those camps took their toll. Over time his weight dropped to 80 pounds and he was weak and always hungry. He was slowly starving to death. In one labor camp he worked in a textile factory. There were German women who worked in the textile factory. They were forbidden from speaking to prisoners like Al. They were not even allowed to look them in the eye. One day a German woman pointed, motioning for Al to go to another part of the room. Al waited until no one was looking and he went to the spot she had picked out. She pointed to a crate and walked away. Al lifted the crate and found a sandwich. A precious, precious sandwich. How we take such riches for granted. Al ate the sandwich quickly while no one was looking. Every day for two months the woman left a sandwich under that crate for him. She risked her life for him. Al says her sandwiches probably saved his life. Al believes that God used this woman’s heroic and charitable acts to save him so that today he can tell others his story and the story of millions of unfortunate people who were executed by the Nazis. What would the world be without compassionate people, people who are willing to feel the pain of those less fortunate than themselves? Compassion is a gift from God. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com