Two Saltines Worth

Sunday, August 3, 2008

Readings:
Isaiah 55:1-5
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21

Audio sermon link: http://fileresource.sitepro.com/filemanager/74/filecollections/292/246E9ACE-1450-C481-040A-72AB69F2450E.mp3

Pastor Mohn describes for us, in her inimitable sense of humor, how familiar and rote the liturgy of Church could be to a pre-teenager PK growing up in Iowa. She self-professed keeping a checklist of the weekly goings on and that she’d check each off as it occurred … just precisely as it had occurred the week before.

One of the trademarks of ‘the familiar’ is it’s obvious when deviation from it occurs. Ask a child who sings a song by rote memorization and they can (and will!) spot the very first deviation from its meter or lyrics. And apparently so it was one Sunday when Pastor Mohn’s father noticed one Communion deacon shy in the count and no one ‘on the bench’. He arose to fill the void. This was not on ‘the checklist’. Pastor Mohn recalls thinking “How did he know it was supposed to be him?” (to take on the role of Communion deacon in absentia). Well, her father responded, ‘somebody had to do it’. Pastor Mohn remembers this being a transitional moment, one in which her thinking about the liturgical procession of the service moved from one of passive observer to possibly one of active participant. And this led, ultimately, to a path to the seminary (Thank you, Lord!). Pastor Mohn then shared that she’s pretty sure that’s happened, at one point or another, to most fo us. Why? Maybe … because it’s supposed to.

Today the disciples are called … by Jesus. When told by the disciples that the crowd is hungry. Jesus responds, “You feed them”. Of course, we know their response is one of “We have only five loaves and two fish”. Translation: we haven’t enough to remedy this situation at hand. We don’t have what it takes. This problem is bigger than any solution we can offer. Sound familiar?

Jesus’ call today is this:

“I called you. So bring what you have.”

So what’s the protocol? Well something interesting happens when we’re brought face-to-face with our meagerness, with the little that we do have. Two things rear their heads:

We’re made more aware that we really don’t have much … and

We’re often reticent to show how little we really have.

All too often, when asked to feed the crowds, we will have to own up to only having a measly two saltines.

We might think “My little 2 saltines can’t make a dent.”

“Just because I don’t know what to do, there’s nothing can be done (by me anyway).”

Well, there’s thousands of reasons and rationalizations to stay seated. There’s only one reason to ‘get up’ …

Get up and feed the crowd … either at ‘the shore’ or at the Communion rail.

… and you ‘get up’ by trusting the one who called you, who sent you.

Remember the God and Spirit modeled Jedi master Yoda who chides Luke Skywalker “Judge me by my size, do you?” The scriptures are lined with references cautioning us against making such judgement(s).

God will work with whatever little you can bring. God will make it enough. Instead of nay-saying, perhaps we might learn from the disciples who said “If He says so, let’s give it a shot!” When Luther spoke and wrote on ‘good works’, he said what God wants is your two saltines worth. When you look at your familiar checklist, keep your eyes open. There may be something unfamiliar lurking around the next corner. You never know when the world might look different. Being aware for that moment is a blessing.

In the great movie Good Will Hunting, Ben Affleck portrays one of Will Hunting’s playful Southy sidekicks in Boston. He is no mathematical genius and is in every way ordinary. He is portrayed very adeptly in stark contrast to the boy prodigy. When Will is struggling coming to terms with his great intellectual gift, Affleck challenges him by saying “You’re sitting on a winning lottery ticket and you’re too scared to cash it in. If you’re still hanging around here in 20 years, with all due respect, I’ll kick your hide.” Will says “You don’t know that” … to which Ben replies:

"Let me tell you what I do know. Every day I come by to pick you up, the same way every day and we go out … and we have a few laughs. But you know what the best part of my day is? For ten seconds before I knock on the door …'cause I let myself think I might get there, and you'd be gone. I'd knock on the door and you wouldn't be there. No ‘Ga Bye’. No ‘See ya’. Nothin’. You just left. Now, I don't know much. But I know that."

Translation: Keep a cautious eye open. You never know when the familiar may give way to the day there’s no answer to the knock on the door. And that may be your call to rise and feed the crowd … with your two saltines worth.