The God who rescued Israel from Egypt in the first exodus is about to do a new thing: a new exodus from Babylon that will be like the old exodus, and also not like it. We read from Isaiah 43:
16 Thus says the Lord,
who makes a way in the sea,
a path in the mighty waters,
17 who brings forth chariot and horse,
army and warrior;
they lie down, they cannot rise,
they are extinguished, quenched like a wick:
18 “Remember not the former things,
nor consider the things of old.
19 Behold, I am doing a new thing;
now it springs forth, do you not perceive it?
I will make a way in the wilderness
and rivers in the desert.
I do not think it’s a stretch to say that God is doing something new right now. Sometimes I wish I could predict what it is. Other times I am simply up for the adventure and hope I can keep up. Whatever is happening, I do find it helpful to remember that we are not the first ones to experience new things.
Isaiah reminds his audience and us that God has done something new before. The other helpful directive from this Isaiah passage is to simultaneously forget those former times. Yes, this will be like that, but not really. For the Israelites, I am quite sure God is saying, “This time it will be even more magnificent!” Is that true for our time? It is hard to say. We put the Isaiah text in conversation with 2 Corinthians 5:17, “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.”
What I take from all of this, pastorally if not scholarly, is that God is very good at doing a new thing and doing it wonderfully. At the same time, we are active participants. We have been given agency to engage.
Your congregation may already be living into a new thing; many of our congregations are. If you are not but you are curious, here are some old and new things that the synod staff would be eager to help you explore.
Shared Ministry with other ELCA Lutheran congregations – Lutherans have been sharing pastors in this country since immigrants have been forming congregations here. But we can also share other staff members, other resources, events, prayer, and worship.
Shared Ministry with ELCA Full Communion Partners – See this LIST of partners. In our synod, we already have experience sharing pastors, buildings, and even entire congregations with PCUSA Presbterians, Episcopalians, and the United Church of Christ.
Raise Up a Pastor from Within – The Theological Education for Emerging Ministries (TEEM) certificate program is a non-residential and contextual-educational arm of Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary and Luther Seminary, aimed at preparing people for ordained ministry in the ELCA and the Episcopal Church. Students study at home with local pastors/mentors, while doing the ministry in a congregation.
Note–we are also GRATEFUL to all of our congregations who have raised and continue to raise up candidates for ministry who leave and serve elsewhere. Keep it up!
Licensed Pastoral Associates – We have several people trained by the Montana Synod-ELCA’s LPA Program. More of the pieces are online since the pandemic. We would be sure to surround LPAs with mentor pastors or deacons.
Death and Resurrection – Consider the STORY of Redeemer Lutheran in Portland, OR, which is now Salt and Light, nested in the midst of Leaven. Though parts of their story are urban, please do not dismiss this model if you live in a rural setting. The heart of the process was listening, discerning, and evaluating–which congregations everywhere can do.
Communal Discernment – Whether you want to explore one of the tools listed above or whether your congregation simply needs to figure out what might be next, the synod office has a communal discernment resource we would love to share with you.
Anchor Church Model – A grassroots model started by large ELCA congregations in urban Colorado and North Carolina. The vision is “To assist struggling congregations with high potential for regaining a vibrant ministry as well as to launch new mission sites with a higher degree of success and impact.” Here’s a Living Lutheran article about the movement. Since this model was first launched, other sites have adopted it to various contexts.
The good news is that you are not alone, we walk together, and we also are not alone. No matter the season, the Holy Spirit accompanies us and we can trust God’s faithfulness. Finally, not everything will be new. We will still gather as Christian communities. We will still strive to love God and our neighbors.
The people of the Northwest Intermountain Synod celebrate with the congregations of Redeemer Lutheran, Boise and Grace Lutheran, Horseshoe Bend on the occasion of the installation of Rev. Mariah Mills as their new pastor. Mills is a graduate of Trinity Seminary and completed her internship at Bethany English Church & United Protestant Campus Ministries in Cleveland. Freed by Grace to live faithfully, witness boldly, and serve joyfully.
My first Installation as bishop and what a joy to be with Redeemer/Grace, churches my former congregation partnered with on so much youth ministry. I was on the sidelines when these congregations signed their first shared ministry agreement. In the past few months we all watched as the congregations stepped up to do some much needed renovations to their old parsonage next door. We are in this work by God’s grace and with one another.
Sermon preached at Redeemer Lutheran, Boise for the Installation of Rev. Mariah Mills, called to serve as pastor of Redeemer and Grace Lutheran, Horseshoe Bend.
Exodus 3:1-13
3Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. 2There the angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed. 3Then Moses said, ‘I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.’ 4When the Lord saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, ‘Moses, Moses!’ And he said, ‘Here I am.’ 5Then he said, ‘Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.’ 6He said further, ‘I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’ And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.
7 Then the Lord said, ‘I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings, 8and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 9The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them. 10So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.’ 11But Moses said to God, ‘Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?’ 12He said, ‘I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.’
13 But Moses said to God, ‘If I come to the Israelites and say to them, “The God of your ancestors has sent me to you”, and they ask me, “What is his name?” what shall I say to them?’
Still from the film Prince of Egypt
1 Corinthians 12:1-11
12Now concerning spiritual gifts, brothers and sisters, I do not want you to be uninformed. 2You know that when you were pagans, you were enticed and led astray to idols that could not speak. 3Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says ‘Let Jesus be cursed!’ and no one can say ‘Jesus is Lord’ except by the Holy Spirit.
4 Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; 5and there are varieties of services, but the same Lord; 6and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who activates all of them in everyone.7To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.8To one is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit, 9to another faith by the same Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 10to another the working of miracles, to another prophecy, to another the discernment of spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues. 11All these are activated by one and the same Spirit, who allots to each one individually just as the Spirit chooses.
Matthew 14:13-21
13 Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ 16Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ 17They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ 18And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full.21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Meggan Manlove – Sermon
“We are stronger together,” a new colleague of mine is fond of saying. I am learning what that feels like and looks like around our synod, but I know it to be true already in the Treasure Valley of Idaho. Congregations have been praying for Redeemer and Grace for some time, and now today we celebrate that you have a new pastor. Hooray! But I also want to say hooray to all of you for your waiting.
The story of Moses and the burning bush has been portrayed by artists for centuries. It’s a story that grabs the imagination—the bush that blazes but is not consumed, the command to take off shoes because Moses is standing on holy ground, and the call—the call to the person unprepared and unwilling that reminds us of so many other call stories in scripture. I love this story too. I love that Moses is paying attention and notices the bush. I love the dialogue between Moses and God—God’s naming the people’s suffering, Moses’ questioning, God’s assurance. There are components of this story that are at once relatable and others that are other worldly.
But this week I was mostly struck by how the passage begins and by what precedes it. “Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro.” This story is preceded by Moses witnessing an Egyptian beating Moses’ kinfolk; Moses killing said Egyptian; Moses then fleeing from Eyptian Pharaoh. Moses flees to the land of Midian where he meets Jethro, marries Ziporah, and has a son. Then we read in chapter two, “after a long time the king of Egypt died.” In other words, it was not a matter of mere weeks or days between Moses fleeing Egypt and encountering the burning bush. It was a long time.
Moses waited for God. So did the Israelites. In a day an age where I can instantaneously look up news happening not just in my city but on the other side of the globe, this waiting can also seem otherworldly. It is not just that our culture is transactional, and so we slip into making our relationship with God transactional, it is also that we expect things now. Nothing encourages or affirms patient waiting.
Redeemer and Grace, you waited, either comfortably or impatiently and uncomfortably. You prayed. You stayed in relationship with God. You continued to build relationships with one another and your neighbors, first in the middle of a global pandemic and then coming out of the pandemic. I want to say that I saw your faithful waiting. I don’t know how you will look back on that time in a year or two, but I hope you see that that practice in waiting prepared you to notice, to pause and turn your head as Moses did, to notice the future pastor God was preparing for this call.
My assumption is that something else happened in that waiting. A variety of gifts from among you were lifted up in new ways, which brings us to First Corinthians. It is helpful to remember that Paul’s letter to Corinth is primarily about the common needs of the Christian community. Here is one criticism Paul lodges against the Corinthian congregation: their inability to live out the essential claim of a community founded in the Gospel of Jesus. The life, death, and resurrection of Jesus unite every congregation of followers. Unity is for the sake of God’s mission in the world and for the building up of that particular community.
For Paul, spirituality involves the ongoing reality and work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of Jesus’ followers. The problem in Corinth is that some spiritual elitists have really messed this up. They have regarded their gifts of the Spirit as making them superior to other members of the Community. Paul emphasizes unified divine action. This empowers diverse human activity for the common good—the benefit of everyone.
For me, the pairing of the Feeding of the Multitude and the Corinthian passage on Spiritual Gifts is a great one. God’s abundance of bread and fish, the 12 baskets of leftovers, becomes accessible to all communities. God has also given us an abundance of spiritual gifts, enough to build life-giving communities wherever we are.
Paul also is adamant that the gifts come from the Spirit, not from us. Sometimes, even when we have a called pastor leading us, we still must wait to see or hear how the Spirit will use all of those gifts. We must do that active waiting we are talk so much about during Advent, but which we are called to each day.
Paul would further contend that the Spirit does not promote excessive individualism or elitism because those do not benefit the common good. One pastor wrote, “Spiritual gifts are not for us, and therefore it is essential that we discern them and use them. Spiritual gifts are given by the Holy Spirit, they are a way that the Holy Spirit flows through us into the world that God loves. By exercising our gifts, we put ourselves at the disposal of the Great Almighty to be used as God wishes. Nothing could be more humbling. And God will use you. In fact, this is how God has designed us, with the capacity to know and love God and with unique gifts that God uses to bless the world….”
Know that you Mariah and you Redeemer Lutheran and Grace Lutheran are not alone as you live out your baptismal call. The body of Christ is a body. We are truly church together. None of us can do this work alone. And we are the body of Christ accompanied by the Holy Spirit. As each of you disciples continues to take one faithful step forward, know that the Spirit is always with you, in the bread and wine, in our shared worship, and in your daily lives. Thanks be to God.
One of the best parts of this new call is meeting so many people in our synod, across the ELCA Lutheran network, and in our various communities doing faithful work. This week I or the synod staff and I connected with a variety of people listening to God, their neighbors, the larger society and then sharing God’s love with their unique passions and gifts. Meetings included those with a western bishop, a synod staffer from the midwest, a staff member from Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Services, and the head of Music that Makes Community.
Early in the week I participated in one of two listening sessions for bishops on the ELCA’s Future Church: God’s Love Made Real.
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I had not made concrete plans for this morning because I was to preside at an installation in the afternoon. That installation was postponed until Labor Day Weekend due to COVID. So I emailed Pastor Dave Deckerd at Shepherd of the Valley and said I would like to come worship with them. He invited me to preside and said worship attendance might be sparse due to some COVID in that community. My body quickly remembered March 2020 and I had to do some deep breathing and relaxing.
It ended up being a good morning. When I came to Idaho in November 2010, my first group of mutual supporters were the ELCA youth ministers, including the Luther Heights program director. An important member of that group was SOV’s youth minister Greg Boelken, who later moved with his wife to Atlanta. The pastors and deacons often met at SOV in those early years for a book study, but I would always arrive early and go talk to Greg in his office. He had grown up a Missouri Synod pastor’s kid, attending Camp Perkins. By the time I met him, he was serving on the Luther Heights board. We talked about camp, the Treasure Valley, and church. He truly made me feel welcome and so I still associate that building with his warm hospitality.
I forgot to get photos with people
Worship this morning was simplified for summer, but still held all the components I value. It was a gift to sit in the pew and hear the good news preached by Pastor Dave and it was, as it always is, humbling to preside at the Lord’s Supper with these strangers, now friends. Fellowship time brought the gift up multiple conversations and introductions.
I read a bit and then logged on to join the joint Lutheran Campus Ministry WSU-U of I Board meeting. It sounds like campus ministry is off to a great start in Pullman-Moscow after last year’s very challenging school year.
If I needed reminders that this work does not need to be done in a silo, this week gave me an abundance of them.
The week started, after my drive home Monday, with a vaccination appointment at Saltzer Health, in preparation for the synod trip to the Ulanga Kilombero Diocese in Tanzania later this fall. Shout out to Saltzer’s staff who talked me through everything.
Wednesday morning I attended my first Region One First Call Consult meeting, during which we also discussed mobility. First call is so different than when I went through it in 2004. I was reminded of how grateful I am to be part of a region that works well together and communicates regularly about calls, resources, and ideas.
Wednesday afternoon I attended a hybrid luncheon for the Faith Action Network, a multi-faith, non-profit organization though which thousands of people and over 160 faith communities across Washington State partner for the common good. Together, we are powerful voices of faith and conscience advocating for a more just, peaceful, and sustainable world. Many of our Eastern Washington congregations are part of the network. This was their first hybrid meeting, hosted by the NW Washington Synod, ELCA. Those of us from further east were grateful for the use of technology.
I was having a bit of trouble with technology, and set up an appointment with an ELCA resource person who walked me through a work-around. More gratitude.
That afternoon, we had an orientation for our new Northwest Intermountain Synod Council members. We were all reminded about Region 1 yet again, this time regarding the financial services office we all share. Different synod council officers also talked about our shared work as a synod.
Thursday I had a Zoom call with a church relations staffer from Luther Seminary. We talked about our regional gatherings as a synod, internship sites, Faith+Lead, and other resources at the seminary. Serving out west the last 12 plus years, I have gotten to know more people connected to PLTS, our seminary in Berkeley. When in Chicago, I took classes at LSTC. Serving in Iowa for six years, I went to events at Wartburg. Even though I’m not an alumni, I remain grateful for the roles the seminaries play in the life of the church.
Friday afternoon I sat in on a Zoom call with synod staff, our Washington Lutheran Disaster Response Coordinator (a volunteer!) and the head of Lutheran Disaster Response. This was of course in response to the Gray and Oregon Road Fires, both still burning. It is such a comfort to have LDR as a partner
Last Wednesday I drove up Idaho along highway 95 and then 195, stopping to stretch my legs in a baked Riggins (in the canyon). I had a great conversation with campus minister Deacon Karla Neumann Smiley and her colleague George, the part time admin for The Center (formerly Campus Christian Center). We have some big dreams.
Then other pastors and lay leaders from the Palouse and Tsemincum Clusters joined us at Trinity Lutheran in Pullman for dinner, fellowship, and conversation about ministry and the synod.
I met two more ecumenical partners during my time in Spokane: United Methodist District Superintendent Daniel Miranda and Presbyter Sheryl Kinder-Pyle. Our synod staff joined the Episcopal Diocese for lunch one day–very fun and more dreaming.
On Friday and Saturday we watched the news break about three fires nearby, the largest being the #GrayFire which made national news and left devastating damage in the town of Medical Lake. St. John’s, Medical Lake was spared but the clergy couple, who also serve Emmanuel in Reardon, moved all of Sunday morning worship to Emmanuel. Assistant to the Bishop Phil Misner joined them for worship. Strange coincidence, just last week I had my first Zoom call with the Washington State VOAD representative related to Lutheran Disaster Response. I emailed Ray and he kept us informed on the disaster and I trust he will parter with us through the long relief process. Stay-tuned for more.
I drove to Davenport to see one of our pastors recovering from a hospitalization. The air quality was grim; hard to say if this was from the Gray Fire or from smoke coming in from Canada or a combination. Here’a photo of Zion Lutheran, Davenport.
Sunday morning I preached and presided at Salem Lutheran in West Central Spokane for a tri-parish worship service which welcomed members of Salem, Central, and All Saints (Me, Pastor Liv Larson Andrews from Salem and Pastor Alan from All Saints pictured below).
On Sunday night, the Misners had me over for dinner and introduced me to grilled pineapple on vanilla ice cream! Where has this been all my life?
21Jesus left that place and went away to the district of Tyre and Sidon.22Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came out and started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” 23But he did not answer her at all. And his disciples came and urged him, saying, “Send her away, for she keeps shouting after us.” 24He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” 25But she came and knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” 26He answered, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 27She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” 28Then Jesus answered her, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” And her daughter was healed instantly.
Christ and the Canaanite Woman
Ilyas Basim Khuri Bazzi Rahib Walters Art Museum Baltimore, MD
Sermon – Bp Meggan Manlove
Thank you so much for the invitation to preach this morning and to be with you today. We have quite the gospel passage. It is a challenging story because it makes us wrestle with how we understand Jesus, at least that’s where I have usually gone when thinking about this passage. It is so how I was trained—to make him the focus of every sermon I preach, especially when preaching on a New Testament text. But maybe, just this once, we’re better just focusing on this remarkable woman.
The Canaanite’s woman’s persistence is both remarkable and inspiring. I think about images from the natural world that compare to her. As I’ve walked the streets of Spokane this week, I’ve stumbled over sidewalks broken by the determined roots of your huge trees; they will not be limited by cement. I think of the Pasque Flower of my home-state of South Dakota, pushing up through the snow each spring. I picture glaciers slowly, but determinedly transforming their environments.
But for the first time in my life this story had an incredibly personal connection for me. Whose to say why, even though I’ve preached on it multiple times, I never saw my own family of origin in it. I assume I’ve done enough healing so now I can read it with fresh eyes. I was diagnosed with Epilepsy as an eight-year-old in rural South Dakota in the 1980s and my mom had this woman’s persistence—no question about it.
When a doctor prescribed me the standard medication that every kid was put on then, the drug transformed me into someone my mom did not recognize; she said no. She believed there could be a better more abundant life for me. She went looking for other doctors and treatments. When locals tried to fault her and asked, “What are you going to do about this?” she never let it deter her self-worth or her care for me. She also remained a working mom—not allowing the sexism in the town to alter her path. I suspect that most of you know stories of this fierce love and I hope some of you have even experienced it, if not with your own parents than with another caring adult or friend.
Mom and I have not talked about her faith during this time in our lives, but I suspect her prayers were robust, maybe not for a cure, but for a treatment and for doctors and nurses who would truly listen and see her little girl. My particular story has a happy ending. We found a doctor and a medication that made me seizure-free with no side-effects. Even if we had not, I know my mom’s persistence and fierce love would have helped carry me and give me a full life.
The Canaanite woman in our story steals the scene with her boldness and daring. I don’t really know how to interpret Jesus’ words in this story, I’ll leave that to your three pastors to sort out in a Bible Study. But he really should not be surprised, and maybe he is not. All he needs to do is look at his own genealogy, which we read at the beginning of Matthew’s gospel. A friend of mine [Dr. Celia Wolff] pointed out that Jesus has four women, similar to the Canaanite, named in his genealogy. These women suffered grief, hardship, and abuse and responded with resilience and strategic action.
First, Tamar, gets into Jesus’ family tree because, when Judah comes along looking for a good time, she has the foresight to ask for three pieces of ID as collateral on her compensation. When she turns up pregnant and Judah wants her burned for prostitution, she pulls out his ID and says, “Mark whose these are.” And Judah must admit, “She is more in the right than I” (Gen 38).
Then there is Rahab. She was a prostitute, and, by the way, a Canaanite. She’s part of Jesus’ family because, when the Israelite spies made their first stop in Jericho at her house, she put them in her debt by boldly shielding them from discovery. She demanded from them a promise of safety for her whole family. She gets a home in Israel and bears a son named Boaz.
That brings us to Ruth. She was a Moabite. Ruth quickly catches Boaz’s eye, but when he seems a little slow to make a move, she takes action that forces him either to disgrace her or take her as his wife. And then she becomes King David’s great-grandmother.
Speaking of David, the fourth woman Matthew names in Jesus’ genealogy is the one who had been “the wife of Uriah” (1:6). Bathsheba. You might think, “this is the exception. Bathsheba is in the story because of what was done to her, not because of what she did.” But don’t forget that her son, Solomon, was not going to succeed David as king until Bathsheba demanded that David swear to it (1 Kings 1:15-31).
None of these women was born into Israel. They snuck under the umbrella of God’s care by their own wit and cunning. And they were rewarded. The Canaanite woman in Matthew 15 has abundant precedent for both her request and her response to Jesus. Jesus has entered her territory. And, in an important way, through her spiritual foremothers—Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba—she’s already in his house.
The Canaanite woman’s persistent, single-minded expectation that Jesus will supply her need… this is what Jesus recognizes as faith. And in the face of such expectation, such trust, how could he fail her?
The disciples want nothing to do with her. “Send her away!” they tell Jesus. That’s also what they tried to do with 5000 hungry people. The woman cries out in language they will all recognize, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.” Jesus still isn’t having any of it. He says first that has come only for the “lost sheep of Israel” and later, “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.
Then we have the rest of the remarkable exchange in which the woman picks up Jesus’ words and throws them back at him: “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master’s table.” Elsewhere, Jesus has chastised the little faith of the disciples. Now, in this woman, he meets and names a wondrously strange and persistent faith.
Jesus answers, “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” The truth is, it has always been in God’s character, this ever-expanding invitation. We read it in the genealogy in Matthew’s gospel, with the four women who snuck in with cunning. We hear it in the Prophet Isaiah speaking for God, “And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord, to minister to him, to love the name of the Lord…these I will bring to my holy mountain.” We witness it in Jesus’ encounter with this woman of great faith.
So then, is this gospel passage about the woman’s persistence and great faith or is it about the extravagant reaches of God’s mercies? I think the answer is Yes. In other words, it is about both. The story of the Canaanite women is preceded by the feeding of the 5,000 and followed by the feeding of the 4,000. To keep the bread metaphor going, they make a sandwich.
Think of all that is contained in those stories of abundance. The compassionate mercy of God, the persistence of faith, and the gift of that bread which supplies our every need are all bound together. Likewise, gathered together around the table, we will receive a meager morsel today. But by God’s mercy they become for us gifts of finest wheat, hope, nourishment, new life. Thanks be to God.
13Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” 16Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.” 17They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” 18And he said, “Bring them here to me.” 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 21And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.
Offering of Loaves and Fish — United Reformed Church, Brighton, England
Meggan Manlove
Grace to you and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. Amen. This morning we have texts about feasts and abundance and more than enough. Fittingly, the texts also give the preacher an abundance of themes and entry points. They are also so rich in imagery that they ask for little interpretation.
For my part, after reading these texts and then going on walks in my neighborhood, I kept giving thanks for the birthday party I was able to attend last Sunday evening. This new call of bishop has introduced me to amazing new people, from my sisters and brothers in the Conference of Bishops to our amazing synod staff to the many faithful people showing up in congregations. But all of these relationships are new and take energy. I am energized by this work but it’s a new rhythm and I have needed nourishment, just as I did as a parish pastor for 18 years.
I had my friend’s birthday party on my calendar, but I sent a quick text Sunday afternoon just to make sure it was still on. She replied, “I’m serving chicken and sweet corn so come hungry.” This friend is particularly gifted at pulling together kind, fun, and interesting people. Most of us at this event have known each other for many years, through our birthday friend or because of our own relationships.
Can you recall a dinner party where the food was not gourmet, but it left you so satisfied? When the conversation just flowed? Where friends were genuinely curious about one another’s lives? Where you felt completely seen but also cared for, not because of what you do or what you’ve accomplished but because of who you are? That’s how my friend’s parties feel to me.
I walked in Sunday evening and the food was being prepared. I hadn’t realized how hungry I was. My senses were awakened. As I saw kind and familiar faces I began to relax. The conversation flowed as we caught up on one another’s lives. These are all people who when they ask “How have you been?” I trust that they are genuinely curious; it’s not an expression of mere politeness. After our feast on summer harvest and chicken, we started playing games. My old Lutheran camp director used to say that we were not facilitating recreation, but re-creation. That’s how I felt around the board game table that evening. As we laughed at ourselves and the game, as the conversation flowed, as I continued to feel loved just for who I am, there was re-creation. I was nourished in so many ways.
My experience at my friends’ many dinner parties and games nights, I think that’s something of what happened when Jesus fed the multitude. He sees, first, a real human need. The people are hungry, and they need something to eat. He feeds them out of compassion, and that is important.
It is important in contrast to what has just happened. Herod has just had a dinner party quite different than the one I told you about. It was a banquet whose mood was shaped by power and fear and ended with John the Baptist’s head on a platter. Herod provided food for those who are not without food as a demonstration of his power. In sharp contrast, Jesus feeds the five thousand because he has compassion for them. It is an alternative to the envy and greet the Herods of this world cannot avoid.
It can be tempting to dwell here on Jesus meeting the crowds’ physical needs and that being an inspiration for us to feed the hungry. I am grateful that so many congregations in our synod have taken up feeding ministries and that ELCA World Hunger encourages such outreach and does its own amazing work globally. But there is so much more to this passage.
There is rich symbolism in the bread and fish. Five loaves of bread would remind that crowd, and maybe us, of the five books of Moses. Two fish help us recall the pillars of the Old Testament: the law and the prophets. In other words, food and scripture are rightly tied together. As my friend’s birthday party reminded me, there can be no strict separation between body and would. The words we read in scripture are the words of life, every bit as essential for our ability to live as bread and fish. After all the work my former congregation did in affordable housing, it was natural for me to ponder a move in that direction—going full time into the nonprofit world. But I still believe so strongly that the words of the gospel have the power to give life. The message about God’s love poured out abundantly through Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection is a world so many people still need to hear. So, here I am.
Beyond my friend’s dinner parties, the other meal that sustains me is the Lord’s Supper, Holy Communion, the Eucharist, the foretaste of the feast to come. And this morning’s passage, the feeding of the five thousand, directs our attention to Jesus’ feeding of his disciples with his body and blood. Jesus break bread in our lesson this morning. He anticipates that his body will be broken. Jesus feeds the five thousand with bread and fish provided by the disciples, but he will become for us the bread itself. Just as the bread that fed the five thousand will be more than was needed, recall the twelve baskets of leftovers, so Jesus’ body will never be exhausted. Today we will feast on the meal once again, as the followers of Jesus have done for millennia.
Every time we gather for worship we pray “give us this day our daily bread,” the fourth petition of The Lord’s Prayer. In his Small Catechism, Martin Luther writes that God gives daily bread, even without our prayer, to all people, though sinful, but we ask in this prayer that he will help us to realize this and to receive our daily bread with thanks. The word daily cautions us against worrying about the future and reminds us to be content with what the Lord provides.
The feeding of the 5,000 in Matthew’s Gospel is representative of the meaning of the Christ-event as a whole. The story portrays God’s act in Jesus Christ in meeting human need. The story shows the disciples’ involvement in meeting those needs. Jesus’ charges his disciples: “You give them something to eat.” The source of the feeding is God, but the resources are human. The work of the disciples, the “bread” of human effort, is honored, used, and magnified by Jesus.
The story illuminates God’s unqualified mercy. The feeding of the crowds is not contingent on the crowd’s obedience. They hear and follow but make no other continuing commitment. To Jesus’ disciples, the people who do commit, there is the command to give something to eat. God provides all that is daily bread. We are called to be instruments of the feeding.
Every time gather around the altar, we remember that we are recipients of God’s unqualified mercy. We eat together, friends and strangers, just as the people on the hillside who were served by the disciples. Everyone is welcomed at the Lord’s table. There is always an abundance of bread and wine, forgiveness and new life. We sometimes call the Lord’s Supper the Eucharist, which means thanksgiving. We give thanks for what God gives us through this meal. Leaving this place, we trust that with God’s help we will obey Christ’s instruction, “you give them something to eat,” whether that is food for the body or food for the soul, “you are seen and you are loved.”
It was a joy to be with the people of the Upper Snake River Cluster at their annual summer picnic in Firth, Idaho Saturday, but that really made up only one sliver of a great weekend of relationship building and exploration.
First Pictures: I serve on the board for LEAP Housing and I think I found the lot in Mountain Home for Falcon’s Landing; lunch with Pastor Andy Hamblen in Twin Falls (Andy serves Our Savior, Twin Falls and is also the board president for Luther Heights); coffee with Presbytery of Kendall Presbyter Cathy Chisholm (lots of dreaming); Pocatello: home to ISU–go Bengals!
Saturday was the first time the cluster had been able to hold the picnic for several years, for a number of reasons. People were so happy to be together. We had a simple worship service during which I read the Body of Christ passage from I Corinthians 12 and then, as has become my practice, shared what we do together as the Northwest Intermountain Synod. Bethel Lutheran, Firth transformed a drainage into a park, our meeting for the picnic. It was an afternoon rich in food and conversation.
Next Photos: Red pickups are a popular vehicle for Upper Snake River Cluster pastors, inside of Bethel Lutheran and a binder from their recent 125th anniversary celebration, worship, shelter, grilling, me and Pastor Jon Beake (St. John’s, American Falls–Beake has served in SW Wyoming & SE Idaho for 28 years), group photo around the fire pit.
Final Photos: The pastors also planned a full Sunday for me: preaching at Cluster Dean Pastor Wayne Shipman’s two congregations (Good Shepherd, Pocatello and Emanuel, Blackfoot) and then an evening potluck at New Day Lutheran in Idaho Falls, which is hosted by St. Luke’s Episcopal. Good Shepherd has a rich history of gifted musicians and this Sunday was no exception. Follow this LINK and go to minute 43:30 for a song written for the Feeding of the Multitude text from Matthew for Jordan Bowman to sing, accompanied by her dad David Bowman. It is wonderful! Good Shepherd is hosting a Let’s Make Some Music day camp for kids this week. Note below that Emanuel, Blackfoot creatively repurposed its Reformation 500 Anniversary door by turning it into the television stand for worship slides.
