Proper 12B ‘12
29 July 2012
II Kings 4.42-44; Ep.3.14-21; Jn.6.1-21
St. Luke’s Episcopal Church
North Little Rock, Arkansas
The Rev. Carey Stone
Faithful God, who believes in us more than we believe in ourselves: Grant us faith not only
in you, but also in ourselves that we might accomplish your purpose for our lives and use
our gifts for your glory, through Christ our Lord. Amen.
With the 2012 Olympic games well underway in London I was
reminded of my favorite Olympic movie – Chariots of Fire! It was set
in Paris at the 1924 Olympics and the story centered around two
British Olympians, one was Harold Abrams a Jew and student at
Cambridge and the other, Eric Liddell, a Scottish missionary to China
and a great runner. It is an absolutely enthralling film and you have
never seen it I highly recommend you watch it sometime soon!
As we move on through the current Olympic games we will witness
the “thrill of victory and the agony of defeat” and we will see glimpses
of the coaches behind the scenes who helped develop the raw talent
into medal-winning Olympians. Good coaches by necessity are
persons of great faith – they have to be because they have to believe
in the athletes when they are struggling to have any faith in their own
abilities. Great coaches are able to spot diamonds in the rough and
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through their belief and encouragement their pupils perform great
feats of strength, agility and beauty.
I’ll never forget someone who believed in me early on when I didn’t
even have an inkling that there might be a future for me in the
Church. His name was Dr. R. Wilbur Herring and he was the pastor of
the church where I spent my childhood. A short stocky man filled with
wisdom and pithy sayings, many of which I still remember. He used to
stress the importance for young people or anyone for that matter to
get what he called “the Three M’s” right. The first M stood for your
life’s master, he believed that the earlier a person could learn to put
God first the better off they would be. The Second M was a person’s
life mission, this involved figuring out why you were here and then
doing something about it. And the third M, your life’s mate, who were
you supposed to spend your life with.
One fateful day right before a worship service Dr. Herring caught me
about to go into the church and he quickly pulled me aside and asked
if I might lead us in a prayer before the service started. ‘Me, I thought
to myself, you sure you got the right guy? You’re the one who’s been
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to seminary can’t you come up with something yourself?’ Of course I
didn’t dare say those words out loud and we knelt down together and
I uttered what I considered to be a highly forgettable prayer probably
one that he would think was stupid. After saying amen and we arose
and he looked me squarely in the eye, shook my hand and said,
“Man, what a powerful prayer!” He did this same thing on at least two
other occasions and clearly they have made a lasting impression on
me.
He gave me a task that I didn’t quite believe I was up to and trusted
me and honored me enough to give me an opportunity to take a risk
and try and use my fledgling ability to pray and see where it took me.
Dr. Herring was a good coach because he believed in me when I
wasn’t able to believe in myself. He got out of the way so I could find
that I had a place in God’s kingdom.
Jesus was the master at this. He selected individuals that couldn’t
have passed a job interview to save their lives but he saw something
in them that they didn’t see. He believed in them and honored them
by giving them an opportunity to use what they had to bring glory to
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God. Jesus knowingly goes and sits down as the hungry crowd
gathers and coyly asks a loaded question: “Where can we find
enough bread to feed these people?” Phillip pipes up and points
toward the scarcity of the situation and that it would take at least six
months income to pay for enough bread. Andrew, Peter’s brother
says that there was a small boy who had brought five loaves and two
fish – scarcely enough to feed such a massive crowd.
The minute these are offered to Jesus he goes into action in what we
now recognize as that four fold pattern for the Eucharist. He takes the
bread, gives thanks and blesses it, breaks the bread and gives it to
his disciples and the whole crowd is fed with 12 basketfuls leftover. A
true miracle if there ever was one.
In this wonderful story we see the miracle of how the Church
operates. We offer our gifts (our loaves and fish) to God no matter
how meager they may seem, God then takes them, blesses them,
breaks them open and the gives them to the spiritually hungry. Jesus
could have simply waved his hands in ‘abracadabra’ fashion and
turned rocks into bread without the slightest assistance from the
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disciples. But that is the beauty of the kingdom of God and the way of
Christ – we are included and given a place along side him as we
assist him in carrying out his mission to the world.
So, why are we so afraid, why are we so quick to downplay our gifts,
our metaphorical loaves and fish? This parish is literally running over
with marvelously gifted people. I was amazed as I started jotting
down just some of the gifts and talents that are represented here. At
St. Luke’s we have teachers, preachers, artists, physicians, nurses,
salespeople, accountants, lawyers, chefs, heavy equipment
operators, grounds keepers, gardeners, contractors, painters,
carpenters, musicians and magicians, soldiers, sailors, airmen,
counselors, interior designers, desktop publishers, editors, food
service managers…ok I’m just going to stop there – pretty amazing
isn’t it. Like that pastor so many years ago who asked a young
teenage boy to kneel down and lead a prayer I ask you to offer afresh
what you have to God, many of you are already doing this but some
remain in the shallows. Inferiority is often seen as the culprit as to
why we don’t do more and risk more for God but I ran across a quote
the other day that seems to challenge the idea that inferiority is the
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only suspect. Perhaps some of us are afraid of our own power. Listen
to what spiritual author Marianne Williamson wrote:
“Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is
that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our
darkness that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, who am I to be
brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to
be? You are a child of God. Your playing small does not serve the
world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other
people won't feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine, as
children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is
within us. It's not just in some of us; it's in everyone. And as we let
our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission
to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence
automatically liberates others.”1
Our Inferiority is no excuse – God believes in us more than we
believe in ourselves. God looks at us and sees a champion.
Glory to God whose power, working in us, can do infinitely more than we
can ask or imagine: Glory to him from generation to generation in the
Church, and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen. Eph. 3.20-21
1
Williamson, Marianne, Return to Love (HarperCollins: San Francisco, 1996) pp.190-91
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