We had 13 at 9am Holy Eucharist 1 and 33 at Morning Prayer at 11am which was encouraging since we had some away or on vacation (Pogue, Kunstmann). The day sunny and thankfully the humidity has been off and on and thankfully off today.
We welcomed Rob and Marcia Dobson who have been here for several Sundays, Elizabeth (pictured above) and her son Janheim, and Stephen, one of Robert’s relatives who came from Colorado for Peter Bryan’s funeral
We are collecting in August. Several people brought school supplies which are shown above – Elizabeth brought hers in a crate. Also contributing were Johnny, Joe, and Susan O. You can bring them in the next 2 Sundays.
Hugh at the 11am service asked to collect magazines and newsapapers for Salem Baptist, the funds which will go to animal shelter, St. Judes. Like us they are collecting school supplies
The Muhly’s celebrated an anniversary. We began the effort to recruit people for possible projects on a church directory and an upate to our history. We had handouts for this and you can sign up above.
The choir was in top shape with "Just as I am" with Helmut’s accompanying on violin.
Children were in good supply. Besides Elizabeth’s son, we are also welcomed by Tierra from a stay with relatives. The Fisher children are alive with energy and stories of their happenings. We had a reception after 11am remembering Peter Bryan. Tucker seemed to like the glaze donuts better than communion bread:
Zeke was being Zeke, a most photogenic child:
The care we are providing others from the collections mentioned above are related to the scriptures. Todays readings are about care and evidence of the nature of God in the face of terror. They are a further illustration of the shepherding passage from last week and points the way for a better understanding of Christ. The sermon is published, readings are here with the bulletin.
"I pray that, according to the riches of his glory, he may grant that you may be strengthened in your inner being with power through his Spirit, and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith, as you are being rooted and grounded in love. I pray that you may have the power to comprehend, with all the saints, what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so that you may be filled with all the fullness of God."
The prayer before us in Ephesians of course, was intended to be overheard. The first 13 chapters of Ephesians is a reaction against the imprisonment of Paul and the fear that entailed. It calls for inner strength throught the Holy Spirit and that God may give them the power to understand the totality of Christ’s love and grow in the knowledge of his ways. The apostle prays for a church filled in every dimension by God, with and for the glory of God. And it takes us to God’s love and care which is demonstrated in John’s passage.
John’s passage actually contains two famouse stories – feeding of the 5,000 and Jesus walking on the water.
There is also a certain amount of fear and terror when you have 5000 to feed and you have only two fish and five barley loaves and also the same when in the middle of the sea you see someone coming to you by walking on the water. The former is a revelation and goes back to the care of God of the Israelites in the desert in the Old Testament. The water incident recalls the storm a few chapters back. Now it is Jesus who causes their alarm coming to them on the water.
The key in the passage in John is "It is I" or "I am" the divine name revealed back in Exodus at the burning bush and a reference to the divinity and mission of Jesus. As the sermon states "God is always speaking to us, even if God’s voice is sometimes a whisper—“It is I.” And the more we listen for that voice throughout our days, the greater our chance of hearing God speaking to us when the going gets rough. Jesus is in control but it goes back to our own faith and understanding that Jesus will provide." The disciples did not have the faith in the feeding of the 5,000 nor did on the sea did they have the understanding to recognize totally who he was. They see him as only a prophet.
Jesus cares for his people’s needs, physical and spiritual and summons us to do the same for others – in a sense to take a leap of faith and grow. This is contrast to the disciples wanting to send the people away and not feed them. He calls the disciples to look beyond their own resources through Jesus though he begins with what they have – the loaves and fishes – and goes beyond the people’s immediate needs. One translation of the Feeding of the 5,000 passage says that Jesus was trying to stretch the disciples’ faith.
For John the stories are signs he hopes will encourage belief, be a starting point for understanding Jesus, and show Christ for who he is. The sermon recalled the disciples had begun the process by the end of the passage – " And they took him into the boat with great joy, and immediately the boat reached the land toward which they were going."