Ministries of Loaves and Fishes

John 6:1-21

“…But what are they among so many people?”  – John 6:9

Here in the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod we like to say that we are a “small but scrappy synod.”  It is true, we are a small synod mostly made up of small congregations.  With just 53 congregations and ministries, we are the 4^thsmallest synod in the Evangelical Church in America.  Over 60% of our congregations have less than 50 baptized members.  All totaled, there about 7800 ELCA Lutherans in our synod.   We make up less than .01% of the population of the states where we live and serve. Small.  Yes.    Many would see that as a disadvantage.  I don’t. Though it is true that being small has its challenges.  But, time and again, God has proven very handy at using that which, by the world’s standards, doesn’t look like very much.   

God is particularly good at working with small.  God takes Abraham and Sarah and through them brings a blessing to the whole world.  God takes David, a young shepherd boy, from tending the flocks and makes him a great king.  God takes Amos, a simple tender of sycamore trees and sends him to speak truth to power.   Jesus takes twelve guys and a handful of women and changes an empire.  God doesn’t enter the world in a palace or in the form of the powerful and privileged.  God comes into the world as a baby born in a barn and redeems the world by dying as a condemned man on a cross.

I spend a lot of my time working with our smallest congregations.  Together, we talk about what God might do with exactly who they are.  We pray about how God, through the Holy Spirit, can take the five loaves and two fish they offer and do miracles with them.   Sure, they might not be able to do everything the mega-church down the block can do…  but they can still live out the Gospel and proclaim the love of God in word and deed with whatever gifts they have to offer.   And, they do.  I’ve seen our small congregations ministering to kids at a bus stop, making quilts for people in need, offering their community a place to gather for funerals and other events, serving a community meal, welcoming the homeless into their building, serving at the regional food bank, advocating for immigrants, and gathering weekly to praise and thank God around Word and Sacrament.   There is a lot of ministry going on in our scrappy little synod all the time!  Through these little communities of faith, God continues to multiply God’s grace over and over again, feeding thousands upon thousands with God’s love, mercy, compassion and forgiveness. 

I think the same is true of us as individuals.   We can feel very insignificant in the face of everything that is going on in the world. Powerless.  Small.  But, God has blessed each of us as God has blessed us and daily opens up opportunities to share whatever we have and whatever we are with those around us.  Andrew thought the boy who offered his lunch was pretty insignificant.  But he offered his lunch.  That’s what mattered.  And then, Jesus did wonders with it.   I believe Jesus can do the same with us today.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

As always, thanks for reading my weekly offering of words.  What loaves and fishes do you have to offer? 

Searching for the Deserted Place

Mark 6:30-34

“Come away to a deserted place…”   -Mark 6:31

I’ve had a busy month.  July started with the ELCA Youth Gathering in Houston.  30,000+ high school youth, their adult leaders and others gathered for worship, speakers, service, experiential learning and the opportunity to mix and mingle with people from across the country and around the world.  It was an amazing, uplifting experience!  I just finished a week orienting our newest bishops. Another great experience which reminded me again that God continues to lift up gifted and diverse leaders for God’s Church.  In just sixteen days, I’ll be going to Africa to participate in a three day summit between the ELCA and the Evangelical Lutheran Church in Tanzania (ELCT).  The ELCT is one of the fastest growing Lutheran churches on the planet.  We have a lot to learn from them!  In between all this, there is the usual round of meetings, activities, events, worship services, visits, phone calls, emails and conversations that is the daily fare of my ministry as the pastor and bishop of the Arkansas-Oklahoma Synod. 

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves…” --Mark 6:31

A frantically paced life is not unusual these days.  I frequently meet people who are overwhelmed, or nearly overwhelmed with everything that is going on in their worlds.  I’m not exactly sure what ever happened to the “lazy, hazy days of summer”!  On my recent trip home from Chicago, I stopped at a “Rest Area” on the interstate and wondered at the busy-ness of the place!  Hurrying toward her car, a mother called her daughter from the playground,  “Come on! We need to get going!”   Keeping up with Facebook posts and other social media, the never-ending stream of news, the swirl of world events and the constant change can feel like we’ve been tossed into a raging river.   It seems that, often, every moment of our personal lives is filled with something: work, health concerns, bills to pay, family concerns, appointments to keep, friendships to tend, shopping to get done and on and on.

“Come away to a deserted place all by yourselves and rest a while.”  --Mark 6:31

Jesus’ invitation is a beautiful thought.  Isn’t it? To go out to a quiet place and just sit?  To escape the busy-ness, even for a minute or two?  Right.  It didn’t work for Jesus and his disciples either.  

I think the promise for us in this midst of this not-so-promising text comes in the very last line.  “As he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them…”   Jesus doesn’t abandon us to our busy-ness.  He steps into the fray with compassion and love and life.   He walks with us, shepherding us and teaching us and healing us, even when we cannot see or feel it clearly in the blur of our lives.  It’s true, we may not always be able to find the deserted, lonely place in our lives, but we are never deserted and we are never alone. Never.  And that’s a promise we can rest in.  Even on our busiest days.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for taking a few moments out of your busy lives to read this week’s “On the Way.”  

The Barricade Maze

Mark 6:1-13

“Shake off the dust that is on your feet…”  --Mark 6:11

It was late.  I was headed across Chicago to my hotel on the west side of the city when I came to a place marked with orange cones, flashing lights and barricades.   I turned right as the detour sign suggested.  The road split.  There was no sign so I had no idea which way to go.  I picked the right path and soon ran into another set of barricades, orange cones and flashing lights.  Cursing under my breath, I turned again and worked my way through a dimly lit neighborhood, guessing which way to go.   More cones.  I turned again and wound up right back where I started!  More grumbling.  This time around I took the left path.  Same result.  After running up against more barriers I wound up back at the beginning.  I thought I had fallen into the Twilight Zone.

In the course of his ministry, Jesus regularly ran into barriers that got in the way of his mission. In this week’s Gospel it is his own hometown crowd that can’t see past the boy they remembered running around the carpenter’s shop to believe in him.   He warns the disciples that they too would run into barriers as they continued Jesus’ work of calling people back to God and healing and freeing them from the demons that possessed them.  

Ministry is not always easy work.  (That’s an understatement.)  Barriers abound.  Sometimes those barriers come from the outside, but sometimes our own human foibles block our best intentions.  Within the life of the church, our biggest barriers often seem to be of our own making.  Fear, finances,  fatigue and fondness can keep us from stepping out in faith.   A sense of scarcity can shackle us and keep us from taking risks, and trying new things. Our fondness for the way things are can keep us from making necessary changes.  Grief and sadness over a perceived loss of the past can leave us with little energy to engage the present or step into an unknown future.  In the end, we can feel like I felt that night in Chicago: going round and round and always winding up back in the same place.

In his hometown, Jesus persevered and managed to heal a few sick people in spite of the barriers.  He suggested that, when barriers arose, the disciples should knock the dust from their rejected feet and carry on.  They did and returned to report all that they accomplished.   In the Gospel of John, Jesus promises that the Holy Spirit will help us work over, through, around and maybe even sometimes with the barriers that get in the way of ministry.  That promise is still ours today.

I managed to escape that barricade maze in Chicago on my third try.  Not sure exactly how.  Somewhere along the line I must have made a left instead of a right or maybe it was the other way around.   But, when I finally got back to the main street,  I breathed a huge sigh of relief and continued on my way.   That is, until a few blocks later when the next set of orange cones, flashing lights and barriers got in my way.

Peace,

Bishop Mike

Thanks for reading.  May the Spirit always guide you as you seek to do God’s work in the context of your life!