The Generousity of God

Andy’s Final Sermon: 26th July 2009 (Ephesians 3:14-21, John 6:1-21)

Little Johnny was telling his mother about Sunday school "Boy," he exclaimed Johnny "that story of Moses and all those people crossing the Red Sea was something!" "Tell me all about it," said his mother. "Well, the Israelites got out of Egypt, but Pharaoh and his army chased after them. But the Jews outran them to the Red Sea. The Egyptian Army closed in. So Moses got on his mobile and told the Israeli Air Force to bomb the Egyptians. While that was happening, the Israeli Navy built a pontoon bridge so the people could cross over. They made it!" The woman was shocked, and asked, "Is that the way they taught you the story?" "Well… really" admitted Johnny, "but if I told you the way they told it to us, you'd never believe it, Mum". And the same variation on the story might have applied to feeding 5000?

Go in peace to love and serve the Lord is the commission to all I give at the end of this service. How we do that, and why, is what this sermon is all about. Todays’ readings show us both how and why. In the Gospel reading Jesus turns someone’s lunchbox into a party for thousands with baskets of food left over. An amazing miracle, but it also points to how we care for others, a generosity reflecting Jesus’ – the ‘How?’ The first reading is Saint Paul praying a blessing on the church at Ephesus in their ministry. I pray the same for you on yours, whether your ministry is at St Luke’s or elsewhere. That’s the ‘Why?’

First, HOW? The Gospel reading is a miracle in it’s own right but it’s more than that. It reveals a greater love for God even than for the crowd. Numbers have greater significance in Hebrew thought than in our own, they mean something. 5 and 12 relate to the Jewish people i.e. 5 books in the history of Isarel before they entered the ‘Promised Land’ or 12 – the number of tribes of Israel. And the baskets used were Jewish baskets. This is the first of two such miracles. In this, 5000 (men) are fed, as well as their families, and 12 baskets are filled. In the second feeding (Matt. 15: 32-39, Mark 8:1-10), the numbers change, 4000 men (+families), 7 gentile baskets , the numbers 4 and 7 significant in relation to gentiles. Both feedings genuinely respond to a practical need, but there is this significance in the numbers which Jesus makes clear in Mark 8:14-21. The miracles a clear statement of intent. Jesus had come first to the the Jews as the ‘people of God’, but his ministry was preparing the way for a greater ministry to the Gentiles. He starts locally, but goes out beyond - the greater generosity of God, to all people; the ‘How?’

It sets a pattern for us. We begin where we are, with those around us. We learn to love them practically, - our families (often the hardest) our neighbours, those in our churches, those at work. It’s only after that do we look wider. Any who are called into ministry eslehwere must first be seen to do, and want to do, ministry where they are; as we share love with those around us we then learn to go wider to share with those beyond our close circle. In the Autumn, for instance, St Luke’s will be linking with St Paul’s, sharing more, not least a Vicar. That process has already begun and links are being made. Some of you are getting involved in the Deanery and seeing the need to work together to minister to the needs of Walsall. Some of you, like Richard, are already involved in the wider community of the church. Others of you minister through your work, or through neighbourhood groups, or your home. So we come to church to receive, in order to go out to minister. How do we minister? – in the generosity of Christ himself.

Second, WHY? What do expect to receive? What might you receive? Paul prays this blessing for the Ephesians – and for all who follow Christ – including us. What does Paul tell us we might receive from God, beyond what we already do receive? Paul tells us we are ‘being strengthened in our inner being’. That has a lot do with being still with Christ. I love the buzz at the beginning of services as people greet each other, but we also need some stillness just to receive from Christ, to experience him directly. Paul prays that we are ‘rooted and grounded in love’.

Before we can give, we must first receive. Before we can love, we must first be loved. We are rooted and grounded in the love of Christ, his mercy and his compassion we read about again and again in the Bible. See how Jesus reacts to other people; that is the love God has for us. When we struggle, God struggles with us, when we suffer, God weeps with us; when we rejoice, heaven joins in! That way, Paul says, we can begin to understand the ‘breadth and length and height’ of the love of God. I say begin; our lifetimes are not enough to understand the full extent of that love- the love of Christ that ‘surpasses understanding’. Make space to go on retreat – keep Sunday special for you, in order that the rest of the week becomes special for others, through you.

Both readings speak of the great generosity of God, which breaks down barriers and reaches out to people unlike ourselves. It’s a generosity that welcomed a Londoner as your Vicar 14 years ago. It’s a generosity that means minimising business so that our ministry in all its forms can continue for the sake of the wider community. And I’m sure that generosity will also apply to Mark Kinder. Our generosity comes from this incredible generosity of God, which we need to come back to find, Sunday by Sunday, to experience the love of God, so that we have the resources to go back intot he world with the love of God, and to help others see it too. Why do we minister? Because God first ministers, in love, to us.

Go in Peace to love and serve the Lord. How and Why? How?In the generosity of God. Why? God has loved us first and calls us to share with that same gnerosity. I leave today but our ministries will continue. My prayer today is that your ministry will continue to share that amazing generosity of God with all those you are involved with now, and many you have yet to meet. Go in peace to love and serve the Lord – Go in his generosity – and go in his love & peace. That is my prayer for you in your ministry in Walsall.