Given by Rev. Madison Shockley August 2, 2020
Today’s lesson is inspired by the story of Jesus feeding the five thousand on the hillside. This is Jesus having church outdoors. The meal that Jesus shared with the people was a sacrament. Jesus did not need a pandemic in order to show compassion to the poor, the hungry, or the sick. For the poor, every day is like they are in a pandemic. They are hungry, sick, unemployed, and sheltering in place all the time. We are like the disciples in the story. The human impulse is to hoard and exclude but the divine impulse is to care and to share. Sometimes one needs to suffer in order to see the suffering around us. We need compassion to be contagious. Another thing we learn from the disciples is they doubted their capacity to provide for everyone. Faith allows us to overestimate our capacity. We believe God will make up the difference. This allows us do great things.
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