A sermon starter for
Sunday, August 2, 2020
“The miracle of the loaves and fish and God caring about the “little things.” of life! Matthew 14:13-21
“Taking the 5 loaves and 2 fish, he looked up to heaven, blessed and broke the loaves and gave them.. And all ate and were filled.”
Matthew 14:19, 20
Dear friends in Christ,
Are there some concerns too petty or small to bring before God in prayer? As we face this battle with Covid-19 and other challenges of the protests, police reform, financial distress and other challenges. We can find ourselves asking must we confine our prayers to only great matters like God’s Kingdom or for God’s will to be done on earth? Jesus miracles when he fed the 5,000 with a boy’s lunch of some loaves and fish and changed the water into wine at a wedding in Cana proclaim that also God cares about little things. Like what you had for supper last night and if there will be enough wine for the guests at your wedding! It is these “little things” (and among them is our “daily bread”) that occupy the majority of our time.
Think of all the little things that fill our minds and their resolution can make the difference in our day. The weariness and worry over why the car is still making that funny noise. The obnoxious weeds and Japanese Beetles that pilfer our garden produce and flowers. What will we have for supper? Who will pick up the dry cleaning? The child’s question that we never out grow, “Will anyone like me and be my friend when I enter kindergarten?” These are the things that make up 90% of our life.
If Jesus had commanded us to only speak to him about the big matters of life. We would be left terribly alone and the greater part of our life
fatherless and relegated to cold loneliness! What if we could only come to God scrubbed and in our
Sunday best with shining faces hiding our calloused hands and the lines of care on our faces? Then we should conceal from him all the little joys and sorrows of our life.
Jesus’ miracle and concern tell to thank God this isn’t so. We do not have a “Sunday only father” but the Father of our Lord and Brother Jesus Christ. He is too compassionate and realistic and apprises the little things of our life of the same value and the greater issues.
In the miracle Jesus feeds more than 5,000 hungry people. He taught us to pray that God’s Kingdom would come and for God’s will to be done. Then He told us to pray to God for our daily bread.
God cares about what you had for breakfast. He made the summer delights of sweet corn, watermelon and cantaloupe, chocolate, raspberries and delicious ice creams, tomatoes, bacon, mayo and toast to remind us that it is summer in the upper Midwest. Bon appetite! Take a moment to enjoy life!
Jesus cared about the weariness of his disciples, the pain of the paralytic, the grief of a mother and father. The Lord of the universe spent his first night on earth in Bethlehem’s stable with his mother Mary and Joseph . He cares where you sleep tonight, if you feel safe and are at peace with your family. God comes to meet us where we are right here in the midst of life. He is the Father who listens to everything his child says because he loves! God probably smiles at our sense of proportion and the things that keep us up at night. But He listens nevertheless. We can come to him just as we are, sinful and in need of wisdom, hungering for strength and seeking His aid or with a thankful smile. We can reach for his hand knowing that he is with us and giving thanks.
Doesn’t our daily bread look different knowing that Jesus touched it, blessed and gave it to us!
In His love, P. Dave
OUR SAVIOR'S LUTHERAN CHURCH, 2465 WEST SANDWICH RD, SANDWICH, IL 60548-4148, United States