St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, July 31, 2011

Enough – Rev. David Mundy

Genesis 32:22-31 Matthew 14:13-21

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Last Sunday you were invited to respond to the humanitarian crisis unfolding in what is often called the Horn of Africa. Several already poor nations are in the grip of the worst drought in sixty years and an estimated eleven million people are living on the edge of starvation.

I am confident that you and other United Church folk will respond through our denomination and other agencies. You have been generous in response to other global challenges and Canadians generally are.

Our local member of parliament, Bev Oda, has recently visited these east African nations as the minister of international cooperation and as a result boosted aid to the region by $50 million. The federal government has also pledged to match every dollar we give as individual Canadians, including our contributions through the United Church.

This situation in Africa has been brought to our attention in recent weeks but it has been cause for concern for several years. In our busy lives we are dependent on the media to inform us of what is happening in our world and because news has become a form of entertainment we often don’t hear until the circumstances get to the critical stage, complete with suffering children. Perhaps the declaration by the United Nations that this is officially a famine has helped to raise the public profile

It is important and necessary that we respond to global crises as we become aware of them, but it seems that this is isn’t really getting to the heart of the problem of feeding the billions of people who inhabit the earth, not to mention other creatures. We can feel overwhelmed, wondering if our contributions really make a difference and even if they get to those who need them.

This is a daunting challenge for governments and aid agencies and for us as people of faith in Christ who want to live lives of compassion and to make a difference in a world of need. Can there be enough for everyone and can we be part of making that happen?

When we stop to think about it, there are a number of biblical stories about food scarcity. In August we will hear from the story of Joseph who became a hero in Egypt because he stored enough grain to see the people through a famine.

The book of Ruth is about a family who migrates from Israel to Moab because of a famine, and Ruth is one of the two women who marry the sons of Naomi. The prophet Elijah performs a miracle for a widow and a child who are starving.

This week our gospel lesson is about hungry people who are fed by Jesus in one of those stories which has been a perennial favourite. Hearing this story about the feeding of a large crowd of 5000 and more is a little like turning on your car radio and hearing an “oldy goldie” song and saying “I love this one!” You sing along even though you don’t know all the words or what the heck they mean.

Well, this is such a well loved and well-known story, actually found in all four of the gospels that we might be inclined to sing along nostalgically without really considering its deeper meaning. Some of you may have noticed earlier this week that the final Jeopardy answer on the television program of the same name was about the story of the Loaves and the Fishes.

Crowds gathered around Jesus wherever he went because he embodied hope and healing and that vision of God’s reign that we heard about in the parables last week. Even when Jesus thought he was getting away from the press of people they followed him, but rather than hiding or moving on we’re told that he had compassion for them.

When he became aware late in the day that these simple peasants would be hungry Jesus tells his disciples to feed them. Each of the gospel writers tells this story a little differently. Luke doesn’t mention the boy with the loaves and fish at all, and John plays up the challenge Jesus is giving his disciples. But at the end of each of the accounts everyone has been fed. There is enough and more – a basket more for each of the disciples.

So can we connect these biblical stories with feeding the world today? Doesn’t it seem simplistic to say “share and share alike?” There are a number of pressing problems which make that simple line in our Lord’s Prayer, “give us this day our daily bread” a monumental challenge.

One is the growing number of mouths to feed. Five thousand people pales in comparison to the number who are hungry today. In 1999 the population reached six billion and it’s estimated that by the end of this year there will be seven billion of us on this planet which is not getting any bigger.

Not only do we have more mouths to feed, food supplies have become much more precarious because of climate change. We’re told, for example, that weather patterns in Africa have changed in recent years and reduced rainfalls in areas which were traditionally self-sufficient when it came to agriculture. Rather than being an anomaly, this may be the new reality.

Then there are increasing global food prices. This is happening everywhere on the planet, including here in Canada. Our wonderful country vies with the United States for the lowest percentage of income spent on food, but grocery bills are going up. Honestly, most of us aren’t affected all that much, although a few months ago one of our daughters mentioned that she noticed her grocery costs had really been going up. But she won’t go hungry, and neither will we.

But if you are poor in Canada, or directly dependent on agriculture for sustenance in other parts of the world, rising prices can make the difference between enough food to thrive and hunger or even starvation.

Some people – some of us perhaps – might say “we can’t feed everyone!” and our response can be “why not?” As Christians who have the example of Jesus who looked on the hungry with compassion and said to his disciples “give them something to eat” there is an imperative to feed those who are hungry, wherever they might be. As I have said to you before, if we reap the benefits of living in Marshall McLuhan’s Global Village, then we must also take on the responsibilities, to consider how we take our bread and fish and break them to share with others.

Not only is it essential that we respond with hearts of compassion to crisis situations, we can look to the little miracles of provision that are around us and which should encourage us.

About thirty years ago a group of Mennonite Christian farmers in Western Canada decided to plant some fields with grain for the specific purpose of responding to hunger in Bangladesh. They used the story of Joseph in Egypt as their inspiration, They started small, but that project developed into the Canadian Food Grains Bank which has now shared a million tons of food with those in need in countries around the world. Part of this miracle is that the Food Grains Bank is one of the most ecumenical aid agencies in the country with participation by the most conservative to the most liberal denominations. There is something about feeding others which is so close to the heart of the gospel.

I will give you one other hopeful example from a country which often seems hopeless – Haiti. Of course Haiti was the focus of our humanitarian efforts just a couple of years ago and we were so aware of the desperate circumstances.

In the most recent issue of Orion magazine there is an article about an encouraging food growing program in Haiti which was begun in the early 1970's, developing out a concept by a Roman Catholic priest. This program is built around groups of twelve people (very biblical don’t you think?) who cultivate crops which are appropriate for that area. They start the seedlings in recycled tires to protect them. They learn how to capture and save water for irrigation. They raise chickens and goats for protein. Many of these small collectives grow enough that they can sell in local markets. They model the progression from:

Food Scarcity – hunger

Food Sufficiency – full bellies

Food Sovereignty – making a living

There are now about 50,000 members of this movement which runs health clinics, and provides solar power, and runs farming workshops. What a wonderful, good news project which most will never hear about.

Which brings us back to our response as Christians. We are disciples of Jesus. We hear his compassionate response to the hungry. We hear Jesus’ direction to feed those who are hungry. We lift our heads from our own concerns and respond with compassion.

Perhaps we are the also the child in this story, bringing what we have without excuses and cynicism and reservations because we trust in Christ, the Bread of Life who provides not just enough but more. Christ is the source of abundant life and there will be baskets left over when we are faithful. Do you believe this?

I will leave you with this reflection poem by Joseph Donders called One Small Boy.

The report

on the miracle

of the bread and the fish

is about what happened

to somebody

who gave all he had.

It is, of course, a story about Jesus

multiplying all that bread and that fish.

But

whose bread did he multiply?

Whose fish did he divide?

It all started

with the real hero

of that story:

one small boy.

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I think that Jesus

praised that small boy

who had given all he had...

When you are asked for something

you think you are unable to give,

think of that small boy

of this story,

and think of the twelve baskets

full of food given to him

because he gave

all he had.