A Liturgy of Abundance Exodus 16:1-4, 9-15; Matt. 14:13-20

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1 A Liturgy of Abundance Exodus 16:1-4, 9-15; Matt. 14:13-20 Gary L. Bagley Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church Fort Myers Beach, Florida March 3, 2013 Introduction Walter & Mary Brueggemann were my next-door neighbors for a few years in Decatur, Georgia. A world renown professor of Old Testament at Columbia Theological Seminary at the time, Walter has that bald-eagle-look of the late Paul Tillich, the untempered curiosity of a child, the tenderness of a Teddy Bear, and the animation of David Letterman. He is one of the select, few preachers/theologians who has made the Lyman Beecher Lecture Series cut at Yale Divinity School. Then Comes the Poet was his title, now in book form. Though I had met Walter, unofficially, at a conference and through his writings, our official meeting was on my third day as Development Director at Columbia Seminary. Dressed in a knit shirt, casual pants, socks with gray suede Birkenstocks, and a borrowed, white, dress shirt and tie in hand, Walter dashed into my office that day. He began explaining his dilemma of needing appropriate dress on campus directory picture day as he began stripping out of the knit shirt. For years, I had had high regard for his scholarship and teaching abilities. While preparing for my new job at Columbia, I stumbled across his name in the Annual Report that had just been mailed out. Walter and Mary s names were listed under the $10,000 to $15,000 giving category, and seminary professors don t make a lot of money. Yet, there he was, modeling generosity on this campus. What I liked most about Walter was that he was real -- no discernible pretense. He drove an old, worn-out Toyota Corolla, always had time for a smile, and offered his townhouse to house-sitting students while on sabbatical in Oxford. David, one of those students, told me one afternoon about a one-year appointment opportunity he had at a religious agency in South Africa after graduation. He told me he had called Walter in England (on sabbatical) to seek his counsel. What did he say? I asked. Carpe Diem! (Seize the day!) So like Walter. I interrupted him once at Oxford to get his input on possible conference speakers for Columbia s annual Forum my department was responsible for, and a plethora of credible names generously rolled forth. I wasn t surprised a couple of years ago when I discovered that the featured article of an issue of Christian Century was Brueggemann s and that the subject was The Liturgy of Abundance, the Myth of Scarcity (March 24-31, 1999, pp ). 1

2 Exodus 16 The Old Testament begins as a song of praise for God s generosity. It tells how well the world is created with plants, animals, fish, birds and humans and God saying, it is good, very good be fruitful and multiply. Psalm 104, the longest creation poem, is a commentary on Genesis 1. The psalm goes over the details of creations the heavens and the earth, the waters and springs and streams and trees and birds and goats and wine and oil and bread and people and lions. This goes on for 23 verses. Then, the last 12 verses of the psalm addresses Yahweh as the great sustainer of life. When you take away their spirit, they die when you send forth your spirit, they are created the psalmist proclaims (vv ) This awareness of God s generosity and abundance continues until the 47 th chapter of Genesis. There, pharaoh dreams that a famine will come to the land. So, he gets organized to administer, control and monopolize the food supply. Pharaoh introduces the principle of scarcity into the world economy. For the first time in the Bible, someone says, There s not enough. Let s get everything. In 1933, a young German, Lutheran pastor, Martin Nieimoller, met Adolf Hitler at a meeting of the Evangelical Lutheran Church delegates. He stood at the back of the room and listened. When his wife asked him what he had learned after returning home, Nieimoller said, Herr Hitler is a terribly frightened man. Because Pharaoh, like Hitler, was afraid there wasn t enough to go around, he tried to have it all. Joseph was hired to manage the monopoly. When crops failed and the peasants ran out of food, they came to Joseph. And on behalf of Pharaoh, Joseph said, What s you collateral? They gave up their land for food, and the next year gave up their cattle. And by the third year of the famine, with no collateral left, they gave themselves up as slaves. That s how the Israelites became slaves in Egypt through an economic transaction. By the end of Exodus, Pharaoh has been as mean, brutal and ugly as he knows how to be and as the myth of scarcity tends to be. Finally, when he is no longer able to control them under the leadership of Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh tells Moses: Take your people and leave. But before you go, bless me. The power of scarcity admits to this community of abundance that they hold the real power and that they are the wave of the future. Brueggeman reminds us, the power of the future lies in the hands not of those who believe in scarcity but of those who trust God s abundance. At the point where today s Old Testament text enters the scene (Exodus 16), the children of Israel are a month and a half into their dessert journey. Questions about God s power and abundance are beginning to arise. They tell Moses and Aaron that they wish they had stayed in Egypt with Pharaoh. At least, we would have had food to eat. We are going to starve to death! The LORD told Moses that He would rain down bread from heaven. As Aaron was delivering the message to the Israelites, a cloud appeared and that evening a huge gathering of quail settled over the camp. In the morning the dew was heavy; but when it disappeared, left in its place was a bread-like substance. They 2

3 said, Manhue? In Hebrew it means, What is it? and the word manna was born. Three things happened to the bread: First, they had plenty to eat. But then, because scarcity had been taught to them, they began to hoard the stuff and it turned sour, becoming inedible. This experience taught them once again that you can t hoard or store up God s generosity. Finally, they went back to the idea of a Sabbath, as God provided for in the creation narratives. It symbolized that they had enough bread and that they didn t have to hustle every day of their lives. People who think their lives consist of struggling to get more and more can never slow down because they won t ever have enough. Matthew 14:13-20 One of the occasions at which Jesus taught this same message is seen in the 14 th chapter of Matthew s Gospel. Jesus had left by boat to escape the crowd and rest. But the crowd followed him around the northeast side of the Sea of Galilee. They demanded that he continue to teach them and heal their sick. Finally, as evening drew near, the disciples suggested that Jesus send them home, or at least send them to the villages nearby where they could get food. Jesus suggested that they give them food to eat. The only food we are aware of is five loaves and two fishes belonging to a boy. And hence, another abundance-scarcity miracle happened. Five thousand people were fed with plenty left over. Next Sunday is the last Sunday of our Stewardship Emphasis Sharing the Blessings that God Shares with Me. One of the emphasis through these three weeks have been on the biblical teaching of proportionate giving, and on the important ministries and missions that are supported by Chapel annual operating budget. Appropriate facilities, solid administration, spiritually inspired ministries, and enthusiastic volunteers important ingredients for a healthy church. No church can go long without a center for meeting, for prayer, for teaching, for planning. But, the buildings are not the church. You are the church, whether you are year-round worshippers or seasonal worshippers. Conclusion Before I close, I want to tell you about an unusual experience I had with the Community Presbyterian Church in Chester, New Jersey, several years ago. As a Stewardship Consultant, I met with their Session about their financial needs for construction of a new educational building and the possibility of leading their Capital Campaign. Someone asked if I had seen their stewardship analysis and what I thought about it. I told them it prompted two questions: First, what happened in the church that resulted in a 12% decline in the previous year (1998) budget offerings? And secondly, could they tell more about the $1 million bequest they received? 3

4 Well, someone said, two brothers (Larson) in their early 90 s owned a large turkey farm and sat on the back pew of our church for years. One of them lost his wife several years ago. In her will she left about $150,000, to be divided among several non-profit organizations in the community, including Community PC. However, the widower husband was so anxious about not having enough to live on for the remainder of his life that he asked all benefiting organizations to return the money they had received from his wife s estate to him. The church was the only organization to give him back the money. After all, we are his church. What else could we do, even though we knew he had plenty of money? Over the last several years, this man gave the church what remained after his living expenses were taken from his annual investment income, the man concluded. Hence, about $25,000 to $30,000 annually was given to the church by him. I guess we became too comfortable with the annual gift, the elder said. Last year, Mr. Larson died, and we did not receive this amount for the budget. This was the answer to my first question. Just as I was about to ask about the $1 million bequest, someone else continued the story. However, at this same man s death and having no family, the church was the only organization listed in his will, becoming the sole beneficiary of his entire estate just over a million dollars. That answered the second question. Community Presbyterian Church obviously understood the principal of God s abundance and generosity. And what they gave back several years earlier, came back to them many times over. I think Walter is right. The power of the future (and I would add, the future of Chapel by the Sea Presbyterian Church) lies in the hands not of those who believe in scarcity, but in the hands of those who trust God s abundance. Prayer Lord, help us move from our fear of scarcity and vulnerability to embrace the promise of Your abundance and security. Help those of us here this morning who have never trusted You, to do so now, at this very moment. In the spirit of Jesus, whose Spirit knows the hunger and needs of every group, just as he knew with those beside the Sea of Galilee. Amen. 4

5 Children s sermon to accompany A Liturgy of Abundance Stone Soup Children are each given a vegetable (artificial, etc.) and quilts to hide the vegs. One or two children are solders and are given a boiling pot and spoon and are told to walk around the church. When they return to the group, they ask for food but each child hides/hoards his vegetable under the quilt and says he does not have any food. Because there is no food available then one soldier says he has some stones and he will put them in the pot with some water and make some delicious stone soup. However, the soup would be better if it had a carrot (potato, onion, green pepper, etc) to which each child drops their vegetable in the pot. Moral of the story: no one may have a lot, but everyone has something they can give and it makes for something really special when this happens. OR Give each child a snack bag with about 5 Hershey kisses, telling them you are giving them with one condition you will tell them about. Ask them if they know what the work stewardship means? Using what you have wisely, taking care of the earth, energy, trash Yesterday, I watched a man walking in front of me on the beach looking at shells. He was pitching some of them back into the water those with living organism in them. Tell them you want them to be good stewards of the Hershey kisses and giving each of the five kisses to five different people in the congregation, then come back to the front. Then give them a Hershey bar when they come back after sharing what they were given 5

6 Exodus 16:1-4, 9-16 The whole congregation of the Israelites set out from Elim; and Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim and Sinai, on the fifteenth day of the second month after they had departed from the land of Egypt. 2The whole congregation of the Israelites complained against Moses and Aaron in the wilderness. 3The Israelites said to them, If only we had died by the hand of the LORD in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots and ate our fill of bread; for you have brought us out into this wilderness to kill this whole assembly with hunger. 4Then the LORD said to Moses, I am going to rain bread from heaven for you, and each day the people shall go out and gather enough for that day. In that way I will test them, whether they will follow my instruction or not. 9Then Moses said to Aaron, Say to the whole congregation of the Israelites, Draw near to the LORD, for he has heard your complaining. 10And as Aaron spoke to the whole congregation of the Israelites, they looked toward the wilderness, and the glory of the LORD appeared in the cloud. 11The LORD spoke to Moses and said, 12 I have heard the complaining of the Israelites; say to them, At twilight you shall eat meat, and in the morning you shall have your fill of bread; then you shall know that I am the LORD your God. 13 In the evening quails came up and covered the camp; and in the morning there was a layer of dew around the camp. 14When the layer of dew lifted, there on the surface of the wilderness was a fine flaky substance, as fine as frost on the ground. 15When the Israelites saw it, they said to one another, What is it? For they did not know what it was. Moses said to them, It is the bread that the LORD has given you to eat. 16This is what the LORD has commanded: Gather as much of it as each of you needs, an omer to a person according to the number of persons, all providing for those in their own tents. Matthew Now when Jesus heard this, he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. 14When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. 15When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves. 16Jesus said to them, They need not go away; you give them something to eat. 17They replied, We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish. 18And he said, Bring them here to me. 19Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 20And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. 6