“THE WAPC BUCKET BRIGADE
2 Kings 4: 38-44
Matthew 14: 13-21
©Thomas B. Cundiff
2 Kings 4: 38-44
Elisha Purifies the Pot of Stew
When Elisha returned to Gilgal, there was a
famine in the land. As the company of prophets was sitting before him, he
said to his servant, ‘Put the large pot on, and make some stew for the company
of prophets.’ One
of them went out into the field to gather herbs; he found a wild vine and
gathered from it a lapful of wild gourds, and came and cut them up into the pot
of stew, not knowing what they were. They served some for the men to eat. But while they were
eating the stew, they cried out, ‘O man of God, there is death in the
pot!’ They could not eat it. He
said, ‘Then bring some flour.’ He threw it into the pot, and said, ‘Serve the
people and let them eat.’ And there was nothing harmful in the pot.
Elisha Feeds One Hundred Men
A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing food
from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears
of grain in his sack. Elisha said, ‘Give it to the people and let them eat.’ But his servant said, ‘How can
I set this before a hundred people?’ So he repeated, ‘Give it to the people and
let them eat, for thus says the Lord, “They shall eat and have some left.” ’ He set it before them, they
ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
Matthew 14: 13-21
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. When
he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured
their sick. When 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.’ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go
away; you give them something to eat.’ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but
five loaves and two fish.’ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ Then 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. And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was
left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. And those who ate were about five
thousand men, besides women and children.
I.
Introduction
Imagine with me for a few moments: You are at a Great Lakes Loons game at the Dow
Diamond in Midland
I would hate to
imagine the restroom situation!
In reality you are at some deserted
place – not in a stadium -- listening to Jesus throughout the day and into the
evening hours.
Now imagine: What are you going to have for lunch today? Dinner?
Will you be going hungry?
Not to bring a large dose of “GUILT”
into this scenario this question: Is
what we put in the bucket that was passed around and amount even close to you
will spend for one meal?
Trillions of dollars in assets in
this, the wealthiest and most affluent nation in the world -- and children are
still starving? You can go to any web
sight and find statistics on the hungry in the world – or in this community. From the World Hunger Organization, the most credible
of all those gathering global statistics:
Officially in medical terms, over 1
BILLION women and men and children around the globe are suffering from “malnutrition”. POVERTY is the principle cause of
hunger. Causes of poverty include poor
peoples lack of resources, an extremely unequal income distribution in the
world and with specific countries, conflict, and hunger itself. As of 2008 the World Bank has estimated that
there were an estimated 1,345 million poor people in developing countries who
live on $1.25 or less.[1]
More statistics from Feed America”
14 million children are served this past year by “Feeding
America
16 million children in America
In Saginaw Youth Center
Now you didn’t come here today for
me to lay a guilt trip on you. At the
same time it has been said that a good preacher should have the congregation “squirming
a bit” in their seats.
The simple question I ask
today: What can we do, intentionally and
specifically – personally and as a church – to work on this issue poverty that
leads to so much hunger in this community and around the globe?
In trying to get a handle on this
question:
Imagine again with me -- something
perhaps you would see in any rural community:
A BURNING BARN -- flames and smoke stretching to the skies. All
the neighbors come running….buckets in hand.
They line up from the closest creek or pond and form a “Bucket Brigade” to
get the water to the fire. It takes everyone
– women and men and children – all with buckets – to douse the flames.
The same is true in solving the
problem of hunger….it is going to take one person at a time holding one bucket
at a time with all the resources we can muster to move forward in dousing the flames
of hunger. THE FLAMES OF POVERTY AND HUNGER ARE CATASTROPHIC! CHILDREN ARE DYING! We need keep the momentum moving forward so
that others will join with us in this “bucket brigade” in feeding the hungry of
this world?
Back to the image of the STATIUM…..and
the crowds with Jesus. The 5000
gathering to see Jesus weren’t starving. They were hungry! We get hungry. What scripture is teaching today…..we can do
just anything we want if we put our minds to the task. Jesus is saying, simply, NO MORE
EXCUSES. For the brigade….take and
share what you have with others. I can’t
think of anything more heart-breaking to Jesus than to know there are over 1
BILLION starving, hungry people and he has disciples who are not at least
TRYING TO DO SOMETHING!
II.
GOOD NEWS
The GOOD NEWS in all this. There are some things we are doing. More than you probably know! More than I probably know! A short list:
1.
We
support the East Side Soup Kitchen and the Presbyterian Hunger Program with the
monies we collect the first Sundays of each month.
2.
A
portion of your regular weekly offering also goes to support the church in
responding to this issues of poverty, homelessness, crime….and hunger.
3.
We
gather funds through the One Great Hour of Sharing, the Peacemaking Offering,
the Mother’s Day Habitat Offering and the Christmas Joy Offering….all directly or
indirectly support those who living in poverty.
4.
The
Church Bus is used to support the Soup Kitchen “Stuff-A-Bus” program on August
24th and 25th over at the Green Acres Plaza
A few words about the Presbyterian
Hunger Program, supported with some of our tithes and offerings – and I have
personally worked closely with this program for many years.
Some facts! With very little money going to pay for
staff, there are hundreds of volunteers and missionaries and a few paid staff
working in these areas in our national church:
- First: Direct
food relief
– grants are given out locally, nationally and globally – funds to support
several mid-Michigan soup kitchens and pantries. I had the chance to visit the Red Cross
Food Pantry in
- Second: Development
assistance
– creating and supporting advocacy programs that help the poor. A good example: For more than fifteen years Presbyterian Hunger Program has
supported grants to an organization just down the street, the Center for Civil Justice, an
organization – several thousands dollars each year – that helps people walk
through some of the legal issues they face in getting the food support
they need. We don’t give directly
to the Center…..but the BUCKET BRIGADE OF FUNDS from throughout the church
has created a pot full enough to support agencies like this around the
globe. OGHS monies from the entire church – all 1.9 million members -- help
agencies throughout the nation provide direct development assistance….more
than we can do as one congregation!
- Third: Influencing
public policy – our contributions help to support paid and volunteer advocates who
go to Washington who work with politicians and congress to make sure some
of these “social issues” are appropriately on congressional agendas. As budgets get tighter and tighter at
the national level, the first cuts are often made in areas that support
the most vulnerable in our country. We have church advocates to help assure
the issues and concerns of the poor at least remain on the table…..particularly
in a climate where billions of dollars are going to pay salaries and
benefits for whose who are making decisions that impact – the poor.
- Fouth: Lifestyle
integrity—this
is the area of concern in helping us change some of our habits in how we
use the resources God has entrusted our care. A good way for us to help out directly –
become a regular patron of the Farmer’s Market. Help encourage and support those who enjoy
developing urban gardens. Make
personal choices that support the environment. As a mission team in the church we need
to do a better job of keeping specific ideas before you on things you can
do…like recycling….
- Fifth: Education
and interpretation—an area I worked with for several years when I was the Hunger
Action Advocate for this mid-Michigan area….and while others get paid to
do this work I donated my time as a volunteer to provide resources
throughout our presbytery.
From
the Mission Statement of the Presbyterian Hunger Program … “We are called to provide educational, mission
and advocacy programs for Presbyterians who are passionate about living out
God's call to do justice, love mercy and walk humbly with God.”
IV. GOSPEL CHALLENGE
But let me get to a few of the points
to consider…..some that come directly from the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ:
First Point: We should approach this
challenging issue of feeding the hungry with grateful hearts…..counting our
blessings in the ways God has taken care of us.
We are not, in this church, starving.
For that we are thankful. We are
blessed to be in a church that takes seriously the gospel mandate to serve the
poor. For you see this sermon is in no
way intended to be an indictment that we are not doing enough….in fact, for a
church our size we are doing quite a bit.
We have found some creative ways to share God’s blessings with others. CROP WALK for example, I was reminded that
one of our members, Tom Becker, has been walking for the hungry for 19 or 20
years! Others have been putting in just as many years
volunteering at the Soup Kitchen or helping with Habitat projects – things I
don’t even know about!
Second Point: There is always more that we can & should
be doing. As we look at the abundance of
resources around us, what can we be doing to use what God has given us to not
only in directly feeding the hungry….but also influencing public policy –
supporting candidates who show concern for the poor – supporting legislation that helps to solve some of the
problems that cause hunger in the first place…..more jobs, a stronger economy, better
crime prevention, health care….all things we can do as Christians, locally….in helping
to address the root causes of poverty in the first place.
Third Point: Matthew reminds us that blessings God gives
us aren’t for us to hoard. Jesus teaches, “a blessing withheld is no blessing at all.
A blessing shared is a
gift of true abundance.” Are we
doing what we can with ALL God has entrusted our care? Are we giving from our abundance because it’s
the right thing to do?
Fourth challenge: There is always more we can do that doesn’t
cost a single penny. We can share our concerns,
our stories, our passions with others. We
can let others know, through our words and actions, that we care about the
poor. We can use our votes to
communicate our values. We can let our
neighbors know about the needs as we see them…and invite others to join the BUCKET
BRIGADE in supporting the hungry and the poor. One of the most valuable tools God has given
us is what we can share with our neighbors – our concern for those who are
hungry.
V. CONCLUSION
Finally, real power is in our doing
these things together. Real power is in
knowing that my coins along with your coins and the coins of hundreds of others
in our 1.9 million member Presbyterian Church can feed a lot of people….think
about it!
1.9 million Presbyterians giving $1.00
– once a month? That can add up to 22.8 million
dollars -- real fast. The only problem, only
a small number of congregations participate in these hunger-related programs
and the total annual contribution from Presbyterians is less than half of our
potential, $10 Million….and that’s just if a personal contribution is $12.00 or
$1.00 per month.
The bottom line in this church: Again, we are doing a pretty good job with
what we are doing…but there is always more to be done.
So what can we do with two fish and
five loaves of bread? We can invite others
to join with us in the BUCKET BRIGADE to help the hungry and the poor…..so that
2 fish and 5 loaves of bread can reach the millions of women and men and children
who are hungry around the globe.
In love and in
prayer in the name of Jesus our Lord:
Let’s continue searching for ways to share God’s abundant blessings with
others. AMEN
2595
