Thursday, July 31, 2008

Today’s text

Matthew 14:15-21

When evening came, the disciples went to him and said, 'This is a lonely place, and time has slipped by; so send the people away, and they can go to the villages to buy themselves some food.' Jesus replied, 'There is no need for them to go: give them something to eat yourselves.' But they answered, 'All we have with us is five loaves and two fish.' So he said, 'Bring them here to me.' He gave orders that the people were to sit down on the grass; then he took the five loaves and the two fish, raised his eyes to heaven and said the blessing. And breaking the loaves he handed them to his disciples, who gave them to the crowds. They all ate as much as they wanted, and they collected the scraps left over, twelve baskets full. Now about five thousand men had eaten, to say nothing of women and children.

Prayer

You gave the bread and fish to your companions. The bread is in our hands, Jesus. You give us the substance of your life to be shared with those who hunger.

We hunger, Jesus. We are the hungry crowd and the hands who distribute your fullness. Both. At once. And we never cease to hunger for very long. We never stop wanting and needing to be fed. We receive your life and love only to grow empty and hollow at heart again.

We need those with eager hands who can give us the substance of your life that the vitality of your joyous freedom and abundance may fill us. Filled and lifted into life, you make our hands eager to share the bounty we find in you. And then we hunger again and await your great giving.

We live in a great circle of hunger, sharing and life that continues for us as long as we draw breath. And it all starts and ends in you. It begins in the splendid abundance of your divine generosity. It ends, finally, in the fullness of life when we will hunger no more.

But for now, never let us forget our state. We have no life in ourselves without you. Apart from your nearness joy and vitality quickly fade. We hunger and we need. We receive and we share. That is how the circle works. So let us never deny our need or the hands and places that feed us.

It is blessed way you make for us, Jesus. For even our crying and wants and needs are holy. They lead us to you. Blessed is the want, holy the hunger that drags me home.

Pr. David L. Miller