As you know, we had a special Children's Activity Day here in the church and halls yesterday. I'd like to tell you a little bit about the day, with the help of the children.
Can you remember the theme of the day? God Feeds Us.
We had two groups: younger children downstairs and older children upstairs. Both named after a vegetable. Groups: Terrific Tomatoes, and the Candy Carrots.
We began by making posters of our favourite food, reminding ourselves that God our Creator made the fruit and vegetables, the animals and fish, the corn and oats, the honey and sugar that make up the food we eat.
After some outdoor games, we then came into church to think more about the ways God feeds us. We learned there are lots of stories about meals in the Bible.
One of the stories we told was Jesus' feeding of the 5,000, and we acted that out in church.
Let's remind ourselves and the congregation what happens in this story.
Jesus and his disciples have been very busy and they are very tired and so they try to find a quiet place in the hills for a rest. BUT do they get a rest? No, because a huge crowd of people (like all these people in church but much more) follow Jesus to listen to him. Was Jesus cross he couldn't get a rest? No, he felt sorry for the crowd. So, he teaches them many things about God – that's a way of feeding their hearts and minds.
But after a long, long time, sitting and listening, how do they feel? They feel hungry in their stomachs! Does Jesus care? Yes, he cares not only for their hearts and minds but also for their bodies.
Jesus tells the disciples to get food for the people. But how can they feed all those people? Is there any food in the crowd? Yes, one little boy has a basket of 5 loaves and 2 fish. What does Jesus do? He thanks God for the bread and fish, then breaks it up and feeds all the 5,000 people with it.
Jesus took the small bit of food the little boy offered and used it to feed all the people.
Let's remember that even if we are very small, or we think we don't have much to offer; or many talents or time that can be used, we can still offer what we have to Jesus, like that little boy. He can use what little we give to him to bring blessing to many.
We learned yesterday at the Activity Day that there are many special meals in the Bible. We thought about one earlier – Jesus feeding 5,000. We have just heard in our readings about two more special meals.
One is a special supper and one is a special breakfast.
First the supper. We heard about Jesus' last supper with his friends before he died. I wonder if you can think of the last meal with a grandparent or relative at the end of a holiday before they go home. It might be a bit sad, but also very special. Jesus' supper with his friends was a bit like that.
It was already a very important meal, because it was the Passover meal which Jews celebrate once a year to remember God bringing his people out of slavery in Egypt. But this Passover was even more special for Jesus and his friends because it was their last meal together before Jesus died.
Then Jesus did and said some things they would never forget. Took the loaf of bread, thanked God for it, then broke it, and gave it to them, saying 'This is my body given for you…Do this in remembrance of me.' Then he took the cup…..and gave it to them, saying that God had made a new relationship with them by his blood – and he told them to drink it….
He wanted this special meal to remind them of his death, that he had died for them. He told them to 'do this' – eat this bread and drink this wine – to remember him. Every time they ate and drank this special meal they would remember his death until he came again.
We still do this every Sunday in church. We follow what Jesus told his disciples: Jesus said 'do this' and we do this; we eat this bread and drink this wine – because he told us to. And we remember that he died for us.
BUT we don't just remember he died for us. We remember that he rose again.
We say in the service:
Christ has died
Christ is risen
Christ will come again.
We've just heard about a special supper. Our other reading today is about another special meal, which we eat at a different time of day: breakfast. We eat supper at the end of the day, but we eat breakfast at the beginning of a new day.
We heard a story earlier about a special breakfast on the beach. I wonder if you've ever had breakfast on a fire on a beach? I have, and it's a very wonderful experience. This is what Jesus and his disciples did.
It was after Jesus had risen from the dead, and his friends had gone fishing. They were, after all, fishermen; this was their job! But they had had a bad night – they had been fishing all night but they hadn't caught a single fish! But then a man calls them from the shore and tells them to throw out their fishing nets again, and then they caught lots and lots and lots of fish. So many that the nets broke! They recognised it was Jesus. He called them ashore and invited them to breakfast. Just imagine a fire on the beach with fresh bread and fish. It sounds truly delicious to me.
It also reminds me of something. Have we heard about a meal of bread and fish already this morning? Yes, Jesus fed the 5,000 with bread and fish. Here it is a small group - just Jesus and his closest friends.
Just as they had had a special supper just before Jesus died, now they celebrate that he is alive with a special breakfast. Supper is a meal we have before the night comes; breakfast is a meal we eat in the morning, at the beginning of a new day. Every morning, as Christians, we are encouraged to remember that Jesus rose from the dead. Jesus resurrection is the beginning of a truly new day, the beginning of the new creation.
Now I'm sure the bread and fish at that special breakfast were delicious, but what was more important was that Jesus was alive, sharing a meal with them once more. Just as Jesus had reminded them of his death at the last supper, now he is alive and shares his risen life with them. Jesus feeds us through his death; he also feeds us with his risen life.
And the nourishment we have in Jesus through his death and his risen life is not to be kept to ourselves but to be shared.
Do you remember that we shared the bread and fischli biscuits after our telling of the feeding of 5,000? In this story, Jesus tells Peter to 'feed my lambs', to 'feed my sheep'. Peter is to share the good things he has received from Jesus with others. Although Peter had failed Jesus and even denied he knew him, Jesus forgave him and still called him to be a leader in the early church. We may not all be church leaders but we are all forgiven sinners, and we are all called to share what we've received from Jesus with others, so that more and more people will be fed through his death and his life.
We thought of another meal at our Activity Day. Do you remember we had a banquet activity when you had to run around the room and fetch all the different things we needed for the table (tablecloths, napkins, plates, cups, table decorations, candles, and food) and then we shared the food together. Then we talked about the heavenly banquet; that in heaven there will be yet another special meal. Jesus will invite people of all nations and languages to feast together with him and to celebrate God's love.
God feeds us. He feeds us, day by day. God is the Creator and he gives us many good things, including all the fruit, vegetables and other good things we eat. He also feeds us through the love of family and friends; he feeds us through his word (Bible) and he feeds us through the death and resurrection of Jesus (cross), which we celebrate every time we have communion, where he also feeds us.
And God calls us to share what we have received with others, and to look forward to the heavenly banquet at the end of time.