Tag Archives: abundant life

Breaking the Bread of Abundance

09 Saturday Aug 2014

Posted by in Justice, Sermon portions

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loaves-and-fishesThere’s a Gospel story (Matthew 14:13-21) about a day when Christ’s abundant life was on full display! It begins when Jesus withdraws from the crowds, and goes by boat to a deserted place by himself. However, the crowds follow him on foot. Among them are many sick people, and Jesus is moved with compassion. The day soon passes and evening comes. Jesus’ disciples urge him to send people away into the surrounding villages to get something to eat. Perhaps they are exhausted by the overwhelming need.

You and I can handle only so much too and we get “compassion fatigue.” We grow weary because of the needs presented by particular circumstances. We see the pain etched on children’s faces as we watch the evening news – children in Syria and Lebanon, Israel and Gaza, Haiti, Honduras, or Chicago’s south side – and it is often more than we can bear.

We work all day long doing good things for people, giving back to the community, making the world a better place, and at the end of the day we just want to kick back and enjoy a nice glass of Chardonnay. We don’t want to worry about families without health care, workers losing their jobs, homeless persons sleeping on the church steps, soldiers on the battlefront, or an endangered planet. We don’t want to worry about whether there is still racism, sexism, or homophobia working their ugly campaigns of deception in what we wish were a more humane and decent world. We don’t want to deal with other people’s problems.

“Send them away,” we say. “The hour is late. Let them go and take care of their own needs for awhile.”

That, my friends, is our human reality. The needs are great. The work of justice and compassion never ends. We get tired. We want an easier way.

I believe the reason we sometimes grow weary is because we haven’t reached into the well and taken a drink of living water in awhile. The reason we grow weary is that we have bought the cynical, secular paradigm that says this life is based on scarcity.

But Jesus refuses to send the crowds away, and instead says to the disciples after a long day of serving others, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Don’t you hate that? Don’t you hate being reminded that it isn’t all about you? Don’t you hate the feeling that Christ has higher expectations of you than you do? Be honest now!

The disciples reply, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” Scarcity! There’s not enough, Jesus. Get your head out of the clouds and listen to the bean counters for a change.

But Jesus says, “Bring the five loaves and two fish here to me.” And he has the crowds sit down on the grass. He takes the loaves and fish, and blesses and breaks the loaves. He gives the food to the disciples and the disciples give it to the people.

Jesus demonstrates God’s generosity. Jesus makes the grace and goodness of God visible to the crowd. Jesus breaks the bread of abundance and shares it with all.

God is the one who gives to us in abundance, and it is from abundance, not scarcity, that we are invited to give.

Too often the message is scarcity on the lips of those who profess to follow the Lord of abundant life!

Where can your faith become more life-giving as you bear witness to God’s abundance?

Words (c) 2014 Mark Lloyd Richardson

Sowing Seeds in God’s Global Garden

30 Sunday Jun 2013

Posted by in Prayers, Worship Liturgy

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DSCN0050Pastoral Prayer for Summer

God of sunshine and rain,
God of foggy and clear skies,
we are amazed by the bounty you create.
In you we experience life and health.

You are the consummate gardener
sowing seeds of justice, peace, and wholeness
in hearts that are open to new growth.

Plant within us, we pray, the seeds of discernment,
that we might listen to your voice,
and comprehend your call upon our lives.

Grant that we not become discouraged
when growth is slow in ourselves or others.

In your global garden you desire us
to plant seeds of mercy, justice, and compassion.

You want us to participate in the growth of your life
among everyone we meet and serve.

You want us to remember the needs of your people
for healing and wholeness, and so we pray today for ….

You want us to respond to the needs of a hurting world
wherever hunger, pain, loss, or suffering endure.

You want us to refrain from responding in kind
to the violence and oppression we witness in the world.

You call us to a better way,
a way that sows the seeds of justice, peace, and wholeness,
spreading them widely and freely,
so that all within your global garden
might share in the abundance of your life in our midst.

May we have ears to hear and the will to act,
through Christ, our Lord. Amen.

Words (c) 2002 Mark Lloyd Richardson

A Rock of Refuge

03 Sunday Feb 2013

Posted by in Poems, Reflections, Sermon portions

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IMG_4417

I wrote this contemporary psalm based on Psalm 71:1-6 for my sermon today. It is a movement from lament to praise!

In you, O God, I take refuge
from the noisy clamor of this hectic life,
with its ubiquitous social media
and easy access to every imaginable entertainment.

My phone is always by my side
sounding off when texts or emails arrive
teasing me to open them asap!

My annual physical raises the alarm
of slightly elevated blood pressure
and high cholesterol.
The doc says, “Let’s watch ’em for a while,
and see if lifestyle changes make a difference.”
Okay, but I wonder – am I headed for a heart attack?
Is the pressure of meeting work demands
and the expectations of those I love
doing damage to my health?

Loving Creator,
Source of life and Ground of our being,
you are the one I run to in my need.
You are the one who offers peace in the storm.

Do not abandon me, I pray.
Enfold me beneath the wings of your grace,
that I might know the liberating strength
only your Spirit is able to breath into my life.

In your righteousness
you make known your will for my life:
that I walk in your ways
and observe your commandments,
that I choose life –
loving you, obeying you,
and holding fast to you (Deut. 30:16, 19-20).

You want nothing more for me
than that I embrace the person I am meant to be,
the creation of your loving and generous heart,
so that I can offer this world you created in love
the very best of myself,
the very giftedness I discover in you.

You call me to orient my life in your direction,
to strive first for the kingdom of God
and your righteousness (Matt. 6:33).

Deliver me, Lord, from the flashy allure of things.
Remind me often to use things and love people,
not the other way around.

Save me from my stingy self-centeredness –
the times when I think the world revolves around me
and I forget my sister or brother in need.

You have always been like a Rock for me,
a place of refuge where I know I am protected –
from life’s incessant demands, to be sure,
but also from my own inner strivings.

You save me from myself –
from thinking that I must achieve importance
when all the importance I really need
comes from joining you
in the unveiling of your gracious purposes for the world.

You are for me a strong fortress, O God,
and always have been,
shielding me from the harm others seek to do me.

In this world where evil so often flourishes –
where malicious viruses are set loose on computers,
where whole identities are stolen from people,
where those in whom we place our trust betray us
with lies that cheat us out of our life savings
or deceit that destroys our innocence
or violence that robs us of peace of mind –
you remain the one trustworthy place of refuge.

Rescue me, O my God, from all of the voices
that tell me to depend solely on my own strength,
that tell me to create my own life on my own terms,
that tell me I am not meant to be deeply connected to others.

Rescue me from the crass commercializing of life,
always throwing in my face the manufactured images
that falsely promise happiness and fulfillment.

Rescue me from thinking that I am immune to suffering
simply because I come to church
and read the Bible sometimes
and pray almost every day
and try to be a decent human being!

Rescue me from pious platitudes and cheap grace.

Rescue me from the polarizing influences
that pit neighbor against neighbor
in ideological battles
in which no one truly wins
and the fabric of society is torn and trampled.

Rescue me from those who spread misery
by their greed and lack of compassion.

Rescue me from the loss of hope
the loneliness of isolation
the trap of fear.

For you, Lord of life, have walked with me
from the day of my birth
when you took me from my mother’s womb.

You call my name
and seek my companionship each day.

You speak to me in whispers –
through the quiet breathing of a newborn,
the silence of contemplative prayer,
the breeze touching lightly on the trees.

You say that I am one of your own,
that I have always belonged to you.

You give me confidence enough
to trust in your tender mercy and amazing grace.

You, Lord of eternity, are my hope.
You are my refuge.
You are my strength.
I will not be shaken.

Praise wells up in my heart and soul.

Praise that your glory shines upon this world
in spite of our constant fighting
and our shameful willfulness.

Praise that the power of your love
dawns upon us as surely as the morning sun.

Praise that you fully know me,
and the content of my heart,
and still you love me.

Let praise be the language of my being.
Let hope be the attitude I carry into the future.
For just as my past has been lived in you, Lord,
so my future depends on your ever-flowing mercy.

You will comfort me again in my times of need.
You will guide me in right paths.
You will continually offer me abundant life.
You will give me faith’s assurance
even when I come face to face with my own doubt.
You will restore my soul.

You will manifest yourself in the world
through the witness of courageous people,
through the hospitality of strangers,
through the presence of the poor and the needy.

You will not allow me to forget
that ultimately nothing is able to separate us
from your love in Christ Jesus (Rom. 8:39).

You will follow me throughout my life
with your goodness and mercy
so that I am able to dwell with you
my whole life long (Ps. 23:6).

Words (c) 2013 Mark Lloyd Richardson
Photo (c) 2008 Mark Lloyd Richardson