Scripture Readings for Sunday, July 29
 "GOD’S ABUNDANT PRESENCE"
 
Psalm 145:10-18
2 Kings 4:42-44
Ephesians 3:14-21
John 6:1-21

In times of unrest and strangeness, it is good to have things in our lives that remain consistent.  One such thing is the cycle of weekly Bible readings called the Lectionary.  Every third year, we have the same set of readings each Sunday, and we work our way through the Bible.
From now through the entire month of August, our Gospel lessons in worship will come from John, chapter 6.  Not only is this a relatively long chapter— 71 verses— but, by the time its story is told, (verse 66) “many of [Jesus’] disciples turned back and no longer went about with him.”  You’d better believe, something big is going on in this chapter !
 
The first lesson, which we will hear this coming Sunday, will be familiar to you— Jesus feeding a large crowd of people with only five little loaves of bread plus two fishes.  This is the only miracle of Jesus that is told in all four of our Gospels (see also Matthew 14, Mark 6 and 8, and Luke 9)... although John calls the event a “sign.”  Looking closely at a story about Jesus in the four Gospels is like working a puzzle.  It reveals much about the interests and points of view of the various writers, when one notices what one author puts in but another leaves out. 
It is not very difficult to lay out Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John side by side and compare the versions of this story.  In fact, in the church office, we have a book which does just that, with Matthew, Mark, and Luke (It was a gift to the church library from Rev. and Mrs. Helsabeck, Christmas, 1975).  And now, with word processors and copying-and-pasting, the task of doing this kind of project for oneself has been made fairly easy.
Just for fun, can you find the answers to the following questions in John 6:1-21 ?
1.  Who first notices that the crowd is hungry?

2.  Who first discusses with Jesus what needs to be done about the hungry crowd ? 

3.  Who has the five loaves and two fishes ?

4.  Who distributes the food to the crowd ?

5.  How do the people react once they have been
fed ?
 
OK... IF you enjoyed that exercise... try it again with the story as it is found in Matthew 14, or Mark 6 or 8, or Luke 9.  I don’t know about you, but I find this quite interesting.
The last question above ties into something that was pointed out to me in a class I took on Leadership and Administration.  Just before this story of the feeding of the multitudes in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, we are told directly that King Herod (son of the King Herod who killed the babies of Bethlehem when Jesus was born) had beheaded John the Baptizer.  In John 5, Jesus refers to John the baptizer in the past tense— “He was a burning and shining lamp, and you were willing to rejoice a while in his light.” (John 5:35)  Next thing you know, Jesus is performing a mighty sign of his divine power, feeding a crowd of thousands from only a few small loaves and a few fish.  After this, Matthew and Mark say that Jesus “made his disciples get into the boat and go before him to the other side [of the Sea of Galilee].  But it is John which gives us a clue as to why Jesus made the disciples go away from the well-fed crowds: “Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king.”  (John 6:15) 
A number of considerations must have been on Jesus’ mind at this time.  One, his friend John the baptizer had just been killed by the ruler of that territory.  This would have made him and his disciples sad.  But, further, it left anyone who had followed John free to turn and follow a new leader.  Yet Jesus’ disciples were at this stage of their training often confused, to the point of being clueless, about so many things:  “What was the role of John the baptizer ?”  “Who is Jesus, really?” 
It must have been clear to Jesus that his disciples were not ready to handle the hero- worship of the crowds... so he packed them off in the boat.
Look at what happens in our world today, when crowds turn to any human being and worship her or him as a hero on a pedestal:  Who can handle earthly power ? 
And how are we at administering the power of God?
“I pray that you may have the power
     to comprehend...
so that you may be filled
     with all the fullness of God.” 
                               - Ephesians 3:18, 19

Scripture Readings for Sunday, July 22
Psalm 23
Jeremiah 23:1-6
Ephesians 2:11-22
Mark 6:30-34, 53-56

[Jesus said to his disciples, ]
“Come away
   to a deserted / wilderness place
   all by yourselves
   and rest up a little.”                    -Mark 6:31
All you vacationers out there, here’s your vacation verse !  We have a biblical warrant to get out of town and take a break !

Mark chapter 6 gives us a glimpse of the frantic pace and emotional ebbs and flows that Jesus and his followers experienced in the midst of their ministry.  Jesus faced disrespect and disbelief in his hometown; they went from town to town, teaching and healing; Jesus sent the Twelve out by twos to preach and heal and cast out demons; and the Twelve reported back to Jesus about their adventures.  Then they tried to take a break (v. 31). 
They failed to get their break.
The crowds saw the direction Jesus and the disciples were headed, across the lake, and they beat them to the spot.  When Jesus got out of the boat, thousands of people were milling around, hoping he would heal them and teach them.  Jesus felt for them, “because they were like sheep without a shepherd.”  Jesus’ compassion moved him to give up his vacation plans— and he asked his disciples to do the same.
They all spent that day listening to Jesus’ teachings, but then the crowd was hungry.  At this point, we come to the story of Jesus feeding at least five thousand people from five bread loaves and two fishes.  That really kept the disciples hopping for awhile.  After the meal, and the business of collecting the baskets and baskets of leftovers, Jesus “immediately” bundled the disciples into the boat, to send them away from the crowd.  John’s gospel, reporting on what appears to be the same incident, said that Jesus did this because “Jesus realized that they [the crowds] were about to come and take him by force to make him king....” (John 6:15)  Jesus turned and climbed a nearby mountain, to get away and pray.
It does not appear, from the text, that the disciples got a prayer break.  They had their orders from Jesus, and were off again !  First, the wind was against their boat, so they were making no progress in their rowing; then Jesus walked to them across the water, which badly frightened them; then Jesus quizzed them, to find out if they understood the miracles they were experiencing (they didn’t); and then they arrived at the next town— to start all over again, going town to town, healing the sick.  (Mark 6:32 – 56)
So much for the disciples’ vacation plans.

Not everybody in our world gets a vacation.  From talking with our church folks, I gather that some of you did not have “vacations” as youngsters— although you made the most of a working life in the beautiful Virginia countryside.  It seems clear to me that Jesus wanted his followers to take a break, out in the natural wilderness, at least to pray.  This does not mean an expensive fling.

I want to highlight six things from this Bible lesson. 
One, it is good to balance the busyness of life with sabbath, prayer time and rest.  Jesus did, and he took his disciples along with him. 

Two, wherever you go on vacation, be sure that you are with Jesus.  If you feel that Jesus would probably not go where you’re planning to go— change plans.

Three, wilderness is not useless: it is necessary.  Among other important purposes, protecting wilderness and natural spaces protects humanity’s opportunity to get away from so-called civilization and be “in God’s country.”

Four, sometimes our plans to take breaks fail.  When this happens, rather than sulk and imagine that our life is ruined, we might try what Jesus disciples did: they went through the changes with Jesus, and found themselves privileged to witness miracles they had never dreamed of, back when they thought they were headed for a nice rest.

Five, even when we are “on vacation” to try and rest ourselves, we never stop meeting and learning about the lives and needs of others.  Some of my most meaningful encounters with others have occurred while I’ve been working... but others have been while I thought I was “off the clock.”  God is always placing people along our route.  Are we too busy, working or playing, to care about them ?

Six, make worship and prayer a significant part of your time away.  God doesn’t forget you: don’t forget God.

           The front of the balcony at Plymouth Congregational UCC
                       on North Capitol Street in Washington, DC

Let me hear what God the LORD will speak,
          for He will speak peace to His people,
          to His faithful,
          to those who turn to Him in their hearts.
                                                   - Psalm 85:8
On Sunday, June 10, Nancy B and I knew that we wanted to attend worship somewhere, but we also wanted to help with Selah’s fifth birthday party, which the kids planned for lunch-time.  So we researched churches that hold early services.  Plymouth Congregational UCC is in the District of Columbia, but it’s quite close to Takoma Park, where the kids live.  Besides, over the years that I’ve been with Bethel, I have heard Plymouth’s senior pastor, Rev. Graylan Hagler, speak at Central Atlantic Conference Annual Meetings several times, but I had never heard him preach in a regular worship setting.  Also, Nancy and I both have a happy history of worshiping with predominantly Black church groups, so were looking forward to this visit. 
We parked behind the building and started looking for the entrance.  This was a real question, because they were in the midst of remodeling the building.  We tried one door, but we quickly saw that it opened into the front of the sanctuary, so we let it close and started to go on around.  But that first door flew back open, and smiling people urged us to come on in!  The man and woman who had invited us in introduced themselves, asked our names, and took us around the sanctuary to meet everyone who was already there.  During the worship service, the worship leader asked Nancy and me to stand and be recognized— they had remembered our names, and introduced us again!
The congregation, that morning, consisted mostly of older adults.  The hymns and special music were led by one man playing a baby grand piano (Nancy says, “It’s a Steinway!”] and another on drums.  One interesting feature of the service was one of their Deacons reading us a selection from a book about Otto von Bismarck, a German leader in the late 1800s.  It seemed that such unpredictable readings are a regular thing there at Plymouth.
Rev. Hagler preached on Mark 3:19-35, which was also read at Bethel, that morning.  His sermon was called, “There’s something wrong with the boy!”  He made the point that, when we serve God, other people may say that we are out of step with the world as it is... but that just shows that the world doesn’t appreciate God’s ways: it doesn’t mean that we followers of Jesus are in the wrong.
This Summer, when you are away from Bethel, make it a point to visit a church wherever you go.
Then come home to Bethel and tell us something good!  Maybe we can learn and improve.
... this is the pledge of our inheritance
toward redemption as God's own people,
to the praise of His glory.                         -Ephesians 1:14