others

We who are powerful need to be patient with the weakness of those who don’t have power, and not please ourselves. Each of us should please our neighbors for their good in order to build them up. Christ didn’t please himself, but, as it is written, The insults of those who insulted you fell on me. Whatever was written in the past was written for our instruction so that we could have hope through endurance and through the encouragement of the scriptures. May the God of endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude toward each other, similar to Christ Jesus’ attitude. That way you can glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ together with one voice. (Romans 15:1-6, CEB)

We need to be on the lookout for helping others.

Life is not about pleasing ourselves, it is about helping and pleasing others.

When we have power we do not use that for our own gain or the gain of those who can help us, but for the gain of those who can’t repay or help us and need someone to lift them up.

We need to give to improve the life of all.

Loving People. Loving God.

feeding

In those days there was another large crowd with nothing to eat. Jesus called his disciples and told them, “I feel sorry for the crowd because they have been with me for three days and have nothing to eat. If I send them away hungry to their homes, they won’t have enough strength to travel, for some have come a long distance.” His disciples responded, “How can anyone get enough food in this wilderness to satisfy these people?” Jesus asked, “How much bread do you have?” They said, “Seven loaves.” He told the crowd to sit on the ground. He took the seven loaves, gave thanks, broke them apart, and gave them to his disciples to distribute; and they gave the bread to the crowd. They also had a few fish. He said a blessing over them, then gave them to the disciples to hand out also. They ate until they were full. They collected seven baskets full of leftovers. This was a crowd of about four thousand people! Jesus sent them away, then got into a boat with his disciples and went over to the region of Dalmanutha. (Mark 8:1-10, CEB)

This is a different feeding from the 5000, this one in Mark is of 4000.

Still, the same thing where Jesus takes bread and blesses it and breaks it and multiplies it along with fish. A miracle.

Jesus doesn’t inquire if the people are worthy to be fed but feeds them because that is what we do as followers of God. When we see someone hungry we feed them.

When we see some one in need we help them.

We are called to love and give.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Are all???

You are the body of Christ and parts of each other. In the church, God has appointed first apostles, second prophets, third teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healing, the ability to help others, leadership skills, different kinds of tongues. All aren’t apostles, are they? All aren’t prophets, are they? All aren’t teachers, are they? All don’t perform miracles, do they? All don’t have gifts of healing, do they? All don’t speak in different tongues, do they? All don’t interpret, do they? Use your ambition to try to get the greater gifts. And I’m going to show you an even better way. (1 Corinthians 12:27-31, CEB)

We are all the body of Christ. All of us together.

We are not all called to do and be the same. We all have gifts to make the body function and we are all needed.

When we say some are not good enough or don’t belong in the body we are hurting everyone. It takes all of us to be complete.

The image of God is not complete without all God’s children.

We all play a part and need to be present.

Love everyone as God loves you.

Loving People. Loving God.

follow

So I’m telling you this, and I insist on it in the Lord: you shouldn’t live your life like the Gentiles anymore. They base their lives on pointless thinking, and they are in the dark in their reasoning. They are disconnected from God’s life because of their ignorance and their closed hearts. They are people who lack all sense of right and wrong, and who have turned themselves over to doing whatever feels good and to practicing every sort of corruption along with greed. But you didn’t learn that sort of thing from Christ. Since you really listened to him and you were taught how the truth is in Jesus, change the former way of life that was part of the person you once were, corrupted by deceitful desires. Instead, renew the thinking in your mind by the Spirit and clothe yourself with the new person created according to God’s image in justice and true holiness. (Ephesians 4:17-24, CEB)

Do not give yourself over to selfishness.

Do not base your life on pointless thinking and disconnected from God.

You should not seek corruption and greed, but use the resources you are blessed with to be a beacon of hope to others. Show love and give grace freely.

Don’t look out for yourself, but always for others.

Loving People. Loving God.

Look for Jesus?

When the crowd saw that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and came to Capernaum looking for Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus replied, “I assure you that you are looking for me not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate all the food you wanted. Don’t work for the food that doesn’t last but for the food that endures for eternal life, which the Human One will give you. God the Father has confirmed him as his agent to give life.” They asked, “What must we do in order to accomplish what God requires?” Jesus replied, “This is what God requires, that you believe in him whom God sent.” They asked, “What miraculous sign will you do, that we can see and believe you? What will you do? Our ancestors ate manna in the wilderness, just as it is written, He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus told them, “I assure you, it wasn’t Moses who gave the bread from heaven to you, but my Father gives you the true bread from heaven. The bread of God is the one who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” They said, “Sir, give us this bread all the time!” Jesus replied, “I am the bread of life. Whoever comes to me will never go hungry, and whoever believes in me will never be thirsty. (John 6:24-35, CEB)

Why do you look for Jesus?

Ok, maybe we aren’t really looking for Jesus. But why do you follow Jesus?

Do you follow God as fire insurance? Your get out of Hell free card punched?

Do you follow Jesus for what you get? Answers to prayers, help finding your keys?

These people in the reading were looking for Jesus because he was healing the sick and giving them food.

But it isn’t about the miracles or the feeding. It is about love.

Love is what we get from God and not because we follow or do something. Because we are created by God.

I follow Jesus because I know no matter what I do, I will be accepted and loved. I do not know any place else that will happen or with anyone else. All humans will let us down, but God never will. Follow and seek God because God will never let you down.

Loving People. Loving God.

A little yeast…

When the disciples arrived on the other side of the lake, they had forgotten to bring bread. Jesus said to them, “Watch out and be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “We didn’t bring any bread.” Jesus knew what they were discussing and said, “You people of weak faith! Why are you discussing among yourselves the fact that you don’t have any bread? Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves that fed the five thousand and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? And the seven loaves that fed the four thousand and how many large baskets of leftovers you gathered? Don’t you know that I wasn’t talking about bread? But be on your guard for the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he wasn’t telling them to be on their guard for yeast used in making bread. No, he was telling them to watch out for the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew 16:5-12, CEB)

Once you mix the yeast in, it is impossible to get it out.

Once you allow the false teachings to take hold, it is impossible to get rid of them.

Watch out for a little false teaching and how that will spoil the whole batch.

Follow God, even when those around you aren’t.

Speak the truth even when those around you aren’t.

Loving People. Loving God.

wait for each other

This is why those who eat the bread or drink the cup of the Lord inappropriately will be guilty of the Lord’s body and blood. Each individual should test himself or herself, and eat from the bread and drink from the cup in that way. Those who eat and drink without correctly understanding the body are eating and drinking their own judgment. Because of this, many of you are weak and sick, and quite a few have died. But if we had judged ourselves, we wouldn’t be judged. However, we are disciplined by the Lord when we are judged so that we won’t be judged and condemned along with the whole world. For these reasons, my brothers and sisters, when you get together to eat, wait for each other. If some of you are hungry, they should eat at home so that getting together doesn’t lead to judgment. I will give directions about the other things when I come. (1 Corinthians 11:27-34, CEB)

Wait for each other.

Do not eat the Lord’s meal in vain. Do not be a glutton and eat more than your fill.

We all need the grace this meal gives and anyone hoarding or hogging the supper will be judged for that.

Share like Christ.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

Look out for others…

Now I don’t praise you as I give the following instruction because when you meet together, it does more harm than good. First of all, when you meet together as a church, I hear that there are divisions among you, and I partly believe it. It’s necessary that there are groups among you, to make it clear who is genuine. So when you get together in one place, it isn’t to eat the Lord’s meal. Each of you goes ahead and eats a private meal. One person goes hungry while another is drunk. Don’t you have houses to eat and drink in? Or do you look down on God’s churches and humiliate those who have nothing? What can I say to you? Will I praise you? No, I don’t praise you in this. (1 Corinthians 11:17-22, CEB)

Paul here is giving the Corinthians a hard time because those who were not working were gathering together and eating and drinking all of the Lord’s Supper before all the gathering members were there. So those better off were not waiting for those working for a living and were not saving them anything to eat.

When we think only about ourselves, we are not doing what God has called us to do.

We are not caring for others, and not sharing love.

Love like Jesus.

Loving People. Loving God.

scarcity…

Late in the day, his disciples came to him and said, “This is an isolated place, and it’s already late in the day. Send them away so that they can go to the surrounding countryside and villages and buy something to eat for themselves.” He replied, “You give them something to eat.” But they said to him, “Should we go off and buy bread worth almost eight months’ pay and give it to them to eat?” He said to them, “How much bread do you have? Take a look.” After checking, they said, “Five loaves of bread and two fish.” He directed the disciples to seat all the people in groups as though they were having a banquet on the green grass. They sat down in groups of hundreds and fifties. He took the five loaves and the two fish, looked up to heaven, blessed them, broke the loaves into pieces, and gave them to his disciples to set before the people. He also divided the two fish among them all. Everyone ate until they were full. They filled twelve baskets with the leftover pieces of bread and fish. About five thousand had eaten. (Mark 6:35-44, CEB)

We tend to be a people of scarcity. Where will we get enough food to feed all these people? Do you want us to go off and buy bread worth eight months’ pay? How are we supposed to do this?

When confronted with something that seems insurmountable we question how it will happen.

And yet our God is not a God of scarcity, but a God of abundance.

We are an abundance people.

We need to say, God, I can’t wait to see how you use us to do this.

God I can’t wait to see how this happens.

How can we move from a people of scarcity to a people of abundance?

Loving People. Loving God.

I will visit…

That’s why I’ve been stopped so many times from coming to see you. But now, since I don’t have any place to work in these regions anymore, and since I’ve wanted to come to see you for many years, I’ll visit you when I go to Spain. I hope to see you while I’m passing through. And I hope you will send me on my way there, after I have first been reenergized by some time in your company. But now I’m going to Jerusalem, to serve God’s people. Macedonia and Achaia have been happy to make a contribution for the poor among God’s people in Jerusalem. They were happy to do this, and they are actually in debt to God’s people in Jerusalem. If the Gentiles got a share of the Jewish people’s spiritual resources, they ought to minister to them with material resources. So then after I have finished this job and have safely delivered the final amount of the Gentiles’ offering to them, I will leave for Spain, visiting you on the way. And I know that when I come to you I will come with the fullest blessing of Christ. Brothers and sisters, I urge you, through our Lord Jesus Christ and through the love of the Spirit, to join me in my struggles in your prayers to God for me. Pray that I will be rescued from the people in Judea who don’t believe. Also, pray that my service for Jerusalem will be acceptable to God’s people there so that I can come to you with joy by God’s will and be reenergized with your company. May the God of peace be with you all. Amen. (Romans 15:22-33, CEB)

Paul has wanted to go to Rome but never made it as of the writing of this letter. Romans is a letter Paul wrote to a community he did not help start nor have an on going relationship with.

To me that is kind of like a national gathering in the church where you meet someone you you are social media friends with. Paul knew about the church and was introducing himself and wanted to meet them IRL. I meet a lot of people I am Facebook friends with at Youth Gatherings or other gatherings of the church. We have a connection but have never actually shared a cup of coffee.

Who would you like to visit but haven’t been able to?

Who could you sit at a table over a cup of coffee and talk about life and faith?

Who would you build up and help be a beacon for love in the world?

May you be at peace and know God is always with you.

Loving People. Loving God.