On How We Respond to Impossibility
July 28, 2024
Traceymay Kalvaitis
2 Kings 4: 42-44
A man came bringing food from the first fruits to the man of God: twenty loaves of barley and fresh ears of grain in his sack. Elisha said, “Give it to the people and let them eat.” But his servant said, “How can I set this before a hundred people?” So he repeated, “Give it to the people and let them eat, for thus says the Lord, ‘They shall eat and have some left.’” He set it before them, they ate, and had some left, according to the word of the Lord.
John 6: 1-14
After this Jesus went to the other side of the Sea of Galilee, also called the Sea of Tiberias. A large crowd kept following him, because they saw the signs that he was doing for the sick. Jesus went up the mountain and sat down there with his disciples. Now the Passover, the festival of the Jews, was near. When he looked up and saw a large crowd coming toward him, Jesus said to Philip, “Where are we to buy bread for these people to eat?” He said this to test him, for he himself knew what he was going to do. Philip answered him, “Six months’ wages would not buy enough bread for each of them to get a little.” One of his disciples, Andrew, Simon Peter’s brother, said to him, “There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish. But what are they among so many people?” Jesus said, “Make the people sit down.” Now there was a great deal of grass in the place; so they sat down, about five thousand in all. Then Jesus took the loaves, and when he had given thanks, he distributed them to those who were seated; so also the fish, as much as they wanted. When they were satisfied, he told his disciples, “Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.” So they gathered them up, and from the fragments of the five barley loaves, left by those who had eaten, they filled twelve baskets. When the people saw the sign that he had done, they began to say, “This is indeed the prophet who is to come into the world.”
When Jesus realized that they were about to come and take him by force to make him king, he withdrew again to the mountain by himself.
Psalm 145: 14-16
The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.
***
Today’s sermon is titled On an Alternative Response to Impossibility.
Daily we are faced with impossibilities. How can we bring about world peace? How can we reverse global warming? How can we effectively address drug addiction? How can we feed so many who are hungry?
Long gone are the days of our ancestors when we were only aware of goings on within 20 square miles or so. Now we are made aware of disasters and unmet needs from around the world and I tell you, Friends, we are not yet emotionally evolved enough to hold such a broad scope of awareness. For most of humankind’s existence, we have only been aware of local events and (here is the most important part) we were able to appropriately respond to local events and witness the effects of our response. 2000 years ago, our ancestors would certainly have been aware of a catastrophic flood in a neighboring river valley. They would have been able to respond to such a catastrophe in a meaningful and productive way; they would have been able to be part of the solution. That is how we have evolved over millions of years. In our modern world, with 24-hour access to world news, we are asked to carry the burden of global events and all the problems that seem impossible to solve and we wonder why there is so much hopelessness, apathy, and pessimism in our culture.
Thirteen years ago, in Dover, New Hampshire, Claire Bloom faced an impossible problem. She learned that in the state of New Hampshire, 46,000 schoolchildren were going hungry on the weekend between the times they would normally get meals provided in school. Claire Bloom is a retired Navy lieutenant commander. She went down to the superintendent’s office with her checkbook, ready to make a donation. The superintendent said they didn’t need money, they needed someone to put food in the children’s hands on Friday afternoons as they get on the bus. Claire and her husband invested 10,000 dollars to rent a small warehouse and stock it with non-perishable food that would be easy for children to prepare. They purchased 100 backpacks to fill with food for the roughly 68 hours between lunch on Friday and breakfast on Monday mornings. The Blooms named their venture End 68 Hours of Hunger. They began sending home food with 19 children from 3 local schools. Thirteen years later, there are over 3,000 schoolchildren across 8 New England states that take home weekend food, food donated by grocery stores and folks like us. Last year, between the two churches, we donated nearly 1000 pounds of non-perishable food for schoolchildren. That’s how we responded to the impossibility of ending childhood hunger in our state; we responded with one bag of food at a time.
When faced with the impossibility of feeding 5000 with “five barley loaves and two fish,” Jesus’s disciple, Andrew, said “What are they among so many?” Andrew could not fathom what difference five barley loaves and two fish could make to so many who were hungry. The disciples had no money to purchase food for so many people and even if they had resources, they were far from the nearest town. The logistics were insurmountable; the disciples could see no way to respond to such a great need. The disciples had no knowledge about how to proceed.
Biblical scholar Cheryl Johns writes, “At the end of knowledge stands Jesus.” When the disciples could not fathom how to respond to the impossibility of feeding 5000 with 12 loaves and 2 fish, they had their teacher to turn to and all were inexplicably provided for. My favorite detail of the story is that there were 12 baskets full of food left over when all was said and done.
This phenomenon of feeding the masses with only a small amount of food was nothing new, as confirmed by our First Testament reading from the book of Second Kings where a servant was instructed to offer twenty small loaves to feed one hundred people. The servant protested, much like the disciple Andrew, who said “What are they among so many?” The prophet Elisha answered, “Give them to the people and let them eat; they shall eat and have some left;” miracles of abundance were nothing new.
Both the unnamed servant and Andrew, Jesus’s disciple, were skeptical in their responses to the impossibility of feeding many with so little food. We respond to impossibilities in much the same way, don’t we? We are hesitant to proceed if we are unsure.
Claire Bloom, the founder of End 68 Hours of Hunger, shares her definition of courage: “Courage is reaching out and doing something you’ve not done before, not knowing whether or not it’s going to work.” Claire Bloom and her husband responded with courage to the impossibility of feeding thousands of hungry schoolchildren and now thousands are being fed.
So I ask us, Friends, what are the impossibilities we are facing in our own lives, and in our culture? Perhaps we are wondering if we will ever be pain free again. Perhaps we are wondering if we have the tolerance to continue to be loving to a family member or friend we find especially challenging. Perhaps we feel as if we are hoping in vain for an end to the wars in Ukraine and Gaza. Perhaps we are heartsick by yet another unexplained shooting, this time a black woman shot in her own kitchen. Perhaps we are unsure how to respond to so many needs in the world, needs for food, housing, medical care and mental health support.
How do we respond to impossibilities that seem too huge to address? I hope we will respond as the disciple Andrew and the unnamed servant responded. I hope we will act in trust and faith that what little we can do may just turn out to have a great effect. I hope we will remember that we are not acting alone; we carry the grace of God within us that allows us to serve with love, compassion and mercy.
In closing, I hope we will respond to impossibility in the same spirit expressed by the psalmist in our reading today. Listen again to their words:
“The Lord upholds all who are falling, and raises up all who are bowed down.
The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season.
You open your hand, satisfying the desire of every living thing.”
Where there is impossibility, may we see what is possible. Where there is need, may we see a way to fill it. Where there is despair, may we bring the light and love of Christ. So be it. Amen.
*https://www.fosters.com/in-depth/opinion/2022/03/13/claire-bloom-new-hampshire-usa-today-women-of-the-year/9187026002/
Pastoral Prayer
God of earth and sky, we are blessed with so many gifts; open our hearts with gratitude for the areas of our lives that are full and healthy and functioning. Inspire us to give thanks to the people who have been most instrumental in our lives, the people who have believed in us, the people who have loved us just because of who we are. Bring them to our minds, Lord, in prayer. When we are faced with challenges, lack of necessities, sorrow or loss, illuminate the presence of goodness in our lives, past and present, so that we may be guided homeward by your holy light. In the ways we need healing, I pray we are open to receive. For all of our brothers and sisters that are struggling, and especially those who are hungry, may they receive the care and comfort they need, we pray, in the name of Jesus. Amen.
Benediction
I leave you now with words from Ephesians chapter 1:
“May the eyes of your heart be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to which God has called you.” Amen.