arguing with Al and feeding 5000

I just read and responded to an interesting post by Al Caroll at the PCC blog (!). In theory, it's accessible via this link:http://blog.peacecommunity.mychurch.com/blog/_archives/2006/8/9/2215982.html

However, I was only able to get to it by going to: peacecommunity.mychurch.com, clicking on the "sermons and other interesting stuff" link, and going from there.

The conversation reminded me of something I've been meaning to post here, which came up in church two weeks ago.

So, we were talking and hearing about Jesus feeding the multitude. You know the story: some folks were gathered to listen to Jesus, and Jesus' friends were worried that there wouldn't be enough food to go around. Phillip goes so far as to say, "Jesus, even SIX MONTHS WAGES would not be enough to buy food for all of these people."

It's interesting, because that week, as I was lamenting the overall state of the world, I was thinking about how, you know, even if you work your whole life for justice, and get up every day thinking about "How can I best dismantle empire today?", there's only so much you can do. It's like: "Jesus, even MY WHOLE LIFE'S WORK would not be enough to build the beloved community on earth."

Fortunately, Jesus takes our loaves and fishes. That is, Jesus takes a long, hard look at the stuff we happened to end up with, the skills and passions and habbits and experiences we have. And He sets to work, and before you know it...

I'll close with my favorite line of "The Bible is Totally Literally True", this one composed by lyrical genius Baraka Noel.

"Jesus fed five thousand/ with just some loaves and fishes/ I guess that as a caterer/ He'd be totally vicious."

Well?

David