Beyond Racial Reconciliation

We have to go outside of the boundaries of our normal path to find people who are our neighbors.

This message from Jesus could not be more relevant today…the world is becoming more and more diverse…by 2045 America will no longer be a majority white nation…learning to see those who are different than us as our neighbors is critical… 

If we do not go outside of the boundaries of our own normal path and discover our true neighbors whom Jesus defines as neighbor, it is to our own peril, our own detriment as a society, as a planet, and certainly as people who claim to follow Jesus.

Podcast: Beyond The Border

Pastor Blair Thompson-White along with Arapaho UMC members Rick Miller, Jill Curtis and Cliff Clark recently returned from a “Courts and Ports” trip at the US/Mexico Border where there were able to observe first-hand some of the daily activities that are happening. They sat down today to discuss it together and share some stories with us.

Beyond Education

Beyond Education

Advocating for the education of all children is a discipline because the idea that every child regardless of sex or race or income level or the neighborhood they live in deserves an excellent education—is a concept at the very heart of our Christian faith and Methodist tradition.

Let me start with our Christian faith—in the beginning, you remember that line from Genesis, chapter 1…God makes it clear that every human being is made in God’s image. Let’s look at the verse:

 Then God said, ‘Let us make humankind in our image, according to our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the wild animals of the earth, and over every creeping thing that creeps upon the earth.’ 

So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them.

So why should we care about the educational journey of all children and not just our own? Because every child is created in the image of God. Every child is worthy of an excellent education. And what’s more is—according to the text—our human purpose is to care for our planet and the people in our planet.

Beyond The US/Mexico Border

Beyond The US/Mexico Border

You are citizens with the saints and members of the household of God. Your citizenship, your membership, is ultimately in the house of God, that’s where you reside—and the laws in the house of God are: everybody is welcome. Everybody is invited in. Everybody is treated as a child of God. 

Any law that contradicts this, any law that contradicts the greatest commandment, any law that contradicts the law of the sermon on the mount for us who claim to follow Jesus the Christ is not acceptable and it is up to us to speak out and say so.

Testimonies: Why I Am A Christian.

Listen to testimonies from Rev. Maggie Proshek, Bob Nelson and Amy Bird as they tell us about why they are Christians.

You Can't Stop The Beat

You can’t stop the beat. You can’t stop the Spirit sweeping over the waters. You can’t stop the new thing God is doing making all things new. What is to prevent the beat? Absolutely nothing.

What I know for sure is this: there is this dance party of grace and justice and joy going on all the time and you are invited to come and dance. Yes, you. 

You who have been to the dance party before and you who have never been or never thought you couldn’t come, come and join in the party, you who think you are too old to dance, or too out of shape to dance, come to the party…

You who have been watching everyone from the sidelines, come to the dance floor, come all you saints and all you sinners, come all you who don’t know a thing about dancing and you who thought you knew but are learning new steps, come: the lord of the dance invites all to this dance party of grace and justice and joy and I don’t want you to miss it.

What is to prevent you from being a part of the movement of the spirit in the world making all things new, including you?

Absolutely nothing. 

Feed The Birds

George Banks can see there is an alternative reality, if only he can see he doesn’t have to live the bank values. If only we can see there is a better way to live, too.

We can see there is a better way. Because of Jesus the Christ we see there is an alternative vision of reality, a vision of generosity over greed, kindness over arrogance, compassion over consumerism, the question is no longer do we see the difference between the bank values and the cathedral values, the question is will we choose the cathedral values, will we choose to live our lives according to the teachings of Jesus Christ?

That is our baptismal covenant, we say the words, we make the promise, we actually reaffirm this commitment to live according to Christ every time we do a baptism, but words are just words until they are supported with actions.

Will we actually take actions and make decisions and live in a way that shows the reality we are living in - the reality that Jesus Christ is Lord of our life and we live like him, we live with his values and his way of seeing, which means we live generously.

Changed For Good (Wicked)

What is the pain and hurt you’ve experienced? Now I have learned that you can’t put an institution in the box, you can’t put the church in the box, you can’t put a business in the box or the government in the box. You’ve got to get specific here, who hurt you. People hurt other people-who has hurt you? 

Name the hurt, get your mind around what is in the box. It’s very freeing to be honest about the hurt you’ve experienced and how you were made to feel. So put it in the box and then you put the box down and you send it away. You could even do this for real, like you could do a ritual around this.

You could write it down and put it in an actual box and drive to a shredding company, watch them shred the paper and recycle the box, leave it there-you get the point: whatever you need to do whether literally or metaphorically with the box, send it away, leave it somewhere so you don’t have to carry it anymore. You can be set free from it, so this hurt is no longer in circulation.

When forgiveness happens, we no longer carry this burden around with us. We are changed for good and so is the world.

Podcast: The Arts And Faith

Pastor Blair Thompson-White sits down with Dana Effler, who is the Director of Music & Arts at First United Methodist Church in Dallas, to talk about music, the arts and how Broadway Musicals can be spiritual.

About Dana Effler:

Dana Effler is the Director of Music and Arts Ministries at First United Methodist Church of Dallas where she oversees the graded choir and handbell program, the Rotunda Theatre series, and Goodrich Gallery series. She conducts the Chancel Choir, First Men’s Chorus, First Women’s Chorus, Vox Nova and the Variations Youth Choir. Under her direction the Chancel Choir has toured to Canada, England, Austria, Czech Republic, Italy, France, Scotland and Switzerland and has sung for both Southwestern division and National ACDA conventions. Beyond the church, Dana enjoys her work as a singer, guest conductor and clinician for organizations including ACDA, TCDA, Choristers Guild, AGO and The Fellowship of United Methodists in Music and Worship Arts. She earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from Furman University and master’s degrees in choral conducting and in vocal performance from Southern Methodist University. Dana is inspired and energized by the wealth and diversity of talent represented in the FirstChurch family and is continually amazed at the beauty of God’s creation in and through it.

We Refuse To Wear Masks (Phantom Of The Opera)

If there are no sick or sad or sinful or silly people in your church, I’m not sure you are preaching the gospel…because the gospel is not just everyone is welcome, the gospel is also: you don’t have to put on a mask here. You are accepted.

The reality is that God’s love and grace is available to you, take off your mask. Accept that you are accepted. 

And when we do that, then our work together is to unmask the injustices outside of these walls—

To unmask the racism and the sexism and the homophobia in our culture—to unmask the atrocities going on at the border—to unmask the culture of guns and violence in our country—we are the ones to unmask the cruelty and carelessness and unchristian actions, because we follow a God who refuses to wear masks.

And so a group of us are going to the Texas-Mexico border in October to see for ourselves the situation there; A group of 80 clergy recently returned from the border and they said that what you hear on the news and from the White House is not what you see: they unmasked the poor conditions migrants are facing and they are telling the story and organizing to work to end policies that are causing harm.

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

When we go and serve breakfast to our homeless neighbors in downtown Dallas, we look them in the eye and we see the reality they face in their faces, and we make this human connection—the homeless are no longer other than us, they are our brothers, our sisters, our friends…

We refuse to wear masks and play games.

When we listen to the stories of our LGBTQ+ siblings, when we hear how the church has excluded and pushed them out and made them feel less than, when we hear how they have in some cases been forced to wear masks to hide their true selves…

we as the church proclaim what is God’s truth that they are loved and accepted for who they are, and God blesses them and their relationships—

We refuse to wear masks and play games. 

 So may you take off whatever mask you have been wearing, may you be real and know that you are loved and accepted for who you really are—and may we work together to unmask what needs to be seen in this world for what it is: 

so that we can right wrongs, so that we can work for a world where there is not just the appearance of peace but true peace, the kind of peace rooted in justice and respect and understanding.

Start With Why

What is it that we learn in the prologue to the Gospel John that is relevant to our lives, now? Maybe it’s this: that every day, no matter what we’re going through, we get to “start with why.” We get the opportunity by the grace of God to hand over control of the day to the One who can help us get through it, no matter what’s thrown at us.

For those of us who have embraced God’s grace, or seeking answers about how to live out your faith and embrace that grace, remember John the Baptist, who testifies to the light, as do we, in our own actions and words. We don’t just accept the grace and move on, without change. From the moment we accept it, we are a new creation. 

It’s what Wesley calls sanctifying grace – that  grace we accept and respond to by loving our neighbors in JFON, or serving meals at Austin Street Center, or learning more about each other through discussion groups and bible studies, or attending centering prayer events to learn a new way to grow closer to God. It’s the grace that compels us forward to bring hope to each other, through prayers, and visiting each other in times of need, or standing up for each other to bring justice in an otherwise unfair world.

And for those of us assume that our lives will be lived one way, and then it takes a turn in the road – as it will – remember that God has always been and always will be with you, as the light that shines through the darkness to bring you hope for a better day.

Do The Work

Our final sermon in the series "Dream. Think. Be. Do" is about doing the work of the faith: what better testimony than to hear our youth share about their two summer mission trips. On the recording, you'll hear Ashlyn and Aubrey Yarbrough talk about the middle school trip to Houston and Amelia Martinez share about the high school trip to participate in the Appalachia Service Project in Kentucky.

Be The Beloved

When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us, love has the run of the house. Sometimes we are more like renters in a life of love instead of permanent residents...sometimes we are just AirBNB’ing love. 

We stay there for a few days and we fulfill the contractual terms but we really only care about what we can get out of it, there is no real sense of responsibility, we enjoy the benefits and the beauty of the place without having to do the work of upkeep.

Have I lost you in the metaphor, how’s this: taking up permanent residence in love is work and it is sacrifice--and it is in our nature--it is our Adam 2, and yes you can live like Adam 1 and be a renter instead of a permanent resident in love but you are fooling yourself if you think that’s the best option.

Think Theologically

The book of Job is mostly Job questioning God and his friends telling him to settle for their answers.  Job wants to talk to God. And after they go around and around long enough, God appears and talks to Job.  God’s words to Job are difficult. God tells Job his idea of God is too small. God’s power is far greater and God’s ways are more mysterious than anything Job could imagine.  It’s presumptuous to imagine you know what God is thinking.  

And just when it looks like Job has been put in his place and that asking questions of God is arrogant and useless, God turns to Job’s friends and says, “ . . . You have not spoken of me what it right, as my servant Job has done.”

God is bigger, higher, deeper, more powerful, more mysterious than anything you can imagine.  Some will tell you that’s why you shouldn’t question God. I’m saying that’s why you should. God is big enough, high enough, deep enough, powerful enough, and mysterious enough to handle your questions.  And the Bible is good enough to guide you as you encounter that God.

God is big enough to trust with your questions. Your answers will only be as good as your questions. And you get what you settle for - So work out your salvation, With fear and trembling.

Dare To Dream

Everybody has the power of God within them and everybody can be a way through which God’s dreams are shared, everybody can be a way through which God’s dreams come true. Do you follow me: I’m talking about you and I’m telling you to dream dreams. You are a way through which God’s dreams are shared, you are a way through which God’s dreams come true. 

Do not let the state of our world prevent you from dreaming…do not let the negativity and the division and the tribalism and the racism and the poverty and the climate crisis cause you to throw your hands up and go, it is what it is…what can I do?

 No! No, this is not the way it is supposed to be and we are the ones whom God has called to remind people of God’s dreams and to challenge people to act in ways that are consistent with those dreams—

 To call people out who are causing harm and preventing God’s dreams from becoming a reality, we are the ones to keep dreaming dreams, so what are your dreams today, church?

Guess Who's Coming To Dinner?

I have had several folks come to me in recent months and say to me something like: I just don’t think I can change my mind about gays getting married in the church. I’m just…fill in the blank: I’m too old to change my mind or I’m too influenced by my evangelical childhood or I’m too concerned about breaking the rules, I’m just too much of a rule-follower…if that sounds like you and you just don’t think you can come around on this issue, if it just feels like too much to ask.

This story about Peter is for you, it is for any of us who have ever felt challenged to change our mind about something and wonder if it is possible for us to change.

Look, if you think you can’t change your mind, scripture makes two things clear: first, yes you can…you can change your mind, yes with God’s grace we have the capacity to change our minds, and second: the faithful God-fearing thing to do is to not be the one to exclude someone from the table because in the words of apostle Peter: Who are you to hinder God?

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Watch the video shown in the service…

Fish and Forgiveness for Breakfast?

Denying our identity as disciples of Jesus is a major problem with Christianity in America today. If all the Christians in this so called “Christian nation’s” identity was in Christ, there wouldn’t be children in cages at the border and there wouldn’t be racist language in our politics and there wouldn’t be such a big and ever growing gap between rich and poor.

We have in many ways become like Peter. This is a moment in which Jesus needs us the most and instead of taking on Jesus’ ministry and becoming his representatives in the world and reaching out to the poor and the outcast and working for justice and peace we are more concerned about protecting our own power and privilege, our own well-being, our own comfort and structures. So the mission God has given to us, God’s agenda, is at the bottom of our list of priorities, only for when it is convenient and won’t cost us anything.

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Read the full sermon text below

Our worship series “A Place at the Table” continues today with this story of Jesus making breakfast for the disciples on the beach...now the common way of looking at this story and I have preached it this way more than once, is to see it as a story of divine forgiveness…

To point out that Jesus makes a place at the table for Simon Peter, of all people, Simon Peter who turned his back on Jesus when Jesus needed him the most...Simon Peter who had looked Jesus in the face and said, “Even if I must die alongside you, I won’t deny you” then went on to deny him not once, not twice, but three times…yeah, I know…talk about face palm emoij, talk about total failure…

You would think there is no coming back from that, three strikes and you’re out, that is certainly reasonable, except there is this story of Jesus making breakfast for Peter on the beach and having this awkward conversation with him in front of everybody in which Jesus asks Peter three times if he loves him…so the common thought is this is Jesus forgiving Peter…

The thought is there is some sort of divine math going on here, and Peter has to affirm his love for Jesus three times to make up for the three times he denied him…

So Jesus is giving Peter that opportunity and for a long time that has made sense to me, it seems so gracious of Jesus to offer Peter this moment of reconciliation, but the more I think about, the more I realize that interpretation doesn’t align with my theology, doesn’t align with my understanding of God and here’s why: I don’t think Jesus keeps score.

I don’t think Jesus has this excel sheet on each of us keeping tabs on our sins and if we have repented or not, I don’t think there is this divine scoreboard we better hope is in the black by the time our time on earth comes to an end…I just don’t buy that, I don’t think Jesus works that way, that’s not the God I know in Jesus the Christ…

The God I know in Jesus asks God to forgive us even when we don’t know what we’re doing…and the God I know in Jesus flat out says: ‘Your sins are forgiven’ to people when they need forgiveness whether they ask for it or not.

Jesus doesn’t say ‘I forgive you,’ to Peter…instead we have this question “Peter, do you love me?” and look: it’s just not like Jesus to play games with people, you know, or to make them feel guilty or try and test them, that’s just not the Jesus I see revealed in the gospels, not the Jesus I know in my own life, and so:

There must be another way to look at this story…

And there is.

To look at it another way we have to go back to Peter’s denials in John 18.  Let’s look at exactly what Peter did…and maybe that will give us some insight into what is really going on here between Peter and Jesus.

John 18:15-27:

15 Simon Peter and another disciple followed Jesus. Since that disciple was known to the high priest, he went with Jesus into the courtyard of the high priest, 16 but Peter was standing outside at the gate. So the other disciple, who was known to the high priest, went out, spoke to the woman who guarded the gate, and brought Peter in. 17 The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I am not.” 

Notice what Peter doesn’t say. He doesn’t say: Who are you talking about? I don’t know the man you’re talking about. He doesn’t deny knowing Jesus. What does he deny?

Peter denies his identity as a disciple of Jesus. 

Let’s look at it again.

The woman said to Peter, “You are not also one of this man’s disciples, are you?” He said, “I AM not.” 

Peter isn’t denying Jesus. Peter is denying the call Jesus has placed on his life to be his disciple. Peter is denying who he is, Peter is denying his true identity, his true self, he is denying who Jesus needs him to be; Jesus needs him to be Peter, the rock on whom he will build the church; Jesus needs Peter to be the shepherd now and Peter says: I am not.

Let’s look at his second and third denial, starting at verse 18:

18 Now the slaves and the police had made a charcoal fire because it was cold, and they were standing around it and warming themselves. Peter also was standing with them and warming himself…They asked him, “You are not also one of his disciples, are you?” He denied it and said, “I am not.” 26 One of the slaves of the high priest, a relative of the man whose ear Peter had cut off, asked, “Did I not see you in the garden with him?” 27 Again Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed.

Are you one of his disciples? I AM not. And then even the slave tries to help him to remember who he really is and whose he really is by recalling the time Peter was right there by Jesus’ side, Jesus’ go-to disciple, and Peter says, “I AM not.”

I am not…the real denial, the real rejection here isn’t Peter rejecting Jesus, Peter does nothing to Jesus, there is no breach, no break in the relationship between Peter and Jesus, so there is nothing Peter needs forgiving for from Jesus…if anything, Peter needs to forgive himself for failing to live out of his true self, his true identity.

What Peter really needs is to accept himself for who he was made to be, who Christ has called him to be, he needs to accept that he is the one Christ has chosen to build the church, to be one of Christ’s representatives in the world…

I have to tell you I think denying our identity as disciples of Jesus is a major problem with Christianity in America today…because if all the Christians in this so called Christian nation’s identity was in Christ, there wouldn’t be children in cages at the border and there wouldn’t be racist language in our politics and there wouldn’t be such a big and ever growing gap between rich and poor and…

We have in many ways become like Peter, this is a moment in which Jesus needs us the most—and instead of taking on Jesus’ ministry and becoming his representatives in the world and reaching out to the poor and the outcast and working for justice and peace…

We are more concerned about protecting our own power and privilege, our own well-being, our own comfort and structures, so the mission God has given to us, God’s agenda, is at the bottom of our list of priorities, only for when it is convenient and won’t cost us anything…and this makes me sad, you know... 

Kinda like Peter who is so obviously sad after denying his identity as a disciple of Jesus not once, not twice, but three times--of course he is sad, he knows this is not who he is supposed to be, he knows he is not living how he should be living, sometimes I feel that way when I look at our country, don't you?

But if we look closer at Peter perhaps we can see ourselves in him and learn from him and his journey because he goes from being in denial to being determined to carry on Jesus' mission...he goes from running away from his call to becoming the rock he was always meant to be for Jesus.

Why does he deny he is Jesus' disciple in the first place? Why do we deny our identity...Peter knows that claiming his identity as a disciple of Jesus is going to cost him something: 

he’s going to have to change, he’s going to have to teach and travel from the only home and way of life he's ever known and he’s going to have to lead, and he's going to have to speak out for the widow and the outcast and that's not too popular and he's going to have to care for the poor and build community with people who are different than he is...

and it is all so messy and so not easy, it is much easier to sit on the sidelines and I think Peter convinces himself that he is not the one Jesus needs right now...he reasons it out in his mind: I don't have that much to offer, really; I'm sure someone else will take care of it.

I am not, Peter says when the woman comes to him and asks: “Are you one of his disciples?” I am not...

What we don’t know is why she asks him…what her motive is…

I picture a woman who is desperate for someone to come and help her with her sick child and she has heard about Jesus and his followers and how they can heal in his name and so she is hoping this Peter is the one who can help her child: Are you one of the disciples, she says to Peter and he says: I am not. Where does she go now?

I learned this week that in our Richardson Schools over 60 percent of our students are below the poverty line…where do parents go for help with school uniforms and school supplies? Imagine a young mom of two Dobie preschool students coming to you, like the woman who came to Peter: are you the one? 

Do you love me? Jesus says. Peter says yes: you know I love you. Jesus says: Feed my sheep. 

Last week a woman who doesn’t go to our church but whose children came to our Vacation Bible School reached out to me after she heard the announcement about how we are collecting uniforms and backpacks and supplies for our Dobie students and she had picked up one of the shapes on the Dobie board that lists what is needed and she said: I can’t afford to buy all of this but I can buy some backpacks, is that ok? My kids and I want to do what we can.

She has kids she has to get ready for the school year…and her answer to the question: “Are you the one?” is yes. Yes.

Do you love me? Jesus says. You know I love you. Jesus says: Feed my sheep.

Jesus, the Good Shepherd, is asking Peter to carry on his role as shepherd of the flock. You are the one to feed my sheep now, Jesus says. 

This is a spiritual examine, Jesus is doing with Peter—he’s asking Peter to examine who he is and if who he is, his identity as a disciple, is aligning with his actions.

Have you done this, have you had moments when you are become conscious of the fact that your actions are not aligning with your identity as a follower of Jesus? 

I had a moment the other day when I was shall we say negotiating with the power company about our rate for electricity…it was the moment when the sales person asked for my email address and I gave them my non Arapaho address which starts with: pastorblairthompson…and he said: “did you say pastor?” and I said: oh yep. And I went over in my head how I had treated him…and I thought: oh Lord.

Now this is a fairly benign example, but you get the point: when I am consciously aware that I have denied my identity as a disciple of Jesus through my actions or inactions, I say a prayer asking for God’s forgiveness and for God to help me to become more like Jesus…and God does. 

There is a word for this: the word is grace. Jesus makes it possible for us to see how we have denied our true identity and at the same, we are given what we need to become more like him: more loving, more compassionate, more self-giving.

Do you love me? Jesus says. Feed my sheep. Jesus says to Peter: remember who you are and start acting that way. He reinstates Peter as the shepherd of the flock. He says to Peter:

Look, you may have messed up and denied who you are but I remember who you are and I want you to remember, I need you to remember, you are the one I have called, the one I have chosen to carry on my mission.

Do you love me? Feed my sheep, Jesus says. By the way, he doesn’t say: If you love me, then make sure everyone believes this set of doctrines. He doesn’t say: if you love me, then make sure you build a church that has lots of rules about who is in and who is out. He doesn’t say: if you love, sing lots of sweet songs about loving me.

No, Jesus says: If you love me, feed my sheep. This is Peter’s one command and it is ours, too. The way we show our love for Jesus is to show our love and embrace of others.

Sometimes we show our love for Jesus by actually feeding people. Every time we have a funeral here, every time, we do a reception of cookies and punch afterwards so the family can stay and visit and receive the embrace and love of their family and friends, and just have time together—

And so all these people from our congregation bring in cookies and sandwiches for the reception and I remember one family member one time looked at the nicely decorated tables full of food and said: I don’t think I even know anyone who made this food for us, I can’t believe they would do this for us.

Those who bring food are responding to Jesus’ call: Do you love me? Feed my sheep.

Next Sunday we will serve breakfast at Austin Street Center, the homeless agency downtown Dallas, and some will be involved in bringing food and some will go and serve the food to nearly 400 people who will come through the line and they will smile and they may never say the word Jesus but those who bring food and those who serve, they are doing Jesus’ work, they are responding to Jesus’ call to feed my sheep.

They are feeding Jesus’ sheep.

What I know is there is all kinds of hunger and there are a lot of hungry people today and we may have denied in big ways and small that we are the ones to get involved but we are the ones to get involved…Jesus isn’t giving up on us, Jesus is giving us our calling again as he called Peter again—we were made for goodness.

Archbishop Desmund Tutu and his daughter wrote a book Made for Goodness and in it they included these words written as invitation to listen to God speak to us. I want you to hear these words for you today:

You are a child after my own heart. 

Seek out your deepest joy and you will find me there. 

Find that which makes you most perfectly yourself and know that I am at the heart of it. 

Do what delights you. 

And you will be working with me,

Walking with me,

Finding your life

Hidden in me. 

Ask me any question. 

My answer is love. 

When you want to hear my voice,

Listen for love. 

How can you delight me?

I will tell you:

Love. 

The tough, unbreakable, unshakable love. 

Are you looking for me?

You will find me in love.

Would you know my secrets?

There is only one:

Love. 

Do you want to know me?

Do you want to follow me?

Do you want to reach me?

Seek and serve love.

Do you love me? You know I love you.  

Feed my sheep.

So may it ever be.

Seven Baskets Full

The Bible, which is this collection of material written by people who are articulating their understanding of God in a particular time and place - this library shows how we humans have come to see God over time. It shows how we have changed our minds over time. How we have come to see a new vision of God in which God is not just for some but for all. God is not just for us but for all. God’s mercy is not limited to one group but God’s mercy is all encompassing. There are not exceptions to God’s love.

This passage is often titled “Jesus feeds the 4,000” but that’s not really what happens.

“The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.

Who actually feeds the crowds? The disciples do.

You see Jesus does not call the disciples to change their minds about the Gentiles, he doesn’t just want them to have a new way of seeing God, he wants them to see that God’s grace and mercy is for all.

Jesus wants the disciples to change their minds about their power and their responsibility to share the message of God’s love with everyone. He wants them to see that they are the ones to reach out to those they once considered outsiders, to those they once considered enemies and offer them bread and a place at the table.

Watch the video used in the sermon.

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Read The Full Sermon

So there was no typo...you heard it right, in the passage that was read, Matthew 15, the number of people in the crowd is 4,000...the text says there were '4,000 men there that day not counting women and children,' give me a break by the way not counting women and children please, good thing we are totally over that now and count women the same as men and pay them the same, and…

Anyway, the number is 4,000...so maybe you are like me and the first time I heard this I was like: what? I thought Jesus fed 5,000, that's what I remember learning in Sunday school, Jesus feeds 5,000...so what's the deal with this 4,000 number. Our sermon series is “A Place at the Table”...exactly how many places where there at the table...Was it 5,000 or 4,000...was a preacher counting because if so it was probably recorded as 5,000 but it was actually 4,000…

Here’s the deal, it turns out it’s both. Jesus feeds 5,000 in Matthew 14 and 4,000 in Matthew 15...there are two nearly identical stories back to back, so why would the gospel writer include the same story back to back...was his editor out on vacation or something...?

The stories have the same set up: a lot of people have followed Jesus out of town, they are hungry...the same thing happens with Jesus in both stories: he is moved with compassion for the crowd...Jesus does the same thing in both: he takes what the disciples have; some bread and fish, and he blesses it and gives it back to the disciples and the same miracle happens in both: a small amount of bread and fish becomes enough to feed everybody…

I mean was Jesus just out of clever miracle ideas to do the same one again so soon...or what is really going on here.

So to understand why Matthew would include two nearly identical stories of Jesus feeding the multitudes one right after the other, we have to go back to the Old Testament...and we have to start with this very problematic thing in the Old Testament...there is a heck of a lot of violence in the Old Testament. 

And not only that...there is a heck of a lot of violence done by God...God is clearly on one side, with one group, and God inflicts violence on those who are on the other side, in the other group, there is clearly an ‘us’ and ‘them’ in the Old Testament and the message that is communicated through the text is that God is for ‘us’ and God destroys ‘them’ on our behalf...

There is some really brutal stuff in the Old Testament, like in Deuteronomy 7 where God commands Joshua to slaughter the seven Canaanite nations. It’s like God says: no mercy for them.

So what do we do with that? Now some folks who read the Bible literally will say well it’s in there and so it must be true that God favors one group over another and God blesses one group over another and even condones or commands violence in some cases.

But that doesn’t work for me, doesn’t work for my experience of God in the world, and it’s just flat out not morally acceptable today...so there’s this major point to be made here about the Bible.

The thing about the Bible is it teaches us a lot about what human beings who wrote the Bible thought about God at a certain time…

So we can clearly see through these texts that in the ancient world, many people sincerely believed that God takes sides and that God was on their side. 

We see that kind of thinking infused throughout the Bible...God is on our side...and let’s just say it right here, that kind of thinking still exists today…

We are so divided and the ideology on both sides is: we are right and they are wrong…so we can empathize, we can understand why the ancient writers wrote these texts in the way they did, in their thinking, God protected ‘us’ by harming ‘them’…but there is another way to see God, a better vision...

So follow me here, on the screen.

Deuteronomy 7. God commands Joshua to slaughter the 7 Canaanite nations.

Joshua is the leader of the Israelites; God is clearly on the side of the Israelites. God has no compassion for the Canaanites. God has no mercy for them. 

Matthew 14:13-33. The feeding of the 5,000 in Bethsaida, near the Sea of Galilee. 

The crowds gathered that day were all Israelites. This is the region they occupied, Jesus is moved with compassion to feed the Israelites...this is consistent, God is on the side of the Israelites so of course Jesus, God with us, would be moved with compassion for the Israelites and take care of their hunger. 

After the feeding of the 5,000 Jesus leaves that region and heads into Gentile territory...

Matthew 15: 21-28. A Canaanite woman asks Jesus for mercy for her daughter. 

Isn’t it interesting that Matthew identifies the woman to be a Canaanite woman...at the time there were no Canaanites left in the area, so Matthew is doing something really clever here, he is responding directly to the text from Deuteronomy 7...the way of thinking about God has changed since then and he wants to offer another vision of God...so:

Matthew 15: 21-28. A Canaanite woman asks Jesus for mercy for her daughter. Jesus says yes and the daughter is healed.

Jesus gives mercy to the Canaanite woman. What Matthew is saying is: God’s mercy knows no sides. God is on the side of mercy...the new way is mercy for all.

Jesus goes on to heal people from that area who are not members of his religion, they are not part of his tribe, he heals them all...the new way is mercy for all.

And then comes our text today.

Matthew 15:32-39. The feeding of the 4,000 in the region of the Gerasenes. 

The region of the Gerasenes is the region of them, they are the Gentiles, they are the outsiders...and Jesus is moved with compassion for them in the same way he is moved with compassion for his fellow Jews.

Jesus repeats the same miracle for all those who are considered outsiders. 

So you see why even though the disciples have already seen the miracle of the loaves and fishes once, they would have been shocked to see it again, to see Jesus offer it to the Gentiles too...up until this point, they thought Jesus’ mission was only for the Israelites, only for those who had the same religion and culture as they did...

They thought their work as Jesus’ disciples, their mission and message of God’s love was exclusive, that it was only for the people who were just like them...no...no, Jesus makes it clear: God’s mercy is for everybody. Everybody is welcome to the table. There is a place at the table for everybody.

You see, the disciples have to change their minds, they have to change their way of seeing God and their way of seeing their calling to serve God, they are to be servants of all, extending God’s love and mercy to all, welcoming all to the table.

So do you see how the Bible, which is this library, this collection of material written by people who are articulating their understanding of God in a particular time and place, how this library shows how we humans have come to see God over time…

How we have changed our minds over time...how we have come to see a new vision of God in which God is not just for some but for all, God is not just for us but for all, God’s mercy is not limited to one group but God’s mercy is all-encompassing...there are no exceptions to God’s love.

This passage is often titled “Jesus feeds the 4,000” but that’s not really what happens. Let’s take a look at verses 33 to 36:

“The disciples said to him, “Where are we to get enough bread in the desert to feed so great a crowd?” Jesus asked them, “How many loaves have you?” They said, “Seven, and a few small fish.” Then ordering the crowd to sit down on the ground, he took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. 

Who actually feeds the crowds? The disciples do. 

Jesus could have fed the crowds but he doesn’t do that. He could have said, “Give me those fish and that bread and I will feed them.” He could have said: I am the one who will feed the Gentiles, y’all can take five. I am the one who will show compassion and mercy, y’all don’t have to, I know it’s hard for you to change your minds about them. He could have said, I am the one who has the power, I got this.

No: Jesus gives the bread and fish back to the disciples and they feed the crowds. 

You see Jesus does not just call the disciples to change their minds about the Gentiles, he doesn’t just want them to have a new way of seeing God, to see that God’s grace and mercy is for all…

Jesus also wants the disciples to change their minds about their power and their responsibility to share the message of God’s love with everyone...he wants them to see they are the ones to reach out to those they once considered outsiders, to those they once considered enemies and offer them bread and a place at the table.

We have the power and the responsibility to share the message of God’s love with everyone...which may mean changing our minds about someone or whole groups of people and changing our actions, we are the ones to reach out and offer mercy to all in the name of Jesus the Christ, who gives mercy to all and calls us to do the same in his name.

Speaking of call, I want to share this video sponsored by Verizon, they worked with PFLAG to connect families who had not spoken in years…

What you are about to see is the feeding of the 4,000 today in which families change their minds about their LGBTQ+ child and reach out to offer them a place at the table again and welcome them back into the family.

Let’s watch:

https://vimeo.com/340500513?fbclid=IwAR1hDCy2WMrojar-yj2MESwxNCbMF1jWr1adEKjyYsX89THaCbOzSieHJ9Q

Did you hear what she said at the end? 

Speaking of her mom, she said with tears in her eyes: she just wanted to call and tell me she loved me and that she’s proud to have me as her daughter. 

If you haven’t heard that from a parent, I want you to hear it today from Jesus the Christ who says to each of us: I love you and I am proud to have you as my daughter; I love you and I am proud to have you as my son.

Now, who needs to hear that message through you today?

The disciples didn’t think the crowd that day was worthy of a place at the table but Jesus changes their minds about that. The disciples didn’t think they had anything to offer but Jesus changes their minds about that, too.

He took the seven loaves and the fish; and after giving thanks he broke them and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.And all of them ate and were filled; and they took up the broken pieces left over, seven baskets full. 

Seven baskets full. Seven. Seven days of creation, the beginning when all was as it should be. Seven, the number that represents completeness.

We will not be complete until all are welcome at the table.  So may it ever be.

Podcast: A Place At The Table w/ Eric Markinson

Pastor Blair Thompson-White sits down with Chaplain and Grace UMC Member Eric Markinson to talk about what it means to be LGBTQ+ and a Methodist.

The Table Is Set

Love is the currency in an economy of grace