When We Bless Our Gifts to God

November 21, 2004

The Rev. Dr. Anthony J. Godlefski, Pastor

Montgomery United Methodist Church

John 6: 1-15

Jesus Feeds the Five Thousand

1After this, Jesus crossed over the Sea of Galilee, also known as the Sea of Tiberias. 2And a huge crowd kept following him wherever he went, because they saw his miracles as he healed the sick. 3Then Jesus went up into the hills and sat down with his disciples around him. 4(It was nearly time for the annual Passover celebration.) 5Jesus soon saw a great crowd of people climbing the hill, looking for him. Turning to Philip, he asked, "Philip, where can we buy bread to feed all these people?" 6He was testing Philip, for he already knew what he was going to do. 7Philip replied, "It would take a small fortune* to feed them!" 8Then Andrew, Simon Peter's brother, spoke up. 9"There's a young boy here with five barley loaves and two fish. But what good is that with this huge crowd?" 10"Tell everyone to sit down," Jesus ordered. So all of them--the men alone numbered five thousand--sat down on the grassy slopes. 11Then Jesus took the loaves, gave thanks to God, and passed them out to the people. Afterward he did the same with the fish. And they all ate until they were full. 12"Now gather the leftovers," Jesus told his disciples, "so that nothing is wasted." 13There were only five barley loaves to start with, but twelve baskets were filled with the pieces of bread the people did not eat! 14When the people saw this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, "Surely, he is the Prophet* we have been expecting!" 15Jesus saw that they were ready to take him by force and make him king, so he went higher into the hills alone.

Dear brothers and sisters in Christ, good morning! We need to do some celebrating. I need some help. Please open the “In Faith We Sing” hymnal to 2026. Today is a day for rejoicing! Let’s rejoice a little bit.

[Congregation sings “Alleluia!” with piano and tambourine accompaniment, clapping hands. Ed. note: I wish I could send a sound file with this transcription!]

Praise God!

My dear friends, it is Consecration Sunday. It is our stewardship Sunday. It is a day for rejoicing. It’s a day of joy because we can say, “Lord, here is our gift. What are you going to do with it?” We know that when we bless our gifts to God, something wonderful happens. Amen? Absolutely.

Giving is a joy. There is a story told about an Episcopal bishop. Now, you know, the Episcopal folks are even more formal than we are. They wear more vestments, and they have a more formal service than we do. So this Episcopal bishop goes to Africa. He attends a Sunday worship service there. They come to the time for the offering, and the bishop figures that the ushers will walk down and present the plates to the people, but that’s not what happened. Do you know what happened?

The drum started. [Pastor Tony drumming a beat something like: Dum da da de da da dum dum dum.] And people got up row by row with their offerings, and they started to dance up the aisle. Isn’t that wonderful?

So I thought what we could do today…. [Congregation laughs] No, not really. I’m not going to make you do that.

But that’s what our giving should be like. It should be a joy. We should be able to say, “Thank You, God, that I am in a position to bless Your holy church in all that it does. Thank You, God. It’s a joy!”

Giving is a joy. We were studying in Bible class about two great bodies of water in the Holy Land. The Holy Land is shaped like a loaf of bread with a kind of a split down the middle. You’ve seen bread like that? And that split down the middle is the Jordan River. There are two other big bodies of water in there. There’s one to the north – the Sea of Galilee. And there’s one in the south – the Dead Sea. The difference between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea is that the Sea of Galilee is filled with life. And the Dead Sea cannot support life at all. It is filled with minerals. It is absolutely lifeless.

The Dead Sea receives water from the Jordan River only, and it has no outflow. But the Sea of Galilee is vital and full of life, because it receives abundantly and it gives out abundantly. Giving is a joy.

I had an experience this summer, down at the shore with my godson Dylan. We were swimming in the water, enjoying the waves and the beautiful day. A little girl swam over to us. Her name was Lorita. She was from Columbia. She was such a joy, telling us how happy she was to be in America. She tapped me on the arm and smiled a great big smile, and she gave me a seashell. “This is for you.”

I said, “Thank you, Lorita.” And I asked Dylan to dive underwater and get a seashell for Lorita. He did. And Dylan presented the seashell to Lorita, and she smiled the biggest smile and said “thank you.” Later that day we saw Lorita and her family on the beach. They were waving good-bye, and she had the seashell in her hand.

Giving is such a joy. I got to thinking about that seashell. Where did we get it from? We got it from the bottom of the sea, from the hand of God. Isn’t that where all our blessings come from? Isn’t that where the ability to work comes from? It’s all of God, and giving is a joy.

You know, my dear friends, the other thing I’d like you to remember is that you make such a difference. Just like the little boy in the Bible story today. Remember what happened? Jesus was preaching to all those folks at the end of the day, and they were hungry. It was time to send them home. The disciples said, “Jesus, send them home. They’re tired and hungry.”

But Jesus said, “You feed them.”

And Philip said unto the Lord, “Lord, according to our latest financial projections, if we pro rata the income that we’ve had over the last twelve months and do a sliding scale of that over projections for the next twelve months, we can’t possibly feed this crowd” – or something like that.

And Jesus, I believe, smiled at him and said, “Uh huh.” And then Andrew joined them and said, “Lord, there’s a little boy here. He has five loaves and two fish. But what is that among so many? Shoo the boy away.”

And Jesus must have looked that boy in the eye and smiled at him and winked. He took that little lunch, all the boy could offer, and said, “Make the people sit down.” In other words, “watch this.” And Jesus took the bread and He blessed it, broke it, and gave it to all the disciples. He did the same with the fish. And all were fed, five thousand and many, many more, all because one person said, “I will do what I can.”

That’s you! Whatever you can do makes a big difference. Oh, my dear friends, when we bless our gifts to God, He takes them and blesses them and distributes them. And our gifts turn into blessings. Our gifts become Sunday School materials and insurance and snow-plowing and grass-mowing and music and preaching. Our gifts enable you to sit with me spiritually as I talk to people and hope to help them. And in spirit you go with me to the hospital to visit folks, all because of the gifts you give, my friends. You make a difference. You make a big difference.

Your gifts go forth from this church around the world, to help ministries of healing, of teaching, of food, all in the gifts you give, all in that which you will consecrate today for 2005.

Oh, my dear friends, may you feel the joy that comes from giving, and may you have the knowledge that you make a tremendous difference. It is true. God blesses and increases all that we have, all that we receive, and all that we give. God takes what we give and turns it into a blessing.

One last word: thank you. Thank you, dear and faithful people, who perhaps beginning this year or who year in and year out bless the ministry of this church. Thank you. Because of you, the lighthouse of faith that is Montgomery United Methodist Church shines on. The lighthouse of faith that is the United Methodist Church through the world shines on. God bless you and thank you. May you know the joy that comes from giving, and may you know that you truly make a difference.

God loves you, and I do, too. God bless you all. Amen.