Vacation Bible School Celebration Sunday Service

10:30 am, August 14, 2005

(outdoors with and at Christ the King Lutheran Church)

John 6:1-15

MATTHEW 6: 9-13

JESUS’ HOLY PICNIC – AND OURS

It’s great to be together on such a sunny day after our wonderful week of Vacation Bible School! And, as hot as it is, I think it’s really “cool” to worship together outdoors! Has anyone ever “been to church” outdoors before? (Responses as I walk around amid the congregation, as I will for the whole sermon.) Does this really “count” as church? (Responses from congregation.)

Now, where do you think we got the idea of praising God, praying, and taking bread, blessing it, breaking it and giving it to a whole bunch of people? (Responses.) Jesus did that? You mean that’s where we got the idea? Now, did Jesus just do that in big, dark buildings with lots of stained glass windows? (Responses.) You mean he did all that outdoors too? You mean Jesus went on a holy picnic?

It’s a picnic when you eat a meal on the grass outside, right? It’s a holy picnic when part of that meal includes praise to God (like the songs we’re singing) and prayers and when we take bread, bless it, break it and give it in Christ’s Name – when we have communion together.

Now, when Jesus had this holy picnic, did he have just a dozen people? (Responses.) A hundred? How many? (Response from a child.) He had 5,000 people at his holy picnic! He must have brought a couple of trucks full of food, huh? (Shouts of “No”.) No? Where did he get the food? (Response from a child.) You mean a little kid provided all that food? (Responses.) He just provided five loaves and two fish? And what kind of bread was it? Did he bring the ultra deluxe bread from Whole Foods or someplace? (Response from a child.) That’s right – we sang a song about that – barley bread. That’s the cheapest kind – the kind of bread people bought when they couldn’t afford wheat bread.

The adult leaders besides Jesus who were at Jesus’ holy picnic were clueless about what to do – but one child had faith, and shared everything he had! Jesus thought that was very cool. The little boy in the story of Jesus’ holy picnic is our model of generous stewardship: a poor child sharing his family’s lunch, giving it all to Jesus.

Now after he did that, do you think Jesus said, “I’m going to make this gift into more than enough for everyone – but you can’t have any because you’re a child? (Shouts of “No.”) That’s right – and that’s why all baptized people are invited to have communion with Jesus now, regardless of their ages.

From this boy we learn “Christian math.” Parents, did you know that your kids studied some math this week? Let’s remember it together: “Generosity + Jesus = more than enough.” Can you say that with me? (Repeat.)

Whether we have a holy picnic called communion outdoors like today or in a church building, we remember the holy picnics Jesus had. And we remember that everyone who is baptized can receive communion at a holy picnic. Did you have to be 21 to have that holy picnic with Jesus? (“No.”) Did you have to be a member of the Capernaum Yacht Club to have a holy picnic with Jesus? (“No.”) Did you have to be a member of a certain ethnic group or look a certain way to have a holy picnic with Jesus? (“No.”) It doesn’t matter how old you are or how much money you have or don’t have, where you’re from or what you look like. Jesus fed everybody – and he still does.

Now, at Jesus’ holy picnic, was there more than enough food for everyone? (“Yes.”) Does that happen everywhere in the world today? (“No.”) That’s right – there are a couple of billion people in the world who don’t have enough food today because of the way the world is today. Is there bigotry in the world today? (“Yes.”) Do some people not get along with each other at all? (“Yes.”) At Jesus’ holy picnic, there was peace, inclusive fellowship, and more than enough for everyone. The Christian Church is called to be like that – a peace-filled, inclusive community in which everyone is fed – and the Church is called to make the world more like that too. Those twin missions are why we collect offerings at all our holy picnics: to help the Church become its true self, and to help make the world more like the Church.

And we also have special collections, too. What’s all this stuff? (I stand next to the vast collection of gifts for the children in the Shelter for Battered Women and their children). (A child responds “It’s for the children in the shelter.”) That’s right – these gifts are for kids who really need things because they have hardly anything, and even more than they need stuff they need to know that someone they have never even met cares about them. They need friends.

So every time we pray, “Give us this day our daily bread”, let’s remember that God provides enough for our needs, and like that little boy in today’s story from John’s Gospel, we are called to share so that all can be fed. Amen!

The Rev. Francis A. Hubbard

St. Barnabas Episcopal Church

Monmouth Junction, New Jersey