Reverend Raymond Osborne, Pastor

Please Note That Most Messages Follow
The Revised Common Lectionary

Turn in your bulletins and pray the printed prayer with me in unison:

Awesome God, we fumble through life and sometimes the things that are most important end up in broken pieces around us. We stand in the middle of our broken pieces remembering that you are the healer, the reconciler, and the mender of brokenness. Hear the cries of our hearts and allow our worship to bring us to wholeness in you. Amen.

I want to begin this morning by making a profound statement. I don’t make too many profound statements so when I do I want to announce it in advance so you don’t miss it. Ready? Okay here it comes. Listen closely and be certain not to miss it!

Life
Is
Tough!

Did you get it? Did you hear me? Profound discovery isn’t it? Let me repeat it for all who missed it:

Life
Is
Tough!

Somehow this morning I get the feeling that I’m not the first person to stumble across that information. Somehow I get the feeling this morning that I’m not the chosen “one” upon whom this great knowledge has been bestowed. Am I?

You see if you live for any period of time in this world, our life experience teaches us exactly that doesn’t it? That Life – is – tough! And the toughness of life knows no prejudice. It matters not if you are tall or short, skinny or pleasantly plump, black, red, yellow, or white, rich or poor, male or female, young or old, religious or atheistic, life is tough and full of hard knocks.

I remember a day when my son had accidentally broken a favorite toy of his. He gathered up all the pieces and brought them to Daddy for Daddy to fix. And you know what? It broke my heart to look into his little eyes and say “Sweetheart Daddy can’t fix it. I’m sorry.”

A perfect example of life isn’t it? Only in life it’s broken bones, broken dreams, broken relationships, and broken hearts, which cannot be fixed with a little glue, scotch tape, or a hammer. It pains my heart to know there are things that my children are going to experience throughout life that Daddy will never be able to fix.

Over the course of my life and ministry, I have people who come to my office or home whose lives have been broken, whose relationships are fragmented, whose spirits are wounded. They cry about the things that have happened in their lives and all I can do is provide a sense of presence, offer prayers, and surround them with the love I hope sincerely reflects Jesus’ love. The feeding of the five thousand story provides a sense of direction and purpose as to how we are called to live as Jesus’ disciples.

Imagine the scene: It’s dinnertime, the people are hungry and the disciples are clearly nervous about this crowd. Perhaps they knew that people who are physically discomforted get agitated. They might have feared there would be a riot. Jesus proposes that the disciples buy bread to feed the hungry crowd. The disciples respond by calculating the cost of feeding the crowd. It would be impossible for the disciples to come up with the kind of money it would take to feed five thousand people.

That’s a typical attitude though isn’t it? People all around us are experiencing hurt and we don’t want to talk with them about their pain because it makes us uncomfortable. Homeless people sit on the streets and we walk around them thinking that if we ignore them they’ll go away. Have I ever told you how proud I am that this church is involved in feeding the homeless? Not pride of a bad nature, but a good kind of pride. You go monthly and try to make a difference in the lives of those who are less fortunate, those who have experienced the toughness and hard knocks of life. Thank you for doing that!

That’s exactly what Jesus and the disciples did that day! They fed five thousand people. Now for me the significance is not in feeding five thousand people but the command Jesus gave the disciples are the feeding was done.

“Gather up the fragments left over, so that nothing may be lost.”

At the end of the instruction, the word “lost” (apollumi in the Greel) means to destroy fully, to perish or lose. It almost seems as if Jesus’ instruction is about people rather than food. It is the same word Jesus uses in John 3:16, where it is translated as perish. “For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son, so that everyone who believes in him may not perish but may have eternal life.”

Let me tell you something else you are doing that makes me very proud. As you take these welcome baskets to our new neighbors welcoming them into our community – I am so proud of you!! To receive the wonderful thank you notes we have been getting is exciting!

Do you understand that is one of the foundational purposes of the church; to go and gather the people?

In fact, Jesus puts it like this, “Go out into the roads and lanes, and compel people to come in, so that my house may be filled.” (Luke 14:23)

Put let’s get back to the command of Jesus in our story, can we hear something about Jesus’ intention for our brokenness? Does Jesus worry about the leftovers? The leftover people who are broken and shattered are important to him and he gives us an instruction to pick up the broken pieces.

We can’t mend the brokenness, that is God’s action, but we can make sure that we are there to be instruments of reconciliation and healing.

When we bring broken pieces to Jesus, he restores and renews them into a new creation. Someone once wrote:

“I saw a strikingly handsome Japanese tea bowl that had been broken and pieced back together. The image of that bowl made a lasting impression. Instead of trying to hide the flaws, the cracks were emphasized – filled with silver. The bowl was even more precious after it had been put back together.”

God uses our brokenness so that something more precious can be created. All God asks of us it to gather the broken ones so that none may be lost.

This morning, I have some broken pieces of pottery here. As you come to receive the Lord’s Supper I’m going to ask you to pick up one of these broken pieces and keep it.

There are three reasons I am asking you to do this. One is as a reminder that we are to be in the business of gather the broken pieces. That’s part of what church is all about. We can’t put the pieces of someone’s life back together but we can gather the pieces so God can.

Secondly, the piece will serve as a reminder that when your life has been broken God can put you all back together again.

And finally, today is World Communion Sunday. Throughout the World God's people are scattered as broken pieces. Just as with our lives, though we are broken and scattered, the Holy Spirit of God is uniting us this morning as we partake of the Lord's Supper.

The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper is Served by Rev. Osborne to the congregatin at this time.

Benediction:

Take your broken piece home and place it where you can see it daily as a reminder of Jesus’ command to His disciples and to us, “pick up the broken pieces so that none will be lost.” Amen.

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