God Helps Those Who Help Others

We are looking forward to seeing you at our next events:

• Village Fair and UnFair 5K on August 17th. Ask how you can help!
• Next Death Cafe Friday August 30th at 4pm. no

May you find in this week the Gentle Blessing of Rest.

You may watch the Recording HERE.

This is a passage around bread and our need for sustenance.  It’s an echo of what’s behind Communion.  We need our physical sustenance, yes, but we also need our spiritual sustenance.   

We can get distracted by the food stuff and the stuff stuff and it’s a very human habit to start hoarding the food stuff and the stuff stuff…just in case.  A little bread is a good thing, a little extra bread isn’t a bad thing, for those just in case times. I mean, God helps those who help themselves, right?   

Well, kind of, maybe, not really.  When we start to focus on helping ourselves, it’s easy to get into the habit of hoarding.  We tend to our own needs first and sometimes we forget to tend to anything else.  We’re looking out for our needs and our desires. We think: once those are met, then we can think about others, but we gotta helps ourselves first.  What is enough?  

You can see this too in the passage.  People are following Jesus to get more of the food stuff, to tend to the physical needs, forgetting that even in the most challenging of times (maybe most especially in our challenging times) we must tend to our spiritual nourishment, not just the physical needs.  

These followers have lost track of their bigger Questions.  It’s important to continually ask ourselves what God asks of us.  This is what keeps us on the path, even/especially when we’re confused about the answers.  These followers have gotten distracted by the food stuff and the stuff stuff. The miracle of the stuff that makes life easier. Enough food.  Enough stuff.  The things that make us, not always happier, but secure.  Who doesn’t want more of that?  

Let’s think about this for a moment.  The little miracles of our own lives.  PAUSE.  We have enough food to eat (and then some).  We have shelter over our heads (and then some).  We have work to do (and then some).  We have family and friends to love (and then some).  We have our health and wellness (perhaps even those of us who are dealing with illness are not so bad off as we might be). We’re safe and well and well off (and then some).  Maybe the miracles are not longer multiplying buckets of food right in front of our eyes, but the miracle of plenty that blesses our lives!  

And yet, we too are distracted by “how did this happen?” (often in the form of: this could all disappear/I don’t deserve this) and “might I have more?” in our own lives. That tendency toward…more and well, God helps those who help themselves, right?  

Well, kind of, maybe, not really. 

In desiring more, perhaps we’ve lost sight of the miracle of it all.  Not the blazing miracles of the moment we read about in the Bible, but the overarching miracle that we have enough (and then some).  We live in a garden of Plenty.  That’s a miracle.  

We’ve lost sight of the miracle for the dangling nugget of “more”.  We keep helping ourselves to more.  Again, when we get focused on helping ourselves, we can lean toward…only helping ourselves.  Getting into a mindset that I’ll be able to help others when I have…just a little bit…more.  

We see this everywhere.  In our own lives. In the lives of those around us.  In the bigger world.  On our Friday Walk this week, our conversations turned to our politicians.  And a reminder to remember that those quietly doing their jobs don’t make the news.  There’s hope that underlying all the attention grabbing newsworthy blasts are those quietly working hard to make a difference.But on out walk, we noted that it seems that our leaders seem to get into office and begin working toward getting themselves reelected versus doing the work.  

God helps those who help themselves, right?  

Well, those words are not actually in the Bible.  There are echoes of it, but this is one of those phrases we often attribute to the Bible, but isn’t actually in it.  The gods help those who help themselves is actually an ancient Greek motto that does have some influence on future societies.   

God helps those who help others.  That’s everywhere in the Gospels.  

Don’t follow for the food stuff and the stuff stuff only.  It’s not for the miracle of food and our own wellbeing.  It’s the miracle that we are fed by the spiritual sustenance that comes to us through Grace. It’s the miracle of coming together to ponder the miracles and the Mystery.  It’s the miracle that we are fed and healed so that we can bring our best selves to the work of this world.  

The food we share together is a reminder to sustain our bodies AND sustain our spirits.  It is a reminder that every time we eat, we might bring our hearts and minds back to God.  The food we share together is done in community, in communion.  

We don’t do any of the most important work alone.  We are called to have faith in God. Faith that there will be enough and there will always be enough.  But in order to have that “enough”, we must not cling to it and hoard it. We must pass the bread and the juice on to those beside us on this journey of life.  Friends.  Loved ones. Neighbors. And yes…those we don’t like so much all the way to our enemies.  

God helps those who help others. We live in the miracle of food.  We are blessed with so much plenty that sustains us to ask the bigger questions: What does God ask of me?  

We are asked to believe and to have faith.  Believe that we will always be tended, loved, and nudged by Grace.  

We are asked to help others. To share what we have, to give away our more than enough.  To work for others.  To pray for others. To forgive others.  To Love others.  

We are asked to trust in the sustenance of Jesus and God.  To receive and give and receive and give again.  To trust that in a world of the miracle of plenty we are blessed and loved and charged to change the world…one ripple at a time.  

Communion is a time of this balance.  We all take of the bread and the wine.  The rest is shared…with everyone.  Everyone is welcome to our Communion Table.  Communion is taken and shared under the holiest of rituals, under the eyes of Grace.  We are seen and fed from the miracle that we live in a garden of plenty and

we are called to ask ourselves: What is it that God calls me to do?  What is it that I have to give?