In the summer of 1972, now almost 30 years ago, Hurricane Agnes struck the Susquehanna River Valley of Northeastern and Central Pennsylvania including the entire city of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.  Thousands of residents of Central and Northeastern Pennsylvania lost their homes.  Many lost all they had.  Damage was in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  Muck and mire were everywhere.  It would be years before the area would bounce back which it eventually did. 

            But coming to the rescue of those residents of the Susquehanna River Valley were not only Lutherans from Central and Eastern Pennsylvania, but also Christians from all over the Eastern part of the United States.  Their help was a Godsend.  But there was one church outside the city of Wilkes-Barre, which had not been touched by the floodwaters – thank heavens.  There volunteer workers came at the end of a tiring day of hot sweaty salvage work before returning to their homes across the state.  That church had a beautiful new carpet of which its members were very protective.  That church also had a sign, which greeted all workers, who came to its front doors.  That sign read, "Wait, do not come inside.  First wash your hands, remove your boots, clean your tools, take off your muddy clothes, make sure you are dry, now you are acceptable, and may come in." 

            I am one who very much values and orders neatness and good order.  Just ask our office staff back in Pittsburgh.  So therefore, I am certainly not one to criticize anyone else for wanting the same commodities.  But I wonder if this group of Christians had not gone too far in giving that hidden message, “Love has its restraints.  Caution and propriety reign here.”  Why even the angels of mercy, as were these volunteer workers, who had worked hard all day in the heat of the day for the benefit of others in Jesus name, they will meet certain criterion.  Love after all has its limits. 

            Obviously in our Gospel lesson from Mark 6, Jesus makes it very clear that love has no boundaries.  When the disciples saw how late it was, and how tired and hungry the crowds were, they said, "Send them away so that they can find something to eat."  It was clear to the disciples that the people were tired and hungry.  Yet their attitude was, "Get rid of them and let someone else worry about them."  Jesus said, "You give them something to eat."  There are always those who will say, "Let others worry."  And there are others who will say, "I will worry about my sister and brother." 

            One of the commentaries on St. Mark’s Gospel says, "it is a notable fact that no miracle – except this, the feeding of the 5,000 seems to have made such an impression on the disciples as this, because this is the only miracle of Jesus which is related in all the four gospels." 

            Our Gospel lesson this afternoon also shows us two distinct reactions to human resources.  When the disciples were asked to give the people something to eat, they insisted that twenty pounds was not enough to buy bread for all these people.  And then the little they had – the twenty pounds would be wasted.  In a way the disciples were saying, "We could not earn enough in more than six months work to give this crowd a meal."  The disciples were also saying, "Anything we have is nothing at all."  But Jesus says, "What is it that you have?"  In fact what Jesus says with some attention to details is, "How many loaves do you have", and then he says, "Go and see." 

            What they had were, in part, five loaves.  Their loaves were nothing like the size of a traditional European or English loaf of bread.  They were more like rolls.  John 6: 9 tells us that they were barley loaves.  Barley loaves were the food of the poorest of the poor.  Barley bread was the cheapest and coarsest of all bread.  They also had two fishes.  They would be about the size of sardines.  Finally, what they had did not seem like much. 

            But Jesus took it, and worked wonders with it.  Notice also, as one of the bishops I serve likes to point out with this text, Jesus blessed the food they had – he gave thanks to Almighty God for it.  It did not seem like much, but Jesus gave thanks for it.  Yes, if our resources are placed into the hands of Jesus Christ, there is no limit to what he can do.  In the hands of Jesus, our talents and gifts are always abundant. 

            My younger son, Thomas, is now age 24.  He graduated from Thiel College two years ago and he now stands 6’5".  But when Thomas was a small lad, he and I had one thing in common, we both liked the circus.  One Saturday afternoon, I took Thomas to the circus in downtown Pittsburgh.  As we entered that large auditorium in the city in which the circus was being held, I noticed off in one of the alcoves – to the side – a young woman who worked for the circus with strong arms and who also had a lemon.  She would throw this lemon up in the air and catch, and again, and on the third time she caught the lemon and squeezed and squeezed all the lemon juice out of the lemon.  Then she said to any man, woman, or child that thinks you are strong enough to obtain another drop of lemon juice out of the matted pulp, I will give you $100.00 dollars.  Finally, one older gentleman came forward, raised his hand, and said, "Miss, I think I am strong enough to get another drop of lemon out of this matted pulp."  That older gentleman took that matted pulp in his hand, and squeezed and squeezed, and sure enough there was a fresh drop of lemon juice.  Well, the young woman who worked for the circus was simply astounded.  She said, "Sir, I have to know, what is your profession, your vocation?"  The older gentleman said, "Why I am the treasurer of the local Lutheran Church." 

            Stewardship, commitment, is not squeezing another drop of time, talent, or treasure from an already decreasing supply of these gifts.  Rather it is a joyful response of my whole life to a God, who has called you and me to a different kind of lifestyle in proclamation, and in serving, and in giving, and as the people of God the church.  A God who would be so magnanimous to give to you, and me, and many others the great and significant mission the church has been given would not be so cruel to withhold the resources needed to fulfill God’s mission.  If the mission is there, the resources are there.  The resources of time, and talent, and treasure, and spiritual gifts, and prayer, and we ourselves, and five barley loaves, and two small fishes.  We may think what we had been given in this world is insignificant, or of little talent, or of no real substance.  Frankly, if we place what we have been given or we ourselves into the hands of Jesus Christ there is no telling what he can do. 

            In February or 1987, I was attending a small group meeting in a city to the south, Washington, DC.  In our group there happened to be Dr. Karl Mau, former general secretary of our Lutheran World Federation.  Seeing Dr. Mau reminded me of a story that was in our Lutheran magazine some time ago which told of a time when Dr. Mau, then as general secretary of the Lutheran World Federation, was preaching as a guest in Karaganda, that is a city deep within Russia, we used to say the Soviet Union, in a congregation made up of 4,000 Lutherans mostly Germans who had been exiled from Moscow to Karaganda in the late 1930’s under Joseph Stalin. 

            Dr. Mau said, "This congregation was literally thrilled when I spoke about the fellowship they shared in the world community of Lutherans.  Remember also these are people who very existence the church was unsure about after their exile to Karaganda in the late 1930’s.  It wasn’t until decades later that anybody from the outside free world got to visit these people and check on their safety." 

            But one thing these people did not know about was the problem of hungry and homeless people in our Lord’s world and what the church, through concerned Lutherans like you was attempting to do to help alleviate the problem year after year through our Hunger Appeal and many domestic efforts also.  When Dr. Mau shared this in his preaching some of these folks were so moved that they actually began to weep.  Well, the issue did not end there. 

            For immediately after the worship service was over, the elders of the parish called an emergency meeting of their group in the back of the church, where they decided right there on the spot, they would share in love one half their congregations treasury as their response of unconditional love with this problem of hungry and homeless people in our Lord’s world.  This amounted to $16,000 dollars.  Unfortunately, their gift of love could not be shared, because Russian currency, at that time could not be taken out of the country.  It was too difficult to convert.  

            But the beautiful part of the story that even though these Christians – had practically been forgotten about for decades – their faith, their baptism, God’s love for all his children working in and through them was alive, vibrant, dynamic. 

            In spite of what these dear souls lived with daily, and what they lived without, this group of Christians – Lutherans, knew what it meant to be faithful to a heavenly realm and that God’s love has no boundaries.  Their witness is obviously a witness to you and to me this afternoon. 

            In our Gospel lesson today, Jesus says to the disciples, "Well what is it that you have?" – referring to the five loaves and two small fish.  So as God has given to you and to me a most precious gift in his Son Jesus the Christ, so may you and I be led to respond in faith to this boundless love, this amazing grace so to speak by living a life of thanksgiving in faith, in service, and in giving.  Thanks be to God.  Amen.