Having eaten their fill of the loaves and fishes, Jesus dismissed the crowds and sent his disciples to the other side of the sea in a boat. I imagine he said to the crew as they pushed off, “Go for it. Go on ahead. I will catch up with you later!” Jesus just needed a little time alone to pray. So, the disciples start sailing, the well-fed folks start heading for home, and Jesus sets his sights on the mountain before him. He just wanted some time alone to pray. He had a little time doing just that when he realized the boat hadn’t gone very far. The weather was bad, and they weren’t making any progress, so Jesus walks out to them. He scares them and then surprises them and then saves them. And they worship him.
This week I have been out at Dunrovin Retreat Center just north of Stillwater. Folks from Street Voices of Change, the Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless, Exodus Lending, and a few folks from the Sunday morning congregation were gathered there to learn how to organize people and power in order to make concrete improvements in people’s lives. We can be overwhelmed with the problems before us and freeze up and fail to act. We can look at the crowd of over 15,000 hungry people and run ourselves ragged thinking we have to feed them alone.
What if we take a hint from the life Jesus led? What if we started in prayer? Every morning on this training/retreat, I offer centering prayer. Some of us sit together and hold space for God to speak. God can surely speak through our clamoring and clanging, but I know that I won’t be able to hear God if I can’t be quiet and still for a moment. We spend time learning the tools of community organizing, and then we act. We put what we have learned into action with role plays that end up being strikingly realistic. No one is being literally pulled up out of the water (though the swimming on the St. Croix is particularly divine), but as Jesus says elsewhere in the Gospels, “The lame walk, the blind see and people are being raised from the dead.” The Kingdom of Heaven has come near.
Shalom,
Pastor Melissa