Memories

I had my first shot at seeing how the church services at a local alzheimers center are run today, a bit of a learning day so that I can eventually lead a "service" there. Once a month, an informal gathering is hosted by the church that I work at so that the residents can experience church there. My pastor led a short message on the lectionary for the month, and it focused on the way that bread is used in some pretty amazing ways in the Bible, particularly the feeding of the five thousand. Though I have heard this story probably 20 or 30 times since I was in Sunday School, I caught myself really thinking about it this morning.

5000 is an arbitrary number, because the women and children of the day were rarely if ever counted when a group was assessed. More than likely, the number was closer to 10,000 people that were hungry and needed to be fed. That was the part that struck me today. Recently moving to a small town with a population of just over 10,000, I wondered what it would be like not only to talk in front of a crowd that large, but to be asked for food by a crowd that large. My mind immediately jumped to the meals that my former church prepared on a fairly regular basis, for around 200-300 people, or to the meals that our cooks prepare at a camp I'd worked at each week for about the same number. I always considered that to be a feat in and of itself...Now multiply that by about 33 -- and you've got Jesus' hungry crowd.

I had a hard time even coming up with a place now where a group that large could go and receive a decent meal with no notice, and for no charge. And, Jesus didn't even think twice. He knew what had to be done. The disciples were as befuddled as I am about how that could be done, but Jesus just did what he had to do and fed the crowd. "He only saw their need" was a phrase that my pastor spoke during his message, and I thought for quite a while about those words. After recently having been on a mission trip, this phrase struck a chord with me - what would it be like to only see the people's needs? To not see their disheveled hair and dirty clothes, to not see them on the street corners as befouling the city, to not see the bottle of whiskey or smell alcohol on their breath, to not see a hopeless person or child, but to only see their need.

As you can see, my thought process jumped around a lot during all of this, but that phrase at the end ties all of it together. We are simple human beings that have a difficult time understanding what it means to see past the surface and then , to go a step further and act upon what we see. May we all see the needs around us, and have the wisdom, courage, and strength we need to reach out to them.

** Another side note: one other thing that I caught myself paying a lot of attention to was the singing we were doing. Even at the Alzheimer's patient service, those residents could remember the words to the hymns we were singing, often, better than the rest of us that were there.

Listening to all of the residents sing, in truth, was nothing of note. Some of them were a measure or two behind, some were a little off key...but, as I sat there, singing along, I couldn't help but think I was singing, at that moment, in one of God's most beautiful choirs. I could almost see the smile on his face.