Dear Friends,
‘Father, we thank thee for these thy gifts. Bless them to our use and ourselves to thy service for Christ’s sake. Amen’. So began every meal in my childhood home, and I can still hear my father saying grace when we sat down to eat. It didn’t matter whether it was Sunday lunch or Saturday tea and bread and butter, we always gave thanks. That was the way in many homes in those days.
In Orthodox Jewish homes too, grace would be said after every meal. ‘Blessed art thou, O Lord our God, who causest to come forth bread from the earth. Blessed be he of whose gifts we have partaken and by whose goodness we exist. Blessed be he, and blessed be his name’.
Jesus too, always blessed and gave thanks for the food that was to be eaten, and you will remember that it was as he blessed and gave thanks that the two friends on the Emmaus Road recognised the Risen Christ.
Today we shall be looking at the story of the feeding of the five thousand, a story that appears in all four gospels, a true miracle on several levels. There was not much to eat, but still Jesus blessed and gave thanks. And in the multiplication and it is called, there was enough and to spare.
In a day when we take so much for granted, it is good to remember that with God there will always be enough and to spare. And it is especially important to remember to give thanks for what we have. The problem in our own day is that the resources of the world are not equitably shared. Thus, there have to be charities like ‘Christian Aid’, ‘Oxfam’, ‘WaterAid’ and ‘Storehouse’. So, as we do what we can to support them and to share our bounty, let us always remember to give thanks to God for all his generosity and goodness in every aspect of our lives.
With love and blessings,
Marion
Categories: Minister's Blog