Full of Emptiness

Sermon at St John The Baptist Felixstowe  – 9th Sunday after Trinity  –  6th August 2023

Text:  ¹⁶ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.(from Matthew 14v13-21))

God give you peace my sisters and brothers.

In the Anglican Church of Southern Africa there was not always harmony between church women’s groups.  When the Province first began to grow the Mothers Union grew with it and it spread rapidly.  However in those Victorian times people took things literally and, if a woman was not a mother they were not permitted to become a member (something which has since changed).  To cater for those who were disenfranchised the Anglican Women’s Fellowship was born.  

Sadly, as happened too easily in the old South Africa, this developed into a split along lines of skin colour.  In general parishes in areas reserved for Black People the Mothers’ Union thrived and prospered and became a vital part of parish life.  In parishes in areas were White and people of Mixed Race lived the Anglican Women’s Fellowship held sway.  Sister organisations who held each other in high regard but each having a different way of sharing the Good News.  The Anglican Women’ Fellowship tending to follow Colonial practice with its members being the organisers of all things associated with social events.  The Mothers’ Union, in Africa a uniformed organisation, are akin to the ‘shock troops’ of the church, and are at the forefront of leading worship and being active in community work.  

Then one glorious day when I was part of the team at St Martin’s-in-the-Veld in the Northern Suburbs of Johannesburg the two groups met together.  The AWF from the wealthiest parish in Southern Africa, much used to mink coats and pearls, hosted the MU from St Paul’s, Jabavu in Soweto, many of whom lived in tin shacks and not all of whom had running water or mains sewage.  

The day went something like this:

There was a teensy bit of culture clash but great fun was had by all as the MU led the worship and the AWF served plateful after plateful of cake and poured buckets and buckets of tea.  As the afternoon drew to an end the MU members gathered together in a huddle and deputised three of their number to meet with the President of the AWF and with downcast faces apologised for their lack of manners.  What had they done wrong?  Despite their best efforts they had broken a cardinal rule of African hospitality and had not managed to eat all the food that had been laid before them!

Needless to say much laughter ensued as the AWF admitted that they had deliberately over catered as they would be embarrassed if any of their guests went home hungry.  The two groups then made immediate plans to meet regularly and repeat the experience but without any need to apologise if there happened to be ‘twelve baskets of food leftover’.

‘Loaves and Fishes’, a phrase beloved of Di Barnard and her heroic team of helpers is one of the mottos of our parish and, as we have already found in the first few weeks of our ‘Food for All’ programme, is being proven true again and again.  

More often than not we find when we are short on supplies God provides and all is well.  The unexpected arrival of 20 tins of tuna and over 100 dozen eggs yesterday means that Packed Lunches from Pushchair Pitstop tomorrow will have egg mayonnaise AND tuna mayonnaise fillings!

What do we do then?

Yes, (with the exception of those who didn’t want miracles a few verses before today’s gospel; Matthew 13.54-58) Jesus was able to work miracles almost on demand but this did not mean he did this without personal cost.

My response in times of grief and doubt is the Greta Garboesque ‘I want to be left alone’ or ‘ I don’t want to talk about it’ or ‘Business as usual will not be resuming soon… if ever.’  But Jesus, full of emptiness himself, works miracle upon miracle.

Disaster and grief weigh us down and leave us empty and in need of succour and support.  Jesus faces down demon despair and feeds a multitude… and then calls on us to do the same.

Look at the Gospel story again.  If anyone should be telling the people to go away surely it should be Jesus?  But no, it is the disciples who are worried about being overwhelmed.  Hear their words again;

‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ 

Jesus turns and says;

‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’

And the miracle begins to unfold.  Jesus takes their emptiness, (or all that a young boy had!), their inability to help and serve and heal and nurture, and feeds a multitude.

The Little Flowers of St Francis contains the Story of Perfect Joy (see below).  In it Francis reminds his companion Brother Leo that we should not be excited and rejoice about our possessions or our learning or even our ability to preach as all of these are gifts from God and are not ours to command in the first place.  Francis shows Leo that the only thing we can give to God, and we must needs learn to give this if we are to find perfect joy, is our sufferings.  For these are our only true possession and;

`What hast thou that (Francis reminds Leo) thou hast not received from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?’ But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, `I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’  

Or as the old hymn puts it:

‘In the beginning when God created the heavens and the earth, ² the earth was a formless void and darkness covered the face of the deep, (Genese 1v1-2)

If God can make the whole of creation out of nothing imagine what God can do with our emptiness?

If you give what you’ve got you’ll receive what you need.

In the week ahead how about everyone of us deciding to undertake a stock take of life, both physical and spiritual?

Is there something, some attitude to someone else, a grudge, an unforgiving spirit, an envy, anger that needs to be let go off? 

Can we open our hands and allow God to heal us as well as those around us?

Is there some deep hurt inside, a grief, a rejection, a despair, an abuse even, with which we have been hag-ridden for too many years?

Can we open our hearts and let God’s Holy Spirit bring us comfort and peace?

And finally, and this may be the hardest part of all, can we do a physical stock take of all the ‘stuff’ around us?  

Money, of course, but also other possessions which (like Gollum’s ring in The Hobbit) have become too ‘Precious’ and have the courage to let go of them?

Can we decide to open our pocketbooks as well as our hearts and give them to God for the healing of God’s people and for the feeding of multitudes?

Jesus said to the disciples, Jesus say to us ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’  May all those who come to us hurting or hungry leave whole and full-filled with the blessings of God received from our empty, open hands.

This blog ‘Full of Emptiness’ is copyright © Andrew Dotchin 2023.  It may be reproduced free of charge on condition that the source is acknowledged.

Matthew 14.13-21 – Feeding the Five Thousand

When Jesus heard [of the death of John the Baptist], he withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place by himself.  But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. ¹⁴ When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick. ¹⁵ When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, ‘This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.’ ¹⁶ Jesus said to them, ‘They need not go away; you give them something to eat.’ ¹⁷ They replied, ‘We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.’ ¹⁸ And he said, ‘Bring them here to me.’ ¹⁹ Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.  Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. ²⁰ And all ate and were filled; and they took up what was left over of the broken pieces, twelve baskets full. ²¹ And those who ate were about five thousand men, besides women and children.

The Little Flowers of Francis of Assisi CHAPTER VIII

HOW ST FRANCIS, WALKING ONE DAY WITH BROTHER LEO, EXPLAINED TO HIM WHAT THINGS ARE PERFECT JOY

One day in winter, as St Francis was going with Brother Leo from Perugia to St Mary of the Angels, and was suffering greatly from the cold, he called to Brother Leo, who was walking on before him, and said to him: “Brother Leo, if it were to please God that the Friars Minor should give, in all lands, a great example of holiness and edification, write down, and note carefully, that this would not be perfect joy.” 

A little further on, St Francis called to him a second time: “O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor were to make the lame to walk, if they should make straight the crooked, chase away demons, give sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, speech to the dumb, and, what is even a far greater work, if they should raise the dead after four days, write that this would not be perfect joy.” 

Shortly after, he cried out again: “O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor knew all languages; if they were versed in all science; if they could explain all Scripture; if they had the gift of prophecy, and could reveal, not only all future things, but likewise the secrets of all consciences and all souls, write that this would not be perfect joy.” 

After proceeding a few steps farther, he cried out again with a loud voice: “O Brother Leo, thou little lamb of God! if the Friars Minor could speak with the tongues of angels; if they could explain the course of the stars; if they knew the virtues of all plants; if all the treasures of the earth were revealed to them; if they were acquainted with the various qualities of all birds, of all fish, of all animals, of men, of trees, of stones, of roots, and of waters – write that this would not be perfect joy.” 

Shortly after, he cried out again: “O Brother Leo, if the Friars Minor had the gift of preaching so as to convert all infidels to the faith of Christ, write that this would not be perfect joy.” 

Now when this manner of discourse had lasted for the space of two miles, Brother Leo wondered much within himself; and, questioning the saint, he said: “Father, I pray thee teach me wherein is perfect joy.” 

St Francis answered: “If, when we shall arrive at St Mary of the Angels, all drenched with rain and trembling with cold, all covered with mud and exhausted from hunger; if, when we knock at the convent-gate, the porter should come angrily and ask us who we are; if, after we have told him, `We are two of the brethren’, he should answer angrily, `What ye say is not the truth; ye are but two impostors going about to deceive the world, and take away the alms of the poor; begone I say’; if then he refuse to open to us, and leave us outside, exposed to the snow and rain, suffering from cold and hunger till nightfall – then, if we accept such injustice, such cruelty and such contempt with patience, without being ruffled and without murmuring, believing with humility and charity that the porter really knows us, and that it is God who maketh him to speak thus against us, write down, O Brother Leo, that this is perfect joy. 

And if we knock again, and the porter come out in anger to drive us away with oaths and blows, as if we were vile impostors, saying, `Begone, miserable robbers! to the hospital, for here you shall neither eat nor sleep!’ – and if we accept all this with patience, with joy, and with charity, O Brother Leo, write that this indeed is perfect joy. 

And if, urged by cold and hunger, we knock again, calling to the porter and entreating him with many tears to open to us and give us shelter, for the love of God, and if he come out more angry than before, exclaiming, `These  are but importunate rascals, I will deal with them as they deserve’; and taking a knotted stick, he seize us by the hood, throwing us on the ground, rolling us in the snow, and shall beat and wound us with the knots in the stick – if we bear all these injuries with patience and joy, thinking of the sufferings of our Blessed Lord, which we would share out of love for him, write, O Brother Leo, that here, finally, is perfect joy. 

And now, brother, listen to the conclusion. Above all the graces and all the gifts of the Holy Spirit which Christ grants to his friends, is the grace of overcoming oneself, and accepting willingly, out of love for Christ, all suffering, injury, discomfort and contempt; for in all other gifts of God we cannot glory, seeing they proceed not from ourselves but from God, according to the words of the Apostle, `What hast thou that thou hast not received from God? and if thou hast received it, why dost thou glory as if thou hadst not received it?’ But in the cross of tribulation and affliction we may glory, because, as the Apostle says again, `I will not glory save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.’ Amen.”