An Abundant Ministry Part 5 – A Blessing Is Given

An Abundant Ministry Part 5 – A Blessing Is Given
“And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven and said a blessing over them. Then he broke the loaves and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.” –Luke 9:16

 Early this year, the Session at Christ Presbyterian Church announced the creation of a Building Fund for the purpose of adding on to our existing facilities. In October, I began writing a series of articles to explain the rationale behind our need for expansion. We’ve been looking at CPC’s situation through the lens of Jesus’s Feeding of the 5000 – and we’ll continue along those lines today.

So far, we’ve seen the crowd’s gather as Jesus’s ministry grows and we’ve watched the disciples growing dismay at their inability to meet the needs of the crowds. Despite their dismay and lack of faith Jesus commands the disciples to meet the needs of the crowds. In an amazing step of faith, the disciples make preparations to do as Jesus asked. Let’s pick up where we left off.

Jesus takes the meager resources of the crowd – just five small loaves of bread and two fish – and he says a blessing over them. We don’t know exactly what Jesus said of course, but I imagine his prayer went something like this: “Father, I know that you would minister to these crowds. I know that you have called them here for that very purpose – that they might learn who I am. But you know that these few loaves and fish are all the resources we have. Would you take our meager offering and turn it into an abundance – that these people may not only be fed with physical bread, but with the bread of life?”

Jesus must have prayed something like that. Because we read in the very next verse, “And they all ate and were satisfied.” 5,000 men plus their wives and children ate their fill from five loaves of bread and two small fish. The blessing of Jesus took the meager resources of the people and turned them into an abundance.

Last Sunday the Session at CPC announced that the church office will be moving into a portable on-site office building so that our office space can be converted into children’s classrooms. This is the first phase of our new building project. We are taking the resources that we have – meager though they may seem – and offering them to the Lord.

Would you join me in praying that he will bless that offering just as he blessed the loaves and the fish so long ago? May this first step will pave the way for an abundant ministry in the days to come – where men and women, boys and girls are fed with the bread of life.

Your Pastor and Friend,
John Knox Foster