19th Sunday B August 11, 2024

19 th Sunday B

August 11, 2024

Today I find myself thinking about Raymond’s mom.  In the series Everyone Loves Raymond , whenever someone comes into his mom’s house, she says, “Are you hungry dear?”  Even if you answer no, she says, “I’ll make you a plate.”

 

When the prophet Elijah was down God sent him an angel to feed him.  Elijah has good reason to be down.  He just defeated the priests of Baal and now Queen Jezebel wants him dead.

The angel of the Lord knew enough to feed Elijah.  He will do better on a full stomach.  Just like Raymond’s mom.  He needed to be given food.  After Elijah ate, he could get up and go climb a mountain where he heard the voice of God speaking to him in a still small voice.

When I get down. I find myself looking for something to eat or someone to offer me a cup of coffee.  In time I feel better, and I go to face what ever challenge God has placed before me.  The one who feeds me or sits with me as I eat and drink, is like the angel who cared for Elijah.  After a time I feel better and I can get up and face what I need to face.

 

The angels in my life bring me “Powder Milk Biscuits” (the long-time sponsor of A Prairie Home Companion ).  “Powder Milk Biscuits give shy people the courage to do what needs to be done.”

How often do I meet people over lunch or coffee, and we seem to accomplish what we need to accomplish.  When I feel at the end of my rope, that is when I am reminded that I am not in charge, God is in charge.  When God asks me to do one more thing, God provides me the help I need.

 

Elijah is in the desert when God sends him an angel to minster to him.  We have all have desert moments in our lives.  We may consider who are the angels who God sends us to help us out.  We may want to look for the angels; they may not be readily apparent to us.  When we are in the desert it may be hard to see who an angel to us.   We may wait and be frozen.

I am reminded of the play Waiting for Godot.  After waiting in vain for Godot, the two hobos decide to go.  One says to the other, “Let us go."  The stage direction says they do not move.  We can be the same, we can give up and become frozen.  It is good that Elijah didn’t get frozen, for if he was, he would have missed God’s voice in the still small whisper.

When we are in a desert place, we are in danger of losing Hope.  Hope can come in the person who brings us food.  A letter from a friend.  A song that lifts our spirits.  Hope comes when we ask God to be in charge and we step aside to listen for the still small voice.

So often the ministering angel is the one who sits down and shares a drink or a meal with us. 

Today’s Psalm number 34 speaks of the goodness of our God, “Taste and see the goodness of God.”

When life seems hard, we look for and seek the goodness of our God.  We taste and see how good our God is.  We find hope as we taste and see the goodness of our God.

We will all hit bumps in the road, we will all have desert days, but that is not the end of the story.  We pause; we eat and drink and go forward to find hope in the words of our God.  We, like Elijah, listen for the still small voice of our God and we go forward to taste and see the goodness of the Lord.

Nineteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • August 9, 2026
We all have storms in our lives. The issue for Peter seemed to have been, when he took his eyes off of Jesus, he began to drown. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus and when we experience storms in our lives that is how we get through, we keep our eyes on Jesus and we get through. The second thing Peter did when he began to drown is he called out to Jesus, “Save me, Jesus.” Jesus reached out and took Peter’s hand. Peter experienced being saved by the hand of Jesus. Today’s Gospel reminds me of the song “Hold On” from the musical The Secret Garden , based upon the book by Frances Hodgson Burnett. In the play, Mary Lennox is orphaned and moves in with her uncle. Her uncle is a hunchback and his wife died in childbirth; their child (Mary's cousin) is kept in isolation for fear he will be a hunchback like his father. Mary discovers her cousin’s mom’s garden and together they work to bring it back to life. The child begins to get well; when her uncle’s brother complains, Mary consults Martha the maid. Martha sings “Hold On”. Martha is singing about the situation with Mary’s cousin and uncle, but holding on to the face of Christ is how we weather our storms. Look up the song on YouTube. Here are some of the words from the song: When you see the storm is coming, See the lightning part the skies, It's too late to run- There's terror in your eyes! What you do then is remember This old thing you heard me say: "It's the storm, not you, That's bound to blow away." Hold on, Hold on to someone standing by. Hold on. Don't even ask how long or why! Child, hold on to what you know is true, Hold on 'til you get through. Child, oh child! Hold on! When you feel your heart is poundin', Fear a devil's at your door. There's no place to hide- You're frozen to the floor! What you do then is you force yourself To wake up, and you say: "It's this dream, not me, that's bound to go away." Hold on, Hold on, the night will soon be by. Hold on, Until there's nothing left to try. Child, hold on, There's angels on their way! Hold on and hear them say, "Child, oh child!" And it doesn't even matter If the danger and the doom Come from up above or down below, Or just come flying At you from across the room!  When you see a man who's raging, And he's jealous and he fears That you've walked through walls He's hid behind for years. What you do then is you tell yourself to wait it out And say it's this day, not me, That's bound to go away.

Eighteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • July 31, 2026
The gospel begins with the words: When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist.... John is Jesus’ cousin; John is the one who leaped in his mother's womb when he met Jesus in his mother’s womb. John is the one who baptized Jesus and now Jesus hears that John is dead by being beheaded. Jesus is in grief and wants to be alone. We are told that in his grief, Jesus went off to be alone. Word gets out where Jesus is and all the people show up looking for him to heal and feed them. We are told that Jesus’ heart is full of compassion for the people. Rather than telling them to go away, to let him be, he heals them. This is the life of a disciple – people are not in need on my schedule. When people show up, I need to attend to them. We can never do ministry with our eye on the clock. Although he was tired and in grief, Jesus cared for the people. He knew he could not be there always and his disciples would need to help out. When the disciples tell Jesus the people are hungry, the disciples were the hungry ones. Jesus tells them to give them something yourselves. This is Jesus’ way of calling them to act as disciples. I have fed them with my words; if they need food for their bodies, give it to them yourselves. The disciples find five loaves and two fish. Jesus offers a prayer. Jesus gives thanks for what has been provided, an action of gratitude. He then gives them to the disciples to distribute. Jesus is asking them to continue his ministry by feeding the people. What is left over fills 12 baskets; the number 12 reminds us of the 12 tribes. Jesus has come to feed the whole world. Jesus provides the feast and we as disciples share what we have been given with others. The five loaves and two fish are enough to feed the crowd and provide many leftovers. Our God is a God of abundance. What God has provided is not wasted and what God has provided is given to us by disciples who participate in God’s work. If we are to be disciples, we need to learn how to feed others. Like Jesus, we may find that being a disciple interrupts our life. When someone is in need we attend, we put aside our own agenda for a time and attend to the person in need. Our grief may come later after we care for the person in need. Those who were fed echo the words of Isaiah in the first reading. They come and are fed body and soul. The feeding of the soul are the words of Jesus and the feeding of the body comes from the hands of the disciples.

Seventeenth Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A

By Rev. Christopher Welch • July 26, 2026
For many old movie buffs, the movie King Solomon's Mines is a classic. Our first reading tells the story of King Solomon and his prayer for wisdom. “For the treasures of his heart, not his mines, Solomon is rightly remembered.” The parables speak of searching for treasure; for us the treasure is our relationship with God. The one who found the treasure in the field sells all he has to buy the field. The merchant searching for pearls sells all when he finds one that is perfect. Today we are asked to consider: What is my treasure? What is my pearl of great price? What is so important I would sell all I have to possess it? In the parables Jesus is speaking about the kingdom of God. What is more important to us than the kingdom of God? What would I sell to possess the kingdom of God? I am reminded of a story by Fr. Anthony DeMello, a priest from India: When a holy man reached the outskirts of the village and settled under a tree for the night, a villager came running up to him and said, “The stone! The stone! Give me the precious stone!” “What stone?” asked the holy man. “Last night Lord Shiva told me in a dream that if I went to the outskirts of the village at dusk, a holy man would give me a stone that would make me rich forever.” The holy man rummaged in his sack and, pulling out a stone, he said, “He probably meant this one. I found it in the forest yesterday. Here, it’s yours if you want it.” The man gazed at the stone in wonder. It was the largest diamond in the world – the size of a man’s head. All night he tossed about in bed. At break of day he woke the holy man and said, “Give me the wealth that makes it possible for you to give this stone away.” The kingdom of God is not something we possess, but something we seek for and when we find it, we share it with others.