9th Sunday after Pentecost-Proper 13A Rev. Melanie Lemburg
This week, while on vacation, I read a poem
about hope.It reminds me of today’s
gospel reading, the story when Jesus feeds over 5, 000 people with a few loaves
of bread and some fish. The poem is by a
poet named Denise Levertov and it is titled:A
Shared Grain of Hope – I
have a small grain of hope—one
small crystal that gleamsclear
colors out of transparency.I
need more.I
break off a fragmentto
send you.Please
takethis
grain of a grain of hopeso
that mine won’t shrink.Please
share your fragmentso
that yours will grow.Only
so, by division,will
hope increase,like
a clump of irises, which will cease to flowerunless
you distributethe
clustered roots, unlikely source—clumsy
and earth-covered—of
grace.[i]Think for a minute about the desperation
of the crowds, who follow Jesus to a place that is so remote, where they are so
unprepared as to not have brought food for themselves and their families.Think about the disciples, who are at their
wits’ end in knowing what to do for and with these pe…