The task: Decorate our homeroom door in a Christmas holiday theme; compete with every other homeroom in a high school of 1500 students.
Our resources:
1. Donna and me (no one else in our homeroom volunteered)
2. $3.08 we collected from the other 28 students (which Mr. Mick shamed them into contributing since they were unwilling to help with the project ... and believe me, even in the 60's that wasn't much money)
3. Our imaginations
4. A desire to win
Timeframe: We had from that Monday morning until Friday afternoon ... less than a week. The judging would be Friday after school, and some of the doors already showed the beginnings of decoration by that Monday afternoon. Competition was going to be stiff.
To say I was dispirited would be an understatement. How could we possibly win? I wasn't even certain we could come up with anything to put on the door with just $3.08 to spend. It seemed we had been given an impossible task. There are few things more frustrating. Especially if you don't want to disappoint the person who gave you the task.
I feel that's the situation facing the disciples in this week's Lectionary scripture from the gospel of Matthew. After a long day, they find themselves, literally, in the middle of nowhere ... surrounded by over 5000 hungry people. Their solution? Send the people away so they can make their way to (hopefully) nearby villages where they can buy food for an evening meal.
The impossible task? Jesus says, "They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They were understandably skeptical, pointing out that there were a scarcity of resources ... nowhere near the amount of food needed to feed such a vast crowd of men, women, and children. I'm certain they felt a bit frustrated by the assigned task, and I don't doubt there was some concern about disappointing Jesus.
But there is huge difference between my experience and that of the disciples. In their case, Jesus met their doubts and skepticism head on. "Bring [the five loaves and two fish] here to me," he tells them. Then, not only does he distribute enough food for everyone to eat their fill, but the leftovers fill 12 baskets!
After much wringing of hands, Donna and I eventually came up with a strategy for our door decoration; one that, despite meager resources, made us contenders in the competition. It was a creative work-around that not only scored us some points with the judges, but gave us and them a few chuckles, as well. And we stayed within our tiny budget.
But what happened to the disciples was completely different, a miraculous multiplying of the resources that met and then reached beyond the needs of the moment.
Our takeaway: always take your impossible tasks to Jesus. Never despair. Jesus can accomplish incredible things with nothing more than our faith and the few resources at hand.
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Some have asked about the outcome of the door competition. With our $3.08, Donna bought one package of red crepe paper and one green, plus a sheet of letter stencils and some two-sided tape. She traced and cut letters out of the red, while I taped the green along one half of the door (right side, floor to ceiling). All I had to cut was a notch for the little window in the door at eye level. The result? The right half of the door was covered in green and the left half remained undecorated wood. On the wood side, arranged diagonally from bottom to top, were the red letters:
BAH HUMBAG!
SCROOGE
We won 😜
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READINGS FOR THE COMING WEEK
Proper 13 (18) (August 6, 2017)
http://lectionary.library.vanderbilt.edu/
Genesis 32:22-31
Psalm 17:1-7, 15
Isaiah 55:1-5
Psalm 145:8-9, 14-21
Romans 9:1-5
Matthew 14:13-21
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Join us at the Waco "Egg and I" restaurant Friday morning at 8:00. We're there for about an hour, enjoying each other's company over a good meal. Friday mornings are a time of eating, reading, praying, discussing, and laughing ... miracles in their own right.
Blessings,
Steve
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