--David Whyte

 

A young man stopped me after worship and asked if I believed in the miracle of the loaves and fishes. Did I believe that things happened just as the story’s told, that somehow Jesus took the five loaves and two fish and multiplied them into a meal to feed thousands? I told him while none of us can know what happened on that day, I know the story’s true. For me, it is a regular occurrence, the spiritual foundation of my life, the truth upon which all else rests.

 

The simple, humbling reality is this: I don’t have enough. I don’t have enough skill, dedication, time or capacity to do all that needs to be done. I don’t have enough love to heal the hearts that need healing; I don’t have enough bread to feed all the hungry bodies, wisdom to inspire all the hungry minds, or grace to touch all the hungry souls.  Sometimes I can’t even love those closest to me very well, or forgive the smallest offense, or do the seemingly straightforward task.

 

But what Jesus says to me, time and again, is what he said to his first disciples: Bring what you have to me. Make your offering, however inadequate, and allow me to bless and multiply it. Don’t hold back because you don’t have enough. Give me something to work with and let me do what only I can do.

 

When I make my offering in a spirit of audacious humility, miracles often happen, many times without my awareness. They happen not because of me, but through the power of Jesus working through me and through us all. “Glory to God,” St. Paul once wrote, “whose power working in us can do infinitely more than we can ask for or imagine.” My part of the miracle is to make an offering, even, or especially, when I know that it’s not enough.

 

The theme for this weekend’s Diocesan Convention is, “We will, with God’s help.” What will we do? We will make our offerings in the service of the Gospel, knowing the kind of spiritual renewal we need is beyond our capacity to accomplish on our own. Yet in audacious humility and with confidence in what God can do, we will make our offering. We will rise to this moment, with God’s help.

 

As we prepare for Diocesan Convention this weekend, please join me in the Collect: