Trinity Lutheran Church Of Ava

Trinity Lutheran Church Of Ava Trinity Lutheran Church small very friendly rural church where you are welcome to worship. We are associated with the North American Lutheran Chuch Synod.

We have a parking lot with plenty of handicap parking and is handicap accessible. pursuing a new direction for Lutheranism in North America. Those who are ready for positive change in the direction of faithfulness to our Lutheran heritage and confessions as well as the authority of the Scriptures are welcome to join us in the journey. Members of the North American Lutheran Church

08/23/2026

Pentecost 13 A August 23 2026 Trinity Lutheran Church, Ava, MO
Texts: Isaiah 51:1-6; Psalm 138; Romans 12:1-8; Matthew 16:13-20

When I take Fritz for a walk we communicate with each other,
sometimes verbally, sometimes through the leash. Most of the
time it works very well. I give him directions, telling him to stop,
proceed, go this side of the tree or whatever is there and not the
other side. I can do this with a tug on the leash or verbally. I can
stop a ways down the lane and he will stop and look at me, asking
if this is all the farther we are going or can we go farther. If I say:
that’s it Fritz, lets head home, he’ll turn for home. But there is an
occasional day when he wants to go further and I don’t and he will
try to go ahead, but I have the final word.

We have developed our communication skills over the years. I
have learned to “read” him and he has learned to “read” me.
Most of the time we do very well but there are some days the
communication breaks down.

Isn’t that true for most if not all our relationships? Isn’t it true for
our relationship with God? Most of the time we communicate with
our kids, our spouses, our friends, the circles of people around us
quite well, but there are some days it all breaks down and we
know all too well we’ve got some repair work to do.

I come across an old folk adage that describes how our prayer
lives develop over time: First, you talk and God listens. Then God
talks and you listen. There are times to speak and there are
times to listen. We can’t listen when we are speaking.

All of our lessons for today speak to the ways God speaks to us
and His desire for us to hear what He is trying to tell us. Learning

2 of
to hear and discern God’s voice amidst all the noise that
surrounds us is one of the greatest challenges we have in trying
to live faithfully. In part it may be because He speaks to us in so
many ways that we don’t expect. We expect Him to speak to us
when we are praying, worshipping, reading Scripture and
meditating on it. We may even expect an occasional, perhaps
rare inspirations coming unexpectantly or maybe through our
fellow human beings, even if they would be the least expected to
serve as God’s messengers.

In Isaiah, the prophet reminds the people three times to: “Listen to
me, you who pursue justice” (v. 1); “Listen to me, my people” (v.
4); and “Listen to me, you who know righteousness” (v. 7). Each
time it is followed by examples of God giving guidance, justice
and deliverance. What brought about God speaking this time? It is
obvious they weren’t listening. They thought God was not
listening. Communication had broken down. Through the
prophet, God calls out, assuring them that He has never stopped
listening, that He hears their cries and that God yearns for them to
listen to Him in return.

Paul reminds us in Romans 12 to listen so that we might discern
our gifts and callings. God created us with an intent, a purpose,
as he says: “We have gifts that differ according to the grace given
to us” (v. 6). He wants us to fulfill that purpose but if we don’t
listen, how can we? Faithful discernment requires us to listen
carefully for God’s call so we know what to say, what to do.

Matthew tells why careful listening is essential for people of faith
when he tells of Jesus first asking his followers, “Who do people
say that the Son of Man is?” Then he asks, “But who do you say
that I am?” We can’t hide in a crowd. Peter responds proclaiming
Jesus as the Messiah, and Jesus tells him that this insight came

3 of
not from human beings but from God. We are not told how God
spoke to him only that Peter listened faithfully.

All around us are people who seem to be listening to a small “g”
God, and the result is not good, not what our God, with a capital
G would have for us. I don’t think God would want all the violence
we have, or the wars or all the “isms” we divide ourselves with.
God’s question is simple and like Peter, our answer depends
entirely on how carefully we have listened for and heard God’s
and Jesus’ voice through the Holy Spirit.

Prayer should be marked by both speaking and listening. When
prayer is only us speaking, it begins to lose its power and vitality
that God has for us. When all we do is talk, our relationship with
God remains one-sided and undeveloped. God implores us to
listen — not only to break through the noise of our human world,
but because God longs to be a full partner in the conversation.

How does God’s voice sound to you? When have you heard God
most clearly? He may be speaking to you in prayer, or when
reading and meditating upon Scripture. He may even be
speaking through someone else or in some unique way to you.
We need to be open to Him speaking amidst the “noise” in your
life, and be sure you create enough ”quiet” for God’s voice to
break through.

08/20/2026

Pentecost 12 A August 16 2026 Trinity Lutheran Church, Ava, Mo
Text: Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Ro. 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matt. 15:[10-20] 21-28 Wayne A. Strohschein, Pastor

We began our worship today as we normally do with the words of the
Invocation asking God to be present with us. We then presented
ourselves as we know we are - sinners in need of God’s love, mercy
and grace, knowing that we have nothing to offer other than our
honesty. We can only stand before Almighty God and trust He loves
us enough to offer us forgiveness. Then I spoke the Words of
Absolution, words of faith in the hope and promise that He does
indeed forgive us our sins.
That is a whole lot in just a few words, spoken in a matter of maybe a
minute, but it sets the stage for all that will then follow.
What follows is a hymn that sets the tone for the service followed by
the Kyrie. In the rubrics or the guidelines of liturgy, the Kyrie is an
optional component to any worship service, but it truly is where we
must find ourselves. for the Kyrie is our humble asking for God’s
mercy as we collectively say - “Lord, have mercy.” In faith that He
has forgiven us we then respond with a hymn of praise and
thanksgiving - either the “Glory to God” or “This is the feast” response.
What a wonderful and powerful conversation we have had. Now we
are ready for the Lord our God to feed our Spirit with His Holy Word
and nourish us with His Holy meal . We are then ready to respond to
Him with our offerings and to go forth as He sends us out into His
World to give, as He has given to us.
What shows up throughout our liturgy, our worship, is both what we
need and what we are given - mercy. Mercy is also the subject in our
readings for today.
I think what ties it all together is the last line of the Kyrie where we
say: “for this holy house, and for all who offer here their worship and
praise, let us pray to the Lord.” Unspoken but so present is the idea

2 of
that we can pray to God and ask for His mercy and expect it to be
given to us sinners, or as Luther said, to us beggars, for we can do
nothing else but stand before God as beggars for His mercy. Our
hands are empty.
What does it mean to you when we, an assembly of people striving to
be faithful, to collectively pray for God’s mercy? What is the vision that
comes to your mind of who we are in God’s sight? What vision of God
comes to you? What vision of our relationship comes to mind?

With those questions in mind, let us turn to our lessons for today.
Both the reading from Isaiah and the gospel give us a glimpse of
God’s vision of His house as a crowded one because - It is to be a
house that includes everyone. That is the “house of prayer for all
peoples” Isaiah speaks of (56:7).
The Church (with a Capital C) is perhaps one of the few places where
people from different generations, identities, genders, as well as
ethnic and cultural backgrounds, can and have come together under
one roof. But it has also been the place that has drawn lines of
division. The Church is also in need of praying for God’s mercy and
forgiveness.
Kyrie Eleison, “Lord, have mercy” is the request featured in todays
Gospel. Time to take a closer look, dig a little deeper and see what
we can find to deepen our understanding of we are asking.
We begin with noting its setting. The setting of the story is in the
district of Tyre and Sidon. From Gennesaret and the northwestern
shores of the Sea of Galilee (Matthew 14:34), Jesus and the disciples
have pushed deeper into Gentile lands, in particular the lands then
known as Phoenicia, the lands of Tyre and Sidon. Earlier in Matthew’s
Gospel Jesus had suggested that this area was better off than some
other Gentile cities (Matthew 11:21-22), the setting of today’s story
and the fact that the unnamed woman at the center of the story is
identified as a Canaanite give us the sense all is not well here. That is
the backdrop for the narrative and introduces a theological

3 of
understanding of this encounter. It is like being given a heads up,
something is coming, better pay attention. It comes with the over
riding question Matthew’s readers had coming out of this story and is
the same question we have today: For whom did Jesus come? They
were wondering - for whom is God’s mercy and love? Is it just for the
Israelites or are Gentiles included? That is the context of today’s
narrative. We have the same question - For whom does Jesus
come? For whom is God’s Mercy?
With a force unmatched by “the faithful” around Jesus, the Canaanite
woman approaches Jesus in desperation. the particulars may be
different but the cry is the same as the cry we made this morning:
Kyrie Eleison—Lord, have mercy! The Canaanite woman, however, is
even more precise: “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!”
“For. . . my daughter is tormented by a demon!” Her prayer comes out
of the reality that her daughter, her flesh and blood, is not well, even
demonic. She is desperate. She seeks help from Jesus.
This is where things get weird, or so it seems.
Notice what does Jesus does. He apparently ignores her. In spite of
her faithful cry, Jesus’ first response is silence. He ignores her. The
disciples’ response is even worse. They seek to remove her, like an
annoying fly. And then, when it appears things have hit a low point,
she kneels before Jesus and they exchange a few words and then we
hear the reason for Jesus’ silence. At this point, Jesus understands
himself as having been sent only to the house of Israel. This woman
and her ailing daughter are not a part of Israel. They are Canaanites,
foreigners, outsiders. Some would say they are enemies of Israel.
Clearly, Jesus himself is not keen on dealing with this foreigner, in
spite of the fact that she approaches with the right language - “Have
mercy on me, Lord, Son of David!” But the barrier is already there.
She is a Canaanite, cursed in the eyes of Israel from the time of Noah
(cf. Genesis 9:25). According to the Israelites, Canaanites are no
better than dogs. It would seem by his response, Jesus also thinks
they are dogs. His response is an insult even if it is in keeping with
His Jewish tradition.

4 of

Back to the desperate Mother. She was desperate. She does not
back off at this insult. She can’t. Her daughter life depends on her. In
her desperation; metaphorically at least, she stands toe to toe with
Jesus. “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their
master’s table” (v. 27).
She believes Jesus can help her daughter. She is totally committed to
get His help. No is not an option. Thus, steadfast in her belief that
this Jesus can in some way help her child, she continues, unwavering.
And what does Jesus do now? Whatever it is that this Gentile woman
brings to the encounter, Jesus declares it to be faith. In the very least
what she brings is desperation, but it could also be mixed with a swirl
of superstition, hearsay, love, or even terror. We don’t know what
Jesus saw in her. We are not told. Whatever it is, Jesus calls it
faith—great faith! Her daughter is healed from that very hour.
Could it be, Jesus is seeing something behind her words, her actions,
something far deeper than even she realizes? Is this narrative any
more outlandish than our own asking for healing or mercy or
forgiveness? Were we outlandish this morning when we said those
words - Lord have mercy? Were we stepping over the boundary of
protocol, of manners, of expectations? How do we want Jesus to
respond to our request for mercy?
Today’s readings show us a way of living a life of being in a right
relationship with God and with God’s people regardless of their or our
past faults or sins. It is easy to find the differences that may cause a
sense of separation. It’s harder to see what we have in common that
can bring us together. These ethical, moral and religious challenges
are ever ancient and ever new. They are as challenging to us today
as they have always been. In reality we are but sojourners on the
path with others striving, seeking to be faithful followers all the while
knowing we are sinful, or as Luther said - we are saints and sinners at
one and the same time.

5 of
We cannot make ourselves saints but may we always hear God’s
invitation to come into His House of prayer for all people where we are
made saints.

08/09/2026

Pentecost 11 A August 9 2026 Trinity Lutheran Church, Ava, MO
Texts: 1 Kings 19:9-18; Romans 10:5-15; Matthew 14:22-33. Wayne A. Strohschein, Pastor

The other morning Karen and I were sitting in our living room having a
quiet, relaxing cup of coffee when, with no warning, a crack of thunder
hit seemingly right outside the front door. Fritz ran to his hiding spot
in the kitchen. Trouble flew off the arm rest scratching her way to her
hiding spot. That was the end of a quiet moment as the storm came
over us.
We live in a noisy, chaotic world. Storms, lightening, wind and all their
noise can come without warning, as do other natural sources of noise
to which we add a lot of our own noise. The VA audiologist I see says
very few people have undamaged hearing and among the military it is
almost rare not to have damaged hearing. Noise is a part of our
everyday living. We have all seen and heard nature at its noisiest with
severe thunderstorms that spawn high winds, tornadoes, and floods,
and we have seen their resulting damage.
We can well imagine what Elijha felt in the middle of the wind, rain and
fire that passed by him. We can well imagine what the disciples felt in
their fishing boat being blown about and battered by the winds and
waves.
But, if that is all we get from these narratives we don’t have much.
When reading such narratives in Scripture there is always more for us
when we scratch and dig below the surface. So, what more can we
find being revealed by todays narratives?
Both stories remind us of the storms we encounter in our life. The
physical storms we see, hear, and feel, but they also make us think
figuratively, allegorically, symbolically, and metaphorically about the
storms we have faced in our lifetimes and perhaps are facing even
now.
These are the storms that give rise to feelings of fear, anxiety, and
self-doubt. Elijah, as well as the disciples, encountered these
feelings and they began to question God and His intent for them.
They questioned if He was the cause of their troubles or if He just

2 of
stepped back and allowed these hardships to happen. They
questioned His presence with them. Don’t we do the same?
The characters in these stories made conclusions that are not
necessarily true, both about divine power as well as their’s. Don’t we
also do that, sometimes?
A good reason for this may lie in the fact that we look for God in our
human ways of thinking and doing, in actions, gestures and deeds
done. Perhaps that is why the fearful disciples didn’t recognize Jesus
until He calmed the storm or until He broke the bread for them at the
Emmaus dinner in Luke 24, or until He fixed them breakfast on the
shore or until He feed the 5,000 last week with five loaves of bread
and two fish. Even after all these events, did they really know who
Jesus was? Were they still looking for understandable proofs to
explain Jesus? Are we still looking for proofs of who Jesus is before
we will believe? Maybe faith in who Jesus is doesn’t come with proofs
but comes in a relationship built on trust.
Peter in today’s gospel story believes he has the power to walk on
water and finds he doesn’t. He calls out to Jesus to save him, trusting
Jesus can.
Elijah in 1 Kings 19 has been running away in fear for his life. He
wonders - where is God, why’s He letting all this stuff happen. He
seeks reassurance from God that He is near.
Elijah went to a cave where He heard the voice of God. There God
asked Him a question that haunts all of us: “What are you doing
here?”
Elijah tries to defend himself by telling what he has done for God.
Elijah concludes: All he has done seems for naught and now he has
given up and just wants to die, but God is not going to let Him give up
and die. In the question God asked him was a profound revelation.
It’s as if God was saying to him - I created you, I gave you life. I have
a reason for giving you life. I made a promise of always being present
with you, never leaving you, never forsaking you, always loving and
caring for you. Go and stand before me.

3 of
Elijah knew God was present so he “wrapped his face in his mantle
and went out and stood at the entrance of the cave” (v. 13). Then God
shows him: violent wind, terrifying earthquake and fire—all of which
are shown as overwhelming powers. God could be expected to be in
such powers. But He wasn’t. Then God shows Him what he didn’t
expect. Look at verse 12. God shows Himself in what seems small,
insignificant, inconsequential. I found different translations for v. 12,
each conveying where God was, in something so small He could be
easily missed. The literal translation of the Hebrew is - the “sound of
silence pulverized.” Other translations say: “a gentle whisper” (NIV), “a
still small voice” (NKJV), “a quiet whisper” (The Message), and there
are others still. But the one that struck me the most was the
translation—“a sound of sheer silence.” I thought of a phrase we
commonly use - deafening silence. I thought of being in a sound proof
room. I thought of how powerful silence can be.
Elijah’s experience of God was in sheer silence, in nothingness, but in
that nothingness He knew God’s presence. Where do we know God’s
presence? In what do we know God’s presence? Isn’t it most
strongly felt and known in the quietness of our relationship with God,
in our heart to heart, mind to mind, spirit to spirit relationship?
God then spoke, as in giving a command: Go and do what I called you
to do and yes, know that violence will result, but I the Lord your God
will make justice happen. I will be by your side. And Elijah went and
did what God wanted him to do.
The challenge before us is to see Elijah’s pathway to faith was in
trusting God to be present with him in all things, for all times. That is
our challenge also. There is no empirical evidence for faith. Only
when we fall silent, only when we have used all our best arguments
and have nothing left to say, does God speak. Only when Peter is
drowning does he find himself pulled out of the water. Only in the
depths of silence does Elijah hear God speak. In todays lesson from
Romans Paul speaks to this also when he says: “The Word is near to
you, on your lips and in your heart.” (Rom. 10:8) Faith is not about an
idea; it is about a relationship. When God comes near all other noise
is suppressed, creating a profound silence, and in that profound

4 of
silence comes the WORD of God by which we are all called into a
relationship with Him, called to live out our created purpose.
We are told: Take heart. The Word is near you. Whether it’s Elijah’s
journey fleeing peril or the tumultuous boat ride with the disciples,
today’s texts offer reflection on the presence of God. In the sound of
sheer silence, God is near to those with fearful hearts, even if God’s
presence is sometimes missed. Fearful hearts are understandable.
Tyrants were putting the prophets to death in Elijah’s day, they even
put Jesus to death, and they still are persecuting and killing Christians
in our present time.
The message “Do not be afraid” is a recurring note in Matthew’s
gospel. We hear it first in chapter 1 from the angel of the Lord
speaking to Joseph: “Do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife” (v.
20). Again in Ch 10 Jesus tells us to not fear, for God even takes care
of the littlest of sparrows (v. 31). We hear Jesus say it again today as
He speaks to the disciples in the midst of a storm. (14:27). We hear it
at the end of Matthew from an angel at the tomb, and then from the
risen Christ when He speaks to the women and disciples. (28:5, 10).
Repeatedly Matthew gives us this powerful Word of God’s assurance:
“Do not be afraid. I am with you.”
Take heart, all you for whom silence is all you have when you come to
pray. Take heart, all you who are fearful. Take heart, all you who are
seeking divine wisdom through choppy waters. Take heart, know the
Word of God that is planted in you. That Word is still near you. That
Word proclaims loud and clear - Christ has Risen.
We don’t need a mountain or a cave to retreat to, but setting aside a
special place or time to observe prayerful silence may open us to
knowing the Christ who dwells in our hearts. As Paul notes - God will
meet us, even in silence.
In today’s narratives, we see God working behind the scenes,
sometimes unseen, sometimes not heard, but He is there.
As Paul reminds us - nothing can separate us from Him. Everyone

08/02/2026

Pentecost 10 A August 2 2026 Trinity Lutheran Church, Ava, MO
Texts: Isaiah 55:1-5; Romans 9:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21. Wayne A Strohschein, Pastor

When we hear today’s Gospel lesson there are some things about it
that we can understand like Jesus wanting to get away by himself
after receiving the news of what happened to His friend John the
Baptist. We can understand a crowd of people following Jesus. We
can understand Him having compassion on them even as they
interrupted and intruded on Him. That was Him acting out what He
taught. We can understand the disciples wanting to send the people
away, after all it was now evening and they had apparently been there
all day. We can even sense they too had some compassion since
they were concerned about their being hungry and perhaps concerned
about their safety as night approached, BUT there are things in
Matthew’s account that we can’t grasp, get our heads around, explain
or understand how this could be true.
According to Matthew there was a crowd of five thousand men
besides women and children that had come together in what is
reported to be a lonely place. The disciples wanted to send the
crowds of people away so they could take care of their own needs,
like food and shelter. But Jesus said, “They need not go away; you
give them something to eat.”
Imagine if you had been one of those disciples. You look around and
all you can find are five loaves of bread and two fish. That is not going
to go far to feed this multitude of hungry people.
I think Jesus must have seen the looks on their faces and knew their
thoughts and feelings and He said simply, “Bring them here to me.”
What do we believe happened next?
I think there is in our human nature a tendency to be something of a
pragmatist that seeks logical explanations to something we don’t
understand. When we hear a story like today’s we seek and are
determined to find a plausible explanation for the the mysterious
unexplainable events like the supposedly miraculous multiplication of
food.

2 of
Could one possible explanation be that when Jesus took a loaf of
bread, broke it and distributed it, he opened the floodgates of
generosity in the gathered crowd and everyone quit hoarding their
lunchboxes, and, miracle of miracles, there was more than enough
food because they pooled their resources, sharing what they had with
each other?
That might be a perfectly plausible possibility. What better solution to
the problem they were facing than sharing? And it even fits with what
Jesus taught. But what are we seeking if we search for plausible
solutions to such a story as todays? Isn’t scripture’s purpose different
then all other writings? Isn’t it to point us to an understanding of God’s
message for us as conveyed by its writers, compilers, all inspired
servants of God so we can grow in our faith?
If that is true, then don’t we have to at least consider the possibility
that we are hearing of a miracle happening that day?
For us, inclined as we are by our human nature and trained and
conditioned to scientific ways of knowing, miracles strain our limits of
believability. The word “miraculous” enters our vocabulary only when
we have no other answer to the facts at hand.
That would not have been the case for Matthew’s pre-scientific
people. For them all of life was a miracle. If it rained, it was because
God sent the rain in answer to prayer. We instead look to
meteorologists who analyze atmospheric conditions and offer
educated guesses about impending storm systems.
Likewise, when it comes to illness, we know certain medicines can be
used to combat life-threatening diseases and, under the right
circumstances, they work. The ancients would have seen the entire art
of healing as God’s miraculous activity. They had a miraculous
worldview. They expected the miraculous. They understood that
everything in life happens within the constant care and control of God.
We use miracles as a fall back explanation when we have no other
plausible explanation, a decidedly non-miraculous world view.

3 of
Give this some thought - If the whole world exists within the constant
care and control of God, then contraband lunchboxes are not needed
to explain the multiplication of loaves and fishes. God’s providence,
God’s providing, is explanation enough. It is simply God’s doing.
I think we lost something when we ceased seeing life and the world as
a miracle. Yet this story of loaves and fishes multiplied can still turn us
toward God and His miraculous ways if we allow it too.
When we look at the world through the lens of a miracle, the way we
see everything is transformed, transfigured. There’s a fundamental
reorientation to how we see life that comes from being able to see
God’s providing miracles everyday, in the ordinary day-to-day events,
activities and ways life unfolds before us.
This view of the world takes cultivation. It takes time and effort.
Sometimes it means we must choose to go contrary to the way the
world sees things. We, after all, have had centuries of conditioning
that causes us to think there are no miracles, that everything has an
explanation that we just have to find it. It is saying - We are in control
and every mystery is ours to dispel.
What if instead, we relinquished control and receive the world as an
inexplicable gift, one given to us by God’s grace? Can we crack open
the door and allow miracles to enter?
Holding a miraculous worldview in contrast to the facts as we know
them isn’t easy. It goes against our grain, against the world’s view,
against the way we have been conditioned to think and act. But if we
are one of those whose faith seeks understanding, don’t we have to
allow God to be God, to do miraculous acts, to do things we can’t nor
ever will be able to explain or understand? I think we must. I think it is
vitally important for us to remember that God made physics as well as
rainbows. Perhaps it is equally important to remember that while
physics can explain the rainbow, it can never explain - the why.
Seeking the why’s is seeking to grow in faith.

4 of
When we hold the world as part of God’s created order that He is still
active in, where miracles are a part of everyday life, our faith is given
room to grow. We should expect them and if we do, we will see them
and we can accept them. When that happens, the way is opened for
us to live our lives with a faith of gratitude and abundance. As we grow
in that faith, with the wonders of God to behold, life itself becomes a
wonder to behold, a gift to which we can only bend our knee and give
thanks and praise for what he has done, is doing and will yet do.
In difficult times, we need to allow for and believe in miracles and to
accept they come from God’s love, grace and caring for us. It is a way
to live in faith with gratitude for God’s abundant love and continuing
care for us. It’s living with God given hope for what might yet be,
rather than living in despair, empty of hope.
Believing in miracles didn’t start when Jesus came on the scene.
Isaiah believed in miracles and he lived centuries before Jesus. Just
listen again to his words from our first lesson. Let you mind be open
to the imagery of his words, let them grasp your spirit and be lifted to
hear the miraculous acts he believed God had in store for them if they
but have faith in Him and follow His ways. I would strongly encourage
you to continue reading on to hear what Isaiah commends his people
to do.
Believing in miracles changes us and how we see things. It allows us
to see God providing for us in abundance, in ways we don’t expect or
even imagine. It allows us to receive the gifts that God has for us from
the whole width and depth of creation – all we are, all we have as gifts
from God. Without Him we have nothing. With Him we have
everything. Together then with Jesus, we can only look up to heaven,
give thanks and then declare - look what God has given us; what can
we do with these gifts? It changes us from perceiving - what I have is
mine and mine alone to seeing what I have as gifts from God, for my
use and for others. Our world view and my place in it is dramatically
changed from looking in to looking out.
So maybe Jesus’ distribution of the loaves and fishes did open the
floodgates of generosity, and if so, would that be any less miraculous?

5 of
It would certainly have changed them bringing lunch boxes just for
themselves wouldn’t it?
Maybe we can ask ourselves - When are we the crowd, hungry and
wanting to be fed? When are we the disciples who look at what we’ve
got, declare it insufficient, give it over to Jesus, and find it returned
more than sufficient? When are we the church, the Body of Christ,
confidently telling the crowds to sit down and be fed?
The feeding of the five thousand, quite the narrative Matthew has
passed to us, isn’t it?

Address

PO Box 1107 Located At Industrial Drive And Hwy 5 North Of The Ava StopLight
Ava, MO
65608

Opening Hours

9am - 12pm

Website

Alerts

Be the first to know and let us send you an email when Trinity Lutheran Church Of Ava posts news and promotions. Your email address will not be used for any other purpose, and you can unsubscribe at any time.

Contact The Place Of Worship

Send a message to Trinity Lutheran Church Of Ava:

Shortcuts

Share

Category