We were at Church yesterday for Xander’s first communion. First communion is the ceremony allowing children to begin taking the “Body of Christ” within the Christian Church, or more specifically the Catholic Church. It was a nice ceremony.
Father Kevin, our pastor (the head of the local Church) lead the service with the help of Father Mike, the assistant Pastor. Father Kevin has only just recently arrived while Father Mike has been there forever though it’s only a weekend thing for him as he teaches at Seattle University. I’ve always like sermons from Father Mike as I find him insightful and interesting even when I don’t agree with his direction. Father Kevin, on the other hand, tends to ramble and is really hard to follow whether you agree with him or not.
Yesterday was interesting though. He wasn’t giving a sermon to us adults. He was giving it to the kids – the ones going through first communion. He was actually pretty good and clear and focused.
In addition to that, he mentioned something that just blew me away. The key of his sermon centered around the gospel of the 2 fish and 5 loaves feeding 5000 followers. I’ve always heard sermons talking about this as a miracle whether directly or just glancing at it. Father Kevin though took a new tact, at least to me. He presented it as if it wasn’t a miracle at all. He explained it by saying that Jesus told his apostles to share what they had and it will take care of itself. And by taking care of itself, what Jesus meant is that the people (the 5000 followers) would feel the generosity and would also share what they had and soon all the people would have more than enough. In fact, the story ends with them having 15 baskets full of left overs.
This interpretation is such a truly inspirational and spiritually truthful story that I just wanted to pass it along.