Ordinary Time

Pause

Hold up. What’s on your mind? Is something bugging you? I know it’s easier said than done, but put it aside for a second. Don’t worry, it will still be there later.

Now is the time to have a moment with God. I know… God is always there, but this moment is for just you and God — not the 10 million other things that always seem to interfere.

All the other cares of this world are just that, cares of this world. Put them away and take this moment. Hold it. Cherish it.

Use it to breathe, slow down, and chat with your God — the God of words and wonders.

Listen

A man came from Baal-shalishah, bringing the man of God some bread from the early produce—twenty loaves of barley bread and fresh grain from his bag. Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat.”

His servant said, “How can I feed one hundred men with this?”

Elisha said, “Give it to the people so they can eat! This is what the Lord says: ‘Eat and there will be leftovers.’” So the servant gave the food to them. They ate and had leftovers, in agreement with the Lord’s word.

2 Kings 4:42-44

Think

You think Jesus was the first to one to feed a lot of people with a little bit of food? Turns out that the famous miracle of feeding the 5000 was less of an original and more of a remix.

Jesus takes the tracks laid down before him — the beats of Moses and the bass-line of the prophets like Elisha — and adds the full melody of the divine.

This divine symphony is the one that provides our daily bread, but also says that we can’t live on bread alone (see Matthew 4:4 and Deuteronomy 8:3), but by God’s word.

We can join in with a harmony of our own, using our share of life, love, and wealth to feed the poor and clothe the naked. Our tune is part of a song that is bigger than us, and when we listen for God’s song, we can play along.

Chris Suehr

Pray

Hey God — it’s me! I want to do something original, something meaningful. I want to be part of something. Show me where I can play my part in your masterpiece. Amen.

Go

“God, whose almighty word,
chaos and darkness heard,
and took their flight:
hear us, we humbly pray,
and where the gospel-day
sheds not its glorious ray,
let there be light!”

From “Thou, Whose Almighty Word,” 1813, by John Marriott