Nourishing Fragments

November 8, 2021

Scripture

Thinking he was scolding them for forgetting bread, they discussed in whispers what to do. Jesus knew what they were doing and said, “Why all these worried whispers about forgetting the bread? Runt believers! Haven’t you caught on yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of bread and the five thousand people, and how many baskets of fragments you picked up? …. The problem is yeast, Pharisee-Sadducee yeast.” Then they got it: that he wasn’t concerned about eating, but teaching—the Pharisee-Sadducee kind of teaching.

(Matthew 16:7-12 MSG)

Nourishing Fragments

“Lewd fellows of a baser sort”, emerges from the fragments of my mind as a humorous descriptor of some group under discussion. Two long time sufferers of my humour came independently of one another to say they burst out laughing when they discovered it in  the King James Version of a story in the Book of Acts. I’m a veritable compendium of fragments of songs, poems, lyrics, quotes, old jokes, and bits of alleged wisdom. They are old friends, collected over the years to provide humorous conversational ammunition – the humour sometimes questioned.

I have found life and nurture from a different gathering of fragments that help me live, pray, love, listen to God and listen to you.  I’ve been freed to be a fragment collector from my Baptist roots, charismatic communities, monastic and Celtic communities,  Catholic and Orthodox communities as well as in varieties of franchises of congregational life. None of them have been sufficient in and of themselves but they have all enriched, challenged and pointed me to different ways of following Jesus.

When Jesus was warning his disciples about getting infected by teaching that missed God’s love, power and justice he asked them to remember “fragments” collected after he fed thousands. Jesus has continued his work of feeding us over the centuries since his ascension.

Fragments of his teaching are everywhere in scripture, ancient texts, and the lives of people around us and we can enjoy their richness even when they seem to be coming from very different perspectives. Collect them with joy and be fed richly from the abundance and diversity of fragments of Jesus’ life and words.

A Prayer for Today

Good and Generous God, help us today to find those fragments of the Bread of Life that are around us today. Help us find nourishment in ways that may stretch us and widen our vision of your Kingdom. Don’t let us get lost in teaching that moves us away from your love and justice; feed us on your living bread …… for Jesus’ sake