Wisdom Prudence

The Bible tells us that the beginning of wisdom is fear of the Lord. We often associated "fear" with ‘ being "anxious, in dread, or even terrified. However, the word "fear" is the Bible means "to stand in awe of the mystery of the divine"

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The Bible also tells us that the fool says in his heart ‘There is no God." The fool lacks any knowledge, care or concern for God or for the future of his soul.

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There is a story in the Bible about a fool. It is a disturbing story in that it is about one man’s success. What is even more disturbing about it is that he is not a lazy man, but is very willing to work long days as he looks forward to the day when he can retire and enjoy all the benefits of his hard work. This is not a man who puts his faith in winning the lottery. This is not a man whose hope is that maybe one of his rich relatives will leave him money in their will. No, this is a man who is not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get down and do some hard work. Now I need to break away from our story to tell you of another person.
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I would like you to meet Wisdom Prudence. She walks through the streets and market places. You can find her there beside you when your are working in the barn, or in the field, or at the carpenter’s shop and even in the office. Some have met her while sitting in the pub, others have encountered her while lying sick in a hospital bed or standing silently at the grave of a loved one. She alone knows the answers to life’s most puzzling questions. She is life.

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She alone knows who will have long life and who will die young. It is said that she carries long life in her right hand and wealth and honour in her left. it is also said that every path she points to leads only to peace. Who is Prudence - you tell me - if you have lived life at all you have met her. She stood with you at your baptism. She was with you at your confirmation. She stood beside you when you exchanged vows with your beloved. She comforted you when you were in the midst of grief and sorrow. She is Wisdom Prudence - she is the Holy Spirit of God. She is life. She is breath carried on the wings of the wind.

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She brings change. She is creativity and imagination. She is the past, present and the future. And She walks through the streets and in the market places, and is here this morning, pleading with people to turn from their foolish ways and find not only instruction on how to live life, but also find security for your soul in her.
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But let us return to our story that we began with. He was, as already noted, a hard worker, a man not afraid to roll up his sleeves and get busy. He lived for the day when he could take life easy, just eat, drink and be merry. He worked every waking hour. he never gave any thought to God. He never went to public worship, he was either to busy working or needed to rest so he could work.
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One night, as he went to bed, tired from the long day’s work in the heat and humidity, as he lay there, he began to make some plans. This year promised a bountiful harvest. All his hard work would pay off. First, he would need to knock down his barns and build bigger ones. Then when all was stored away, he would take life easy, eat, drink and be merry. As he slept, God called him home. His death was sudden. He was, as the Bible says, "a fool’. He never gave any thought about God or eternity. I wonder who got to enjoy all of the things this hard working man had prepared for himself. He never ever thought about the future .... I think the word might be prudent.

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Sometimes those who have the most, give the least thought about Godly things. The Bible asks a question: What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and loses his own soul?

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Next I would like you to meet a young widow. He husband also died. He had a long illness that just about left the young widow and her two children penniless.
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I have been privileged to meet this young widow. In the face of grief and hardship, she struggled against the odds and raised her two children. In those days of struggle and survival, sometimes just a day to day existence - her faith in God never wavered. Her first thought in the morning was to pray to God to give her the strength and wisdom to raise her sons. She never asked for anything for herself - her first thought was always her children - her boys. She took them to Church. They attended Sunday School, were confirmed and they remember those days when their mother had no money - she always placed an offering on the offertory plate. It wasn’t much - sometimes it was only a few dollars - but some days that was all the money she had. Most people give to God out of their wealth - but she gave out of her poverty. Her few dollars often represented more of an offering than the largest offering of the richest member.
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I think it was the great Henri Nouwen who once wrote, "It is in our deepest poverty that we draw closest to God. "

It was her faith and trust in God that helped her survive those days that now seem so long ago.
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Sometimes, those who have the least give the most to God.

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The Bible tells us that God loves a cheerful giver.

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He was a wealthy young man. Made a fortune from hi-technology. He had more money that he had ever dreamed possible. He had money to do absolutely anything he wished. He even had money to burn. Once, at a party he had thrown at his mansion, he actually lit cigars with $20 bills. He is rich.
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However, it didn’t seem to matter how much money he had, it didn’t seem to matter how exotic the places he travelled to, it didn’t seem to matter how many wild parties he threw or attended, deep down inside he just felt "empty." He had tried to fill the emptiness with alcohol, drugs and women. Nothing satisfied.
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Once, when on vacation, he met a man who seemed to have nothing, well, nothing compared to what he had, and yet, the man had everything. He seemed at peace with the world, and with himself. He just had this peace.
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The rich young man asked the older man what was the secret of his peace. When the older man replied he only used one word. ‘Jesus."
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The rich young man was disillusioned. He didn’t need a talk on religion, or being born again, or going to church - he had heard that all before - and Christians were sometimes the most disagreeable people one could meet.
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The older man didn’t say anything else. The young man looked at him and was greatly disappointed. He had wanted to know where his new friend had found such peace, and when he was told that it was Jesus - the rich young man changed the subject. It is very difficult for the rich to enter the kingdom of God.
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Sometimes those who have the most want to give the least to God.

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As Jesus said, "It is easier for a camel to go through the eye of an needle than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven ........."

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Spirit of God, you are the breath of creation

the wind of change that blows through nations,

you give us new hopes, dreams and desires

offer new life in Christ, set our hearts on fire.

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You seek to open our closed hearts and minds,

breaking down barricades we erect time after time

we seek comfort in the tradition and make it our god,

denying the needs of the world as onward we plod.

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.Forgive us our closed small tiny biased minds,

which barricade themselves against new ideas of any kind.

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Forgive us our closed eyes, we are blind to the world's needs,

we ignore the hunger and are more concerned about creeds.

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Forgive us our closed hands, as we selfishly plunder

and selfishly use our wealth to satisfy our own hunger.

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Forgive us our closed hearts, I think only of 'me'

It is the Spirit of wisdom that sets my heart free.

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Spirit of new life, forgive me when I fall,

Fill me now, break down this prison wall.

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Spirit of new life, O Heavenly Dove,

take my heart, open it to your love,

that I might serve as did my Lord,

who condescended to come from above.

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PUSHING BUTTONS

PUSHING BUTTONS

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Her young daughter made her mother sit up and take notice. She pushed a button or two. You're a whole lot nicer to people at church than you are to me sometimes." Hump! And then she stomped out of the room. That’s hard to take.
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Why do we discard any attempt at kindness when we kick off our shoes at home? People at church expect us to conform to a certain standard of friendliness. By the same token we can't get ahead in the marketplace being nasty, even to obnoxious people. But at home, that's different. Husband and wife live close together. Parents and children live in close proximity. Differences and conflicts are inevitable. Frustrations linger unresolved. We know each other all too well. We know how to push each other’s buttons and are quick to do so too.
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Buttons can do a lot of great stuff. They can call a nurse when you’re sick, call a flight attendant when you need a refill of your mimosa, or call a butler when you need the toilet flushed. They can adjust the volume of your favorite song, adjust the angle of your hospital bed, or adjust the level or morphine in your drip.
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They can turn on televisions and turn off televisions and go to every channel in between - they can open and close elevator doors, we can speak to people halfway around the world just at the push of a button. Of course, they can also cause trouble by, for instance, deploying atomic missiles and dropping bombs.
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Buttons can do all this and much, much more, but when we talk about "pushing buttons, we aren’t talking about televisions, cells phones or elevators, although we could be talking about dropping bombs when we have a knee jerk reaction to someone who is pushing our buttons - especially when they know just exactly what buttons need to be pushed to get the biggest knee jerk response from us.
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Just the other day, this really petite young woman dropped her money into the pop machine down at the UNB gym and then pressed the button. Nothing happened. She hit the eject button and out came all of her money in quarters She had put in a tunney. Now she has to go through the whole routine again, only this time she must put in 7 coins instead of one, and then she presses the button. Nothing happens. She wants a diet Pepsi. Must be all out of diet Pepsi I say. She gives me a dirty look. Presses the eject button and out clicks six quarters. She hits the machine and out drops the seventh quarter.
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She goes through the whole routine, 1st quarter, 2nd quarter, 3rd quarter, 4th quarter, 5th quarter, 6th quarter, then the 7th quarter. Before she can press the button, click, out drops the 7th quarter. The machine has rejected it. She muttered something about the Dam or something - leaving me wondering what Mactaquac Dam had to do with her trying to get pop out of a pop machine.

"Here, I said, waiting patiently, ‘try this one." She looked at me with a scowl, took the quarter I offered, gave me back the rejected quarter, drop it in, pressed the button, and out popped her drink. She never even said thanks. I mean, just how ungrateful can you be? Last time I offer someone help at a pop machine. And I was being very patient too. Then I realized, she had pushed more than the buttons on the pernickety pop machine, she had pushed a few of my buttons too!! Sometimes its so easy to push our buttons, isn’t it?

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I am sure that most of us have been angry at some point in our lives? Maybe someone lied to you, or did something to you, or maybe it was something they didn’t do that caused you to "lose your cool." It might interest you to know that the Bible teaches us that it is alright to be angry. There are appropriate times to be angry. like when a drunk driver kills someone. However we are not to commit ‘sin’ in our anger and we are not to let the sun go down on our anger.

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It began as a simple drive to the airport. They were to pick up her parents who were coming for a visit. They were running late. The plane would be landing. She was a very careful driver. He would take chances. He was driving. It was such a simple comment. She said that if it was his parents they would have left early, but seeing as it was her parents he didn’t care. He responded by hitting the gas and didn’t see the stop sign up ahead until the last minute. She made some remark about men drivers ...... he hit the gas again, this time almost hitting the car that had just pulled out in front of them. By the time they got to the airport, he was angry, she was silent, and then when her parents appeared with luggage in hand asking if everything was alright she smiled sweetly and said "Yes, of course, the traffic was heavy for this time of the day." Good old anger.

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Not only did their relationship take a beating that day, so did the truth, and not to mention suppressing feelings and emotions for the next two weeks or so.
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However, It was the blazing anger of Wilbur Wilberforce against the slave trade and of Lord Shaftesbury against the deplorable conditions in which men, women, and especially children worked in during the nineteenth century that brought great change to the lives of countless millions of people. Such anger is appropriate and easily defended. However, selfish anger is always wrong. Being angry, bad-tempered and irritable for the sake of being so is a position not easily defended. Step one of the simple, succinct plan for life - get rid of anger. And do not misrepresent the truth - no lying. To do so allows the devil to enter into your life and bring pandemonium and chaos.

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Step 1 - banish selfish anger.
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Also, do an honest day’s work for an honest day’s pay and do not steal from your employer. Work in such away that not only will you have money, but you will have enough so as to share with others.

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Step 2 - be kind and generous.
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Little Johnny was always asking questions. He always wanted to know about things. When his father came over on the weekends to take little Johnny over to his place, little Johnny had all kinds of questions. What will we do? Where are we going? Can we go to the movies. What about MacDonalds, can we go there? Little Johnny’s dad was having a bad day that day and he told little Johnny to ‘Shut up! You’re just like your mother - always wanting something."
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Little Johnny would remember that day for the rest of his life - it didn’t matter how many movies or MacDonald Happy Meals his dad bought him, he’d never forget.
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When you speak to others, chose your words most carefully. Use only words that build other people up. The words we choose to use, can often cut others to the bone, leaving them scarred for life. Chose your words most carefully, so that they may not only sound graceful, but are full of grace to those to whom you speak them to. Remember, there are no ‘unused" words.

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Step 3 -Encourage.

A lawyer was reading out the will of a rich man to the people mentioned in the will: "To you, my loving wife Rose, who stood by me in rough times, as well as good, I leave her the house and $20 million."

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The lawyer continued, "To my daughter Jessica, who looked after me in sickness and kept the business going, I leave her the yacht, the business and $1 million."

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The lawyer concluded, "And, to my brother Dan, who hated me, argued with me, was always jealous of my success and thought that I would never mention him in my will - well you are wrong. Hi Dan!"

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Sadly, that joke says as much if not more about the rich man as it does about Dan. Remember that grudge you have been holding for such a long time. It only serves to make you bitter. It hurts you more that it does the person you are angry with. It only serves to make you bitter and full of wrath. Again the devil is having a field day. It is you who will be filled with the poison of malice and spitefulness.

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Step 4 - Banish all selfish anger, bitterness, malice and spitefulness from your life today. Do not give the devil even a foothold.
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Practice ‘strategic kindness’ to everyone you meet. Be specific when practicing kindness. Ask God to "tenderize" your heart. Pray that God empowers you with the Holy Spirit to practice forgiveness remembering that God has already forgiven you.

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Step 5 - be Christ’s minister of reconciliation, not destruction.
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Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children, and live in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.
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Step 6 - as a Christian you are called to live a life of light and love
- as an ambassador for Jesus Christ - not as an embarrassment.

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Standing at the pernickity Pop machine ..... 1st quarter ...... clunk ......2nd quarter .... clunk ....3rd quarter ...... clunk ..... fourth quarter ....clunk .... fifth quarter .... clunk .... sixth quarter ..... clunk .... seventh quarter ......clunk ........ push the button - nothing happens - repeat first seven steps .......

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Others can only push our buttons if we allow them. The fruit of the Holy Spirit are love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, gentleness, faithfulness AND self-control.

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BREAKING, NOT BAKING, BREAD

BREAKING, NOT MAKING BREAD.

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I suppose you could say that it is food for thought. Might even be an occasion for a toast. There can be no loafing about though. If you want to make some dough, you will have knead to put your thinking caps on and come up with the next best idea since sliced bread if you want win this new contest. The prize is $50, 000 which is a lot of dough, certainly it is not crumbs, but real bread, man.

The first loaf of sliced bread was sold on July 7th, 1928. The idea was perfected by Otto Frederick Rohwedder, but it only became a success when he not only sliced the bread but also wrapped it as well. The saying should really be "the best thing since sliced and wrapped bread." At least its food for thought?

The John Montague, 4th Earl of Sandwich (1718-1792) is supposed to have invented the sandwich as a quick meal so as not to interrupt his gambling sessions. The simple ham sandwich is still the most popular sandwich in the US, and in second place is the BLT. How’s that for food for thought?

Now last Sunday we heard how Jesus fed the people using a small boy’s five barley loaves and two small fish. Jesus fed over 5000 people and had twelve baskets of food left over. When he and his disciples had finished all the people had enough food to eat and their hunger, their physical hunger was satisfied.

An old Irish man went to a diner every day for lunch. He always ordered the same thing - a bowl of soup. One day the manager asked him how he liked his meal. The old man replied "Was good, but you could give a little more bread."

So the next day the manager told the waitress to give him four slices of bread. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asked. "Was good, but you could give a little more bread," came the old man’s reply.

So the next day the manager told the waitress to give him eight slices of bread. "How was your meal today, sir?" the manager asked. "Was good, but you could give maybe a little more bread," came the reply.

So...the next day the manager told the waitress to give him a whole loaf of bread with his soup. "How was your meal, sir?" the manager asked, when he came to hand him the bill. "Was good, but you could give maybe a little more bread," came the reply once again.

The manager was obsessed with seeing this customer say that he is satisfied with his meal, so he went to the bakery, and ordered a six-foot-long loaf of bread. When the man came in as usual the next day, the waitress and the manager cut the loaf in half, buttered the entire length of each half, and laid it out along the counter, right next to his bowl of soup. The old man sat down, and devoured his bowl of soup, and both halves of the six-foot-long loaf of bread.

The manager now thinks he will get the answer he is looking for, and when the old man came up to pay for his meal, the manager asked in the usual way, "How was your meal TODAY, sir?"
The old man replied, "It was good as as usual, but why are you back to giving only two slices bread!"

Sometimes people are very hard to satisfy. It is hard to know what exactly it is they are looking for. Some are more hungry than others.

When we speak today of "breaking bread", the meaning is clear: we are talking about dining. It surprises us to learn that the original meaning of this seemingly simple phrase, which dates back to Biblical times, actually did refer to the physical act of breaking bread. Even in days of antiquity bread was considered so essential to the maintenance of human life that there was no act more social than sharing one's bread with others. During those early days of our culture, people did not use forks and knives, but ate with their fingers. Thus, bread was never sliced, it was literally "broken" or torn apart in order to be shared.

Perhaps, we in our day, as Christians we are not hungry enough for God’s word. We, as the faithful, are perhaps so faithful, that we have forgotten what it was like to be hungry for God.

On Saturday morning, while on my way to breakfast with a group of runners, I encountered Daniel, a street person. He was hungry he said and was panhandling on Queen Street. I spoke to him to let him know that I didn’t have any change, but if he was still around I would catch him on my way back. He thanked me for being so kind. I hadn’t given him any money, but I did give him the time of day. On the way back, he was still there, so I knelt down beside him and asked him how he was doing. He apologized for being ‘drunk’ but he said he needed the ‘coor’s courage’ to beg. He told me he had a car accident back in 2000, and suffered a head injury. He took my hand and put it on his head, where there was a huge dent in his skull. He said he used to earn twenty dollars an hour crack-filling and when he got hurt, he couldn’t function any more, and everyone, including himself, couldn’t handle the change in his personality, that went from be quiet to rage in seconds. We talked for a while, I gave him some money, and shook hands. He thanked me for being so kind - most people ignore him he said, and who could blame them.
My encounter with Daniel reminds me of the hunger in the world around us, and right here on our doorstep. We as Christians maybe are not hungry enough?

Do you ever think about that. Why are we so fortunate and well-fed, and others so unfortunate and hungry. Daniel reminded me that our lives can change in an instant. One minute were are on top of the world- the next on skid row.

There is an advertizement on television at the moment. It’s a beer advert, and it first lists all the things that the world offers us and we know they are fake; wrestling, people pay big bucks for fake entertainment, fake tattoos, fake relationships, fake breasts, fake watches, and of course they offer ‘real beer’ that satisfies your thirst, which is also a fake promise.

Only Christ can satisfy the hunger and thirst within us.
Jesus is the Bread of Life.

GIVE US THIS DAY OUR DAILY BREAD

In this month’s Reader’s Digest, a mother tells of how her daughter who was only three year olds when her baby brother was born. The family had just moved into their new home shortly before they brought the new baby home. A couple of weeks later, her daughter suggested that they move.

When her mother asked why pointing out that this was their new home , her daughter sighed and said she was tired of living in a house with a baby in it!

Now the Bible has something to say about sibling rivalry. If we were to explore all the Bible has to say, we would be here all day and find ourselves in every story. Right off the bat, right from the starting blocks, before the horse gets out of the gate, we are plunged into a horrific bloody story of brother killing brother.

However, the first word in Scripture cannot be the last. The story itself does not tell us why God accpted Abel’s offering but rejected Cain’s offering. Whatever the reason, Cain, the older brother, an apple of his mother’s eye, murders Abel whose ‘blood cries out from the ground." Here is the first murder, committed with deliberate deceit against a good brother and a good man.

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A Polish story captures this murder. It begins as Adam & Eve are standing on the bank of a brook, and before them lay the corpse of Abel, who had been killed by Cain. As they sat there, not knowing what they should do with the corpse, suddenly a little bird fell from a nearby tree. The little bird was still very young and could not fly. The fall killed it. Adam & Eve looked at the dead bird and saw that it was a raven. Soon the old raven flew by, and when he saw that his young one was dead, he scratched a hole in the ground with his feet, and laid it inside. Then he scratched the hole full and flew away. Adam and Eve observed all this and followed the raven's example. They made a hole in the earth, laid Abel's corpse in it, and covered it with earth. This was the first human grave.

This just in ........ A Berks County man will face homicide and related charges in Northampton County Court for allegedly killing his brother and cutting up the body. Stephen Austin, 26, of Birdsboro is accused of killing 22-year-old Jonathan Austin at their mother's home in Upper Mount Bethel Township in May of this year. Austin said Jonathan was manipulating their mother into buying him things,. He told police that his brother swung at him first, and that he hit his brother in the head with a crowbar, took his body into his Jeep, then drove into a field near their mother's house off Institute Drive where he left the body and went shopping with his wife.

He returned later with the tools needed to cut the body up. He was arrested with his brother’s head and hands wrapped in bloody blankets in his jeep.

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Then there is the tragic story of Isaac & Ishmael, half-brothers, both sons of Abraham, but Sarah, the mother of Isaac, was so insanely jealous of Ishmael, who really is Abraham’s oldest son, that she forced Abraham to sent both Ishmael and his slave mother Hagar away, which Abraham obediently did. Now that is where things take a turn. Jews and Christians believe that Isaac was the son the Abraham offered up to God in that mysterious and disturbing test where God instructed Abraham to sacrifice his son on an alter. The Muslims believe that the son Abraham offered up to God was Ishmael.

The popular show "The West Wing" tackled the problem of terrorism after September 11 by airing an special episode entitled "Isaac & Ishmael. In this episode a group of students are ‘locked’ down while visiting the White House, a regular occurrence at the White House when there is a breach of security.

The time ‘locked down’ is spent by the students asking the White House / west Wing staff questions related to terrorism and Muslims. Josh explains that when we in the west thinks of Muslim extremists - we need to think about the Klu Klux Klan - an extremist white supremacy group that has Christian leanings. Then Toby takes over and explains that when one thinks of the Taliban we need to think of Nazis - because the Taliban extremists are as likely to kill their own as they are to kill Americans or Australians, or Spanish or English or Canadians.

The Hezbollah - established in Lebannon is an umbrella group of radical extreme Shite Muslims whose desired goal is to eradicate Israel and all Jewish people from the face of the earth. The Hezbollah opposes the west, seeking to establish an Islamic state modeled on Iran and it is a bitter enemy to Israel as is Iran. It is also linked to Syria, who is also a bitter neighbour to Israel.

Here is a breaking news story. New Delhi, Police today arrested a teenager who allegedly killed his nine-year-old brother he was babysitting in a fit of rage after the younger sibling refused to go to bed in an East Delhi area. Suhail (9), one of seven siblings, was yesterday found dead in his house - his throat slit.

A few years ago a study was released that showed that Jews and Arabs shared a common genetic heritage - passed from father to son - which would indicate that they had more in common with each other than with any other group outside their respective cultures. When the prophet Mohammad first came on the scene. he was as much a Jew as a Jew could be. He offered Jews a new religion, while at the same time offering them a staple diet of Jewish customs and rituals. If you want to win people over you are best to ‘adopt’ their culture.

When the Jewish Rabbi’s did not embrace Mohammad’s new religion, Islam, ( meaning Surrender to God ) and Muslims - (meaning people who have surrendered to God -) he denounced them. He then requested his followers of Islam - which served to unite the Arab countries against Rome - to turn and pary towards Mecca - where Mohammad was born - instead of turning toward Jerusalem to pray. And a whole new extremely fast growing religion was born.
Islam now stretches as far away as India and Africa, but it would do well for us to remember that Mohammad first built his new religion on the precepts of both Judiasm and Christianity. Mohammad was especially cruel towards Jews.
It needs to be noted at this point in the sermon that the vast majority of Muslims, are law abiding citizens of the countries in which they live. There is a radical Islam at work in the world today that seeks to -eradicate evil - which is seen as being the western civilization that allows people to break God’s laws arbitrarily.

In those countries that practice a radical Islamic interpretation of the Qu-ram, if you steal - you lose your hands, and if you continue, eventually you lose your feet. Recently, a 16 year old mentally ill girl was personally hanged by the judge, he actually put the noose around her neck for having sex with men outside of marriage. In our country, under our laws the men would have been charged with sexual abuse, but in Iran, they walked free. Only the girl died.
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PENALTIES imposed by Iran's religious mullahs include: Theft: Amputation of hands or feet for persistent offenders. Adultery: Death by stoning. Unmarried Sex : 100 lashes. Conversion to a Religion other than Islam - Death. Sodomy: Death for adults, 74 lashes for consenting child. Lesbianism: 100 lashes, or on the fourth occasion death. Homosexual Kiss: 60 lashes. Touching - death.

Now in an attempt to bring this all together, and I am surprised as to how the sermon has arrived to this point, but it all began when reading some commentaries on the only miracle mentioned in all four Gospels - The Feeding of the Five Thousand. What many people aren’t aware of is that there is another miraculous feeding of four thousand recorded In Matthew and Mark.

William Barclay makes what is a truly the amazing connection between these two feedings based on the two very different types of baskets used to .....

In the feeding of the five thousand the basket is a particular Jewish basket, used by Jewish people to carry around ‘kosher’ food so that they would not break the Jewish religious laws. The other basket was used by Gentiles and was much larger - more like a hamper and perhaps used to store clothes.

Barclay notes that the first feeding of five thousand occurred in the spring when the grass was still green. In the feeding of the four thousand, the people sit on the ground, it is late summer, early fall, and the grass is no longer green because of the heat of summer. From this also we know that Jesus in the 5000 feeding was among Jews in Jewish territory, and in the 4000 feeding he is the area of Decapolis - or the place of ten cities and among Gentiles - non-Jews.

As Barclay points out, the truly wonderful aspect of both these feeding stories reveal a great truth to us about God: Jesus not only shows us the compassion and mercy of God towards the hungry Jewish people, but also shows us the compassion and mercy of God towards the Gentiles, which included anyone not of the Jewish faith, including those people who became adherents of the Muslim faith, who we also know were descended from Abraham and have the same genetic code as their Jewish brothers and sisters.

The Gospel of Christ, when looked at very closely, seeks to overcome all human obstacles that seek to divide us and cause us to kill our brothers. In Christ, there is neither Jew or Arab, black or white, male and female, Catholic or protestant, French or English, for we are all God’s children, but then right from the very beginning the Bible teaches us that brother will kill brother, and because of human sin, we need a Saviour. God sent his one and only Son ........

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