Aug 3 Sermon

This morning, I’d like to share with you the story of Alex Scott. Alex was born in 1996 and suffered from cancer throughout most of her young life. In 2000, when she was 4 years old, Alex told her parents she wanted to have a lemonade stand in the front yard. Soon after this announcement, her parents learned what she wanted to do with this lemonade stand. She told them that she was going to help her doctors. The 4 year old wanted to raise money and give it to her hospital so her doctors could find a cure for other kids with cancer. With the help of her brother Patrick, Alex opened “"Alex's Lemonade Stand for Childhood Cancer" on their front lawn in July of 2000. A little girl with cancer with a few lemons and some sugar.

For the next four years, despite her deteriorating health, Alex held an annual lemonade stand to raise money for childhood cancer research. But it didn’t stop in Alex’s front yard. The little girl made national and international news, inspiring others to open up “Alex’s Lemonade Stands” around the country. By 2002, Alex had gained international attention and stands were opened in all 50 states, France and Canada. Churches, schools, and businesses began to participate as the media attention grew, and Alex’s family announced they wanted to set a seemingly unachievable goal for a little lemonade stand—to raise 1 million dollars for pediatric cancer research. This little girl didn’t tell her story or open lemonade stands because she wanted to be cured of cancer. She told her story, using a few lemons and some sugar to because ALL children should be free from cancer. These cups of lemonade would nourish people in ways Alex could not imagine.

In our gospel reading for today, we see another simple human being with a message and a goal. To feed some strangers with five loaves and two fishes. This wounded healer was having deep, searing pain of his own when the crowds gathered around him. Earlier in Matthew 14, we read that Jesus’ dear friend, John the Baptist, had been beheaded in a gruesome spectacle to appease Herod’s daughter. One of Jesus’ dearest friends was gone, the one who declared “prepare the way of the Lord!” All Jesus wanted to do was be alone, so he withdrew. He went out on a boat, to a “lonely place” to grieve the loss of his dear friend. Empty, tired, broken by the death of John the Baptist. But the crowds came…there were sick who needed healing, thirsty who needed drink, hungry who needed food, strangers who needed to be welcomed in. The disciples tried to protect Jesus, telling Him they would send the crowds away. Jesus had a message to share. A savior, with a few loaves and some fishes. Jesus fed the crowds, not because 5,000 people needed to be fed, but because THE WHOLE WORLD needed to be fed. Because friends, Jesus knew that those loaves and fishes would nourish people in ways they could not imagine. That bread would only fill the stomachs of those people for a few hours, but their hearts would be on fire. Jesus, in his weakened, saddened and broken HUMAN state fed the 5,000 so they could feed others. Jesus gave a slice of bread not to fill the stomach of one hungry follower, but to tell the WORLD others needed food. Alex gave a cold cup of lemonade not to quench the thirst of one person, but to tell the world that others were thirsty.

The weak—a simple man, mourning the death of His dear friend, and a child, stricken with incurable cancer reached out their hands to give us a taste of bread, and a cup of lemonade. Why? Because WE are hungry, WE are thirsty. Aren’t we? WE are a part the world, a world that needs to be fed. Because, once WE are fed, WE can FEED OTHERS. Once realize the power that can come from a few loaves and fishes, or a few lemons and some sugar, WE can take the bread of life, the cup of salvation and share it with others. The food isn’t just for us, Matthew 14:20 says “once the crowds ate and were satisfied, they took up twelve baskets full of the broken pieces left over.”

So, this begs the question: how are we to use the fishes that feeds our souls? What are we to do with the broken pieces of bread in our lives? How do we hand out nourishment to others, when we are weak, when we’ve just lost a loved one, when we’ve been given a diagnosis, when our lives are falling apart? Each of us will have to answer that question in our own hearts, but I can tell you this—that bread and those fishes aren’t reserved for people who lived 2000 years ago. That bread is at THIS table, and we are all welcomed to take and eat, to take and drink. To receive the nourishment that sustains us, nourishment from our broken, yet risen Lord. That nourishment lives on in those around us, when we hear the stories of people like Alex, when we are given a cold cup of lemonade by a child.

On August 1st, 2004, Alex died peacefully at the age of 8, but her story and legacy live on. To date, the foundation has raised 20 MILLION dollars for pediatric cancer research. As Christians, we are not given a promise that suffering or death will pass over us. We are given the promise that EVEN IN THE MIDST of suffering and death, the peace and love of Christ will live IN US, that we will be fed, and that we are always welcome at the table. Amen.