"Dead, Broke, And Friendless"  [Module #43] (Matt. 14:13-21; John 6:25-71; Luke 14:25-33)

It’s not that we weren’t warned, O Lord, about the way it ends –
“Dead, broke, and friendless,” were Your words, on which Your win depends;
“Prosperity with righteousness” has won the day before,
So all it takes is You and me and us as grace You pour.

“Lay what you have before your God and let Him break and bless”
The message of the picnic when disciples viewed the mess;
They’d just returned from fishing trip – first try alone in pairs –
Enormity of need appeared as object of their cares.

“You feed ’em, there’s no need for all to head off in the night;
Just sit them down and take that lunch the boy brought into sight
While others kept theirs under wraps to make sure they were fed,
And lay it all before our God – as in the book we’ve read.

“Start physical – that’s easier than deeper inner needs;
There’s different kinds of hunger here, God both dimensions feeds;
In Apostolic work, my friends, let works of power take place,
Don’t try to meet all human needs yourself in any case.”

They sat them down in smaller groups; boy’s lunch He blessed and broke,
Then shared it with five thousand men plus women, kids, no joke;
Then suddenly there were was enough, twelve baskets full of crumbs,
They gathered up for lunch next day – or so the story runs.

To me, the miracle indeed? – Dissolving allergy
Twixt gift and gift within that group – like that twixt you and me,
And all the others on this globe – each center of their scene;
At least, that’s how it looks to us – survival’s center’s “me”.

So was that boy’s effect that day first on the chosen twelve?
They had resource enough to make “stone soup” that tasted swell;
“You feed them”, Jesus said that day, and says the same today;
Don’t fill your face in face of need and drive the rest away.

“When you give up all that you have, no interest have to be
Last one surviving on the globe, then miracles you’ll see;
Trust not yourselves to your own ways, but trust in God instead,
And He will guide you on your way” – that’s what the Scripture says.

Disciple? Yes; Apostle? No – that’s what most say today;
That’s fine, it was the way Christ worked as He laid out His way;
The trouble lies in TCK’s and multi-cultured mix
We find in our society – it’s put us in a fix.

For we don’t get along with folks who come from other groups;
And we’ve arrived here in this land like veggies in a soup –
Quite different from each other, yet, together as a broth,
Quite flavorful the soup we make despite how we were taught.

There’s hunger up ahead for all as global village forms;
There’s tensions up ahead for all in clashing of our norms;
“My words have Spirit, and have life, for all exigencies;
So take, and eat, there’s food for all, to meet your deepest needs.

Thanks Lord for this.

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