What Good?

When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
—John 6:1-15

To the tune FINLANDIA:

What good is this, the little I can offer?
All I can give, O God, is just myself:
This heart fails love; this body breaks and suffers;
this mind sees not, turned inward on itself.
As nothing worth, this pittance that I proffer,
as these few loaves and fish you take and bless.

As once you took the mud that I am made of
and clothed yourself in human littleness.
You laid it out as bread for us to savor,
poured out as wine, salvation on our lips.
They were so small—five wounds that pierced two natures—
how can you feed a multitude with this?

Yet it is so, O bread come down from heaven:
You took our life and clothed yourself in dust,
yet not our sin; untainted by our leaven,
poured yourself out to fill the blessing cup
that we might drink and live and be forgiven.
Our weaknesses transformed into your love.

Then take these gifts that in my hands are nothing.
Take for your own my heart and mind and strength.
If you transform them to a wondrous something,
let it be so, for you can do all things.
Or leave me still my self as you'd begun it:
It is still good, and yours in every length.

The feeding of the five thousand; Christ blessing fishes in left background; the apostles with large baskets in foreground; illustration to William of Auvergne, ‘Postilla super Epistolas et Evangelia’, Basel; Michael Furter, 1511. 1511 Woodcut By Print made by: Urs Graf – https://www.britishmuseum.org/collection/object/P_1927-0614-125, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=89886988

Feast

Christ, who made creation's harvest,

formed the riches of the seas,

take the little we have brought you:

Give it for the least of these.



Let our bread become a banquet,

loaves and fish a lordly feast

filling us with more than fragments:

Every hunger is relieved.



Look upon us with compassion

in our daily need for bread.

Crumbs would give us satusfaction,

yet you set a feast instead:



Goodly measures, packed together,

shaken down and running o'er,

every morsel mercy's treasure

dropping from your hand, O Lord.



Not to us or to our labors,

but to your abundance, thanks.

Now for us and for our neighbors,

take our off'rings in your hands.



Not to us you give your blessing,

but to all who hunger sore,

filling every hand that's empty,

overflowing more and more.

Milagre da “Multiplicação dos pães e peixes” (Mateus 14:13-21; Marcos 6:31-34; Lucas 9:10-17; João 6:5-15). Photo By © José Luiz Bernardes Ribeiro, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=16833907

Feast

Come, O Lord, and set a table
where the weary pilgrims rest.
Pour the promise that can save us;
break the everlasting bread.

When our hands are all but empty,
turn our morsels to a meal;
multiply them with your blessing
to a feast that never fails.

Let our hearts become your dwelling
by the bread that you provide;
change our spirits into wellsprings
running to eternal life.

Not from us but from your mercy
come the riches of the feast,
for the hungry and the thirsty,
for the last and for the least.

Not to us or to our working,
to our will or to our pride,
but to you we give the glory
for the feast that you provide.

Take the little we can offer,
take the loaves and take the fish:
Feed our souls and feed our bodies
with the bounty of your gifts.

Feeding the multitude. Armenian manuscript. Daniel of Uranc gospel, 1433. By Daniel of Uranc – Michel Bakni, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98280902

When John the Baptist Died

When Jesus heard of the death of John the Baptist,
he withdrew in a boat to a deserted place by himself.
The crowds heard of this and followed him on foot from their towns.
When he disembarked and saw the vast crowd,
his heart was moved with pity for them, and he cured their sick.
When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
He said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me.”
Matthew 14:13-21

We followed you into your grief
when John the Baptist died,
but not to offer you relief:
For our own needs we cried.

And we who'd gathered at the shore
to hear him call us back,
we hungered then for something more
and followed in your tracks.

Although you sought a place to mourn,
we dogged your weary feet
and begged you'd not leave us forlorn:
You gave us bread to eat.

But not the bread of village shops
or new loaves for a guest;
what scraps we had, you took them all
and gave them to us, blessed.

No meagre crumbs to tide us o'er
or teach us how to fast,
but all our hunger filled and more,
as if all wants were past!

So John decreased and you increased,
and in that desert place,
you hosted his memorial feast
and fed us by your grace.

Feeding the multitude. Armenian manuscript. Daniel of Uranc gospel, 1433. By Daniel of Uranc – Michel Bakni, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=98280902

Where Could We Ever Find Enough?

Jesus spoke to the crowds about the kingdom of God,
and he healed those who needed to be cured.
As the day was drawing to a close,
the Twelve approached him and said,
“Dismiss the crowd
so that they can go to the surrounding villages and farms
and find lodging and provisions;
for we are in a deserted place here.”
He said to them, “Give them some food yourselves.”
They replied, “Five loaves and two fish are all we have,
unless we ourselves go and buy food for all these people.”
Now the men there numbered about five thousand.
Then he said to his disciples,
“Have them sit down in groups of about fifty.”
They did so and made them all sit down.
Then taking the five loaves and the two fish,
and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing over them, broke them,
and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd.
They all ate and were satisfied.
And when the leftover fragments were picked up,
they filled twelve wicker baskets.
Luke 9:11b-17

Where could we ever find enough
to feed the hungers here?
No food could satisfy but love
unfading through the years.

But oh, our hearts are far too small
and fickle as the tide.
How could so little feed us all?
What feast could we supply?

What meagreness we have, you take
to bless beyond our ken,
and though it hurts, this bread you break:
You feed the thousands then.

Our hearts and hands, our bread and wine
all scattered far as crumbs:
Though these, you share your life divine.
Like this, your kingdom comes.

And though we fear to starve on crusts,
we feast beyond our hopes.
Your gift is more than all our trust;
your goodness overflows.

Then, Christ, the giver of the bread,
take all that you have made
and give us 'til the world is fed
on what you bless and break.

А. Иванов. Умножение хлебов By Alexander Ivanov – http://religionart.narod.ru/gal9/photo45.htm, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=9087582

What Good Are These?

When Jesus raised his eyes
and saw that a large crowd was coming to him,
he said to Philip,
“Where can we buy enough food for them to eat?”
He said this to test him,
because he himself knew what he was going to do.
Philip answered him,
“Two hundred days’ wages worth of food would not be enough
for each of them to have a little.”
One of his disciples,
Andrew, the brother of Simon Peter, said to him,
“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish;
but what good are these for so many?”
John 6:1-15

To the tune FINLANDIA:

What good are these, five loaves to feed five thousand?
Two hundred days could never earn enough.
How can we feed the hungry that surround us?
How can we give, and have some morsel left?
Shall we starve, too, alike with those who crowd us,
or shall we live, good Savior, by your gift?

You blessed the bread and broke the loaves asunder:
They all were fed, the thousands at your feet.
And more besides: You filled them all with wonder;
you bounty gave more than the crowd could eat.
Then bless us, too, who come to you in hunger,
who come in hope, your mercy here to meet.

What good are these, the bread and wine we offer?
These morsels here, what works can they perform
to feed the poor, or comfort those who suffer,
to seek the lost, or shelter those forlorn?
But in your hands, this gift is something other:
You give yourself, and, Lord, we are reborn.

O Lamb of God, you came as one for many;
on earth with us, you felt our hunger, too.
You knew our needs, and filled us with your plenty;
and when you died, you drew us all to you.
Without you, Lord, the hearts in us are empty:
Come fill us all with love forever true.

The five loaves and two fishes (bottom), depicted on Moone High Cross, Ireland (10th century), Photo By Sheila1988 – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=94709610

We Are Hungry

When it was evening, the disciples approached him and said,
“This is a deserted place and it is already late;
dismiss the crowds so that they can go to the villages
and buy food for themselves.”
Jesus said to them, “There is no need for them to go away;
give them some food yourselves.”
But they said to him,
“Five loaves and two fish are all we have here.”
Then he said, “Bring them here to me,”
and he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass.
Taking the five loaves and the two fish, and looking up to heaven,
he said the blessing, broke the loaves,
and gave them to the disciples,
who in turn gave them to the crowds.
Matthew 14: 13-21

To the tune PASSION CHORALE (“Oh Sacred Head Surrounded”):

The spirit, Lord, is willing,
but still the flesh is weak,
a hungry satchel filling
before it goes to seek
for hopes that bear fulfilling
and light in darkness bleak,
'til wand'ring steps all stilling
we come to hear you speak.

You, Christ, are worth the searching:
refreshing as the dew.
This desert of our thirsting
is verdant earth in you.
We give our all to purchase
this treasure that renews,
and deeply drink your mercy,
but we are hungry, too.

Should we again go wand'ring
to ease our hunger's pain,
our bond with you, Lord, sund'ring
and losing all we've gained?
To go forever wond'ring
what would be if we'd stayed?
Can you not stop our hung'ring
and hold us fast today?

We, at your feet reclining,
behold you blessing bread,
and breaking, multiplying
the gift for which we pled.
We come at your inviting
and by your grace are fed,
so we can rest, delighting,
where all our hopes have led.

By Unknown author – https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b105388196.r=codex%20sinopensis?rk=21459;2, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=86584456

Little Gifts

To be sung to the tune WINCHESTER NEW, also known as “On Jordan’s Bank”:

You take the little gifts we have
and bless what others would ignore
to fill the longings that enslave
with food that blesses evermore.

You seek not for the richest gifts
but watched the widow give her mite
as if that coin could temples lift
or fill our emptiness with light.

Not for two hundred days of pay
but for our little fish and bread
you ask, and from them make a way
whereby the crowd is blessed and fed.

Lord, we believe: Now bless and help
our unbelief, Emmaus doubt,
and even in these, show yourself.
From meager gifts, great loves can sprout.

Our littleness, our humble faith,
our talents buried deep in shame:
Let even these reflect your face,
and speak the wonders of your name!