The Kingdom of God, that is. When Jesus sent forth his disciples on that Galilean hillside (Mark 6:30-42) with five loaves of bread and two fish (I don't think any of them were carp, like the ceramic one you see above–yes, I made it, and you can buy one like it at our upcoming Twin Cities MCC Relief Sale) to feed roughly 5,000 households, he was not only demonstrating his wonder-working power. Nor just his compassion. He was also demonstrating the economic policy of the Kingdom of God. This kingdom is in keeping with the law of Moses, in which "there shall be no one poor among you" (Deut. 10). It was also in answer to Israel's prayer and God's promise in the Psalms, "Her [Zion's] poor shall I satisfy with bread (Ps. 132)."

Just what this kingdom and this policy might mean for us, the citizens of God's kingdom, in these times of economic suffering and instability, (and how carp helped some people survive the Great Depression) I seek to flesh out in Sunday's (October 12) message, which you can access at Download feeding_the_multitudes.doc.

Mathew Swora, pastor