Scripture Reflection-Stewardship Week 2-"Found Faithful in Little"

Found Faithful in Little (Week 2)

“There is a boy here who has five barley loaves and two fish.” (John 6:9 NRSV)

My sister had been recently widowed and was now living alone, more than a thousand miles from me, the relative with whom she had the most contact and closest relationship. She asked me to do her a favor: to send her an email every day. I said yes and did what she asked. This was a little thing—often only a few words, sometimes something forwarded that I had received from someone else, sometimes about a conversation with a friend, sometimes about what I was doing. I did it for about a year and a half, until her death.

Life is made of little things. We are shaped by little things, little things that add up.

Today’s story from John 6 is about Jesus and a crowd of more than 5,000 (see Matthew 14:21), but most of the gospel story of Jesus is about his interacting with one or two people, like Zacchaeus, Nicodemus, a leper, a woman in a crowd. Even the resurrection is a story about Jesus and Mary, and Peter, and Thomas, and two people from Emmaus.

When we say grace before a meal, it is a little thing. But it is a little reminder of the truth—that all things come from God—and without those little reminders we forget.

For reflection
• In what little ways am I faithful?
• In what little ways am I clearly not faithful?
• In what little ways can I be more faithful?
Hermann Weinlick, writer of the Scripture Meditations/Sermon Starters, is a retired Moravian pastor. He serves as the ecumenical officer for the Moravian Church in North America. His work as a free-lance editor includes copy editing the Feasting on the Word lectionary commentary.