August 2, 2026 · Rev. Dr. James Olson · Isaiah 55:1-5; Matthew 14:13-21
Rev. Dr. James Olson's first Sunday as the Old Sloop's interim pastor begins with introductions (call me Jim, and no parking-lot conversations, please) before turning to the feeding of the five thousand. The real miracle, the sermon suggests, was a crowd that reached into its own bags and shared, and it's why this communion table has no fence around it.
Transcript
Well. Good morning everyone. What a joy and a delight it is to be with you all this morning on this beautiful day in Rockport. I am slowly getting to meet all of you. I promise I will learn all of your names before the year is up. There's one hundred of you and there's only one of me. And I'm not as young as I used to be anymore.
My name is Jim. You can call me Pastor Jim. You can call me just Jim. Anything else you think you might want to call me? Please come to me first. And we'll have a conversation.
I'm from Randolph, Massachusetts. I've served ministries here in Massachusetts, in Vermont, in Connecticut, and in Illinois. I was colleagues with Meredith Ellis at Marsh chapel longer ago than either of us want to admit. I am a cradle Congregationalist. There's not many of us around these days. I was raised at First Congregational Church in Randolph, Massachusetts, where my parents were active. Where my mother was the church secretary for a number of years, where I sang in the choir, and I was in the Boy Scouts and where I preached my first sermon.
This year that we are going to have together is a year for self-examination for you. Who who are we? Who is this church? Who are we internally and who are we to the community? And I think some clarity around that will then direct our steps forward in the coming years.
I also want to make sure that we have a lot of joy and we just have a lot of fun this year. Church should not ever feel like a chore. It should give us energy and excitement for the year and for the day and for the week ahead. So if it's ever feeling like a chore for you, come see me. We'll talk about it. Let's have just let's just have some fun this year, right?
A word about how I preach. Scripture is at the center of what we do. And I don't always preach on the gospel because the other books have important things to say. I will begin with what the scripture says, what the traditions, plural, multiple ones, have said about what is going on in Scripture. I might tell you what some expert theologians and better preachers than I have said about it for the day. I will tell you what I think. I get to do that. It's what I do every Sunday. And then I will always either ask you indirectly or directly, what do you think? And now what do we do with the Scripture lesson that we've been given? And that might not happen in the sermon, but at some point during the week or the month follow, that question will come. How are we to respond to the lessons and the sermons and the teachings of our faith? I already have an idea about how this congregation does that, and you do it very well in this community. But we must always be about the business of continually reflecting on who we are, who we are, and what is our calling in the world.
And I'll say this. If you have a question or a disagreement or another perspective, I want to hear it from you directly. I don't want to hear it third hand at a meeting a month later. If you have a concern about anything, this only works this year. If you feel free to come directly to me. I don't know the culture of this church quite so well just yet, but I have been in other churches where the idea of having a complaint that you bring directly to the minister is not what a church does. You talk about it in the parking lot afterwards. No parking lot conversations, please. If you're upset with me or with something that's going on, please. You are invited and welcomed to come to me first. And then we'll talk about how to respond. Fair. Okay.
Today we have a familiar story in our gospel lesson. The feeding of the five thousand plus the women and the children, which really means that there was like fifteen thousand people, which is a lot of people to feed with six loaves and two fishes. The story starts with the idea that Jesus has just come off of some big things that he was doing, and he went away on Sabbath. My Sabbath is Mondays and Tuesdays and into Wednesdays. Jesus went away to rest, but out of compassion, word had reached him that there were people who were hungry, who were starving, who needed healing. Out of compassion, he came back out of his Sabbath and went back to work. The disciples complained, hey, we're tired, Jesus, can we just send all these people away so we can eat? And gently Jesus said, no, don't. Don't send the people away. Let's feed them. They looked at each other and barely had knew they barely had enough food for themselves. We don't have enough. Jesus.
And I can just imagine that. The next line is Jesus looked to heaven. That was an eye roll. That was not anything sacred or holy. That was Jesus dealing with his disciples again. And then he took the little bit of food that they had, and he blessed it, and he broke it And he gave it to the disciples to give out to the gathered crowds. Much like we will do here in a moment. And wonder of wonders, there was enough food for everybody.
Now let me be clear. The miracle was not the way that it is portrayed in the movies. The baskets did not suddenly overflow with bread and fish. The miracle was that the fifteen thousand gathered people, against all cultural tradition, reached into their bags and realized that they had brought some food. Most folks, not everybody, but that they then shared with the people around them. That is not the way. That that culture operated. It was against cultural practice to share like that. Then, as now, the people were a little protective of what they had. Many of them did not have very much. But the miracle was that, in fact, there was enough.
Isaiah said it come. Anyone who hungers or thirsts come without question. Come without money, and you will be fed. We live in that world still. We live in that world right here, right now, at this church. We do not fence off this table. Come anyone who wishes to know the love of Christ. And you all know that there are our brothers and sisters in Christ who are a lot more restrictive about who can receive communion. And we are.
Now, I know that you are going to come forward this morning to receive communion. I'm glad that Jim mentioned that particular detail about ten minutes ago. But you also know that it's been tradition in the Congregational Church anyway, for you to sit where you are and for you to pass it to one another where I, as the clergy person, do not know who receives and who does not. Either way is fine. But if you're sitting there this morning and you have not received communion here before or in a long time, know that the welcome that Christ extends is to everyone. That there is plenty. Like when there was just two loaves, two loaves of loaves and fishes. Math was never my strong point. That's why I went to seminary.
But if you're sitting out there and wondering if there's a place at this table for you, there absolutely is. And that is the way we are called to be. To share generously, extravagantly what we have with any who gather. We no longer ration it. We no longer fence it. We no longer print in the bulletin. You can only receive if this or that or the other thing.
And that, I think, my friends, is the miracle. That we have a God who loves us so extravagantly, So generously, so widely, and provides for us so generously that we need not ever ration anything. I can hear the trustees cringing. Yes, we have to be realistic about how much money we have to spend on aging buildings and challenging infrastructure. We're going to talk about some of that this year. But that is just of human construction. There is no bound to God's love, and therefore there should be no bounds to our love for who? Whomever we meet. There should be no bounds to what we provide to those in need, save for what we simply can afford.
We will turn no one away. We will not say to anyone, you are not loved enough to deserve our help. And we will never, never say to anyone who comes with upturned hands and a humble and contrite heart that you are not welcome. That is the miracle of the loaves and fishes that God puts in our hands in tangible, measurable ways. The joy and the cost of that discipleship, which is simply to love, to serve and to feed. Go and do likewise. Amen.