Tessera Materials

Mosaic Friends,

Happy Tessera Weekend! August is upon us. Join us next Sunday, August 9, for our Mosaic baptism/pool party celebration at 5:30pm at Cooper YMCA. Even if swimming isn't your thing, come on out and encourage those being baptized!

Read/Reflect: Matthew 14:13-20 (NIV)

Last week at our gathering we reflected on the Lord's Table as a place where we are reminded of the unique and abundant sustenance God provides—not only for today, but as a foretaste of the feast that awaits us in the age to come. Curt mentioned a gospel story we'll return to this week, the only miracle (besides the resurrection) recorded in all four Gospels. Apparently the gospel writers thought this one was worth making sure no one missed.

The disciples find themselves in a remote place with very little and surrounded by great need. If we're honest, most of us spend a fair amount of energy trying to avoid places like that.

Scarcity has a way of finding us anyway. Sometimes it's a lack of resources. Sometimes it's the absence of meaningful relationships, unmet longings, unanswered prayers, or hopes that seem to remain just out of reach. Whatever form it takes, scarcity has a way of unsettling us.

Yet these are precisely the places where Jesus chooses to meet people. He isn't repelled by our emptiness; he's moved by compassion. He joins us in the remote places of our lives.

13 When Jesus heard what had happened, he withdrew by boat privately to a solitary place. Hearing of this, the crowds followed him on foot from the towns. 14 When Jesus landed and saw a large crowd, he had compassion on them and healed their sick.
15 As evening approached, the disciples came to him and said, "This is a remote place, and it's already getting late. Send the crowds away, so they can go to the villages and buy themselves some food."
16 Jesus replied, "They do not need to go away. You give them something to eat."
17 "We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish," they answered.
18 "Bring them here to me," he said. 19 And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. 20 They all ate and were satisfied, and the disciples picked up twelve basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
Notice that Jesus doesn't begin by eliminating the disciples' sense of scarcity. He begins by inviting them to trust him within it. What looked painfully insufficient became more than enough in the hands of God.

The invitation for us may not be that God immediately removes our remote places, but that we discover his sustaining presence there. Often his abundance arrives in forms we weren't expecting—and rarely according to our preferred timeline.

• Where do you feel like you're living in a "remote place" right now—a place marked by scarcity, waiting, or unmet longing?
• What might it look like to trust God's provision in this season, even if it comes in ways you wouldn't have chosen? How can this community help you practice that kind of trust?
• Jesus responded to the crowds with compassion before he performed a miracle. Who around you might be living in their own "remote place," and what is one tangible way you can embody Christ's compassion toward them this week?

Closing Prayer

Glorious God,
your generosity floods the world with goodness
and you shower creation with abundance.
Awaken in us a hunger for your sustenance to satisfy both body and heart,
that in the miracle of being fed
we may be empowered to feed the hungry in Jesus’ name. Amen.

Giving Update

YTD Need: $192,903
YTD Giving: $186,784
Variance: -$6,119