Weekly Greeting - December 5, 2025
At the conclusion of the sermon last Sunday, Celia looked at me with wide eyes and whispered,
“Herod fed his guests out of abundance, but Jesus fed his guests out of scarcity!”
It’s true!
Jesus and his disciples and his 5000+ guests were in the wilderness. And what’s the primary characteristic of wilderness?
Scarcity. Perhaps we could even go so far as to say that the primary characteristic of wilderness is nothingness.
Matthew 14 isn’t the first time the people of God have found themselves in the wilderness. Moses led the Hebrew slaves out of Egypt and right into the middle of nowhere. And what did God do for them in the wilderness? God fed them. After Jesus is baptized he goes into the wilderness for 40 days and nights. At the end of his fast it is the angels who come to feed him because there is nothing in the wilderness to eat.
When Jesus and the disciples and 5000+ others find themselves in the wilderness — in the nothingness — Jesus finds a way to feed the hungry people
God does God’s best work when we’re in the wilderness, and Jesus is no different. What looks like nothing at all is actually enough.
As we journey through this season of Advent, my prayer for all of us is that we take the time to notice what God is doing and to give thanks that it is always enough.
In the spirit of hope, peace, joy, and love,
Mary Beth