Dear La Côte family and friends,
The lectionary passages for this Sunday are full of timely encouragement for us. We will be looking at Isaiah 55:1-5 and Matthew 14:13-21.
The invitation in Isaiah is beautifully simple: “Come, all you who are thirsty”. God sees people who are thirsty, hungry and in need, and he invites them to a place at his table. His grace is a gift to them, to us.
That same invitation comes alive in the Gospel when Jesus looks upon the crowd with compassion. Faced with thousands of hungry people, the disciples see only scarcity: five loaves and two fish. But Jesus sees an opportunity to reveal God’s abundance as he takes what little is offered, blesses it, breaks it, and shares it until everyone has enough, and more besides.
God’s kingdom is marked by trust in the generosity of God. We are invited to come to Christ with our own thirst and hunger, and to place in his hands our small gifts of what we have. What is offered in faith becomes a blessing beyond our imagining. As our Lord continues to feed us with his word, his presence and his love, may we, in turn, become bread for others in a world that longs for hope, compassion and grace.
Betty Talbot
