One Good Word
“One Good Word” by Guest Speaker Missy Schrock, Center for Healing and Hope
Before I get started with my sermon, I want to Say a few things about the connection between Center for Healing & Hope and Creekside Church of the Brethren because it goes back to before the turn of the century and is a beautiful story of collaboration between faith communities that sought to live out what Jesus said were the most important commandments – to love God and neighbor.
In the 1990s, there was an influx of immigrants coming to Elkhart County as farm and factory workers. The Catholic church in Goshen began an outreach ministry to these folks. Most of these migrants did not have health insurance and ended up in the emergency room when they or their family members were injured or sick. Dr. John Mann, whom you all knew well, was concerned about the cost of visiting the ER for healthcare needs that weren’t necessarily an emergency and that there was nowhere for them to follow up on the treatments they received in the ER. Furthermore, in the ER, there were other barriers to receiving quality healthcare because of language and cultural barriers.
Dr Mann connected with Terry Weddel, a nurse who worked with him and the Catholic parish and they, along with deacon Carlos Medina, began an urgent care walk-in clinic at the Catholic church. As the word spread, the demand increased. Eventually, Dr. Bill Pletcher and Dr. Bill Weybright, both bilingual COB physicians, joined in the volunteer effort alongside other providers and nurses. Eventually, the clinic became more formally organized as a 501c3 nonprofit and is now in its 27th year of operation. The needs have changed over the years, as have the staff and volunteers, but the mission remains the same. Today, our mission statement reads: Center for Healing & Hope provides affordable healthcare for the uninsured and advocacy services for immigrants. We are a welcoming place, serving the community with Christ as our example.
While we never forget the dedication of the doctors who believed that every child of God has the right to healthcare access and decided to do something about the barriers our uninsured and immigrant neighbors experience, Center for Healing & Hope is now a fully functioning primary care clinic, serving only people who have no insurance and most of whom speak Spanish. We do not receive any government assistance and about 65% of our revenue comes from donations from people like you and churches like Creekside.
What you will hear this morning in my message is a reflection of the legacy and faithfulness of those who began this good work so many years ago. If you want to hear more about what the Center is doing now, or ask questions, please feel free to connect with me after the service.
Now, on to my message…
Have you ever had the experience of reading something or coming across a quote or hearing a friend say something profound and you think, “Wow. That’ll preach!” ? That’s what happened to me about a year ago when I read this poem.
It’s called Loaves and Fishes, by David Whyte and it goes like this:
This is not
the age of information.
This is not
the age of information.
Forget the news,
and the radio,
and the blurred screen.
This is the time
of loaves
and fishes.
People are hungry,
and one good word is bread
for a thousand.
In these few lines, David Whyte beautifully offers powerful insight into the hunger of our time and hope for how to feed it. This hunger is not about collecting more information. It’s not about more headlines, apps, or screens. Despite being flooded with input from endless scrolling, the 24 hour news cycle, and constant entertainment noise, we are emotionally and spiritually starved and exhausted.
We don’t need more content. We need connection. We need community. We need good words.
What are the good words in the story of the loaves and fishes? What will really feed us, and the thousands around us?
In Luke’s gospel, the disciples come to Jesus with a problem: it’s late, they say, and this crowd needs food, they say. “Send them away,” they say.
But what does Jesus say? He says: “You give them something to eat.”
Why? Why would Jesus say this knowing that they didn’t prepare for this scenario?
What Jesus knew was that if the people’s basic needs weren’t met, no sermon in the world would reach them, even if it was coming directly from the son of God.
We can offer thoughts and prayers, but the good words we have to offer are sometimes actions. They are the embodiment of the Living Word. Meaning that the word is literally, physically, and actively caring about the people around us. That “one good word” might be a meal. It also might be giving a ride to an appointment. It might be providing warm clothes. It might be tending someone’s wounds. It might be building a ramp. It’s whatever tangible thing we can offer to meet people where they are. We can’t ignore people’s physical needs and expect their spirits to flourish. We have to start by showing people that we care about their physical wellbeing just as Jesus did when he told the disciples to feed the crowd.
Maybe your good word is care.
One of the interesting elements of this passage in Luke is that the disciples wanted to solve the problem by sending people away. I mean, what if you had hundreds of people suddenly show up here at Creekside on a Sunday morning? Of course you would welcome everyone! You would greet them and invite them to worship with you…but would you invite them all to stay for lunch? We don’t plan for busloads of strangers to show up and it would be more practical to hand out a list of close-by restaurants and say let them go to Panera, Wings, Etc., IHOP, or Ricky’s for lunch.
How often do we face challenges and problems that seem too big for us to solve, and we try to dismiss them, send them away, hope that someone else will deal with it?
The disciples, in their practical wisdom, want to send the crowds away. But Jesus doesn’t let them off the hook. He calls them to engage the need. “You give them something to eat.”
Jesus’ command isn’t just about physical food. It’s about turning toward what seems impossible.
When we look at problems like poverty, addiction, loneliness, depression, disability, immigration, and homelessness, we think, “That’s too big for me.” So, we turn away and pretend we don’t see it.
But Jesus invites us to get our hands dirty, to make sacrifices, to get uncomfortable so that we creatively engage with the needs around us, whether they are physical, emotional, spiritual or all of the above.
It doesn’t have to be much. It can be an act of kindness, support, acknowledgement, or prayer. But we cannot pretend we don’t see people suffering around us. We are called to turn toward the discomfort instead of turning away.
Maybe your good word is engage.
The loaves and fishes didn’t come from a camel-dash driver pulling up to Bethsaida. It was locally sourced from within the crowd. In John’s version of this story, it came from a boy who offered what he had: five loaves and two fish. In other versions, it’s just what the disciples had or collected from a few people around them.
What we sometimes fail to understand is that what we need is already among us.
Jesus didn’t see scarcity. He saw the opportunity for abundance.
He blessed the bread and the fish and they multiplied! What was small became enough to feed thousands.
It’s not about having or doing enough; it’s about being willing to share what we have that triggers abundance. Was the miracle that the loaves and fishes were supernaturally replenished in each basket, or was it that the act of sharing inspired generosity among all those in the crowd? We will never know for sure, but that doesn’t mean the word is lost. Jesus showed the crowd that be believed it was enough, and it was.
There are resources here in this crowd, in this congregation, in our schools and workplaces, in our community.
What do you have to share? Is it a meal? A few dollars in a cup? Encouragement? Acknowledgement? Welcome and belonging? Mentoring? Maybe it’s simply your presence.
Whatever it is, it’s not about having enough to start with. It’s about nurturing and trusting that when we bring what we have, God will do the multiplying.
Maybe your good word is share.
I have one last word from this story. No one is turned away. Jesus doesn’t ask for paperwork. He doesn’t sort people by status, wealth, race, or religion.
The only qualification for being fed is being hungry.
We live in a world that puts up so many barriers: Are you eligible? Do you have a photo ID? Can you work? Can you pay? Do you speak English? Where are you from? Are you legal? But in the kingdom of God, if you’re hungry, you belong at the table.
The feeding of the five thousand wasn’t about who deserved it or earned it. It was about people showing up in their need, and Jesus offering them grace, compassion, and abundance.
This is the radical inclusivity of Jesus: Everyone eats. Everyone is fed. Everyone is eligible. Everyone is welcome. Everyone is loved.
That’s good news for all of us, because at one time or another, we’re all just hungry people hoping to be fed.
Maybe your good word is love.
This is not the age of information.
“This is the time for loaves and fishes.”
This is the time of presence, of compassion, of words that nourish.
What kind of bread are you hungry for?
What kind of fish can you offer?
Could it be caring for someone’s physical needs? Could it be engaging challenges instead of turning away? Could it be sharing your resources, even if they seem small? Could it be recognizing that everyone is worthy of love?
Whatever your word is, offer it to God, then give it away. Put it into action. Watch it multiply.
Because that one good word is bread for a thousand. Amen