St. Elizabeth's Episcopal Church - Elizabeth, NJ
8:00 AM In Person Low Mass/ Liturgy of The Eucharist - 10:00AM Service Via Zoom
  • Home
  • Welcome
    • History >
      • Historical Sizzle
    • I'm New
    • Let's Get Acquainted
    • Rev. Canon Andy J. Moore
    • Leadership
    • Mission
    • Habits of Grace: Prayer into Action
    • Bishop Curry Who is my Neighbor
    • Bishop Curry
    • Make a Gift
    • Services
    • Sunday Service Aug 30th 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 23rd, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 16th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 9th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 2nd, 2020
    • Gallery >
      • Harvest Sunday
      • Sunday School Father's Day 19
      • Men's Club Community Flea Mkt
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Thankgiving Baskets
      • Celebration for High School Gradates
      • Homecoming 2018 >
        • Homecoming
      • Music in the Garden
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Sunday School Youth Sunday
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Christmas Mass St. Elizabeth's
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Frist Presbyterian
      • Feast of All Saints
      • Sanctuary Sunday 2017
      • International Food Festival
  • Get Involved
    • Sunday School
    • Sunday School Lift Ev'ry Voice
    • Moments in Black History 2019
    • Black History - MLK
    • Sunday School Black History
    • Sunday School Black History ii
    • Youth Ministry
    • ESL Fall 19 Classes
    • ESL Cerificate of Achievement
    • Computer Literacy
    • Episcopal Church Women
    • Mens Club
    • Outreach
  • Hall Rental
  • Calendar
    • News & Events >
      • Free Testing for COVID-19
      • Robin Pierre DCN
      • Pastoral Letter April 24th
      • Holy Week Schedule
      • Church Services Suspended
      • Reading Lent4 - Mar 22nd
      • Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing Challenge
      • Absalom Jones Service Sunday 2/16
      • Brad Kleiman in Concert
      • Annual General Meeing
      • Christmas Service
      • Cathedral Day 2019
      • Bern Nix Jazz Festival
      • All Saints Sunday, 3rd, November
      • Sight & Sound 2019
      • Int'l Food Festival July 13th
      • UMHA - Workshop Canceled 6/15
      • Prayer Breakfast Mar 16th
      • MLK Day of Service
      • UMHA - Sunday Dec 16th
      • New Year Eve Service
      • Christmas Celebration Fun Night
      • ECW Trip to Lancaster PA
      • Homecoming 2018
      • Music In the Garden
      • Saxophone Recital
      • Elizabeth Homeless Coalition
      • From Your Door to Heaven's Door
      • Urban Garden
      • Black History Events
  • Contact
  • Realm E-Giving Launch
  • Harvest Baskets Giveaways
  • Rector's Harvest Message
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
    • 25th Years of Priesthood Gala
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
  • Sunday May 5th
  • Lent 2019
  • Living Like Job
  • Operation Warm Heart
  • 9th Annual Food Festival
  • it's Friday....but Sunday Comin!!
  • Bishop Curry
  • Poor People's Campaign
  • Zoom Sunday Service Oct 4th
  • Stewardship Sunday 10/18/2020
  • Jobs
  • Home
  • Welcome
    • History >
      • Historical Sizzle
    • I'm New
    • Let's Get Acquainted
    • Rev. Canon Andy J. Moore
    • Leadership
    • Mission
    • Habits of Grace: Prayer into Action
    • Bishop Curry Who is my Neighbor
    • Bishop Curry
    • Make a Gift
    • Services
    • Sunday Service Aug 30th 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 23rd, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 16th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 9th, 2020
    • Zoom Service Aug 2nd, 2020
    • Gallery >
      • Harvest Sunday
      • Sunday School Father's Day 19
      • Men's Club Community Flea Mkt
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Thankgiving Baskets
      • Celebration for High School Gradates
      • Homecoming 2018 >
        • Homecoming
      • Music in the Garden
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Mother's Day 2018
      • Sunday School Youth Sunday
      • Maundy Thursday
      • Christmas Mass St. Elizabeth's
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Christmas Eve Mass
      • Community Christmas Party
      • Frist Presbyterian
      • Feast of All Saints
      • Sanctuary Sunday 2017
      • International Food Festival
  • Get Involved
    • Sunday School
    • Sunday School Lift Ev'ry Voice
    • Moments in Black History 2019
    • Black History - MLK
    • Sunday School Black History
    • Sunday School Black History ii
    • Youth Ministry
    • ESL Fall 19 Classes
    • ESL Cerificate of Achievement
    • Computer Literacy
    • Episcopal Church Women
    • Mens Club
    • Outreach
  • Hall Rental
  • Calendar
    • News & Events >
      • Free Testing for COVID-19
      • Robin Pierre DCN
      • Pastoral Letter April 24th
      • Holy Week Schedule
      • Church Services Suspended
      • Reading Lent4 - Mar 22nd
      • Lift Ev'ry Voice & Sing Challenge
      • Absalom Jones Service Sunday 2/16
      • Brad Kleiman in Concert
      • Annual General Meeing
      • Christmas Service
      • Cathedral Day 2019
      • Bern Nix Jazz Festival
      • All Saints Sunday, 3rd, November
      • Sight & Sound 2019
      • Int'l Food Festival July 13th
      • UMHA - Workshop Canceled 6/15
      • Prayer Breakfast Mar 16th
      • MLK Day of Service
      • UMHA - Sunday Dec 16th
      • New Year Eve Service
      • Christmas Celebration Fun Night
      • ECW Trip to Lancaster PA
      • Homecoming 2018
      • Music In the Garden
      • Saxophone Recital
      • Elizabeth Homeless Coalition
      • From Your Door to Heaven's Door
      • Urban Garden
      • Black History Events
  • Contact
  • Realm E-Giving Launch
  • Harvest Baskets Giveaways
  • Rector's Harvest Message
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
    • 25th Years of Priesthood Gala
  • 25 Years of Priesthood Gala
  • Sunday May 5th
  • Lent 2019
  • Living Like Job
  • Operation Warm Heart
  • 9th Annual Food Festival
  • it's Friday....but Sunday Comin!!
  • Bishop Curry
  • Poor People's Campaign
  • Zoom Sunday Service Oct 4th
  • Stewardship Sunday 10/18/2020
  • Jobs

Feeding the Crowds

8/8/2020

0 Comments

 

​Mathew 14:16-18   Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat." They replied, "We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish." And he said, "Bring them here to me”.

Jesus, in His feeding of the crowds, seeks to help the disciples to understand their calling and to become instruments for teaching His revolutionary message.  God’s power is not limited by human circumstances and material shortcomings but actually demonstrates His power within and through these human limitations.  The miracles of Jesus were really exhibited how mighty humans can become if willing to allow the power of God to work within and through us.  From the days of Abraham in the Old Testament to St. John the Divine in the Book of Revelation, there lies a compilation of humanities’ ability to overcome the most extraneous circumstances if space is provided for God’s power to become activated.

Christianity, at its very heart, is about the uncompromising call to discover our true nature in spite of our possible shortcomings or fallen nature.  Several Old and New Testament readings reveal this particular understanding when we witness Jacob becoming Israel; no longer a man fleeing from his past, but one willing to walk boldly to encounter his greatest fears, or Paul, in the letter to the Romans, reveals his new identity; an identity no longer grounded in his Jewish heritage, but in his newly discovered faith in Jesus Christ.  This is a profound concept which takes a human face in the household of Philemon as he wrestles with his relationship with Onesimus, an ex-slave and a Christian. Christianity nurtures an astonishing personal and societal transformation.

Sadly, when Europeans discovered Christianity, this radical message became suppressed to that of economic well-being and political power.  Christianity became a tool of sinful divisive teachings. The new Christians developed theological conceptions which introduced ideas of the limitations or lack of God’s presence within those whose skin color was black or brown. The church provided a theological support for the White European imperial power structure built upon a lie sanctioning the ownership of flesh; of black and brown skin being property and white skin being free.  Now, salvation had a color; Jesus became white, all angels were white, Resurrection became a white liturgical power and heaven was a promise fulfilled after being washed and becoming white as snow.  Seminaries and theological writings reinforced those teachings and prepared clergy and church leaders to reinforce this evil.  The posturing in the front of St. John’s Episcopal Church is the natural flow of conditioning which cannot be erased by glib denials.

Now the scales like those of St. Paul has fallen off our eyes; the lie is now fully revealed.  “And He died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves, but for Him who died for them and was raised again. So, from now on we regard no one according to the flesh.” (2 Cor.15 &16) Many recent articles are sharing how the Covid-19 virus lock-downs have allowed many Christians to see the truth of the insidious nature of systemic racial inequalities that leave one to question the integrity of our white clergy colleagues.  What is now evident leaves one to question the worth and value of sitting in convocations or Diocesan conventions with white clergy who quickly return to their segregated communities only to reinforce the evils and dangers of a bad theology lacking a Biblical basis.
​
Now increasingly Christians are hearing Jesus saying, “they need not go away let’s share a meal together.” Let’s gather together around Jesus and no longer slip away into the comforts of our divisive communities. These words lie at the heart of His message. For too long we have been taught it was all about the meal, but Thanksgiving celebrations should be greater than what is on the menu. The Feeding of 5000 is a call for us to live in communion with each other through Christ Jesus. We no longer need to slip into our segregated communities where churches and the quality of schools are decided by our zip code but by our true identity as being in and of Christ Jesus.  Can our white clergy take a knee and sit with us at the feet of Jesus?
0 Comments



Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Rev. Canon, Andy Moore 

    Archives

    February 2021
    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    December 2017

    Categories

    All
    Sermon

    RSS Feed

    Picture

St Elizabeth’s
305 N. Broad Street
Elizabeth, New Jersey 07207

Weekend Service Times
Sunday: 8:00am, 10:00am
Full Schedule

Picture