I only have so much. I think about this story out of John's Gospel, and I find myself not relating to the disciples so much as I relate to the boy, the boy with five loaves of bread and two fish. Yesterday morning I was having a Shel Silverstein moment, and the coffee was flowing, so I put together a litany of things I have in the form of a poem. Silverstein might roll over in his grave in a second, but that proves what I'm trying to say here: I only have so much, including my lackluster ability to write a poem. So, here is what I have...

I've got a hardwood floor and an electric guitar

Pens, pencils, and matchbooks filling up a jar

Snow globes, candles and a busted screen door

Books, vinyl picture frames and CDs galore

There's a paperback book on my toilet tank lid

That tells me where the meanings of birthdays are hid

I learn I'm a Gemini with good and bad traits

And on my special day Arkansas became the 25^th state

I've got two cats with jingling collars named George and Grace

Who were rescued from a storm drain in 1998

There's a hole in the wall that they both can crawl through

And that hole's big enough for their possum friend, too

I have cheddar goldfish for my 16-month-old boy

And a cell phone, which, for some reason, is his favorite toy

There's a chest of drawers and a TV that I share with my wife

Not to mention a homestead and my entire life

I have a window AC unit and a garden hose

A roof overhead, ten fingers and ten toes

I've got lunchboxes that feature the supergroup KISS

And dumbbells stored in a closet that I can't say I miss

There's a shirt on my back and shoes on my feet

Leftovers in Tupperware when it's time to eat

I've got a brain and a heart and a free will to think

Pots, pans and dirty dishes piling up in the sink

Still, I'm reminded as I look at my belt and my tie

All these things could disappear in the blink of an eye

So, I ask myself questions with that fact in mind

Should I guard them or give them, all these things of mine?

I only have so much at the end of the day

Another 'x' on the calendar and more bills to pay

And I wonder as I thumb through this Bible of mine

If all that I have is worth any love from the Divine?

Thanks for indulging. If that poem had a title, it would probably be the thought that led to its creation: 'I only have so much.' We only have so much. If that were your poem, it would read much differently, I'm sure, but would the ending be any different? Don't we all at some point or another ask that question, whether in our mind or out loud when we're alone, "How much is what I have worth in the eyes of my Maker? How much is all that I have worth to God?"

That questions is, I believe, at the core of a growing level of racism in our country. With escalating attention on immigration reform and the many different opinions that go along with it on Capitol Hill, comes a rise in racism. More and more, Hispanics – Latinos – are called aliens; they're referred to as parasites feeding off of our tax dollars; they are more underappreciated than they were before and people talk about Hispanic people – "them" – as not having the same rights as Anglo Americans. They are viewed as subhuman.

Why is this happening? Perhaps this plague of racism has to do with people in our country feeling like what they have is worthless – more specifically, that what they have is worthless to God. That might be the only rationale for racism. People look at all they have and think, "This is worthless to God," and by that theory comes the conclusion that all we have only has worth to me. The thinking is, "Take away all that I have and you take away my self-worth." Racism has to do with powerful people feeling threatened. So, what we have is a nation so easily scared that we'll believe anything, hoarding all that we have and claiming that Hispanics in our country are unfairly mooching off what is rightfully ours.

Now, many in our country who buy into the, frankly, ignorant notion that Hispanic immigrants are poisoning the economic well are God-fearing people. Why, in that case, would people of God put parameters around all they have and hate their neighbors? Because fearing God isn't enough. We have to believe that what we have merits God's favor and love. And, children of God, this is what we have. It's not a car or a purse or a laptop or an iPod or a suit or a pair of high heels. All that we have is all that we are.

We have a mind. We have a heart. We have a soul. We have perspectives, offerings and creativity that are different from anyone's in this room. We have histories and testimonies unique to us. We have air in our lungs. We have the time that's given us. And we each have our own simple gifts that make up who we are. That's all we have. And God loves us for that. All we have is worth more than all the world's money in the eyes of our Maker.

So, racism is not only the result of feeling threatened or manipulated out of what we have; it's the result of misinterpreting what we truly have in the first place. When we guard our stuff and hold our fellow humanity at arm's length in this regard, then we give up on God's love for us; we forget that God finds worth in what we have, not what we own.

With racism and with greed of any kind comes a blindness to others, a blindness to our true selves and true worth, and, therefore, a blindness to God. It leaves no room for connection with others – no room for communion with others. No embrace of our mutuality, our interconnectedness, our shared love from God. And there is no room for the humble admissions that we are not self-made. No one is self-made.

Everyone is the result of sharing all that we have.

We look at equality in terms of equal opportunities for education, for jobs, for economic development and overall equality in the pursuit of liberty, justice and happiness. And as people of faith, we are called to serve at the hands of Christ in the here and now to work toward that equality for all of God's children. This, I proclaim to you, is pleasing to our God who is merciful and just. But how God finds worth in this, how God loves us, is determined by how we come together to achieve that goal of equality. What we do is pleasing to God but how we do it is where we find God's love. And we do anything that strives for God's kingdom come on earth as it is in heaven with all that we have.

We have our interpretation of equality, but perhaps God's interpretation of equality is God's children sharing all that they have. God's equality is defined by Creation sharing its gifts to reach the sum total of God's love. God's equality can only happen when all of Creation does what God intended for Creation: to have life, to be life and to give life.

That's the real miracle of the story of Jesus feeding 5,000 people. Let's face it, on Jesus' watch, those people were going to be fed one way or another. Jesus would see to that. But the miracle is in how it happened. Jesus didn't make fish and bread fall down from heaven like God made food rain down on the Israelites in the wilderness. Jesus fed 5,000 with all that one person had. The disciples were scratching their heads over how in the world all these people were going to eat, and Jesus even had some fun with their anxiety, saying, "Hey, Philip, where do you suppose we're to buy enough bread for all these people to eat?" And then a boy comes up. A boy walks up to Jesus with all that he has: 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish; and then equality – God's equality – takes shape. Five thousand are fed.

I mentioned before that I relate to the little boy in the story, not so much the disciples this time; and I invite us all to relate to the boy in this story today. I hope we can relate to the boy because we've got Vacation Bible School coming up! Friday, Saturday and Sunday this church lifts a VBS up to God, and although it's for everyone, including adults, the catalyst for it is our children.

In the Gospel lesson, Andrew sounds like he has doubts about the boy's simple gifts. He doesn't believe the boy has a whole lot to offer. Andrew says, "Here's a kid with 5 puny barley loaves and 2 tiny fish. How far will they go among so many?" Friends, just like Jesus set the stage for feeding 5,000 people, Christ has gone before us and set the stage for our Vacation Bible School; and just like the boy with his simple gifts of 5 loaves and 2 fish, our kids are going to come. And they are going to bring their simple gifts with them. We need to learn from Andrew and the other disciples this morning so that we should not doubt, but only believe. All of us need to encourage our children.

I've had the distinct honor of baptizing two children in the life our church since coming on board to serve as the pastor of this congregation, and we share in a covenant that comes out of the United Church of Christ Book of Worship. This is what we share with each other as a community of faith: Jesus Christ calls us to make disciples of all nations and to offer them the gift of grace and baptism. Do you, who witness and celebrate this sacrament, promise your love, support and care to the one about to be baptized as they live and grow in Christ? And the people say, "We promise our love, our support and our care."

When I served a church in Austin prior to coming here, we had a children's minister who was impeccable at making activities and ministries, retreats, games and all kind of things happen for the kids. One thing that she would do every years was to put together a series of skits and songs where the kids would kind of put on a show, to the delight of their parents. Mainly, it was the parents of the children who would attend that event. There was a woman in the congregation named Mo. Mo is old enough to be my mother. Her children have grown up. One is married with a couple of kids. The night of this event, our children's minister was walking out of the sanctuary and ran into Mo. Her first response was, "Well I didn't expect to see you here!" Mo, backed up with an offended look on her face and said, "Well, why wouldn't I be here?" The minister stuttered, then said, "I thought that this was usually an event attended mostly by the parents of the kids, you know, so they could video tape it.... " Mo just said, "I made a covenant with these children when they were baptized that I would support them, that I would love them, and that I would care for them as they grew to become the people that they are out of all the gifts that they have. Why wouldn't I be here?"

We need to learn from the disciples so that we would never miss a moment of the simple gifts that are all around us. And there are tons of gifts at this church. So many people have come together with their 5 loaves of bread and 2 fish that all might be fed. For example, did you know that as I'm talking right now, this is being recorded and put on iTunes by someone who shared their simple idea, their simple gift and now all kinds of people are hearing this, including those in our congregation whom we don't get the opportunity to see very often because they can't get out of the house too often – our dear friends Jane and Ikie, for example. Did you know that there is a ministry going on at Sheridan? The elderly get together on a Sunday morning at about 9:15 and sing songs with us because a few people from this congregation with simple gifts go over there to share those gifts with them. Did you know that our softball team is a group of people sharing their very simple gifts, and that they're led by folks like Carol Wilson – now Rob Mackin – sharing their simple gifts, and we get to see the fruits of that labor, not in whether we win or lose a game, but in the joy that our children have at the end of the game when they round the bases two and three and four times. Do you ever ask yourself how the letters on the sign outside get changed? How communion is prepared on this table? How the choirs pulls off a different anthem every week, not to mention a Christmas program and a Good Friday cantata? Simple gifts. Simple gifts.

In that Gospel message, Jesus withdraws. He goes off to be by himself. To be still. To pray. And, arguably, to hide. Why does he do it? Because they are coming to take him by force. We can relate to the boy in the story. We can relate to the disciples. We can even relate to the people who stormed Jesus to take him to be king by force. But, we can't relate to Jesus. That's another message out of this story. No one can be Jesus. Only the Christ. Jesus withdrew because the lesson is for us that no one person can ever do. Jesus goes on before us and prepares a space, a context, a place for us. And this is it. All of us share our simple gifts and we make things happen. Not any one person, but all of our simple gifts. We share those and we can reach the sum total of God's love.

This is a song by Johnny Cash that you can tell influenced how I went into putting together that Shel Silverstein-esque poem. It has to do with equality. It's called Country Trash:

I got a crib full of corn, a turnin' plow

But the ground's too wet for the hopper now.

Got a cultivator and a double tree

A leather line for the hull and gee

I'm saving up dimes for a rainy day

I got about a dollar laid away

The wind's from the south and the fishing's good

Got a pot belly stove, a quart of wood

I got a machinaw and a hunting dog

A cap I ordered from the catalog

A good tall tree that shades the yard

A good fat sow for the winter's lard

Well there's not much new ground left to plow

And the crops need fertilizer now

My hands don't earn me too much gold

For security when I grow old

But we'll all be equal under the grass

And God's got a heaven for

Country trash

Friends, we only become all that we are in Christ, and the church only moves forward when we bring to Jesus all that we have. I only have so much, but together ours is the Kingdom of God. Amen.