10 On their return the apostles told Jesus all they had done. He took them with him and withdrew privately to a city called Bethsaida. 11When the crowds found out about it, they followed him; and he welcomed them, and spoke to them about the kingdom of God, and healed those who needed to be cured.

12 The day was drawing to a close, and the twelve came to him and said, ‘Send the crowd away, so that they may go into the surrounding villages and countryside, to lodge and get provisions; for we are here in a deserted place.’ 13But he said to them, ‘You give them something to eat.’ They said, ‘We have no more than five loaves and two fish—unless we are to go and buy food for all these people.’ 14For there were about five thousand men. And he said to his disciples, ‘Make them sit down in groups of about fifty each.’ 15They did so and made them all sit down. 16And taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke them, and gave them to the disciples to set before the crowd. 17And all ate and were filled. What was left over was gathered up, twelve baskets of broken pieces. Luke 9:10-17

We are in a four-week series on Thin Places. This week the focus is on Service & Sacrifice.

Review: The term, “thin places” comes from Celtic Christianity. There are two layers or dimensions of reality to our existence: the visible world of our ordinary experience and the unseen world of the Spirit. Sometimes the curtain is drawn back and we “see” or experience that unseen world.

Places where people feel most strongly connected with God’s presence are referred to as thin places. It is in these places where the seen and unseen worlds are most closely connected and inhabitants of both worlds can momentarily touch the other. Examples:

• Exodus 3 – God speaking to Moses out of the burning bush.
• Mark 9 – The Transfiguration – Peter, James & John with Jesus on the mountain – Moses and Elijah appear to them.

We can broaden our definition of a “thin place” to include much more than just a geographical location…. “a thin place is a sacrament of the sacred, a mediator of the sacred, a means whereby God become present to us. A thin place is a means of grace…..” (See Marcus Borg’s The Heart of Christianity)

When our hearts are opened to the presence of God in a special way we are experiencing a thin place.

This week one of our members shared with me her experiences of thin places. She told me about the ordination service for a young man being ordained as a Presbyterian minister to serve on the mission field in Zimbabwe. In that service, our member, a Presbyterian elder, came forward for the laying-on-of-hands and experienced God’s presence in a very unexpected way – a surprise to her. She had a similar experience as she participated in the ordination service of her son, a Presbyterian minister.

In a different type of experience, our member received a phone call from a person thanking her for being an example of the Christian faith – and she didn’t know anyone was even watching! We never know!

The late Trappist monk, Thomas Merton said, “We are living in a world that is absolutely transparent, and God is shining through all the time…. God shows Himself everywhere, in everything – in people and in things and in nature and in events.”

This week another pastor and I were talking about thin places. We were talking about the mystical or experiential dimension of our faith that is often overlooked in our relationship with God.

My friend reminded me of the experience J. B. Phillips had with the late C.S. Lewis. Lewis, author of the Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity and many other books, died on Nov, 22, 1963, (the same day John F. Kennedy was assassinated) in England of natural causes. Moments after his death at Cambridge, Lewis appeared to his dear friend J.B. Phillips at Oxford. Phillips is best known for is translation of the New Testament and authoring the book Your God Is Too Small.
At the time, J. B. Phillips was in a deep depression that threatened his life. He refused to leave his home, refused proper food or exercise, and seriously questioned God’s love for him. It was in this state of depression that a  ruddy and glowing Lewis suddenly stood before him, entering his room through closed doors -- a “healthy Lewis, hearty and glowing” as Phillips was later to record.
In this vision, Lewis only spoke only one sentence to Phillips: ‘J.B., it’s not as hard as you think.’ One solitary sentence, the meaning of which is debated! But what is not debated is the effect of that sentence. It brought Phillips out of his depression, and set him again following God. After Lewis spoke that cryptic sentence, he disappeared.

Phillips came out of his chambers only to find that Lewis had died moments before the appearance, miles away. He pondered this in his heart, with wonder, and never returned to his depression. Lewis and Phillips experienced a thin place.

Now we turn our attention to how service and sacrifice can function as thin places…..

In the feeding of the 5,000, a miracle story, there is definitely the experience of a thin place. By the way, the feeding of the 5,000 is the only miracle of Jesus that is recorded in all 4 of the Gospels. The miracle stories in the Bible speak truth to us. They point to eternal truth beyond themselves.

Jesus’ words, “You give them something to eat,” really struck me. We participate in God’s work

Where did the miracle occur? In the hands of Jesus? In the hands of the disciples as they reached into the baskets and distributed the fish and bread? We’ll never know. The late William Barclay suggested that the crowd shared the lunches they had brought that day – a real miracle!

Our 2007 Service Trip to South Dakota is an opportunity for our almost 100 youth and adults to experience many thin places as they hear Jesus’ words, “You give them something to eat.” Emily Nelson Dixon, our Director of Youth Ministries notes: “We’re traveling to Rapid City, South Dakota. Our theme is Great Faces-Great Places. We’ll return July 29th to lead worship and tell our story. Some of the work we’ll be doing is with the Rapid City Women’s Shelter, Boy’s Club, Youth & Family Services, Food Bank, Badlands National Park, Custer State Park, and the Rapid City Forest Service. One of our theme scriptures is Proverbs 27:19 in The Message version: “Just as water mirrors your face, so your face mirrors your heart.”  We will work in small groups and have morning & evening devotions in those groups. They will experience thin places. We are praying and supporting them.

We have seen other opportunities for service and sacrifice in the annual back pack drive for school supplies for Olathe’s Kaw Valley center for children in foster homes. We have a great opportunity to give to flood relief through the First Presbyterian Church of Osawatomie, pastured by Rev. Leslie Murphy King. I know we will respond with generosity.

There are many examples of service and sacrifice throughout Christian history. I want to tell you about one of them and then make a few comments.

The following is adapted from Borden of Yale, by Mrs. Howard Taylor.

In 1904 William Borden graduated from a Chicago high school. As heir to the Borden Dairy estate, he was already a millionaire. For his high school graduation present, his parents gave 16-year-old Borden a trip around the world. As the young man traveled through Asia, the Middle East, and Europe, he felt a growing burden for the world's hurting people. Finally, Bill Borden wrote home to say, "I'm going to give my life to prepare for the mission field." Friends commented that he was throwing his life away. In response, Bill wrote two words in the back of his Bible: "No reserves."
Borden then went to Yale University where he organized a small morning prayer group which gave birth to a movement that spread across the Yale campus. By the end of his first year, 150 students were meeting for weekly Bible study and prayer. By the time Bill Borden was a senior, one thousand of Yale's 1,300 students were meeting in such groups.
Borden's outreach ministry was not confined to the Yale campus. He cared about widows and orphans. He rescued alcoholics from the streets of New Haven. To rehabilitate them, he founded the Yale Hope Mission. One of his friends wrote that he "might often be found in the lower parts of the city at night, on the street, in a cheap lodging house or some restaurant to which he had taken a poor hungry fellow to feed him.

Borden presided over the huge student missionary conference held at Yale and served as president of the honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
Upon graduation from Yale, Borden turned down some high paying job offers. In his Bible, he wrote two more words: "No retreats."
William Borden went on to graduate work at Princeton Seminary in New Jersey. When he finished his studies at Princeton, he sailed for China.  He stopped first in Egypt to study Arabic. While there, he contracted spinal meningitis. Within a month, 25-year-old William Borden was dead.
When news William Whiting Borden's death was cabled back to the U.S., the story was carried by nearly every American newspaper. "A wave of sorrow went round the world . . . Borden not only gave (away) his wealth, but himself, in a way so joyous and natural that it (seemed) a privilege rather than a sacrifice" wrote Mary Taylor in her introduction to his biography.
Prior to his death, Borden had written two more words in his Bible. Underneath the words "No reserves" and "No retreats," he had written: "No regrets."

Borden inspired countless people. He obeyed Jesus’ words, “You give them something to eat.”

Now, not everyone will live out the kind of service and sacrifice evidenced by William Borden. But we are all called to follow Jesus in service and sacrifice. In that following we will experience God – thin places – as we serve others with the gifts given to us.

Finally, I want to quote from The World is Flat: A Brief History of the 21st Century, by Thomas Friedman. He writes: “Analysts have always tended to measure a society by classical economic and social statistics: its deficit-to-GDP ratio, or its unemployment rate, or the rate of literacy among its adult women. Such statistics are important and revealing.  But there is another statistic; much harder to measure, that I think is even more important and revealing: Does your society have more memories than dreams or more dreams than memories? (Emphasis mine)

“By dreams I mean the positive, life-affirming variety.”  Friedman then quotes the business organization consultant Michael Hammer: “One thing that tells me a company is in trouble is when they tell me how good they were in the past.” He notes that you don’t want to forget your identity, “but when memories exceed dreams, the end is near.”

At Rolling Hills we give thanks to God for the service and sacrifices of those who have gone before us. And we look forward to the dreams for the future – positive, life-affirming dreams. Many are dreaming those dreams.

I have a dream of Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church growing as a thin place. Yes, this wonderful church campus at 93rd and Nall – a thin place to experience God. But more importantly the people here- thin places for others to experience God – as we sacrifice for and serve the One who said, “You give them something to eat.”  Amen.