Shipley Church Self-Service

Sunday 2nd August 2020

Thought for the Week – Feeding of the 5,000 with five loaves and two fish

Food is the theme of this Sunday’s readings – the food we need to sustain our bodies as well as the spiritual food with which we need to nourish our souls. In the miracle of the feeding of the five thousand, Jesus offers both. The story also tells us to be compassionate for the needy. Its symbolism is, of course, connected to the Jewish Passover and to the Eucharist, as Jesus feeds the multitude until their “cup runneth over” with the blessings of not only their earthly satisfaction, but eternal life.

(Matthew 14: 13-21)

The famous television advertisement in which a small boy wheels his bike, with its basket full of bread, up the steep hill known as Gold Hill in Shaftesbury, Dorset, to the accompaniment of Dvorak’s New World Symphony, was made in 1973 to promote the Hovis loaf. First called “Hominis Vis” (meaning Strength of Man) in 1886, and then shortened to “Hovis”, it re-introduced wheatgerm to the British loaf. By 1986 Hovis had become one of two giant bakeries producing over two thirds of the nine million or so loaves we eat each day in Britain.

Perhaps we should try to understand how God works in our lives, and that what we can expect from him is far greater than we could ever imagine. 

Hymn

Guide me, O thou great Redeemer,

Pilgrim through this barren land;

I am weak, but thou art mighty,

Hold me with thy powerful hand:

Bread of heaven,

Feed me till I want no more.

Prayers

We pray for the many millions in the world today who are hungry and are at the mercy of disease. Make us instruments of God’s purpose to relieve their sufferings.

Note: The Set Prayers and Gospel for today can be downloaded from the top right corner of this page.