The Rev. Calvon T.Jones, Assistant Minister, the Memorial Church of Harvard University. File photo by Jeffrey Blackwell/Memorial Church Communications
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By the Dr. Rev. Calvon T. Jones
Assistant Minister
Memorial Church of Harvard University
(The following is a transcript of the service audio)
Beloved, God wants to use you, but there is a disease that plagues our nation, our communities, our churches, and particularly our children and youth. There is a disease that plagues people all over the world. There is a disease that has the power to cripple our very existence. Doctors have not diagnosed this disease. Psychologists have not diagnosed this disease. Beloved, this disease is low self-esteem.
It comes to snatch the dreams of our children and young people. It comes to snatch the dreams of even adults. This disease comes to snatch the goals and aspirations of God's people. This disease is a terrible one because you can have all the accolades, all the accomplishments, and be in the room where people want to be like you and yet be plagued by insecurities and low self-esteem. This disease will have you believing that you are not worth it. It will have a giant believing that he or she or they are a nobody. This disease of low self-esteem will have an accomplished person feeling that they are not good enough. This disease of low self-esteem will have you comparing your life to everybody else thinking that you cannot be who God has called you to be?
Have you been there, feeling like your gifts are not enough, feeling like you are not enough? Have you been there? Well, maybe you're a little too proud to confess, but Reverend Jones has been there, that even after having a Morehouse degree, a Yale degree, and soon a Duke degree, sometimes I feel like I'm not enough. Sometimes I feel as if I am not good enough to do that which God has called me to be. Oh, can that really happen in this Harvard bubble? Yes, it can. Somewhere along the way, this disease of low self-esteem can creep into your heart and you may feel as if you cannot reach where God wants you to reach.
I can hear Jesus saying, "I didn't ask you how much money you had, I just asked you, 'Do you have what they need? Do you have food?'" In other words, the disciples did not even know what Jesus was asking them to supply. They did not know that they had what the people needed. What they needed was just to exercise their faith, to step outside of their boxes of insecurities, to step outside of the boxes that society had placed upon them.
Jesus then says, "Give me that lunch box that that child has." Yes, you want to use a lunch box, Jesus? But in my preaching imagination, I can hear that child saying, "I'm too young. I have low self-esteem. I'm not good enough. I just showed up today with my mother. I did not come to be used by Christ, and I surely don't want to give away my fish and my good bread. I didn't think that I could be used by God, but Jesus comes and asks me to use what I have." Can't you see the puzzled look on this child's face? Jesus's action of using his lunch is a declaration that Jesus sees you. It is the very declaration that comes to this child's mind.
Some of us have been like this little child today, we want to feel value, we want to achieve our dreams, we want to transform our community, but we don't think that we are seen. Maybe the enemy has tricked you into thinking that you are too old, too young, not bright enough, not pretty enough, but I come to tell you today that you are enough and there's a God who sees you and wants to use your gift. Isn't it something that Jesus doesn't say, "I want to save the souls of these people."? Jesus wants to feed them. God wants to see you so that you can be a help to the community.
Number two is you have what the community and nation needs. As I stated earlier in this sermon, the disciples did not have or did not think that they had what the people needed, but a child did. They were so busy complaining that they missed the opportunity to use their divine gift. However, this young boy had what the community needed, and I stop by to burst some of you all's bubble, that if the church is going to survive, we may have to look to the children. If this nation is going to be saved from racism and all isms, we may have to look to the children. If our community is going to truly be brought in the love of God, we have to look to the children. We may have to get out of our bubble to say, "We haven't done it like this always, it hasn't been done like this at this church, it hasn't been done like this at this nonprofit, but God may be saying, 'Make room for new ideas. Make room for the children because the children may lead the way.'"
I'm almost done because we got communion and I'm going to get out of your way. I can hear God saying, "Look to the children." This young child made a sacrifice, gave up that which was his, utilized his gift because this child realized that, "My gift is not for me, it comes from God, and my gift is for the world." As Jesus is teaching, they are in the wilderness. And maybe the people are not just hungry but for food, maybe they're hungry for love, hungry for justice, hungry for hope, hungry for transformation. Just maybe they are hungry. The question is, will you feed them?
As I go to my seat, I'm sure if you've been in church longer than five minutes you know this story oh so well, the story where Jesus feeds the 5,000. Most of the time when you hear this story, there is a particular detail that is left out. Have you ever thought about who brought the fish, who brought the bread? This is the only gospel, the only pericope that mentions the child. There is no mention of this child in Matthew, Mark, and Luke, but thank God for this Greek context of John. It's not hidden, it's right there in the text. This young child brings the bread.
I am grateful for the writer of John because it brings me to my final point: you will not be written out of the story. There may be some people trying to write you out of the story. Your own thoughts may be trying to write you out of the story. But you are a part of this divine narrative. God has called you to participate in this divine narrative, to be a conduit of love in such a time as now. There are people who may not want you to live and flourish. They may be trying to write you out of the story right now, but thank God that there is a God who will not write you out of the story, but will include you in the story.
You have purpose. I have purpose. The children have purpose. You have purpose. You stand on the shoulders of ancestors who stood. You stand on the shoulders of a God who sees. So as I go to my seat, use your gift. If it's being a preacher, use it. If it's being a conduit of justice and equality, use it. If it's being an activist, use it. If it's being a preacher, use it. If it's being a lawyer, a writer, a poet, a banker, a mechanic, a leader, whoever God has called you to be, do not allow anybody to write you out of the story. Because I believe that you have what the community needs. At this time I ask that the children will come forth as we give them a blessing.
Amen. We're so grateful today that we have all of you today. We're so grateful today that we have all these amazing children today. They are not the future, they are the right now. And as you've heard the story today, I want you to know that you have a gift. God has put a gift in each of you to transform this world. This world is yearning for help, yearning for love, yearning for change, yearning for transformation, and I believe that you and you and you and you and you and you have what we need. Those who would touch and agree with me, point your hands towards these children like this. Almighty and loving God, we speak life upon Your children, for You said that a child shall lead the way. Forsake not the children to come for they are who we need now. We speak protection over these children. We speak life over these children, that they may conduits in this world, that every dream, that every desire that they may have that they may accomplish. Amen.