Waste Not the Fragments: A Commentary for Year D (Advent)

After Jesus fed the multitudes in the wilderness with five loaves and two fish, he directed his disciples to gather up the leftover fragments, so that nothing would be wasted. In biblical parlance, the Word of God is frequently likened to bread, so, as is widely recognized, the miracle story applies to the Ministry of the Word, the stewardship of God's mysteries. Part of the author's ongoing effort to reintroduce by way of Year D (2012) a body of texts omitted by the popular Revised Common Lectionary, Waste Not the Fragments enlarges on the brief commentary begun in Chapter Four of that proposal, while inviting the broader church to both recognize the robust role these texts have played in the broader and deeper Christian tradition and to articulate a fresh understanding of these texts for the Christian Church of the twenty-first century. In this volume, the texts suggested for Advent are discussed in detail with the ultimate aim of preaching and putting them back in circulation for the spiritual resources and insights they provide, the worship they inspire, the direction for faithful mission they offer. No doubt, the miraculous feeding was a momentous feast indeed. Preaching Year D texts, however, offers the preacher fresh inspiration and opportunity for wise and faithful stewardship of the Word, for humble and simple obedience to Jesus' command to his disciples in its aftermath of that miracle: that not one word from God, not one fragment from the feast, be wasted.