The Plight of the Pirate Pack — Revisiting the Feeding of the Five Thousand

A Sermon for the congregation of St. Saviour, Penticton, Sunday, August 2nd, 2026 by the Very Rev. Ken Gray

I don’t know if you’ve heard the news, but there’s trouble brewing at BC Ferries; and I don’t mean long lineups, service interruptions, or adverse weather cancellations. As former residents of Vancouver Island, Kathie and I — and our kids — grew up dependent on smooth-sailing BC Ferries to connect us with the mainland. Every journey promised preboarding excitement, passing over networks of raised rampways, climbing decks of stairs, and of finding our way to the cafeteria for breakfast, lunch, or dinner depending on our travel needs.

Once settled at our table, one particular delight attracted the attention of our kids. The blessed White Spot Pirate Pack. In case you have forgotten, or you never knew, the mighty Pirate Pack was legendary in the hearts and minds of children of all ages.

So what’s in the pack you ask? With over $532,061 Pirate Paks sold since its inception —  This includes serving enough chocolate ​“gold” coins to build a stack nearly 1.6 kilometers high and scooped more than 1.3 million ounces of ice cream — served in the famous buccaneers’ boat, each Pirate Pak includes a limited selection of burgers and classic entrees, fresh local fries, creamy coleslaw, premium rich ice cream, and the treasured ​‘gold’ coin. Ahh . . . ahoy matey.

Alas, it seems the mighty PP may have been vanquished, forever, not by Jack Sparrow, but in the service improvements promised with the new Chinese-made ferries scheduled to enter service by 2029. Now the Pirate Pac has been on life support (kinda like Mitch McConnell) for many years. Future vessels will welcome travelers to a confusing variety of coloured buttons, brands, audio signals, two-factor authentication, and a plethora of advertising, no longer appealing to ou hearts through our stomachs but targeting our wallets. Heaven knows what the food (if that’s what we can expect) will look and taste like. The experience will likely resemble the canteen on the Starship Enterprise. Lunch — a unique experience on every planet.

Turning to today’s Gospel, I wonder what lunch looked like for Jesus’ desert followers. (MATTHEW 14:13-21) I shall intersperse our text with musical interludes . . . (The words are in today’s bulletin.)

[Jesus] withdrew . . . in a boat to a deserted place by himself. But when the crowds heard it, they followed him on foot from the towns. When he went ashore, he saw a great crowd; and he had compassion for them and cured their sick.

You satisfy the hungry heart
With gift of finest wheat
Come give to us, O Saving Lord
The bread of life to eat

With joyful lips we sing to You
Our praise and gratitude
That You should count us worthy, Lord
To share this heav’nly food

When it was evening, the disciples came to him and said, “This is a deserted place, and the hour is now late; send the crowds away so that they may go into the villages and buy food for themselves.” Jesus said to them, “They need not go away; you give them something to eat.”

Eat this bread and never hunger,
drink this cup and never thirst;
Christ invites us to the table
where the last become the first.

They replied, “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” And [Jesus]  said, “Bring them here to me.” Then he ordered the crowds to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish, he looked up to heaven, and blessed and broke the loaves, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds. And all ate and were filled . . .

Let us break bread together on our knees.
Let us break bread together on our knees.
When I fall on my knees with my face to the rising sun,
O Lord, have mercy on me.

Let us praise God together on our knees.

All three songs are personal favourites; each song connects with a particular period in my physical and spiritual life; they all stress gratitude as foundational for faith and seminal for our response to faith.

My favourite line in the parable drips from the hungry mouths of the disciples: “We have nothing here but five loaves and two fish.” “There’s not enough” they claim; Jesus responds: “Yes there is.” Anticipating the famous line by Pierre Elliot Trudeau, Jesus intimates: “Just watch me.”

And that we do . . .

Visit the takenote.ca HOME page for a colourful display of hundreds of other blogs which may interest or inspire you