Grace to you and
peace from God our Father and our Lord and Savior, Jesus the Christ. Amen
Two widows.
Two examples of
generosity and grace.
But first a
little background to the lesson from Kings.
These were not
good times in Israel. King Ahab had just
married Jesebel, a foreigner, and then had served and worshipped their God,
Baal.
Things were so
bad that it is recorded that “Ahab did
more to provoke the anger of the Lord, the God of Israel, than had all the
kings of Israel who were before him.” And
considering how sinful the Kings who had gone before him were, Ahab must have
been particularly evil.
In response,
Elijah commanded according to the word of the Lord, that the rain and dew stop,
except by his word. And so a great
famine came upon the land.
During the
famine, God provided for his servant, Elijah.
The first thing
he did was to command the ravens to take care of Elijah as he camped out in a
wadi, or ravine, east of the Jordan.
The ravens brought him bread and meat in the
morning, and bread and meat in the evening; and he drank from the wadi. But
after a while the wadi dried up, because there was no rain in the land.
Then God sent
Elijah to Zarephath where he had commanded a widow to take care of him.
What we find out
is that this widow has next to nothing, in fact, she is so destitute because of
the famine, that she is preparing to bake the last cake so that she and her son
might eat it, and then die.
At first Elijah’s
request of her seems cruel.
“Go, do as you
have said, but first make me a little cake of it, and afterwards make something
for yourself and your son.”
But then he
offers to her a promise:
“The jar of meal will not be emptied and the
jug of oil will not fail until the day that the Lord sends rain on the
earth."
There are two
things I like for you to consider about this story:
First, that when
God calls us to do something, God also provides the means for us to do it.
The Bible states
that God had commanded this widow to feed Elijah, and in order that she might
do so, God saw to it that her food never ran out.
And the second
thing is that it takes faith, a profound trust in God, to believe the promise.
Not only that,
but it takes faith to believe that God does in fact have a purpose, a mission,
for us to fulfill.
I would rather
imagine that this widow had a few choice thoughts when she heard Elijah’s
command.
“I have nothing. How can I feed you as well?”
But God had a purpose
for her, and so, provided her the means to do as he commanded.
Does God have a
purpose for us as a congregation?
And if so, will
God provide?
We believe that
we have a purpose. And we constantly
remind ourselves of what that purpose is.
You know it. Say it with me.
“God’s purpose
for our congregation is to welcome, love, and serve all in our local and global
community.”
If we truly
believe that, then we are faced with a question of faith.
Do we trust that
God will provide us with the means to fulfill that purpose as God did so for
the widow of Zarephath?
Today we are
having a congregational meeting.
Last year, as we
adopted our budget, we shared that our congregation had enough in reserve to
cover a projected deficit for about three more years.
I kind of regret
that statement, because it is eerily similar to the widow’s statement. It’s as though we said that we have just a
little left in the jar, which we will use up, and then die as a congregation.
In fact, one of
you stated following the meeting that at least you knew now, how much longer we
could hold on.
Well, this is the
thing.
We have gone
about our business of welcoming, loving, and serving.
The Gospel is
preached. A warm welcome is offered. We care for others.
And as we are
able, we serve, doing things like making quilts to send around the world to
those in need.
And today, at our
meeting, we will report to you that rather than having used up the reserves ‘in
the jar’, we have more than we had last year.
The jar of meal was not emptied, neither did
the jug of oil fail, according to the word of the Lord that he spoke by Elijah.
Has God provided
for us as he did for the widow and Elijah?
That’s a question
of faith.
And it requires a
response of faith.
The widow of
Zarephath acted in faith. She did as
Elijah instructed her even though conventional wisdom would have said that
there simply was not enough.
In this matter, I’m
going to commend you for your faithful response.
We are not
receiving support from other congregations or the synod. We are entirely dependent on you and what you
faithfully offer each Sunday.
And because of
your faithfulness, and the grace of God, the jar is not empty.
That, more than
anything else, is for me a sign that God continues to have a purpose for our
congregation.
And so we will
continue to welcome, love, and serve all in our local and global community.
And God will
continue to provide for us that we might fulfill that purpose.
I should probably
leave it at that, but I will risk saying one more thing, and that is a warning.
If we are not
faithful to that purpose, if we no longer “welcome, love, and serve all”, then
the jar of meal may be expended.
It is simply a
fact that when congregations die, it is most often the result of having failed
to remain faithful to the purpose that God gave them. And one of the most common failures is that
they turned inward. They became more
concerned about their own survival than their purpose.
Imagine, for
example, if the widow had told Elijah that there wasn’t enough for him. If she had did what she had planned, and
baked the last cake for her son and then, waited to die.
Well, that’s what
many congregations do, and the result is predictable. If all you want to do is bake your last cake
and die, God will let you.
But if you
recognize that God has a purpose for you and this congregation, God will
provide the means to fulfill that purpose.
Now, I’d like to
share a few comments about the widow in the Gospel lesson, whose generosity is
noted by Jesus.
This particular
widow, gave a penny, all that she had, as an offering to the Lord.
My experience is
a bit different, but the generosity of people is much the same.
Over the course
of my ministry one of the statements that has been made time and time again,
usually by people of great means, is “Pastor, we can’t do that because we have
so many people on fixed incomes that just can’t afford any more.”
And the truth was
that the most generous people in all of the congregations I have served were
those people on fixed incomes.
Just saying. . .
There are a couple
of practical reasons for this. People on
fixed income aren’t raising families, often have paid off their mortgages, and
in many cases have reached a point in their lives that they are content with
what they already have.
Add to that the
fact that many of these people, precisely because they are on fixed incomes,
budget well and include their offerings in their budgets, and what you have is
a recipe for faithful stewardship.
One final note:
Sometimes those
of apparently meager means have much to offer and their generosity is
overwhelming.
Two women come to
mind that I want to acknowledge today.
Eleanor Moody and
Joy O’Donnell.
Eleanor was a
bookkeeper at the local lumber company in Sandpoint. Never married. No family.
She was thrifty,
and a character. One of the memories I
have of Eleanor is that she had pet skunks.
Actually, the skunks were wild, it’s just she feed them on her back
porch. That was Eleanor.
She served as the
Church Treasurer for years, maintaining hand written ledgers.
Her property,
located in Ponderay, was sold when she had to go into assisted living. But because of its potential for commercial
development it brought a good price.
After she died,
the totality of her estate was given to the congregation and established the
congregation’s endowment.
Joy O’Donnell was
a teacher in Sandpoint throughout her life.
She too was single.
When I visited
her in her home on Euclid Street, she asked if I would like to live there. It was her way of informing me that the
congregation was the sole beneficiary of her estate.
When she died, a
scholarship fund was established to support young people in our congregation.
And also, because
we had these gifts in our endowment fund, nearly half a million dollars, we were
able to build Luther Park, an assisted living facility.
Their legacy
lives on.
Two elderly
women, with generous hearts, shaping the world to come.
God had a purpose
for them.
And they were
faithful to that purpose.
Do you believe
that God has a purpose for your life, and for the life of this congregation?
And if so, will
we trust in God to provide the means to accomplish the purpose to which he has
called us.
That, to me, is
the question of faith that we answer with our lives, each and every day.
Amen
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