November 11, 2012: Living Courageously

 

November 11, 2012: 24th Sunday after Pentecost

Mark 12:38-44

"Living Courageously - The Offerings of the Widows"

PREACHER: Pastor Paul Cannon

 (Drops two coins in the can and pauses for a moment)

Those are the sounds of a poor widow’s last remaining coins. 

In our gospel story today, Jesus is in the temple preaching and teaching, and then he goes and sits down to watch for a moment.  And what Jesus sees, is a woman who is down to her last dollar – in fact – she’s down to her last pennies. 

Maybe you can imagine such a person – maybe you’ve seen such a person holding signs on a street corner – maybe you know some poor soul (a neighbor?) who has lost everything – maybe you’ve been there yourself.  You all know what poverty looks like – even if you haven’t experienced it yourselves – and if you have any sense at all you are probably afraid of it.

We fear poverty, because we know what it looks like.  We fear it because one third – one third – of the people in this country are one paycheck away from being in the exact same situation.  Most of us are one devastating illness away from not being able to pay the mortgage anymore.  And even if you’re not in that boat, even if you are relatively secure financially, all it takes is a hurricane, or a recession, or a bad investment and you could be in the exact same place that the widow was in – down to her last pennies.

We know very little about this woman, but it’s not hard to guess what happened to her.  Her husband died, and with it died the means for her to make a decent living in that society at that time.  There wasn’t anyone to care for her.  She was probably forced to beg for those last pennies she had.  (takes the pennies out of the can). And yet Jesus watched her from across the room as she dropped them into the offering box.  (drops the pennies back in).

Those are the sounds of somebody giving everything. 

The first story that we read today was very similar.  This time, it’s Elijah, one of God’s prophets, who was walking down a road, hungry and thirsty.  And God told him that when he reached Zarephath – the city that he was traveling too – that there would be a widow there who would give him bread and water.  And when Elijah arrived, he found a poor starving woman who was down to her last cup of flour and her last drops of oil.

Elijah asks her – of all people – for some food and something to drink.  The widow responds to Elijah saying, “As the Lord your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat it, and die.” 

That last bit comes as a shock – they were starving to death.  Her food was running out.  Her son didn’t have much longer and it would all be over.  So she was going to make a fire, bake a biscuit or two for herself and her son, and wait for the end. Now, most of us would say that to ask somebody in this situation, for anything, would be unthinkable.  It should have been Elijah who was giving her some money and food and water.  It should have been the prophet of God who stepped in to save their lives.

Instead, Elijah brings the message that all of God’s messengers bring when they visit people: “Do not be afraid.”  Do. Not. Be. Afraid.  If you ask me, there is nobody in the world who has more of a right to be afraid than a mother whose son is starving to death.  Fear comes with the territory. 

But Elijah gives her a promise from God.  He declares to the fearful widow, “This is the word of the God of Israel: ‘the jar of flour will not run out and the bottle of oil will not become empty before God sends rain on the land and ends this drought.’” How much courage might it take to trust a promise like this?  How many of you would bet the lives of your sons or daughters on the promise of an unfamiliar God?

I’m guessing nobody here, myself included, would take that bet. (takes the coins out of the can) And maybe it was out of desperation, maybe it was because of madness, or maybe this promise was her last hope, but the poor widow of Zarephath took Elijah into her home, and gave him the last of her food.  (drops the coins into the can). 

Those are the sounds of courage.

During my time in Seminary, my internship congregation was “Light of the World.”  And this was a really unique place for an internship site because the congregation was only 3 years old when I got there.  It was a brand new mission start congregation. 

Of course, the two years that I was at Light of the World, was during the height of the recession.  To say the least, it was a tough time to start a church.  A lot of the regular congregation members were having a tough time either finding employment or finding full time employment or finding jobs in their field.  And of course with congregation members struggling financially, Light of the World was struggling financially. It was doing all it could to get by. 

Pastor Deb, who had started the congregation, was really fond of having one-to-one conversations.  She would invite folks out to coffee and just listen to their stories.  And as she talked with more and more folks – all those people who were struggling with money – certain themes started to emerge.  She learned that people were afraid that they wouldn’t be able to provide for their families.  People would tell her about the tremendous sense of shame they felt in their poverty.

I remember one woman in particular whom Pastor Deb invited out to coffee.  She had been a realtor when the housing market collapsed and on top of that, her husband was suffering from Parkinson’s and was no longer able to work.  Over the course of a few years, she lost nearly everything she had. She went into bankruptcy. She was forced to sell many of her valuables in order to get by.  And even though she was flat broke, she kept making payments on her Mercedes.  She didn’t want other people to know that what she was going through. She wanted to hide. She was ashamed.

And so as Pastor Deb heard all these heartbreaking stories, an idea began to form.  What if people could talk about what they were going through with each other?  Maybe if they could hear one another’s stories, they could begin to break free from the fear that caused people to turn inwards, rather than outwards.  And so the congregation started some dinner groups called “Fearless Feasts.”  And at these dinners, folks were encouraged to share their stories about money and the shame/fear that went along with it.

It was amazing to see the transformation in people. On Sundays, people were buzzing.  We had numerous folks share their stories – in church – about their fears and struggles regarding money. And they shared how their faith in our God – who gave everything for us – was helping to turn their fear into courage.

And wouldn’t you know it?  Offerings began to rise.  People were giving more as we were learning to live our lives free of the fear that causes us to turn inwards. We learned that how we spend our money is perhaps one of the truest reflections of our values. (takes the coins out)  And we learned to be brave enough to say “I value my church – I value my community – I value my faith more than I value a new pair of jeans.”  (drops the coins into the can).

Those are the sounds of a people following their faith.

In case you didn’t catch it.  This is stewardship Sunday.  And all across the country there are pastors giving sermons about how the church is in need of more money and about how you can share more of your wealth and more of your time and more of your talents – but I’m pretty sure that nobody wants to hear that drivel – amen?  (The stewardship team might have been the only dissenters there, but I guess that is their job).  And honestly, I wouldn’t want to hear that sermon any more than you would. 

This sermon is about living our lives courageously.  It’s about having faith in God’s promise to care for you when you are in need; having faith in God’s abundance of resources; having faith in a God that has defeated death itself. It’s about a God who shakes you free from the shackles of sin and fear.  This sermon is about opening yourself up to God’s call – listening to what he’s saying – and following him, even if it leads you to the cross.

Brothers and sisters in Christ, God is calling all of us to live like this - to live free of fear.  To give – not just one percent, or two percent or ten percent – but everything we have and everything we are.  And when we learn to do that (takes the coins out) – we will be free indeed. (drops the coins into the can).

Amen.