Good day dear friends.
Our thanks to Pastor Leslie Tomlinson who preached yesterday. We were in Galveston, where we worshipped with our daughter and son-in-law at the church they visit, Moody Memorial UMC. This weekend we saw Carli off for her fall semester in Granada, Spain. She arrived safely, and should be in her host family's home today. There's nothing like trying to sleep knowing your baby is on a plane flying as you sleep. Thank God for traveling mercies.
The Power of a Penny was the title of Pastor Leslie's sermon. The plan was to give every worshipper a brand new penny. We special ordered these from our bank and I trust they arrived and that they looked new. Sadly, there is very little, if anything, that one penny alone can buy. Merchants that do have penny specials do so, usually at a loss. I'm old enough to remember penny candy and even then it wasn't the kind you really wanted. Leslie's sermon focused on Jesus' witness of the widow who put in "all she had." May that penny gift from your church remind you of the power behind everything: the power of faith, the kind of faith that trust God in all things.
Here is our study guide for today:
Monday: Reread the passage from the Gospel shared yesterday. Imagine yourself in the social situation of a widow. Remember the widow’s needs were beyond our comprehension today. If she had no family to care for her, her options were very limited. Consider her faith in sharing all she had to the treasury at the Temple. How does that speak to your heart? Have you ever had an impulse to share in that same manner?
Here is that passage in NRSV:
12:41 He (Jesus) sat down opposite the treasury, and watched the crowd putting money into the treasury. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which are worth a penny. 43 Then he called his disciples and said to them, "Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 44 For all of them have contributed out of their abundance; but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on."
This weekend I saw my first episodes of a tv program called "Lost." I hadn't watched this because I thought it was some sort of reality show, where people were marooned on a deserted island and had to act out what would happen if they had crashed on this island and survived. Our oldest, Nellie, bought the entire first season on DVD and said, "This is my new 'X-Files.'" This coming from one of the biggest fans of that old show. So, I decided I would watch the pilot espisode and see if I liked it. I got hooked. It's a dramatic show about a plane coming from Australia back to the states, that crashes on this island. Their radio had broken about an hour before the crash and the pilot realized they were about a thousand miles off course. About forty-seven people survived and these hope that within hours a rescue plane or boat will come for them. No such luck, that would make for a short season and series. I'm at the point where the decision has to be made if they stay on the beach to be seen by rescue people of move to a cave where there's fresh water. This after realizing they only had so much bottled water left from the wreckage. It does make you think, what would I do if I were in the same situation? Here money means nothing. Survival means everything. Being saved from this island setting is the desire of all who survived the crash.
I pray none of us ever lose everything in a crash or overnight. But it can happen. Such may have been the plight of this widow in Jesus' story. She lost her husband and she may not have had any family. She found herself at the mercy of friends and neighbors and even there we're assuming a lot. Jesus knew from her act of faith that she had given all. Quite a contrast between those tossing in their huge offerings into the metal receptacle of the Temple. This made for a loud noise. The louder the happier the priests may have been. And it would seem like a way to pass an afternoon, to sit nearby and to see who would contribute and who wouldn't. And here comes this lady, and we're presuming she's old, who puts in two copper coins, and the King James version calls them 'mites.' And the two together add up to a penny. And Jesus said, this is all she had to live on.
Did this mean the woman gave up on life and was ready to die? No. It meant this woman knew Who controls and shares everything, and in her worship of God, surrenders her all to Him. She knew that worship involved more than just showing up at Temple, though that was important. It meant more than just doing what others did while in worship. She knew that she had to be faithful to the teachings of her Bible in giving to God as a sign of faith and obedience. It may have been this woman felt blessed and loved by God to the point where she said, "God I thank you so much for loving me, that I'm giving you my all." She walked away blessed beyond her wildest dreams. She walked away from poverty into the fullness of life. The steps leading to the treasury were not to be compared to the steps she took away from there. Some of us kick and scream all the way, full of doubt and fear about parting with our money. This lady walked to God's treasury with love and trust. And she walked away fully blessed and embraced by God.
How does this speak to your heart? Can you follow God's leading into becoming like this woman to trust God more?
PRAYER: God of all things, and Giver of all things, give to me that faith like that widow, to love and trust You like never before. For it is in knowing, loving, trusting and being faithful to You that we receive the greatest blessings of our life. Let that be me today and all days. I pray in Jesus' name. Amen.
Have a great and blessed day!
e.v.
