Give Until You Rejoice ~ 1 Kings 17:8-16 ~ 24th Sunday After Pentecost

I wasn’t in history class that I first learned about the Great Depression...  I learned about it from my grandparents who survived it.

My grandmother on my mother’s side grew up in a small coal mining town in Greene County called Crucible.

Her father was a coal miner—and in those days, if you worked in the mines, the mining company was your whole world.  They owned the house you lived in and the stores you shopped in...  And the wages were anything but fair.  A miner was paid based upon the amount of coal he dug out of the ground—and if he didn’t get enough, he would end up in debt to the mining company for the cost of the oil for his miner’s hat light.

He was never without work during the depression—but the family was down to its last dime at one point...  With that, he purchased a can of beans from the company store, and that was their dinner.  There was no guarantee that there would be food on the table tomorrow...

Without a doubt, it was the worst of times—and if there is any vibe to be read from this election season, it is that there is a tremendous fear that we may be headed there again...

That is one reason why the stories from 1 Kings and Mark are very hard to hear. 

In 1 Kings, there is a widow who gives the last of her food to a man she just met, who claims to speak for God; and later at the temple, a widow puts the last of her money into the treasury.  In both cases, their acts left them destitute.  How could they do such a thing—and why?

The trouble with the Gospel story is we know very little about who or what compelled that widow to give what little she had.

On the other hand, we do know a little bit more about the widow of Zarephath...  Elijah spoke the very words of God to her, which promised her that if she provided for Elijah, she would have enough to eat until the rains returned to the drought-ridden land.  And, remarkably, she believes Elijah; she trusts God’s promise.

What a remarkable transformation we see: when Elijah first met the widow, all hope was lost.  But after hearing God’s Word, she gives what little she has, because now, she has hope.  This was a hope offering; not one made out of fear or guilt.  This was an act of faith—and that is what the widow teaches us.

Giving must be an act of faith—because we will never have to look very hard for reasons NOT to give or be generous with the gifts God has given us.

First of all, we know just how much need there is—and when we consider what gifts and abilities we have, they will always seem so insignificant, that we wonder, “how can I make any difference?”

But the biggest challenge to our acts of giving comes from what we see in the two stories: scarcity.  Both widows’ acts of giving put them in the position of being without.  That’s not a position we want to be in.  We don’t want to be without, do without, and fall short of meeting other people’s expectations.  And that will compel us either to give only what we can comfortably spare—or not give at all.  And this is wrong—because God’s love isn’t ruling our lives.  Instead, we’re being ruled by fear and by worry—because we’re too afraid to risk ourselves and our security for the sake of others.  Where is the joy in that?

On the other hand, the joy of the Lord is in giving.  Jesus became a human being and gave of himself for the life of the world.  The invitation for you today is to join him in bringing hope and new life into the world.  Jesus is not out to lay a guilt trip on you and shame you into giving.  Instead, Jesus is affirming that you have the gifts and the abilities to make a difference in the world just the way you are today.  At the same time, he is inviting grow in your faith by trusting him so much that you’ll risk yourselves and your security and see for yourself that your trust will never be in vain.  We all know how quickly health, wealth, and prosperity can disappear.  So God is leading us to receive the indescribably-greater blessings that come by living as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

And you know what else?  Your acts of giving will be far more effective in proclaiming God’s goodness than any words could ever be. 

What a day full of grace we had, right here, yesterday, with our clothing closet.  In these tough and discouraging times, we experienced the grace and goodness of God through the simplest acts of kindness.  About an hour after we opened our doors, a man came up to me and said “the Holy Spirit is alive in this place, I can feel it!”  And how amazing it was, that with all the need there is, there was more than enough to meet people’s needs.  Life may be so difficult, but God is good.  God’s joy is in giving himself through Jesus Christ for the sake of the world.  So hear God’s call to enter that joy.

Challenge yourself to give so generously that “it hurts a little bit.”  But don’t get wrapped up in the hurt.  Seek the joy of giving.

Discover the greater gifts God will give you; greater than what the marketplace, the easy chair, the television, and even your dreams could ever offer. 

Imagine your life and your world being ruled by hope and not fear.  Imagine hope abounding on our streets and in our homes.  Imagine the peace and joy of the Lord filling hearts and minds.  Imagine—then let us act—and see what God can do...