As
our Worship Planning Team met to look at these Sundays of this year’s
Stewardship emphasis, we were delighted to discover the story of the
Widow’s Mite amongst the readings from Mark’s gospel.
It is surely one of the more familiar Bible stories, known to many
us from Sunday School lessons and countless sermons. And the expression,
“the widow’s mite,” is one of the many verses of
the Bible that has found its way into common usage, so that even people
who do not know the story as Mark recounts it and all that it means
in the teaching of Jesus know that “a widow’s mite,”
as The American Heritage Dictionary defines it, is “a small
contribution made by one who has little.”
Actually,
however, the dictionary didn’t get it right. We who know the
whole story know that “a widow’s mite” should be
defined as “a huge contribution made by one who has little.”
If you give your whole heart to God, there’s no bigger contribution
you can possibly make.
Well,
not only was it a wonderful coincidence to find this passage right
smack in the heart of this year’s Stewardship Journey, it’s
perhaps even more wonderful to hear it on the Sunday of our United
Methodist Women’s Holiday Boutique. I know that many of our
women are probably so worn out after all their hard work that they’re
not even in church today to hear me talk about them. So, someone,
please, be sure and tell them.
In
a month that has seen the consecration of the first woman presiding
bishop of the Episcopal church and the first woman poised to become
the Speaker of the House of Representatives, it’s good to remember
something of the origins of the women’s organizations in our
Methodist church. In the 19th century, faithful church women heard
the call of God to mission. They educated themselves and raised money
to respond to the needs of God’s children in this country and
around the world. They spread the Gospel, built orphanages, schools
and colleges, taught freed slaves, were the backbone of the temperance
movement as a way to curb domestic violence, lobbied for protective
child labor laws, worked for peace, ministered as doctors and nurses,
sent missionaries around the world, and in all things, held one another
in prayer. They were a force—just as they are to this day.
But,
remember, too, that at that time, most women in the churches had little
money or income of their own. So what did they do to support the causes
they so loved? The used what they had. They had bake sales. They sold
eggs and milk and vegetables. They collected and sold waste paper
and rags. They sold flowers and chickens, and sometimes pigs and calves.
They gathered scraps of cloth and made and sold quilts. One group
published and sold a cookbook. One enterprising, if strict, mother
raised money by charging her children a penny for every spot on the
tablecloth after each meal.
Those
early women’s missionary societies developed practices of giving
and stewardship which endure to this day. They set dues for themselves,
which depended upon regular gifts, however small, collected frequently
from large numbers of their members. And, they minimized expenses
by relying on the volunteer services of their members and they kept
the salaries of their missionaries low—all practices which endure
to this day.
You
know, that Women’s Foreign Missionary Society, as it was called,
raised $4,546 in its first year, 1869. Forty years later, they raised
$695,961. By that point, they were supporting 231 missionaries, had
trained 3,675 local Bible teachers in the places of mission and were
supporting 834 schools. All from eggs, chickens, and scraps, and quilts,
and bake sales, bake sales, bake sales. Thanks be to God for them.
And for their example. And for their persistence right up to this
very weekend.
They
are the living legacy of the widow’s mite—a huge contribution
given by those who have little. Because what’s so astonishing
about their faithfulness is not just the size of their gift, but the
expansive, passionate generosity of their hearts. Have you ever tried
to tell a United Methodist woman “no”? Can’t do
it. Impossible. They will persuade you every time, because the cause
they support, the mission they enable, the Savior they serve, has
claimed them, heart and soul.
That’s
what Mark’s story of Jesus and the widow at the temple is really
all about.
Jesus is in temple, observing all that’s going on. Those with
considerable means putting large sums into the offering vessels, giving
out of their abundance. No judgment or comment is made. They have
a lot and they give a lot, as Jesus would expect.
But
Jesus also observes a poor widow who comes forward with but 2 small
copper coins. That was all she had. She might easily have kept one
for herself and offered only one, but she put everything into the
offering. She had very little, and gave it all. Jesus called his disciples
over and said: “Look”—just like when he’d
held that small child—“this is what it’s all about.
Truly I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those
others—for they contributed out of their abundance, but she,
out of her poverty, gave everything she had, her whole living.”
The
widow models for us the self-giving love of Jesus Christ, who freely
gave his whole living for us, his life, gave it all away, that we
might know the fullness of God’s love and grace.
You
see, the measuring stick of the Christian gospel, is not dollars and
cents, bottom lines and profit margins. Those of abundant means who
give generously might still have a lot left over and their hearts
might remain untouched. The example Jesus lifts for us is one whose
heart is totally given over to God. Her gift is “inconsequential”
in size by worldly measure, but totally life transforming in what
it says about her faith.
The
Apostle Paul said all this in another way in the Scripture we’re
using as our Stewardship theme this year. “And God is able to
provide you with every blessing in abundance, so that by always having
enough of everything you may share abundantly in every good work.”
As
I wrote in my stewardship letter to you, these words sound like they
were written just for us. So we’re surprised to learn that the
congregation to whom Paul originally addressed this letter was a rather
ragtag bunch of persons of lesser means and lower social standing,
much like the widow of Mark’s Gospel. But they were divided
and quibbling amongst themselves, many not observing a faithful Christian
life. Paul employs a bit of ironic flattery here to push them to nevertheless
give generously. He reminds them that even they are capable of abundant
giving and in so doing, prompts them to become generous givers.
We
find that we are so much like Paul’s original listeners, still
learning what it means to trust the generosity of God and live our
lives accordingly.
A
young woman attending our church told me once why she comes to church.
None of her friends come. They think she’s a bit odd to do so.
She told me, she said: “Patricia, I come to be reminded. I come
because I need to be reminded.”
“Reminded of what?” I asked. “Of what’s really
important, of what matters. Of how to stay sane and human and loving
and generous and good.”
You
know, every group out there asks for our money. Jesus asks for our
hearts because he knew our money would follow. And we come to church
because we know that we need to be reminded how to do this, over and
over again. We come to hear the story, from the Bible and from the
lives of other ordinary saints just like us who step out in faith
and show us how to do it, too. We come to hear that hearts are healed
and lives made whole and houses built and children fed and the lonely
are not left alone. We come to remember that the money we give changes
lives and transforms the world and that, in our giving, we, too, are
transformed into the disciples Christ yearns for us to be.
This
path we’re on called “Christian discipleship” is
a journey of continual growing in trust and generosity. And with any
luck and lots of grace, we’re not the same Christians who embarked
on this same journey a year ago. Actually, I know well that we’re
not. We’re more generous givers, measured by the number of pledgers
among us and growth in our pledge giving. Still, wherever we begin,
or wherever we are along the way, there’s always another step
to take. And what’s important, always, is not the size of our
gift, but how much of our heart it represents.
Now
it’s time to take another step on the journey, to stretch and
trust a bit more. Time to remember the wondrous abundance of God’s
blessings to us and step out in faith.
May God bless you as you pray about your and your family’s financial
pledge for 2007 to support mission and ministry through FUMC. Remember
Paul’s words. Consider the Widow’s Mite, a huge contribution
made by one who has little. Trust in God’s grace. Learn from
the ordinary saints. Seek first the kingdom of God. Take another step
and let the journey continue.
©Patricia
Farris , 2006. Permission is given for brief quotation with attribution.
All other rights reserved.
First
United Methodist Church
1008 Eleventh Street
Santa Monica, CA 90403
www.santamonicaumc.org
(310) 393-8258
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Much Should I Give?