OH, THAT WE’D ALL BE WIDOWS

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

November 9, 2003

Text: “A poor widow came and put in two small copper coins.” (Mark 12:42)

First Reading: Ruth 3:1-5; 4:13-17

Second Reading: Hebrews 9:24-28

This is a bad time of year for the congregation. I was talking with someone in the hall this past week and asked her how she thought the stewardship campaign was going. She told me how she hated this time of year. It’s the same every year. People get the budget, they see that we need more money; they don’t like to be asked to give, so they start picking the budget apart. Then, like this morning, when we dedicate the pledges there’s never enough to meet the anticipated expenses, so the Session has to determine what programs or positions will have to be cut. This time of year always puts people on edge.

Soon, we’ll celebrate the season of Thanksgiving. Thanksgiving is a joyful time for families and friends. We look forward to Thanksgiving dinner. People try to get home for the holiday. For some Thanksgiving is more important than Christmas. It’s always a time to give God thanks for the blessings we’ve received. Whereas Christmas is a time for getting, Thanksgiving is a time for giving. Our mood is completely different than when it comes time to make our pledges. Thanksgiving is a joyous time whereas pledge Sunday is a stressful time.

We can take comfort in the sense that Jesus had the same problem. He compared the two small coins that the widow gave to the religious officials who liked everyone to know just how much they gave to the treasury. For him the widow made the better contribution. It’s just like the rich young ruler. You’ll remember a few weeks ago we said how hard it would be to give up our Harley motorcycle, and that’s why the rich young ruler went away so depressed. Jesus had asked him to sacrifice too much of his earthly wealth. The widow didn’t give it any thought. She gave all that she had.

The story is told of Sister Teresa’s visit to Australia. “A new recruit to the Franciscan order in Australia was assigned to be her guide and ‘gofer’ during her stay. Thrilled and excited at the prospect of being so close to this woman, he dreamed of how much he would learn from her and what they would talk about. But during her visit, he became frustrated. Although he was constantly near her, the friar never had the opportunity to say one word to Mother Teresa. There were always other people for her to meet.

“Finally, her tour was over, and she was due to fly to New Guinea. In desperation, the friar spoke to Mother Teresa. ‘If I pay my own fare to New Guinea, can I sit next to you on the plane so I can talk to you and learn from you?’ Mother Teresa looked at him. ‘You have enough money to pay airfare to New Guinea? She asked. ‘Oh yes,’ he replied eagerly. ‘Then give that money to the poor,’ she said. ‘You’ll learn more from that than anything I can tell you.’” (Source unknown, “Homiletics,” Volume 15, Number 6, Nov. /Dec. 2003, page 19)

When Abraham would become the father of nations, God tested his obedience and told him to sacrifice his son Isaac. Abraham did as God told him to do and God seeing his obedience spared his son Isaac and Abraham went on to become the father of nations. When Jesus would become the savior of nations, God tested his obedience and told him to sacrifice his own life. Jesus did as God told him to do and God seeing his obedience raised him from the dead and he became the savior of nations. When the rich young ruler would become one of Jesus’ disciples, Jesus told him to give his wealth to the poor and come follow him. The rich young ruler could not bring himself to sacrifice his wealth and so and he went away empty. When Jesus saw the crowd putting money into the treasury, many rich people put in large sums. But the poor widow came and put in two small copper coins. “Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. 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.”

Mother Teresa told the young friar to give his money to the poor and his sacrifice would teach him everything Mother Teresa could tell him. Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son after waiting his whole life to conceive and God made him the father of nations. Jesus was willing to sacrifice his life for the sins of the world and God raised him from the dead to sit at God’s right hand and intercede on our behalf. The poor widow was willing to sacrifice all she had to live on and God made of her an example of what it means to follow the Christ.

Throughout the church’s history its faith has been built on the people’s commitment to sacrifice, and, in so doing, the church was to be the foretaste of the Kingdom of God where the poor would become rich, the hungry fed, the homeless sheltered and the peacemakers called the sons and daughters of God. But the church rather than imaging for the people what it means to inherit the Kingdom has become nothing more than a mirror of society and in so doing its members have become consumers rather than stewards. So while Thanksgiving remains a joyful feast pledge Sunday has become nothing but stressful.

As an example, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the average annual spending per consumer in 2001 was $39, 518. Of that, $3,086 was spent on food at home. $2,235 was spent on food away from home. $308 was spent on tobacco. $1,953 was spent on entertainment. $349 was spent on alcohol. $771 was donated in cash contributions by the 35-64 age group and $1,583 was donated in cash contributions by the 65 and over age group. (Ibid, page 18)

As I mentioned during the stewardship luncheon last Sunday, this congregation is at a pivotal point in its history. By your pledging this year, you are going to decide what type of church you’re going to be in the next few years. Are you going to be a maintenance congregation, a dwindling congregation or a growing congregation? My hunch is that you will decide to maintain the present level of giving. That may suffice for the next few years. However, as I also said during the luncheon my retirement is not going to mean that you’ll be paying less for a pastor. I saw David Roquemore this past week and he asked me if I was thinking about retirement. Quickly he then went on to say, “tell the congregation not even to think about calling him, because they couldn’t afford me.”

Oh, that we’d all become widows. If we were to become widows even for pledge Sunday our whole approach to stewardship would be different. Pledge Sunday would have a chance of being like Thanksgiving, a time to rejoice rather than a time to stress. The church budget would be over-subscribed and we could concentrate on other issues facing the congregation than cutting the budget. It would be a time that we looked forward to out of thanks to God for all the benefits God bestows upon us. No one would hate pledge Sunday; rather it would be anticipated throughout the year as a time to re-commit ourselves to sacrifice in response to Christ’s call to commitment.

Someone has observed that there are three kinds of givers—the flint, the sponge and the honeycomb. To get anything out of a flint you must hammer it. And then you get only chips and sparks. To get water out of a sponge you must squeeze it, and the more you use pressure, the more you’ll get. But the honeycomb just overflows with its own sweetness. (Ibid, page 20) I’m afraid we’ve got more flints and sponges than we have honeycombs and so we’ll just have to continue to hammer away and squeeze out what we can!

Thanks be to God,

Amen