March 16 Worship: "In Times of Financial Hardship, a Reward"

On Sunday, despite the sudden cold snap, we enjoyed a warm worship service together at Eastgate.  In the sermon, I continued a sermon on "God's Promises in Hard Times," considering financial challenges.  Focusing on the story of the widow's mite -- that is, a woman who is singled out by Jesus because of the importance of her small gift, I explored why the woman made the gift.

Unfortunately, I made a mistake with my new digital recorder, and I did not record Sunday's sermon.  But here is what I think was the most important lesson: we live in a world that tells us, constantly, that we do not have enough.  Even in the church, we constantly think of all that we cannot do (especially when compared with other larger and/or richer congregations).  I think that the widow found great comfort in what she could give, despite how small it seemed in comparison to the gifts of others.  To highlight this, I pointed to the story of Oseola McCarty, a washerwoman who donated the bulk of her life savings to fund college scholarships.  (You can read more about her on her Wikipedia page or in the press release from the university announcing her gift in 1995.)  A woman with only a 6th grade education, who worked in a menial job, managed to save about $250,000 over the years, and then, facing the end of her life, decided how to give it to others.  She didn't do it for praise (though she received a lot of attention for her gift), but to make a difference in someone else's life.  And she did it living out a simple Christian belief -- God had blessed her with more than she needed.