Date: 10 Nov 2000
Time: 02:49:05
Wow! Am I really the only one looking at this text this week? Well I remember the image of the bottomless jar of flour from childhood Bible stories. But I did not get the heavy hand with which Elijah challenges the widow! Thinking of the widow's mite here too, though that seems freely given (though necessarily too, as here?).
Date: 10 Nov 2000
Time: 15:41:58
No, you're not the only one looking at this text. In fact, I'm combining this and the Gospel as the wisdom of widows this week. Also including memories of my own widow grandmother who was an example of trusting God totally during the depression with her first fruits giving every Sunday. All these widows exhibit a trust of God which enables them to act in self-giving ways.
Date: 10 Nov 2000
Time: 17:54:57
I too am trying to use both this and the gospel text for Sunday.
I'd really like to hear more about the grandmother's "first fruits" offering. Can you tell us the story?
Seems to me that the power behind giving all you have is the total trust that allows that giving. Sometimes we hear that it is easier to give all you have when you have very little, and I hear truth in that. But I also have been thinking about the statistics that tell us that many of us are only a paycheck away from being homeless. Many of us cling to each penny to keep our family intact and sheltered and fed. Where does the trust come from that allows us to give in the midst of our poverty?
Pam in San Bernardino
Date: 10 Nov 2000
Time: 17:50:28
I too am struggling with this passage in conjunction with the Gospel lesson from Mark. But I see something here, perhaps. Suppose the widow had simply given the handful of meal and a little oil to Elijah instead of doing what Elijah had said? Her resources surely would have been depleted and she would have been left no recourse but to go home and die. But instead, she followed Elijah's instructions, which presumably let God's will come through, which enabled not only Elijah but also herself and her entire household to be fed for many days.
I feel cautious about suggesting that God will always provide....but I feel firm in suggesting that God's will in this world is not to impoverish the giver but that giving need always come from a cheerful giver and needs to be balanced in terms of what the individual can really afford to give.
Not sure any of this is helpful but it might be a start.
Rev. Bob
Date: 10 Nov 2000
Time: 19:56:52
I'm planning to preach primarily on this text. One of the things that strikes me is that this widow doesn't know the God of Elijah. On the one hand, she has nothing to lose -- she's preparing for death, both her own and her son's. And yet, at that final moment, it must also have been tempting not to give in to Elijah's demands, to cling to the one last meal that she could control. Instead, she takes the risk of hospitality to a stranger, and is given back her life and the life of her son. (and given back the life of her son yet again in the following verses). Susan in Alaska
Date: 11 Nov 2000
Time: 01:06:04
For Pam, who wanted to hear the story of my grandmother's first fruits giving. She became a widow during the Depression in 1931, at 41 yrs old and with 3 young children under the age of 12. She held a $14 a week job as cashier in a dept. store. My father (the oldest) remembered these hard times, yet also remembered the offering envelope sitting on the counter every Saturday night before church the next day. He, by the way, ended up becoming a pastor, as did I. Granddaughter in MI