When the Spirit Moves You...

Yesterday's Old Testament text was the Widow at Zarephath and the Gospel lesson was the Widow in the Temple Treasury.

I had struggled writing my sermon. Normally by the time I sit down to write the text on Thursday, I have thought about the text for quiet awhile and can write a good rough draft within an hour. Well on Thursday I spent over 3 hours and had two different starts, no end and definitely no rough draft. On Friday, after a discussion about the sermon with my husband< I was able to finish writing a sermon that I thought was okay. It wasn't one of my best sermons, but I was satisfied with it since I didn't know how to put things better.

Well on Sunday morning, which was the kickoff to our stewardship campaign for 2010, before the first lesson, one of the council members was discussing why he gives to the church. Jeff's point was that the church is a gift that we have been entrusted with, that we are the caretakers of. As I sat and listened to Jeff, I realized my sermon was all wrong. It had what I wanted to say, just not how I wanted to say it. And then as I re-heard the first lesson, read the psalm, and re-heard the second lesson, I knew I was being called to preach something else. So that by the time I approached the pulpit to read the gospel, I was ready to preach a different sermon on those two text than the one I prepared.

So what did I preach on? Well I can't quite remember it all. I know I talked a lot about how we are not the widows, how even the poorest among us are not waiting to die from starvation, or down to our last two coins. We are the rich, God has provided us with much through our jobs, talents, friends, family. God has provided us with cars, houses, clothing, food, love ones, jobs, and much much more.

I also discussed that the NRSV translation that I just read of Mark 12 leaves out a word. Jesus watched HOW the crowd was putting money into the treasury. I talked about how my vantage point of looking at the congregation during worship allows me to see how they worship. The ones who joyfully sing so that I can see their back molars, the ones who mutter along or don't bother singing at all. The ones who look desperate to be filled one week, drained from the stresses of life, and return the next week full of joy.

I probably rambled some, I probably did not make a very cohesive point, especially since this was my first time ever preaching without even notes. But it was the sermon that God was calling me to preach, not the one that was prepared. So hopefully it was the sermon that someone needed to hear. Amen!