"We are Beggars"
Vicar Anteneh Gebreselassie
Sunday, November 08, 2009
I Kings 17:8-16 and Mark 12:38-44
Why are we here this morning? Please ask the person who is sitting next to you “why are you here?” If you are sitting by yourself, please ask yourself. I hope the average response will be “I am here to worship”. I suspect there might be some different responses, too.
Because we have done it for many years, I hope most of us have memorized our order of worship. But because we are so used to it, sometimes, we may not pay attention to the words we hear, sing and read. This morning I want you to work with me by reading the order and meanings of our worship from the ELW book of worship on pages 92 and 93.
Gathering: the Holy Spirit calls us together as the people of God
Word: God speaks to us in scripture reading, preaching and song
Meal: God feeds us with the presence of Jesus Christ
Sending: God bless us and sends us in mission to world
Notice how the worship starts and ends. It starts with God’s calling and sending. Calling, equipping, feeding and sending is God’s action. In the same manner, responding to God’s call and God’s mission is a continuous discipleship process.
Soon we will come to the point of the sending part of our worship order and we will be going home. However, let us read that part ahead of time. Please open the same book to page 115 and let us read the dismissal part.
1. Go in peace. Serve the Lord. Thanks be to God
2. Go in peace. Share the good news. Thanks be to God
3. Go in peace. Remember the poor. Thanks be to God
4. Go in peace. Christ is with you. Thanks be to God
During our worship service, no matter how soft or loud are said these words - or no matter whether they are said by a clergy or lay person, young or old, female or male - it is the voice of the Lord.
The four options of the dismissal words are just samples. Sometimes God will send us on a mission, which we would have never thought to be. To be a disciple is to be always on a mission. A mission always requires giving our life, talent and treasure.
In our Gospel reading, Jesus is not talking about the poor widow to the public. Mark 12:43 “ Then Jesus called the disciples and said to them….” His teaching is focused on the disciples. Jesus is teaching them two things. First, he is pointing to the self giving which he is going to do very soon. The second point is, he is teaching them that self-giving is the discipleship life style. It is not about how much money we give, but it is how much of our life is given to God to be used for God’s mission.
Even though we are ready to be part of any mission, sometimes, for some of us, God’s call to mission will have a strange message. 1 Kings 17:8-16 is a mission story. And for Elijah to go to Zarephath is not an easy mission trip.
This is a strange command considering the fact that Zarephath is in a Gentile nation. It is the country of Jezebel and King Ahab, who are looking for Elijah everywhere to kill him. Yet, that is exactly where God is sending Elijah! God is sending the prophet out of his comfort zone.
The name Zarephath is a Hebrew word. It means “refining". It refers to the furnace into which metal is placed so that it can be heated up and have any impurities removed. For Elijah, Zarephath was a place that would live up to its name. Zarephath would be the place where he would be refined and transformed.
Now, God is saying to Elijah, “I am sending you to a place where you will learn that I am the one who feeds and sustains all.” God would feed both the prophet and the widow, the King and the people.
God did not say to Elijah, "I have a widow in Zarephath and I want you to go and take care of her." Instead God said, “I have a widow in Zarephath and I have commanded her to take care of you."
Not all mission opportunities come to our life just for us to do something. Instead missions are God’s given opportunities to transform and conform us into Christ likeness. Yet some missions, for some of us, they are “Zarephath”.
In times of famine, all get hungry, like the prophet and the widow, the King and the people. They all look for someone to feed them. Of course, it is God. For Elijah and the widow at Zarephath the Word of the Lord was their hope. The story begins with “the word of the Lord came to Elijah” and ends with “the jar of the meal was not emptied, neither did the jug of oil fail, according to the words of the Lord …”
Brother and sisters, we all are hungry. God promised to feed us in both the spoken and visible Word. The Word is our hope. Amen!!!
As Pastor Susan was preaching last Sunday about All Saints, I was thinking how wonderful a state of life is that? It is the state of life when we all are called by one title: Saints. Yes we are all saints.
Let me share with you a moment when my mother taught me a lifetime lesson. It was in 1984. This year is a terrible year for Ethiopia. It is the year when millions were starved and died due to the famine.
In that year, one day I was home playing. I heard a beautiful male voice singing, “SELE KIRSTOS” begging for food in the name of Christ. As soon as I heard the voice I ran to my mother and said:
“Mom, there is a beggar at our door begging for food.”
“What did you say my son?”
“Mom, there is a beggar at our door begging for food.”
“What did you say my son?”
“Mom, there is a beggar at our door begging for food.”
“What did you say my son?”
At the third time she look into my eyes and said, “My son, never, ever use the word beggar to describe a person like this.”
“What is the appropriate word, Mom?”
“YENE-BITE.” A person like me”
“Mom, I am not a beggar! How can you tell me to identify myself with a beggar?”
“My son, we all are beggars. There is one provider. What do you thing we are doing when we pray ‘give us today our daily bread?’ We are begging.”
Since then I never used the term “beggar” to describe such a person. By the way, I found out that one of Martin Luther’s last written words (from the Table Talk, no. 5468) says, “We are beggars that is true.” We are beggars, that is true.
Let us pray: Psalm 145: 15-17
15The eyes of all wait upon | you, O Lord,
and you give them their food | in due season.
16You open | wide your hand
and satisfy the desire of every | living thing.
17You are righteous in | all your ways
and loving in | all your works. Amen