Call to Worship

 

Our call to worship is inspired by Psalm 13:3-6, which is largely a lament. Lament is the practice of crying out to God in our distress, and petitioning on our behalf or the behalves of others. We get to be honest to God in these moments, angry even. But a lament always ends with praise and the reminder that God is faithful. Ruminate on the words of this lament as you prepare your heart for worship.

 

 

Prayer

 

Offer a prayer of lament to God. Be honest with God about what is frustrating you right now. Speak to God as if you could see him seated or standing in your very midst. What do you want release from? What do you miss? Who is heavy on your heart? Where do you want God to intervene? Begin your prayer with complete honesty before God; don’t be afraid of offending him, he always knows what you are feeling. Allow the words to fall from your lips.

 

(a moment of lament)

 

Conclude your lament by recalling a moment of God’s faithfulness from the past. How has God come through for you? What action has God taken in your life to demonstrate he is good, trustworthy, and faithful? Spend the next moment offering praise to God for his provisions in your life.

 

(a moment of praise)

 

 

Musical Worship

 

This choir recorded themselves individually on their phones, and them compiled them for an incredible rendition of It Is Well With My Soul. Despite sheltering in home, and being socially distanced, they got creative and worshipped together. Might the words to this powerful hymn ring true for you as you worship God in these uncertain times.

 

It is Well With My Soul

 

 

Scripture Reading – Mark 12:38-44

 

38 And in his teaching he said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes and like greetings in the marketplaces 39 and have the best seats in the synagogues and the places of honor at feasts, 40 who devour widows’ houses and for a pretense make long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.”
41 And he sat down opposite the treasury and watched the people putting money into the offering box. Many rich people put in large sums. 42 And a poor widow came and put in two small copper coins, which make a penny. 43 And he called his disciples to him and said to them, “Truly, I say to you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the offering box. 44 For they all contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”

 

Illuminating the Word – Laura Turner

 

Laura Turner is an author currently living in San Francisco; she graduated from Westmont College, and Seattle Pacific University, where she earned her MFA in Creative Nonfiction writing. Here is a short article she wrote on our passage:

 

“We enter the scene with Jesus and his disciples in the treasury, the place where religious people gathered from far and wide to make their donations to the temple. The treasury was in the inner part of the temple, and the coffers placed around the room were shaped like trumpets, each with a different purpose for contribution. According to tradition, some of the trumpets received sin-offerings of burnt pigeons and turtledoves, some for contributions for incense, and some for general, voluntary offerings. (I kind of wish it was still encouraged to burn pigeons for sacrifice. Silly animals.)

 

“Many rich people threw in large amounts.” But this story is not the story of many people. This is not the story of large amounts of money, or of someone doing something flashy and noticeable. This story is about one of the least noticeable things in the entire New Testament. There are no angels winging around the throne of God; no demons being cast out into a flock of pigs or man being lowered down from a roof to receive healing. There is this woman – this small, unnoticed, uncared-for woman who hardly counted as a person in her society. And there were two coins.

 

‘Mite’ is not the actual name for what the coin was. It was a term in use when the King James Bible was being translated in the early 17th century, and it was the equivalent of a few minutes’ work. ‘Lepton’ would have been the word used for the smallest copper coin in Israel at the time; this is the story of the widow’s leptons. And this story was probably going unnoticed for years.

 

We don’t know how long the widow had been going to the treasury with her two coins, but we can assume that when her husband was alive, she would have had more. Not much more, necessarily, but she would have had resources to live on. Poor and without resources or power, she came to the temple and walked among the crowd who gave a lot of money mostly to increase their sense of stature in the community. And she came with the most meager of amounts to drop in the trumpet, and she did not draw attention to herself as she gave, but her story lives on as one of the most powerful examples of generosity and radical trust that we know.”

 

Questions for Reflection

 

How does sheltering in home and being isolated change how you read this passage?

 

How have you been like the scribes described in this passage? Where do you seek attention, praise, public honor and vanity? How has being quarantined changed that for you?

 

If the widow is one of our greatest examples of trust, how do we emulate that in our lives? What act of trust does Jesus ask of us during these uncertain times? Where do you find yourself resisting putting your trust in God? Why?

 

The scribes are described as “devouring the homes of widows” and immediately following, Jesus notices the widow and describes her situation. Is this passage about giving to the church? Is this passage about the nature of our hearts? Is this passage an indictment of religious institutions that impoverish the least of these, and in this case, the widow? Something else entirely?

 

If Jesus was angered by the actions of the religious elite of his day, what behaviors of the religious elite now would cause him to turn over tables? Be careful in your response. I know I often love to point out the flaws of others; it feels good to judge others, but Jesus warns us against that. Instead, try to identity in your own life, how your elitism hinders the livelihood of the marginalized.

 

Musical Worship – So Will I (100 Billion X)

 

 

Benediction

 

Receive Romans 12:12 as your benediction this day:

Amen.