Grace and peace to you from the Mystery in whom we live and move, and have our being. The widow’s offering.
“Truly I tell you, this poor widow has put in more than all those who are contributing to the treasury. For all of them have contributed out of their abundance, but she out of her poverty has put in everything she had, all she had to live on.”
Mark 12:38-44
The Widow’s Offering
“It is a strange and lovely thing that the person whom the New Testament and Jesus hand down to history as a pattern of generosity was a person who gave a gift of half a farthing. We may feel that we have not much in the way of material gifts or personal gifts to give to Christ, but, if we put all that we have and are at his disposal, he can do things with it and with us that are beyond our imaginings.” – William Barclay
As I write, it is days before the 2024 election. As it inches closer life is no longer about living the journey but fearing the future. Living the journey is impossible when fear of outcomes loom.
Do the principles of life about being and not doing take a hiatus? I mean really this is supposed to be the most “consequential election in history”.
Is it though? I’m sure Jesus and Barabbas would like to weigh in!
Rooted in love
Does meditating on being rooted in love matter in these times? How about being anxious for nothing but in everything give thanks. Yeah, yeah, we will later!
Remember when the Bible mattered? We argued about whether it should be taken literally or not? The literalists focused on their sin of the day they could prosecute, and the nihilists said burn it all down!
In this moment the outcome of this election is called a toss-up. So now we have experts being paid millions to finally say, “We don’t know.” That would assume at some point we did know! How utterly absurd.
Rather than embrace the reality that we cannot know the future we ask different questions like, “when will we know.” For sure there will be an expert that can tell us what we want to know. They think.
Every expert, no matter how valid their sources and information, begins with a variation of “I think.” To be paid good money to sit in the seat of authority the words change to, “the data shows, it appears, things seem to be going in this direction.”
Even the prophets of the Old Testament didn’t know the future for sure. They were just warning people to not continue the path they were on, or these things may happen.
Prophet’s warnings
Could we learn something from this? Could we hear the prophet’s warnings instead of treating them like fortune tellers? Could the bible speak into our individual journey of the present and leave the outcomes to the mystery we call God?
Tuesday, November 5, 2024
As I continue the writing of this piece it is election day. I laid in bed numb to the day ahead. My phone rang. God and I have an understanding that I may not know what is ahead, but I need to answer the calls when they come. I volunteered a few months ago to be a Poll Chaplain. Like a peacekeeper. I was never contacted for training, but I got a call from Pastor Dante in Dallas, Texas asking how things are going at my polling place. Yikes! I called the Pastor back and explained I did not know I was assigned, and I didn’t get the training, but I would gladly serve if needed. I was immediately sent to a polling place. My day of stew and ruminate in uneasiness was ruined!
We’re all neighbors
My day drastically changed directions. My journey went from paralyzing denial over the election to getting in my car, unshowered, and heading across town to a polling place. My concerns immediately changed from the election outcome to this is as unpredictable as the election. The voters were walking fearfully to their polling place. I met another Chaplain, and we talked about ministry, and I shared with him about Spirit in the Desert. He shared with me his involvement with the Arizona Interfaith Outreach. We, for a minute, forgot about the election as we greeted voters. Suddenly all were our “neighbors.”
The refocus on journey cannot happen by thinking or worrying it away. It takes us back to the value of the Bible not being found in the literal approach, the intellectual approach, or the apologetic approach. It is found in the blood flowing action it calls us to. The beatitudes are about you and me. A call to the journey.
Taking loving action regardless of who wins the election. If we think outcomes are the end of all things, we will resume greed, thinking two coins into the treasury is not enough to solve the big problems. So don’t give, horde.
After giving, the poor widow probably walked away in joy. That’s the outcome. It is the fruit of living the journey awake to the lives around us. Letting go of whatever occupies our heart will open us up to abundance.
What if we all stopped being emotionally invested in leaders outside of our own leadership?
People God loves
We act as though we are speaking for the homeless, the working people, capitalism, democracy etc. Just like the bible stories, it’s not about projects, ideologies, theologies or politics. The Bible is a collection of stories about people God loves. People are constantly miscalculating, conniving, rigging, hoaxing, lying, fleeing, following, humbling, healing, feeding, gathering, restoring and resurrecting.
The underdog and the overdog lie down together. The wealth plus two coins can do much for others and even more for our own heart.
Life has come back to me as I visit other polling places to greet my “neighbors.”
Love is enough my friends. Like a tectonic plate that holds everything above it. It moves everything and anything that gets in loves way is sin.
Love economy
The two coins from a place of poverty will do more than money dumped into the tabernacles building projects. There is an old campaign phrase that said, “it’s the economy stupid.”
For anyone who has the ache to belong through deep intimacy with a purposeful life. A joy of connection. Fearless living and engagement. It is indeed the economy stupid.
God’s economy of love.
Amen
Wednesday Respite is a 30-min contemplative service of scripture, prayer, music and a Spirited Touchpoint by Henry Rojas, spiritual director at Spirit in the Desert.
Touchpoint is a reflection on where God’s story touches our life story. It is a short homily based on a biblical story of people in the Old and New Testaments and their relationship with God. Our spiritual ancestors’ experience of God’s grace connects with our lives in the present and our relationship with the Divine. Previous Touchpoints are available as PDFs or on SoundCloud.
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