November 5, 2023
"Can You Imagine " Sermon by Rev. Trip Porch
November 5, 2023 Based on Leviticus 19:9-10; 25:8-12 and Mark 12:38-44
This scripture is a frequent addition to almost every stewardship campaign. People and pastors love to praise this widow for her generosity, her ability to give in spite of her circumstances of poverty and lack of resource, to praise her for her ability to still share what she has to a cause she believes in. This is the long held historical interpretation of this scripture, because Jesus does praise this poor widow for choosing to share all of what she has to live on… the last two coins in her purse.
And I’ll be honest, this is how I’ve always interpreted this text. And its why I thought it would be an excellent addition to this year’s stewardship topics especially on all saints day, where we remember all the saints of our church and our lives that have set the example of faith for us, that shaped us and taught us… saints like this widow whom we continue to try to emulate and model our lives on… that we continue to try to live up to.
However, the group behind our stewardship campaign shared their interpretation of this text and, frankly, it completely expanded my mind on what this text is all about. It all goes back to one biblical scholar, Luke Timothy Johnson, who put this story into its proper historical context. He writes…
[The treasury model of communal life on display here]“was the method used to fulfill the demands of Torah for the collection of alms. In order to care for those perennially dispossessed, the poor, and the marginalized… namely widows.”
[Johnson, Luke Timothy. “The Life of Faith and the Faithful Use of Possessions.” (Indiana: The Center on Philanthropy at Indiana University, 2006).3.
https://philanthropy.iupui.edu/doc/institutes/lake-lecture-johnson-2006.pdf]
In other words.. this system of the temple collecting money from the community was established so that by giving to the treasury, those who had could fulfill their requirements of caring for the poor… so that the poor, like this widow, who do not have resources did not have to give what precious little they had. In fact, widows were not required to give to the temple at all. The temple offering was supposed to be a social safety net to care for people like this widow.
So Jesus sees this widow who is not required to give at all and yet chooses to give to the temple, but he also sees the temple’s legal experts who profit off of the treasury… he sees their showy life, their long flowing robes, their public seeking of places of honor and privilege.. and Jesus sees a system failing to do what it’s supposed to.
With this reimagining of this text it reads less like a full-throated celebration of this widow and more like a deep lament. It reads like Jesus is crying out about the broken and corrupt situation they have found themselves in where this widow is taken advantage of by these affluent leaders.
He laments the brokenness he sees where people can profit off the poorest of the poor.
He laments… that the temple that was built in order to create a system of care and support is doing the exact opposite…
He laments.. a system that they have all learned to live in and accept despite the fact that it goes against their core beliefs. Despite the fact that this system that was supposed to represent God is now doing the exact opposite of its intended purpose… So Jesus laments.
Widows and the perennially dispossessed, Luke Timothy Johnson calls them, were to be cared for through safety nets that were created, yet the systems weren’t working and needed reimagining.
This widow gives all that she has and the system fails her. So Jesus laments, but through that lament comes the seeds of change…
What would it mean if Jesus tells this story to use her act of giving as a way to highlight the corruption of the
economic system in power?
What if Jesus tells this story not just to celebrate faithfulness of this saint of the church, but really to awaken the disciples to the corruption before them… to spark their imagination and cause them to wonder… Is this system doing what its supposed to? What if this had been another way?
How might we reimagine this system in a way that reflects God?
What if Jesus tells this story to awaken us to our systems that need reimagining… to spark us to reimagine and reorder the world to a new way of being—and yet maybe ancient an ancient way of being—to share and distribute resources so that people are cared for?
How can we reimagine the systems we have built that are inevitably failing to honor and uplift,
How can we reimagine the systems that fail to provide true transformation and liberation?
How can we reimagine how we earn and how we distribute resources as faith communities?
How can we collectively come closer to Jesus and model as faith communities a new economy
while being intrinsically connected to the economy that we are living in?
How can our giving, and our receiving, be reimagined?
At a recent pastor’s gathering I got to attend, a friend of mine and I were talking about stewardship. I was bemoaning stewardship, laughing how it always feels a bit like an NPR pledge drive that inevitably comes around every year and just feels like a disruption to our regularly scheduled programming.. And she pushed back and said… “I disagree, I think stewardship is one of the best times in church life. Because whether we think about it or not, how we spend our money shapes our world. Every dollar is like a little vote on how we want the world to be. It’s like what Jesus said… “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also” When we give our money to something it’s like we are saying, we want more of this and less of that.. And in stewardship season, we get to remind people that the church is supposed to be a reflection not of the earthly ways of being but a new way of being.. God’s way of being” When we give to stewardship it’s like we are saying we want our world to look more like this and less like that.”
Jesus showed the disciples the flagrant abusive profiteering of the temple’s legal experts and this widows willingness to give all that she had even in a corrupt system.. and invites them to reimagine an alternative way of being…
What if we did the same?
What if the church reimagined an economy where practices of predatory lending, student debt, medical debt, and wage inequity are upended
What if the church reimagined an economy where the perennially dispossessed are cared for?
What if the church reimagined a community where the first identity we associate with every person, regardless of circumstance was as child of God
What if the church reimagined tried to engage in cyclical years of Jubilee where debt was forgiven and the poor were allowed to harvest, and everyone found enough to live on?
What if the church reimagined our relationship with money and saw it as a tool to repair rather than provide security/ sustainability to broken institutions?
What if the church were the vessel where we could join God in a reimagining and reorder of our world?
Friends, as we reimagine our world, I want to invite you into a time of embodied prayer, holding the dried beans you were given as you entered worship.
In our first scripture, we heard about the Year of Jubilee—a time every fifty years when the edges of the crops are left for the poor and the hungry to glean so they can be cared for, when families return home for rest and Sabbath, when debts are canceled and the harvest is shared. In our time of prayer, let us imagine what Jubilee could look like in our world. Let us imagine how God’s ways of being would look in this world, and
I invite you to take your red bean and clench it tightly in your left hand.
As you do so, silently give thanks to God for all that you have—for the resources that nourish you and the love that sustains you. Let this red bean hold your gratitude for all that you have… let us pray…
(Time for silence.)
And now, I invite you to take your white bean and clench it tightly in your right hand.
As you do so, silently pray for those who do not have enough, for those who hunger—for food, for rest, for justice. Let this bean be a lament for systems that have failed… for the broken way things are, for a world that has fallen apart… Let us pray.
(Time for silence.)
And now, I invite you to clench the beans in both of your fists and imagine the world God hopes for us—
a world of enough for everyone.
Imagine unfettered love—free and bold, wild and true, the kind of love that changes you.
Imagine a home—safe and bright, with impromptu dancing, meals around table, and laughter late into the night.
Imagine faith like a compass—that guides the way you shop and vote, the way you love and hope;
that asks questions and yet still believes, even despite uncertainty.
And imagine a world where trees, bees, and all living things grow wild and free,
where peace is the narrative and hope the currency;
a world where news stories are testimonies and funerals are far between.
Can you imagine?
Yes, we can imagine.
And so, let us dare to dream.
Let us clench our fists and imagine what could be.
Let us, in this community,
dare to make this dream reality.
With God’s help, may it be so. Amen.
WE GATHER IN AWE AND PRAISE
PRELUDE “When I Am Baptized” Nita Dale Milner arr. Summer Decker Nelson
INTROIT “Lord, Prepare Me” John Thompson & Randy Scruggs
Sung by the IPC Children’s Choir
WELCOME Rev. Trip Porch
One: This is the day that the Lord has made
All: Let us rejoice and be glad in it
*CALL TO WORSHIP
One: Can you imagine unfettered love?...
…A world where news stories are testimonies and funerals are far between?
Can you imagine?
All: Yes, we can imagine.
One: Today in worship, dare to dream. Dare to imagine what could be.
And pay attention, for God is here, in wandering thoughts, hopes, and prayers.
All: Let us worship holy God, that great unfettered love.
*HYMN NO. 326 “For All the Saints” SINE NOMINE
*PRAYER OF CONFESSION Ed Kinschner
One: God of Grace, You invite us to dream of a better world,
All: But instead we bury our heads in the sand. We are afraid to recognize how much must change.
We are afraid, because if we know the truth, then don’t we have a job to do?
One: So instead, more often than not, we maintain the status quo.
All: We passively allow things to stay the same.
One: We don’t speak out; we don’t imagine a new day.
All: We don’t dream of a world without racism, sexism, bigotry, or shame.
One: Instead we allow ourselves to believe that some things will never change.
All: Forgive us. Show us the way. Teach us to dream.
One: Teach us to imagine again.
All: Humbly we pray. Amen.
*ASSURANCE OF PARDON
*RESPONSE OF PRAISE NO. 585 “Glory to God” vs. 1 MACHU-PICHU
*PASSING OF THE PEACE
One: The peace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you all,
All: And also with you.
WE LISTEN FOR GOD’S WORD
ANTHEM “Beati” Jacques Berthier
With the IPC Children’s Choir; Jim Legg, clarinet
PRAYER FOR ILLUMINATION
SCRIPTURE: Leviticus 19:9-10; 25:8-12
CHILDREN’S MESSAGE Mary Rebekah Fortman
SCRIPTURE: Mark 12:38-44 CEB
Sermon Rev. Trip Porch
WE RESPOND TO GOD’S WORD
*HYMN NO. 762 “When the Poor Ones” EL CAMINO
TIME OF OFFERING “A Poor Wayfaring Man” George Coles, arr. Martineau
INVITATION TO THE TABLE
Remembering the Saints
Marilyn Shreffler 1928-2023
When directed, we invite you to name the saints you’ve lost in 2023 aloud.
GREAT PRAYER OF THANKSGIVING
SHARING OF BREAD AND CUP “One Bread, One Body”
PRAYER AFTER COMMUNION
Holy God, We are not fully aware of how your imagination works and we are not sure what restoration for this world will look like, But we’re pretty sure it’ll feel like this— a meal where all are fed, a place where all are welcomed, and a table with a seat saved for each and every one of us. Help us to glimpse how you are reimagining this world and continue to restore all of us to you. Gratefully we pray, Amen.
*HYMN NO. 73 “Heaven Shall not Wait” HEAVEN SHALL NOT WAIT
MOMENT FOR STEWARDSHIP Caroline Karbowski
TIME OF COMMUNITY SHARING
CHARGE AND BENEDICTION
CHORAL RESPONSE “Go Forth for God” Kenneth Dake
POSTLUDE “Be Still My Soul” Jean Sibelius
arr. Summer Decker Nelson
Acknowledgments:Unless otherwise indicated, all texts and music are printed and broadcast under OneLicense.net license #A-702452