The Widow's Faith, a sermon based on Ruth 3 and 4 and Mark 12: 38-44, preached on November 10, 2024

Jesus said, “Beware of the scribes, who like to walk around in long robes, and to be greeted with respect, and to have the best seats in the synagogues, and for the sake of appearance say long prayers. They will receive the greater condemnation.” I sure am glad He’s not talking about me. But He is. Jesus was teaching His disciples, and as He taught, He said, “If you want to know what faith looks like, don’t look at the guy in the kilt who walks in the grand procession to take his seat up in front of the Great Hall. If you want to know what faith looks like, look over at the widow. Did you see what she just did?” When the poor widow came and put in two small, copper coins, Jesus, as He always did, surprised the disciples by saying, “Look at her, off to the side, the one who just put the two copper coins into the plate. That’s what faith looks like. She’s the miracle. Everyone else is looking at the guy in the kilt, but I want you to see the miracle of the woman who gave to the Lord everything she had.” This is a good lesson for us today, for isn’t it just like the people of God to miss out on the miracle because they’re busy watching the parade? Yet God sees beyond the fanfare to notice the faithful. God loves the humble heart and comes near to hear the prayers of the afflicted; even in the age of kings and princes, our God blessed the lowly. Today is this great celebration of the Scottish roots of the Presbyterian Church. Today we celebrate because long ago in Scotland, they couldn’t. The King of England outlawed the pipes and the tartans. In secret, God’s people would sneak in their plaid, the symbols of their culture and their families, to receive God’s blessing, knowing that God blesses the meek of the earth and can see beyond the fanfare of the powerful. But what about us? What about you? Can you see beyond the fanfare, beyond the preacher in the kilt, to witness the real miracle of God at work in this church? I want you to know that I’m proud to be the Senior Pastor of First Presbyterian Church, but if you want to see God at work in this place, you need to look beyond me to notice the members of this church who live their faith out in the world. I’m talking about women like Sally Benoy. Do you know Sally? Sally was one who maintained our church library. That was a thankless job because while the library was great, ya’ll didn’t use it. The books gathered dust. Still, Sally maintained our church library. She kept it clean. She kept the books in order. Regardless of all that work, not too many people checked any of those books out, so we let the history committee take the room over. The library moved downstairs, and Sally was out of a job. However, she heard that the library at the Cobb County Jail didn’t have any books in it. Since Easter of 2021, we’ve been livestreaming our services in the jail, and since then, our involvement has increased. We’ve provided meals for the jail staff. One of our members, Jeff Knapp, is now a trained chaplain. All the old Bibles from our church’s closets, about 800 of them, have gone over there where they’re being put to good use, and when members of this church heard that the jail library had no books, they wanted to do something about it. Bill and Louise Pardue led a book drive. 3,500 books have been donated. Sally and two other librarians have sorted through those books, organized them by subject, and now, they take requests, so that 500 books are checked out from the jail library each month. 500 books each month. Sally has never been happier, and if you want to know what faith looks like, don’t look at the preacher in the kilt who walked down the center aisle with the bag pipes. Look at her. Look at Doris Faber, who made visits to Presbyterian Village each Sunday for years on end. Look at Marti Miner, who is the chair of the funeral guild, and has only missed three funerals at this church in six years. Consider Laura Powell, whose vision of a Memorial Garden is now a reality. Or Martie Moore, who leads our church in providing a week’s worth of food to over 350 families each week. Think about Mary Groves, who has been leading our afterschool program for years and years. Or Linda Spears, who isn’t a member of this church, and yet she’s here three or four days a week, volunteering, making a difference, and sharing her love. Have you ever noticed the flowers outside our church? Do you know the women who planted them? It started with just one plot maintained by Sue Strauss, who has the fire ant scars on her legs to prove it, then Elizabeth Lisle joined the effort and spread her garden from the front entrance to the corner that’s home to our grease trap. She turned our grease trap into a vegetable garden, and today, because Elizabeth is outside our church watering her garden so often, and because people drive crazy on Church Street, she’s been the first responder for two accidents. When Waze told one young driver to take a right turn onto the railroad tracks, she got stuck, and Elizabeth sat there with that scared young driver until help arrived, and that’s what faith looks like. Look past this preacher in the kilt to consider with me the ministry of the Rev. Denise Beltzner, who has been suffering with a debilitating illness for years now, yet she still ends every email update with the same faithful sentiment: A bit taken back, A tad overwhelmed, Very determined, Extremely thankful, Ever hope-filled. My friends, I walked in here with all the fanfare of a parade, and I loved every second of it because I love the attention, but if you want to know what faith looks like, look past me to see those who serve the Lord without fanfare, who don’t preach faith but live it, for it is better to live one sermon than to preach 500. If you want to see faith, look to the members of this church, not the preacher. Look to the widow who held a baby in her arms. Our first Scripture lesson features a widow named Naomi. Many of you know the story of Naomi and Ruth. They both lost their husbands while living in the land of Moab. Anyone in here know anything about Moab? Not Moab, Utah. Moab in the book of Ruth is the place dreams go to die, and Ruth and Naomi nearly got stuck there, which is about what happened to some members of this church last Wednesday morning. One woke up Wednesday morning, saw the election results, and couldn’t get out of her pajamas. A person can get stuck in Moab. On the other hand, I know that others of you woke up Wednesday morning and felt like you had arrived in the Promised Land. I know that because I have this app on my phone that tells me whom all of you voted for. It’s called Facebook, and because I have Facebook and because many of you have been so vocal, I know how some of you voted, and I also know that those of you who voted one way are sitting right next to those who voted the other way. That’s because we have a church where not everyone votes the same way, and here, we remember that if you woke up on Wednesday morning and felt like you were stuck in Moab, you’re wrong, and if you woke up Wednesday morning and felt like you woke up in the Promised Land, you’re wrong, too, because it’s not a president who will lead us there according to Scripture. It's the Christ Child born in Bethlehem. That’s faith. Naomi had it. She left Moab, encouraged Ruth to marry Boaz, and when Ruth gave birth to a child and Naomi held that baby in her arms, she was holding the grandfather of King David and the ancestor of Jesus Christ Himself. My friends, I’ve been ready for this election to be over for like eight years now because these days, election cycles bring out the very worst in us, but this church brings out the very best. Whether you woke up on Wednesday morning happy or sad, don’t get so tied up in the results that you miss the miracle you are surrounded by. This church is a miracle, filled with faithful people who don’t vote the same way, and if we can sing together, then our nation can remember how to sing together, too. If we can love each other, then we can teach our nation how to love each other. If we follow the Christ Child, live the faith, making a difference in ways that are not always covered on the evening news, then the light will shine forth from this place. And that kind of faith, that kind of hope, that kind of love will change the world. Halleluia. Amen.