How are you called?

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Scripture

1 Kings 17:8-16 (CEB)

Elijah and the widow from Zarephath

⁸The Lord’s word came to Elijah: ⁹Get up and go to Zarephath near Sidon and stay there. I have ordered a widow there to take care of you. ¹⁰Elijah left and went to Zarephath. As he came to the town gate, he saw a widow collecting sticks. He called out to her, “Please get a little water for me in this cup so I can drink.” ¹¹She went to get some water. He then said to her, “Please get me a piece of bread.”

¹²“As surely as the Lord your God lives,” she replied, “I don’t have any food; only a handful of flour in a jar and a bit of oil in a bottle. Look at me. I’m collecting two sticks so that I can make some food for myself and my son. We’ll eat the last of the food and then die.”

¹³Elijah said to her, “Don’t be afraid! Go and do what you said. Only make a little loaf of bread for me first. Then bring it to me. You can make something for yourself and your son after that. ¹⁴This is what Israel’s God, the Lord, says: The jar of flour won’t decrease and the bottle of oil won’t run out until the day the Lord sends rain on the earth.” ¹⁵The widow went and did what Elijah said. So the widow, Elijah, and the widow’s household ate for many days. ¹⁶The jar of flour didn’t decrease nor did the bottle of oil run out, just as the Lord spoke through Elijah.

Psalm 146 (CEB)

¹ Praise the Lord!

Let my whole being praise the Lord!
²I will praise the Lord with all my life;
I will sing praises to my God as long as I live.

³Don’t trust leaders;
    don’t trust any human beings—
    there’s no saving help with them!
⁴Their breath leaves them,
    then they go back to the ground.
    On that very same day, their plans die too.

⁵The person whose help is the God of Jacob—
    the person whose hope rests on the Lord their God—
    is truly happy!
⁶God: the maker of heaven and earth,
    the sea, and all that is in them,
God: who is faithful forever,
⁷    who gives justice to people who are oppressed,
    who gives bread to people who are starving!
The Lord: who frees prisoners.
⁸    The Lord: who makes the blind see.
    The Lord: who straightens up those who are bent low.
    The Lord: who loves the righteous.
⁹    The Lord: who protects immigrants,
        who helps orphans and widows,
        but who makes the way of the wicked twist and turn!

¹⁰The Lord will rule forever!
Zion, your God will rule from one generation to the next!

Praise the Lord!

Hebrews 9:24-28 (CEB)

²⁴Christ didn’t enter the holy place (which is a copy of the true holy place) made by human hands, but into heaven itself, so that he now appears in God’s presence for us. ²⁵He didn’t enter to offer himself over and over again, like the high priest enters the earthly holy place every year with blood that isn’t his. ²⁶If that were so, then Jesus would have to suffer many times since the foundation of the world. Instead, he has now appeared once at the end of the ages to get rid of sin by sacrificing himself. ²⁷People are destined to die once and then face judgment. ²⁸In the same way, Christ was also offered once to take on himself the sins of many people. He will appear a second time, not to take away sin but to save those who are eagerly waiting for him.

Mark 12:38-44 (CEB)

³⁸As he was teaching, he said, “Watch out for the legal experts. They like to walk around in long robes. They want to be greeted with honor in the markets. ³⁹They long for places of honor in the synagogues and at banquets. ⁴⁰They are the ones who cheat widows out of their homes, and to show off they say long prayers. They will be judged most harshly.”

A poor widow’s contribution

⁴¹Jesus sat across from the collection box for the temple treasury and observed how the crowd gave their money. Many rich people were throwing in lots of money.⁴²One poor widow came forward and put in two small copper coins worth a penny.⁴³Jesus called his disciples to him and said, “I assure you that this poor widow has put in more than everyone who’s been putting money in the treasury. ⁴⁴All of them are giving out of their spare change. But she from her hopeless poverty has given everything she had, even what she needed to live on.”

Children’s time

What are some ways that people serve God and tell others about Jesus? To begin, tell the story of Laura Schlabach.

Laura grew up in a church in Ohio, probably a lot like the church you’re in right now. When she was in college, she studied math and decided to become an accountant. (Clarify here what this means.) While she was at a Christian concert one night, Laura heard a message from the singer that made her think, “I am called to serve God in another country.”

But she was studying math and accounting! She didn’t know if people in other countries needed accountants.

(Ask the children if they know what kinds of jobs mission workers have. Most people think of missionaries as being teachers, preachers, doctors or nurses.)

Laura decided to serve God in Pennsylvania by doing her accounting there. But she still thought she was supposed to go somewhere far away.

In 1993, she talked to someone at Mennonite Board of Missions (a predecessor agency of Mission Network) and was told, “We need an accountant in Mongolia.”

(Show the children where Mongolia is on a map, or talk about how it’s on the other side of the globe.)

“This was the clearest call I had ever received,” Laura said. She went to Mongolia to be an accountant and a manager for an organization that helps people in Mongolia learn about God while also helping them get food and other things they need.

Laura says, “After serving in Mongolia for 18 years, I can see that administrators—accountants, directors, managers—are needed on the mission field, too.”

(End your time with the children by asking them what they like to do and what they are good at. Laura Schlabach liked math. Then ask them to think about ways that their talents and gifts can be used to show the love of Jesus to people around them.)

Sermon starters

Today’s lectionary texts serve as a reminder to us that what seems most obvious isn’t always the case. Elijah sought refuge with a widowed woman and her son on the verge of death from starvation—not the most likely choice when seeking someone to help you in the midst of famine. And Jesus points out the widowed woman with her two small coins, saying she put more into the treasury than everyone else, even the men in robes who had both the power and the money.

These women, alone and oppressed by their social stations, needed help. But because of the upside-down values of God’s kingdom—a kingdom where wealth and status are not the pinnacle of success—they also had something to offer. God takes what is small and transforms it into something great.

Kuaying Teng contracted polio in his leg seven months after he was born. In Laos, people believed that if someone has a disability, he or a member of his family had sinned. In some Asian cultures, babies born with disabilities are even killed. This was the context into which Teng was born.

His parents sent him to a rehabilitation center when he was 7 months old. He lived there for the next 10 years. When he was able to walk, he moved in with his family.

Five years later, a classmate introduced him to Jesus and invited him to church to play piano in the worship band. He went to church for more than one year and still knew nothing about Jesus, but enjoyed playing the music.

One day, an American missionary preached on John 9—the story of the man who was born blind. In this story, the disciples asked Jesus why the man had been born blind—did he or his parents sin? Jesus responded that the man was not blind as a result of sin, but so that God would be glorified through the man’s healing.

Teng says, “That message touched me deeply—so deeply I couldn’t even focus on playing the music. This was the first time I felt I had worth! This call changed my life.”

Teng thought about all the people around the world who have disabilities.

“I knew it was time for me to learn more about Jesus and to take his gospel message to them,” he said, “so they would know that Jesus loves and values them just as they are. So I enrolled in Bible school.”

Teng later moved to Canada to be a pastor. Through various connections, he ended up working for the Commission on Home Ministries (a predecessor agency of Mennonite Mission Network), supporting Asian ministries. This led to his position as denominational minister for Asian ministries for Mennonite Church USA.

“I don’t mind when people stare at my leg,” Teng says. “I use the opportunity to tell them my story and, then, about Jesus. I have sat on the street in countries all over the world and talked to people with disabilities, telling them that Jesus loves and cares for them. Even though God did not heal my leg, he used it for his purposes so I could use it to travel around the world and preach the gospel.”

Mission is more than going to an international location, although that’s one way that we do mission. Sometimes our life circumstances, like Teng’s disability, help shape our mission. The question is: How does God call us? Every contribution matters. Everyone is called to share and to offer their gifts, no matter their background or social station. Indeed, gifts from the poorest places might mean the most.

Some things to think about: