“It Takes a Village” – 2 Kings 4:1-7
It’s spring!  And you know what THAT means?  PROM!  Last weekend was my son Nic’s senior prom.  He found a date, rented a tux, rounded up some of his friends and rented a limo and just had a great time.  I brought pictures for Show & Tell today, just in case any of you would like to see them.   

 The Prom these days is a REALLY BIG DEAL – more so than when I was a senior; way….back….when….  The cost alone is amazing!  Nic plunked down about $400 total for his Prom and that is quite a chunk o’ money – and not everyone can afford it! 
I read about another prom taking place in Allen where many of the senior girls attending Allen High School couldn’t go because they couldn’t afford to buy a dress to wear.  So, a fairy godmother in the form an Allen mom named Karyn Hamilton heard from her daughter what was happening to her schoolmates and decided to do something about the situation.  As the Assistant Manager of the Allen Community Outreach Resale Shop – she was able to get the word out to their supporters to let them know that dresses were needed.  Within weeks, 50 pristine dresses – some w/tags still on, showed up.  More provided shoes, purses, jewelry.  A couple of ladies volunteered to help with make up and several others volunteered their services as hair stylists, manicurists – just so these girls who thought they’d have to sit out their prom, could be Cinderella for a night.  Tears of sadness turned into tears of joy – all thanks to the generosity and hearts filled with love from their Allen neighbors.
You have to listen for it closely, but it’s the neighbors who help save the day for the widow and her sons in the story from 2 Kings we just heard.  Although they get mentioned only slightly, they play a HUGE role in the miracle that God provides.  Normally when we hear miracle stories, they usually take place between 2 parties – Jesus and the person being healed.  Moses and the Red Sea.  This text is different.  God involves a 3rd party to help make the miracle happen. The neighbors have a key role in saving the widow and her sons from the threat of slavery. 

You know, in Old Testament days, paying your debts by becoming a slave was the custom. If one had debts they could not pay, they would become a slave to whomever they owed money and would remain in bondage as a servant until the debt was fully paid.  In fact, if a man had sons, it was normally the sons who would work off the father’s debt.

But this widow finds herself in quite a bind – she’s living at the poverty level since we know all she has in her house is just a little bit of olive oil.  But it’s the one little thing left to her that will prove to be her salvation.  Olive oil in these days was a very precious commodity – it was like money or gold.  It provided 1 of 2 key ingredients for life-sustaining bread which is often the only thing the poor had to eat.   It was also the means for the only light that could illumine the home.  And it served as a physical symbol of the Holy Spirit in anointing priests, kings or dead bodies. 

Note that in the miracle happening here what God does.  God provides not by putting a wad of cash there for the widow to pay her debts with.   God doesn’t change the hearts of the creditors coming to capture her sons as slaves.   God DOES provide a MEANS for her to make money to pay her own debts – by using her neighbors/her community to help her do it.

There is a real sense of urgency with this story; not a lot of planning going on here; not time to get a committee together, a task force or time to put together a grand plan. Imagine the frantic, urgent scene – the desperate look on the widow’s face, her puzzled look when Elisha tells her what to do – but does not question it.  The sons running from door to door – panting 2 gather the jars.  Knocking probably wasn’t a tap tap tap, but rather a BLAM BLAM BLAM!!  No questions asked – jars given freely; causing God’s blessing in the form of the oil to flow freely like the baptismal waters we pour from one vessel to the other.  How fortunate for the widow and her sons to live in a community with such responsive neighbors!

It’s much harder to be in community together today than it was 50 years ago.   Fast paced world.  Technology has us working 24 x 7.   I’m reading a very interesting book called “The Gospel According to Starbucks” and the author Leonard Sweet spends a lot of time talking about the success of Starbucks and why we don’t blink at spending $5 for a cup of coffee these days.  It’s because we’ll pay for the experience of community.  Think about it.  Soft, cushy chairs.  Coffee tables.  Furniture like you’d find in someone’s living room.  Even though we may not know or even speak to the people around us in Starbucks, we like having them near us. 

We live in suburban villages today where you ‘might’ get a glimpse of your neighbor as you both go out to get the morning paper or take out the recycle bin on trash day.  Many of us have relationship with them made up of “nods” rather than really getting to know the people who live within 10 steps of us on either side. I’m guilty of this.  I’ve lived in my house 10 years and I barely remember the names of the family that lives on my left; and there are new neighbors on my right that I’ve met only because two kittens showed up on my doorstep one night and I thought they might be theirs.  Shames me to admit this, but it’s true. 
God puts us in community for a reason.  So much of what God does for us is evident in the grace and actions of those in community with us.  When we find ourselves in impossible situations, we find that God is reaching out to us through others.  We certainly don’t plan for disasters to happen, but when they do and we find ourselves in a panic or in a desperate situation, we HAVE to rely on the strength of others to carry us, hold our hands, wipe our tears and reassure us that all will be OK.  God usually meets the needs of His people THROUGH people, ministering to one another.   This is the Holy Spirit in our midst.

In 2005 when Hurricane Katrina hit – my former church, Christ United Methodist Church in Plano, played host to over 60 people from Louisiana.  They arrived in the wee hours of the morning from a brutal, horrifying experience at the Superdome.  Christ UMC is blessed to have a recreation center that functions as an emergency shelter.   These Louisiana folks lived at CUMC for close to six weeks.   During that time, we had people on duty 24 x 7 to help.    Our Adult Sunday School building turned from being a place of education and meetings into a makeshift  “mini-mall”.   If you remember that time, even Grinches whose compassion couldn’t be found with a magnifying glass experienced their small hearts growing 3 sizes during this time and donations poured into shelters and places housing Katrina evacuees!   Items were everywhere - clothes, shoes, pajamas, toys, books.  And everyone had the basic necessities such as a cot and a pillow and blanket, but our community also donated “small things” that make life a little easier such as a lamp to read by, small fans to keep you cool. Yes, people were generous and they brought things in droves - no questions asked, no need too great that couldn’t be met.  But our new friends from Louisiana told us the greatest thing we offered them though was peace/security/safety.   A few of the women confessed they could not believe how QUIET it was in Plano.  Why, they could actually walk around at night, OUTSIDE, and not hear gun fire.   Many admitted to us that their lives had changed for the better.  One day, one of our church members was driving a mother and her daughter to the DMV so the mom could get her driver’s license re-issued.  And as they chit-chatted about being in a new place, the little girl turned to her mom and asked “Mom, do you think God sent the hurricane to save us?”   Despite the fact that these people were displaced from their homes, lost most of their possessions, endured the atrocities of the Superdome and were in a new and foreign place to them among people they did not know – this little girl felt “saved”!   These strangers from Louisiana had been transformed; WE were transformed by them. 

Quite a different experience for the widow – In her village, there were no strangers.  People knew one another well; they lived in tightly-knit communities where families all lived together in 1 house.  It is through her connections; her neighbors; that the widow finds her saving grace.  I’d be willing to bet it’s those same neighbors who receive back their jars and when they see it filled to the brim with precious oil, the precious gift from God, that they are the ones who purchase what’s inside their jar.

SO – What’s in YOUR JAR?  We all have them.  Everyone’s jar is different.  They come in a variety of sizes, shapes, heights.   My guess is that the jars the widow’s neighbors donated really truly weren’t empty at all.  They were filled, like our own jars are filled, with gifts from the HS – love, time, our talents, our prayers.   When we hear the knock on our door - what will we offer?
Many members of Holy Covenant community took their jars with them to AMIGOS Days over the weekend.  From those vessels flowed their energy, their time away from families and friends, their commitment to service, their painting and roofing skills, their expertise at hammering and sawing.   They know that some times the needs of the one outweigh the needs of the many.  Every moment spent at AMIGOS Days was like handing a jar to the widow all over again.

This week, the multitudes of delegates from all over the world are coming to our backyard to participate in General Conference that starts Thursday.  They’re coming to Forth Worth armed with their jars – ready to change lives.  I ask that we all pray on their behalf that what’s inside those jars is their love for Christ and our Church.  And what’s inside those jars is the Holy Spirit that will move the United Methodist Church toward a greater health and vitality and keep us focused on making disciples as our main mission! 

It takes a village – it takes a “community” to help one person realize the true majesty of God’s grace and how it affects their life.  It took the widow’s community to bring the vessels together and when they did come together, God provided the miracle through their generosity that saved her life – and those of her sons.  God took what the widow had and multiplied it; God takes what WE give and with the grace of the Holy Spirit, multiplies it and the blessings flow like the oil!  I want to be part of a community that would freely, with no questions asked, hand me a jar.   There may come a time when I have one of those days like the widow’s having when I’m begging for a jar out of desperation – I’ll come to you and say, “I need help and I need it now!!!!”  Or the need may be more subtle and not so urgent – and I’ll ask – “Will you sit and be with me and just listen?”  There’s going to come a day when you’ll need a jar and won’t it be reassuring to know that God will provide it for you within the church community you call home?

You and I are the village; we are the community and the knocks do come at our door, asking for our jars. Asking that we give what we have.  Asking that we become God’s assistant in the delivery of grace, healing and compassion to the widows in our lives who are crying out for a miracle.   And they will come again and again and again. 

And if you think about our faith community here at Holy Covenant, a lot of us don’t live THAT close to church.  We are here in community because we CHOOSE to be here.  And in week 2 of our Capital Campaign, we as a community, pray about how much we can give to transform our facilities.  Our jars are needed for our Capital Campaign.  We might have the impression that the Campaign is all about new air conditioners, fixing a leaky roof, painting the walls and other physical improvements.  But isn’t it REALLY more about preserving and growing this community - this village called Holy Covenant - that GOD has built and we have chosen to be part of so that it continues its outpouring of love?   Are you ready with your jar?
Amen.