Greetings to the Holy People of God,

The widows in my extended family are growing. My middle sister’s husband died in August of 2023 and my mother-in-law’s husband died in June and our oldest sister’s husband is in the care of hospice and will soon be a widow herself. And now this week, we will encounter two widows from our appointed bible lessons for this Sunday. Widows are on my mind.

Both widows in their own way are preparing for the last things. The poor widow from Mark’s gospel is throwing two coins into the treasury giving out of her poverty, giving it all as Jesus tells us preparing us for his own giving of his life. In I Kings 17:8-16, Elijah after his wadi dries up and the ravens no longer bring him food to eat, is directed by God to find the widow in Zarephath to feed him. This widow is gathering sticks at the city gate so she can prepare the last meal for her son and herself. A last meal that reminds us of the last supper that Jesus prepared for his disciples. A simple meal that gives us a little taste of the feast to come.

It is in these last things, the sharing of their last things, rather than hanging onto them that God cultivates the landscape for us to let go, to open our hands, to open our hearts for God’s invitation to participate in what God is up to among us.

Oh, and this is the most difficult of places to be in not only for these widows but for us as well. Can we really trust God when we are preparing our last meal or throwing it all in?

YES, yes we can! Not only have these widows and all the witnesses before us but also Jesus, God’s own Son, didn’t hold his life back but gave himself to life and to death to show us the way through life and death and the meeting of heaven and earth and all that God desires for us.

It is amazing what God does with our nothing, with our lack, with the last of what we have to offer, with our desperation, with what little we have to offer.

Why are widows so important in the biblical witness? The ones who have lost their partner and have to figure out how to live in a world where they are so very vulnerable and yet they are witnesses to us
along with Ruth and Naomi. They remind us that even when we feel like a part of us is missing, we are not alone. God is faithful and present in our families, friends and neighbors. God is with us and up to something and inviting us to participate. Let’s open our hands to receive what God longs to give us and work through us.

Bold Inquisitive Belief Loving Expansively,

Pastor Connie Spitzack