Monday's thoughts about Sunday's sermon

"The Widow's Conspiracy"

We've been too nice when we have thought about the poor widow who put the two cents on the temple treasury. We have assumed her motives were pure. We have praised her for her altruistic motives.

Maybe Ayn Rand is correct to suggest there is no true altruism. What if she is right on when she says all motives are mixed and even pure motives have elements of selfishness in them?

I want to put the poor widow in trial. I want to suggest that she staged this whole event to be a witness to the hypocrisy of the wealthy. I want to examine what she was up to when she slipped the 2 cents in and forever became a paragon of virtue.

It could have been a huge conspiracy. It could have been designed to make us feel bad about how much we give to the poor or to the church.

By the way, we are coming up to our Finance Campaign when we are asked to give a promise or pledge to the church for the coming year. As a preacher I will use every technique I know to get the word out about what we are doing in the church and why it is important to support it. But I will not use guilt. I will not bring out the usual methods that are designed to make us feel that we aren't giving enough.

I will, however, talk about reaching out, reaching in, and reaching up. I will talk about the inner life and how we all have to make up our own minds about what is important and support what we believe in and trust. I will not try to make people feel they should be giving more than they should. The economy is tight and some of our people have lost their jobs. Lots of our members are on fixed incomes.

We should give what we are able to give, and support the church in the way we are able to support it.

But the poor widow should never be an example that can be used to embarrass us or make us feel ashamed.

What do you think is the best motivation to give? If you have thoughts on this write me at charlesschuster@fcfumc.net. If you are willing to share your thoughts click on the 'comments' box below.

I look forward to hearing from you.


Charles Schuster