Oct 14 God's Reminders

Oct 14 2007 Park UMC Rory Swenson

There is a Russian Jewish children’s story called
As Big as an Egg* and it is a story that teaches about sharing and it teaches us a very Biblical principle. It goes something like this .

Once upon a time back in Russia there was a Jewish man named Chaim. Chaim had already had a long day at work and he was cold and tired but he was standing in a line in front of the bakery.

All he really wanted to do was just go home. He just wanted to get warm and say his prayers and go to bed.
.but this was during the war in Russia ...and times were hard
and there was hardly any food
But Chaim had his ration card and that card said that he was allowed to stand in this line, twice a week,to get his loaf of bread and this was his day to be in the bread line

So now he was thinking about that bread... he thought about how he was going to soak that bread in some hot tea and bite it off in little piecesand enjoy every little piece of that bread

He was going to make it last as long as possible.

Finally the line had moved, and he got his bread and headed home with his loaf of bread;and of course that bread had to last him for 4 days.

But just as he turned around to go home, there
of all people
was the old widow Hanna , coming toward him.

And is heart sank,well actually it was more than that ... he felt this anger in himself

This woman was always around whenever he got his bread. She had nothing else to do
except collect bread for other people

He didn’t want to give her any of his, but she was on him in a flash

She had a way of looking right into your eyes and she gave you this deep smile
and she would say
“Bread.?”
And then she would open up her sack and you could look inside that bag
and you could see all these chunks of bread that other people had shared.

They had torn off chunks of bread from their loaves

“Please” she begged
“there are so many people who are old and crippled and sick
and they cant wait in the bread lines out in this cold

Just a little piece or two ?
Pulled from your loaf so they can eat too.?”

Well honestly, he didn’t want to give her anything at all.

He didn’t feel like he had enough for himself. hH was barely getting by..

He just wished that he had not been spotted by her.
But he was trapped so he pulled off a piece of bread about the size of an egg
and he threw it in the sack with the other pieces..

Hana smiled ,and gave him a blessing and she said thanks with the words

“May you live long and prosper.. to do many more good deeds.”
Chaim just mumbled back,‘yeah ...yeah...”and he tried to get away as fast as he could

Back home he made his hot tea; he could feel the steam coming from the cup
and he ate his bread ,nice and slow, he chewed on every bite and enjoyed the taste
Every bite was so good but there was never enough

He was still kicking himself for not getting away from Hana in time
and losing that piece of bread

Next time, he said.,“I m going to go to different bakery and she wont be there to bother me.”
Then he said his prayers and he went to sleep.
And you know he was still dreaming about food as he went to sleep

The next day
he came home from work thinking about how good that bread and tea would be
and as he opened up the door to his little apartmen the was shocked to see a rat running across the room and disappearing into a hole.

The rat’s tail was wagging at him...almost like a finger scolding him;
right away Chaim thought about his bread
Oh no!
sure enough,
there was a piece of bread missing, about the size of an egg

He was going to have to be more careful .... but first he got down on his hands and knees and he plugged up every hole he could find
then
(now he was even more tired than he was before)
he washed his hands
said the blessings
and very slowly
he ate his bread
he was very careful with the rest of that loaf

The next time he got bread, he picked another bakery
and sure enough

Hanna was not there with her bag and her begging.

Nobody was there to make him feel guilty or angry;
nothing to bother his conscience ...or make him think.
So he went back home and enjoyed his bread
and then the next night when he got home.... he opened the door
and again he saw that rat and it was like it was wagging its tail....
like it was shaking his finger at him
as he headed down a hole in the floor

Oh no..not the bread again !

He grabbed his bread
and there it was a missing piece;just about the size of an egg

well Chaim said a quick blessing and he ate ;
then he got his loaf of bread and wrapped it up and put it on the highest shelf

and he tried to make a little wall around itwith other things on the shelf
so nothing could get to the bread

The next evening
he came home and guess what ?
That rat went running off a soon as he opened the door to his room
...all he could see was that rats tail; just like a scold ing wagging finger getting waived at him

and of course his bread was missing another piece
(how big was it?)

About the size of an egg
this time
he was determined to save his bread

so after he prayed and ate his bread
he wrapped up his loaf of bread in some paper

and he tied a string around it.

. And he hung it from the ceiling so it would be safe


The next day he came home

and just as he was opening the door

What!!..... not again!

that rat was going across the room with that tail
just like some scolding finger
wagging away at him again

he pulled the bread down from the ceiling
and ..yep.. a piece was gone
about the size of an egg

he sat ....and he prayed the blessing
and he thought about the bread
something was wrong

what was it?

.finally he smiled to himself
and he knew ...

he realized

all of this bread
just did not belong to him

some of it belong to hannas begging bag

it belonged to the people
who couldn’t wait in line
and the people who had been left out..

it simply had to be shared

and he knew he should be grateful
that he had a ration card..

and he was guaranteed
at least two loaves of bread every week

he really had what he needed

so that night
he slept well
and the next day he went to stand in the bread line
back at the same old bakery


and Hana was hovering around

and as soon as he got his loaf of bread

there she was..... with that smile
and that collection bag

“bread ....bread ..just a piece of bread ?”

this time Chaim tore off two pieces
good sized pieces
about the size of a large egg
two large eggs

she smiled back
and said
may you live long ....and do well.... so you can do more good deeds

Hannah closed her sack and
Chaim went off back home and when he opened the door

he saw that rat with its tail running across the room

but this time that rats tail seemed to be waiving goodbye
and he was not surprised
that he never saw Hannas little helper, the rat, after that

he was not surprised at all.


Well you get message
at least I hope you do.


So..... does God put Hanna on your path ?
or does God send us rats to teach us those things..?

(I’m not going to say that God is like a rat.)

But we can be absolutely clear that God has put things in our life to teach us about sharing
and God does give me Bible lessons to guide my conscience

and God does give us scripture lessons
that teach us about who really owns the bread
God has given us reminders.

This year our stewardship campaign is built on I Corthinians 13:13

and in that section.
.Paul has been teaching the corinthans about what is most important. in the church
.and he pares it down to three things; faith, hope and love

he says
those are the things that really last
when you get right down to it......
and then he says that love becomes the real point of it all...
Eventually everything ends up as love.
but



.we are going to use those themes
as the great gifts for these next three years ..faith hope and love..
and this year
the theme is the great gift of faith.


Faith.is your relationship with gGd..faith is a living trust. Of the heart

.
Faith is not just an idea or a doctrine

Faith is letting God lead us...fromthe inside and out..

.and the stewardship committee said lets tie that in with what the Bible says about giving.
Giving is rooted in faith.

Now when a committee in the church
wants to be Biblical..thats a good thing..isnt it?

But do you know what the Bible says. about money and the wealth and giving?

Do you know what the Bible says about being financially faithful...

And maybe you don’t want to know..

but thats not a small topic..

First of all.
If you want to know what the bible says on this ..especially the Old Testament..
then you have to know about the tithe and tithing...

Now those are words that your not going to hear on Wall street or on TV;
its Bible talk and it means 10% or 1 tenth
' all through the Bible
I could give you verse after verse ..
..(I gave you some of those verses in the church newsletter.. )

. But I tenth is Gods share

That’s the minimum ... there is more beyond that ..
but ten percent belongs to God..

. And if you do the Bible study you find out that God’s share was put into the ‘storehouse..”
1 tenth of the produce,, the crops...the income of the day..

...it became Gods community property... So it was used to feed people
And It was for the Levites

..the Levites were the priestly tribe and the religious class in ancient Israel
....they didn’t get a share of the land to live on

so the tithe was used to support the religious life of the people

(maybe you can see how that would apply today
when we talk about the church budget ...support for the “religious system”)

And the tithe ,,,,,also in the Bible....
is used to care for the poor
and those who didn’t get in on the harvest and so on..
(Support for missions and relief etc.).

But there is another layer of the tithe..
and that is another basic teaching point..of the tithe ..and this is what I really want you to hear..out of this “tithe” message

It teaches you...
as a very practical reminder..when you give 1/10,
you get reminded that you don’t own this stuff
Its not really yours ..
you are just using it,, you are a steward ..a manager..
Because
it all belongs to God.
“The earth is the lords and the fullness there of..”

And it teaches you that God gave you,
in one way or another,. everythign you have.
..
God is the source of everything..

God is the giver
and we are called to see the tithe
as a way of saying thanks....

(.and jump now to the Gospel lesson with the ten lepers..isn’t Jesus saying that giving thanks is a core.. faithful response..note that one out of ten..a tithe...said thanks!
-----------------
Now all o f that is that probably more than you can absorb,maybe you can get it into your “head” ..as an idea but it’s a lot to get into your heart and your soul.
As part of your life

So Let me take you on the short cut

when the church
with
the guidance of the Bible
and the holy spirit
and the life of Jesus Christ

talks about money
and our spending
and the wealth

all this financial stewardship stuff..

we do it because it is about our faith.

. its about your real life ..deep down
and your relationship with God

If you want to grow in your faith, then you have to ..eventually ...
deal with the grip of money..and the spirit of your giving..
and the role of your possessions in your life!

This is not easy..it might be one of the hardest parts for us as Christians in this country.

But Jesus said ;we cannot have divided loyalties.
He said you cannot serve both God and mammon or wealth
-------------
Henri Nouwen said
_If money touches our relationships with family members
as well as the world beyond our home,
it also reaches into our inner life.”

How does money reach into your inner life?

That the most improtant of this conversation this morning!!!!

The New testament says that money is something that can tempt us
and control us
and make us greedy
or stingy ..or resentful (James says it’s the cause of wars!)
or it make us worried. Or it gives us a false sense of security
or somehow it becomes a spiritual danger.. Money is a spiritual issue..
It gets inside of us!

In fact
that warning about money and possession
is found in just about every major religious tradition of the world..
Buddhist, Islam,, Native American , Jewish Christian, Hindu..its all there.

Why do you think that is?

Do you think there is some real wisdom in that warning?

So we have to ask; every day I suppose ..at least every Sunday when the offering plate comes around;is my financial business in the spiritual relationship that it needs to be?


The Christian tradition is here to help you do that..at least to hear the call; by asking you to give.....and to grow a faithful and generous spirit in you.

That is our calling...to form your spiritual life....to shape your spirit according to Jesus Christ

In a sense,
we are the ‘Hanas” in your life

the Bible is like Hanna.
.the offering envelope is like Hanna..
The church is like Hanna

And I know it is something...that sometimes,
we don’t want to deal with

So we go to a different bakery ,..we go to a different church..
We skip that Sunday.... or we just ignore the topic.

I don’t want to say we are a the rat that nibbles away at your bread..

But .you get the point

If I didn’t bother you ( Am I bothering you?)
or remind you..as a pastor...
In the name of Christ.

.I would not be faithful to God

I would not be presenting the Bible to you..
And if you don’t like
or agree with what I say

that oks...I struggle with it too....this is not easy...its a life long process..

But then..
go tell God
go argue
with the Bible..go do the soul searching .
Look at your “inside” spiritual stuff...

because ultimately its not coming from me.

And its not the finance committee..

I believe it is about the faith,
This is about what God wants you to do..
As part of the Christian faith

And I also believe that God wants to do more with this church

with this ministry
with you..
God has bigger plans for this Park United Methodist church

something has been happening here
and will happen even more..
Whenever we get faithful.. Faithful things happen..

Until then,tell me if you are avoiding Hanna
and if you have been noticing any rats.
. Nibbling away in your heart
or in life.

I look forward to the great gift of faith..
as big as an egg..
or maybe just the size of a mustard seed.

The story is adapted from Megan MeKenna, Blessings and Woes. P, 60 Orbis Books 1999
she also cites As Big as an Egg by Rochel Sandman*