We're not quite sticking the the lectionary over the next six weeks. The OT passages dot about a bit so we're going to take them in chronological order. It means swapping this week with next week and then doing the same with weeks 3 and 4. Just so you know...
1 Kings 17:8-16
Great story but it is one of those where you really need to separate the miracle from the meaning. There are three miracles: jar of food, raising of the dead and some generosity. The faithful know which one is the most important!
We've got a jar of oil and a bag of flour. Both exists in a state of a loaf away from extinction, in other words there is enough for one more meal but after that, there is nothing. Except that's not how generosity seems to work. When generosity is shaped in the lacuna of God then there always seems to be enough for one more loaf, one more act of Table Fellowship, one more feast of blessing.
Is the miracle that the jars never run out, or that the generosity never runs out, no matter how close to extinction you come? That's the faith questions. the miracle is easy. It's out our hands. It's God's gift and for those who hunger in Africa or find themselves increasingly visiting food banks here in Scotland then it is a non-question. For those same people, however, the generosity question is the significant one: can we be generous with our very survival? Can we be generous with the very last of what we have? It's a big questions to the West. It's a big questions to us all.
Of course the real miracle is that some are generous with the very last of what they have, and are willing to give away their final crumbs of hope. How can we get to that stage in our faith?
Any hymns that speak into that, or music? What about a creative way of telling the story?
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