LISTSERV 16.0 - HUNGERSERMONSTARTERS Archives

The lessons for each Sunday in the church year proclaim God’s grace in Jesus Christ. Also derived from a Sunday’s texts are lessons for the Christ-inspired and Christ-like life of God’s people. The comments here will help you find hunger-related threads –sermon starters – among the themes of this day’s texts. (We're presuming you have already done your exegetical work on the texts.) God bless your proclamation (and teaching) of what is most certainly true!

The widow has a number of things against her. First, and most obvious, is the fact that she is a widow, which already places her on the margins of society. She also has a son who is dependent on her, so it is likely that she has been impacted most severely by the drought in the land. Given these circumstances, Elijah’s request sounds insensible. She refuses at first. Who knows what part of Elijah’s request convinces her, but she eventually concedes. Maybe she felt she didn’t have anything to lose, but whatever hesitation or fear she had initially is starting to crumble. Both this story and that the one that follows (when the widow’s son is restored to life) show God’s spirit at work in the most desperate of circumstances. Knowing the spirit is working here, how can the people of God better witness to God’s saving power?

Galatians 1:11–24
Paul is giving an autobiographical account of how he came to be doing this work as an apostle. His reference to the gospel he received and has been preaching is used to bolster his argument for his authenticity and reliability. Similarly, when we spread the gospel and work in Christ’s name on behalf of the poor and hungry, we have the ability to recall our collective Christian narrative and say this is why we are doing this work. Making these connections between work and belief helps us understand both a bit better.

Luke 7:11–17
Like the 1 Kings reading, the gospel text for today features a young man rising from the dead. If we witness to the gospel’s power, perhaps we should look for something to say about the physical power or difference this makes as well. And this should lead us into the type of work that responds to the physical needs and circumstances of those around us. As people of faith doing this work by the spirit, we claim that we are doing this because it matters to God and it is what God calls us to do as well.