Grace Flowing Through Us: Authenticity, Being Real

The Hosanna Choir, the Jubilee Girls Choir, and the New Song Boys Choir will lead us in the call to worship and songs of praise. Their worship and praise reminds us to live lightly and freely in this world as children of God.

So often, we make feeble attempts to show our worthiness before God and others. We are burdened by our own self-interest and want more power, more fame, and more material blessings. We want to be relevant. We are more aligned with the scribes in the story than we want to admit.

Jesus came to show us another way to live. He points to the poor widow. She must carry many burdens, yet she is not burdened by her own self-interest. She has the ability to look beyond her own self-interest; to live lightly and freely in God’s presence. Her life is in God’s hands. The ability to look beyond ourselves offers us freedom to be the people God intends us to be. The widow’s sacrificial giving points ahead to the sacrifice Jesus will soon offer to all of us—a life that is not held tightly, but offered up so that we may have life eternal. It is God’s grace extended to us.