Sermon (June 9) "You Give a Little Love"

 

     Some commercials are pretty creative.  I remember an animated Coke commercial which had a man driving through a city and he parked his car. He then got out of his car, walked into a store, bought a bottle of coke and drank some of it.

     He left the store, and proceeded to go down the street helping anyone he could help.  First he gave someone a free bottle of coke, then he gave a homeless man some money, he saw a fire in a can and put it out, he opened a car door for someone, he stopped a thief from robbing an elderly woman, he turned a negative religious sign into a positive message, and before too long, the entire city was walking along with him and singing.

     All through the commercial, you hear the words, “You give a little love and it all comes back to you.”

     And of course, at the very end of the commercial, they show you a close-up of a billboard on top of a building advertising Coca-Cola.

     Let’s watch the commercial.

 

     I loved this commercial so much that I decided to see if Coca-Cola could do the same thing right here in Lancaster, Ohio. I wanted to see if this famous soft drink would start a chain reaction of people helping others. And I wanted to know if the 38,000 people of Lancaster would end up following me down the center of town.

 

     Since this was a very challenging experiment, I didn’t want to do it alone. I asked Karen Taskey, Garrett Warner and Kyle Graf, members of our church to join me. We began with prayer inviting God to help us be a blessing to others.

     After the prayer, we all went to a grocery store here in town bought several bottles of coca-cola for ourselves and to give away to others.

     All three of us drank some of it just like the guy in the commercial.

     As you can see by the looks on the faces of the people near us, we didn’t get the reaction we were hoping for…It was nothing like the commercial!

     But that was just the beginning of our grand experiment. The four of us learned three very important lessons that day.

     The first thing we learned is that it’s not a good idea to drink a carbonated beverage too quickly especially when you’re walking for several hours in 90 degree heat.

     A second thing we learned is that helping people just by doing little things can mean more than we will probably ever know.  The first nice thing we did that day was give a bottle of coca-cola to Sarah Cline, a church member who happened to be leaving the grocery store as we were getting started.

     We were hoping that she would immediately open the bottle and start guzzling the cool and refreshing beverage just like we had done. After she thanked us for the nice gift, she said, “I’ll give this to my husband, Russ. He might drink it.

     We had to regroup. Was this Coca-Cola experiment really going to work? Would we be brave enough to still give this thing a try? That’s when Kyle got a great idea. He said, “Since it’s a hot day, maybe we should hand out bottles of water as an option.” So Kyle went back into the grocery store and bought a huge carton of water bottles and carried it on his shoulder the rest of the day.

 

     Here’s a picture of where I gave this hard working man an option. He had the choice of a cold bottle of coca-cola or a cold bottle of water. With sweat dripping down his forehead, he chose the water. He thanked me for doing such a nice thing for him, especially on a hot and humid day.

     OK, now we were on a roll.

     Karen spotted an elderly lady who had just finished putting her groceries in the trunk of her car. She offered to take this nice lady’s grocery cart to a corral for her. She was very grateful for this nice gesture.

     Now, things were picking up. We then decided to go to Rising Park, thinking that we might be able to do nice things for people there. Wow, there were all kinds of opportunities.

     As the day got hotter, the beverage of choice for people was good old fashioned water and not a bottle of sugar filled corn syrup. Who would have thought?

     It didn’t matter if you were enjoying a day by the pond.

      Or fishing.

     Or relaxing on a bench.

     Or playing with your children on the playground.

     Or taking a walk in the park.

     Just these simple gestures of kindness made an impression on everyone. People thanked us. They smiled. And one person said, “I wish more churches would do nice things like this in the community.”

     And there was no surprise which drink this Division of Water employee wanted that day. He chose the bottle of water! Of course!

     By this time, all four of us were having a great time. We felt good that we were making a difference just by doing little acts of kindness by offering people a drink. The only problem was we still hadn’t formed a parade of people like in the Coca-Cola commercial.

     But that’s when we came across this nice group of people who were having a picnic in the park. And look what happened. They formed a parade.

     After the park, we stopped by our church where we knew people in our church were serving one of our weekday lunches for people in need.

     Our church serves lunches every week on Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday. There were a lot of people at the lunch that day and we were glad to help.

     This is where we experienced another little parade. Some people at the lunch wanted to be part of our fun day of making a difference.



     The last thing that we learned from this little Coca-Cola experiment was this.  It’s not the soft drink that makes a difference in people’s lives.  It’s the love that we offer people that counts, a love that comes from God.

     I notice that the prophet Elijah didn’t have a coke bottle in his hand when he did a kind thing for a struggling widow who was finding it hard to make ends meet.  Living during a time of a severe drought, all she had left were a few ingredients to make a biscuit.  And with that one last biscuit, she would try to make a meal out of it, perhaps their last meal as a family.

     But by reaching out to this family in need, Elijah was able to share with her that God would be able to make those last few ingredients last until the drought was over.  To this woman’s credit, she trusted in what Elijah told her to do and that little food she offered to Elijah and to God never ran out.

     But that’s not the end of this story.  After some time, this widow’s son becomes ill and dies.  Elijah offers prayers to God, stretches over this boy three times and her child came back to life.  And because of this, this widow knew that Elijah was truly sent from God.

     Just at the right time, this woman was reminded that God was with her.

     I think of our own community and single parents who are trying to make ends meet.  With bills to pay, and trying to keep a steady job, when would you ever have time for yourself?  And what if you don’t have any extended family to help?

     I remember reading about a single mother here in Ohio.  Her name is Rachel, a single mother of two children who was homeless.  She suffers with epilepsy.  She had lost her apartment and had nowhere else to turn.  As a last resort, she stayed at a homeless shelter.

     During her stay, counseling sessions revealed Rachel’s wonderful gift of writing poetry.  After her 60-day stay at the homeless shelter, she was able to turn her life around and move into her own apartment.  She published her first book of poetry.

     Here is one of her poems.  This one is called “Earth Angels.”

     “You hear people talking about seeing guardian Angels everywhere you turn today.  I don’t know if they exist of not.  I am sure that one day I will have the answer to that question.”

     “But I am sure of one kind of Angel that goes unnoticed.  That is the kind of Angel that lends a helping hand to those in need and does not think to look down upon them.  But strives to lift them to higher firmer ground.  Or the ones who drop a kindly word to help ease the ache of sorrows dark.”

     “Then there are those who will stand strong and sure against life’s stormy seas.  For those of us that can not withstand its rushing waves.”

     “These kinds of Angels do have wings and they are heavenly beings.  They are mortal flesh and blood.  But still they give of themselves to me.  These are true earth angels.”

     “Thank you from our hearts.”

     It’s amazing what even a little love can do.

     The Psalmist cries out, “Happy are those whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is in the Lord their God, who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps faith forever; who executes justice for the oppressed; who gives food to the hungry.   The Lord watches over the strangers; he upholds the orphan and the widow.”

     Hundreds of years after this story of Elijah, the widow and the little boy, a funeral procession makes its way down a dusty road in Galilee.  A widow’s only son has died.  She walks slowly behind the coffin and as they make their way toward the family burial plot just outside of town, a stranger approaches the procession and has great compassion for her. 

     He then does the unthinkable.  He breaks social and religious custom by touching the coffin which would have been considered unclean.  And if that wasn’t enough, he then tells this young man in the coffin to rise.  To everyone’s amazement, he does!  Jesus brought this widow’s son back to life.

     Everyone begins to glorify God and the word about Jesus begins to spread all over the surrounding country. 

     We can’t but wonder, if by recording this story of Jesus healing this widow’s son, Luke might be giving us a foretaste of what is to come.

     Toward the end of his Gospel, Jesus’ himself will be carried off to a burial place just outside of Jerusalem.  His widowed mother’s only son. 

     He will be placed in a tomb.  On the third day he will rise to new life and will be given a new body.  A resurrected body.

     The stories of these two widows, the one from the Book of I Kings and the one from the Gospel of Luke, show us of God’s care and concern for all people, and especially for those who are the most vulnerable in our society.  In the midst of heartache and despair, God reaches into our lives and offers us more than enough hope, love, and new life.

     Penny and I ate out for dinner one evening.  We talked about how our days went, enjoyed our meals, and went to the cashier to pay the bill.  We’re about ready to go out the door when Penny says, “Hold on.” 

     I stand at the door thinking that she forgot something.  When she comes back, I notice that she now has this great big smile on her face.  Out of curiosity, I ask her if everything was OK.  She tells me, “Everything’s fine.  I bought some candy for the children who were at the one table near us.  Weren’t they adorable?” she asks me.

     I nod my head in agreement, not wanting to admit to her that I never even noticed them.   And then Penny tells me, “Well, I told the mother that her children were adorable and thought they would enjoy some candy.  And she thanked me.”

     As we left the restaurant, I could swear that I heard someone singing, “You give a little love and it all comes back to you.”