Small Hands: Big Blessings
| Greetings Resurrection Family, I’ve been a proud member of Resurrection MCC since October of 2024. Before that, I was a guest preacher in June of 2024. I was so impressed by the generous spirit and hospitality of this congregation that my partner Drew and I packed up our cat and everything we owned and made the long journey to Houston, which has now become our home. Your warm welcome and kindness were and continue to be so significant in our lives, and they painta perfect picture of the generous spirit I want to talk about today. I’ve been active in churches since high school, and have often heard the tried- and- true story of the poor widow who donated her very last coin. Honestly, it is my least favorite scripture for offertory messages. The story of the widow giving it all is often discussed as an example of a desired or even expected behavior. In a world where many of us are working well into retirement age, or working multiple jobs, even time and talent can be difficult to give consistently. I’d like to present an alternative scripture to encourage you to be generous. It can be found in Matthew 14:17-19. I’m sure this story will be familiar to most of us, but let’s try to look at it through the lens of generosity. “We have here only five loaves of bread and two fish,” the disciples answered. “Bring them here to me,” Jesus said. And he directed the people to sit down on the grass. Taking the five loaves and the two fish and looking up to heaven, he gave thanks and broke the loaves. Then he gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the people. This scripture describes the needs of a community, much like our church and Houston at large, who are hungry spiritually and physically; who are stretched thin, like five loaves split among 5,000. But notice that Jesus didn’t ask for the disciples themselves to appropriate more food out of thin air. On the contrary, Jesus accepted what they could give, and turned it into enough. The takeaway for me is to not be discouraged by however small my contributions to our community may seem. Generosity isn’t about how much we give, but what God can do with it. Generosity is less about what we do and more about what God does. As a millennial in the workforce, I’m encouraged to give through faith. Remember: God wants us to give what we can, not what we can’t. When you release the expectation of being able to give enough, you’ll be surprised at how far your faith-filled generosity can go. God is more than able to take our offerings and multiply them for our wellbeing and God’s glory. Peace and blessings, |
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| Liam Gabriel MCC L.E.A.D Graduate NextGen Ministry Lead Children’s Ministry Assistant |