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From The Pastor:
Pastor Michaele Wood
A Word On Stewardship
When I was a child one of my favorite stories was “The Little Red Hen” by Mary Mapes Dodge, an American fable first published in 1874. My Aunt Ella, a saintly woman herself, first read it to me when I was four.
The story was designed to teach children the value and reward of hard work and planning. The story has four characters: a pig, a cow, a dog, and our hero the little red hen.
The story begins with the hen finding a grain of wheat and, deciding to plant it in her garden, she asks the other animals to help. “Who will help me plant the wheat?” “Not I,” responds each animal in turn as they go back to lounging in the warm summer sun. This continues through each step of tending the garden, harvesting the wheat, taking it to the mill to be ground into flour, and eventually, baking the bread. With each step the little red hen asks the other animals for help only to hear the same chorus over and over. “Who will help me?” “Not I,” said the cow, the pig, and the dog.
Finally, when the bread is done baking and the smell fills the air, the little red hen asks, “Who will help me eat this fine bread? This time the chorus is quick to respond, “I will,” said the pig. “ “I will,” said the dog.” “I will,” said the cow.” “No, you will not!” said Little Red Hen. At first, I thought my sainted aunt had fallen from grace. The Little Red Hen did not share? What kind of story is this? At four years old I was seeing things a little differently. It wasn’t till a little later that I began to understand that people were created to be about some kind of work. Work itself is an extension of the creation process which began with God’s creative nature and continues in our own.
The lessons in the story are hard to forget. It seems to be more than just a children’s story to be tucked away and forgotten. There is work to be done even if you do not see the successful product immediately. You are faced with the choice of working according to your ability or taking your leisure in the warm sunshine, wasting your time and ability for your own comfort.
Time and again, The Little Red Hen asked the animals to participate in the work and they refused. Time and again, God asks us to be about furthering God’s kingdom in the world. Time and again we are given the opportunity to demonstrate God’s concern for each other. Time and again we are reminded that God will see the work through to the end and share the finished product (eternal life) with those who are faithful. However, if you do not help with the work, how can you expect to share in the victorious result of the mission? What is that work, that mission? Will you give your best to the mission of Christ?
Matthew 28:19-20 tells us, “Go therefore and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, even to the end of the age."
Amen.
Who will help me bring in the kingdom?
And all God’s people said, “I will.”
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