We now enter that long stretch of the Season after Pentecost. For this Sunday, the lectionary includes 1 Kings 17:8-16, (17-24); Psalm 146, Galatians 1:11-24 and Luke 7:11-17. An alternate passage is Psalm 30.
1 Kings 17:11-12 – As [the widow] was going to bring [the drink of water], [Elijah] called to her and said, “Bring me a morsel of bread in your hand.” But she said, “As the LORD your God lives, I have nothing baked, only a handful of meal in a jar, and a little oil in a jug; I am now gathering a couple of sticks, so that I may go home and prepare it for myself and my son, that we may eat and die.”
We run into a number of people throughout the course of a day. Some, like the widow Elijah meets, may have lost all hope. My prayer today is that we will be able to discern those among us who are like the widow, so we can be most helpful to them.
Prayer: Gracious God, help us be instillers of hope in all those who come before us this day. AMEN.