Cooking with God

1 Kings 17:8-16

In an attempt to be at least a half decent spouse to my wonderful bride Nancy; as often as possible, but not as frequently as I’m sure she would like, I try to cook dinner for the family on Wednesdays and Saturdays.   Having a somewhat creative bent to my personality, I tend to stay away from the tried and true meals and recipes and find myself checking out websites and other sources for new and interesting ideas.

One of the places that I frequently run across new ideas is on the Today Show.  For in addition to the news and weather that Nancy and I traditionally tune in to catch each morning, Today is increasingly adding other topics and segments like cooking to the mix of their weekday broadcast. 

They feature world famous chefs and everyday people.  They utilize exotic cuisine and down home cooking.  They emphasize cooking for one, as well as offering tips on how to best prepare for a huge dinner party.  And more often than not, the information they share is helpful and inspiring.  However, every once in a while there is a little something that drives me absolutely crazy.  And that little something is called “The Secret ingredient.”

You know what I’m talking about, don’t you?  Al or Matt or Meredith are plugging right along with Emeril or Giada or whomever.  They are chopping the vegetables, heating the oil, adding a dash of salt and pepper and and ¼ teaspoon of parsley, and one clove of garlic, and all the while I’m anxiously trying to take it all in and write at least some of it down, and then it happens.  Emeril or Giada, or whomever dumps something into the pot and doesn’t tell Al or Matt or Meredith what it is.  “What was that?”  they’ll say.  And Emeril will reply, “That?  Oh, that’s my…..”SECRET INGREDIENT!”

Doesn’t that just drive you crazy? The problem is that more often than not, it’s this secret ingredient that gives these dishes their spectacular flavor, yet we’ll never be able to reproduce the recipe because these people protect their secret ingredients as if they are a matter of national security and there is nothing on God’s green earth that you can do or say to get it out of them and it makes me absolutely crazy!!!

While this morning’s scripture lesson might not help you or I prepare a satisfying meal for our family this week, it does contain a valuable recipe which features a secret ingredient that makes all the difference in it’s success.

In our story from I Kings, God calls to Elijah, one of his all time great prophets, and sends him on a mission to a foreign land called Zarephath.  Knowing that Elijah would be anxious about how he will survive in this foreign land, God informs Elijah that he is to go to the home of an unnamed widow, who God promises, will feed him.   Well, imagine Elijah’s surprise when he meets this gal and asks her for a little bit of bread, only to be told that she has but a tiny bit of meal and oil and that she plans to take that little bit, bake it into a modest bread for she and her son to eat and then they will lay down and die.   Not exactly the warm welcome and hearty providence that Elijah was expecting, I’m sure.

But as it turns out, Elijah eventually convinced the gal to share her bread with him, (giving him the first piece, by the way) and then there was more than enough for she, her son and Elijah to eat for many days.  While it might seem on first glance that what we have here is a recipe for some sort of magic bread, what we really find in this fantastic piece of scripture is a formula for God’s design for life and ministry.

Here’s the point.  Elijah was an essential piece of God’s plan for bringing his message of love and grace into the world.  He was a central figure in the reuniting of the fractured people of Israel.  His commanding defeat of the worshippers of Baal won great respect and many followers for God.  His end was even more awe inspiring than his career, as instead of merely dying, the scripture tells us that he was transported into heaven in a fiery chariot.  So great was Elijah’s influence, that many in New Testament times thought that first John the Baptist, and then Jesus himself was Elijah come back to earth to continue God’s ministry and teaching.  It’s easy to see that without the prophetic ministry of Elijah, the world, let alone our Christian faith would be very different.

And it was to this poor unnamed widow that God entrusted the care and nurture of this essential piece of His future plan for the world.  But there was a problem with this plan.  For despite God’s call to, and belief in the widow, she didn’t believe in herself.  She was a widow, a person without means living in a barren land that was in the middle of a horrific drought.  And so when this strange prophet came to her and asked that she bring him a morsel of bread, all that she could see was her poverty.  She didn’t believe that she had what it would take to keep this man or his ministry alive.  In her eyes all she had was a little oil and a handful of meal, barely enough to make a painfully modest last supper for herself and her son before they starved to death.

But you see, she was missing something.  Like Emeril, Giada and all the rest of those talented cooks on TV, there was a secret ingredient, a magical something that once discovered and placed into her recipe would enable her to achieve her dreams and so much more.  And that secret ingredient was faith.

She saw only her poverty.  She didn’t think that she had enough for herself and her family, much less the support of God’s ministry.  However, once Elijah convinced her to have faith, once he enabled her to see that God would never let her down if she followed his will, once she took the little bit that she had and gave it to God in sacrificial care of Elijah, then she discovered that she had far more than she needed for many days to come.

And it’s much the same for you and me today.  Like God sending Elijah to that widow for safekeeping, so has God given us the blessed responsibility to take care of and to support the ministry of this wonderful little church.  But the problem is that like that widow, far to often we become so blinded by our own needs that we fail to support God’s ministry to the degree that we have been called to.

I’ve said it many times before, but it bears repeating.  God has called each and every one of us to return 10% of the income with which he has blessed us to the support of his kingdom on earth.  In the Old Testament it is referred to as a tithe, a standard, a fair measure that is equal to each and every person.  And I’ll tell you right now, if every single person sitting here this morning were willing to take the step of faith that was taken by the widow in this morning’s scripture lesson, if each and every one of us did what God has asked us to do, if each and every one of us were to fully and faithfully support God’s ministry here in Quaker Hill there would be no measuring the difference that we could make in our community and our world with the love of God.

And that’s what it looks like when you cook with God.  God gives us more than adequate supplies, and ingredients.  God give us this day our daily bread and at the very least a little bit more that we are able to share with God and others.  But most importantly, God also gives us the secret ingredient, faith.  And when we combine this powerful faith with the material blessings that God has given us, no matter how meager we might perceive them to be, we have world changing power at our fingertips. 

Think about it.  When you put your tithe or offering in the plate on a Sunday morning, you feed the hungry, you clothe the naked, you shelter the homeless.  When you put your faith into action and give of your best to the master in the gift of your weekly offering, you change lives with the love and grace of Christ in Christian Education and outreach.  When you cook with God, when you have the faith to put your money where your mouth is, like that widow who gave her last meal to Elijah, your faith and generosity will unleash a riot of peace, love, and grace on this planet.

One week from today, each one of us will have the privilege of coming forward to offer our financial pledge for the year 2008.  In the next day or so you should be receiving a letter from me in the mail along with a card on which to record your pledge.  If you don’t, contact the office and we’ll see that you get one.  And as you sit down this week to consider what you will give, I ask you to remember the call of God, and the response of that poor, but faithful widow.  May we be found as faithful.  May we be so willing to cook with God.
Amen