Messy Church: Gratitude & Generosity

I passed out Bibles (Today’s English Version) and a fifth grader opened our time together by reading 2 Corinthians 9:8-12. We connected the idea of showing we are grateful for all that we have by being willing to share with others and that when we help take care of God’s people, that is a way of telling God thank you for taking care of us.

The Jesus story I chose was when the widow offers her two coins in the temple. I prepared several bags with different amounts of play coins and hid them under the chairs. Before telling the story, I had everyone check to see what they had been given and then asked them how much they thought they could share with others and still have enough for themselves. After different ideas were shared and various amounts compared, I asked who they thought was willing to give “the most”.

Then we read the Jesus story from The Peace Table children’s Bible.

At the end of worship we turned to the page of mealtime prayers and a second grader chose a prayer to read before we transitioned to dinner.

Only nine people were there - My family of five + two kitchen volunteers + a mother and her adult daughter with special needs

I had received messages all week from each family that wanted to be there but couldn’t make it. I wondered about canceling. But the mother and daughter had rsvp’d to the Facebook event, and I knew a free meal would mean the world to them.

In the event description I had advertised an optional invitation to bring a contribution to our food drive and collection of personal items to donate.The mother and daughter arrived with donations they purchased at the dollar tree and during our story and conversation the mother shared how they had relied on the support of the food shelf in the past (they had even helped her find a job) and even though she didn’t have a lot to contribute, she wanted to give back to help others who are struggling. And guess what else. She is a single mother. She is also…a widow.

I also found out that next month’s Messy Church will happen within days of the mother’s birthday. I asked her who takes care of her on her birthday and she laughed and said, ”oh I don’t have good birthdays.” So I told her we would have her favorite food and chocolate cake next time and celebrate her birthday.

The nine of us all fit at one table as we ate dinner like a family. At the end there was a full pizza box of leftovers, and I offered it to the mother and daughter. The mother’s eyes lit up and filled with tears, ”really?” The daughter got excited and started talking about how it was so much food they could probably invite their neighbors over,

I prepared the activities and story time, but Jesus showed up in the community and in the hearts of the people.