A Penny Saved….
April 25, 2010
“When you give a dinner or a banquet, do not invite your friends or your brothers or your relatives or rich neighbors, lest they also invite you in return and you be repaid. But when you give a feast, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, and you will be blessed, because they cannot repay you. You will be repaid at the resurrection of the just.” Luke 14:12-14
Do you pick up pennies? A survey once asked that question. It found that older people were more likely than “20 - something’s” to pick up pennies. Some would only pick them up if no one was looking. Others couldn’t even be bothered if it was anything less than a dime. I am an avowed “penny picker-upper.” I will almost always stop and pick up pennies; and nickels, dimes and quarters if I find them. It hasn’t made me rich. I’d be surprised if I have found more than $30 in change in the past 10 years. So why do I it? I really don’t know. I could probably come up with something that sounds noble, but I suppose it’s just because a penny is worth something and it’s just being wasted there on the ground.
My mother-in-law Oleta told Leisa and me of a woman who has had a very hard life. Some of the things she shared about her life just make you want to cry. Oleta and this woman were talking about her relationship to God and with His church when she made a remark that really got my attention. Commenting about a church she had visited, she said, “You know those people over there wouldn’t bother to pick up a penny. They are only interested in twenty-dollar bills. They just step right over a penny. And you know, I’m just a penny.” I hate hearing comments like that. I hate to hear that people have such a low opinion of themselves that they believe they are worthless. And I hate to hear that people have such a low opinion of the church that they believe there is no place for them there. Neither is true, even though there might be enough negative experiences to make you think so. My hope and prayer is that this woman will be loved and helped by the church where she is and finally find the peace that only Christ can give.
I have another hope and prayer, and that is that we will be known as a church willing to stop and “pick-up pennies.” There are people all around us who are different than we are. Those differences might be racial, cultural, economical, or political. There might be age differences or gender differences, they could show up simply as the differences in talents a person might or might not possess. There could be countless ways we might be different from one another and could possibly be viewed as a “penny” in our own eyes or in someone else’s. But I hope that it will never be said of us, that we are only interested in twenty-dollar bills.
Father God, open my eyes to see others as you see them. Help me shed my prejudices and recognize the value of each person around me. Thank you so much for coming to this earth and reaching out to pick me up out of my failure and sin. ─ John
John Wheeler ~ Denver, Colorado (JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
John Wheeler is the University Church of Christ congregational minister.