i'll get a blessin wi' the lave

I see the movement in my peripheral view.  It’s in the middle of the sermon on the ninth plague of darkness, and I am only just quick enough to see the deep black of his eye down near my feet before he is gone. A mouse.

Caught him in action!

An hour later, as we meet in the kitchen for the women’s Sunday School class, it isn’t a movement but a noise that draws my attention.  I can’t keep my eyes on Lil as she recites the Bible verses she memorized this week; the quiet rustling somewhere under the sink draws my gaze.  I'm quickly rewarded.  First one, then another mouse darts out from a hole in the floor and over to the corner of the room.  More rustling, and they eagerly circle the ring of the trash can, intelligent creatures that they are, diving down in for an irresistible haul.

Church mice.  I’d only read of them in books; quaint little things.  And now, here they are, in real life.  I can’t help but think of Robert Burn’s response as he surprised a mouse in a different place and a different time:

-          From To a Mouse by Robert Burns (one verse and its translation from the Scots)

They may steal, but it's waste after all, and a bit of left over food isn't much to ask; we’ll be blessed with what is left, and never miss it.

I can't help but think of other shareable food in the church.  Lavish feasts of the Word of God, nutritious teaching, healthy doses of wise counsel. So many fellow-Christians in developing lands - believers with no access to God’s Word in their own language, pastors with no seminary training, teachers who have no teaching – are hungry to know more of the Word, more of Christ, more of the truth.  

Have we in the church of the West any left overs to share?  Some of you have shared excellent books, others Sunday School materials, and others gifts to make His Word known. Still others have shared in ways that only God knows about.  Thank you for sharing.   

May we ever be open-handed with the spiritual riches entrusted to us as a nation.  I think we’ll be blessed with all that’s left, and never miss what we’ve shared of our great wealth of spiritual resources.   

Yet what we share might mean all the difference in the world to hearts hungry for God’s Word.

...they received the Word with all eagerness, 

examining the Scriptures daily to see if these things were so.

Acts 17:11b