So what about widows?

The biblical position on widows does not come up with specific solutions for those who are modern day widows because the culture of the day is so different. And yet, the theological perspective seems clear that widows are on God’s radar. His love and care goes beyond family and making sure they have enough to eat. Further, He hates those any person or system that sinfully ignores or takes advantage of others. The bible says that He is a Father to the fatherless and a protector of the widow, the marginalized and the destitute.  The law is a gift of a moral code that Both theIt seems that many of the people who I have read write about the church’s responsibility toward widows are trying to defend the lack of care and push off the responsibility to a handful of older women who have no family to provide for them. They qualify and marginalize their responsibility in a somewhat pharisaical manner. In biblical times widows had no means of supporting or protecting themselves and they were vulnerable and often lived at the poverty level.

I do not like being a widow. I like being independent. I do not even know how to play the “widow card”. I am fairly certain that it is not a discussion that my current church is interested in dealing with. In fact, I think that the general feeling is that widow and grief support groups are enough because that is all that there is. Further, modern churches in suburban areas are not made for single people and the number of issues I have experienced as a younger widow have been hurtful and shameful.

But what do I do with any marginalized group? It seems most of us are taught how to figure it out. Ignorance is … still ignorace! The instruction of Paul is to treat people like family because the church is family. Men are to be treated with the respect of a father, older women with the affection of a mother and younger women with the purity of a sister.