All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.

Because I live in New Jersey, and always have, I am connected to many folks of the Italian Catholic tradition. It is almost inevitable, especially for those of us from the northern part of the state, that our neighbors, friends, classmates and relatives are the people whom you see when you watch the movies and TV shows about the mob.

And when our Italian Catholic neighbors, friends, classmates and relatives die, the trips to the funeral home often include navigating your way past the criers, the elderly ladies clad in black who sit in a line, nodding and sobbing with an occasionally wail.

I have been to many funerals with the criers.

And it is that sort of picture that I carry when I read this story of Peter coming to the house of Tabitha, Dorcas in Greek.

All of the widows gathered together and provided the backdrop of mourning for this woman of Joppa.

And part of the mourning was a recognition of her legacy, an acknowledgement of what she did with her life.

Tabitha/Dorcas was, as Luke tells us devoted to good works and acts of charity, and so the recipients of those good works showed them, they held their clothes out as evidence of who she had been in her life, much as we will assemble a picture display of a loved one.

And here’s perhaps just a sidelight, but maybe more, Luke – who writes more positively about women and their role in Christ’s life and mission that any other Biblical author – uses a word to describe this woman that is applied to no other person in the New Testament: it is the Greek word “mathetria” the feminine form of “disciple”.

No other woman is ever called that.

I’m not sure I want to speculate too much on why that is, that’s probably the stuff of another sermon, but I am sure that I want to linger a bit on Tabitha’s life and see what it is that caused Luke to call her a disciple.

It is clear in the story that Tabitha cared for the widows of the community of Joppa.

It is interesting that the Bible is so full – Old and New Testaments – of strongly worded admonitions to care for widows, to provide them with justice and kindness, I can only conclude, by the frequency of these urgings that people weren’t always listening to God, the Holy Work wasn’t getting done.

It is the same reason that we are so often urged to care for the hungry and homeless, the Holy Work isn’t getting done, the need is so much greater than our response has ever been. That’s why Tom comes to us, to remind us that in our affluence we need to look after the poor, to remind us in the comfort of our homes we have an obligation to those who have no place to lay their heads and to remind us that he is an extension of us providing food and shelter to those in need.

When people wanted to remind each other of the value of Tabitha they showed the tangible reality, they showed her Holy Work, they showed each other the clothes she had made for them.

When we want to remind each other of Tom between his visits, we show each other the penny jar, with the reminder that we need to get it filled.

It was her legacy to be remembered as the lady who did Holy Work with a needle and thread.

It will be Tom’s legacy to be remembered – as one of the children did a while back – as the Penny Man, the man who does Holy Work with our loose change.

All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them. In our Reformed tradition one of our foundational principles is the sole supremacy of grace. “By grace alone we are saved” was the great slogan of the reformation movement, in opposition to what was then a strong Catholic reliance upon our works as the source of our salvation.

However, and no I’m not going to contradict Martin Luther or John Calvin here, but however we need to acknowledge that grace inevitably shows itself in works or it is not God’s grace at all. We can’t say “we believe in God and we are saved by Christ” and not have it noticeable in the ways in which we treat others, in our worship life, in our giving, in our prayers and in our willingness to do what we can, as well as we can, for those in need.

It is just not possible.

It is the old question “Can I be a Christian and not be a part of the Church?” and no one likes to hear or say the answer because it sounds so harsh, but the answer is clearly and unarguably “no, you cannot be a Christian and not be a part of the Church.” You can be a good person, we all know and love some really good people who are not part of the Church, but that’s good-person-anity, not Christianity.

Christianity is a commitment to and a relationship with God through Jesus Christ and when you make that commitment and you enter into that relationship you will, inevitably, sooner or later, discover you can only express it and nourish it through the surrender of your individual wants and desires to the wants and desires of God for the world and for your life.

And when you make that commitment and when you enter into that relationship you will find the need and desire to feed it with worship and with service and with relationships, and that is what the Church and only the Church can provide.

So Tabitha/Dorcas found meaning and purpose through looking after the widows of Joppa, that was the Holy Work of her life. And Tom and our other mission partners allow us to find meaning and purpose through pennies, and other gifts, that become the Holy Work of our life together.

And in our New Testament lesson Jesus pointed his listeners toward his Holy Work as proof of who he was. He has just given sight to a blind man, forgiveness to an adulterous woman who was to be stoned to death, and had turned five loaves and two fish into a banquet for 5000.

His Holy Work had broader dimensions than Tabitha’s care of the forgotten widows of Joppa, broader even than Tom’s work with the forgotten families of Central Jersey, broader even than all the wonders that we have done and all those which still lie ahead as Christ’s Church in Clover Hill.

But just as the clothes and the pennies are clues to the identity of Tabitha and Tom, so these actions of Jesus are clues to his identity and directions toward the things that he would do with and through us today.

The feeding of the 5000 depended upon the willingness of a young boy to share his loaves and fish with 4,999 other people.

And you and I know that we have children here who would do the same thing in a heartbeat, children and teens who are willing to share the little that they have with others, freely and cheerfully.

And that feels good to know that it is true.

The question that doesn’t feel so good is this: Do we have adults here who are willing to share the much that they have with others, freely and cheerfully?

What miracles have been deferred because of our unwillingness to share?

What will Christ do when we open our wallets and checkbooks to his use?

What works can be shown by our generosity?

And what about the work of forgiveness?

The forgiveness of the adulterous woman came after Jesus had challenged all of those who were so critical of her to examine their own lives and if they found themselves sinless, have at her.

Don’t we have rocks in our hands – or in our vocabulary – as we criticize others?

And haven’t we all stood, humiliated, as that woman was, and seeking forgiveness?

And haven’t we all known the forgiving miracle of having our accusers drop their rocks?

And haven’t we all known the healing miracle of dropping our own rocks?

What miracles will Christ do with us as we replace our accusations with affirmations and replace hands clenched around rocks for arms open with affection and acceptance?

What works can be shown by our generosity and our forgiveness?

And what about the work of vision?

The blind man received his vision when Jesus saw, in his blindness, the opportunity for God’s glory to be seen.

And what does Jesus see in us?

And are we willing to let him touch us and poke us and command us to do things without explanation?

And will we do them?

Or would we rather continue to resist the touch and the commands and reject the vision?

What will our legacy be?

How will we be remembered?

What are the deeds by which people will identify us?

What is the Holy Work that is before us?

We will find it in the vision that we gain and share.

We will demonstrate it in the forgiveness that we provide and accept.

We will accomplish it in the generosity that we provide.

In all of these things we will do the Holy Work of quietly and gently caring for others, like Tabitha and Tom, and it will be formed in the daily routines and values and priorities of our lives.

All the widows stood beside him, weeping and showing tunics and other clothing that Dorcas had made while she was with them.