Canary-in-a-coal-mine. Something whose sensitivity to adverse conditions makes it a useful early indicator of such conditions; something which warns of the coming of greater danger or trouble by a deterioration in its health or welfare.
Miners in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries had a clever solution for an invisible problem. The problem was how to detect the presence of deadly carbon monoxide in their mines before it killed them. Their solution: taking canaries into the mines with them.
Because canaries are more frail and have a faster metabolism than humans, resulting in them succumbing to CO sooner than we do, a dead canary in a coal mine was the perfect warning that nearby miners had to evacuate immediately.
Treatment of Widows is Our Moral Canary in a Coal Mine
Did you know that humanity has a moral equivalent to a canary-in-a-coal mine? It’s how we treat widows (and others, such as widowers, the disabled, etc.).
Widows are more vulnerable, and thus more sensitive, to moral decline in any social structure, be that a family, a church, or even an entire culture. Therefore, widows who struggle in these various structures because they have been neglected serve as an early indicator of a coming greater danger: the total collapse of moral values in those structures.
Treatment of Widows Measures the Moral Health of a Family
Healthy families are built on love, commitment and sacrifice. Modeled by the mother and father, a healthy family values each member, not for what they contribute to the family, but for who they are; that is, for their intrinsic value as human beings created in the image of God. Thus, a healthy family will do whatever is necessary to guarantee the well being of its widows.
The health of a family begins to deteriorate, however, when selfishness creeps in and weakens the commitment on the part of the entire family to make the sacrifices necessary to care for its older members. A neglected widow sitting alone in a nursing home foreshadows further moral decline in her family.
Treatment of Widows Measures the Moral Health of a Church
Go into any church and observe how it treats its widows. What you will learn by doing so is how well that church understands and practices the love of Christ.
My wife and I appreciate how our church cares so lovingly for its widows. For years, our former pastor held a Bible study every Wednesday at noon at a local nursing home. And when I proposed doing a men’s team ministry for their widowed and single parents in the church, he welcomed it with open arms.
This was a true barometer that the church is healthy and thriving and full of love.
Treatment of Widows Measures the Moral Health of a Culture
As I write this post, America and the world are going through a terrible pandemic. COVID-19 has dramatically affected every area of life, shutting down our entire economy. The economic cost has been dramatic and extensive, putting pressure on our leaders to open it back up quickly, perhaps too quickly.
On the other hand, the pandemic is disproportionately affecting minorities and the elderly, especially nursing home residents. The result is a Faustian dilemma of having to choose between the lives of our mostly older and minority citizens and the livelihoods of our mostly younger citizens.
Our leaders need our prayers. I’m glad I’m not in their position. But how they respond to this situation will tell us a lot about how much they value widows.
This post first appeared in NewCommandment.org.
For an overview of what a church ministry to widows can look like, check out “A Comprehensive Church-Based Widows Ministry“.
Since 2003 New Commandment Men’s Ministries has helped hundreds of churches throughout North American and around the world recruit teams of men who permanently adopt their widowed and single parents in their congregations for the purpose of donating two hours of service to them one Saturday morning each month. We accomplish this with a free online membership training site called “Meeting to Meet Needs.”
Learn how to mobilize your men’s ministry to meet every pressing need in your church here.
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Learn how to form teams of men for every widow, single mom
and fatherless child in your church at NewCommandment.org.
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