Click for KRQE News Story

Reporter: Amanda Goodman

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. (KRQE) – Burying a child, especially a baby is heartbreaking. Sometimes so much so that parents cannot bring themselves to do it.  That is when the Metropolitan Community Church of Albuquerque steps in.

“The medical examiner’s office calls us and lets us know that they have a baby and asks us if we’ll take it in and bury it,” said Reverend Judith Maynard of MCC.  The church buries abandoned and unclaimed babies through its ‘littlest angels’ program.

A member named George Rombold felt compelled to the start the program nearly a decade ago after reading a similar program in California.
Since then the congregation has buried about 20 babies in Albuquerque, each time holding a simple memorial and funeral service, attended by church members.

Earlier this week four babies were laid to rest at Sunset Memorial Park.  “That was the most that we’ve done at one time, we’ve done two together, but this was the most we’ve done,” Reverend Maynard said.  Everything is donated for the funerals except for the monuments, that is when the congregation steps up again, donating the $300-$400 needed for the monuments.  “The congregation, even though many of them don’t have children, they’ve embraced these babies as their own they come to the services, they sit there, they weep as if it was their very own,” Maynard said.  Claiming the babies that no one wanted in life by being there for them after their death to make sure they receive a proper farewell.?

In the 12th chapter of Mark the story is told of Jesus watching a widow give her offering. He not only noticed her gift but he commented to the disciples that her gift was the most pleasing to God because she gave out of her poverty.

God measures the value of a gift by sacrifice – not the dollar amount.

Did you every wonder why Jesus drew attention to this woman and her gift? Could it be that he realized how much more powerful a demonstration is than a lecture?

In our day and age, if called upon to donate by your favorite celebrity, most individuals tend to give more to a celebrity endorsed endeavor if you know for a fact that they not only support it with their voice, but with their pocket book.

When Oprah Winfrey opened and funded a school for girls in Africa and Warren Buffett gives the majority of his wealth away to the Gates Foundation, that makes you pay attention. Not necessarily because their cause strikes a cord, but because of their demonstration of personal generosity.

The amount you commit to our stewardship campaign should be a sacrifice for you, bathed in prayer and guided by God’s hand on your heart.

Remember in Numbers 13 when the Israelite spies returned from Canaan and were overwhelmed with the obstacles to God’s promised future?   The obstacles were GIANTS! They were so big that the Israelites felt like grasshoppers.

Corrie Ten Boom, the Dutch Christian woman who survived the Nazi death camps said, Never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God.

Whenever it comes to finding the necessary dollars to fund our churches mission there will be obstacles and fears that can seem overwhelming. Sometimes those obstacles are personal. You may think the church doesn’t need your gift or your gift really won’tmake a difference.  But the truth is, you are needed and your gift, no matter the size, coupled with God’s blessing can deliver an amazing victory.

If we focus on our resources we will feel like grasshoppers, but if we focus instead on God’s resources combined with our obedience, we will indeed be giants.

If we continue to walk in God’s will, focused on God’s truth,  God  will provide the resources and the victory.