August 28, 2011
Pentecost 11
Exodus 3:1-15
Romans 12:9-21
(prayer)
There was this time when Jesus asked his followers a couple of ‘pointed questions’ – I assume that the phrase pointed question refers to one that cuts right to the point, it slices through the fluff and digs right in to the centre of the matter. Pointed Questions can sometimes catch us off guard.
So Jesus dug deep with these:
ÿ Who do people say that I Am? and
ÿ Who do YOU say that I Am?
That was the gospel lesson we focused on last week in church. If you know the story, you know that the rumour mill was willing to go as far as saying Jesus was a mighty prophet. But Simon earned his ‘rocky nickname’ by admitting that he believed that Jesus was the anointed one of God – the Messiah, the Christ!
In that story, Jesus’ identity was questioned. Today, we heard that Jesus was right in line with the long-standing scriptural heritage. In Exodus, chapter three, we can read about God’s identity being questioned and Moses’ identity being confirmed.
God has seen the suffering of the people; God is offering them liberation, a new land and a new life.
//
//
Moses grew up in the Egyptian court – raised as the adopted son of pharaoh’s daughter. Her father was a paranoid tyrant who feared that the descendants of Jacob who had lived in Egypt since the time of Joseph had grown too numerous and so they were enslaved. To keep the numbers in control, the story goes that he ordered the young boys to be killed.
It seems that he wasn’t concerned about the girls. He should have been! Many Hebrew boys escaped the infanticide because some of the midwives refused to commit murder, even under royal orders. Moses’ mother hid him for the first three months after the edict was issued and his sister watched over his floating basket hideout, camouflaged in the reeds, every time the death squads can close. Finally, another woman (pharaoh’s daughter) played the key roll in Moses’ survival. It probably horrified Miriam when she saw that her brother’s basket had been discovered. But it was not a tragedy – the princess knew that this was one of the Hebrew children and yet she defied her own father’s orders and raised him as her own. She, coincidentally, even got Moses’ birth mother to be his nurse maid.
//
It appears that Moses grew up not knowing his true heritage. But he had a heart of fairness that was odd for a grandson of Pharaoh. He was violently angered by the beating of a Hebrew slave at the hands of an Egyptian overlord (leading to Moses killing that Egyptian). Later he berated two Hebrew men for fight amongst themselves.
When it became obvious that his murder of the Egyptian was know, he feared for his life and fled east into the Sinai wilderness. It was there that he met the family of Jethro, the priest of Midian, whose seven daughters worked in the fields with flocks of sheep. Moses married one of Jethro’s daughters and started raising a family.
He had moved on from his life in the court of Egypt. From that point on he was a shepherd. And life was good.
The final three verses of Exodus chapter two, which lead directly into the passage that was read today say... 23After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God. 24God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 25God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.
//
It was a normal day, most likely. Moses was deep in the Sinai wilderness with a flock when he noticed a small fire on the mountain called Horeb. The longer he looked, he noticed that the fire wasn’t spreading and it wasn’t burning out. This warranted a closer look.
As Moses suspected, it was a fire – a bush was ablaze; but the wood was not burning up. Even the leaves remained. Very strange. But not as strange was what happened next.
The bush talked!
“Moses, before you come any closer, take off your sandals for this is Holy Ground.”
“I Am the God of YOUR ancestors – the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”
“I have heard my people’s cries of suffering in Egypt and will come to deliver them and bring them to a new land. Actually, you’re going to do much of the work – I Am sending YOU to Pharaoh to get him to Let My People Go.”
//
And here is where God’s identity is questioned: “who are you again?”, Moses asks the bush.
//
The gods of Egypt all had names – they each had their sphere of influence. It was all clear and neat. Now, this bush-god was telling Moses he was Hebrew (maybe he had suspected this) and that he was to be the spokesperson for this god. His Egyptian way of thinking assumed that gods had names to distinguish them from each other.
“Who will I tell them has sent me?”
“I Am Who I Am” (I will be who I will be – the tense in Hebrew can be ambiguous).
“Tell them: ‘I Am’ has sent me to you.
“Tell them: Yahweh, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob has sent me to you.
//
God’s name is I Am. God’s name is a verb: the verb ‘to be’. God’s name proclaims that God exists. In the last verse of the Exodus passage we heard today, God is called Yahweh – which is the so-called Divine Name; it is the name of God in the Bible. It is most often translated in English language bibles as “The LORD” (using capital letters). The name Jehovah is a really bad translation of Yahweh. There are good and logical reasons why translators use the LORD and why Jehovah has no historical significanc, but I won’t go into that now (ask me after church, if you like).
The origins of the name Yahweh are in the verb ‘to be’ – hayah – As God told Moses: “I Am”.
And from that point on, the direction of Moses’ life completely changed. He would become the key figure of Hebrew history – the liberator of the people, the giver of the Law.
//
At each given moment in time, there is absolutely nothing we can do about anything that has happened before – whether that be years ago or the second that has just past.
• The past is our teacher – we learn the lessons of our experiences – the good and the bad.
• The future is our canvas, ready for us to create.
• Each moment contains the choice of how to live – what ethic will guide and influence us.
//
//
The Apostle Paul’s letter to the church in Rome was written relatively late in his missionary career. As such, the theology – the basic tenants of faith that Paul had been teaching had reached a fairly developed stage. By the late 50s when he wrote this letter, he had his lessons pretty much worked out.
In the section from chapter 12, which we heard this morning, Paul details a description of what a Christian life will look like.
• Genuine Love. Not fake, surface, lip-service love, but genuine love! And show mutual affection to each other.
• The only thing to hate is...evil. Hold fast to what is good.
• Have hope, patience, perseverance.
• Wish the best for others - live in harmony with others; don’t be vengeful - don’t repay evil with evil, but act noblely. Overcome evil with good (it really messes evil people up when you do that – they usually will react with remorse: love has that impact on people).
• Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
• Don’t be arrogant or alluff (sp?) – but associate with everyone.
• And everyone of you, individually, always look for the possibility for peaceful living with all!
//
That’s good stuff!
//
Paul told the Romans in that letter and to us as well as we read it, that the Jesus’ Movement needs to put its faith in action. If we are united with each other in our individual and corporate relationship with the Great I Am, we are to live for the sake of bringing God’s purposes to life in the world – and we do this most authentically, by living faithfully in each moment with the promise that from this moment on, our love will be genuine and it will be obvious to anyone who takes care to notice.
//
//
I know that this seems ‘pie in the sky’ and very impractical in a world where acts of vengeance and mistrust and arrogance and trampling on the ‘little guy’ is rewarded with wealth and power.
It looked that way in Paul’s time too, as it did back in Moses’ time.
As we read on in Exodus, we see that Moses questioned the wisdom and practicality of God’s plan on many occasions.
In Paul’s time, the Roman empire was the ultimate power in the world – there was only peace because they had such a military presence, even in the out-lying areas that any small rebellions of revolts were quickly and violently quashed. I imagine that could not have been more obvious that right in the City of Rome, where this group of believers tried to live the Christian Life.
//
I may have told some of you this story before, but bare with me.
A boy was walking along the ocean shore at low tide. Across the beach were hundreds of starfish who had been marooned as the water receded. It was a hot sunny day and he knew that many of them would die before the tide rose again, so he started tossing starfish into the surf. A man came along and noticed what the boy was doing and said: “you’re wasting your time, there are thousands of them; you can’t make a difference.” The boy paused and looked at the starfish in his hand and tossed it in the water and said: “I made a difference to that one.”
//
Paul knows that the church as a body has very little influence and so he speaks to the individual Christian: “So far as it depends on you, live peaceably with all.”
//
In our time, the Church as an institution holds little power or influence within the wider society (maybe there was a time when we were more enmeshed, but those days are long gone).
We are more similar to Paul’s church in Rome where the place of impact is more local. One life at a time; one moment at a time.
The tenant of our faith that makes this possible is that we believe that “God Is” – God exists. With that hope, liberation and transformation are possible.
//
THE central message of Jesus’ ministry is unconditional love ( in the Greek of the New Testament): love God with you whole heart, soul and strength and love your neighbor as yourself.
is also used in Romans – let your unconditional love be genuine. Just imagine how our world might be if everyone who professed to be a follower of Jesus pledged to live this way from this point on.
Let us pray:
Yahweh, God of Love;
We are grateful that you are always with us. Inspire us to make the next moment one of Genuine Love. In Jesus’ name, we pray, Amen.
#333VU “Love Divine”
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Sunday, August 21, 2011
IT'S ALL DIFFERENT NOW
August 21, 2011
Pentecost 10
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
(prayer)
Last week, we read the rather compelling story about Jesus and the Canaanite woman along the Lebanese coast. That encounter inspired Jesus to open his message up beyond (what he called) ‘the lost sheep of Israel’. And so from that point on in the narrative we can read about Jesus travelling more in Gentile territories and ministering to broader groups of people.
In today’s reading from Matthew 16, Jesus ventures north and east of the Sea of Galilee (his home base at Capernaum): to the region of Caesarea Philippi. The city of Caesarea Philippi was on the eastern side of the headwaters of the Jordan River, but Jesus may not have been up that far: the Tetarchy of Philip was a Galilean-sized region to the east – Jesus may have been just over the border. But it is significant that he was travelling beyond Galilee and Judea, among people of ‘other nations’.
Even there, on foreign soil, Jesus was known. Rumours about him abounded. And so Jesus asks about the gossip. The same story is told in both Mark (ch 8) and Luke (ch 9) where Jesus asks “Who do people say that I am?” But here in Matthew the question is a little more veiled: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
[Aside: The phrase ‘son of man’ is used in the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) over one hundred times. The Hebrew phrase ben-adam means son of humanity (adam=man as opposed to animal, not man as opposed to female); from the Genesis 2 creation story, where the first human is created out of the earth/dirt (adamah). For the most part within Hebrew history the phrase ‘son of man’ simply means a person, a human, a mortal. The exception is found in the book of Daniel, which uses the phrase in a divine context. 7:13As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. 14To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
As we read the New Testament gospels it appears that the phrase son of man took on Messianic significance. The phrase in the book of Daniel 7 of one like a son of man coming upon the clouds of the sky to unite the world was consistent with how the early church viewed Jesus after his resurrection. And so, it is likely that the Gospels' use of the son of man eighty-three times represents an apocalyptic title of Jesus. When Jesus is quoted using the words, we can assume that he is referring to himself – often the phrase denotes the suffering and passion that destined to be part of Jesus’ ministry. Now whether this phrase goes all the way back to Jesus or whether it is an addition of the gospel writers is not all that clear (in today’s passage, it looks like Matthew’s author made the conscious choice to change the language of the older Marken text).]
//
What are people saying – who is Jesus?
Some say: John the Baptist (who had been executed by this time) or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets of old. That’s pretty high praise, really. People saw Jesus as standing in the line of great and admired leaders of the faith.
But...who you say that I am? And here Matthew does not use son of man: like Mark and Luke, Jesus speaks in the first person to his disciples – who do you say that I am? Simon is the one who speaks up: “You are the Messiah!” Matthew adds “the Son of the Living God” (not in Mark or Luke).
That’s big – it’s one thing to see Jesus as a prophet but to see him as God’s ‘anointed one’ was a much more significant claim. So how does Jesus react: he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. This is what biblical scholars call the Messianic Secret. It is found throughout the book of Mark (the first gospel to be written) and scholars debate whether the goal is to wait until the right time to reveal who Jesus is (understood after the resurrection) or to allow Jesus to avoid celebrity status and move around more anonymously or even to keep Jesus from upsetting the authorities. The messianic secret also appears a few times in Luke and Matthew (as they copied the sections from Mark). Earlier in Matthew (chapter 12) we get a clue to how Matthew viewed things:
14The Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 15When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16and he ordered them not to make him known. 17This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 20He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick until he brings justice to victory. 21And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’
Matthew is the only gospel to include this Isaiah quote here. For Matthew the secret was to keep Jesus safe.
//
The Matthew reading from chapter 16 today, also has an addition that Mark and Luke don’t have for the same story: the commending of Simon.
Simon was one of the first disciples of Jesus – a fisherman from the shore of the Sea of Galilee – he joined Jesus along with his brother Andrew and fellow fishers James and John: remember “come fish with me…for people!” After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Simon was one of the key leaders who kept the Jesus Movement alive. At some point during their time together, Jesus noticed a strength and determination in Simon and gave him a nickname: Cephas – the Aramaic word for rock. Because the books and letters of the New Testament were written in greek, we are more used to the anglicized-greek translation of Cephas: Peter (from Petros – a male version of Petra, which is greek for rock).
Matthew places this nick-naming right after Simon confesses Jesus to be the Messiah. John’s gospel has Jesus giving him the nickname on the day he called Simon away from his fishing boat. Mark simply notes that Simon was also called Peter by Jesus, but doesn’t tell us how or when that happened. I couldn’t find any reference to the formal nicknaming in Luke, but Simon is referred to as Peter throughout. When the Apostle Paul was writing his letters, he referred to Simon mostly as Peter, but also used Cephas a few times, which supports the likely scenario that when Simon was nicknamed it was the Aramaic word for rock Chepas…but later greek-speaking Christians came to know him as Petros, which is why we call him Peter.
//
I like to think that it was at that moment where Simon could not contain his belief that Jesus was the long awaited anointed one of God (the Messiah) that he was commended for his solid faith. ‘You are a rock, Simon!’
//
Even though, Jesus did not seem to want the news to spread too quickly, once Peter said the words and they were out, there was no going back. The disciples had to look at Jesus differently from that point forward. Their outlook was changed – their thinking had been transformed.
//
//
I love the phrase "God is not finished with me yet". It’s kind of a fun statement of faith of active God who (as we say in the United Church Creed) ‘has created and is creating’. It highlights the hope that we are not yet set in stone - that we have the opportunity to become more than we are: to learn, to grow, to transform – and that this is somehow consistent with the mysterious mind of God.
Even from the early decades of the Christian movement, it has been believed that Transformation is the central desire of the person of faith. We see that in the part of the letter that Paul wrote to the young Christian church in Rome which we read this morning: ‘be transformed by the renewing of your minds’.
Paul writes that the followers of Jesus are to see themselves as holy, living sacrifices – offered to God; life itself is worship!
To understand this, we need to understand Paul’s experiences of worship and sacrifice. The sacrificial system was a central element in Judaism until the temple was destroyed as part of a failed Jewish revolt against the roman occupation in the year 70CE. Paul was active as an early Christian leader in the 50s, so (to Paul) bringing offerings of grain and livestock to the temple at festival times was an important part of the worship life that he was nurtured on.
This letter to the Christian church in Rome was written after Paul had been an active missionary for quite some time: probably about the 57 or so. As a result, it is a comprehensive epistle which contains a fairly complete teaching on what it means to receive God’s saving love as a free gift through faith. By this time, Paul had worked out his theology and had come to believe some key things about what it meant to connect to God through Christ Jesus.
//
Paul may have been nurtured within the Jewish Temple worship system, he was quite clear that the grace of God through faith in Jesus was available to be people beyond Judaism. Paul argued quite strenuously that the gentile believers did not have to first convert to Judaism to become Christian. So he needed to speak to a broader audience in language that would be real for them.
So worship was not tied to the fruits of one’s agricultural labours, especially in the urban context of the City of Rome.
Life, itself, is worship. Our bodies, themselves, are offered as living sacrifices. This knowledge had to have an effect on a person. Within each life, there is something to offer in the service of God. Here in Romans, we see a shorter version of what Paul had earlier written to the Corinthian Christians – together, we are like a body of Christ and each of us a part of something greater than ourselves. And like our physical bodies, many parts are needed to make the body complete. And so, even though people may offer different gifts to the service of God, it is the combination that makes things whole.
It is a strong teaching of Paul and the early church that we are not meant to be able to have all of the gifts and skills within each of us, but that we are to rely on each other to be more together, than we ever could be apart.
As well, this inter-connectedness requires us to not rank the gifts and skills between people, but to keep the wider, common good in mind. The variety is not to be lamented and resisted, but to be embraced because of the greater possibilities that exist when gifts interact.
//
And so thank God for the variety within the world – thank God for the variety within the Body of Christ – thank God for the variety within this room.
//
Life is a gift. Knowledge and wisdom are gifts. Paul was a very rational theologian: be transformed by the renewal of your minds...think with sober judgment. Our reason can see that there is wonderful value in the sharing of gifts and skills.
//
Simon Peter looked at his experience with Jesus and had come to believe he was the Messiah – the anointed one of God. And Jesus acknowledged the gifts and skills Peter had, with which he could serve the church.
//
Each of us has our own reasons for nurturing this spirituality we seek. Within each of us is the ability to work with others for the common good. This attitude is somewhat counter to the ‘winner-takes-all”, “look out only for number one” approach that is promoted in our world today. We don’t have to be conformed to this worldview. We can still be transformed into something deeper where the compassion that comes from God, the commitment to other’s dignity that Jesus lived is our model for how we relate to the world. We are not to be people of conformity, but of transformation.
After all, if God has created and is creating, then maybe there is still work to do. It only makes sense: at least that what my sober judgement tells me. What do you think?
// Let us pray:
Send you spirit, O God, to renew and transform. Amen.
#210VU “You Lord Are Both Lamb and Shepherd
Pentecost 10
Romans 12:1-8
Matthew 16:13-20
(prayer)
Last week, we read the rather compelling story about Jesus and the Canaanite woman along the Lebanese coast. That encounter inspired Jesus to open his message up beyond (what he called) ‘the lost sheep of Israel’. And so from that point on in the narrative we can read about Jesus travelling more in Gentile territories and ministering to broader groups of people.
In today’s reading from Matthew 16, Jesus ventures north and east of the Sea of Galilee (his home base at Capernaum): to the region of Caesarea Philippi. The city of Caesarea Philippi was on the eastern side of the headwaters of the Jordan River, but Jesus may not have been up that far: the Tetarchy of Philip was a Galilean-sized region to the east – Jesus may have been just over the border. But it is significant that he was travelling beyond Galilee and Judea, among people of ‘other nations’.
Even there, on foreign soil, Jesus was known. Rumours about him abounded. And so Jesus asks about the gossip. The same story is told in both Mark (ch 8) and Luke (ch 9) where Jesus asks “Who do people say that I am?” But here in Matthew the question is a little more veiled: “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?”
[Aside: The phrase ‘son of man’ is used in the Hebrew Bible (aka Old Testament) over one hundred times. The Hebrew phrase ben-adam means son of humanity (adam=man as opposed to animal, not man as opposed to female); from the Genesis 2 creation story, where the first human is created out of the earth/dirt (adamah). For the most part within Hebrew history the phrase ‘son of man’ simply means a person, a human, a mortal. The exception is found in the book of Daniel, which uses the phrase in a divine context. 7:13As I watched in the night visions, I saw one like a son of man coming with the clouds of heaven.
And he came to the Ancient One and was presented before him. 14To him was given dominion and glory and kingship, that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him. His dominion is an everlasting dominion that shall not pass away, and his kingship is one that shall never be destroyed.
As we read the New Testament gospels it appears that the phrase son of man took on Messianic significance. The phrase in the book of Daniel 7 of one like a son of man coming upon the clouds of the sky to unite the world was consistent with how the early church viewed Jesus after his resurrection. And so, it is likely that the Gospels' use of the son of man eighty-three times represents an apocalyptic title of Jesus. When Jesus is quoted using the words, we can assume that he is referring to himself – often the phrase denotes the suffering and passion that destined to be part of Jesus’ ministry. Now whether this phrase goes all the way back to Jesus or whether it is an addition of the gospel writers is not all that clear (in today’s passage, it looks like Matthew’s author made the conscious choice to change the language of the older Marken text).]
//
What are people saying – who is Jesus?
Some say: John the Baptist (who had been executed by this time) or Elijah or Jeremiah or one of the other prophets of old. That’s pretty high praise, really. People saw Jesus as standing in the line of great and admired leaders of the faith.
But...who you say that I am? And here Matthew does not use son of man: like Mark and Luke, Jesus speaks in the first person to his disciples – who do you say that I am? Simon is the one who speaks up: “You are the Messiah!” Matthew adds “the Son of the Living God” (not in Mark or Luke).
That’s big – it’s one thing to see Jesus as a prophet but to see him as God’s ‘anointed one’ was a much more significant claim. So how does Jesus react: he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah. This is what biblical scholars call the Messianic Secret. It is found throughout the book of Mark (the first gospel to be written) and scholars debate whether the goal is to wait until the right time to reveal who Jesus is (understood after the resurrection) or to allow Jesus to avoid celebrity status and move around more anonymously or even to keep Jesus from upsetting the authorities. The messianic secret also appears a few times in Luke and Matthew (as they copied the sections from Mark). Earlier in Matthew (chapter 12) we get a clue to how Matthew viewed things:
14The Pharisees went out and conspired against him, how to destroy him. 15When Jesus became aware of this, he departed. Many crowds followed him, and he cured all of them, 16and he ordered them not to make him known. 17This was to fulfil what had been spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18‘Here is my servant, whom I have chosen, my beloved, with whom my soul is well pleased. I will put my Spirit upon him, and he will proclaim justice to the Gentiles. 19He will not wrangle or cry aloud, nor will anyone hear his voice in the streets. 20He will not break a bruised reed or quench a smouldering wick until he brings justice to victory. 21And in his name the Gentiles will hope.’
Matthew is the only gospel to include this Isaiah quote here. For Matthew the secret was to keep Jesus safe.
//
The Matthew reading from chapter 16 today, also has an addition that Mark and Luke don’t have for the same story: the commending of Simon.
Simon was one of the first disciples of Jesus – a fisherman from the shore of the Sea of Galilee – he joined Jesus along with his brother Andrew and fellow fishers James and John: remember “come fish with me…for people!” After Jesus’ death and resurrection, Simon was one of the key leaders who kept the Jesus Movement alive. At some point during their time together, Jesus noticed a strength and determination in Simon and gave him a nickname: Cephas – the Aramaic word for rock. Because the books and letters of the New Testament were written in greek, we are more used to the anglicized-greek translation of Cephas: Peter (from Petros – a male version of Petra, which is greek for rock).
Matthew places this nick-naming right after Simon confesses Jesus to be the Messiah. John’s gospel has Jesus giving him the nickname on the day he called Simon away from his fishing boat. Mark simply notes that Simon was also called Peter by Jesus, but doesn’t tell us how or when that happened. I couldn’t find any reference to the formal nicknaming in Luke, but Simon is referred to as Peter throughout. When the Apostle Paul was writing his letters, he referred to Simon mostly as Peter, but also used Cephas a few times, which supports the likely scenario that when Simon was nicknamed it was the Aramaic word for rock Chepas…but later greek-speaking Christians came to know him as Petros, which is why we call him Peter.
//
I like to think that it was at that moment where Simon could not contain his belief that Jesus was the long awaited anointed one of God (the Messiah) that he was commended for his solid faith. ‘You are a rock, Simon!’
//
Even though, Jesus did not seem to want the news to spread too quickly, once Peter said the words and they were out, there was no going back. The disciples had to look at Jesus differently from that point forward. Their outlook was changed – their thinking had been transformed.
//
//
I love the phrase "God is not finished with me yet". It’s kind of a fun statement of faith of active God who (as we say in the United Church Creed) ‘has created and is creating’. It highlights the hope that we are not yet set in stone - that we have the opportunity to become more than we are: to learn, to grow, to transform – and that this is somehow consistent with the mysterious mind of God.
Even from the early decades of the Christian movement, it has been believed that Transformation is the central desire of the person of faith. We see that in the part of the letter that Paul wrote to the young Christian church in Rome which we read this morning: ‘be transformed by the renewing of your minds’.
Paul writes that the followers of Jesus are to see themselves as holy, living sacrifices – offered to God; life itself is worship!
To understand this, we need to understand Paul’s experiences of worship and sacrifice. The sacrificial system was a central element in Judaism until the temple was destroyed as part of a failed Jewish revolt against the roman occupation in the year 70CE. Paul was active as an early Christian leader in the 50s, so (to Paul) bringing offerings of grain and livestock to the temple at festival times was an important part of the worship life that he was nurtured on.
This letter to the Christian church in Rome was written after Paul had been an active missionary for quite some time: probably about the 57 or so. As a result, it is a comprehensive epistle which contains a fairly complete teaching on what it means to receive God’s saving love as a free gift through faith. By this time, Paul had worked out his theology and had come to believe some key things about what it meant to connect to God through Christ Jesus.
//
Paul may have been nurtured within the Jewish Temple worship system, he was quite clear that the grace of God through faith in Jesus was available to be people beyond Judaism. Paul argued quite strenuously that the gentile believers did not have to first convert to Judaism to become Christian. So he needed to speak to a broader audience in language that would be real for them.
So worship was not tied to the fruits of one’s agricultural labours, especially in the urban context of the City of Rome.
Life, itself, is worship. Our bodies, themselves, are offered as living sacrifices. This knowledge had to have an effect on a person. Within each life, there is something to offer in the service of God. Here in Romans, we see a shorter version of what Paul had earlier written to the Corinthian Christians – together, we are like a body of Christ and each of us a part of something greater than ourselves. And like our physical bodies, many parts are needed to make the body complete. And so, even though people may offer different gifts to the service of God, it is the combination that makes things whole.
It is a strong teaching of Paul and the early church that we are not meant to be able to have all of the gifts and skills within each of us, but that we are to rely on each other to be more together, than we ever could be apart.
As well, this inter-connectedness requires us to not rank the gifts and skills between people, but to keep the wider, common good in mind. The variety is not to be lamented and resisted, but to be embraced because of the greater possibilities that exist when gifts interact.
//
And so thank God for the variety within the world – thank God for the variety within the Body of Christ – thank God for the variety within this room.
//
Life is a gift. Knowledge and wisdom are gifts. Paul was a very rational theologian: be transformed by the renewal of your minds...think with sober judgment. Our reason can see that there is wonderful value in the sharing of gifts and skills.
//
Simon Peter looked at his experience with Jesus and had come to believe he was the Messiah – the anointed one of God. And Jesus acknowledged the gifts and skills Peter had, with which he could serve the church.
//
Each of us has our own reasons for nurturing this spirituality we seek. Within each of us is the ability to work with others for the common good. This attitude is somewhat counter to the ‘winner-takes-all”, “look out only for number one” approach that is promoted in our world today. We don’t have to be conformed to this worldview. We can still be transformed into something deeper where the compassion that comes from God, the commitment to other’s dignity that Jesus lived is our model for how we relate to the world. We are not to be people of conformity, but of transformation.
After all, if God has created and is creating, then maybe there is still work to do. It only makes sense: at least that what my sober judgement tells me. What do you think?
// Let us pray:
Send you spirit, O God, to renew and transform. Amen.
#210VU “You Lord Are Both Lamb and Shepherd
Sunday, August 14, 2011
BEYOND HISTORY
August 14, 2011
Pentecost 9
Genesis 45:1-15
Matthew 15:21-28
(prayer)
Last week - you may recall - if you were in this church for Sunday worship, that we read part of the story of Joseph, the second youngest son of Jacob (great-grandson of Abraham). Joseph was a favourite to his father and Jacob’s favouritism was not appreciated by Joseph’s brothers. Add to that the fact that Joseph had told them about dreams he had which indicated that one day they would all bow down to him and this went to the extreme of sibling rivalry.
When the brothers saw Joseph come strolling up to them in his fancy, multi-coloured, long sleeved coat to ‘check up’ on how well they were managing the flocks, like he was their superior, the dislike all came to the surface. They wanted him out of their lives. Some suggested out-right murder; others suggested a slightly less violent approach: letting him succumb to the elements by trapping him in a dry well pit; in the end, a travelling caravan, heading to Egypt, provided the opportunity to sell Joseph into slavery. Mission accomplished. The brothers tore up Joseph’s fancy coat, smothered it with goat’s blood and concocted a believable tale that the young favoured son of Jacob had been tragically devoured by a wild animal. This news absolutely devastated their father!
//
Today, the reading from Genesis was about the eventual family reunion.
A lot happened between the slave sale and the reunion. If we could, maybe we could all go see the musical play, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” and get the gist of the rest of the story. [I saw it first as a teenager at Victoria Composite High School – and then a number of years later at the Jubilee Auditorium, staring Donny Osmond as a bare-chested Joseph – phew!] But I’m not aware of where it might be being performed nearby right now. So...
Allow me to fill ya’ll in with a reader’s Digest version of the rest of story from Genesis between last week’s and this week’s readings.
//
Joseph was purchased as a slave by Potiphar, who was an officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh, a captain of the guard. In relatively short order Joseph proved to be a good and trustworthy servant – Potiphar made him overseer of his household and all of his wealth – essentially Joseph became Potiphar’s household CEO.
All was as good as it gets for a slave, until the lady of the house (Potiphar’s wife) took an interest in Joseph – sexually! “Lie with me” she insisted (Gen 39:7). She was persistent, but Joseph steadfastly refused. One day, she grabbed him by the clothes and insisted “Lie with me” – when Joseph tried to get away, she ripped his clothes off. I picture Joseph struggling to cover up his nakedness. Well, William Congreve (not Wm Shakespeare as it is often mis-attributed) wrote, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. It was certainly true in this case – when Potiphar came home, she accused Joseph of trying to rape her, showing off his clothes as evidence. Joseph was sent to prison.
It was in prison that Joseph met two fellow prisoners – two servants of Pharaoh who had run afoul of the monarch. They each had had peculiar dreams that they were sure meant something, but were not sure, what. Joseph offered interpretations – in three days (Joseph said) one of them would be restored by the Pharaoh (cupbearer), the other would be hanged (baker). Three days later, history bore out that Joseph was right. The cupbearer was very grateful and promised Joseph that he would not forget this. But, as time went one, no one gave much thought to Joseph in prison.
Two years passed and Joseph remained in jail. It was at that time that the Pharaoh had two strange dreams: (1) seven sleek and fat cows were eaten up by seven ugly and thin cows; (2) seven plump and full ears of corn were swallowed up by seven thin and sun-dried ears. A light went on for the chief cupbearer and he told Pharaoh about Joseph, who was brought out of the dungeon to interpret the dreams: there would be seven years of good, bountiful harvests followed by seven years of severe drought and famine. Joseph suggested that Pharaoh set aside 20% of the harvests from the good years to be able to withstand the bad years. Joseph was put in charge of the project, and eventually became a governor of Egypt. So good was Joseph’s management that not only was there enough food for Egypt, they had excess they could sell on the export market.
When the drought came, it was wide spread and affected many lands, including Canaan, where Jacob’s family lived. Rumours quickly spread that Eqypt had grain to sell, so Jacob sent his ten oldest sons to go and buy (after the apparent-death of Joseph, Jacob became very protective of his youngest son, Benjamin, the only other child he had had with Rachael).
When the sons of Israel came before the governor, they did not recognize Joseph, but he knew who they were. To keep this advantage, Joseph even spoke to them in Egyptian, through an interpreter. Perhaps he was bitter about what had happened all those years ago – Joseph accused them of not really being interested in food, but that they were spies. They protested and claimed to come from a large, honest, hardworking family in Canaan. Joseph asked the ten brothers about their family situation and learned that they had one brother who had died (Joseph) and one who was at home with their father (Benjamin). Joseph wanted revenge so he had them all thrown in prison. After three days, to test the honesty of the brothers, Joseph insisted that one of the brothers remain in an Egyptian jail while the others returned to Canaan with grain. In order to free the one still in Egypt, they were to return with the youngest son and the governor would be convinced they weren’t spies.
So, Simeon stayed and the nine brothers went home with the grain. And then they returned to Egypt, this time with Benjamin: against Jacob’s protests!
Joseph wasn’t done with his revenge. He let Simeon out of jail and invited all of the brothers to feast with him. During dinner, he had one of his servants hide a valuable cup in Benjamin’s bag. As they were searched at the end of the night, the apparent theft was discovered and Benjamin is arrested for the theft. Brother Judah spoke for the family about how this would destroy their father to lose Benjamin too – “How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father!” (Gen 44:34). Learning that Jacob was still alive seems to have softened Joseph’s heart. That brings us to the passage we read today from chapter forty-five!
//
Joseph made everyone else leave the room, and he revealed himself to his brothers. He was moved to tears of joy. And he moved beyond the history of rivalry and deceit, and saw himself as part of a family again. He knew that there were still five more years of famine to come and that if the family re-located to Egypt, he could look after them. And so the family of Jacob left Canaan and the family (and eventually the ‘people’) of Israel lived well in Egypt because of Joseph! Generations of Israelites made Egypt their home from that time on. The book of Exodus begins with the group having grown so large within Egypt that a future Pharaoh (who knew nothing about the story of Joseph) was concerned about these people. That’s the start of the story of Moses.
//
Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus left the area around the Sea of Galilee and went to the coast of the Mediterranean, near the Lebanese towns of Sidon and Tyre. This was foreign territory for Jesus – the population there was mostly non-jewish. There were some Hebrews and Samaritans there – descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel that controlled the region 300 years earlier, but were wiped out by the Assyrian Empire: it seems that it was these remnant people Jesus had come to find and teach along the coast.
As we heard this morning, a Canaanite (non-jewish) woman from the area had heard about Jesus’ skills as a healer and asked him to help her daughter. In the language of the first century, the girl was ‘tormented by a demon’. In our age, she would likely be diagnosed as suffering from some form of mental illness. In any age, clearly the girl was not herself, and even here along the Lebanese coast, people had heard about the things Jesus had done. ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.’ Son of David: she acknowledges that Jesus is Hebrew; she acknowledges their differences.
What does Jesus do? He ignores here. He pretends that he doesn’t even see or hear her. She persists, even beginning to shout for Jesus to help. And he just ignores her. Eventually, it is Jesus’ disciples who get fed up and beg Jesus to just tell her to leave. So, what does Jesus do? He tells her to leave. She is not Hebrew and he only helps Hebrews: ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’
Were Jesus’ abilities in such short supply that he had to conserve what he had to make sure that he could help his own people?
Was Jesus concerned about the time he had available? Would he short-change Israel if he wasted time with gentiles?
Did Jesus simply see people of other nations as less worthy than his own people?
One of these has to be the reason why Jesus would insist that he was ‘sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’
If only Jesus had stopped with those words, we might be able to hope that it was one of the first two reasons (limited time and power to heal) but he went further and showed us that his reasoning was one of superiority. ‘It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ In his nationalistic zeal, Jesus (our Jesus, the compassionate one, the prince of peace), called this woman and her people ‘dogs’ and wanted nothing more than to shoo her away: “get away from here!” she didn’t warrant his attention, nor any healing he might be able to offer.
‘Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.’
Something must have clicked in Jesus’ mind at that point – he had been preaching a radical inclusiveness within Galilee and Judah, openly eating with tax collectors, sinners and other outcasts – why was this so different?
In this passage in Matthew 15 (also in Mark 7), we are witnessing an evolution of thought in Jesus – he changes his mind. He started that trip to Tyre and Sidon as a nationalist zealot willing to see some people and cultures as unworthy of his message and ministry and he returned with a sense of universal inclusivity. Jesus was able to get beyond the history of compartmentalized compassion. Jesus’ healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter marks a shifting point in Jesus’ ministry and it dramatically affected the direction the followers of Jesus would take this mission in the decades that followed Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are inheritors of this change of mind which Jesus had on the Lebanese coast. And we are richer for it!
//
Learning history is a deeply valuable endeavour. In the church it is essential, we do this with our understanding of Biblical history, but even more generally, we can be more well-rounded people if we seek to understand the details that have brought us to this point in history.
Not everything that has come before us if positive – I suggest that, in a way, understanding the negative aspects of history is perhaps the most valuable part of this. You all know this to be true – societies need to evolve in progressive ways to improve on times of injustice of the past; and on a personal level, we do well to understand what hasn’t worked well for us, so that we can try to make our futures better.
//
The past is set and unchangeable. The best we can do is understand what has happened. And there are typically two ways to seek this understanding:
1. ORIGINAL CONTEXT - We can put ourselves in the shoes of the people from that time – what did they know, how did they think, what affected their worldview.
2. CURRENT CONTEXT - We can look back on history based on what we know and believe now.
These can yield very different kinds of understanding. We may look back and judge some past era to be a negative time of history, but when we exclude our modern viewpoints from the equation, we might understand why the history is what it was.
When I am doing Bible study, I always try to look at the context of the passage in both of these ways – what did this mean to the people of the time and what might it mean for me now?
//
Joseph could not change the history of the conflicts between him and his family. But there came a point where he chose to no longer play the game of revenge – he moved beyond this history and sought a reconciliation. He very much wanted to reconnect to his father and to do that he had to make peace with his brothers. And the future history of Israel from that point on was drastically affected.
//
Jesus could not change the history that lead to his prejudice against non-hebrews. But in that conversation with that determined Canaanite mother, Jesus broke the momentum of that history – he moved his ministry in a new direction, beyond where that history might have otherwise taken him. Take a close look at both the gospel of Mark after chapter 7 and Matthew after chapter 15 – from that point on, you won’t find any more of these kind of Jewish-only attitudes. And you will see Jesus doing a lot more teaching in gentile territories.
//
Spirituality, our own faithful experience, is an ever-evolving state of mind. We see the circle widening all of the time. Look at the progression in the book of Acts. When Jesus is resurrected and ascends away from his followers entrusting them to share his gospel, the primary group is mostly made up of Galilean Jews. On Pentecost, Jews from all over the known world were caught up in the Spirit and the group expanded greatly, thousands of people at a time. The 12 disciple of Jesus (the original eleven and Matthias who was chosen to replace Judas) took on the responsibility for ensuring that the vulnerable in their group were cared for (widows, orphans). As the group grew this became an impossible task. We can imply from the text that, given the inability to help everyone, the disciples gave preferential treatment to the Galilean and Judean widows. There were complaints from people from more disbursed communities (the Diaspora). And so the circle widened – seven new leaders from these Diaspora followers of Jesus were chosen to work alongside The Twelve.
Later, one of these new leaders, Phillip, was travelling and met a man from Ethiopia, who had not been born Jewish, but was a convert to Judaism. Phillip could think of no logical reason why this man could not be baptised as a follower of Jesus. And so the circle widened again. What began as a jewish-born Galilean movement, expanded to Judah and then to the Diaspora and now to converts to Judaism.
With the advent of the Apostle Paul, the church made another dramatic widening of the circle – even non-jews could find a place within the early church. And Paul argued hard against those who tried to insist that these people should convert to Judaism first – but there was not to be only one path to become a follower of Jesus.
No doubt, that each time these inclusive widenings happened, there were people within the movement that felt that things were going too far – that the compassion and welcome of the church needed to be limited. Transitions of this kind are hard. And over the centuries, it has lead to splits and denominational conflicts within Christianity.
And yet, maybe we can be emboldened by the fact that Jesus made of these hard transitions himself. I doubt that he was universally supported in his decision; but it was the right and just thing to do (the Canaanite mother had convinced him of that) so Jesus had to move beyond that history of exclusion.
//
I got an email this week from our United Church conference office in Edmonton, asking us to watch for potential emails from “The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate” – denouncing and cursing the United Church of Canada because of our inclusiveness of people of all sexual orientations. The UC has a history of inclusive widening.
Was it completely popular when the United Church of Canada decided to ordain women in the 1930s? No, but it was the good and just thing to do. Were the eventual adjustments to how we speak to and about each other to make our words less patriarchal and sexist made with ease in the 1970s and 80s as we were challenged to use more inclusive language. No, but it was the good and right thing to do.
Was it completely popular for our denomination to make it clear that we would not bar someone from formal ministry because they were gay in the late 1980s? Definitely not, but it was the good and just thing to do.
Within our own congregation, were we all of one mind (five and a half years ago) when the majority of people at the meeting voted to treat same-sex couples who wanted to get married the same way we do with opposite-sex couples? No we weren’t, but when I officiated at John and Josh’s wedding this summer, I knew it was the good and right thing to do. It wasn’t all that different – love and commitment IS love and commitment.
//
//
Getting beyond history can be a daunting task. And it is not something we should ever do without honest thought and care.
Joseph would not have been faulted for disowning the family who had disowned him, but he desired the best of what he remembered and made the hard choice to reconcile.
Jesus was perfectly in line with the traditions of his faith when he put his efforts on his own people. But a suffering child is a suffering child, so he made the hard choice to break with tradition.
//
//
Each of us likely has some history that is holding us back; some past event or attitude that doesn’t seem to fit. And yet there is resistance (even within ourselves) to moving beyond that history and into a new future of hope and promise, because we are comfortable with where we are, even it is not where we know we should be.
What we also have is a faith history of evolving experiences of the Spirit. It is okay to venture out on a new path, trusting (as both Joseph and Jesus did) that God would still be with us. That is the constant – that is the rock, the foundation that binds all of this variety – the faithfulness of God.
Thanks be to God. Let us pray:
Wise and loving God, journey with us in the life-giving process of reconciliation. Fill us with patience and courage to find the good and right path. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
**offering**
Pentecost 9
Genesis 45:1-15
Matthew 15:21-28
(prayer)
Last week - you may recall - if you were in this church for Sunday worship, that we read part of the story of Joseph, the second youngest son of Jacob (great-grandson of Abraham). Joseph was a favourite to his father and Jacob’s favouritism was not appreciated by Joseph’s brothers. Add to that the fact that Joseph had told them about dreams he had which indicated that one day they would all bow down to him and this went to the extreme of sibling rivalry.
When the brothers saw Joseph come strolling up to them in his fancy, multi-coloured, long sleeved coat to ‘check up’ on how well they were managing the flocks, like he was their superior, the dislike all came to the surface. They wanted him out of their lives. Some suggested out-right murder; others suggested a slightly less violent approach: letting him succumb to the elements by trapping him in a dry well pit; in the end, a travelling caravan, heading to Egypt, provided the opportunity to sell Joseph into slavery. Mission accomplished. The brothers tore up Joseph’s fancy coat, smothered it with goat’s blood and concocted a believable tale that the young favoured son of Jacob had been tragically devoured by a wild animal. This news absolutely devastated their father!
//
Today, the reading from Genesis was about the eventual family reunion.
A lot happened between the slave sale and the reunion. If we could, maybe we could all go see the musical play, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dream Coat” and get the gist of the rest of the story. [I saw it first as a teenager at Victoria Composite High School – and then a number of years later at the Jubilee Auditorium, staring Donny Osmond as a bare-chested Joseph – phew!] But I’m not aware of where it might be being performed nearby right now. So...
Allow me to fill ya’ll in with a reader’s Digest version of the rest of story from Genesis between last week’s and this week’s readings.
//
Joseph was purchased as a slave by Potiphar, who was an officer of the Egyptian Pharaoh, a captain of the guard. In relatively short order Joseph proved to be a good and trustworthy servant – Potiphar made him overseer of his household and all of his wealth – essentially Joseph became Potiphar’s household CEO.
All was as good as it gets for a slave, until the lady of the house (Potiphar’s wife) took an interest in Joseph – sexually! “Lie with me” she insisted (Gen 39:7). She was persistent, but Joseph steadfastly refused. One day, she grabbed him by the clothes and insisted “Lie with me” – when Joseph tried to get away, she ripped his clothes off. I picture Joseph struggling to cover up his nakedness. Well, William Congreve (not Wm Shakespeare as it is often mis-attributed) wrote, “Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned”. It was certainly true in this case – when Potiphar came home, she accused Joseph of trying to rape her, showing off his clothes as evidence. Joseph was sent to prison.
It was in prison that Joseph met two fellow prisoners – two servants of Pharaoh who had run afoul of the monarch. They each had had peculiar dreams that they were sure meant something, but were not sure, what. Joseph offered interpretations – in three days (Joseph said) one of them would be restored by the Pharaoh (cupbearer), the other would be hanged (baker). Three days later, history bore out that Joseph was right. The cupbearer was very grateful and promised Joseph that he would not forget this. But, as time went one, no one gave much thought to Joseph in prison.
Two years passed and Joseph remained in jail. It was at that time that the Pharaoh had two strange dreams: (1) seven sleek and fat cows were eaten up by seven ugly and thin cows; (2) seven plump and full ears of corn were swallowed up by seven thin and sun-dried ears. A light went on for the chief cupbearer and he told Pharaoh about Joseph, who was brought out of the dungeon to interpret the dreams: there would be seven years of good, bountiful harvests followed by seven years of severe drought and famine. Joseph suggested that Pharaoh set aside 20% of the harvests from the good years to be able to withstand the bad years. Joseph was put in charge of the project, and eventually became a governor of Egypt. So good was Joseph’s management that not only was there enough food for Egypt, they had excess they could sell on the export market.
When the drought came, it was wide spread and affected many lands, including Canaan, where Jacob’s family lived. Rumours quickly spread that Eqypt had grain to sell, so Jacob sent his ten oldest sons to go and buy (after the apparent-death of Joseph, Jacob became very protective of his youngest son, Benjamin, the only other child he had had with Rachael).
When the sons of Israel came before the governor, they did not recognize Joseph, but he knew who they were. To keep this advantage, Joseph even spoke to them in Egyptian, through an interpreter. Perhaps he was bitter about what had happened all those years ago – Joseph accused them of not really being interested in food, but that they were spies. They protested and claimed to come from a large, honest, hardworking family in Canaan. Joseph asked the ten brothers about their family situation and learned that they had one brother who had died (Joseph) and one who was at home with their father (Benjamin). Joseph wanted revenge so he had them all thrown in prison. After three days, to test the honesty of the brothers, Joseph insisted that one of the brothers remain in an Egyptian jail while the others returned to Canaan with grain. In order to free the one still in Egypt, they were to return with the youngest son and the governor would be convinced they weren’t spies.
So, Simeon stayed and the nine brothers went home with the grain. And then they returned to Egypt, this time with Benjamin: against Jacob’s protests!
Joseph wasn’t done with his revenge. He let Simeon out of jail and invited all of the brothers to feast with him. During dinner, he had one of his servants hide a valuable cup in Benjamin’s bag. As they were searched at the end of the night, the apparent theft was discovered and Benjamin is arrested for the theft. Brother Judah spoke for the family about how this would destroy their father to lose Benjamin too – “How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father!” (Gen 44:34). Learning that Jacob was still alive seems to have softened Joseph’s heart. That brings us to the passage we read today from chapter forty-five!
//
Joseph made everyone else leave the room, and he revealed himself to his brothers. He was moved to tears of joy. And he moved beyond the history of rivalry and deceit, and saw himself as part of a family again. He knew that there were still five more years of famine to come and that if the family re-located to Egypt, he could look after them. And so the family of Jacob left Canaan and the family (and eventually the ‘people’) of Israel lived well in Egypt because of Joseph! Generations of Israelites made Egypt their home from that time on. The book of Exodus begins with the group having grown so large within Egypt that a future Pharaoh (who knew nothing about the story of Joseph) was concerned about these people. That’s the start of the story of Moses.
//
Matthew’s gospel tells us that Jesus left the area around the Sea of Galilee and went to the coast of the Mediterranean, near the Lebanese towns of Sidon and Tyre. This was foreign territory for Jesus – the population there was mostly non-jewish. There were some Hebrews and Samaritans there – descendants of the northern kingdom of Israel that controlled the region 300 years earlier, but were wiped out by the Assyrian Empire: it seems that it was these remnant people Jesus had come to find and teach along the coast.
As we heard this morning, a Canaanite (non-jewish) woman from the area had heard about Jesus’ skills as a healer and asked him to help her daughter. In the language of the first century, the girl was ‘tormented by a demon’. In our age, she would likely be diagnosed as suffering from some form of mental illness. In any age, clearly the girl was not herself, and even here along the Lebanese coast, people had heard about the things Jesus had done. ‘Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David.’ Son of David: she acknowledges that Jesus is Hebrew; she acknowledges their differences.
What does Jesus do? He ignores here. He pretends that he doesn’t even see or hear her. She persists, even beginning to shout for Jesus to help. And he just ignores her. Eventually, it is Jesus’ disciples who get fed up and beg Jesus to just tell her to leave. So, what does Jesus do? He tells her to leave. She is not Hebrew and he only helps Hebrews: ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’
Were Jesus’ abilities in such short supply that he had to conserve what he had to make sure that he could help his own people?
Was Jesus concerned about the time he had available? Would he short-change Israel if he wasted time with gentiles?
Did Jesus simply see people of other nations as less worthy than his own people?
One of these has to be the reason why Jesus would insist that he was ‘sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.’
If only Jesus had stopped with those words, we might be able to hope that it was one of the first two reasons (limited time and power to heal) but he went further and showed us that his reasoning was one of superiority. ‘It’s not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.’ In his nationalistic zeal, Jesus (our Jesus, the compassionate one, the prince of peace), called this woman and her people ‘dogs’ and wanted nothing more than to shoo her away: “get away from here!” she didn’t warrant his attention, nor any healing he might be able to offer.
‘Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from the master’s table.’
Something must have clicked in Jesus’ mind at that point – he had been preaching a radical inclusiveness within Galilee and Judah, openly eating with tax collectors, sinners and other outcasts – why was this so different?
In this passage in Matthew 15 (also in Mark 7), we are witnessing an evolution of thought in Jesus – he changes his mind. He started that trip to Tyre and Sidon as a nationalist zealot willing to see some people and cultures as unworthy of his message and ministry and he returned with a sense of universal inclusivity. Jesus was able to get beyond the history of compartmentalized compassion. Jesus’ healing of the Canaanite woman’s daughter marks a shifting point in Jesus’ ministry and it dramatically affected the direction the followers of Jesus would take this mission in the decades that followed Jesus’ death and resurrection. We are inheritors of this change of mind which Jesus had on the Lebanese coast. And we are richer for it!
//
Learning history is a deeply valuable endeavour. In the church it is essential, we do this with our understanding of Biblical history, but even more generally, we can be more well-rounded people if we seek to understand the details that have brought us to this point in history.
Not everything that has come before us if positive – I suggest that, in a way, understanding the negative aspects of history is perhaps the most valuable part of this. You all know this to be true – societies need to evolve in progressive ways to improve on times of injustice of the past; and on a personal level, we do well to understand what hasn’t worked well for us, so that we can try to make our futures better.
//
The past is set and unchangeable. The best we can do is understand what has happened. And there are typically two ways to seek this understanding:
1. ORIGINAL CONTEXT - We can put ourselves in the shoes of the people from that time – what did they know, how did they think, what affected their worldview.
2. CURRENT CONTEXT - We can look back on history based on what we know and believe now.
These can yield very different kinds of understanding. We may look back and judge some past era to be a negative time of history, but when we exclude our modern viewpoints from the equation, we might understand why the history is what it was.
When I am doing Bible study, I always try to look at the context of the passage in both of these ways – what did this mean to the people of the time and what might it mean for me now?
//
Joseph could not change the history of the conflicts between him and his family. But there came a point where he chose to no longer play the game of revenge – he moved beyond this history and sought a reconciliation. He very much wanted to reconnect to his father and to do that he had to make peace with his brothers. And the future history of Israel from that point on was drastically affected.
//
Jesus could not change the history that lead to his prejudice against non-hebrews. But in that conversation with that determined Canaanite mother, Jesus broke the momentum of that history – he moved his ministry in a new direction, beyond where that history might have otherwise taken him. Take a close look at both the gospel of Mark after chapter 7 and Matthew after chapter 15 – from that point on, you won’t find any more of these kind of Jewish-only attitudes. And you will see Jesus doing a lot more teaching in gentile territories.
//
Spirituality, our own faithful experience, is an ever-evolving state of mind. We see the circle widening all of the time. Look at the progression in the book of Acts. When Jesus is resurrected and ascends away from his followers entrusting them to share his gospel, the primary group is mostly made up of Galilean Jews. On Pentecost, Jews from all over the known world were caught up in the Spirit and the group expanded greatly, thousands of people at a time. The 12 disciple of Jesus (the original eleven and Matthias who was chosen to replace Judas) took on the responsibility for ensuring that the vulnerable in their group were cared for (widows, orphans). As the group grew this became an impossible task. We can imply from the text that, given the inability to help everyone, the disciples gave preferential treatment to the Galilean and Judean widows. There were complaints from people from more disbursed communities (the Diaspora). And so the circle widened – seven new leaders from these Diaspora followers of Jesus were chosen to work alongside The Twelve.
Later, one of these new leaders, Phillip, was travelling and met a man from Ethiopia, who had not been born Jewish, but was a convert to Judaism. Phillip could think of no logical reason why this man could not be baptised as a follower of Jesus. And so the circle widened again. What began as a jewish-born Galilean movement, expanded to Judah and then to the Diaspora and now to converts to Judaism.
With the advent of the Apostle Paul, the church made another dramatic widening of the circle – even non-jews could find a place within the early church. And Paul argued hard against those who tried to insist that these people should convert to Judaism first – but there was not to be only one path to become a follower of Jesus.
No doubt, that each time these inclusive widenings happened, there were people within the movement that felt that things were going too far – that the compassion and welcome of the church needed to be limited. Transitions of this kind are hard. And over the centuries, it has lead to splits and denominational conflicts within Christianity.
And yet, maybe we can be emboldened by the fact that Jesus made of these hard transitions himself. I doubt that he was universally supported in his decision; but it was the right and just thing to do (the Canaanite mother had convinced him of that) so Jesus had to move beyond that history of exclusion.
//
I got an email this week from our United Church conference office in Edmonton, asking us to watch for potential emails from “The Byzantine Catholic Patriarchate” – denouncing and cursing the United Church of Canada because of our inclusiveness of people of all sexual orientations. The UC has a history of inclusive widening.
Was it completely popular when the United Church of Canada decided to ordain women in the 1930s? No, but it was the good and just thing to do. Were the eventual adjustments to how we speak to and about each other to make our words less patriarchal and sexist made with ease in the 1970s and 80s as we were challenged to use more inclusive language. No, but it was the good and right thing to do.
Was it completely popular for our denomination to make it clear that we would not bar someone from formal ministry because they were gay in the late 1980s? Definitely not, but it was the good and just thing to do.
Within our own congregation, were we all of one mind (five and a half years ago) when the majority of people at the meeting voted to treat same-sex couples who wanted to get married the same way we do with opposite-sex couples? No we weren’t, but when I officiated at John and Josh’s wedding this summer, I knew it was the good and right thing to do. It wasn’t all that different – love and commitment IS love and commitment.
//
//
Getting beyond history can be a daunting task. And it is not something we should ever do without honest thought and care.
Joseph would not have been faulted for disowning the family who had disowned him, but he desired the best of what he remembered and made the hard choice to reconcile.
Jesus was perfectly in line with the traditions of his faith when he put his efforts on his own people. But a suffering child is a suffering child, so he made the hard choice to break with tradition.
//
//
Each of us likely has some history that is holding us back; some past event or attitude that doesn’t seem to fit. And yet there is resistance (even within ourselves) to moving beyond that history and into a new future of hope and promise, because we are comfortable with where we are, even it is not where we know we should be.
What we also have is a faith history of evolving experiences of the Spirit. It is okay to venture out on a new path, trusting (as both Joseph and Jesus did) that God would still be with us. That is the constant – that is the rock, the foundation that binds all of this variety – the faithfulness of God.
Thanks be to God. Let us pray:
Wise and loving God, journey with us in the life-giving process of reconciliation. Fill us with patience and courage to find the good and right path. In Jesus’ name, Amen.
**offering**
Sunday, August 7, 2011
THERE, WHEN NEEDED
August 7, 2011
Pentecost 8
Genesis 37: 1-4;12-28
Matthew 14:22-33
(prayer)
There is a good scene in Star Wars Episode Five (The Empire Strikes Back), where Luke Skywalker seeks out the Jedi master, Yoda, but his first contact on the planet Degobah is a strange little creature who seems more concerned with supper than training. Watch.
“I’m not afraid”
“You will be”
//
Yoda told Luke to expect fear. Fear is among the most primal of emotions. Fear is that automated biological reaction to something being very “wrong” in our lives. It reaches its most extreme when life itself is threatened.
In less extreme versions, fear has always been a significant motivator within evolutionary cycles – a healthy respect for fear can keep one alive; a willingness to confront some fear can help us become more than we are; to broaden the possibilities of life.
//
Both my wife and I grew up in Edmonton and regularly attended the summer fair at Northlands (once Klondike Days, now Capital Ex). My mom is a shareholder and volunteer with Northlands and is able to get us good deals on all day ride passes, so our kids have grown into the pattern of going to Capital Ex each summer. I have really enjoyed watching them over the years and seeing how their courage adapts to more ‘scary’ rides each year, including just a couple of weeks ago.
People often are willing to risk the fear of a thrill ride, because they are willing to trust in a certain level of safety and regulation that they (in the end have no real mortal fear).
Other than recreational (adrenaline rush) thrills, fear is not something we desire. No one likes to be afraid. As an issue of justice, no one should have to live in fear. To be a purveyor of fear is to engage in a wholly evil act. To confront and challenge systems of fear is the holy height of righteousness.
//
Both of the scripture passages for today contain fearful situations. We get to see fear from two distinct perspectives.
//
Joseph was a great-grandson of Sarah and Abraham, the founders of the Hebrew bloodline. It was Joseph’s father, Jacob, who really got the ball rolling on nationhood by having at least thirteen children. (He did have four wives!)
In the passage from Genesis today, we heard Jacob referred to by his nickname, Israel: “the one who wrestles with God”. Years later, his descendants will refer to themselves as the people of Israel. Eventually, it became the nation’s name.
Today, we heard that Israel (Jacob) gave Joseph a unique coat. The translation of the Hebrew adjective is unclear: many coloured? long sleeved? The text makes it clear that Joseph was particularly loved by his father: the first child of his most beloved wife, Rachel. This affection did not go un-noticed by Israel’s other sons, Joseph’s brothers.
You may have noticed that as I read the Genesis passage today I skipped over verses five to eleven – in those passages Joseph has a couple of cryptic dreams that seem to mean that the other eleven brothers will be bowing down before Joseph.
Long story, short – Joseph was not liked by his brothers. Beyond Jealousy – hatred!
And so when Israel sent Joseph to “check up” on his brothers, they had had enough! The devised a plan to kill him; they would tell their father that Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal – a perfectly plausible parable. And that’s what they did.
The only adjustment to the plan occurred when the opportunity came along to make some money by selling their brother into foreign slavery rather than killing him. He would be gone forever; he was as good as dead.
When the brothers brought Joseph’s special coat back to Jacob (all torn up and bloodstained) everyone believed the story that an animal had killed him.
//
I imagine that when Joseph found his brothers out in the wilderness pastures, he approached them with a calm confidence that came with being his father’s agent sent to see how things were going.
These people were family – Joseph had no reason to be afraid.
It turns out he did.
“I’m not afraid”
“You will be; you will be”
Sometimes fear comes on us unexpectedly.
//
//
In the story from Matthew, Peter was afraid of the wind and choppy water. He was a seasoned fisherman – he respected the weather and he honoured the power of the wind – all of his experience brought the fear front and centre when he tried to walk out to meet Jesus in the water. Now, he wanted to believe that the majesty of Jesus would protect him, but the fear got in the way; it wouldn’t work, why did he even try to walk on water; Peter was afraid he would drown.
“I am afraid”
“Not needed, is fear, not needed”
It turns out that Peter didn’t need to be afraid, Jesus reached out and they returned to the safety of the boat. With Jesus, things were different than what Peter had known before.
Sometimes, our fears are unnecessary because they come from the past, not the present.
//
It was an evil act for Reuben and the others to thrust fear into Joseph’s life.
It was a righteous act for Jesus to remove fear from Peter’s.
//
I don’t think I need to ask the rhetorical question, but I will anyway: which of these two should be our guide as we live and move and have our being in this world?
We know that it is right and noble “to seek justice and resist evil.”
//
I know from my own experience and from what others have shared with me how devastating ‘fear’ can be. Modern people are faced with so many fears.
We worry about crime and murder rates; we worry about terrorism; we worry about the price of gas and the job market and debt; we worry about drugs ... and disease ... and a fragile environment and climate changes ... and that rogue asteroid (somewhere, out there) that is on a collision course with earth and will blast us all to smithereens sometime between 2:30 this afternoon and 50,000 years from now (or may when the Mayan calendar ends with the winter solstice in 2012).
Some of us are afraid that there won’t been any food to eat; some of us live in fear of rape or death squads or the crossfire of war; some of us are afraid to be honest about who we are because we fall short of a zealot’s definition of who is acceptable; some of us are bullied at school or on the playground or in the work place; some of us are not even safe at home.
Fear is out there. Fear is in here. There IS fear. Some of that fear is sourced in something beyond anyone’s control, but really, much of the fear in our world is created by someone’s actions and choices – most often affecting others intentionally as a means of control.
How does our desire to involve “spirit” in our lives affect this reality?
//
“Seek Justice and Resist Evil”
//
Both approaches are necessary – comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Be like Jesus and stand up to the likes of Reuben and the other brothers of Joseph. We are to be calmers of fear and opponents of those who use fear for the maintenance of their own power and advancement and wealth. When fear is used as a tool of control, it must be exposed for what it is and driven away.
If we are truly kin, if we are truly fellow travellers on the road; if are truly children of one God, then that’s not how we treat each other.
//
The purveyors of fear are (ironically) some of the most afraid people in the world – they fear loss: loss of power, loss of abundance and excess, loss of status. They believe the world to be a scarcity and greed – and so they seek to be the winner amongst the legion of losers.
I don’t believe that the totality of our existence is scarcity and greed. I believe that we have been gifted with a world of abundance and we have been invited to live for the common good.
John 10:10 ... [Jesus said] ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’
1st Corinthians 12:7 [Paul wrote] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Abundance and Good not Scarcity and Greed are the ways of the Spirit. I refuse to let the purveyors of fear try to convince me otherwise and I will work to expose the evil of what they do and I believe that change will come because over and over the message of scripture is “be not afraid”. As our immediate past moderator of the United Church, the Very Rev David Guiliano has said, ‘when you see that phrase be not afraid in the Bible, pay close attention because something amazing is about to happen. We can be people of amazement, I have to believe that!
//
Almost lost amongst the summer news of Casey Anthony’s legal innocence and the mind-numbing, fear-laced negotiations for the US government to pay its bills this week has been the tragedy occurring daily along the Horn of Africa: over 800,000 famine refugees have fled Somalia for camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Years of war and struggles for power have drained away resources from the drought-prone region. We lament about 34 murders so far in Edmonton this year – hundreds of people are dying each day on the horn of Africa. We should lament that as well.
Even though, many of us are just learning about this famine in recent weeks and months, it has been years in the making as warlords battle over land and wealth at the cost of almost 600 famine-related deaths per day. Add to this that, in the refugee camps, a rise in rape and sexual assaults makes life for women and girls even more fearful. There is piracy on the high seas because of this conflict as well.
News of this wrong in need of righting is beginning to spread. Hunger advocates and agencies are on scene and resources are being shared. The government of Canada is basing its response on the individual generosity of its citizens matching donations dollar for dollar. There is an insert with today’s bulletin that highlights how the United Church of Canada is involved. As a body of compassion, the institutional church tries hard to ‘be there, when needed’; it’s one of the strengths of our structure.
//
Fear is only truly released when the source of the fear is dismissed. Hunger pains can be eased by food; the fear caused by famine will linger as long as people are held hostage to the violence of the attitudes of scarcity and greed. Yes, let’s do what is possible to ease the fear of the moment, but let’s also do the just and right thing and put an end to the sources of fear (easy to see because they hide behind that language of scarcity and greed).
Stand up to the bullies;
Appreciate the abundance in your life, not the messages that you need more;
Don’t let the racist or homophobic or sexist joke pass by without expressing your offence against it de-humanizing message;
Love God with your whole being and love your neighbour as yourself!
//
One of the goals of the compassionate life is to seek to replace fear with peace; to counter worry with comfort; to invade chaos with calm. We want to ‘be there, when needed’.
//
I have been very fortunate that I have never really known what it is to fear for my life. But I have held (and still hold) a lot of “worry” – which is fear’s little brother/sister. A friend asking me recently if “emotional pain” every goes away. In the conversation, I responded – with what I believe to be true – that all pain lingers until the source of the pain is dealt with. For emotional pain, in particular, the source of that pain is often in the past. It continues to have hold of us because we keep it with us in the present.
I have benefited from the help of others who have assured me in the dark times that I am not alone – that others are there, when needed.
We say and hear that all the time – ‘call me if you need anything’. I think we mean it when we say it. But on the other end, it’s so hard to make that call. Lingering is a fear that (in the end) we are alone and must fend for ourselves, even when others have told us it is not true.
To release that fear, we must act on the belief that we are not alone! We must force whatever experiences we hang on to we have to be afraid because we are alone back into the past where it comes from.
Say it with me: “we are not alone”!
We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created
and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in
Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice
and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus,
crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death,
in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
//
We are not alone.
Celebrate God's presence,
Live with respect in Creation,
Love and serve others,
Seek justice and resist evil,
Proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
We are not alone.
//
Live it.
//
Make sure people know it.
//
And ... be not afraid.
Let us pray:
Stay with us God as we face challenges that seem insurmountable. Reach out to us and give us the calm and peace we need to serve in Jesus’ name, unafraid. Amen
#675VU “Will Your Anchor Hold?”
Pentecost 8
Genesis 37: 1-4;12-28
Matthew 14:22-33
(prayer)
There is a good scene in Star Wars Episode Five (The Empire Strikes Back), where Luke Skywalker seeks out the Jedi master, Yoda, but his first contact on the planet Degobah is a strange little creature who seems more concerned with supper than training. Watch.
“I’m not afraid”
“You will be”
//
Yoda told Luke to expect fear. Fear is among the most primal of emotions. Fear is that automated biological reaction to something being very “wrong” in our lives. It reaches its most extreme when life itself is threatened.
In less extreme versions, fear has always been a significant motivator within evolutionary cycles – a healthy respect for fear can keep one alive; a willingness to confront some fear can help us become more than we are; to broaden the possibilities of life.
//
Both my wife and I grew up in Edmonton and regularly attended the summer fair at Northlands (once Klondike Days, now Capital Ex). My mom is a shareholder and volunteer with Northlands and is able to get us good deals on all day ride passes, so our kids have grown into the pattern of going to Capital Ex each summer. I have really enjoyed watching them over the years and seeing how their courage adapts to more ‘scary’ rides each year, including just a couple of weeks ago.
People often are willing to risk the fear of a thrill ride, because they are willing to trust in a certain level of safety and regulation that they (in the end have no real mortal fear).
Other than recreational (adrenaline rush) thrills, fear is not something we desire. No one likes to be afraid. As an issue of justice, no one should have to live in fear. To be a purveyor of fear is to engage in a wholly evil act. To confront and challenge systems of fear is the holy height of righteousness.
//
Both of the scripture passages for today contain fearful situations. We get to see fear from two distinct perspectives.
//
Joseph was a great-grandson of Sarah and Abraham, the founders of the Hebrew bloodline. It was Joseph’s father, Jacob, who really got the ball rolling on nationhood by having at least thirteen children. (He did have four wives!)
In the passage from Genesis today, we heard Jacob referred to by his nickname, Israel: “the one who wrestles with God”. Years later, his descendants will refer to themselves as the people of Israel. Eventually, it became the nation’s name.
Today, we heard that Israel (Jacob) gave Joseph a unique coat. The translation of the Hebrew adjective is unclear: many coloured? long sleeved? The text makes it clear that Joseph was particularly loved by his father: the first child of his most beloved wife, Rachel. This affection did not go un-noticed by Israel’s other sons, Joseph’s brothers.
You may have noticed that as I read the Genesis passage today I skipped over verses five to eleven – in those passages Joseph has a couple of cryptic dreams that seem to mean that the other eleven brothers will be bowing down before Joseph.
Long story, short – Joseph was not liked by his brothers. Beyond Jealousy – hatred!
And so when Israel sent Joseph to “check up” on his brothers, they had had enough! The devised a plan to kill him; they would tell their father that Joseph had been attacked by a wild animal – a perfectly plausible parable. And that’s what they did.
The only adjustment to the plan occurred when the opportunity came along to make some money by selling their brother into foreign slavery rather than killing him. He would be gone forever; he was as good as dead.
When the brothers brought Joseph’s special coat back to Jacob (all torn up and bloodstained) everyone believed the story that an animal had killed him.
//
I imagine that when Joseph found his brothers out in the wilderness pastures, he approached them with a calm confidence that came with being his father’s agent sent to see how things were going.
These people were family – Joseph had no reason to be afraid.
It turns out he did.
“I’m not afraid”
“You will be; you will be”
Sometimes fear comes on us unexpectedly.
//
//
In the story from Matthew, Peter was afraid of the wind and choppy water. He was a seasoned fisherman – he respected the weather and he honoured the power of the wind – all of his experience brought the fear front and centre when he tried to walk out to meet Jesus in the water. Now, he wanted to believe that the majesty of Jesus would protect him, but the fear got in the way; it wouldn’t work, why did he even try to walk on water; Peter was afraid he would drown.
“I am afraid”
“Not needed, is fear, not needed”
It turns out that Peter didn’t need to be afraid, Jesus reached out and they returned to the safety of the boat. With Jesus, things were different than what Peter had known before.
Sometimes, our fears are unnecessary because they come from the past, not the present.
//
It was an evil act for Reuben and the others to thrust fear into Joseph’s life.
It was a righteous act for Jesus to remove fear from Peter’s.
//
I don’t think I need to ask the rhetorical question, but I will anyway: which of these two should be our guide as we live and move and have our being in this world?
We know that it is right and noble “to seek justice and resist evil.”
//
I know from my own experience and from what others have shared with me how devastating ‘fear’ can be. Modern people are faced with so many fears.
We worry about crime and murder rates; we worry about terrorism; we worry about the price of gas and the job market and debt; we worry about drugs ... and disease ... and a fragile environment and climate changes ... and that rogue asteroid (somewhere, out there) that is on a collision course with earth and will blast us all to smithereens sometime between 2:30 this afternoon and 50,000 years from now (or may when the Mayan calendar ends with the winter solstice in 2012).
Some of us are afraid that there won’t been any food to eat; some of us live in fear of rape or death squads or the crossfire of war; some of us are afraid to be honest about who we are because we fall short of a zealot’s definition of who is acceptable; some of us are bullied at school or on the playground or in the work place; some of us are not even safe at home.
Fear is out there. Fear is in here. There IS fear. Some of that fear is sourced in something beyond anyone’s control, but really, much of the fear in our world is created by someone’s actions and choices – most often affecting others intentionally as a means of control.
How does our desire to involve “spirit” in our lives affect this reality?
//
“Seek Justice and Resist Evil”
//
Both approaches are necessary – comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable. Be like Jesus and stand up to the likes of Reuben and the other brothers of Joseph. We are to be calmers of fear and opponents of those who use fear for the maintenance of their own power and advancement and wealth. When fear is used as a tool of control, it must be exposed for what it is and driven away.
If we are truly kin, if we are truly fellow travellers on the road; if are truly children of one God, then that’s not how we treat each other.
//
The purveyors of fear are (ironically) some of the most afraid people in the world – they fear loss: loss of power, loss of abundance and excess, loss of status. They believe the world to be a scarcity and greed – and so they seek to be the winner amongst the legion of losers.
I don’t believe that the totality of our existence is scarcity and greed. I believe that we have been gifted with a world of abundance and we have been invited to live for the common good.
John 10:10 ... [Jesus said] ‘I came that they may have life, and have it abundantly.’
1st Corinthians 12:7 [Paul wrote] To each is given the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good.
Abundance and Good not Scarcity and Greed are the ways of the Spirit. I refuse to let the purveyors of fear try to convince me otherwise and I will work to expose the evil of what they do and I believe that change will come because over and over the message of scripture is “be not afraid”. As our immediate past moderator of the United Church, the Very Rev David Guiliano has said, ‘when you see that phrase be not afraid in the Bible, pay close attention because something amazing is about to happen. We can be people of amazement, I have to believe that!
//
Almost lost amongst the summer news of Casey Anthony’s legal innocence and the mind-numbing, fear-laced negotiations for the US government to pay its bills this week has been the tragedy occurring daily along the Horn of Africa: over 800,000 famine refugees have fled Somalia for camps in Kenya and Ethiopia. Years of war and struggles for power have drained away resources from the drought-prone region. We lament about 34 murders so far in Edmonton this year – hundreds of people are dying each day on the horn of Africa. We should lament that as well.
Even though, many of us are just learning about this famine in recent weeks and months, it has been years in the making as warlords battle over land and wealth at the cost of almost 600 famine-related deaths per day. Add to this that, in the refugee camps, a rise in rape and sexual assaults makes life for women and girls even more fearful. There is piracy on the high seas because of this conflict as well.
News of this wrong in need of righting is beginning to spread. Hunger advocates and agencies are on scene and resources are being shared. The government of Canada is basing its response on the individual generosity of its citizens matching donations dollar for dollar. There is an insert with today’s bulletin that highlights how the United Church of Canada is involved. As a body of compassion, the institutional church tries hard to ‘be there, when needed’; it’s one of the strengths of our structure.
//
Fear is only truly released when the source of the fear is dismissed. Hunger pains can be eased by food; the fear caused by famine will linger as long as people are held hostage to the violence of the attitudes of scarcity and greed. Yes, let’s do what is possible to ease the fear of the moment, but let’s also do the just and right thing and put an end to the sources of fear (easy to see because they hide behind that language of scarcity and greed).
Stand up to the bullies;
Appreciate the abundance in your life, not the messages that you need more;
Don’t let the racist or homophobic or sexist joke pass by without expressing your offence against it de-humanizing message;
Love God with your whole being and love your neighbour as yourself!
//
One of the goals of the compassionate life is to seek to replace fear with peace; to counter worry with comfort; to invade chaos with calm. We want to ‘be there, when needed’.
//
I have been very fortunate that I have never really known what it is to fear for my life. But I have held (and still hold) a lot of “worry” – which is fear’s little brother/sister. A friend asking me recently if “emotional pain” every goes away. In the conversation, I responded – with what I believe to be true – that all pain lingers until the source of the pain is dealt with. For emotional pain, in particular, the source of that pain is often in the past. It continues to have hold of us because we keep it with us in the present.
I have benefited from the help of others who have assured me in the dark times that I am not alone – that others are there, when needed.
We say and hear that all the time – ‘call me if you need anything’. I think we mean it when we say it. But on the other end, it’s so hard to make that call. Lingering is a fear that (in the end) we are alone and must fend for ourselves, even when others have told us it is not true.
To release that fear, we must act on the belief that we are not alone! We must force whatever experiences we hang on to we have to be afraid because we are alone back into the past where it comes from.
Say it with me: “we are not alone”!
We are not alone,
we live in God's world.
We believe in God:
who has created
and is creating,
who has come in Jesus,
the Word made flesh,
to reconcile and make new,
who works in us and others
by the Spirit.
We trust in God.
We are called to be the Church:
to celebrate God's presence,
to live with respect in
Creation,
to love and serve others,
to seek justice
and resist evil,
to proclaim Jesus,
crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
In life, in death,
in life beyond death,
God is with us.
We are not alone.
Thanks be to God.
//
We are not alone.
Celebrate God's presence,
Live with respect in Creation,
Love and serve others,
Seek justice and resist evil,
Proclaim Jesus, crucified and risen,
our judge and our hope.
We are not alone.
//
Live it.
//
Make sure people know it.
//
And ... be not afraid.
Let us pray:
Stay with us God as we face challenges that seem insurmountable. Reach out to us and give us the calm and peace we need to serve in Jesus’ name, unafraid. Amen
#675VU “Will Your Anchor Hold?”
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