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Lectionary - September 2003 |
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Lectionary - September 2003 |
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September 7, 2003 - Year B - Pentecost 13 Wesley White Mark 7:24-37 As we come to the end of one week and enter another - what is an example, since your last sabbath time, of mercy taking precedence over judgment? - Where, this next short time ahead, do you already know you will need to be careful to have your judgment take one step back so mercy will be volunteered? May you have to courage to so live that folks will miss your modeling of mercy first and everything else second. Wesley White Mark 7:24-37 The geography is problematic. The healings are no where as straight-forward as they seem. As we listen in we know we need to use our wits and have the wits of others used on us to open our lives beyond our current limitations of religion and culture and fear. As we know we are missing important words of life we need to get beyond the grossness of spit. Again and again we need to be opened. Let this be your "word for the day" everyday this week - ephphatha - note how your mouth opens wider as you progress through the word ef-fa-tha. Here are two sermons you may want to attend to Ephphatha! Be Open! and Ephphatha...Be Opened Wesley White Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23 The rich and the poor have this in common: the Lord is the maker of them all. [22:2] Those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor. [22:9] A wonderful argument for a stewardship pledge drive. GOD has made us all. We honor that by putting everything together. The polarity of those who have more than enough and those who have less than enough find a way wherein those with much don't have too much (they have shared their bread) and those with little don't have too little (they have bread shared with them). It may even be more important to find our common spot than to talk about our need to give and a promise of even more prosperity if we cast our bread upon the waters or into the pastor's pocket. Let's look for the place that best brings us together as it seems is GOD's best intention for us. Let's resist stopping short with only personal reasons for giving. In sharing and being shared with we re-member GOD. Wesley White Psalm 125 How protected are you feeling today? What is your peace quotient today? A few years ago we heard it takes a village to raise a child. It takes a village to surround a child. In this psalm we hear about it taking mountains to encircle, encompass, surround a whole people that they might be raised as a village of peace that can raise children who are peacemakers. Where is your village, your mountains? Without them the sceptre of wickedness is raised over us and we are scared. Without them we will fall prey to copying the way of the wicked. In the face of injustice and organized violence, while before corruption and and complacency, we look for the place of trust that will gird us round. We find that in the gathered community. In these in-between times when the village has been scattered and the mountains shaken - remember peace remains upon and beneath and close around. Try this word substitution on for size: "As justice surrounds Jerusalem (peaceful place), so GOD judges the people, now and forever." While justice is quite different from peace and the two should never be equated, it is important to note how justice provides the protection needed for peace to flourish. Without it wickedness prevails. Is your sense of protection and peace qualified because not enough attention has been paid to the communal aspect of justice that goes beyond personal justice? What is just for me may not be just for you and so the need to search out what is just for both of us even if that means my losing what is just for me or you losing what is just for you. Only through such difficult terrain do we find the mountains that cannot be moved. Only through such difficult terrain do we arrive at the peace that cannot be shaken. Only through such difficult terrain do we experience a peace that goes beyond remembrance or hope. Wesley White James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17 We could spend a lot of time here looking at how we look with wholeness or look with partiality upon our sisters and brothers, Christian and non-Christian. This has much to do with issues of nationalism and sexuality, economics and theology. A part of the confusion we have revolves around a little word, "works." Are works related to the limitations of law or the expansiveness of mercy? Our institutions are far better oriented toward the negative law approach. A part of the challenge the progressive movement brings to the institution is very Jamesian, a positive appreciation of works of mercy that push back the boundaries works of law and itself has no boundaries. I am aware this issue of boundaries is one that is fraught with danger. Nonetheless: Legally, we need to be very careful of boundary violations for they are the basis of suits that exemplify seeing through a glass, darkly. Mercifully, we cast care to the wind and step out where angels fear to tread, willing to be sued and tried and convicted and sentenced. We do so because to not do so is a deader dead than death. Wesley White Isaiah 35:4-7 If we back up to the beginning of the chapter we hear about the wilderness and the dry land being glad, so glad they sing. In the progression of the passage it could be the rejoicing wilderness that is to pass on the angelic message, "Don't fear." What are our wilderness areas saying to us these days? Might it be, "Help!" rather than "Don't fear."? When you think of the wild places that folks would like to rape for commercial benefit, how far away does GOD seem? When we can't protect the land how might we expect to have the blind see? When the sighted are only short-sighted we are increasing the number of functionally blind people, not reducing them. Does it make a difference to you if it is the desert places in our lives that bring us a message of such deep joy or if it is Isaiah, the person, who brings this message? How would it change your preaching/teaching/living if we simply honored the environment without having to run its song through some holy person's lips? It is the desert places that let us know that water isn't everything, so rejoice. Wesley White Psalm 146 Listen again to the listing of the beatitudes and woes -- You are blest by hope in GOD who made - heaven, earth, sea ruins - wicked 9/10th require building good, 1/10th brings down How is it with your life? What 10th is constructing a commonwealth? What 10th is deconstructing? The SyroPhoenician Woman Marjorie Murdoch Now come on! The Gospel reading starts at v. 24 with the story of Jesus' responding in a very rude and racist way to this woman. Yet every sermon illustration I subscribe to or have looked at so far is dealing with the healing of the deaf chap. Is no one going to share their thoughts on what is going on here? Seems to me that Mark has put the Good News square in the mouth of this woman - and yet what are we to do with the language that is not only self derogatory, but demeaning to animals and full of the language which sets humans above our fellow creatures. For me this is a story with which I struggle. The crux of the struggle is how not to gloss over the language - to hear it, yet not over spiritualize it, to take it seriously as a revelation of how God is with us, but also to hear in it how even in darkness and deficiency God's presence is. Wesley White It is indeed intriguing to reflect on Marjorie's experience of avoidance of the Syrophoenician woman. While I think we have made entirely too much of the 9/11 experience and misused it as a lens excusing the war America foisted upon Iraq, there is a cultural reality to it. We are about to pass through another anniversary of it. Is this a way of saying that our faith does not currently have a way to stand up to the interaction between the unnamed woman and the named Jesus and come out at a different place than we entered? Does she feel like a terrorist with a demand and a persistence to see it cared for? Does some of this make it easier to not listen at all and to focus on the more feel good direct healing that may lead to listening? There are several other ways of trying to look at the issue of only focusing on the second healing story. In the context within which I find myself I could have gone with either text to look at the congregational system. There are a couple of specific instances that seemed to make the second story a better way to continue that conversation here. If this is a culture-wide phenomenon we may all need to step back and look again - to take the ephphatha approach to ourselves that we might be open to learn again about inclusion. Your comment did lead me to go back to look at some other jottings of mine on my still incomplete homepage and I found the following references that included the Syrophoenician woman: Mark 7, 2003, Mark 7, 2000, and Matthew 15, 1999. There are other connecting spots on TextWeek.com: Matthew 15 and Mark 7. Jane Keener Thank you. I wanted to contribute some thoughts on the Lectionary reading for this Sunday. The SyroPhoenician woman does no more than many mothers do when they need to advocate for a child. I never paid much attention to this passage until now when I spent time with it and realized that it is so commonplace for a mother. We do it all the time. In Mark we see a mother advocating for her child, and it changes the world. David Miller Majorie - I appreciate the frustration over the silence concerning the SyroPhoenecian woman. I agree with Jane's observation that she is doing the ordinary, but the memory of it makes this advocacy extrodinary. This woman - though tragically unnamed - is elevated as a teacher much as the unnamed woman of Luke 7:36-50. There as here (Mark's story), those who ought to see cannot, but those who are considered untrustworthy are elevated as fitting witnesses of the kingdom. 14 September 2003 - Year B - Pentecost 14 Wesley White September 14, 2003 Mark 8:27-38 There are a lot of pronouncements to be dealt with this week. May we lessen the weakness of our tongue and strengthen the call to new life. Wesley White Mark 8:27-38 What is the sound of one hand clapping? When you have spent enough time with those koans, it will be time to come back to verse 30. The NRSV phrase "sternly ordered" is connected with exorcisms. This might be read as, "Jesus exorcised them of pride." They were not to tell anyone, to brag about their insight. Their life was to live what they knew, not excuse it by claiming "I AM-ness." If disciples are to follow they need to deny pride of knowledge or place or rank and to imitate their teacher who did not claim special status as the authorization for action. What is created and gifted from the inside simply needs to come out. This, alone, will push the boundaries and bring an opportunity to demonstrate how far our imitation will go. To claim exemption from consequences is satanic. So think again about the question, "What can be given in return for life?" Respond to a variant, "What exemption from life will lead to more life?" Wesley White Proverbs 1:20-33 Wisdom is available on the street where you live. In places of business and entertainment and courts, Lady Wisdom calls out. There is no where you can go that insight regarding a larger picture, a more complete picture, is absent. The question before us is whether or not we are so simple-minded or willfully ignorant that we cannot take the time and pay the attention to this call. Our usual approach is to scoff and deride. This in turn leads us to being laughed at which, of course, means we respond with greater and preemptive cynicism. May this deadly cycle be broken before we find the consequences to our carelessness and complacency that keeps us from learning and acting on our learning. Wesley White Psalm 19 What does Madame Day teach every morning? and Professor Night each evening? Is this a trick question simply because speech is not used? Probably not. It is an opening to hear other important parts of your life that are also beyond being put into words. For instance, the whole category of sins of omission. How do you see what you haven't done? How do you hear about what you failed to say? To be healed of hidden faults is first to recognize them. Who do you trust enough to ask - what have I overlooked in my way of doing business with life? Presumably your spiritual director will aid you in developing an exercise that will clarify this as day does to day and night to night. Wesley White James 3:1-12 It is good to have you along for the journey, we can share the responsibility of teaching. As we encourage and support one another, as we bring awareness and correction to one another, we can make the appropriate changes in our syllabi. In this process we are able to better use our tongues as rudders rather than flame-throwers. We increase our blessing and diminish our cursing (not just language, but attitudes and prejudices). Don't forget that tongues also can be trained to crave and to substitute for other parts of life. Thus the issue of obesity. Also, tongues can be corporate. How does political discourse, the tongue of the body politic, run these days and can the warnings of James be applied here? You may find it helpful to remember some teachings from the Buddhist tradition that help us grow beyond the wheel of existence, the wheel of birth, the cycle of nature. Wesley White Isaiah 50:4-9 The previous several days have had a look at tongues and teachers and mornings. Isaiah brings us an image of what we too easily call the suffering servant to deal with the difficulties of exile and betrayal and weariness. Some form of stoicism will see us through difficult times, but I suspect we and all are looking for more than simply standing and take it on the chin. While still taking it, the assurance of the presence of GOD, even in ungodly circumstances, would have us standing with GOD and that makes all the difference. So what promises of GOD are you standing on? How else do we set our face like flint (growing ever more like The Great Stone Face) and not get confused about the measurement of disgrace which so easily falls into failing to meet the cultural stereotype of success)? GOD help you! GOD help me! GOD help us all! GOD help us help you and and me and each other and all! Wesley White Wisdom of Solomon 7:26-8:1 or Psalm 116:1-9 Return, O my soul, to your rest, for the Lord has dealt bountifully with you. (Ps 116:7) In every generation Wisdom passes into holy souls and makes them friends of God and prophets. (Wisdom 7:27b) Recognize yourself? Well, recognize yourself! enough said Kairos CoMotion 21 September 2003 - Year B - Pentecost 15 Wesley White September 21, 2003 Mark 9:30-37 Disputes abound in the scripture and in our lives. May we identify the real disputes and not settle for the surface or straw-person type disputes that camouflage the basics. Wesley White Mark 9:30-37 I trust you know first-hand the connection between not understanding and fear. The two are a very powerful combination. In not understanding we become fearful to find out or even to have an epiphany for it will cause the whole constellation of behaviors we have constructed out of our misunderstanding to come crumbling down about us. In fear we prefer confusion to clarity for we can hide better and excuse ourselves better when things are muddy so our fear stirs up the bottom muck. It is not surprising that the disciples did not understand Jesus' teaching about his betrayal and death, given the topic of their discussion (NISB note). It is not surprising that not understanding Jesus' own self-understanding, or their fear of understanding what Jesus was saying, led them to try to figure out who was going to carry on the teaching once Jesus was gone. Surely it would be one of them that would be the key to the next level of institutional success and who would protect their pension. What! a child, a newcomer, will teach, will be called to a place of honor? How could this be? Doesn't Jesus understand the process of royal succession? Perhaps we can help him out by winnowing the weightiest pool of players. If everyone votes for themselves as the greatest, everyone will get one vote. If everyone must vote for another (become last to someone else's first) then I'm more likely to get more affirmation of greatness. Remember John Nash's insight in the movie "A Beautiful Mind"? Christianity Today puts it this way, "the Nash equilibrium posits that there are circumstances in which we are better off if we settle for something other than that which we most desire. This may be counterintuitive, but the mathematical proof (which is available for a general audience in William Poundstone's excellent book, Prisoner's Dilemma ) is quite elegant. Indeed, the implication of the Nash equilibrium is that sometimes the entire community is better off when we choose not to pursue that which we want most desperately." Wesley White Proverbs 31:10-31 This acrostic poem means there will be some forced artificiality to the content. It is similar to those forced rhymes by second-rate poets while the first-rate ones know how to sometimes come close and sometimes break the pattern. For the moment, focus on verse 25 - "Strength and dignity are her clothing, and she laughs at the time to come." May this be said of you and me and other progressives within whichever religious tradition they live and move and have their being. Strength and dignity and laughter. What a wonderful combination. To only have any one of this trinity is to fail. To have even two of the three is to mightily stumble. To have all three at our disposal and to be able to play with them will lead to a life in all its fullness. Be full - put on strength, wrap yourself in dignity, and let laughter bubble up from within as their limit. Wesley White Psalm 1 Compare this psalm with the beatitudes in Matthew and Luke. Both are songs (have you heard Sweet Honey in the Rock sing Beatitudes ? if not search it out). Happiness/blessedness set the tone for the psalter and Jesus' teaching. If this is not a focal point for reading them, so much will be missed and the teaching of life will become rote. May we be planted by streams of blessing and happily yield more of life's fullness, in every season. Wesley White James 3:13 - 4:3, 7-8a Confession/Assurance [based on The Message ] Where do you think all these appalling wars and quarrels come from? Do you think they just happen? Think again. They come about because we want our own way, and fight for it deep inside ourselves. We lust for what we don't have and are willing to kill to get it. We want what isn't ours and will risk violence to get our hands on it. You wouldn't think of just asking God for it, would you? And why not? Because we know we'd be asking for what we have no right to. We're spoiled children, each wanting our own way. So let God's intention work in you. Yell a loud no to the Devil and watch the scampering. Say a quiet yes to God and in no time you'll live together. Wesley White Wisdom of Solomon 1:16 - 2:1, 12-22 or Jeremiah 11:18-20 Let us test what will happen at the end of his life. Thus they reasoned, but they were led astray, for their wickedness blinded them, and they did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls, nor understood that by our tests are we, in turn, tested. [Wisdom 2:17, 21-22, 17 enhanced] Let me see your retribution upon them. Thus we reasoned, but we were led astray, for our wickedness blinded us, and we did not know the secret purposes of God, nor hoped for the wages of holiness, nor discerned the prize for blameless souls, nor understood that our desire for retribution is, in turn, paid back. [Jeremiah 11:20b, Wisdom 2:21-22, Jeremiah 20b enhanced] In the midst of the storms of life that come our way or are caused by us, there are choices to be made. May you live in the "hope of holiness" more than turning tests into retributions. Wesley White Psalm 54 An NISB comment: "The prayer's anticipation of victory and expression of assurance change the situation of the one who prays. The oppression of the enemies is defused by this prayer, and hope becomes reality." From an NISB excursus: "Clearly those victimized by these threatening rivals use the language of prayer as a vehicle of liberation. Enemies are dealt with in words that express uncensored yearning for God's vengeance. Such prayers transfer anger and rage form human hearts to God, yielding enacted vengeance to divine prerogative." Both of these comments push us to look through lenses other than our giving in to the temptation of the idolatry of preemption. Can you grasp this as a different approach than that of Western Wealth which claims prerogatives. When in the midst of exile, slavery, genocide, or other loss leaving no practical recourse, this is all that may be left - sic 'em GOD! This might make an interesting verbal Rorschach test. Can you find David hiding among us? 28 September 2003 - Year B - Pentecost 16 Wesley White September 28, 2003 Mark 9:38-50 The siege mentality we can get into as an individual is one that can also be manifested by a community. As we bring more folks into our delusion that we are the only real act in town we are apt to overlook the growing stumbling block that is us - our own enemy. We need not only individual confession that awakens us, but community and national confession. Wesley White Mark 9:38-50 It is so tempting to fall into the trap of talk radio where the most used word is "they". How like the church it is to narrow the perspective to the local expression of faith. We whine, "They're not doing it right!" We would separate ourselves even more widely than we do. Fortunately Jesus is not so quick to take affront - "Whoever is not against us is for us." Can we define people in rather than defining them out? This is a significant question because, left to our own devices, we would see all "theys" as the hand or foot that causes us to stumble and we would cut "them" off. Aren't we much more prone to prescribing this to others than to ourselves who have extenuating circumstances and will, of course, follow through on our promise of the moment to do better? Oh to see ourselves as well as "them" as being salted with fire. May we have this fire of confession within and peace all around. As The Message has it, "Be preservatives yourselves. Preserve the peace." On this day, a celebration of my birth, can I get cabalistic and claim a relationship between this passage and my next year [since I haven't always done a bang-up job with this the past year]? Do you have an organizing scripture passage for yourself? Has it changed with the changes in your life or remained the same? If remaining the same has your perspective on it, relationship to it or use of it changed? Wesley White Esther 7:1-6, 9-10, 9:20-22 Bullies come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. They are usually experts at the argumentum ad hominem , either physically or psychologically. We do recognize that bullying goes on in religious life as well. One example is what the religious right does day in and day out. Examples of this can be found in a recent book: United Methodism @ RISK. In fact, though, comments like the above play the tit for tat game. Even a question about degree doesn't avoid the way in which progressives use their sarcastic skills against those out of accord. So what celebration is in order when everyone has been "hoist on their own petard"? Is this where "kingdom of God" comes in. Might that be our equivalent of Purim - a time of celebrating the end of one-upping, the arrival of cooperation, through and through? Wesley White Psalm 124 What metaphor do you use to describe the fact that you are still with us? There are so many things that can go wrong. Some of it our own stupidity (intentional and involuntary). Some of it is sent our way by others (intentional and not). Some of it is just plain old s... (spelled that way to get around various filters). How do you describe the presence of GOD with you? Do you use nature images as this psalm or electronic based on where you are located when this gets to you? Do you mostly connect the name of the Lord with past coming-throughs, present mercies, future promises? Try a half-dozen verses to communicate the cause of your presence and engagement in life today.
Wesley White James 5:13-20 If there is wisdom in seeing this as a passage about the community instead of an individual, might we not read it: "Are you among you suffering? The community is to be in prayer. Are any cheerful? Everyone is to sing songs of praise. Are any among you sick? Call forth the healing elders.... The prayer of the righteous [another name for the people of the way?] is powerful and effective." Like me you may have had pain beyond which one cannot pray, detachment is not that strong. Likewise there has been cheer and enchantment beyond limiting it by any particular expression of thanks. There is always the limit of death staring us in the heart and being connected with the elders who have gone before is a comfort - myrrh and frankincense and aloes, ahhh, what anointing for a life well lived. Truly love covers all offenses. Wesley White Numbers 11:4-6, 10-16, 24-29 Being led by a vocal minority, a rabble, the riff-raff, is nothing new. It happens with Talk Radio where there is only one right answer. It happens in dealing with biblical passages and literalists. It happened long ago with Moses. Led by some, everyone chimed in accord or at least didn't object. For the faithful Moses and any of us feeling trapped by the same systemic failure, railing against our plight is pretty normal. We feel pretty much alone. One response is to gather like-minded folks together and experience again the presence of GOD in the midst of the gathered. This has so much going for it. Even those who ought to be at such a gathering and for whatever reason are not present also receive renewed energy to stand and prophesy for the larger way. El-dad and Me-dad and You-dad can work where we are because we know others are working elsewhere. We hope our Kairos CoMotion gathering in Madison, Wisconsin, October 30 to November 1 will be such a time of celebrating that not only those gathered but those at any remove who are of similar heart will be strengthened to stand and prophesy where they are. To find out more about this 2nd Annual Celebration of Kairos CoMotion click here. Please be kind and register by October 1, our deadline, but because grace abounds we will probably still work you in. The deadline is to help us with food planning and other details. Wesley White Psalm 19:7-14 Who can detect their errors? Probably no one as long as unintended consequences are alive and well. It is helpful to remember that the errors here go back to "unintentional sin" rather than simply being wrong choices. As you reflect on this remember also the flip side of the individual is the community and vice versa. Our hidden faults as a community are as powerful as those of ourselves as individuals. How would you read this if it ended with community language instead of individual language. Can you hear a whole congregation or nation desiring their words to be congruent with their hearts and their hands to reflect both their minds and their intentions. So, as individuals and as communities my we be kept alert to our proud thoughts that keep us from being alert to the consequences of our omissions as keenly as we are to our commissions. |