Bread for Dogs

One of the most troubling narratives in the gospels comes up this Sunday:

Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. He said to her, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go-- the demon has left your daughter."

At the beginning of the week it's good to ask, What do we make of Jesus' apparently harsh interaction with this Gentile woman?

What Are the Chances...

...that Jesus said all these words?

"Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile. For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly."

My bet is that the list of all the 'nasty things' was added later by understandably well meaning folk trying to create a well-behaved community. I think Jesus would have left the burden on each listening 'heart' to figure out what was muddying up its own wellspring.

Righteous Rules Die Hard

"Why don't you wash your hands ceremonially before you eat?" The Pharisees ask Jesus. "You know, to show God you know how very, very dirty you are?"

Jesus told them they had a lot to learn about water...and about dirt.

One of the images I love involving water and Jesus is this statue in a courtyard in the Chester Cathedral--it's Jesus and the Samaritan woman. She's giving him water--or is it he who gives it to her? And how do we tell and is it even important?

What's important is water, pure living water that sustains life.

Jesus doesn't make it easy

Bill Loader, an excellent biblical scholar from Australia writes:

"The claim of the fourth gospel is that Israel’s religious heritage is not to be abandoned but to be owned as metaphor which bears witness to the truth."

Which is to say that what was so hard for Jews following Jesus was that at some point he becomes something akin to a new Torah, new Bible, new Law. Not another Torah, but an updated version. He has 'the words of eternal life.'

The Gospel of John is usually hard for me. It seems gnostic sometimes--full of specialized secret knowledge you have to be initiated into to understand (or appreciate!). It's helpful to think of this section of John's gospel in Bill Loader's terms--something we have truly to own as metaphor that bears witness to the truth.

it's still challenging--even to understand. And as we understand, we still have to deal with the realization that Jesus doesn't make it easy. Like in Chapter 3--with Nicodemus--we are called to be born again! And what does that mean for each of us? What crucial life-passage does that bear witness to? And can we stand the persistent discomfort and disorientation that comes to everybody who decides to stay with Jesus to find out?

12 Pentecost

Two phrases immeditately get my attention this week.

BEYOND THE RIVER

In Joshua, the children of Israel after centuries of exile in Egypt and 40 years in the desert are poised to enter the promised land. One of the things Joshua says to them is that what was important to them beyond the river (the river Jordan) will (must) change now. Life Here and the way life is lived Here will be different on this side of the Jordan.

How does 'Beyond the River' speak in our lives?

WORDS OF LIFE

In John, Jesus has baffled, challenged and offended most of the people, including many of the disciples. And they've left him. He asks the 12, Will you leave too? And Peter says, "Lord, where would we go? You have the words of life?"

What are "Words of Life" for each of us?

Twice Blessed

We have a Wisdom passage for one our lessons Sunday (see below).

Wisdom offers a double blessing. It is the knowledge we carefully save and pass on because we recognize meaningful life depends on it. And it is our ever-growing capacity to integrate wisdom from the past into life right now.

Calls to mind a snippet of an old Moody Blues song I heard through earphones lying on my dorm room floor: 'A beam of light will fill your head and you'll remember what's been said by all the wise men this world's ever known.' That's the first part (and it was part of the beginning of a conscious spiritual journey for me).

But what exactly is this capacity that allows us to integrate all those wise words--and how do we get better at it...? Mmmmm. Something to think about for Sunday.

Wisdom

Wisdom has built her house,
she has hewn her seven pillars.
She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine,
she has also set her table.
She has sent out her servant girls, she calls
from the highest places in the town,
"You that are simple, turn in here!"
To those without sense she says,
"Come, eat of my bread
and drink of the wine I have mixed.Lay aside immaturity, and live,
and walk in the way of insight."
Proverbs 9.1-6

Zucchini?

Chad reminds us that Aug 8 is sneak some zucchini onto your neighbors porch day! Read more...

Elijah Fly-Over

In the OT lesson this week, Elijah eats the bread of angels and travels further than he thought possible. Bar-headed geese make an amazing journey too.

Helpful Critique of Rowan Williams Recent Statement

off the cuff:

Homosexuality and the Anglican debate

posted by The Editors

Off the cuff is a new feature at The Immanent Frame, in which we pose a question to a handful of leading thinkers and ask for a brief response. Our question today concerns the issue of homosexuality in debates about the Anglican Communion.

Read it here

The Grace of "Doubt"--Fr. Flynn's opening sermon

Last year, when President Kennedy was assassinated, who among us did not experience the most profound disorientation? Despair? Which way? What now? What do I say to my kids? What do I tell myself? It was a time of people sitting together, bound together by a common feeling of hopelessness. But think of that! Your BOND with your fellow being was your Despair. It was a public experience. It was awful, but we were in it together. How much worse is it then for the lone man, the lone woman, stricken by a private calamity?

‘No one knows I’m sick.’
‘No one knows I’ve lost my last real friend.’
‘No one knows I’ve done something wrong.’

Imagine the isolation. Now you see the world as through a window. On one side of the glass: happy, untroubled people, and on the other side: you.

I want to tell you a story. A cargo ship sank one night. It caught fire and went down. And only this one sailor survived. He found a lifeboat, rigged a sail…and being of a nautical discipline…turned his eyes to the Heavens and read the stars. He set a course for his home, and exhausted, fell asleep. Clouds rolled in. And for the next twenty nights, he could no longer see the stars. He thought he was on course, but there was no way to be certain. And as the days rolled on, and the sailor wasted away, he began to have doubts. Had he set his course right? Was he still going on towards his home? Or was he horribly lost… and doomed to a terrible death? No way to know. The message of the constellations - had he imagined it because of his desperate circumstance? Or had he seen truth once… and now had to hold on to it without further reassurance? There are those of you in church today who know exactly the crisis of faith I describe. And I want to say to you: DOUBT can be a bond as powerful and sustaining as certainty. When you are lost, you are not alone.

In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost.

Watch the clip

A Different Place

'The Kingdom of Heaven is really a metaphor for a state of consciousness; it is not a place you go to, but a place you come from. It is a whole new way of looking at the world, a transformed awareness that literally turns this world into a different place.' --Cynthia Bourgeault, The Wisdom Jesus