Be Opened: Labor Day weekend reflections

 9/5

flowers along the way...

The  Beverley Church gathered again...virtually...still dealing with the fact that their basement is under five feet of water. Faithful Evgeny has been tireless in trying to deal with the water. Here are my Labor Day reflections...

So here we are.  Labor Day weekend. Even though there are 16 days left of “official summer,” this is it, the traditional end of summer. Vacations come to an end. The time for back to school. (Though the charter school across the street from me has been back for several weeks now, the kids in their uniforms, shirts and ties and all…) We’re heading back to actual children in actual class rooms while churches like ours continue to meet virtually…..signs that like it or not, we are still living in coronavirusworld.

This new Delta variant has us all kinds of anxious as we try and figure out what is going on. Even vaccinated people falling victim to what we call breakthrough covid. Some even dying.  It’s all so confusing.  The one thing we do know is that the more of us who are vaccinated, the better off we are. And somehow still some of our fellow citizens adamantly refuse to get vaccinated. I just don’t get it.

Many of us are old enough to remember mandated vaccines at school…the polio sugar cubes, the scratched patches on our arms as we conquered polio and smallpox.  I just don’t get it…how did common sense and public health become controversial? Enough already.

And on Tuesday, our longest war came to an end with 13 more casualties and tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands of Afghani friends vulnerable and at risk. Twenty years…or forty if you go back to Carter and the Mujahideen. To what end?

And last Wednesday, another hurricane, Ida, ravaged the East Coast and the Gulf Coast. New Orleans under water again. Over 100,000 without electricity or water. New York City hjghways and subway systems down.  My apartment basement flooded. My former West Park Church flooded. Porters working all night to limit the damage. Back in Pittsburgh, the old downtown of my last parish flooded. Friends in Brooklyn with water filling their first floor. (Is everyone here alright?) Along with raging wildfires out of control in California and the Northwest. Do we need any more evidence of the damage we have done to our environment, our God-given home before we take action? 

And so here we are…

Jesus has left the Galilee. Crossed the border into what we no we call Lebanon. The region of Tyre and Sidon.  He wants to lay low. To bide his time, to chill for awhile. This place of tension between exposure, revelation and seclusion. But as always, they find him.  And this time, since  he is in a mainly Gentile region, a place despised by the Jewish community, it's not surprising that the person who seeks him out is a gentile woman, a Syro-Phoenician ethnically speaking. She wants him to cast out a demon from her daughter. (This, by the way is the third of four exorcisms Jesus will perform in Mark.)

Jesus response is shocking to us. He says, "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs.” And that is every bit as bad as it sounds. That word  dogs, in Greek kynarion, is actually for the Jews of that day an ethnic slur, kind of like the n word in its impact. He is literally saying I am only here for my own  people. 

Her response to him is very clever: "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs.” ( She also might well have asked him if so, what was he doing in her part of the world?)  And he immediately gets it. And tells her that even as she spoke those words, her daughter was already  healed. 

So what’s going on here? For centuries, scholars embarrassed by Jesus’ words, have tried to find a way out for him., Finesse this in one way or another. But it is what it is. He said it. And in today’s culture, that's enough to cost him a job as a newscaster, professor, politician or preacher. I believe it’s best to take the Bible as it is. 

If we do, we see Jesus gain a new insight …and grow. Look, if Jesus is in our tradition, fully human as well as fully divine, then as fully human, he can’t be perfect. As fully human, he can’t know everything in advance. As fully human, he can be filled with prejudice and un- reflected upon attitudes. And he shows us that we can grow and change in how we understand our world.

Think about this …in the immediately  preceding chapters, Jesus has been engaged in intellectual repartee, debate with high level scholars and religious leaders. And he always wins, he’s always got the right  word.

This time, a simple woman, from the “outside,” bests him and leads Jesus to a new understanding of how he is and  what his mission is. She helps Jesus understand that there is room in his community for people like you, people  like you and me.

What happens next is a more typical healing story. Jesus heals a man who is hearing and speech impaired. What’s significant is what he says to him…be opened. The man’s physical impairments are a metaphor for Jesus…and our…emotional impairments.  In his experience with the woman, It is Jesus who is every bit as much in need of healing as the woman’s daughter, And I might add, us.

Jesus says to us, be opened..to reexamining our own preconceptions, prejudices and attitudes and be open to seeing the world in a new way. 

Jesus wants the people to be quiet about this healing, Why? Wouldn’t it help spread his fame, grow his following? It’s the same reason Jesus turned down everything Satan offered in the wilderness. Everything he was offered was good…food for people, convincing miracles, political power…but none of that is at the center of  what Jesus wants. 

We spent weeks studying and reflecting on Jesus as the bread of life. He didn’t want people following him because he could provide food. He didn’t want people following him because he was a magic man who performed miracles. He performs miracles, he heals, out of compassion for the human need he sees in front of him…And that is the heart of the matter.

What he wants from us is to follow him…follow him in a life that recognizes the need in front of us regardless of who it is that is presenting it and to respond with compassion and  a commitment to doing whatever is in our power to bring about healing….

Jesus says Be opened…let those with ears to hear, hear…

Amen

Mark 7: 24-37

24From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27He 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." 28But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." 29Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." 30So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

31Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. 32They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. 33He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. 34Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." 35And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. 36Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. 37They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."

Labor Day Sunday: Partiality and Prejudice, did Jesus have to learn?

9/6/15

SO…it’s Labor Day weekend. I’m remembering the many times West-Park celebrated Labor to the  pulpit Sunday with special union guests sharing in service leadership. The time our unique music director Bill Schimmel brought in long time union musician and organizer Paul Stein to share old songs with us.  And most recently, our friends from National Movement Against Sweatshops.

What I’m interested in this week is prejudice and partiality. And I start with James, talking about experiences that seem to come directly from his church experience. His critique of favoritism coming from a long tradition within Judaism.

He’s talking about what happens on any given Sunday when you have two visitors, one rich and well-dressed, the other poor.

²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? 

I love James, the brother of Jesus, because he is so direct.

Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

He’s saying that since we have been baptized in the name of Jesus, if we mistreat the poor we’re giving Jesus a bad name, in essence we’re cursing him. We who bear his name become responsible for what is done in that name.

His court reference means something to me too, remembering going with different members of this congregation to housing court, seeing wealthy landlord after wealthy landlord putting people out from their houses, on sometimes flimsy grounds, sometimes just because they couldn’t afford an attorney. I cases where they’d actually paid the rent. Just so the new empty apartment could flip from stabilized or controlled to market rate. And out own experiences in court with all the pressure from judges to settle paying large sums of money we didn't have  just to make it go away.

I think about conversations about should anyone be able to sit in the sanctuary? Or  will their presence make others uncomfortable.? Worry about cleanliness? (Remember: We had over 100 occupiers here for weeks and  never a bed bug….good luck or maybe more….maybe God watches out..)

And once again the royal law, royal because it is the law on which Jesus’ reign is based…"You shall love your neighbor as yourself…and if you don’t do this, you are indeed a transgressor, that this is as important as adultery. Wish we could get that idea across…

SO here it is again The bottom line….¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

(Lutherans vs catholics)

So sandwiched between two feeding stories (of the 5000, of the 4000) we find a story about different bread. Or at least crumbs. Keep an eye on Jesus here. They’re up  northwest of Galilee. A place despised by good Jews. A woman who Is most definitely not a Jew asks Jesus for help. And he responds with the language of prejudice. Of racial epithet.And she calls him on it. Was this compassion fatigue on his part? ( In at least 2 other places where a worn out Jesus is pressed to respond, as in Jairus daughter, Luke 8: 40-56, his response is  different. But those cases were about Jews ) What’s going on here? Did Jesus have to grow? To change? People are very troubled by this  possibility…

Brian Blount, President of Union Seminary in Richmond, Virginia…has written a long essay arguing that for Jesus, this is just an elaborate teaching scheme…Well, I just don’t think so…I believe that if indeed as we profess to believe that Jesus was  fully human, then his wisdom and understanding and clarity and judgment just may not be full formed from the first. He needs to experience this,

The empire says us/not us. Not the Jesus’ community where we’re all us.(But how many of  us are ready to go  go beyond Christian inclusivity, IE, Christian/not Christian….

Before we end, I’ve been thinking about the difference between prejudice and Prejudice is all the ways we speak of and refer to those who are not us. Prejudice takes those feelings and has the  power to impose them through policy and institutions.

This year is the 150^th anniversary of the end of civil war…there’s a new examination going on of reconstruction and what it meant. At the very least, we know that it’s not enough to blame it on the south and their race related laws. None of that could have happened unless there was support buy the north. It’s now clear that thee was increasing  anxiety that newly free slaves and lower working class whites would join together in a unified poor workingman’s movement. It had already begun.  Thus Jim Crow laws took on the purpose of separating potential white and black allies.

And even then black elite like Booker T. Washington defined  the problem as one of “race relations” vs reconstruction, justice.  The same issues are with us today, little changed.

Has anyone ever heard of the Labor Temple? In the lost pages of Presbyterian history lies the story of the Labor Temple. …Around the same as this church was coming together in 1910, the Presbytery of New York City responded  to requests of  a number of  committed former mission personnel. Their Labor Temple ran until 1957 long after other similar institutions had ceased to exist.

Charlie Steize, founder, wanted an extension of the church that would  provide hospitality, spiritual guidance and education. He also believed that as minister, it was essential that he and his family live in the temple. ,One of his more popular lecturers there was Will Durant.  His lectures at the Temple would one day become the acclaimed History of Civilization.

A later pastor ,Rev. Dr. Edmund Chafee, founded the Ministers Union of America (AFL/CIO) local 1. Where are they now that I need them? The MUA’s officers included clergy from two other long time activist congregations, Lafayette Avenue, Brooklyn and ST. Jame s Harlem. And in line with the Temple’s sense of mission and core values, a number of the city’ rabbis drawn  the desire for a collective expression of fighting for a better world. More just. More humane.  I would like to have known these guys.

I’m proud that there was a Presbyterian Church once did this.

And I’m on the lookout for those who are burning to have a conversation on these and other classic texts.

Let us enjoy the rest of this weekend off.

SECOND READING JAMES 2:1-10 (11-13) 14-17

¹My brothers and sisters, do you with your acts of favoritism really believe in our glorious Lord Jesus Christ?²For if a person with gold rings and in fine clothes comes into your assembly, and if a poor person in dirty clothes also comes in, ³and if you take notice of the one wearing the fine clothes and say, "Have a seat here, please," while to the one who is poor you say, "Stand there," or, "Sit at my feet," ⁴have you not made distinctions among yourselves, and become judges with evil thoughts? ⁵Listen, my beloved brothers and sisters. Has not God chosen the poor in the world to be rich in faith and to be heirs of the kingdom that he has promised to those who love him? ⁶But you have dishonored the poor. Is it not the rich who oppress you? Is it not they who drag you into court? ⁷Is it not they who blaspheme the excellent name that was invoked over you?

⁸You do well if you really fulfill the royal law according to the scripture, "You shall love your neighbor as yourself." ⁹But if you show partiality, you commit sin and are convicted by the law as transgressors. ¹⁰For whoever keeps the whole law but fails in one point has become accountable for all of it. ¹¹For the one who said, 'You shall not commit adultery," also said, "You shall not murder." Now if you do not commit adultery but if you murder, you have become a transgressor of the law. ¹²So speak and so act as those who are to be judged by the law of liberty. ¹³For judgment will be without mercy to anyone who has shown no mercy; mercy triumphs over judgment.

¹⁴What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if you say you have faith but do not have works? Can faith save you? ¹⁵If a brother or sister is naked and lacks daily food, ¹⁶and one of you says to them, "Go in peace; keep warm and eat your fill," and yet you do not supply their bodily needs, what is the good of that? ¹⁷So faith by itself, if it has no works, is dead.

GOSPEL MARK 7:24-37

²⁴From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, ²⁵but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. ²⁶Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. ²⁷He 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." ²⁸But she answered him, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs." ²⁹Then he said to her, "For saying that, you may go — the demon has left your daughter." ³⁰So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

³¹Then he returned from the region of Tyre, and went by way of Sidon towards the Sea of Galilee, in the region of the Decapolis. ³²They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech; and they begged him to lay his hand on him. ³³He took him aside in private, away from the crowd, and put his fingers into his ears, and he spat and touched his tongue. ³⁴Then looking up to heaven, he sighed and said to him, "Ephphatha," that is, "Be opened." ³⁵And immediately his ears were opened, his tongue was released, and he spoke plainly. ³⁶Then Jesus ordered them to tell no one; but the more he ordered them, the more zealously they proclaimed it. ³⁷They were astounded beyond measure, saying, "He has done everything well; he even makes the deaf to hear and the mute to speak."