Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Bold Faith--sermon from 8/17 and 8/20

I am not doing well keeping up on the blog. I will have to make a better effort at this.

I am posting the sermon I preached.  I wonder what others think of bold faith?  What does it mean? 



Our gospel reading this morning is challenging, mainly because of Jesus’ response and reaction to the Canaanite woman.  Earlier in chapter 15, Jesus was challenged by the Pharisees and scribes why the disciples had broken with tradition, particularly, why didn’t they wash their hands before they ate.  Jesus challenges back about why they break the commandments of God, particularly speaking evil of parents when God commands to honor your Father and Mother.  Jesus says, This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me. 
Our reading picks up on this idea with a very descriptive image—what enters the mouth goes to the stomach and will go out via the sewer.  But what exits the mouth proceeds from the heart and this is what defiles, for out of the heart comes that which we do and say to others that is unclean.  Dirty hands will not defile, dirty words and actions will.
To illustrate this further, Jesus and the disciples enter the district of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile territory that Israelites would not venture into alone.  Just then one of them, a woman in fact started shouting, “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.”  She is multiple-unclean---Canaanite, woman, daughter with a demon.”  Jesus doesn’t answer, and the disciples urge him to send her away—because she keeps shouting.  She approaches him and kneels, Lord, help me.  This time he isn’t silent, and says it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.  This illustrates that he had said earlier he had been sent to the lost sheep of Israel.  Dog would have had the same impact that calling a woman a female dog would have today!  The woman, bold in her conviction replies, Yes Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters table.”  Moved, Jesus responds, Woman, great is your faith, let it be done as you wish and her daughter is healed instantly.
Jesus’ responses are rough to hear.  However today I want to focus on the bold actions, the bold conviction this woman displayed.  She knew the traditions of the Israelites, she knew speaking to a man, let alone and Israelite man was just not done.  But it was her child, and some boundaries are crossed when a parent needs something for their child.  So she crosses the social, ethnic, gender boundaries to reach this Jesus, the Son of David, and asks for compassion!  The tradition, the boundary was a fence that kept her away from Jesus, and she was not going to let this stand. 
I wonder, am I as bold?  Are you as bold?  Are we, as a church as bold? 
This past week, we offered a Back to School Fair, for everyone!  Everything was free, no one had to prove anything.  We trust that those who came needed what we had, and no questions.  I believe we were bold.  We welcomed people, we engaged with people, and almost all comments I heard was how great this idea was and how people can help next year. 
The week before, as we were setting up, a young man came in—most people in the church at that time were concerned.  He claimed he needed money for a bus ticket to Toledo, for his mother’s funeral.  All the signs were there, all the warnings, at least they were for everyone but me.  So I went to the ATM, took out some of my own money and gave the young man $43 for a ticket.  Only to find out later that day he had also been seen at a bowling alley and a supermarket asking for money for a bus ticket—and he was supposed to have been already on the bus.  Duped.  And out $43.  I could get into all the things I did wrong here, but that would take too much time.  Leave it said, this could have jaded me, but I will still say that if I have to face God at the pearly gates and defend myself, I will boldly defend myself for giving to people who don’t need it than not giving to those who did!  Sometimes bold doesn’t equate smart!
It seems the news in our world today is overwhelming.  Issues with genocide in Iraq with ISSIS.  Ebola outbreaks throughout Africa and now on the soil of the US.  Israel and the people of the Gaza strip warring.  Riots and looting after a police officer shot a young man.  Ukraine.  The Islamic state has executed over 700 people, many civilians from a tribe in Syria; and have stated a desire to eradicate Christianity from their territory.  Two peace keepers were killed and 11 others injured by a suicide bomber in Mali. 

In our own community, shootings, gangs, poverty, hunger. Racism, economic disparity, education inequality, undocumented children.  

It is overwhelming, and it can lead us to think there is nothing we can do, there is too much.  One of my struggles is where is the church in all of this?  Where is the bold proclamation of mercy, grace, love, reconciliation, peace, God’s kingdom on earth as in heaven?  Are we so overwhelmed we can’t do anything, that we remain silent?  Are we afraid that not everyone will agree on where we stand on an issue that in order not to offend anyone we keep our mouths shut?  I truly believe that if the congregations in Saginaw stopped worrying about keeping the doors of the buildings open or doctrines that separate us like female clergy, homosexuality, communion—we could change this city, if we could be bold enough to take down the traditions and barriers that separate us from each other. 

Recently, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton and the leadership of the ELCA has been speaking out against many of these issues.   In response to the undocumented children, some of who have moved into our community of Bay City, advocates in the ELCA encouraged leaders to act with dignity and compassion.  It doesn’t matter where you land on whether the children should be here or not, people deserve dignity and compassion no matter what is done.
In an Aug. 15 letter to the church, Bishop Elizabeth Eaton of the ELCA wrote that Psalm 133 generally is "an encouraging Psalm, at a time such as this, when the world seems anything but unified, these words may feel more jarring than inspiring. This is especially so now as news from Iraq continues to worsen."

About 150,000 people have "recently fled their homes in the wake of attacks from Islamic state militants and their allies. While reports indicate that the immediate threat to many of these precious lives was abated by the delivery of food and water aid, an estimated 300 people, many of them children, still perished from exposure, dehydration and starvation. Reports of attacks, atrocities and human-rights abuses, often targeted at religious minorities and other vulnerable groups cause, our hearts to cry out in lamentation rather than in the hope that this week's Psalm celebrates," she wrote.
In response to the shooting in Ferguson, Bishop Eaton writes; "Throughout the gospels, Jesus reached out to the 'others,' those whom society deemed utterly foreign. We are at greatest risk when we divide into 'us' and 'them.' Then, we are unable to see each other's humanity," said Eaton. "In Christ, there is no 'them,' not Michael Brown, not the community, not the police. All are one. All are 'us' and all are Christ's."

            "We pray that peace will come to Ferguson and the Brown family – peace is founded on the knowledge that in Christ, there is no 'other,' only brothers and sisters," she said.

            In an effort to bring the community together, the Rev. Rick Brenton, pastor of Zion Lutheran Church in Ferguson, said thousands of local residents gathered for a peace march Aug. 14. "Last night we came together to march and reclaim the streets," said Brenton. "Somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000 people marched. Clergy from all over the city, from every denomination, creed and origin, came together along with youth and others to peacefully protest. We had also delivered food and toiletries items to residents of the Canfield Green Apartment complex where police opened fire Aug. 9. People there are afraid to leave their homes. God's people deserve better than what has been happening."

As church, the first thing we need to do is be careful not to make judgments too quickly.  First, not every person that practices Islam is attempting to eradicate Christianity.  Not every African American in Ferguson is looting and destroying the city. We can cry out for justice.  We can reach out to those who are being destroyed---the Christians of the Middle East, the Brown family, the police officer and family, the community that had nothing to do with this but stores that are being looted.

How will we, as a community of faith demonstrate the bold convictions of the Canaanite woman?  How will we reach out and boldly make Christ known?  Sometimes our hands, our feet, our money will be used to aid those in need with mercy and compassion. 

The church cannot be silent on these issues.  We must be bold, we must reach out with the conviction that all are God’s children, nothing separates us.  We need to enter into the conversation, writing our political leaders, demanding justice, demanding that we name what issues we are dealing with, stop supporting companies and agencies that foster them and us. 

I wonder, what if every one of us committed to pray for the issues around the world, for the issues in our community, for each other.  Not just on Sundays mornings or Wednesday evenings, but if we took the prayer list home and prayed instead of putting it in the recycle bin?  What if all Christians prayed for justice and peace in Ferguson, Missouri—even when we don’t really have all the answers.  We don’t need them to pray for justice—God knows what is just!  What if we prayed for our brothers and sisters around the world—Christian, Muslim, Jewish—for mercy and understanding in our differences? 

I pray for bold faith, for me, for us, for the world.  I believe that as a people of God we are called to make a difference.  To make us difference silence isn’t an option.  To make a difference we need to put ourselves out there in the bold trust and conviction that God will show mercy on this world, and that we are called to be part of that.  Lord, make us bold in our prayer and in our actions.  Let the people of God say, Amen.