15th Sunday after Pentecost
Isaiah 35:4-7a
Psalm 146
James 2:1-10,[11-13] 14-17
Mark 7:24-37
Please pray with me,
May the words of my mouth and the meditations of all of our hearts be acceptable and suitable in your sight O God, our rock, our strength and our redeemer. Amen.
As I was praying and wrestling with the gospel lesson for today…and trying to fall asleep one night this week. The lyrics to the song Crowded Table by the Highwomen popped into my head.
I want a house
with a crowded table
And a place by
the fire for everyone
Let us take on the
world while we're young and able
And bring us back together when the day is done.
I thought to
myself, why this song?
Why now?
Especially as I’m trying to fall asleep?
But, the Holy Spirit has a funny way of nudging us, calling us and speaking to us often when we least expect it.
I got to thinking
about what speaks to me in this song….
It’s the crowded
table.
It’s the place by
the fire (as maybe it cools down?)
It’s the desire to take on the world, and yet the importance of being brought back together when the day is done.
To which I
thought, duh. That’s church.
Right?
Gathering around a table…being fed with the body of Christ, the fellowship of one another, and being sent out into the world to tackle the issues, in justices, brokenness, illness, death, destruction…you name it…and then to come back together, again.
And I think this song popped into my head because that is the church I’m longing for. That, friends, is the church I miss…although it’s here… it is here. When we gather in the sanctuary, outside or online, we are church, together. But, I believe, we can be more church. Crazy, right? Your pastor saying that church can be more church....here, let me explain, by talking about Jesus.
In our gospel lesson today, Jesus is out and about, not in or on his native turf. He may have been seeking space and solitude because of the work he had been doing, and he just needed a minute, you know what that’s like? When you just need time and space alone…to sit, to pray, to be, to rest.
And yet, the crowds find him, and in this crowd, a woman, a Gentile, even, and she begs him to heal her daughter.
She comes to him,
not deterred by his offhanded dismissal to say, look Jesus, you are here to
teach and preach and heal…ALL of God’s people.
And Jesus, still tired, still needing space (or a day off, whatever) is like, it’s not time, yet.
Nevertheless, she
persists.
No, Jesus, she
replies, now is the time. Now is the day of salvation.
Now is the time to move your mission beyond where you think it should go, to the expanse of all of God’s people, including my daughter, including me.
I know, this is my own translation, but it’s this woman’s insistence and persistence and that actually pushes Jesus’ mission forward. It’s her words and presence that helps Jesus to realize that his mission isn’t just for one group of people…it’s for all of God’s people…and the time for that mission to start? Now.
Now is the time
for God’s love and grace to break into the world.
Now is the time
for the love and forgiveness of Jesus to transform our hearts and our lives.
Now is the time
for the Spirit to blow into our midst bringing comfort to those in need, and
pushing the comfortable out into the world.
Now.
I don’t need to tell you about the devastation around the world…the wars, the insurrections, the natural disasters that are impacting our world and our nation, the changes in laws that speak against civil liberties, the local flooding, tragic accidents, not to mention the overall tone of you can’t tell me what to do…I know what’s best….for me.
It’s deeply
heartbreaking.
It’s, at times,
too much to even take in.
And so we need
this place…
this
congregation…
this community of
faith…
To speak God’s
words of love to us.
To speak Jesus’
words of forgiveness to us.
To hear the ways
we may have been misguided so that we are better aligned with God’s call for us
in the world.
Which is a call
of love and grace and forgiveness…
It’s a call of
care and support and protection for the least among us.
It’s a call to
speak out against injustices and untruths.
It’s a call to be
quite counter cultural, actually.
In a climate that
seems to tell us that it’s all about me….God’s call is way different. It’s one
that calls us to persist in extending God’s table, welcoming the least among us
so they may be safe and fed and nourished.
Friends, this is a wicked hard time to be the church.
It’s very hard to
persistently preach a message of love and grace and forgiveness when the world
is like love it or leave it.
It’s a hard time to be church, as we have seen a change in attendance during a pandemic.
It’s a hard time
to be church when giving has steadily decreased over the past 5 months.
It’s a hard time to be church when we just want to go back to the way things were…with the people who used to sit close to us in the sanctuary…it is far too easy to look back with longing as to who we were….because we were ‘happy’ then.
As we find ourselves in a place of discomfort and uncertainty about the future it is far easier to look back with longing, rather than push forward into a new future.
But the persistence,
shown by the woman to Jesus today, reminds us, that we, too must be persistent.
Crying out
now…for God’s kingdom to come.
Crying out now
for the care of all of God’s kingdom.
Crying out now to
expand and extend God’s table…to everyone.
So that we all
might gather, again, around a crowded table…with a place for everyone.
And we can do
this friends…this church…the church of Christ, in the human form of Trinity
Lutheran Church, can do this….we can be persistent about God’s love and grace
and welcome to all.
And how God's love and grace is continually and persistently guiding us, shaping us and calling us into the future.
One final verse to share from the song Crowded Table…
If we want a garden
We're gonna have
to sow the seed
Plant a little
happiness
Let the roots run
deep
If it's love that
we give
Then it's love
that we reap
If we want a
garden
We're gonna have
to sow the seed
We’re gonna have
to do the work.
Stay the course.
Plant happiness.
Preach
forgiveness.
Live out grace.
Love our
neighbors.
Take action to
protect and care for others.
Be persistent in
sharing the love of God.
The love of God
that we give….is the love of God this community and world will reap.
We will have to continually, persistently, sow seeds of love, grace and forgiveness. As we continue to reach out to those who are in need, to those who feel lonely, to welcome them here…to welcome them home.
We can do this.
By speaking kind
words.
By putting in
place guidelines that will keep people safe here…and allow us to continue to
gather - safely.
By taking active
steps to protect ourselves so that we are not a burden to our local healthcare
system.
By being
opened…opened by love and healing touch of Jesus Christ to continue in and
through the challenging and adventurous days ahead.
Friends we are in the deep middle of a long journey…when it is far to easy to look back to what we have known than into the future that is much more uncertain….
But we can do this. Together. By the love of God, as the people of God, we can do this.
And now may the peace, which surpasses all understanding, keep our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus and let all God’s people say, amen.
