Yay sermon... here is my sermon from Sunday the 10th.

Readings: Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23, Psalm 146, James 2:1-10, (11-13), 14-17, Mark 7:24-37

There has been a lot in the news over the past several weeks that has really given me pause as I struggle with the tensions between what I believe freedom to be versus what I see, hear and experience in the world today. A Hasidic Jew is bodily removed from an airplane for praying before take-off - because his piety too closely resembles Islamic practices (that clearly are also not allowed); a twelve year old girl is left stranded in Las Vegas when her connecting airline refuses to board her off of her flight from London; racial profiling at airports and security stations across the country, which were thinly veiled before, have once again been given license to be openly prejudiced as we seek out the "most likely" candidates to detain and harass; we're being reconditioned to define freedom in narrower and narrower terms as we grow closer and closer to an Orwellian vision of the future in the here and now. And as we are fed more and more fear in our daily media diets, we grow more and more willing to give up the decades of progress we've made in human rights, all in the name of national security.

Tomorrow will be the fifth anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, and today James brings us a challenge as we continue to move forward through our collective wounds toward a new wholeness that we will have to create for ourselves. Will it be a wholeness that continues to be suspicious of hard-working Americans, and categorizes them as second-class citizens when it comes to travel and civil rights? Will it be a wholeness that continues to elevate the rich and powerful above the laws established for the common citizens, while further dishonoring the poor with lessened freedoms and ever widening inequalities?

James warns us today to show equity in our dealings and treatment of all those around us, to remember Christ's commandment to love our neighbors as ourselves, and to put our faith into practice, lest it be nothing more than nice words and comforting sentiment.

Thankfully we also have a purely unique story from Mark's gospel to accompany James' message of conviction. It seems from our Gospel story today that even Jesus himself needed at least one reminder that his teachings and faith applied to ALL of his neighbors, and not just those with whom he most closely identified.

In a fairly uncharacteristic encounter, Jesus seems to be ready to deny healing to a desperate parent who has come to him seeking healing for her daughter. She was of Syrophoenician origin, a foreigner, a gentile. She looked differently, dressed differently, prayed differently, and yet she believed that Jesus could heal her daughter. Courageously she approached a holy man from another race and religion, seeking desperately for help. Jesus, perhaps having a bit of an off day after his encounter with the Pharisees when his disciples were caught eating with unclean hands, responds irritably. He had left his disciples behind in Galilee and gone to Tyre to find somewhere to be alone for a day. No one seemed to understand what he was trying to teach them, even his closest friends. He hadn't wanted anyone to know he was even there, and yet this foreign woman somehow sought him out and had the nerve to beg a favor of him. "Let the children be fed first," he said. Then, a bit careless for her feelings, he added "for it is not fair to take the Children's food and throw it to the dogs."

Undaunted by his uncharacteristic harshness, this desperate mother plucks up the remains of her dignity and courage and throws Jesus words back in his face. Dispensing with the respectful title of teacher, she addresses him saying, "Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children's crumbs."

I've been there before. I've said things that I wished I could have reached out and snatched back after they escaped my lips. I can only imagine that Jesus must have felt the same way. He responds to her in his more typically compassionate manner, sending her on her way assured that her daughter has been healed.

I don't think it's going too far to say that Jesus learned something about his mission and ministry that day. It may just be that we have this woman to thank for the disciples later ministry to the gentiles - to my recollection, we don't hear of Jesus refusing any other believers in the rest of his ministry. In his own place of frustration and unrest, Jesus encountered the "other." She became for him the key to unlocking the abundance of God's reign beyond the borders of Israel, and he is refreshed and renewed as he heads back toward the Sea of Galilee.

While the people may not have understood the deeper significance of his teachings, it was clear that they were astounded by the abundance that Christ brought to every aspect of his ministry. Deaf ears opened, mute tongues singing praises to God, sight restored to the blind, food for the hungry - and not just enough to have their fill, but so much that they couldn't possibly eat it all. The abundance of the reign of God that Jesus demonstrates and represents to his followers seemed to have no limits, and indeed after opening the floodgates of grace and healing to those outside the house of Israel, the abundance seems only to have grown that much more.

This is what James is talking about when he writes to his followers about the "works" of faith. It isn't enough simply to proclaim the abundance of God's reign. It isn't enough simply to believe that we ought to love our neighbors as our selves. These are nice sentiments that might make us feel warm and fuzzy inside, but unless we carry on in Jesus ministry of action, we fail to do our part to bring about that reign of God where God's inexhaustible abundance is brought to those who most need it. We must actually put our faith into action, learning to love our neighbors, physically reaching out our healing and helping hands to those in need - only then can our faith truly come alive... and only then can we experience the wisdom of the Proverb saying "those who are generous are blessed, for they share their bread with the poor."

I continue to struggle with what I perceive to be backtracking in human rights and falling into the trap of allowing fear to guide our decision making processes and domestic policies at the national level. But at the same time I have taken heart in the ecumenical dialogues and endeavors that have begun to take place at the local level as different areas begin to seek understanding and cooperation with their neighbors. St. ECWIW's itself has been involved in such dialogues, and just last month, an ecumenical meeting of the youth ministers of D-town met here to discuss monthly ecumenical youth events to promote understanding, friendship, and commonality between our various groups of teens. In working together in service projects, getting to know each other in recreation, and learning more about each other through a weekly Lenten worship exchange, we are attempting as a group to come to an understanding and acceptance of each other that I can currently only dream will someday happen on a global scale.

As we celebrate our program-year kick-off today, let us be ever mindful of the awesome responsibility we've been given as Christ's body in the world, and as we remember the tragedies of September 11th tomorrow, let us not only pray for healing and wholeness, but let us remember that healing and wholeness can only come if it is for everyone. The abundance of God's reign is neither limited nor boundaried. It is not the possession of the rich, nor the right of any single people. It is not even limited to one faith, but, as Christ himself learned, is the gift to all who seek healing and wholeness through a faithful relationship with God.

In the words attributed to St. Francis, Lord, make us instruments of your peace, Where there is hatred, let us sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; where there is sadness, joy; Grant that we may not so much seek to be consoled as to console; to be understood as to understand; to be loved as to love. For it is in giving that we receive; it is in pardoning that we are pardoned; and it is in dying that we are born to eternal life. Amen.