Nevertheless, She Persisted.
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For August 20, 2023:
Nevertheless, She Persisted.
by Elena Delhagen
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
All across the country, people are reacting to recently released close-up videos of the floating barrier installed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott along the Rio Grande at the Texas border. Between the buoys are circular saws, which have already led to the death of at least two migrants attempting to cross the border. Americans are decrying the use of such cruel and inhumane tactics by the governor in the state’s attempt to curb unwanted border crossings, yet Governor Abbott continues to defend his tactics.
In the midst of it all, I cannot help but think of British-Somali writer Warshan Shire’s poem “Home,” which opens with the following line:
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
and also includes the now-famous words:
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
In this week’s passage from Matthew, I find myself drawn to the character of the Canaanite woman. To the upper caste of the religious Jews of the day, she is nothing more than a dirty outsider — a dog, to use the shocking words of Jesus. She knows how people look at her. She is more than aware that she is, quite frankly, not wanted. Yet she persists. Her desperation and love for her child prompt her to take the huge risk of crossing societal and cultural barriers and seek help.
And she is not punished with circular saws or electric fences, but celebrated for her great faith.
In the Scriptures
This interaction between Jesus, a Jew, and the Canaanite woman, represented a long-standing enmity between the two groups. YHWH had promised the land of Canaan would be given to Abraham’s offspring — but not until the fourth generation due to the iniquity in that land (Gen. 15:16). The people of Canaan were known for evils such as temple prostitution, child sacrifice, adultery, and an all-out rejection of God and God’s laws. When the Israelites did take the land, the rift between them and the Canaanites only became more prominent. As such, by Jesus’ generation, it was a well-regarded view in Israelite society that Canaanites were “outsiders” and “enemies” of those who followed the Law.
This text is a stark reminder that Jesus, in many ways, was a product of his time. Though his interaction with the Canaanite woman is appalling to us reading it, centuries later, he was essentially following the script of any Jewish rabbi that was indicative of the context in which he lived. Like the faithful Jews of Matthew’s community, Jesus responded to the woman exactly as anyone would expect him to... at first.
In the News
The Canaanite woman’s love for her child, and desperation for help, is what drives her to defy traditional barriers and seek Jesus’ intervention. Echoes of her are found in families who are seeking to cross the US border, particularly since families with children are the fastest growing group of people at the southern border of the US. Parents just like the Canaanite woman are desperate to save their children today from political and economic crises, war and violence, and widespread corruption and persecution. We’re also seeing a spike in children crossing the border alone, sent by desperate parents. “Immigration authorities encountered more than 152,000 unaccompanied minors at or near the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 (FY2022), an all-time high.” Many parents, whether attempting to cross with their children or not, are well aware of the dangerous risks. Yet the mere chance of salvation is enough for them to face the threat.
In the Sermon
A few years ago, the phrase, “Nevertheless, she persisted” became popular in American culture after then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used the phrase in a scathing disapproval of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s refusal to stop speaking during the 2017 confirmation of Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General, despite the Senate vote requiring her to do so.
There are times in life when our morals, our values, our faith, or our need compel us to persist. Commentator Mitzi J. Smith writes, “The Canaanite woman persists. Like Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Oprah Winfrey, Senator Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Kamala Harris, the Canaanite woman persisted. But so many anonymous women like the Canaanite woman have persisted as lone minority voices among a majority of authoritative and powerful men. She persisted! She didn’t go away; she won’t be dismissed. She draws closer and kneels, and in the vernacular of a determined woman she cries, “Master, help me,” (Matthew 15:25).”
And in response to this, the woman’s daughter is instantly healed.
Perhaps, if we would take a second look, we might see echoes of the Canaanite woman in the faces of families attempting to cross the border into the US. We, the powerful and privileged, can be quick to dismiss migrants because of an underlying belief that they somehow “don’t deserve” what is already ours. Yet perhaps this story is meant to shake us up and remind us that, sometimes, the barriers and boundaries, whether literal or metaphorical, that we put in place to keep some in and others out, need to be broken down. Jesus is not just hope for Israel, but hope for the whole world.
SECOND THOUGHTS
Who Gets In?
by Mary Austin
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Our neighbors with grievances are not the first people in history to feel like they’re being traded in for someone new.
People who want Donald Trump to be re-elected as President feel like they’ve been replaced in American life. One voter explains that people who support Trump gain an identity from that support. He adds, “Trump has done this better than any candidate in 50 years. To voters whose worlds have been destroyed by elites, Trump says: You matter. Become a part of this movement and you are standing up to the elites. You can get your life back with me, and be a SOMEBODY again. Trump’s legal cases are easily rationalized as the price he has been willing to pay, personally, to represent all of the people who see him as validating their lives and giving them identities once again.”
Another voter explains, “Trump supporters believe that the economic and cultural game is rigged…Trump has tapped into the frustration that comes from playing a rigged game. Trump supporters see Trump as challenging the cultural and economic system that excludes them and their views. The elites and media need to stop dismissing Trump supporters as some fringe group…The 2024 election is likely to be close. The issues Trump has tapped into are not fleeting.”
This awful feeling of being rejected in favor of someone else shapes Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. His entire ministry toggles back and forth between his Jewish heritage, and his call to welcome Gentile converts. In this passage, he adeptly balances the two. Straddling the line, he insists that God has not rejected the people God originally loved. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” Paul insists. No one gets replaced. God does not reject any of us, and has an infinite ability to add new people into the divine embrace.
The problem is with us.
We don’t want to add new people in. We don’t want to lose the feeling that there’s something special about us. We don’t want to share.
The recent Supreme Court decision ending the use of affirmative action in college admissions speaks to these same tensions. How do we share something that’s finite? Harvard, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, “noted that each class has only 1,600 slots, but, by the numbers, it has thousands of equally qualified applicants. In the class of 2019, for instance, it had 35,000 applicants, 3,700 of them with perfect math SAT scores; 2,700 with perfect verbal SAT scores, and more than 8,000 with perfect grade point averages.” What can make admissions “fair” when so many people are more than qualified? The pain of not getting in to Harvard — and other elite schools — is shared by thousands of people who learn that disappointment is not the same as exclusion.
Fortunately, most things in life are not finite, and there’s room for newcomers and long-timers.
A parent voiced the perennial anxiety about the fairness of her child getting into college. Writing in for advice, she said, “My son is in the middle of the college-application process. He has very good grades and very good SAT and ACT scores; he is an Eagle Scout and a captain of the cross-country team. He is also white, male, and upper-middle-class — and that is the problem. According to all of the statistics and reports, he should be accepted at Ivy League schools, but he has not been. He will eventually get into a “good” school, but it is my guess (based on what we are seeing with his peer group) that he will be overqualified for the school he ends up at. He is very frustrated and very upset. How do you explain to a bright, eager boy that the system is rigged against him?”
The advice from Dr. Lori Gottlieb was similar to Paul’s word to the Romans. “You say, “Son, the world is an unfair place and the system is rigged against you.” And then you watch him grow into an angry, unfulfilled adult with a chip on his shoulder who will probably have grossly misguided ideas about women and people of color and his own value and worth and abilities. But if you’d like a better future for him, let me suggest the following.”
She adds, “Tell him that you have every confidence that he will choose, and be accepted into, a school where he meshes well and maybe even makes the friends he’ll have for the rest of his life.” There’s enough space for everyone.
In God’s economy, there are plenty of places for the original folks, and for those who come later. There’s room for the deserving and the undeserving. Unlike college admissions, God can make room for everyone. There’s space for the left out, and the left behind.
As The Message translates Paul’s word, “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty — never canceled, never rescinded.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean Feldmeyer
Asking For Help
In this week’s lectionary readings, we find people asking for help. Joseph’s brothers, not knowing that the Egyptian high official before whom they stand is their brother, have come to him asking for help in surviving a famine. In the gospel lesson, a gentile woman is so desperate to find help for her sick daughter that she humbles herself to ask for it from an itinerant Jewish rabbi.
* * *
Lola The Whale (Adapted from a children’s story.)
Lola the whale ate lots of little fish. Hundreds of them every day.
One day, one of the tiny little fish she was eating got caught in the teeth back in the corner of her mouth. She worked at trying to dislodge it so she could spit it out. She bashed her head against the rocks, she swallowed great waves of sea water, she gulped mouths full of sand but nothing worked. It wouldn’t budge. Day after day, it was stuck there and her breath got worse and worse.
Having such bad breath and having a little, tiny fish lodged in her teeth embarrassed Lola terribly so she began to avoid other sea creatures. She didn’t want them to know her breath smelled bad and it was caused by a tiny fish. She was afraid they would laugh at her or make fun of her.
In fact, they thought she was stuck up and didn’t like them.
One day, Dido, a young dolphin, decided to secretly follow the whale. She watched Lola’s odd behavior and finally asked her why she was doing these things. Lola confessed that a small fish, caught in her back teeth, was giving her bad breath. Dido offered to help Lola dislodge the small fish but Lola didn't want to bother her with her bad breath. Nor did she want anyone to find out.
“I don't want them to think I have bad breath,” said Lola.
“Is that why you've avoided everyone?” answered Dido, unable to believe it. “They don't think you've got bad breath, they think you're unpleasant, boring, and ungrateful, and that you hate everyone. Do you think that's better?”
Lola realized that her pride — her exaggerated shyness, and not letting anyone help — had created an even greater problem. Full of regret, she asked Dido to remove the remains of the fish in her mouth.
When this was done, Lola began speaking to everyone again. However, she had to make a big effort to be accepted again by her friends. Lola decided that never again would she fail to ask for help when she really needed it.
* * *
How To Ask For Help
* * *
He Conquered Trichotillomania, With Help
Jitesh Jaggi has a condition called trichotillomania. And even though it's a mouthful, it's important to name it, to call it out in the open because it thrives on secrecy.
People who suffer from the condition are often called “hair pullers.” He plucks out his hair, mostly the ones on his face, but other places will do. It’s not something that he does voluntarily. It's something that he cannot not do. It’s an uncontrollable impulse.
He thought for years that it was simply a bad habit and he hid it successfully from even those closest to him. Once he found out there was a name for it and it was an actual mental health condition, he decided to share this with his wife, Whitney. She listened and did not call 911. That changed something. Out of the two people who now knew about his condition, he was the only one who thought of it as appalling behavior.
Whitney thought nothing of it. “Fine,” she said, “we'll just get a better vacuum.”
That love and acceptance from his wife gave him the courage to seek help.
He came across an ad by the University of Chicago that they were conducting a research study to test a new drug for trichotillomania and he signed up.
As part of the research, I was required to maintain this diary, this journal where I was supposed to write down my every move regarding hair pulling every day. And over a period of six weeks, as I recorded in my journal, every day my every move, every urge, every action, I was surprised to observe that day after day, I was spending less and less and less time pulling my hair, until it reached zero. The drug had worked.
Then he was told that he was part of the control group who was given a placebo.
He didn’t know whether to feel bad because he’d been given a fake medicine or happy because he was cured. What if the cure was just temporary and the hair pulling returned. Well, might as well enjoy the healing as long as it lasted. He grew a beard.
The hair pulling never returned. He was cured not by medicine but by asking for help and writing in a diary. Recording and journaling his habit dragged it from the unconscious and shed light on it, forcing it to be seen and to be grappled with. “The more I observed it,” he says, “the more I wrote about it, the more I talked about it, the less power it had over me.”
Repetitive behaviors, nail biting, hair pulling, skin pulling, all of these thrive on shame and secrecy and they diminish with kindness and awareness that are the results of asking for help.
* * *
The Boy And The Rock (Adapted from a Muslim Folk Tale)
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel.
In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. He dug around the rock and managed to dislodge it from the dirt. With a little bit of struggle, using his feet, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox but when he got it to the edge he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall of the sandbox.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. He grunted, struggled, pushed, and shoved, but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers.
Finally, he burst into tears of frustration and, at that moment a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox.
It was the boy’s father who had been watching through a window in the house as the little drama unfolded. Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”
“But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!”
“No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.” And, with that, the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.
* * *
He Asked For Help (Contemporary American Folk Tale)
A mouse, looking through a hole in the wall, saw the farmer and his wife open a package. He was terrified to see that it was a mousetrap. He ran to the patio to warn everyone.
“There is a mousetrap at home!”
The chicken that was scratching in the dirt said: “Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I understand that it is a big problem for you, but it does not concern me at all.”
So, the mouse went to the lamb and told him: “Excuse me Mr. Mouse, I understand that it is a big problem for you, but it does not concern me. I’ll keep you in my thought and prayers.”
The mouse went to the cow and she said: “Please help me. I’m in great danger.” “Oh, I think not!” said the cow. “You just need to stay away from the trap. When mice get caught in a mouse trap, it’s their own fault and it doesn’t concern me at all.”
The mouse returned to the house, worried and dejected to face the farmer's mousetrap.
That night, mouse heard a loud noise like that of the mousetrap slamming shut. The woman ran to see what she had caught but, in the dark, she did not see that the mousetrap had caught the tail of a poisonous snake.
The angry snake bit the woman. The farmer immediately took her to the hospital. She came home with a high fever.
To comfort her, the farmer prepared a nutritious chicken soup. When the woman did not get better, friends and neighbors came to visit her and the farmer served lamb stew to his guests.
Finally, the woman did not get better and died and the husband sold the cow to the slaughterhouse to cover the funeral expenses.
In his grief, the farmer threw the mousetrap into the trash and the mouse lived a long, comfortable life.
* * *
Cultural Baggage
In the gospel lesson Jesus admonishes his disciples to not let their cultural baggage about what foods to eat and not eat get in the way of their witness. Then, he exposes his own cultural baggage by, at first, refusing to heal the daughter of a desperate gentile woman.
* * *
Cultural Pride vs. Cultural Baggage
My DNA is German/English. My wife’s is German/Irish.
We like to go to festivals and there are festivals a plenty in Cincinnati to go to. We don’t wear lederhosen but we do love the German festivals with the oompah bands, the polkas, the big steins of beer, the wiener schnitzel, the sauerbraten, the bratwurst and sauerkraut. It’s all great fun.
And we like going to the Celtic festivals to sing along with the Irish music and enjoy the fish and chips and the Scottish Eggs, the soda bread and the fried cabbage and the boxty, to dance the reels, and hear the storytellers.
We’re proud of our heritage, especially the positive and uplifting parts.
But we are also aware that heritage comes with baggage if we let it. The “troubles” of Ulster, the prejudices that the Irish and English have, for years, held against each other. And our pride in our German background doesn’t include the hatred that led to the Holocaust.
We strive to appreciate the cultures out of which our families emerged but the cultural baggage that would prejudice us against other cultures, we leave behind. Just because we’re German/Irish/English by heritage doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy pizza or a taco now and then.
* * *
The Poisonwood Mistake
Barbara Kingsolver’s 1998 best-selling novel, The Poisonwood Bible, is about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from the US state of Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River.
So enthusiastic and full of faith is the father that he can’t be bothered to hang around in the United States and take the missionary training that his church provides to prepare foreign missionaries for the language, geography, and cultures they will encounter in the mission field.
Unbeknownst to even himself, his hope is not just to make Christians of these people, but to make white Europeans of them as well. He is, predictably, met with abject failure on every front. The seeds that he brought from America can’t grow in the African climate. The home he is supposed to live in is a hovel compared to how he lived in Georgia. The people have no interest in the God he claims to represent. But his biggest cultural blunder is to be found in the title of the book.
He concludes his sermons with the Kikongo expression “Tata Jesus is bängala” with the intent of saying “Jesus is most precious.” In his hurried mispronunciation, he actually says “Jesus is poisonwood.”
* * *
Paved with Good Intentions
“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” We know that the aphorism dates back to the 16th century, maybe even earlier, but we don’t know who said or wrote it first.
Its meaning, however, is clear. Much evil has been and is done by people who have only the purest, most innocent, most well-meaning of intentions. European Christian missionaries coming to the new world in the time of Christopher Columbus brought with them diseases like Small Pox, Measles, and Influenza to which native people had built up no immunities.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) describes the impact this way: “In Hispaniola, Columbus’ first stop in the Americas, the native Taino population…had no immunity to new infectious diseases… There were an estimated 250,000 indigenous people in Hispaniola in 1492. By 1517, only 14,000 remained. European diseases killed more than 90 percent of the indigenous population in just 25 years. The impact of European and African settlers in the New World was more destructive than the Black Death had been in medieval Europe...”
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From team member Chris Keating:
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Revealing justice
The prophet’s vision of gathering up the outcast and excluded is a reversal of our world’s historical practices of racism and exclusion. An investigation by the Washington Post has revealed the ways the highly-regarded Smithsonian participated in collecting and curating brains of Black and Indigenous persons in an effort to prove white superiority. The remains are part of a vast collection of at least 30,700 bones and body parts largely collected without permission from next of kin and still held by the Natural History Museum. One descendent of a person whose brain is in the collection calls it “a violation against our family and our people…it’s like an open wound…we want to have peace and we’ll have no peace because we know this exists, until it’s corrected.”
* * *
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Borders of compassion
When Jesus crosses the border into Tyre and Sidon, he seems to be going out of his way to avoid interacting with the locals. A woman started to shout at him, but “he did not answer her at all (v. 23).” It’s surprising, particularly when you recall Matthew has reminded us that there are three Canaanite women in Jesus’ family tree (at least!). Back in chapter one, Matthew names Rahab, Tamar, and Ruth among Jesus’ ancestors, something that seems to go unnoticed in Matthew 15. But perhaps the Canaanite woman’s pleas are designed to evoke reminders of Jesus’ mixed heritage, thus becoming prompts for an offer of compassion.
Our inclination to ignore the connections we share across boundaries and borderlines continues. Earlier this month, the leader of the largest Latino Civil Rights organization in the United States stood near the banks of the Rio Grande river in the shadows of an old bridge that connects Texas and Mexico. For Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) the border is a symbol of both a shared lineage and ongoing injustice. Last week Garcia noted that he has heard stories of more than 54 bodies of immigrants being fished out of the river as the result of Texas’s Operation Lone Star, a state effort to curb undocumented immigration. Texas officials boast that Operation Lonestar has been extraordinarily effective, and has included more than 377,000 apprehensions of immigrants — even though officials also admit that most illicit activities immigrants are alleged to have done were actually transgressions caused by US citizens.
“Let us be clear,” Garcia said, “the human cost of this so-called 'victory' is immeasurable. The real casualties are not just those refugees apprehended at the border but the essence of compassion and empathy that makes us human. We should be a nation that extends a helping hand to those fleeing violence and persecution, not pushing them back into harm's way or treating them as criminals.”
* * *
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
What actually defiles
As Jesus remarked, blind guides of the blind just lead to large scale stumbling. The recent surprise hit movie Sound of Freedom offers an example of Jesus’ comment in Matthew 15. Sound of Freedom became a surprise hit over the Fourth of July weekend this summer when it went head-to-head with the new Indiana Jones movie. Sound of Freedom brought in almost nearly as much as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, despite being a niche film marketed to conservative audiences.
Despite its story of exploring child sex trafficking, the movie may inadvertently be promoting a hypocritical agenda.
The crowd-funded film, produced by Utah-based ad agency Harmon Brothers (of “squatty potty” fame), relays the story of Tim Ballard’s crusade against child sex traffickers. Ballard, a former Homeland Security agent, stages stings to catch child predators. What marketers do not reveal is that the film seems to cater to Q’anon conspiracy theories — something its producers’ deny. But star Jim Caviezel has openly embraced the Q’anon movement and its theories that cabals are marketing hormones extracted from children. The movie has been heavily marketed to conservative-leaning religious audiences.
Anti-trafficking groups such as Polaris suggest the film veers off course by tacitly promoting conspiracy theories and avoiding hard-to-have conversations with actual trafficking survivors. Critics suggest that the movie distorts the complexities of the sex trafficking business in the United States, and may actually be harming children. Indeed, one funder who is listed on the movie’s credits was recently arrested and charged with felony kidnapping. “I'm proud to have been a small part of it,” said Fabian Marta, a Missouri man who was charged July 23 with being an accessory to child kidnapping. “If you see the movie, look for 'Fabian Marta and Family' at the very end of the credits.”
* * *
Psalm 133
Divided over religion
Religious liberty lawyer and New York Times columnist David French believes that the continuing stress-fractures across American religious, political, and cultural institutions is a sign that our democracy may be unravelling. In a book written in 2020, French wrote that:
It’s time for Americans to wake up to a fundamental reality: the continued unity of the United States cannot be guaranteed. At this moment in history, there is not a single important cultural, religious, political, or social force that is pulling Americans together more than it is pulling us apart.
Religion Unplugged notes the historical precedence between the prelude to the Civil War and today’s situation. In both cases, a sense of religious activism was palpable. While there is no contemporary moral crisis equivalent with slavery, Religion Unplugged suggests, “The closest 21st century equivalent would be populist erosion of Americans’ trust and respect toward each other. A collapse in support for the First Amendment? That would certainly cause more legal and economic strife.”
* * * * * *
From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:
Genesis 45:1-15
There is no room
Sending everyone away, Joseph made himself known to his brothers in private. After everything he had been through, the first thing he wanted to know was the status of their father. Maybe this was Joseph’s way of ensuring that his father did not pass away thinking that his beloved son was gone forever. Once he saw that his brothers were dumb struck, he took the time to soothe their fears. I like to believe this was because Joseph had no room in his heart to hate them. Joseph, being blessed by God, had the eyes to see that their cruelty did not only affect him but had a ripple effect that brought them to this moment. At no moment during their exchange does Joseph want to take revenge on them for their actions. In truth, he had all right to yell, scream, to make a scene for all to see, yet he chose peace. Joseph could have used his position of power and privilege to shame his brothers who sold him into slavery, but he wanted to hold them close and shield them from further suffering. He did not forgive them for their actions but he moved past what they had done. He suffered, they are suffering, they all suffered in different ways that have weighted heavily on their shoulders. His brothers let the fear and shame of their actions keep them from running to their brother and begging for forgiveness, while Joseph turned his suffering into glory. He opened his heart that was filled with God’s love and welcomed his brothers and gave them a chance to redeem themselves for their past actions. In the way God does not hold grudges, so too, Joseph let go of his hate.
Let the love and grace of God fill your heart so fully that there is no room for hate.
* * *
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
There is no gift receipt
Contrary to popular belief, God’s call for you is yours and yours alone. The gifts God has given you, in the words of Romans, are irrevocable. We can’t return what we have been given, God does not hand out gift receipts. There is an expectation that we will use our gifts for the common good yet more and more we struggle with seeing the humanity and worth of the stranger. Late stage capitalism has fooled us all into believing that any action we take in this world has to have some kind of monetary gain. Our churches fear ‘dying’ so they horde their gifts and snuff out the lights of those who are willing to do radical things in the name of the Lord. There are so many people who are walking creations that feel lost not because they have strayed from the path of God but because there were some well-meaning church folks that pushed them away. In 2023 it is the responsibility of the Church (universal) to start questioning why there are so many unchurched people with gifts left unused.
* * *
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
God has chosen
Pride and Black history month might be over yet this much still stands true — rejection is not an option for the Lord our God. It feels redundant at this point that we have to argue the worthiness and humanity of those whom God foreknew. There is no reason for a little boy to fear taking out the trash because police might try to harm him.
O’Shae Sibley should have been allowed to dance like King David when he was drunk on the love of the Lord without fear of death. People tried to strip humanity from these men but God reminds us of their humanity each and every day.
* * * * * *
From team member Katy Stenta:
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Once a queen or king in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia. In The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, the children are reminded that their anointing is permanent. The thing about being called by God is that God’s blessings are not something that can be taken away. They are a part of us. The idea that we can be rejected by God, when God’s very blessings are interwoven into our being, is ridiculous.
* * *
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Someone recently pointed out that though men go up to mountains and temples to meet God, women meet Jesus and God in the streets, in the common places, by the well. Women come to shout at Jesus, the Canaanite woman demands her due, she comes shouting for at least crumbs of grace and healing. This moment of Jesus listening to the “other” woman, the minority, the potential enemy, changes his ministry. It shows that we can demand justice. It’s important in light of indictments of a former president, women’s rights, LGBTQIA rights, and black and brown rights, to breathe and exist freely, the immigrant’s right to asylum and even the freedom to read certain books is on the line.
* * *
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
The church as a house of prayer for all people is a promise that has never been realized. For too long the church has been a place of exclusionary practices. Currently, my Presbyterian church shares space on a pay-what-you-can model, getting to know and understand many other communities. Currently we share with a Buddhist congregation, a Pakistani multi-denominational fellowship, a liberal United Church of Christ, an African American Pentecostal Church, a Spanish-speaking Evangelical church, and a small woman-led non-denominational congregation for battered women. We also previously housed an Inclusive Catholic Congregation, a Bahai Congregation, an evangelical college ministry and a Micronesian Apostolic Congregation. How can our churches be more welcoming to be a house of prayer for all people? Where are our shared ministries and communities?
* * * * * *
WORSHIP
by George Reed
Call to Worship
One: How very good it is when kindred live together in unity!
All: How very pleasant it is when there is harmony!
One: It is like the precious oil on the head which anoints us.
All: It is like a soothing balm, liberally applied.
One: It is like the dew that comes and refreshes the land.
All: It is a blessing poured out by our God.
OR
One: May God be gracious to us and bless us.
All: May God’s face be made to shine upon us.
One: Let the people praise you, O God.
All: Let all the people praise you.
One: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
All: May God continue to bless us as we revere our Creator.
OR
One: The One who created us all calls us together for worship.
All: We come together so that we might be fed by our God.
One: The God who is love calls us to receive and share love.
All: We long for God’s love and delight in sharing it.
One: God’s love is for all God’s beloved children.
All: We will share God’s love with everyone of them.
Hymns and Songs
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
UMH: 384
H82: 657
PH: 376
GTG:366
AAHH: 440
NNBH: 65
NCH: 43
CH: 517
LBW: 315
ELW: 631
W&P: 358
AMEC: 455
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH:: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
GTG: 4
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
The Care the Eagle Gives Her Young
UMH: 118
NCH: 468
CH: 76
Come, Christian, Join to Sing
UMH: 158
PH: 150
GTG: 367
CH: 90
W&P: 87
Of the Father’s Love Begotten
UMH: 184
PH: 309
GTG: 108
NCH: 118
CH: 104
LBW: 42
ELW: 295
W&P: 181
Jesus Loves Me
UMH: 191
PH: 304
GTG: 188
AAHH: 335
NNBH: 506
NCH: 327
CH: 113
ELW: 595
W&P: 437
AMEC: 549
For the Healing of the Nations
UMH: 428
GTG: 346
NCH: 576
CH: 668
W&P: 621
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
GTG: 317/318
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Help Us Accept Each Other
UMH: 560
PH: 358
GTG: 754
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558T
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Glorify Thy Name
CCB: 8
I Love You, Lord
CCB: 14
Renew: 36
If you are working with Mary Austin’s article you might want to check out “There Is Room at the Table” by Carrie Newcomer on YouTube.
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who created us out of the same earth and breath:
Grant us the grace to make room for all at the table
so that we may truly reflect your love in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of creation. Out of the same dust of the earth and with your own breath you gave life to humankind. Help us to truly reflect the love you placed in us as we make room at the table for all. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we deny your image in others but shutting them out of our lives.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to reflect your image in which you created us. We have ignored our own story of how you created all humankind out of the same earth and with the same breath. We have separated ourselves from others and treated them as less than your beloved children. We have not loved others as we love ourselves and so we have failed to love you with our whole being. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might more fully live out your image in our lives. Amen.
One: God created us out of love and in love renews us so that we might live as God’s true children. Receive God’s grace and be gracious with all whom you encounter.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O loving God of all creation. Out of your own self you called forth your creation and with your own breath you gave all humankind life.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to reflect your image in which you created us. We have ignored our own story of how you created all humankind out of the same earth and with the same breath. We have separated ourselves from others and treated them as less than your beloved children. We have not loved others as we love ourselves and so we have failed to love you with our whole being. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might more fully live out your image in our lives.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed on us from the very beginning of creation until this very moment. Since you breathed us into being you have never left us or forsaken us. You have provided a bountiful earth to supply our physical needs and to delight us with beauty. You have placed your Spirit within us that we might always know your presence. You have sent us prophets and psalmists to remind us of who and whose we are. You have given us your Christ to teach us and to lead us to life that is full, abundant, and eternal.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We lift up to you those who are on our hearts this day. As we hold them in our love we know you hold them in yours. We pray for those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit and those who suffer from the violence and hatred of others. We pray for those who find themselves alone and lost in this life.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
* * * * * *
CHILDREN'S SERMON
How Good and Pleasant…
by Tom Willadsen
Psalm 133
Once the little ones are settled, read all of Psalm 133 to them.
Psalm 133 (Common English Bible)
Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
2 It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Explain that these are the words to a song that groups of people would sing as they traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem. My family used to sing in the car, maybe their families do too.
Reread the first verse:
Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
Ask them to think of times when everyone in their family is getting along together. Maybe when they’re singing together in the car, or on vacation, or playing games together…invite them to describe times when their families are at their best. Point out that it’s pleasing to God when people get along and enjoy being together. That sort of thing happens at church every Sunday.
Now read the second verse:
It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard —
Aaron’s beard! —
which extended over the collar of his robes.
What? How is people getting along like oil pouring off your head and onto your clothes? How is that a good thing?
Well, in the Bible, people poured oil on things to show they were important. Jacob poured oil over a rock he had placed his head on where he had a dream that God was with him. In the gospel stories, people poured oil over Jesus’ head and even his feet as a way to show that he was welcome. Oil smells good and it spreads slowly. So don’t think of it as something that will just stain your clothes!
Finally, reread the third verse:
It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Families getting along are like dew on a mountain? How can that be so?
Remember, the people who sang this song lived in a very dry place. They needed water to live. Water streaming down from a distant mountain was a sign that they had what they needed to live. And Mount Hermon was far away, which helped the people remember that God wasn’t only happy when families got along, but when everyone in the whole wide world gets along.
Let’s pray together:
Living God, when the words in the Bible are strange, help us understand them together. Help us to live in peace with our families, and with all your children, in every place. Amen.
* * * * * * * * * * * * *
The Immediate Word, August 20, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
- Nevertheless, She Persisted. by Elena Delhagen. Perhaps, if we would take a second look, we might see echoes of the Canaanite woman in the faces of families attempting to cross the border into the US.
- Second Thoughts: Who Gets In? by Mary Austin based on Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32.
- Sermon illustrations by Dean Feldmeyer, Quantisha Mason-Doll, Chris Keating, Katy Stenta.
- Worship resources by George Reed.
- Children's sermon: How Good and Pleasant... by Tom Willadsen based on Psalm 133.
Nevertheless, She Persisted.
by Elena Delhagen
Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
All across the country, people are reacting to recently released close-up videos of the floating barrier installed by Texas Governor Greg Abbott along the Rio Grande at the Texas border. Between the buoys are circular saws, which have already led to the death of at least two migrants attempting to cross the border. Americans are decrying the use of such cruel and inhumane tactics by the governor in the state’s attempt to curb unwanted border crossings, yet Governor Abbott continues to defend his tactics.
In the midst of it all, I cannot help but think of British-Somali writer Warshan Shire’s poem “Home,” which opens with the following line:
no one leaves home unless
home is the mouth of a shark
you only run for the border
when you see the whole city running as well
and also includes the now-famous words:
you have to understand,
that no one puts their children in a boat
unless the water is safer than the land
In this week’s passage from Matthew, I find myself drawn to the character of the Canaanite woman. To the upper caste of the religious Jews of the day, she is nothing more than a dirty outsider — a dog, to use the shocking words of Jesus. She knows how people look at her. She is more than aware that she is, quite frankly, not wanted. Yet she persists. Her desperation and love for her child prompt her to take the huge risk of crossing societal and cultural barriers and seek help.
And she is not punished with circular saws or electric fences, but celebrated for her great faith.
In the Scriptures
This interaction between Jesus, a Jew, and the Canaanite woman, represented a long-standing enmity between the two groups. YHWH had promised the land of Canaan would be given to Abraham’s offspring — but not until the fourth generation due to the iniquity in that land (Gen. 15:16). The people of Canaan were known for evils such as temple prostitution, child sacrifice, adultery, and an all-out rejection of God and God’s laws. When the Israelites did take the land, the rift between them and the Canaanites only became more prominent. As such, by Jesus’ generation, it was a well-regarded view in Israelite society that Canaanites were “outsiders” and “enemies” of those who followed the Law.
This text is a stark reminder that Jesus, in many ways, was a product of his time. Though his interaction with the Canaanite woman is appalling to us reading it, centuries later, he was essentially following the script of any Jewish rabbi that was indicative of the context in which he lived. Like the faithful Jews of Matthew’s community, Jesus responded to the woman exactly as anyone would expect him to... at first.
In the News
The Canaanite woman’s love for her child, and desperation for help, is what drives her to defy traditional barriers and seek Jesus’ intervention. Echoes of her are found in families who are seeking to cross the US border, particularly since families with children are the fastest growing group of people at the southern border of the US. Parents just like the Canaanite woman are desperate to save their children today from political and economic crises, war and violence, and widespread corruption and persecution. We’re also seeing a spike in children crossing the border alone, sent by desperate parents. “Immigration authorities encountered more than 152,000 unaccompanied minors at or near the US-Mexico border in fiscal year 2022 (FY2022), an all-time high.” Many parents, whether attempting to cross with their children or not, are well aware of the dangerous risks. Yet the mere chance of salvation is enough for them to face the threat.
In the Sermon
A few years ago, the phrase, “Nevertheless, she persisted” became popular in American culture after then-Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell used the phrase in a scathing disapproval of Senator Elizabeth Warren’s refusal to stop speaking during the 2017 confirmation of Jeff Sessions as US Attorney General, despite the Senate vote requiring her to do so.
There are times in life when our morals, our values, our faith, or our need compel us to persist. Commentator Mitzi J. Smith writes, “The Canaanite woman persists. Like Sojourner Truth, Rosa Parks, Congresswoman Shirley Chisholm, Oprah Winfrey, Senator Hillary Clinton, Michelle Obama, Senator Elizabeth Warren, and Senator Kamala Harris, the Canaanite woman persisted. But so many anonymous women like the Canaanite woman have persisted as lone minority voices among a majority of authoritative and powerful men. She persisted! She didn’t go away; she won’t be dismissed. She draws closer and kneels, and in the vernacular of a determined woman she cries, “Master, help me,” (Matthew 15:25).”
And in response to this, the woman’s daughter is instantly healed.
Perhaps, if we would take a second look, we might see echoes of the Canaanite woman in the faces of families attempting to cross the border into the US. We, the powerful and privileged, can be quick to dismiss migrants because of an underlying belief that they somehow “don’t deserve” what is already ours. Yet perhaps this story is meant to shake us up and remind us that, sometimes, the barriers and boundaries, whether literal or metaphorical, that we put in place to keep some in and others out, need to be broken down. Jesus is not just hope for Israel, but hope for the whole world.
SECOND THOUGHTSWho Gets In?
by Mary Austin
Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Our neighbors with grievances are not the first people in history to feel like they’re being traded in for someone new.
People who want Donald Trump to be re-elected as President feel like they’ve been replaced in American life. One voter explains that people who support Trump gain an identity from that support. He adds, “Trump has done this better than any candidate in 50 years. To voters whose worlds have been destroyed by elites, Trump says: You matter. Become a part of this movement and you are standing up to the elites. You can get your life back with me, and be a SOMEBODY again. Trump’s legal cases are easily rationalized as the price he has been willing to pay, personally, to represent all of the people who see him as validating their lives and giving them identities once again.”
Another voter explains, “Trump supporters believe that the economic and cultural game is rigged…Trump has tapped into the frustration that comes from playing a rigged game. Trump supporters see Trump as challenging the cultural and economic system that excludes them and their views. The elites and media need to stop dismissing Trump supporters as some fringe group…The 2024 election is likely to be close. The issues Trump has tapped into are not fleeting.”
This awful feeling of being rejected in favor of someone else shapes Paul’s letter to the believers in Rome. His entire ministry toggles back and forth between his Jewish heritage, and his call to welcome Gentile converts. In this passage, he adeptly balances the two. Straddling the line, he insists that God has not rejected the people God originally loved. “The gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable,” Paul insists. No one gets replaced. God does not reject any of us, and has an infinite ability to add new people into the divine embrace.
The problem is with us.
We don’t want to add new people in. We don’t want to lose the feeling that there’s something special about us. We don’t want to share.
The recent Supreme Court decision ending the use of affirmative action in college admissions speaks to these same tensions. How do we share something that’s finite? Harvard, one of the plaintiffs in the lawsuit, “noted that each class has only 1,600 slots, but, by the numbers, it has thousands of equally qualified applicants. In the class of 2019, for instance, it had 35,000 applicants, 3,700 of them with perfect math SAT scores; 2,700 with perfect verbal SAT scores, and more than 8,000 with perfect grade point averages.” What can make admissions “fair” when so many people are more than qualified? The pain of not getting in to Harvard — and other elite schools — is shared by thousands of people who learn that disappointment is not the same as exclusion.
Fortunately, most things in life are not finite, and there’s room for newcomers and long-timers.
A parent voiced the perennial anxiety about the fairness of her child getting into college. Writing in for advice, she said, “My son is in the middle of the college-application process. He has very good grades and very good SAT and ACT scores; he is an Eagle Scout and a captain of the cross-country team. He is also white, male, and upper-middle-class — and that is the problem. According to all of the statistics and reports, he should be accepted at Ivy League schools, but he has not been. He will eventually get into a “good” school, but it is my guess (based on what we are seeing with his peer group) that he will be overqualified for the school he ends up at. He is very frustrated and very upset. How do you explain to a bright, eager boy that the system is rigged against him?”
The advice from Dr. Lori Gottlieb was similar to Paul’s word to the Romans. “You say, “Son, the world is an unfair place and the system is rigged against you.” And then you watch him grow into an angry, unfulfilled adult with a chip on his shoulder who will probably have grossly misguided ideas about women and people of color and his own value and worth and abilities. But if you’d like a better future for him, let me suggest the following.”
She adds, “Tell him that you have every confidence that he will choose, and be accepted into, a school where he meshes well and maybe even makes the friends he’ll have for the rest of his life.” There’s enough space for everyone.
In God’s economy, there are plenty of places for the original folks, and for those who come later. There’s room for the deserving and the undeserving. Unlike college admissions, God can make room for everyone. There’s space for the left out, and the left behind.
As The Message translates Paul’s word, “God’s gifts and God’s call are under full warranty — never canceled, never rescinded.”
ILLUSTRATIONS
From team member Dean FeldmeyerAsking For Help
In this week’s lectionary readings, we find people asking for help. Joseph’s brothers, not knowing that the Egyptian high official before whom they stand is their brother, have come to him asking for help in surviving a famine. In the gospel lesson, a gentile woman is so desperate to find help for her sick daughter that she humbles herself to ask for it from an itinerant Jewish rabbi.
* * *
Lola The Whale (Adapted from a children’s story.)
Lola the whale ate lots of little fish. Hundreds of them every day.
One day, one of the tiny little fish she was eating got caught in the teeth back in the corner of her mouth. She worked at trying to dislodge it so she could spit it out. She bashed her head against the rocks, she swallowed great waves of sea water, she gulped mouths full of sand but nothing worked. It wouldn’t budge. Day after day, it was stuck there and her breath got worse and worse.
Having such bad breath and having a little, tiny fish lodged in her teeth embarrassed Lola terribly so she began to avoid other sea creatures. She didn’t want them to know her breath smelled bad and it was caused by a tiny fish. She was afraid they would laugh at her or make fun of her.
In fact, they thought she was stuck up and didn’t like them.
One day, Dido, a young dolphin, decided to secretly follow the whale. She watched Lola’s odd behavior and finally asked her why she was doing these things. Lola confessed that a small fish, caught in her back teeth, was giving her bad breath. Dido offered to help Lola dislodge the small fish but Lola didn't want to bother her with her bad breath. Nor did she want anyone to find out.
“I don't want them to think I have bad breath,” said Lola.
“Is that why you've avoided everyone?” answered Dido, unable to believe it. “They don't think you've got bad breath, they think you're unpleasant, boring, and ungrateful, and that you hate everyone. Do you think that's better?”
Lola realized that her pride — her exaggerated shyness, and not letting anyone help — had created an even greater problem. Full of regret, she asked Dido to remove the remains of the fish in her mouth.
When this was done, Lola began speaking to everyone again. However, she had to make a big effort to be accepted again by her friends. Lola decided that never again would she fail to ask for help when she really needed it.
* * *
How To Ask For Help
- Step 1: Take the Risk of Asking — People often don’t ask for help because they assume the person they ask might say “no.” The fear of rejection is strong, and nearly every human worries about this to some degree. But several research studies have shown that people generally like to see themselves as useful and are often willing to take action when asked. That social pressure alone drives people to say, “how can I help,” even if they would hesitate for other reasons.
- Step 2: Clarify What Kind of Help You Need — Before you ask for help, clarify what, specifically, you need. Knowing this can determine who you ask and what you need them to do. Think about your problem and decide what missing part matters the most.
- Step 3: Be Thoughtful About Who to Ask — Once you know what kind of help you need, consider who to ask. Keep in mind you may need to speak to a few different people before you get the help you need.
- Step 4: Be Thoughtful About How to Ask — Ask early. Don’t wait until you’re frustrated and angry…Avoid making your request sound like a demand…Appeal to them with kindness and humility…Show trust and respect…Be considerate of timing.
- Step 5: “Can You Help Me?” — Ending your request with this question is another way to show your vulnerability. Most people want to be helpful, and a person is less likely to turn you away when you ask this question directly.
- Step 6: Be Helpful to Others — Make a habit of offering your time and talents to others. Not only can you understand what it’s like to be on the other side of the coin, but the process can seem less intimidating.
* * *
He Conquered Trichotillomania, With Help
Jitesh Jaggi has a condition called trichotillomania. And even though it's a mouthful, it's important to name it, to call it out in the open because it thrives on secrecy.
People who suffer from the condition are often called “hair pullers.” He plucks out his hair, mostly the ones on his face, but other places will do. It’s not something that he does voluntarily. It's something that he cannot not do. It’s an uncontrollable impulse.
He thought for years that it was simply a bad habit and he hid it successfully from even those closest to him. Once he found out there was a name for it and it was an actual mental health condition, he decided to share this with his wife, Whitney. She listened and did not call 911. That changed something. Out of the two people who now knew about his condition, he was the only one who thought of it as appalling behavior.
Whitney thought nothing of it. “Fine,” she said, “we'll just get a better vacuum.”
That love and acceptance from his wife gave him the courage to seek help.
He came across an ad by the University of Chicago that they were conducting a research study to test a new drug for trichotillomania and he signed up.
As part of the research, I was required to maintain this diary, this journal where I was supposed to write down my every move regarding hair pulling every day. And over a period of six weeks, as I recorded in my journal, every day my every move, every urge, every action, I was surprised to observe that day after day, I was spending less and less and less time pulling my hair, until it reached zero. The drug had worked.
Then he was told that he was part of the control group who was given a placebo.
He didn’t know whether to feel bad because he’d been given a fake medicine or happy because he was cured. What if the cure was just temporary and the hair pulling returned. Well, might as well enjoy the healing as long as it lasted. He grew a beard.
The hair pulling never returned. He was cured not by medicine but by asking for help and writing in a diary. Recording and journaling his habit dragged it from the unconscious and shed light on it, forcing it to be seen and to be grappled with. “The more I observed it,” he says, “the more I wrote about it, the more I talked about it, the less power it had over me.”
Repetitive behaviors, nail biting, hair pulling, skin pulling, all of these thrive on shame and secrecy and they diminish with kindness and awareness that are the results of asking for help.
* * *
The Boy And The Rock (Adapted from a Muslim Folk Tale)
A little boy was spending his Saturday morning playing in his sandbox. He had with him his box of cars and trucks, his plastic pail, and a shiny, red plastic shovel.
In the process of creating roads and tunnels in the soft sand, he discovered a large rock in the middle of the sandbox. He dug around the rock and managed to dislodge it from the dirt. With a little bit of struggle, using his feet, he pushed and nudged the large rock across the sandbox but when he got it to the edge he found that he couldn’t roll it up and over the wall of the sandbox.
Determined, the little boy shoved, pushed, and pried, but every time he thought he had made some progress, the rock tipped and then fell back into the sandbox. He grunted, struggled, pushed, and shoved, but his only reward was to have the rock roll back, smashing his chubby fingers.
Finally, he burst into tears of frustration and, at that moment a large shadow fell across the boy and the sandbox.
It was the boy’s father who had been watching through a window in the house as the little drama unfolded. Gently but firmly he said, “Son, why didn’t you use all the strength that you had available?”
“But I did, Daddy, I did! I used all the strength that I had!”
“No, son,” corrected the father kindly. “You didn’t use all the strength you had. You didn’t ask me.” And, with that, the father reached down, picked up the rock and removed it from the sandbox.
* * *
He Asked For Help (Contemporary American Folk Tale)
A mouse, looking through a hole in the wall, saw the farmer and his wife open a package. He was terrified to see that it was a mousetrap. He ran to the patio to warn everyone.
“There is a mousetrap at home!”
The chicken that was scratching in the dirt said: “Excuse me, Mr. Mouse, I understand that it is a big problem for you, but it does not concern me at all.”
So, the mouse went to the lamb and told him: “Excuse me Mr. Mouse, I understand that it is a big problem for you, but it does not concern me. I’ll keep you in my thought and prayers.”
The mouse went to the cow and she said: “Please help me. I’m in great danger.” “Oh, I think not!” said the cow. “You just need to stay away from the trap. When mice get caught in a mouse trap, it’s their own fault and it doesn’t concern me at all.”
The mouse returned to the house, worried and dejected to face the farmer's mousetrap.
That night, mouse heard a loud noise like that of the mousetrap slamming shut. The woman ran to see what she had caught but, in the dark, she did not see that the mousetrap had caught the tail of a poisonous snake.
The angry snake bit the woman. The farmer immediately took her to the hospital. She came home with a high fever.
To comfort her, the farmer prepared a nutritious chicken soup. When the woman did not get better, friends and neighbors came to visit her and the farmer served lamb stew to his guests.
Finally, the woman did not get better and died and the husband sold the cow to the slaughterhouse to cover the funeral expenses.
In his grief, the farmer threw the mousetrap into the trash and the mouse lived a long, comfortable life.
* * *
Cultural Baggage
In the gospel lesson Jesus admonishes his disciples to not let their cultural baggage about what foods to eat and not eat get in the way of their witness. Then, he exposes his own cultural baggage by, at first, refusing to heal the daughter of a desperate gentile woman.
* * *
Cultural Pride vs. Cultural Baggage
My DNA is German/English. My wife’s is German/Irish.
We like to go to festivals and there are festivals a plenty in Cincinnati to go to. We don’t wear lederhosen but we do love the German festivals with the oompah bands, the polkas, the big steins of beer, the wiener schnitzel, the sauerbraten, the bratwurst and sauerkraut. It’s all great fun.
And we like going to the Celtic festivals to sing along with the Irish music and enjoy the fish and chips and the Scottish Eggs, the soda bread and the fried cabbage and the boxty, to dance the reels, and hear the storytellers.
We’re proud of our heritage, especially the positive and uplifting parts.
But we are also aware that heritage comes with baggage if we let it. The “troubles” of Ulster, the prejudices that the Irish and English have, for years, held against each other. And our pride in our German background doesn’t include the hatred that led to the Holocaust.
We strive to appreciate the cultures out of which our families emerged but the cultural baggage that would prejudice us against other cultures, we leave behind. Just because we’re German/Irish/English by heritage doesn’t mean we can’t enjoy pizza or a taco now and then.
* * *
The Poisonwood Mistake
Barbara Kingsolver’s 1998 best-selling novel, The Poisonwood Bible, is about a missionary family, the Prices, who in 1959 move from the US state of Georgia to the village of Kilanga in the Belgian Congo, close to the Kwilu River.
So enthusiastic and full of faith is the father that he can’t be bothered to hang around in the United States and take the missionary training that his church provides to prepare foreign missionaries for the language, geography, and cultures they will encounter in the mission field.
Unbeknownst to even himself, his hope is not just to make Christians of these people, but to make white Europeans of them as well. He is, predictably, met with abject failure on every front. The seeds that he brought from America can’t grow in the African climate. The home he is supposed to live in is a hovel compared to how he lived in Georgia. The people have no interest in the God he claims to represent. But his biggest cultural blunder is to be found in the title of the book.
He concludes his sermons with the Kikongo expression “Tata Jesus is bängala” with the intent of saying “Jesus is most precious.” In his hurried mispronunciation, he actually says “Jesus is poisonwood.”
* * *
Paved with Good Intentions
“The road to Hell is paved with good intentions.” We know that the aphorism dates back to the 16th century, maybe even earlier, but we don’t know who said or wrote it first.
Its meaning, however, is clear. Much evil has been and is done by people who have only the purest, most innocent, most well-meaning of intentions. European Christian missionaries coming to the new world in the time of Christopher Columbus brought with them diseases like Small Pox, Measles, and Influenza to which native people had built up no immunities.
The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation (OMRF) describes the impact this way: “In Hispaniola, Columbus’ first stop in the Americas, the native Taino population…had no immunity to new infectious diseases… There were an estimated 250,000 indigenous people in Hispaniola in 1492. By 1517, only 14,000 remained. European diseases killed more than 90 percent of the indigenous population in just 25 years. The impact of European and African settlers in the New World was more destructive than the Black Death had been in medieval Europe...”
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From team member Chris Keating:Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
Revealing justice
The prophet’s vision of gathering up the outcast and excluded is a reversal of our world’s historical practices of racism and exclusion. An investigation by the Washington Post has revealed the ways the highly-regarded Smithsonian participated in collecting and curating brains of Black and Indigenous persons in an effort to prove white superiority. The remains are part of a vast collection of at least 30,700 bones and body parts largely collected without permission from next of kin and still held by the Natural History Museum. One descendent of a person whose brain is in the collection calls it “a violation against our family and our people…it’s like an open wound…we want to have peace and we’ll have no peace because we know this exists, until it’s corrected.”
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Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Borders of compassion
When Jesus crosses the border into Tyre and Sidon, he seems to be going out of his way to avoid interacting with the locals. A woman started to shout at him, but “he did not answer her at all (v. 23).” It’s surprising, particularly when you recall Matthew has reminded us that there are three Canaanite women in Jesus’ family tree (at least!). Back in chapter one, Matthew names Rahab, Tamar, and Ruth among Jesus’ ancestors, something that seems to go unnoticed in Matthew 15. But perhaps the Canaanite woman’s pleas are designed to evoke reminders of Jesus’ mixed heritage, thus becoming prompts for an offer of compassion.
Our inclination to ignore the connections we share across boundaries and borderlines continues. Earlier this month, the leader of the largest Latino Civil Rights organization in the United States stood near the banks of the Rio Grande river in the shadows of an old bridge that connects Texas and Mexico. For Domingo Garcia, president of the League of United Latin American Citizens (LULAC) the border is a symbol of both a shared lineage and ongoing injustice. Last week Garcia noted that he has heard stories of more than 54 bodies of immigrants being fished out of the river as the result of Texas’s Operation Lone Star, a state effort to curb undocumented immigration. Texas officials boast that Operation Lonestar has been extraordinarily effective, and has included more than 377,000 apprehensions of immigrants — even though officials also admit that most illicit activities immigrants are alleged to have done were actually transgressions caused by US citizens.
“Let us be clear,” Garcia said, “the human cost of this so-called 'victory' is immeasurable. The real casualties are not just those refugees apprehended at the border but the essence of compassion and empathy that makes us human. We should be a nation that extends a helping hand to those fleeing violence and persecution, not pushing them back into harm's way or treating them as criminals.”
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Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
What actually defiles
As Jesus remarked, blind guides of the blind just lead to large scale stumbling. The recent surprise hit movie Sound of Freedom offers an example of Jesus’ comment in Matthew 15. Sound of Freedom became a surprise hit over the Fourth of July weekend this summer when it went head-to-head with the new Indiana Jones movie. Sound of Freedom brought in almost nearly as much as Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny, despite being a niche film marketed to conservative audiences.
Despite its story of exploring child sex trafficking, the movie may inadvertently be promoting a hypocritical agenda.
The crowd-funded film, produced by Utah-based ad agency Harmon Brothers (of “squatty potty” fame), relays the story of Tim Ballard’s crusade against child sex traffickers. Ballard, a former Homeland Security agent, stages stings to catch child predators. What marketers do not reveal is that the film seems to cater to Q’anon conspiracy theories — something its producers’ deny. But star Jim Caviezel has openly embraced the Q’anon movement and its theories that cabals are marketing hormones extracted from children. The movie has been heavily marketed to conservative-leaning religious audiences.
Anti-trafficking groups such as Polaris suggest the film veers off course by tacitly promoting conspiracy theories and avoiding hard-to-have conversations with actual trafficking survivors. Critics suggest that the movie distorts the complexities of the sex trafficking business in the United States, and may actually be harming children. Indeed, one funder who is listed on the movie’s credits was recently arrested and charged with felony kidnapping. “I'm proud to have been a small part of it,” said Fabian Marta, a Missouri man who was charged July 23 with being an accessory to child kidnapping. “If you see the movie, look for 'Fabian Marta and Family' at the very end of the credits.”
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Psalm 133
Divided over religion
Religious liberty lawyer and New York Times columnist David French believes that the continuing stress-fractures across American religious, political, and cultural institutions is a sign that our democracy may be unravelling. In a book written in 2020, French wrote that:
It’s time for Americans to wake up to a fundamental reality: the continued unity of the United States cannot be guaranteed. At this moment in history, there is not a single important cultural, religious, political, or social force that is pulling Americans together more than it is pulling us apart.
Religion Unplugged notes the historical precedence between the prelude to the Civil War and today’s situation. In both cases, a sense of religious activism was palpable. While there is no contemporary moral crisis equivalent with slavery, Religion Unplugged suggests, “The closest 21st century equivalent would be populist erosion of Americans’ trust and respect toward each other. A collapse in support for the First Amendment? That would certainly cause more legal and economic strife.”
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From team member Quantisha Mason-Doll:Genesis 45:1-15
There is no room
Sending everyone away, Joseph made himself known to his brothers in private. After everything he had been through, the first thing he wanted to know was the status of their father. Maybe this was Joseph’s way of ensuring that his father did not pass away thinking that his beloved son was gone forever. Once he saw that his brothers were dumb struck, he took the time to soothe their fears. I like to believe this was because Joseph had no room in his heart to hate them. Joseph, being blessed by God, had the eyes to see that their cruelty did not only affect him but had a ripple effect that brought them to this moment. At no moment during their exchange does Joseph want to take revenge on them for their actions. In truth, he had all right to yell, scream, to make a scene for all to see, yet he chose peace. Joseph could have used his position of power and privilege to shame his brothers who sold him into slavery, but he wanted to hold them close and shield them from further suffering. He did not forgive them for their actions but he moved past what they had done. He suffered, they are suffering, they all suffered in different ways that have weighted heavily on their shoulders. His brothers let the fear and shame of their actions keep them from running to their brother and begging for forgiveness, while Joseph turned his suffering into glory. He opened his heart that was filled with God’s love and welcomed his brothers and gave them a chance to redeem themselves for their past actions. In the way God does not hold grudges, so too, Joseph let go of his hate.
Let the love and grace of God fill your heart so fully that there is no room for hate.
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Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
There is no gift receipt
Contrary to popular belief, God’s call for you is yours and yours alone. The gifts God has given you, in the words of Romans, are irrevocable. We can’t return what we have been given, God does not hand out gift receipts. There is an expectation that we will use our gifts for the common good yet more and more we struggle with seeing the humanity and worth of the stranger. Late stage capitalism has fooled us all into believing that any action we take in this world has to have some kind of monetary gain. Our churches fear ‘dying’ so they horde their gifts and snuff out the lights of those who are willing to do radical things in the name of the Lord. There are so many people who are walking creations that feel lost not because they have strayed from the path of God but because there were some well-meaning church folks that pushed them away. In 2023 it is the responsibility of the Church (universal) to start questioning why there are so many unchurched people with gifts left unused.
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Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
God has chosen
Pride and Black history month might be over yet this much still stands true — rejection is not an option for the Lord our God. It feels redundant at this point that we have to argue the worthiness and humanity of those whom God foreknew. There is no reason for a little boy to fear taking out the trash because police might try to harm him.
O’Shae Sibley should have been allowed to dance like King David when he was drunk on the love of the Lord without fear of death. People tried to strip humanity from these men but God reminds us of their humanity each and every day.
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From team member Katy Stenta:Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32
Once a queen or king in Narnia, always a king or queen in Narnia. In The Lion the Witch and Wardrobe, the children are reminded that their anointing is permanent. The thing about being called by God is that God’s blessings are not something that can be taken away. They are a part of us. The idea that we can be rejected by God, when God’s very blessings are interwoven into our being, is ridiculous.
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Matthew 15:(10-20) 21-28
Someone recently pointed out that though men go up to mountains and temples to meet God, women meet Jesus and God in the streets, in the common places, by the well. Women come to shout at Jesus, the Canaanite woman demands her due, she comes shouting for at least crumbs of grace and healing. This moment of Jesus listening to the “other” woman, the minority, the potential enemy, changes his ministry. It shows that we can demand justice. It’s important in light of indictments of a former president, women’s rights, LGBTQIA rights, and black and brown rights, to breathe and exist freely, the immigrant’s right to asylum and even the freedom to read certain books is on the line.
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Isaiah 56:1, 6-8
The church as a house of prayer for all people is a promise that has never been realized. For too long the church has been a place of exclusionary practices. Currently, my Presbyterian church shares space on a pay-what-you-can model, getting to know and understand many other communities. Currently we share with a Buddhist congregation, a Pakistani multi-denominational fellowship, a liberal United Church of Christ, an African American Pentecostal Church, a Spanish-speaking Evangelical church, and a small woman-led non-denominational congregation for battered women. We also previously housed an Inclusive Catholic Congregation, a Bahai Congregation, an evangelical college ministry and a Micronesian Apostolic Congregation. How can our churches be more welcoming to be a house of prayer for all people? Where are our shared ministries and communities?
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WORSHIPby George Reed
Call to Worship
One: How very good it is when kindred live together in unity!
All: How very pleasant it is when there is harmony!
One: It is like the precious oil on the head which anoints us.
All: It is like a soothing balm, liberally applied.
One: It is like the dew that comes and refreshes the land.
All: It is a blessing poured out by our God.
OR
One: May God be gracious to us and bless us.
All: May God’s face be made to shine upon us.
One: Let the people praise you, O God.
All: Let all the people praise you.
One: Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.
All: May God continue to bless us as we revere our Creator.
OR
One: The One who created us all calls us together for worship.
All: We come together so that we might be fed by our God.
One: The God who is love calls us to receive and share love.
All: We long for God’s love and delight in sharing it.
One: God’s love is for all God’s beloved children.
All: We will share God’s love with everyone of them.
Hymns and Songs
Love Divine, All Loves Excelling
UMH: 384
H82: 657
PH: 376
GTG:366
AAHH: 440
NNBH: 65
NCH: 43
CH: 517
LBW: 315
ELW: 631
W&P: 358
AMEC: 455
Holy God, We Praise Thy Name
UMH:: 79
H82: 366
PH: 460
GTG: 4
NNBH: 13
NCH: 276
LBW: 535
ELW: 414
W&P: 138
The Care the Eagle Gives Her Young
UMH: 118
NCH: 468
CH: 76
Come, Christian, Join to Sing
UMH: 158
PH: 150
GTG: 367
CH: 90
W&P: 87
Of the Father’s Love Begotten
UMH: 184
PH: 309
GTG: 108
NCH: 118
CH: 104
LBW: 42
ELW: 295
W&P: 181
Jesus Loves Me
UMH: 191
PH: 304
GTG: 188
AAHH: 335
NNBH: 506
NCH: 327
CH: 113
ELW: 595
W&P: 437
AMEC: 549
For the Healing of the Nations
UMH: 428
GTG: 346
NCH: 576
CH: 668
W&P: 621
In Christ There Is No East or West
UMH: 548
H82: 529
PH: 439/440
GTG: 317/318
AAHH: 398/399
NNBH: 299
NCH: 394/395
CH: 687
LBW: 259
ELW: 650
W&P: 600/603
AMEC: 557
Help Us Accept Each Other
UMH: 560
PH: 358
GTG: 754
NCH: 388
CH: 487
W&P: 596
AMEC: 558T
Lord, Whose Love Through Humble Service
UMH: 581
H82: 610
PH: 427
CH: 461
LBW: 423
ELW: 712
W&P: 575
Renew: 286
Glorify Thy Name
CCB: 8
I Love You, Lord
CCB: 14
Renew: 36
If you are working with Mary Austin’s article you might want to check out “There Is Room at the Table” by Carrie Newcomer on YouTube.
Music Resources Key
UMH: United Methodist Hymnal
H82: The Hymnal 1982
PH: Presbyterian Hymnal
GTG: Glory to God, The Presbyterian Hymnal
AAHH: African American Heritage Hymnal
NNBH: The New National Baptist Hymnal
NCH: The New Century Hymnal
CH: Chalice Hymnal
LBW: Lutheran Book of Worship
ELW: Evangelical Lutheran Worship
W&P: Worship & Praise
AMEC: African Methodist Episcopal Church Hymnal
STLT: Singing the Living Tradition
CCB: Cokesbury Chorus Book
Renew: Renew! Songs & Hymns for Blended Worship
Prayer for the Day/Collect
O God who created us out of the same earth and breath:
Grant us the grace to make room for all at the table
so that we may truly reflect your love in our lives;
through Jesus Christ our Savior. Amen.
OR
We praise you, O God of creation. Out of the same dust of the earth and with your own breath you gave life to humankind. Help us to truly reflect the love you placed in us as we make room at the table for all. Amen.
Prayer of Confession
One: Let us confess to God and before one another our sins and especially when we deny your image in others but shutting them out of our lives.
All: We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to reflect your image in which you created us. We have ignored our own story of how you created all humankind out of the same earth and with the same breath. We have separated ourselves from others and treated them as less than your beloved children. We have not loved others as we love ourselves and so we have failed to love you with our whole being. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might more fully live out your image in our lives. Amen.
One: God created us out of love and in love renews us so that we might live as God’s true children. Receive God’s grace and be gracious with all whom you encounter.
Prayers of the People
Praise and glory to you, O loving God of all creation. Out of your own self you called forth your creation and with your own breath you gave all humankind life.
(The following paragraph may be used if a separate prayer of confession has not been used.)
We confess to you, O God, and before one another that we have sinned. We have failed to reflect your image in which you created us. We have ignored our own story of how you created all humankind out of the same earth and with the same breath. We have separated ourselves from others and treated them as less than your beloved children. We have not loved others as we love ourselves and so we have failed to love you with our whole being. Forgive us and renew your Spirit within us that we might more fully live out your image in our lives.
We give you thanks for all the blessings you have bestowed on us from the very beginning of creation until this very moment. Since you breathed us into being you have never left us or forsaken us. You have provided a bountiful earth to supply our physical needs and to delight us with beauty. You have placed your Spirit within us that we might always know your presence. You have sent us prophets and psalmists to remind us of who and whose we are. You have given us your Christ to teach us and to lead us to life that is full, abundant, and eternal.
(Other thanksgivings may be offered.)
We lift up to you those who are on our hearts this day. As we hold them in our love we know you hold them in yours. We pray for those who suffer in body, mind, or spirit and those who suffer from the violence and hatred of others. We pray for those who find themselves alone and lost in this life.
(Other intercessions may be offered.)
Hear us as we pray for others: (Time for silent or spoken prayer.)
All these things we ask in the name of our Savior Jesus Christ who taught us to pray saying:
Our Father....Amen.
(Or if the Our Father is not used at this point in the service.)
All this we ask in the name of the Blessed and Holy Trinity. Amen.
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CHILDREN'S SERMONHow Good and Pleasant…
by Tom Willadsen
Psalm 133
Once the little ones are settled, read all of Psalm 133 to them.
Psalm 133 (Common English Bible)
Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
2 It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard—
Aaron’s beard!—
which extended over the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Explain that these are the words to a song that groups of people would sing as they traveled to the Temple in Jerusalem. My family used to sing in the car, maybe their families do too.
Reread the first verse:
Look at how good and pleasing it is
when families live together as one!
Ask them to think of times when everyone in their family is getting along together. Maybe when they’re singing together in the car, or on vacation, or playing games together…invite them to describe times when their families are at their best. Point out that it’s pleasing to God when people get along and enjoy being together. That sort of thing happens at church every Sunday.
Now read the second verse:
It is like expensive oil poured over the head,
running down onto the beard —
Aaron’s beard! —
which extended over the collar of his robes.
What? How is people getting along like oil pouring off your head and onto your clothes? How is that a good thing?
Well, in the Bible, people poured oil on things to show they were important. Jacob poured oil over a rock he had placed his head on where he had a dream that God was with him. In the gospel stories, people poured oil over Jesus’ head and even his feet as a way to show that he was welcome. Oil smells good and it spreads slowly. So don’t think of it as something that will just stain your clothes!
Finally, reread the third verse:
It is like the dew on Mount Hermon
streaming down onto the mountains of Zion,
because it is there that the Lord has commanded the blessing:
everlasting life.
Families getting along are like dew on a mountain? How can that be so?
Remember, the people who sang this song lived in a very dry place. They needed water to live. Water streaming down from a distant mountain was a sign that they had what they needed to live. And Mount Hermon was far away, which helped the people remember that God wasn’t only happy when families got along, but when everyone in the whole wide world gets along.
Let’s pray together:
Living God, when the words in the Bible are strange, help us understand them together. Help us to live in peace with our families, and with all your children, in every place. Amen.
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The Immediate Word, August 20, 2023 issue.
Copyright 2023 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to The Immediate Word service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons and in worship and classroom settings only. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
