Are you there God? It's me, Jane Margaret.
Thoughts and reflections of a pastor......
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Thoughts and reflections of a pastor......
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10/31/2024 We are called to be Arc Benders.....Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. famously said: “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” This statement is affirmed in Scripture—in the Gospel. After all, even Jesus didn’t bring about the completion of the kingdom, right? Jesus didn’t say: “Well, God, nice idea about Kingdom living, nice vision you got there, but it’s never gonna happen in my lifetime, so I think I’ll just sit this one out.” No, Jesus was an arc bender—living a life of justice so that we would follow in that way. Knowing it wouldn’t happen in his lifetime, but arc bending nevertheless.
But, it’s hard being arc benders. It’s the long, slow work of God, and we would like some immediate results, thank you very much. Because being an arc bender means you have to live in the tension. The tension of already, but not yet. The tension of the conflict that arises because to bend the arc toward justice is to change the status quo. It is to move progressively toward new life, new possibilities and to move away from what has been because what “has been” is oppressive. Maybe not to us or for us, but oppressive for our siblings or for Creation, so that means as People of the Way of Love—we must choose to become arc benders. Because as Christ followers we believe that injustice for anyone is injustice for everyone. But, Beloved, living in that tension—and the anxiety that comes with the “not yet”----is exhausting. It can become absolutely debilitating. I think the people Jeremiah is talking to in today’s reading understand this well. In case you didn’t know, way back in the 10th century BCE, the people and nation of Israel became divided. The people were divided about who was the legitimate king, who they wanted to be their leader. Sound familiar? So they split up—the Northern Kingdom, often known as Ephraim, following one leader, and the Southern Kingdom, known as Judah–or sometimes just Israel, following another. Then 200 years later, in the 8th century BCE, the Northern Kingdom, Ephraim, was conquered by Asssyria–with many folx getting exiled and all folx living under oppression. Another 200 years later, in the 6th century BCE, the Southern kingdom, Judah, was conquered by the Babylonian Empire—many of those folx also sent into exile. And that’s when Jeremiah comes in. Jeremiah lived in the years leading up the Babylonian exile and into the time of exile itself. And it is at this time that Jeremiah declares this beautiful promise that God has for God’s people: God says to us: You will be restored, my people, you will be gathered from all directions. From the division you have built between you, from the exile and oppression that resulted from that division, you will be restored. God declares that this gathering for restoration will include all people—the most weak and lame, the blind and those who do not understand; but also, among the gathered will be the ones who will give birth to new life, those who will do the work of resurrection and rebirth. The restoration of God’s people requires the entire breadth of humanity. Okay, great. That sounds great. So, when you gonna make it happen God? How long, O God, how long? Beloved, let me remind you of our origin story in the book of Genesis. God created all things—six days of Creation work. But then, on the seventh day, God rested. God stopped. Not just because the Creator and Source of all Being needed a nap. No, because the Creator’s work was done. Done. Beloved, God no longer intercedes in Creation—-at least, not alone. What our Genesis story tells us is that God now intercedes in Creation, on behalf of Creation, THROUGH HUMANITY. Through the arc benders, those pregnant with justice who push back on the oppressive status quo and help humanity and Creation to progress into a fuller life with more abundance for all of Creation. We hear this truth in the Gospel story today as well. Here’s this blind man, Bartimaeus, who cries out to Jesus—this blind man knows who Jesus is, what Jesus offers, so this Blind man cries out. Son of David, have mercy on me! Those closest to Jesus try to silence him, stop him, thwart him, but he will not have it. He continues to cry out. Jesus stops. Stands still. And asks for the Blind man. This man then throws off his cloak—as a blind beggar he would have been homeless; this cloak is his only shelter, his security, his home—but he throws it off and jumps up and goes to Jesus. Because Jesus has stopped still, the man is able to use the sound of Jesus’ voice and his stillness to come to Jesus. And the man is made well. He is given back his sight—which in Scripture is also always about his understanding, his worldview. He gets “woke,” in other words. But did you notice, Jesus did nothing to restore him. In this story, there’s no mud put on the man’s eyes, no spit. It was simply the efficacy of his faith—his trust and belief in Jesus, in love, this Way, this Truth, and this life—that saved him. His faith has made him well. God intercedes in Creation through humanity. Miracles are wrought through humanity. Restoration comes about through humanity. Resurrection happens through humanity. Yes, of course, inspired by Love (aka God), inspirited by Love (aka God) but not without the intercession of humanity—shown and modeled to us by the one we call Jesus the Christ. When I was teaching high school, every hour when the bell rang to end class, I would always send my students off saying: Play well with others; make a positive difference in the world; always choose joy. “The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” And Beloved, we are the arc benders. Use your vote to be an arc bender. Let us move toward the Kingdom, knowing it will not be completed within our lifetime, but we shall not be the ones to send us backward nor to stymie the progress of justice and love. Let us intercede on the behalf of all Creation. Using the words of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Let us pray: Lord…We thank you for your church, founded upon your Word, that challenges us to do more than sing and pray, but go out and work as though the very answer to our prayers depended on us and not upon you. Help us to realize that humanity was created to shine like the stars and live on through all eternity. Keep us, we pray, in perfect peace. Help us to walk together, pray together, sing together, and live together until that day when all God’s children - Black, White, Red, Brown and Yellow - will rejoice in one common band of humanity in the reign of our Lord and of our God, we pray. Amen. 10/8/2024 Created to be Ezer Kenegdos. 10/6/2024For years and years, these two readings have been held and read as if they are primarily about marriage. Whether I was explicitly taught or I implicitly caught this lesson, I heard the reading of Genesis to be a story to explain how all of humanity came to be: via the first man, Adam, and the first woman, Eve. And I know I was explicitly taught that our reading from the gospel of Mark is all about why getting a divorce is a dealbreaker (with the implicit message that to do so casts one into the category of “bad christian”).
I know I am not alone in these understandings of “this is what the Bible says”. And, one may surmise, the topic of marriage is why these two readings are put together on this Sunday. But, Beloved, I no longer believe any of these to be “the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth. “
First of all, let’s look at the story from Genesis. It is the 2nd Creation Myth that begins our Love story with God. Yep, the 2nd. Right away that’s a clue that this story can’t be “just the facts, ma’am.” Having more than one version of our Creation, with the 2 stories right next to each other in the book of the beginning that we know as Genesis, this is our first clue that these are myths and not factual stories. Myths are stories told to help us get a grasp on large Truths. So, while they are not stories of facts; they are stories of Truths. And the Truth in these stories, at least one of the Truths, that we are meant to grasp is that God is Creator and we are the Created. But this particular myth has been spun for centuries with a very specific outcome. And here’s the outcome: The Bible says women are subordinate to men; that Women were created to be men’s “helper,” aka: servant. And Beloved, that is just not what this text is about at all. And it isn’t what the text even actually says….. I know, I know….the text reads: “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” But, let’s do a little work here. The word that is translated as “man” isn’t actually the Hebrew word for man. The Hebrew word for man is eesh. What is in the text here is adam, (which is where we get the name Adam), and this Hebrew word, adam, actually means “human” or “humanity.” So, first of all this one sentence actually reads that God says: It is not good that a human, humanity, should live alone. And then what is often translated as “helper” or in the King James’ version: “helpmeet” is so much more than that. The words are ezer kenegdo. Kenegdo means: alongside, and ezer means one who takes active intervention on behalf of someone else. This is about having someone, a partner, who comes alongside you—equally, not subordinately—to actively work on your behalf, for your wholeness and wellness. SideNote here: there’s another clue in the reading from Genesis that we hear today to let us know this is a myth—did you catch it? God makes a human from dirt, then decides the human shouldn’t be alone. God then auditions a lot of animals as possible ezer kenegdos, but nope, none of them are right. So God then takes a piece of the human made from the dirt and creates a second human. An eeshah (Hebrew for woman) for the eesh (Hebrew for man). AND THEN, the first human says: Yay! Here’s another one who is just like me: flesh of my flesh; bone of my bone! Woo Hoo. And then our story concludes with this: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh. Wait! What? What father and mother? These are two humans made from dirt! They don’t have a mother or a father…..what? Yep, myth. A story to help us understand that God is the Creator and humans are made for standing alongside one another in order to actively intervene on behalf of the other. We are created to be ezer kenegdos. Not just the eeshahs, but the eesh(es) as well—the entire spectrum of humanity. Ezer kenegdos, every one of us. But that one last sentence from today’s reading has been used to narrow our understanding of the ezer kenegdo down to two married people. One man with a subordinate wife (meaning a woman who will serve the man). Because that is how the patriarchy wanted us to understand this story. This narrow translation serves the narrative of patriarchy very well. Unfortunately, it doesn’t actually match the narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ. I say that because did you catch this detail of that little nugget that is added: Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh? In this Living Word of God…..the man, the eesh, leaves his family, his ways, his house, his comfort…..and joins—not just joins—-but clings to his wife, becoming one. In this image, the woman, the eeshah, is the pillar and the man is the one who must cling to her. Imagine if we actually used THIS as our image of traditional, Biblical, and family values……. And Mark’s Gospel story continues this narrative of pushing back against the patriarchy to raise up women—and children—in our human narrative. In Jesus’ time, marriage wasn’t about romantic love as it often is in our culture. Not that there wasn’t room for romantic love in marriages when Jesus was alive, but Marriage was, primarily, a contract. A contract between two families and their property, their status, and honor. Divorce wreaked havoc on these things; it was about more than the two who were once-married. Many suffered from a divorce. And the one who stood to suffer the most was the wife. Only men could demand a divorce; Women weren’t allowed to enter a contract; a woman’s father entered the contract for her. Women were property. So if the man was not satisfied with his wife for any variety of reasons (and in much of Scripture, a man could have more than one wife), the man could ask for a divorce. Doing this put the woman at a great disadvantage. Her husband provided her entire security. If she had no family available who could or would take her (and any children her husband may not want) back into their home after the divorce, she was left homeless with no means to care for herself or her children. Jesus’ prohibition of divorce isn’t about prohibiting a divorce because it’s not nice to break a sacrament. This is a justice statement. Jesus is declaring: Don’t forget who you are created to be: ezer kenegdos. You were made to walk alongside one another and actively intervene on the behalf of one another so that each and every one can live into wholeness and wellness. Jesus is declaring that no one in God’s Kingdom should be placed in a position of homelessness, of not knowing where to get the next meal, no one should be left to feel as if one is not worthy of having security. These two passages are primarily about God’s sense of justice and God’s design of humanity for each of us to understand that we are created to live with others—-particularly as ezer kenegdos. These two passages are the opposite of the patriarchal domination and oppression of women. In fact, the truths of these biblical passages condemn patriarchy, not support it. God calls us to look at one another and in our hearts, minds and spirits to say: You are flesh of my flesh, bone of my bone! I am your ezer kenegdo and you are mine. And yes, this is particularly lived out in the covenant of marriage—for the purpose that within this particular relationship, if we choose it, we can be shaped and formed to live differently. Marriage serves as a laboratory where those who choose marriage can learn to become better ezer kenegdos. Living differently with everyone we encounter, and even those we don’t. So that when opportunities, decisions, choices and possibilities are offered to us, we stop and consider: How will this enable me to come alongside my sibling to actively intervene on behalf of their wholeness? Churches are then meant to be the next wider circle. A gathered community growing as ezer kenegdos. Sundays are weekly gatherings so we can widen this practice of becoming ezer kenegdos beyond our home circles and practice this accompaniment within a wider circle. 7 years ago, Redeemer and Intercession agreed to be each other’s ezer kenegdo. Stretching and reshaping us from the inside out. As the Beloved Community, we gather, and we hold our children close and bring them into the center of our gathering, so we can say to them: Your story will be different than ours. From the moment we are born, when we take our first breath and life begins, we are being conditioned. We are being shaped, formed, re-formed and transformed. We are always becoming.
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AuthorJane Johnson is the pastor and priest of the Beloved Community of Intercession Episcopal and Redeemer Lutheran. Archives
October 2024
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