Pastoral Letter 229
Dear Members of St. Andrew’s Uniting Church, Friends and Adherents,
Grace and peace to you all in the name of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
Last Sunday we celebrated Father’s Day and wished them all the best, God’s blessing and had an extended Morning Tea. Each male received a symbolic gift of special Father’s chocolate and a pair of socks.
Memorial Service for a previous St. Andrew’s member Gail Chritina Isaacs was held on Tuesday 3 September 2024 at 11:00 am. We had very big crowd, certainly over 150 people included few of our church members, when Gail was remembered and farewelled. The family expressed their thanks for the service.
I am flying to Melbourne today, Friday 6 September for one night to be at the screening of the documentary “The Golden Chain of Mercy” on the Opening Night of the Armenian Film Festival Melbourne. I will return on Saturday and on Sunday, 8 September, I will to be at the Willoughby Armenian Evangelical Church for the Memorial Service of the AMAA’s Executive Director and CEO, Mr. Zaven Khanjian, who passed away three weeks ago. The Memorial service is organised by the Armenian Missionary Association of Australia and the Armenian Evangelical Church. Bob Minton is covering for me. Thanks, Bob, for accepting to take the Service with a very short notice. Much appreciated.
On Sunday 15 September, the Lane Cove Community Chaplain, Liam McKenna, will take the service, while I will be away in Armenia for the screening of the documentary. Thanks, Liam, for being available.
Wednesday, 18 September is our Annual Spring Fashion Parade and for more details please talk to Jan. Everyone is invited, but mainly the women.
On Sunday 22 September, the Presbytery Chairman, Rev. Keith Garner, will visit us and deliver the message. He will stay for Morning Tea to have fellowship with us. Please note and make sure to join us.
I will be on leave 14-23 October to attend the AMAA Annual meeting in Montreal, Canada.
It has become our tradition to have John Flynn Service in October. By the request of Lane Cove Uniting Church this year the Service will be Combined Service with Lane Cove and held on Sundy 27 October at St. Columba’s. We will have with us as guest speaker Mr. Rob Floyd the National Director of Frontier Services. Following the Service, we will have Morning Tea, as well as the Great Outback Fundraiser BBQ at 12 noon. The raised funds plus the plates of the day will be donated to the Frontier Services. Please let me know if you will stay for the BBQ, as we need to give numbers for catering purposes.
PLEASE be mindful of road closures this Sunday for the Lane Cove Run Fun. You will be able to access the church via William Edward Street. The officers on the roadblock will allow you if you tell them you are going to St. Andrew’s Church.
If you are not able to join us for worship, please light a candle and worship with us following to the attached Order of Service.
Here are some prayer points for this week:
- Pray for the sick, the poor, the homeless, refugees and those who feel lonely.
- Please continue to pray for Virginia and those who have lost loved ones.
- Pray for those who are under the pressure of financial burdens and struggling to make ends meet.
- Pray for world peace, especially for the Middle East, Palestine, Israel and Lebanon.
- Pray for the coming few months, as we welcome some guests to join or lead our Sunday Services.
- Pray for my travel plans and those who are taking the services in my absence.
Best Regards
In Christ
Krikor
MESSAGE
“Unwavering Faith”
Mark 7:24-37
Let us pray!
O Lord, we pray, speak in the calming of our minds and in the longings of our heart. Speak, O Lord, for Your servants listen. Amen!
We’ve all heard or said the familiar phrase, “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try, try again.” Maybe we’ve also heard, “Winners never quit and quitters never win.” These sayings underscore the belief that effort ultimately brings about results, that persistence pays off. At least this is the notion of reason.
Two interesting stories in today’s gospel are about Jesus trying to escape notice by going to what can be described as ‘pagan’ territory – not just once – but twice.
Travelling first to Tyre and then to the region of Decapolis. Of course – He didn’t escape notice in either place but ended up – as usual, getting involved in healing people.
Firstly, Jesus’ encounter with the Syrophoenician woman – these verses sometimes are described as Jesus and the uppity woman. Uppity because she shows a lot of courage confronting Jesus in the way that she did. Any woman addressing a Jewish man in those times had to be out of the ordinary – and it probably would be worse if it happened today – a woman living in what is now Lebanon asking a Jewish man – in hiding – for help – and he virtually tells her in today’s language – “to get lost”.
And – that’s where a problem can lie for us: we’re not confronted in these verses with a gentle Jesus, meek and mild, encircled with a divine halo and reaching out with welcoming loving hands to all who approach Him. Rather, the story we heard, as read to us by Chris, is really quite shocking to our ears – shocking because it appears to portray Jesus’ mouthing prejudice.
When the non-Jewish woman approached Jesus, begging for help for her daughter, Jesus said: ‘I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel’ – the Jewish people. And when the woman knelt before Him and begged for help, Jesus answered that it was not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs – (those who were not Jewish). In other words, His healing power was to be used exclusively for the people of Israel – not for those considered outsiders – gentiles – such as this woman.
And really, considering Jewish history and where Jesus had just been, that would have been the expected answer from any “normal” Jewish man. The people of Israel guarded their identity and their purity as God’s chosen people with great care – with a myriad of rules and regulations setting out what was clean and what was unclean – all intended to maintain racial purity. Outsiders were naturally considered to be unclean – as they did not meet the rules.
In last week’s gospel, Jesus was involved in a discussion with the scribes and Pharisees about this very subject – what was clean and unclean according to their ritual laws. As far as the scribes and Pharisees were concerned – the laws governing purity were set down in Leviticus and had to be obeyed. Today’s reading describes Jesus and his disciples travelling roughly 50 kms from Galilee where He had that heated discussion, to the gentile territory of Tyre on the Phoenician coast. The disciples probably wanted to continue the discussion on the way.
It isn’t surprising then, that when they got there, Jesus did not want anyone to know where He was. He was probably exhausted and just wanted some peace and quiet and what happens – an outsider, a gentile – even worse – a woman! – finds her way into the house where he was – and – driven by her need, falls on her knees at Jesus’ feet, and begs Him to heal her daughter of an unclean spirit.
Well, the story goes Jesus, hearing the woman’s request, reacts as a traditional Jewish man would, and spurns the pleas of the mother begging on behalf of her tormented little girl, simply because she is a gentile, not one of the chosen race. And then He tells the woman that it was preferable that the food was thrown to the dogs rather than taken out of the mouths of the children of Israel – and then – perhaps with some astonishment – we too, hear these words.
So – where is the good news in this?
We’d probably agree with what someone once said: “This is the day that the gospel went to the dogs”.
But, because this uppity woman was not prepared to accept Jesus’ words, she answered, “Lord, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs”.
Did Jesus suddenly connect with what she was saying with what had so recently been on his mind?
About what was clean and what was unclean?
Did He at this point stop hearing the woman with His ears and hear her with His heart – not physical hearing but a deep hearing of the spirit?
Had He at first seen this woman as someone not good enough to receive God’s mercy simply because he saw her as an outsider – not one of God’s chosen people. I wonder if she had similar views about herself that she had to overcome – that – as an outsider – she would have considered herself as not good enough to approach or even speak to Jesus.
There is a powerful and moving story in the American Living the Questions series of studies about a man who, when very young, had been told by his father that he was ‘not good enough’. That was the name, this man said, that his father had given him – ‘not good enough’.
The story is told by the American retreat leader Dianna Butler Bass concerning what happened at a retreat for ministers that she was leading. All those attending the retreat were invited to find a name in scripture that could belong to them. On the closing day, each took turns to reveal what name they had found for themselves, all except the young man who could only repeat the name his father had given him – ‘not good enough’. He followed this by weeping as if he was drowning.
Dianna Butler Bass recounted that she and the others felt that they were unable to break the power of that name. Then, she said, moved by the Spirit a number of them were moved to go and lay hands on the still weeping young man. They blessed him as though they spoke with one voice, by saying “You are my beloved son, in whom I am well pleased”– your name is ‘beloved’, and letting the blessing rest, they returned to their seats. When they were leaving, the young man told Dianna Butler Bass that he felt that something that had been broken within him, was mending.
Where the traditions of the Pharisees and the scribes, Jesus’ disciples, and even Jesus Himself – momentarily –would have seen in that Syrophoenician woman only an outcast, a not good enough person, her persistence moves Jesus to see her as a person with a need he could meet and so he expands the circle of God’s mercy to include those once considered outsiders.
That circle expanded even further as the deaf mute in today’s second gospel story would have fallen into the same category as the Syrophoenician woman, as he was, like her – a person from a ‘pagan’ – unclean, territory. Note that here people from that area brought the man to Jesus.
Mark in his gospel is making a point here that these people in both stories were outsiders in Jewish eyes, yet they recognised God working through Jesus, whereas – the Jewish leaders – did not.
These three stories are telling us that what was excluded is now included – as we are included – as people beloved of God.
We do not have to be ‘good enough’ to be accepted and loved – we are accepted and loved just as we are – so let’s take some time to celebrate that fact – that your name and my name – is ‘beloved’.
I invite you to turn to your neighbour or move around to say to one another – ‘your name is beloved.’
Amen!
Bob Minton