Thought for the Week

 

17 August 2008 – Thirteenth Sunday after Trinity

 

Collect:

Almighty God,

who called your Church to bear witness

that you were in Christ reconciling the world to yourself:

help us to proclaim the good news of your love,

that all who hear it may be drawn to you;

through him who was lifted up on the cross,

and reigns with you in the unity of the Holy Spirit,

one God, now and for ever.  Amen.

 

Readings:

Isaiah 56, 1, 6 - 8

 

Psalm 67

 

Romans 11, 1 – 2 & 29 – 32

 

Matthew 15, 21 –28                      

 

The Lambeth Conference involving some 600 Bishops from across the worldwide  Anglican Communion was held in Canterbury from 16th July until 3rd August. The Bishops had been invited to the conference for purposeful discussion of the two themes - “Equipping Bishops for Mission” and “Strengthening Anglican Identity”. The topics they considered within these themes were – “Mission and Evangelism”, “Human and Social Justice”, “Environment”, “Ecumenism”, “Relations with other World Religions”, “Anglican Bishops, Anglican Identity”, “Human Sexuality”, “ The Scriptures”, “Statements of Solidarity”, “The idea of an Anglican Covenant”,  and “The Windsor Process” – the latter was set up in 2005 when a moratorium were agreed to cover the related issues of ordination of persons living in a same-gender union to the episcopate, of the blessing of same-sex unions and of cross-border incursions by bishops. As we know, some 200 Bishops (25%) had declined the Archbishop’s invitation to Lambeth 2008 because of differences over certain concerns, particularly the authority of scripture in relation to homosexuality.

 

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, in his opening address said that his prayer and hope for the Conference was “not that after two weeks we will find a solution to all our problems, but that we shall in some sense find the trust in God and one another that will give us the energy to change in the way God wants us to change.” He voiced his sadness that “many of our brothers and sisters in the Communion have not felt able to be present”… “a grief because we need their voice and they need ours in learning Christ together.”  The Archbishop said that “as we meet we are a wounded body, but our Lord commands us to love one another.”

 

The Bishops, after a few days of Bible study, gathered in groups of around 40 using a process called INDABA. This is an African term for meetings where significant questions are worked through in community. There were sixteen such groups and the final report, which reflected on their discussions, commented that “face to face conversations, often exchanging conflicting and challenging points of view, have led to deeper understanding and new insights.” The report continues as follows - “The most powerful narrative that accompanies us on the journey back to our diocese is in the transformation that has taken place in our lives through the renewal of our faith in Jesus. Friendships were formed, pain and brokenness experienced, gestures of generosity and the testimonies of those who live out the gospel daily in costly acts of discipleship, remain etched in our hearts. Our prayer is that God may teach us to continue our indaba with reverence, to go forth in obedience, to finish our conversations with love, and then to wait patiently in hope, looking joyfully to Jesus Christ, our Lord, whose promises are faithful and rewards infinite.”

 

In his concluding Presidential address, the Archbishop of Canterbury said - “Our Communion longs to stay together – but not only as an association of polite friends. It is seeking a deeper entry into the place where Christ stands, to find its unity there. To that end, it is struggling with the question of what mutual commitments will preserve faithful, grateful relationship and common witness. But it must remember too that the place where Christ stands is also every place where God’s image is disfigured by the rebelliousness and injustice of our world – just as he once stood in the place of every rejected and lost human being in his suffering on the cross. To be with him in unity, in prayer and love, in intimacy with the Father, is at the same time to be with him among the rejected and disfigured. This is the Catholic Church; this is the catholic faith – a global vision for a global wound, a global claim on our service. None of it is intelligible without belief in the one divine Saviour, raised from the dead, pouring out the gifts of the Spirit. In these days together we have not overcome our problems or reinvented our structures: that will still take time. As you (the Bishops) return, be bearers of good news to all your communities- above all, of the Good News of our Lord’s promise that where he is, there his servants will be. There is our unity, there is our hope, there is the gift we have celebrated and, I trust, rediscovered in our time together. Thanks be to God.”

 

There were a number of invited speakers to the Conference and there was a widely publicised ‘Walk for Witness’ rally in support of the underprivileged and those living in poverty. The march was led by the Archbishop of Canterbury and was supported by the participating Bishops and leaders of other denominations. The Prime Minister, Gordon Brown, gave an exceptionally moving speech to the rally. This can be found on the Lambeth Conference web site www.lambethconference.org. 

 

In what he called “a profoundly moving moment”, the Chief Rabbi, Sir Jonathan Sacks, addressed the Conference on 28th July. He said - “You have invited me, a Jew, to join your deliberations, and I thank you for that, and for all that it implies. There is a lot of history between our faiths, and for me to stand here, counting as I do the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Archbishop of York as beloved colleagues, is a signal of hope for our children and the world they will inherit. Many centuries ago the Jewish sages asked, who is hero of heroes? They answered; not one who defeats his enemy but one who turns an enemy into a friend. That is what has happened between Jews and Christians: strangers have become friends”.

 

I feel I must quote to you another section of this very moving address in which he speaks about covenant. “Friends, I stand before you as a Jew, which means not just an individual, but as a representative of my people. And as I prepared this lecture, within my soul were the tears of my ancestors. We may have forgotten this, but for a thousand years, between the First Crusade and the Holocaust, the word ‘Christian’ struck fear into Jewish hearts. Think only of the words the Jewish encounter with Christianity added to the vocabulary of human pain: blood, book burnings, disputations, forced conversions, inquisition, expulsion, ghetto and pogrom. I could not stand here today in total openness, and not mention that book of Jewish tears. And I have asked myself, what would our ancestors want of us today? And the answer to that lies in the scene that brings the book of Genesis to a climax and closure. You remember: after the death of Jacob, the brothers fear that Joseph will take revenge. After all, they had sold him into slavery in Egypt. Instead, Joseph forgives – but he does more than forgive. Listen carefully to his words:

 

 

 

You intended to harm me,

But God intended it for good,

to do what is now being done,

to save many lives.

 

Joseph does more than forgive. He says that, to hereout of bad has come good. Because of what you did for me I have been able to save many lives. Which lives? Not just those of his brothers, but the lives of the Egyptians, the lives of strangers. In effect, Joseph says to his brothers: we cannot unwrite the past, but we can redeem that past – if we take our tears and use them to sensitise us to the tears of others. And today, between Jews and Christians, that past is being redeemed. In 1942, in the midst of humanity’s darkest night, a great Archbishop of Canterbury, William Temple, and a great Chief Rabbi, J. H. Hertz, came together in a momentous covenant, called the Council of Christians and Jews. And since then, Jews and Christians have done more to mend their relationship than any other two religions on earth, so that today we meet as beloved friends.”

As you can appreciate, this was a gracious and deeply moving lecture. It can be found on Jonathan Sacks’ web site www.chiefrabbi.org

 

Now to a comment on our readings which have some pertinence for the events in Canterbury and beyond.  Paul asks a question, in the 2nd lesson, “Has God rejected his people?” All through the epistle to the Romans Paul is concerned about the fate of his own Jewish people and their relationship to his new found faith in Jesus Christ. “God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.” He then goes on to talk, in what appears to be uncomfortable terms, about the people of Israel. “They have been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.” It appears that Paul is saying that some day the whole community of Israel will see what you(the Romans) see and accept what you accept. In the first lesson, from Isaiah Chapter 5, we heard that God will bring salvation to all peoples. “The foreigners who join themselves to the Lord and hold fast my covenant – these I will bring to my holy mountain.” “Thus says the Lord GOD, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” In the light of the Chief Rabbi’s comments and our understanding of the authority of scripture, is there not a lesson here for us today as to how scripture is used to justify attitudes and also the judgement of God?

 

Let us now look at the Gospel passage for today. The Canaanite woman came out shouting to Jesus “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David; my daughter is tormented by a demon.” To this Jesus gave no response. But his silence was not enough to quieten the woman and she continued to plead her cause. Eventually, Jesus’ disciples asked him to dismiss her, she was a nuisance and interfering in their life with him. Jesus then explained why he did not feel he was called to help her. “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”  She was a Canaanite woman who came from outside the boundary drawn for him by his tradition, geography and religion. She, however, refused to accept such exclusions. Let us remember what Isaiah says in the first lesson, “Thus says the Lord God, who gathers the outcasts of Israel, I will gather others to them besides those already gathered.” This woman is a human being who is asking the help of another human being. There can be no lines of exclusion, however ancient or sacred. She knelt before him and said – “Lord, help me.” Her plea caused Jesus to say “It is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” There are overtones here of exclusion and privilege. The woman’s reply hits home to Jesus  and to us all who try to follow him, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.” There is a message here for us in our attitude to those living in poverty and to the underprivileged. Jesus was disarmed by her words and said “Woman, great is your faith! Let it be done for you as you wish.” Here we see Jesus being helped to grow in the understanding of his mission, which was not to be just to the lost sheep of Israel but to the whole world – beyond all dividing lines, exclusions and limitations. She, a Syrian woman, brought a new insight to Jesus.  Jonathan Sacks and the Council for Christians and Jews have brought new insights into our understanding and acceptance of the Jewish people. Let us pray that the INDABA process used at the Lambeth Conference will bring new insights into our understanding and acceptance of all who feel excluded today – to the poor, the needy, the underprivileged, those of other faiths or none and those who have a different lifestyle and understanding of themselves from our own. Let us pray that we may come to understand and accept our failure to love all people in the name of Christ. But as we come as penitents before God, let us also pray, in the words of Jonathan Sacks, “that we take our tears and use them to sensitize us to the tears of others.” Amen.

Revd John King: Retired Priest, Anglican Chaplaincy of Midi-Pyrénées & Aude

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