A Holy Week Journey to the Threshold that is Holy Saturday ...

This entry consists of adapted Facebook posts over the seven days of holy week 2017 (Year A) from Palm Sunday leading up to and including Holy Saturday, a day of holy darkness ... pausing, waiting, lingering in the threshold between death and resurrection.   If you would like to find these meditations on Facebook (dates noted) or follow MOSAIC, this is the link to do so:  https://www.facebook.com/mosaic.sfm/

Palm Sunday:  Obedience
April 9, 2017

Jesus gave the disciples a task, "Go ... find ... bring ..." see Matthew 21:2

I find myself wondering where am I to go, what will I find, how will I bring ... and how will the journey unfold? My word for this day is obedience.   How do I hear God?   Certainly, through the spiritual practice of "Lectio Divina," which means holy reading as I let the words wash over me and fill me with the living word, there is often an energy which emanates from the text, often just a word never more than a phrase and ... sometimes, an image will come to me and I dabble with my watercolors or oil pastels to make the text come alive.  Today, there was simply the backdrop of palms dropping onto the sand creating a path ... Go, find, bring, the words alive and energized but provide no direction.  How can I go if I do not hear, how can I find if I do not go, how can I bring if I do not find?  And I am back to listening ... waiting ... wondering how the journey will unfold.

Breath Prayer:
Breathing in ... Seeking God
Breathing out ... Go with me
Breathing in ... Finding God
Breathing out ... Show me your way
Breathing in ... Welcoming God
Breathing out ... Open my heart




Holy Monday: Gratitude
April 10, 2017

Open the gates of righteousness for me, so I can come in and give thanks to the Lord! This is the Lord's gate; those who are righteous enter through it.   Psalm 118:19-20

As I meditate on these words, I wonder, where is this gate?    They say that the eyes are the window to the soul, but I think, perhaps this gate about which the Psalmist speaks is my heart.   And perhaps gratitude is the key to this gate that is my heart.   I have challenged a group of dear friends to keep a journal until we meet again.  The suggestion is simple.  Each day write down 3 things you are grateful for.  And don't repeat.  At first this is very easy because there is so much to be grateful for, yes?  But as time goes on, it becomes a little more difficult because my world is so small and my perception so shallow.  As I sit with journal in hand, I spend more time thinking about my day and the encounters of life.  Somehow I find gratitude in small things I might not otherwise have noticed.  As time wears down, it becomes downright hard ... again, my world grows and changes and I find gratitude in things I may not even like, I find something positive in even the most negative situations and people.  Lord, have mercy ... is that my heart growing, opening, becoming!

Thank you God for life abundant, love overflowing, and light perpetual. My word for this day is gratitude.

Breath Prayer:
Breathing in ...
God of righteousness
Breathing out ...
open the gates of my heart
Breathing in ...
God of Gratitude
Breathing in ...
receive my song of thanks








Holy Tuesday:  Betrayal

April 11, 2017 

"Even if I must die alongside you, I won't deny you." Peter to Jesus, and "all the disciples said the same thing." Matthew 26:35

My word for today is betrayal, and it took me all day to sit with this word. Both Judas and Peter betrayed Jesus. By bargaining with his life and agreeing to turn Jesus over for 30 pieces of silver, Judas engages in active betrayal. Peter, on the other hand, engages in passive betrayal. How often have I betrayed Jesus by not speaking, by simply not acting in a situation when I should.



As I continued to sit with the Judas and Peter stories, I was entranced by the sheer folly of thinking that I have made it to some arbitrary place of "holiness," a place that insulates me from betrayal.  Each of these men knew Jesus intimately, and yet they fell victim to the demons of darkness within themselves.  Their personalities together with their expectations helped to carve out a road to ruin and death for their beloved friend ... only one made it back to Jesus on this earth.   What was it that kept Peter going?  How was he able to confront his fears?  How did he make it back to the community, to follow Jesus?

The image that came to me during Lectio Divina, "holy reading," was a rooster with pieces of silver raining down upon it, not phasing it, just framing it in its beauty.   As I sit with this image, I wonder ... What stops me, from speaking, from acting?  What is the source of my betrayal?  Perhaps it is fear and I ask as I walk with Peter into the night, what is God calling me to speak or do right now in my life that I am resistant to?   How can I confront the fears that arise within me?  How can I just keep going even when I am disappointed, even when I am in denial, even when reality falls so short of my expectations?

Breathing in ... Loving God
Breathing out ... forgive my betrayals
Breathing in ... Forgiving God
Breathing out ... I rest in your love

Holy Wednesday:  Presence
April 12, 2017

"This is my body, which is for you; do this to remember me. This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Every time you drink it, do this to remember me." 1 Corinthians 11:24-25

A lovely arrangement of the song "In Remembrance of Me."   LINK:  https://youtu.be/nV_kFlsKrQU

This song is a stark reminder to me that Jesus died not just for certain people but for all, and that when love is present, Jesus is present.  Sometimes this is hard to realize, that Jesus loves everyone, even the one or more we don't love the most.  Jesus even said, "love your enemies" which is hard to do emotionally but the love Jesus abides in is God's unconditional love, called agape.  Jesus expects us to grow into this agape love but Jesus goes even further than just words, he takes the concept all the way to the cross with him.  He dies for this kind of love, to show us what agape love is all about.  And, sometimes I won't even give the time of day to someone I'm mad at.   Lord, have mercy.  Christ, have mercy.  I can't but you can!  Perhaps with your help, that means I can, too!

My word for this day in my Holy Week journey is Presence. Jesus, even in the shadows of betrayal, desertion, and impending death, was supremely present to his friends.   As he created the embodied ritual we celebrate as Eucharist, or Holy Communion, or perhaps even The Lord's Supper, he was fully present to us as well.  As a United Methodist deacon, I believe that although there is not a physical change in the bread and the juice in the cup, there is a change in meaning and purpose that happens during the Eucharist .  It is sustaining in a different way, it is sustaining to my soul.  As I share in the bread and cup, the symbol of the body and blood of Christ, I experience the fullness of Christ strengthening me to grow toward agape love.  

How do you experience the presence of God as you partake of the bread and cup?

Breath Prayer:

Breathing in ... Lord Jesus Christ
Breathing out ... I remember you
Breathing in ... Lord Jesus Christ
Breathing out ... remember me

Image Attribution: Rossakiewicz, Jacek Andrzej, Last Supper from Art in the Christian Tradition, a project of the Vanderbilt Divinity Library. Nashville, TN. http://diglib.library.vanderbilt.edu/act-imagelink.pl… - private






Maundy Thursday:  Servant
April 13, 2017

I give you a new commandment: love each other. Just as I have loved you, so you also must love each other. This is how everyone will know you are my disciples, when you love each other. John 13:34-35

I love the images of Maundy Thursday: basin, towel, pitcher, water. I love them not just as the symbol of a deacon and the call I've received to be the embodiment of love while serving both the church and the world.

Tonight, this night in my Holy Week journey these simple instruments are an even deeper symbol of the sacrificial love for humanity that infuses the kind of servant Jesus was to humanity, scripture often uses the word "slave" but that is probably more cultural.   My word for this day is Servant.

Jesus offers us a vibrant image as he begins pouring the water ... I wonder, whose feet am I called to wash? how deep is the love I must receive from God in order to be prepared to first of all, love, and then to wash, the feet of all people, even those who are not "my kind." Lord, have mercy on me, cleanse my heart, and deepen my understanding of this amazing LOVE you not only speak of but that you embody.   Help me always to speak and embody this agape love ... even when I don't feel like it.

Breath Prayer:
Breathing in ... serving Jesus
Breathing out ... wash my feet
Breathing in ... saving Jesus
Breathing out ... cleanse my heart










Good Friday:  Suffering
April 14, 2017

Whoever wants to be my disciple must deny themselves and take up their cross daily and follow me. Luke 9:23

Good Friday has always been my favorite worship "experience" of the year. There is something about the poignancy of this journey into suffering and death that touches me in the deepest part of myself. I still remember one Good Friday years ago when I heard a friend of mine, Pam Marsh Keightley, sing Via Dolorosa in the near dark of the sanctuary, and it was as if I was with Jesus that night, I was simply transported into his presence, his suffering, the tears flowing into and out from my heart. 

I wonder ... how does one deny themselves and carry the cross that is theirs to bear with out walking the Via Dolorosa, with Jesus? ... without knowing the depths of love that are so deep that death is preferable to letting go of the mission, to know that death may be the mission? ... in this world that we live in, this day, how do I give myself so totally to this sacrificial Love, how can I be a living sacrifice, an embodied sacrifice for others as Jesus was, as God calls me to be?    My word today is suffering.

I offer this video because of its simplicity for suffering invites me into simplicity ... just young people on the beach giving themselves to the story. It is quite beautiful.   https://youtu.be/31urACOSS1o - private

Breath Prayer:
Breathing in ... Jesus, in your agony
Breathing out ... I want to stay awake
Breathing in ... Crucified Christ
Breathing out ... I want to follow you
Breathing in ... Silent Savior
Breathing out ... I have no words

Holy Saturday:  Threshold

April 15, 2017

Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were there, sitting opposite the tomb. Matthew 27:61

I offer you "Holy Darkness" a song written by Dan Schutte and sung via youtube by John Michael Talbot with some adaptation to the lyrics but it is the beauty of the chorus that makes this the song for me and for this day: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EAeCzCDb9NQ&feature=youtu.be 

As I sit here, alone, on this Saturday afternoon, pondering my word for today, Threshold, I wonder ... what makes it holy?  It is the story, only the story.  On Friday evening, Jesus said, "It is finished."  And the world was shrouded in darkness, the people of God felt abandoned, their friend, their beloved ONE, their Jesus had been crucified.  It is a time where you want to simply crawl inside yourself and die, too.  WHAT  NOW ???

Have you ever been there?   Do you know this abandonment?   I remember when my mother died.  Perhaps that is the closest I've been to what I can imagine the 2 Marys felt, sitting opposite the tomb.  What were they looking for?  What needs did they have that were being met by their proximity to the tomb?   There is a moment when time stands still, you can't look back - too painful - you can't look forward - to0 unimaginable.    It is what Esther deWaal calls "the time between times" in her marvelous little book, To Pause at the Threshold: Reflections on Living on the Border.  She says Holy Saturday "is the time of vital silence that gives meaning to the whole."  

I remember spending the "Saturday" of my mother's death, the time between times sitting on the back patio listening to nature the same way she did, looking out upon her rock garden where she spent long hours, breathing deeply and loving each moment.  I already felt so close to her.  Suddenly, a bird began to sing.  I listened to the beautiful bird for quite awhile and suddenly she came closer, closer still, singing and flitting around and around me.  She wanted my attention and I felt the manifestation of a "sign" in my heart.  Oh yes, "mom," I will see you again.  

Holy Saturday is the time between times ... as we leave the cross on Friday evening and walk into the mysterious darkness that envelops our body, our mind and our soul, we let go.  We let go of all of our hopes and dreams for the future, and tomorrow will never be the same.  Our world will never be the same.  The truth is that we can never really know what tomorrow holds.  When the sun rises and the dawn envelops the world wherever you are, you are suddenly looking tomorrow in the face whether you are ready or not.  

I always find it amusing when we anticipate Easter so vibrantly as it dawns in the morning!  We sing and shout hosannas to the risen Lord!  Oh how we want to skip Saturday, the time between times ... can't we just get to the good part?   I'm not sure that even after almost 10 years that I've gotten to the "good part" of my mother's death, not really.  Yesterday will never come again, not in the same way.  But even if you struggle to get ahead you will circle back to this space time and again.   If you are a liturgical Christian, Lent and Holy Week comes every year and we are so blessed by the journey, to live through the story again and again.  I appreciate St. Benedict's counsel about the spiritual life.  He says, "always we begin again."  Tomorrow, I intend to begin again, again.   What do you plan to do with your "tomorrow?"

Breath Prayer:

Breathing in ... Holy Darkness
Breathing out ... I rest in you
Breathing in ... Holy Silence
Breathing out ... I embrace you








 So now, how do we get to the time after the time between times ... we wake up, we get up, we watch the sun rise, we gather in community to celebrate the SON rise, and then ... we Go!   Take this link to view Easter Sunday: Go! 

The Christmas Journey through Epiphany!

For a child has been born for us, 

a son given to us; 

authority rests upon his shoulders; 

and he is named 

Wonderful Counselor, 

Mighty God, 

Everlasting Father, 

Prince of Peace.  Isaiah 9:6

Take your time and check in over the next couple of weeks, to move through the story from the birth of Christ in Bethlehem in the presence of Angels and Shepherds through the visit of the Wise men bearing gifts of frankincense, myrrh, and gold, the subsequent exile of the Holy Family to Egypt and finally their call to return home to Israel where they settled in Nazareth.  Enjoy the nativity depictions and the music with images of Christmas.  I'll be back to the Lectionary on January 12 for the baptism of Jesus.  May your Holiday be blessed with Hope, Peace, Joy and LOVE!

Listen to Love Came Down at Christmas  sung by Shawn Colvin

*****

Lectio Divina
Read Luke 2:1-6 What word or phrase catches your attention? 

Around the time of Elizabeth’s amazing pregnancy and John’s birth, the emperor in Rome, Caesar Augustus, required everyone in the Roman Empire to participate in a massive census— the first census since Quirinius had become governor of Syria. Each person had to go to his or her ancestral city to be counted.

Mary’s fiancé Joseph, from Nazareth in Galilee, had to participate in the census in the same way everyone else did. Because he was a descendant of King David, his ancestral city was Bethlehem, David’s birthplace. Mary, who was now late in her pregnancy that the messenger Gabriel had predicted, accompanied Joseph. While in Bethlehem, she went into labor and gave birth to her firstborn son. She wrapped the baby in a blanket and laid Him in a feeding trough because the inn had no room for them.

Read & Reflect: What is God's invitation to you?
Read & Respond: How do you respond to God's invitation?

Listen to Do you Hear What I Hear?  sung by Third Day

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... Gentle Jesus
Breathe Out ... Open my ears to your whispers
Fade into silent prayer ... Amen

 

*****

Reading with your Senses
Read Luke 2:7-14
What you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching?   What insights do you have into the story by what you experience through your reading? 

Nearby, in the fields outside of Bethlehem, a group of shepherds were guarding their flocks from predators in the darkness of night. Suddenly a messenger of the Lord stood in front of them, and the darkness was replaced by a glorious light—the shining light of God’s glory. They were terrified!

Messenger: Don’t be afraid! Listen! I bring good news, news of great joy, news that will affect all people everywhere. Today, in the city of David, a Liberator has been born for you! He is the promised Anointed One, the Supreme Authority! You will now you have found Him when you see a baby, wrapped in a blanket, lying in a feeding trough. At that moment, the first heavenly messenger was joined by thousands of other messengers—a vast heavenly choir. They praised God.

Heavenly Choir: To the highest heights of the universe, glory to God!

    And on earth, peace among all people who bring pleasure to God!

Listen to Hark the Herald Angels Sing sung by Amy Grant

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... Jesus our Liberator
Breathe Out ... Anoint me with Peace
Fade into Silent Prayer ... Amen

*****

Lectio Divina 

Read Luke 2:15-19 What word or phrase catches your attention?


As soon as the heavenly messengers disappeared into heaven, the shepherds were buzzing with conversation. 

Shepherds: Let’s rush down to Bethlehem right now! Let’s see what’s happening! Let’s experience what the Lord has told us about!

So they ran into town, and eventually they found Mary and Joseph and the baby lying in the feeding trough. After they saw the baby, they spread the story of what they had experienced and what had been said to them about this child. Everyone who heard their story couldn’t stop thinking about its meaning. Mary, too, pondered all of these events, treasuring each memory in her heart. 

Read & Reflect: What is God's invitation to you?
Read & Respond: How do you respond to God's invitation?

Listen to What Child Is This? sung by Martina McBride

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... Heavenly God
Breathe Out ... Let me feel your Presence
Fade into silence ... Amen
 

*****

Writing a Praise Psalm
Read Luke 2:20

The shepherds returned to their flocks, praising God for all they had seen and heard, and they glorified God for the way the experience had unfolded just as the heavenly messenger had predicted. 

Like the Shepherds, consider those places you have seen and heard God working in your midst.  In your journal or on a simple piece of paper, write about your experience of God over the Christmas
season. 

Listen to Silent Night sung by Sarah McLachlan
Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... God of Grace and Glory
Breathe Out ... Fill my heart with words of praise
Fade into silent prayer ... Amen
 

*****

Reading with your Senses
Matthew 2:1-2
What you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching?   What insights do you have into the story by what you experience through your reading? 

Jesus was born in the town of Bethlehem, in the province of Judea, at the time when King Herod reigned. Not long after Jesus was born, magi, wise men or seers from the East, made their way from the East to Jerusalem. These wise men made inquiries.

Wise Men: Where is this newborn, who is the King of the Jews? When we were far away in the East we saw His star, and we have followed its glisten and gleam all this way to worship Him.


Listen to We Three Kings by The Mormon Tabernacle Choir, the graphics are quite beautiful!

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... God of Curiosity and Wisdom 
Breathe Out ... Let me reach the Stars in your Presence!
Fade into silence ... Amen

*****

Lectio Divina
Read Matthew 2:3-8  What word or phrase catches your attention?

 
King Herod began to hear rumors of the wise men’s quest, and he, and all of his followers in Jerusalem, were worried. So Herod called all of the leading Jewish teachers, the chief priests and head scribes, and he asked them where Hebrew tradition claimed the long-awaited Anointed One would be born.

Scribes and Priests: An ancient Hebrew prophet, Micah, said this:       But you, Bethlehem, in the land of Judah,
        are no poor relation—
    For from your people will come a Ruler
        who will be the shepherd of My people Israel.

Herod called the wise men to him, demanding to know the exact time the special star had appeared to them. Then Herod sent them to Bethlehem.

Herod: Go to Bethlehem and search high and low for this Savior child; and as soon as you know where He is, report it to me so that I may go and worship Him.

Read & Reflect: What is God's invitation to you?
Read & Respond: How do you respond to God's invitation?


Listen to O Come O Come All Ye Faithful by Chris Tomlin

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... God of my Faith
Breathe Out ... Strengthen Me
Fade into silence ... Amen

*****

Writing a Praise Psalm
Read Matthew 2:9-11


The wise men left Herod’s chambers and went on their way. The star they had first seen in the East reappeared—a miracle that, of course, overjoyed and enraptured the wise men. The star led them to the house where Jesus lay; and as soon as the wise men arrived, they saw Him with His mother Mary, and they bowed down and worshiped Him. They unpacked their satchels and gave Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense, and myrrh.

Consider the places you have seen God during this Christmas Season.  How have you found a joy such as that of the wise men?   Where have you felt God leading you and expressed your gratitude in worship?  Take some time to write to God in worship, praise, and prayer.

Listen to Silent Night by Mannheim Steamroller, this is a beautiful video of eclectic images.

Rest in a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... God of Miracles
Breathe Out ... Fill the World with Peace
Fade into silence ... Amen

*****

Lectio Divina
Read Matthew 2:12-14 What word or phrase catches your attention?

And then, just as Joseph did a few months before, the wise men had a dream warning them not to go back to Herod. The wise men heeded the dream. Ignoring Herod’s instructions, they returned to their homes in the East by a different route.

After the wise men left, a messenger of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream.

Messenger of the Lord (to Joseph): Get up, take the child and His mother, and head to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you it is safe to leave. For Herod understands that Jesus threatens him and all he stands for. He is planning to search for the child and kill Him. But you will be safe in Egypt.

So Joseph got up in the middle of the night; he bundled up Mary and Jesus, and they left for Egypt.

Read & Reflect: What is God's invitation to you?
Read & Respond: How do you respond to God's invitation?

Listen to In the Bleak Midwinter sung by Dan Fogelberg

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... Midwinter God 
Breathe Out ... Keep my Soul warm when I land on a Snowy Path
Fade into silence ... Amen

*****

Reading with your Senses
Matthew 2:16-21
What you are seeing, hearing, smelling, tasting, touching?   What insights do you have into the story by what you experience through your reading? 

After a few months had passed, Herod realized he’d been tricked. The wise men were not coming back. Herod, of course, was furious. He simply ordered that all boys who lived in or near Bethlehem and were two years of age and younger be killed. He knew the baby King was this age because of what the wise men told him.

This sad event had long been foretold by the prophet Jeremiah:

A voice will be heard in Ramah,
    weeping and wailing and mourning out loud all day and night.
The voice is Rachel’s, weeping for her children,
    her children who have been killed;
    she weeps, and she will not be comforted.

Joseph, Mary, and Jesus stayed in Egypt until Herod died. This fulfilled yet another prophecy. The prophet Hosea once wrote, “Out of Egypt I called My Son.”

And after Herod died, a messenger of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt:

Messenger of the Lord: You may go home now. Take the child and His mother and go back to the land of Israel, for the people who were trying to take the child’s life are now dead.

So Joseph got up and took Mary and Jesus and returned to the land of Israel. 

Listen to Joy to the World sung by Casting Crowns

Rest with a Breath Prayer
Breathe In ... God of the World
Breathe Out ... Let me make my Home in your Presence
Fade into silent prayer ... Amen

Jesus Journeys from Exclusion to Inclusion

In our lectionary readings for this week, we have two very powerful but very different stories of miraculous healing.  It is never just about miraculous healing in a kind of “I’m broken … quick … fix me!” way because if that is all there is we may never see the healing for the cure.   The essence of healing in the New Testament comes from the Greek root word … sozo … which is also the root word of wholeness and salvation.   When we come to these kinds of miraculous healing passages the key is to get beneath the quick fix miracle to find deeper healing in the sense of “wholeness” for beneath the quick fix we find the good news. 

In this passage the good news is that Jesus reaches across cultural boundaries to move from exclusion to inclusion.  The good news is that we can follow Jesus across those same cultural boundaries if we have the courage to do so.  We can move from exclusion, where we play the game of “who’s in” and “who’s out,” to inclusion, where there is a place at the table for everyone! 
 

How do we follow Jesus on the spiritual journey from exclusion to inclusion? 

Perhaps we might begin with a few moments to prepare our hearts to receive the Word of God as we prayerfully consider the Scripture passage for today.   Let us breathe deeply and settle into a sense of honest quandary ... who is "in?" and who is "out" in the context of our own lives.  These boundaries are not necessarily cultural for there are many, many boundaries that keep us boxed in, safe and secure in our own little worlds.  So ... how do we enlarge our world?  

As we breathe deeply, let us allow a "breath prayer" to emerge.  Use this one or create your own (six to eight syllables)

          Breathe in … Healing Jesus (pause)        Breath out … Heal me  (pause)

and when you are ready to move deeper into the text ...  

Pray: Jesus, are the great healer.  I praise you as I see your work in the world.  Heal me so I can reach out to others with the same healing grace I have received.    Amen … Amen … Amen

Step 1: Lectio … Reading    
Read Mark 7:24-37 from the Contemporary English Version silently to yourself twice, slowly and reverently.  Soak in and internalize what is happening in this passage.  Listen for a word or phrase that catches your attention.  Gently focus on that word or phrase.  Repeat it several times and allow it to be sifted through your heart and mind all the way to your soul.

Jesus left and went to the region near the city of Tyre, where he stayed in someone's home. He did not want people to know he was there, but they found out anyway.  A woman, whose daughter had an evil spirit in her, heard where Jesus was. And right away she came and knelt down at his feet.  The woman was Greek and had been born in the part of Syria known as Phoenicia. She begged Jesus to force the demon out of her daughter.  But Jesus said, "The children must first be fed! It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs."
    The woman replied, "Lord, even dogs eat the crumbs that children drop from the table."
    Jesus answered, "That's true! You may go now. The demon has left your daughter." When the woman got back home, she found her child lying on the bed. The demon had gone.
     Jesus left the region around Tyre and went by way of Sidon toward Lake Galilee. He went through the land near the ten cities known as Decapolis. Some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They begged Jesus just to touch him.
    After Jesus had taken him aside from the crowd, he stuck his fingers in the man's ears. Then he spit and put it on the man's tongue. Jesus looked up toward heaven, and with a groan he said, "Effatha!" which means "Open up!" At once the man could hear and he had no more trouble talking clearly.
    Jesus told the people not to say anything about what he had done. But the more he told them, the more they talked about it. They were completely amazed and said, "Everything he does is good! He even heals people who cannot hear or talk."

Step 2: Meditatio … Receiving
Continue to focus on your word or phrase.    

Pay attention to the thoughts and feelings it evokes.
What images emerge in your imagination?    

What memories come to your mind?
Ask God to continue to challenge you through this word.    

Listen for God’s reply as you move through your day

Step 3: Oratio … Responding
Consider any desires that have been awakened.   

Perhaps you have found an area of your life that needs attention.   

Do not rush ... wait and listen as God forms your prayers and desires ...

Step 4: Contempatio … Resting
Allow yourself to rest in the silence.  

Allow your mind to settle into the silence.  

When you feel the time to move on, pray …

Dear Jesus, Healer of my Soul ... 

everything you do is good.  

Help me always to reach out to people 

who are "not like me" with love and healing grace. 

Amen.

Cindy’s Sermonic Meditation (from Sept 2009) 
Source:  The Power of the Gospel Explodes in Radical Inclusion

When we drop in on Jesus he is on vacation.  

Map by Wayne Blank, courtesy of "Daily Bible Study"

Tyre and Sidon are Mediterranean seacoast cities in Lebanon, located just north of Galilee. Both cities have been known from ancient times, when they served as the northern border area of the land of Canaan.  Link: Tyre & Sidon/DBS

Jesus has traveled away from his ministry and his people to a foreign land in Gentile territory.  A desperate mother interrupts Jesus’ vacation to ask for a healing favor.  She had a daughter with an evil spirit.  Imagine that person you love most in the world is suffering from severe mental illness.  Perhaps for someone reading this meditation, it isn’t just an imagining, it is a reality.  

Can you feel the deep feelings this mother must have had?  

Can you feel her heart-ache?  

At her wits end, she didn’t know what to do … 

Can you feel her desperation? 
 

One day the woman hears about a wandering Jewish Healer in the area of the border between her people and his people … but she is “not one of his people.” She knows his people, the Jewish people had strict rules in their community and that they keep to themselves.  

Can you feel her fear?   

But can you also feel her courage?  
What would you not do to save the person you love the most?
    

With all of her mixed up feelings, she approaches Jesus, kneels at his feet, and BEGS.  She BEGS him to free her daughter!  Jesus says, "The children must first be fed!  It isn't right to take away their food and feed it to dogs."

    I’m sorry … what??
    It isn’t “right?”
    What does that mean??  “no … not yet … maybe later … what??
 

This is Jesus we are talking about!
Jesus loves the little children …
“Let them come to me!” he says.
 

Well, that would be my reaction, but I’m obviously not as smart as this woman is.  I also don’t live in the 1st century as a Middle Eastern Gentile.    So I have to let go of some of my own North American cultural assumptions and understand that something that sounds uncharacteristically callous to me, the derogatory reference to Gentiles as dogs, was common at the time.  And it is not unlike some of the derogatory terms that you have heard people use in your lifetime … maybe even to refer to you or to someone you love.

It probably didn’t surprise the Syro-Phoenician woman that Jesus called her a dog.  That doesn’t make it right and my own experience doesn’t make it less shocking for me to hear Jesus speak those words.  It may be why this passage and this movement from exclusion to inclusion are so powerful for me.

One of the most powerful aspects of this passage is the sheer magnitude of the cultural boundaries that Jesus has to shatter in order to move from exclusion to inclusion.

1.    The first is stated in the text ... There is a Religious Boundary to cross. The woman is a Gentile, a pagan, and therefore not a part of the Jewish covenantal community

2.    There is also a Gender Boundary.  His confronter is a woman and violates both the purity and the honor-shame systems when she comes to talk to Jesus.  Daring to approach a strange man, even on behalf of her daughter would have been considered unacceptable.

3.    There may be a Socio-Economic Boundary. The woman is from the region of Tyre, which is a prosperous area and there are indications from the text that this woman may have been a woman of the upper classes which would have clashed with the poor Jewish settlers moving into the border lands.

4.     Finally, there is a Racial Boundary. The woman is a Syro-phoenician which means she was descended from the Canaanites with whom the Jewish people had a long and bloody history of conflict.

When confronted by these boundaries Jesus could have turned away.  The Jewish Community, his people, would have expected him to do so.  Instead, Jesus does something truly remarkable.  He listens …with an open mind and an open heart.  In the only words she speaks, the woman turns the words of Jesus around and responds with good common sense that Jesus must have loved: "Lord, even dogs eat the crumbs that children drop from the table."   (7:28)
 

The woman asks Jesus to see her and her daughter from a different point of view as she gives him a visual picture of dogs that wait under the tables of Gentile children to share their crumbs.   In the Jewish purity system, dogs are unclean animals.   In the Jewish culture, dogs are not welcome under the table.  As a result of the Jewish purity system, Gentiles were not welcome at the table. 

In order for Jesus to change his mind and set a table that was truly open to all, he had to cross cultural boundaries that he had lived within his entire life and ministry.  But it is really no different than the many times when he asked the Pharisees and the disciples and the people to see things from a different perspective.  When different people coming from different worlds interact with one another, there will always be cultural boundaries to cross and inevitable cultural misunderstandings and conflicts.  It isn’t easy and it isn’t quick but the deepest healing and the deepest growth is never easy and never quick.  This should not deter us!

When Jesus left the woman and the little girl cured, the deeper healing was his movement in and through Gentile territory … again Jesus did something quite remarkable … he touched a deaf man as he groaned "Effatha!" Open Up!  Not only was the man cured, the gospel exploded with radical inclusion!  The good news could not be contained at that time.  The good news cannot be contained in our time.  The real miracle may very well be that because of Jesus Christ, there is a place at the table for you and for me and for all people everywhere!