Today's Scripture Readings
Genesis 21:8-21 (NRSV)
Psalm 86 (BCP., p.709)
Romans 6:1b-11 (NRSV)
Matthew 10:24-39 (NRSV)
Blog Reflection
Given how much the Bible is used to suggest the subordination of women, the reading from Genesis is a bit refreshing. Here we have the Lord God telling Abraham to do as his wife Sarah wishes with regards to Hagar's son who was also a son of Abraham. The narrative also gives us a glimpse into a non-traditional marriage. Abraham has not one wife and son, but two. So much for the one man, one woman thing. Some additional background into what is going on in this reading from Genesis is good for us to consider.
Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah, and the son of Abraham and Hagar have a symbolic meaning. Hagar the slave and her son are symbolic of Israel being held in the bondage of Egypt later in Exodus. Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah are symbolic of Israel being free from slavery in Egypt and wondering through the desert for forty years being led by Moses and Aaron into the land promised to Abraham and his offspring.
As I read through the story in Genesis, I was struck by a profound and powerful thought. God looking after Hagar and her thirsty son without distinction or bias. God gave of God's abundance to the mother and son born in bondage, as God does to those considered free. Whatever human made label that can be given to any person or group of people on any basis, God sees all persons through the eyes of loving care. God has just as big of a plan for salvation and prosperity for those the Church and society considers unwanted or unlovable as God does for the so called "privileged". Such may be privileged by humankind, but are no greater or least in the mind, heart and eyes of God.
The relationship of parents and their children who come out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or questioning continues to be of tremendous concern. Young women and men who contain within themselves a deep desire and capacity to love their parents and others as they truly are, seek acceptance and the opportunity to mature in a healthy home, church community and neighborhood free of violence, bullying and bias. However, for way too many even in 2014, that is just not what happens. Parents still attempt to commit their LGBT daughters and/or sons to self-abusive ex-gay or "reparative" therapists to "change" what is beautifully natural. There are parents who threaten their children who are LGBT with the horrors of hell if they do not repent, loss of their homes, inheritance and/or participation in the family business.
Whether a woman or man is LGBTQ or straight or cisgender, she or he is someone valued by God without distinction. Who they are, who they love and whatever their true gender is, such to those belongs God's unconditional love and transforming grace to change society and the Church into a more just and inclusive existence. God offers to them the waters of freedom, hope and possibility. For they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:15).
At first glance our Gospel Reading sounds as if Jesus is talking nonsense. He is talking about a servant and the master, what is hidden, the relationship between parents and children. I would suggest that His words to us today, suggest our willingness to listen more intentionally to the Holy Spirit and what our relationships with others around us need to look like.
It is important to take note that in the time in which this Gospel narrative would have taken place, children had no rights. They were often committed to slave labor once they were old enough. They were owned by their parents as property, and could be sold by a local governor if one could not pay their taxes or debts. A fair majority of children lived in poverty with their parents. Life for parents and children was anything but family bliss.
As Jesus tells us about the relationship of the master and the servant, He is talking about the relationship of God with us to respond "for the love of God" (See The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 7:34) in obedience to the will of God. In this is a truth that many of us in our time of "do as you please without limit" do not like to hear. Yet, the contrary is more true than we would like to admit. When we see ourselves as free to do what we want with no guidance or accountability to another, we are in fact in slavery. When we submit ourselves to be obedient to God through the wishes of another, we find real liberation from our false-selves to a true knowledge of who we really are.
Jesus is not saying here that we are not to value our relationships with our parents or others in authority. What He is saying is that to the extent that we rely on any relationship apart from the reverence and/or consciousness of God who is present in all relationships; is the point in which we have surrendered our true peace for something that cannot fulfill or complete us. If an LGBTQ child is so bound to her/his parents Christianist faith that she/he cannot be who God made her/him to be, there can be no peace for the child. Closets are places of death, not life. Keeping oneself enclosed in a false shame to be self-abusive and suppressed can only lead to a death of one's true identity and being. When we live openly and faithfully to who we are, and are able to mature in a healthy way into who we are and who we love, we can find God and be obedient to God's will. There is no obedience to the will of God, without self-knowledge and the freedom to be who we are lovingly created to be. When we are, we can be obedient to God, because we will be surrendering our true-selves freely and without coersion.
As Christians who have received the Holy Spirit by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must surrender ourselves to the peace that God gives to our lives through Christ. That peace that the world cannot give, can be ours when we experience that true love that casts out all fear has been our experience to know and share. In being open to the conversion of the Holy Spirit through our daily life experiences, relationships and failures, we can discover anew the merciful love and grace of God again and again. It should not only help us experience a new freedom in Christ for ourselves, but it should transform our biases into loving acceptance of others who are different from ourselves. The notion of sacrificing our prejudices to be inclusive of others, is something we give over freely and without reserve. Because the love of God is so wonderful an experience in our own lives, we would not dream of not sharing it with others around us.
Amen.
Prayers
Genesis 21:8-21 (NRSV)
The child grew, and was weaned; and Abraham made a great feast on the day that Isaac was weaned. But Sarah saw the son of Hagar the Egyptian, whom she had borne to Abraham, playing with her son Isaac. So she said to Abraham, "Cast out this slave woman with her son; for the son of this slave woman shall not inherit along with my son Isaac." The matter was very distressing to Abraham on account of his son. But God said to Abraham, "Do not be distressed because of the boy and because of your slave woman; whatever Sarah says to you, do as she tells you, for it is through Isaac that offspring shall be named for you. As for the son of the slave woman, I will make a nation of him also, because he is your offspring." So Abraham rose early in the morning, and took bread and a skin of water, and gave it to Hagar, putting it on her shoulder, along with the child, and sent her away. And she departed, and wandered about in the wilderness of Beer-sheba.
When the water in the skin was gone, she cast the child under one of the bushes. Then she went and sat down opposite him a good way off, about the distance of a bowshot; for she said, "Do not let me look on the death of the child." And as she sat opposite him, she lifted up her voice and wept. And God heard the voice of the boy; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven, and said to her, "What troubles you, Hagar? Do not be afraid; for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is. Come, lift up the boy and hold him fast with your hand, for I will make a great nation of him." Then God opened her eyes and she saw a well of water. She went, and filled the skin with water, and gave the boy a drink.
God was with the boy, and he grew up; he lived in the wilderness, and became an expert with the bow. He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother got a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Psalm 86 (BCP., p.709)
Romans 6:1b-11 (NRSV)
Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound? By no means! How can we who died to sin go on living in it? Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? Therefore we have been buried with him by baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life.
For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we will certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his. We know that our old self was crucified with him so that the body of sin might be destroyed, and we might no longer be enslaved to sin. For whoever has died is freed from sin. But if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. We know that Christ, being raised from the dead, will never die again; death no longer has dominion over him. The death he died, he died to sin, once for all; but the life he lives, he lives to God. So you also must consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
Matthew 10:24-39 (NRSV)
Jesus said to the twelve disciples,
"A disciple is not above the teacher, nor a slave above the master; it is enough for the disciple to be like the teacher, and the slave like the master. If they have called the master of the house Beelzebul, how much more will they malign those of his household!
"So have no fear of them; for nothing is covered up that will not be uncovered, and nothing secret that will not become known. What I say to you in the dark, tell in the light; and what you hear whispered, proclaim from the housetops. Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul; rather fear him who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground apart from your Father. And even the hairs of your head are all counted. So do not be afraid; you are of more value than many sparrows.
"Everyone therefore who acknowledges me before others, I also will acknowledge before my Father in heaven; but whoever denies me before others, I also will deny before my Father in heaven.
"Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth; I have not come to bring peace, but a sword.
"For I have come to set a man against his father,
and a daughter against her mother,
and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;
and one's foes will be members of one's own household.
"Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me; and whoever does not take up the cross and follow me is not worthy of me. Those who find their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it."
Blog Reflection
Given how much the Bible is used to suggest the subordination of women, the reading from Genesis is a bit refreshing. Here we have the Lord God telling Abraham to do as his wife Sarah wishes with regards to Hagar's son who was also a son of Abraham. The narrative also gives us a glimpse into a non-traditional marriage. Abraham has not one wife and son, but two. So much for the one man, one woman thing. Some additional background into what is going on in this reading from Genesis is good for us to consider.
Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah, and the son of Abraham and Hagar have a symbolic meaning. Hagar the slave and her son are symbolic of Israel being held in the bondage of Egypt later in Exodus. Isaac the son of Abraham and Sarah are symbolic of Israel being free from slavery in Egypt and wondering through the desert for forty years being led by Moses and Aaron into the land promised to Abraham and his offspring.
As I read through the story in Genesis, I was struck by a profound and powerful thought. God looking after Hagar and her thirsty son without distinction or bias. God gave of God's abundance to the mother and son born in bondage, as God does to those considered free. Whatever human made label that can be given to any person or group of people on any basis, God sees all persons through the eyes of loving care. God has just as big of a plan for salvation and prosperity for those the Church and society considers unwanted or unlovable as God does for the so called "privileged". Such may be privileged by humankind, but are no greater or least in the mind, heart and eyes of God.
The relationship of parents and their children who come out as lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and/or questioning continues to be of tremendous concern. Young women and men who contain within themselves a deep desire and capacity to love their parents and others as they truly are, seek acceptance and the opportunity to mature in a healthy home, church community and neighborhood free of violence, bullying and bias. However, for way too many even in 2014, that is just not what happens. Parents still attempt to commit their LGBT daughters and/or sons to self-abusive ex-gay or "reparative" therapists to "change" what is beautifully natural. There are parents who threaten their children who are LGBT with the horrors of hell if they do not repent, loss of their homes, inheritance and/or participation in the family business.
Whether a woman or man is LGBTQ or straight or cisgender, she or he is someone valued by God without distinction. Who they are, who they love and whatever their true gender is, such to those belongs God's unconditional love and transforming grace to change society and the Church into a more just and inclusive existence. God offers to them the waters of freedom, hope and possibility. For they are "fearfully and wonderfully made" (Psalm 139:15).
At first glance our Gospel Reading sounds as if Jesus is talking nonsense. He is talking about a servant and the master, what is hidden, the relationship between parents and children. I would suggest that His words to us today, suggest our willingness to listen more intentionally to the Holy Spirit and what our relationships with others around us need to look like.
It is important to take note that in the time in which this Gospel narrative would have taken place, children had no rights. They were often committed to slave labor once they were old enough. They were owned by their parents as property, and could be sold by a local governor if one could not pay their taxes or debts. A fair majority of children lived in poverty with their parents. Life for parents and children was anything but family bliss.
As Jesus tells us about the relationship of the master and the servant, He is talking about the relationship of God with us to respond "for the love of God" (See The Rule of St. Benedict, Chapter 7:34) in obedience to the will of God. In this is a truth that many of us in our time of "do as you please without limit" do not like to hear. Yet, the contrary is more true than we would like to admit. When we see ourselves as free to do what we want with no guidance or accountability to another, we are in fact in slavery. When we submit ourselves to be obedient to God through the wishes of another, we find real liberation from our false-selves to a true knowledge of who we really are.
Jesus is not saying here that we are not to value our relationships with our parents or others in authority. What He is saying is that to the extent that we rely on any relationship apart from the reverence and/or consciousness of God who is present in all relationships; is the point in which we have surrendered our true peace for something that cannot fulfill or complete us. If an LGBTQ child is so bound to her/his parents Christianist faith that she/he cannot be who God made her/him to be, there can be no peace for the child. Closets are places of death, not life. Keeping oneself enclosed in a false shame to be self-abusive and suppressed can only lead to a death of one's true identity and being. When we live openly and faithfully to who we are, and are able to mature in a healthy way into who we are and who we love, we can find God and be obedient to God's will. There is no obedience to the will of God, without self-knowledge and the freedom to be who we are lovingly created to be. When we are, we can be obedient to God, because we will be surrendering our true-selves freely and without coersion.
As Christians who have received the Holy Spirit by the Death and Resurrection of Jesus Christ, we must surrender ourselves to the peace that God gives to our lives through Christ. That peace that the world cannot give, can be ours when we experience that true love that casts out all fear has been our experience to know and share. In being open to the conversion of the Holy Spirit through our daily life experiences, relationships and failures, we can discover anew the merciful love and grace of God again and again. It should not only help us experience a new freedom in Christ for ourselves, but it should transform our biases into loving acceptance of others who are different from ourselves. The notion of sacrificing our prejudices to be inclusive of others, is something we give over freely and without reserve. Because the love of God is so wonderful an experience in our own lives, we would not dream of not sharing it with others around us.
Amen.
Prayers
O Lord, make us have perpetual love and reverence for your
holy Name, for you never fail to help and govern those whom
you have set upon the sure foundation of your loving-kindness;
through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you
and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (Proper 7, Book of Common Prayer, p.230).
Look with pity, O heavenly Father, upon the people in this
land who live with injustice, terror, disease, and death as
their constant companions. Have mercy upon us. Help us to
eliminate our cruelty to these our neighbors. Strengthen those
who spend their lives establishing equal protection of the law
and equal opportunities for all. And grant that every one of
us may enjoy a fair portion of the riches of this land; through
Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for the Oppressed, Book of Common Prayer, p. 826).
Grant, O God, that your holy and life-giving Spirit may so
move every human heart [and especially the hearts of the
people of this land], that barriers which divide us may
crumble, suspicions disappear, and hatreds cease; that our
divisions being healed, we may live in justice and peace;
through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (Prayer for Social Justice, Book of Common Prayer, p.823).
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