The gospel lesson appointed for yesterday in the Revised Common Lectionary is probably the toughest one we hear in church.  There is a woman, desperate for her sick daughter to get better, and she begs and pleads with Jesus to heal her.  We’re used to hearing that Jesus took pity on the sick or had compassion for the people, so he heals them.  This time, it’s different.  The apostles complain about how annoying this woman is.  She keeps following us and yelling at us. Get rid of her, Jesus!  And Jesus tries, with perhaps the most astonishing words in all four gospels: It’s not right to take the children’s food and give it to the dogs.

That’s right: he essentially called this woman and her daughter dogs. Lower than Jewish people, lower than himself.  Not worthy of God’s love or healing grace.  Not even worthy of his attention. I don’t know about you, but this is not the Jesus I prefer to worship!

But at the same time, there is room for hope here.  Sometimes it’s hard to remember that Jesus is both fully divine and fully human, so we stumble when the gospels show us Jesus being human.  See, humans have bad days.  We get hot and tired and cranky.  We’re sometimes rude, and we sometimes say snarky things so we can avoid what we know we should do.  And look, even Jesus himself was rude and snarky to this desperate woman!

I have to tell you that this comes as a huge relief to me.  If even Jesus himself could slip up and be mean like this… well, at least I know that I’m in good company.  No, I shouldn’t be snarky and rude to people, and I shouldn’t refuse to help someone because she is not Christian or from another country or even because she’s annoying.  That’s not love.  When the woman challenged Jesus on his bad behavior, he realized this, and he acted with love.

Last time this story came up in the lectionary, back in 2008, I wrote a re-imagining of it.  As I read through the story and allowed it to roll around in my mind and heart, I found myself experiencing the story from different perspectives.  What did it feel like to be Jesus in this story?  To be Peter?  To be the woman?  This imaginative type of scripture reading was the only way I could grapple with my utter astonishment at — and strong wish to deny the truth of! — Jesus’ response.  The 2008 blog post takes the words out of Jesus’ mouth, because on that day, it’s what felt right.  It was only in later reflections that I considered the full humanity of Jesus, the ability to make his own choices, even — or especially — bad ones.

We don’t know what literally, factually happened on that day in the marketplace.  Thanks be to God that the Truth is so much more interesting, engaging, and powerful!

TL;DR version: Rick Perry does not speak for God. Nor for Jesus. Nor for Christianity.  Undercover Nun prays for his immortal soul.

Point by point comments are embedded below.

abaldwin360:

By Mike Meno secular.org

In case you didn’t have the time (or the willpower) to follow Texas Governor Rick Perry’s grandstanding prayer rally this Saturday, here is my list of the top five most divisive and/or outrageous statements made during the televised prayer-fest. 

5. Public Schools Should Bring Back Prayer and the Ten Commandments

“Lord, I pray that we might see a reinstating of the display of the Ten Commandments in our classrooms. I pray Lord that we will again see freedom to pray in our classrooms.”

Vonette Bright, a co-founder of CRU (formerly Campus Crusade for Christ) whose work has helped establish the National Day of Prayer, received huge applause when she said this. The rally’s attendees apparently believe it’s crucial for all schoolchildren – regardless of their religious backgrounds or lack thereof – to be reminded daily to respect the Sabbath, to worship only the god of Abraham, and to not covet their neighbor’s “male or female slave, or ox, or donkey.” Clearly. Since any individual student (or teacher) is free to pray to themselves during school, Bright’s comment about “freedom to pray in our classrooms” must actually mean “freedom to force everyone to say a Christian prayer together.”

Undercover Nun has never understood this fascination with the Ten Commandments.  First off, the exact number of commandments is different depending on where in scripture you find them. Second, the set of commandments also differs.  Yes, these are basic rules for life: don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you; be good and obedient; don’t waste your time with jealousy; tell the truth.  But there are so many places you can find solid basic life rules. Why this one?

If the purpose is to make public school classrooms into little shrines to Christianity, then it’s pretty clear that the decalogue is the wrong thing to post:

‘Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?’ [Jesus] said to him, ‘ “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.” This is the greatest and first commandment. And the second is like it: “You shall love your neighbour as yourself.”

Of course, turning our public school classrooms into little mini-churches is indeed the state establishing a religion, so it’s not legal.  Don’t like this?  Move to Canada, where Thomas Jefferson’s “wall of separation between church and state” is merely a line drawn on the pavement.

4. Jews Should Convert to Christianity

“Tens, even hundreds, of thousands of Jewish people in the last decades have come to their Messiah. And so Lord, we pray for the revival around the world, and for Israel to come to their own Messiah.”

This “gem” came from Pastor Don Finto of the Caleb Company. According to Right Wing Watch, the sentiment that Jews should embrace Jesus was not isolated on Saturday. In fact, another rally sponsor, the International House of Prayer “actively encourages Jews to convert to Christianity.” Remember when the rally organizers said that people of all faiths were welcome at this event? Well, they were welcome—but apparently so the attendees and organizers could persuade them to convert to their religion instead. 

Sigh.  It probably makes me a lousy Christian to say this, but here goes: Undercover Nun doesn’t care if you convert to Christianity.  There.  I said it.  If you are Jewish, then you are still my sister or brother in faith, and we worship the same God.  In the gospel accounts, Jesus said nothing that isn’t already a clear teaching in Hebrew scripture.  Nothing. 

Yeah, I know we have the Great Commission, to go out and make disciples of all peoples, to baptize everyone in the name of the Trinity.  In today’s world (if ever), this doesn’t happen through fiery sermons or sensational prayer rallies.  New Christians are not made when we tell people that their faith is a lie for which they’re destined to eternal torment.  If I ever believed God to be capable of sending my Jewish friends and neighbors and brothers and sisters to hell, purely because they’re Jewish, then I would choose not to follow God, would choose not to be a Christian.

So how do new Christians come to be?  Usually, it’s a confluence of events: a loving friend or family member, the sharing of personal stories, maybe a personal invitation to church.  I know that God sends love notes to us all, though we so often miss them.  When we’re particularly hard-headed, those love notes have all the subtlety of a locomotive, and they bring us face to face with the living God. 

I don’t pray, as in this example, for Jewish people or Muslim people or Hindu people or any other group of people to “come to Jesus.”  It’s demeaning.  It’s condescending.  And it is not love for neighbor. 

3. Humanists Can’t Be Good Without God

“In the humanistic culture, people are talking about love without reference to Jesus Christ.”

Mike Bickle, director of the International House of Prayer Missions Base of Kansas City, was outraged – outraged! – that so many people can feel, share, and even talk about love without placing it in the context of his religion. Maybe he should take a minute to check out the American Humanist Association’s website and learn what humanism really is. It might do Bickle some good, especially considering his next quote. It’s a hum-dinger. 

One thing that I believe Christian tradition misses the mark on is the brokenness of humanity.  We are told to believe that humans are incapable of any gesture of love or generosity completely on our own, without God inspiring the gesture.  Some tradition goes so far as to say that we are capable only of wrongdoing, unless we recognize God and invite God to help us do good. 

I think our nature is much more complex than that.  I know that it’s very easy for us to do things that look generous and loving and good, for the primary reason that it feels good to do this.  People praise us and know our name and tell us how wonderful we are.  It’s also possible for us to so completely deny ourselves that we give our very lives to help others.  I believe that it’s much easier to make good choices when we are aligned with those two greatest commandments, but I have real trouble believing that no good action is possible without God.  That’s just so smug and prideful.

2. Jesus Was Anti-Gay Marriage and Anti-Choice

“There’s a crisis of truth in the pulpits today in our land. That, in the name of tolerance, even in the name of love, we are redefining love that is not on God’s terms. Jesus is god. There is no other god than Jesus. Father, son, and Holy Spirit. All the world religions, they can say what they say. There is no other god besides Jesus. There is no other standard of truth. Jesus alone is the standard of truth. He defines morality. He defines marriage. He defines life. He defines righteousness. And in our allegiance to him, we say what he says. It’s time to come out in the open. It’s time to go public. Regardless what it costs us, we love you Jesus! The only god!”

That’s Mike Bickle again. Where to begin? Well, I’m no Bible scholar, but I’m pretty sure Jesus never said anything about gay marriage or abortion, so, as Sarah Posner of Religion Dispatches observed, it sure is convenient that Bickle claims Jesus defined these things exactly “the way that Bickle does.” Notice the certainty with which he says Christianity is the only “standard of truth,” but every other religion in the world is wrong. The rest speaks for itself.

Oh, puh-LEEZE.  If one actually reads the gospels, one can see that there’s really only one thing Jesus ever tries to define: the Kingdom of Heaven.  Jesus is constantly trying to explain to his friends and disciples, to the secular and spiritual authorities of the time, to strangers outside Judea, to anyone who will listen about how the Kingdom of Heaven is entirely upside-down-inside-out different from any realm in this world.  Marriage, morality, life, righteousness — Jesus says very little about these!  In fact, you know what’s next on the list of things Jesus talks most about in the gospels?  Money.  Wealth.  Being rich.  And he doesn’t have sweet, comforting things to say about it, either.

If you really engage with the puzzling things Jesus has to say about God’s kingdom, you can work out what he might say about same-sex marriage, about being a frightened woman who’s considering abortion, about legislating her awe-full choice, about the famine in Somalia, about the death penalty.  It all comes down to this:

1. Love me.
   
2. Love everybody else.
   
3. Any questions?

1. God Is Not Political (Says the Would-Be Presidential Candidate Hosting the Prayer Rally)

“His agenda is not a political agenda. His agenda is a salvation agenda … He is a wise, wise god, and he is wise enough to not be affiliated with any political party. Or for that matter, He is wise enough to not be affiliated with any man-made institutions.”

Yep, this one is from Governor Perry himself – and he’s exactly right! “God” has no reason to be affiliated with man-made institutions like government, public school, marriage, the doctor’s office, or prayer rallies. Wait a minute … then why did a sitting U.S. governor host a prayer rally so people could ask God to intervene in all these man-made institutions?!

Oh, that’s right. Because – as various news sources report today – Perry plans to announce his candidacy for the Republican presidential nomination in the next week or two. I wonder if he’ll stick to that line about his God not having a political agenda come debate time.

Well, God — as the first person of the Trinity — may not be political, but Jesus sure was!  This much is obvious to anyone who actually reads the gospel accounts.  His preaching often struck right at the intersection of spirituality and politics, at the place where What Is Lawful and What Is Right may not match.  Our ears are so accustomed to the stories of the bible that we aren’t shocked by them as we should be.

“Wise enough not to be affiliated with any man-made institutions” — you mean, like, THE CHURCH?!?  Jesus certainly didn’t institutionalize the church; men and women did.  And sometimes, I suspect that God would prefer as much distance as possible between the church and Godself.

The thing is, Christianity is really simple.  It comes down to just a few simple principles.  The trick is that living out those simple principles is almost never easy.

1. Love God.
2. Love everybody else.
3. Repeat.

So these five assertions (schools should post the 10 Commandments; pray for the conversion of Jewish persons; you can’t be good without God; God hates fags; and God is apolitical) can be evaluated pretty easily in light of those two commandments.

1. Is it loving to use the power imbalance in a classroom to force children to pray?
2. Is it loving to tell God’s Chosen People that their faith is wrong and they’re destined for torment?
3. Is it loving to assume that no Christian person is capable of doing good? 
4. Is it loving to deny basic human rights, not to mention God’s grace as mediated through sacrament, to any person? 
5. Is it loving to promote oneself as a godly person, when one expresses such incredibly unloving statements?

Are you in the mood for some good gospel music?  Are you within driving distance of Jones County, Mississippi?  Then, here’s an event for you!  Well, maybe…

The Jones County Sheriff’s Department will host its second annual Gospel Concert at 6 p.m. Jan. 13 at the Northeast Jones High School Performing Arts Center.

Jones County Sheriff Alex Hodge said the event will provide a “good opportunity for the community to come together in celebration of the gospel message of Jesus Christ.”

…

“We’re very thankful for the support we’ve received from the community and to be able to put on events like this,” he said. “100 percent of the proceeds will be used to purchase safety equipment such as bullet proof vests and tasers.”  Among the items needed by the Jones County Sheriff’s Department include:

• Tasers — Cost $910 each and 42 needed (Total cost - $38,220)
• Cell phone jammer — Cost $4,500 each with one needed
• Tactical rifles for S.W.A.T. team — Cost $1,820 each with 10 needed (Total cost - $18,200)

…

Hodge said the Jones County Sheriff’s Department has received enormous support from private citizens and the business community since he became sheriff in January 2008.

“We’ve come along way since then,” he said. “We’re light years ahead and it has not come at the expense of the taxpayers.”

Undercover Nun is absolutely, completely appalled.  Using the gospel message of Jesus Christ to drum up funding for forty-two tasers and ten assault rifles is not only nonsensical and absurd, but is offensive and reprehensible.  There is nothing more contradictory to the gospel message of Jesus Christ than a taser or an assault rifle!

It’s not only reprehensible but downright dishonest to claim that this has not come at the expense of taxpayers.  Gee whiz, Sheriff, do none of the citizens or businesses in your county pay taxes?  I’m thinking maybe your department should be doing something about that!

Sheriff Alex Hodge, Triumphant Quartet, Superintendent Steve Thrash, Principal Cooper Pope, you are hypocrites and broods of vipers.  You are false prophets who lead Christ’s little ones astray, and Jesus promises some pretty harsh things for those who mislead other persons.  Your scheme to pimp the gospel to purchase weapons is a shameful abomination.  Undercover Nun prays for your immortal souls. 

(Source: facebook.com)