She has to be fed first

Mark 7:24-37 16th Sunday after Pentecost Year B She has to be fed first Prelude Greeting Call to Worship Leader: Welcome, Beloved! Why have you gathered today? All: We have come to worship God, who is the maker of us all! Leader: What do you seek from God, our Creator? All: We seek God’s wisdom to guide us and show us how to live. Leader: Are you ready to follow when God’s wisdom leads down unexpected paths? All: We will trust, and we will follow wherever God’s wisdom leads us. Leader: Well then, Beloved of God, what are you waiting for? All: Come! Let us worship and seek God’s uncommon wisdom together! Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024. Opening Prayer From the depths of our hearts we reach out to you, God. We offer you our worship, for you are worthy of praise! Thank you for each one present, for each one tuning in, for all who seek to connect with you in this hour. Open the eyes of our hearts, God, that we might see you more clearly, and love you more dearly, day by day. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Song O For a Thousand Tongues to Sing UMH 57 A Sermon for all Ages Children’s Time Baptism Waters Props: Place a clear pitcher of water near the baptismal font. Today we are going to talk about how God uses water to show us how we are cared for, protected and loved. When the pastor baptizes someone, they take a pitcher of ordinary water and pour it into the baptismal font (that’s a fancy word for the bowl) and they say a prayer of blessing. They remember many times in the bible that God uses water as a sign. Sometimes it is a sign of God’s power, as in the beginning God created the water, the water in the sky we call rain and the water below we call oceans and rivers. Sometimes the water is a way God show the people that he is with them, like the time there the people were being chased by some bad people and God made a path through river so the people could get away. Sometimes water is a sign of God’s love – when Jesus was baptized he stood in a river and when he went down under the water and when he came up there was a voice that came from heaven saying that Jesus was God’s son and that he loved him very much. Today we are going to pour this water into the baptismal font, I am going to ask you to help me. Then we are going to say a prayer of thanks for the water that God created. Water that keeps us healthy, water that we use to grow food, water that we enjoy. We will thank God the protector who keeps us safe. We will thank God for all the love God shows us because we are all children of God. Come with me and lets pray together. Baptism of UMH 39 Scripture Mark 7:24-37 Sermon She has to be Fed First We have been looking at the seventh chapter of Mark. For the rest of the year, we will get a lot of the story and lessons of Jesus. This week is a continuation of last week. In chapter 7 – there is sort of a gospel challenge to see who can get the best of the other. It is not disrespectful. In the bible, it is common for people to kinda bargain with God, it’s a form of prayer. If something bad happens to you, you bargain with God, in hopes of changing God’s mind. If it is bedtime, then you banter with you parents in hopes that you can change your bed time. Last week, at the beginning of the chapter the pharisees challenge Jesus – why don’t your disciples wash your hands. Jesus is able to get the best of them, by challenging their faith. We learn a lot about our faith through Jesus comebacks and parables. Jesus is usually the winner in the gospel challenge. But in the second half of chapter 7, Jesus gets into a different challenge – where he doesn’t win. As a matter of fact Jesus’ response gets a little insulting. He intentionally travels in a territory of people who are different, one of them recognizes as a healer and asks for help and he calls her a dog. A lot of preachers make excuses for Jesus, but there is no excuse for calling a foreign woman out of her name. She moves beyond Jesus’ insult. As a matter of fact, she seems to know the rules of the gospel challenge very well. Jesus insults her, she responds with a comeback – it is through her comeback that she gets to best of Jesus. She wins. Jesus loses. Jesus says it is her faith that heals her, her courage to come back at him. It is not so much that she wins, but her love wins. She asks for healing for her daughter, she loves her daughter so much, that she has the courage to stand up in the gospel challenge. She tells Jesus that even the dogs have to eat crumbs intended for the children. A Model of Faith It may come as a shock to most Christians today, but we would do better to use this woman as a model of faith even more than the disciples. After all, we are neither Jewish nor Galilean; we have no familial claim or geographical claim to Jesus. While the woman learns that the power of faith lies internally, the disciples learn that faith can’t be measured by proximity to Jesus. They are right next to the Lord and yet they see the woman as a bother. They don’t lead her to Jesus or attempt to heal her daughter, her faith does that. They are too blinded by their social and religious prejudice to offer miracles to anyone. Jesus words are obviously not meant to cut down the woman (her compassion runs too deep to care if she is insulted). The words of Christ are meant to reprimand the disciples—and us—when our politics and religious agenda blind us to compassion. Which faith most resembles mine? Am I like the cocksure disciples steeped in religious and cultural prejudice, deeply self-assured of my proximity to Jesus? Or, am I like the outcast woman of Lebanon, indentured by compassion and uncaring of insults if I can just save one soul? Jerry Goebel, Even the Dogs Staring Up at the Sky When I re-read this story a few days ago, I couldn't help but think of Anne Lamott, the writer, who tells the story of taking her father on errands one day. His brain cancer had progressed to the point where he was reverting to some behaviors of a three-year old. Just before Anne trotted into the local bank one day, she gave Dad a candy bar and strapped him into the passenger seat of her car. There was a huge line at the teller's window where Anne was standing. So, every so often, she would run over to peek out the bank's front window to make sure that Dad was still there … as if someone was going to kidnap him or something. She writes: "The last time I looked, he wasn't there. The car was empty. I felt like adrenaline had been injected into my heart. I stared … out the window and saw this crazy old man pass by the window. His face was smeared with chocolate. He was just walking on by, holding his candy bar, staring up at the sky as if maybe his next operating instructions were up there." Jesus mysteriously stared up at the sky while massaging the tongue and the ears of a distressed man. We don't know why he was looking up and surveying the clouds. Perhaps it was as if his next operating instructions were up there. Maybe he was looking for power from God, power he did not have apart from God. Maybe God actually spoke to him at that moment and concurred with him that this particular man's bondage - his mental torture - must definitely end. Maybe Jesus was looking for help to shake the crowd he could not shake. Or maybe (and this is my best guess), maybe God was reminding Jesus that he should be ready for bystanders there to get a whole lot more excited about the physical miracle than the spiritual miracle of healing. In other words, "Get ready, Jesus, for the people to be much more infatuated by the spit and the ear poke than by the change that will be wrought in this man's spirit and attitude." Peter Marty, It's Time We Open Up! _________________________________ She knew where to go to get her help and healing. She knew that God was present in that moment, and so did Jesus. She didn’t win, love won. Through faith she was able to open up the doors of heaven. Today our lesson is about two stories of healing. They are two different stories, in two different situations. But each of them speak to us today about the power of love and faith. In the next story, Jesus is in Greek speaking part of town. And the friends of a man who is deaf bring him to Jesus. And he does something else a little disgusting, he spits and rubs it on his ears and his mouth and the man is healed. That reminds me of those time when I was little, and my mother would notice that my face was dirty and she would wet her finger with her tongue and wipe off the dirt. There was a time in my life when I was too young to notice what she was doing, and a time when I would walk away and not let her touch me. In this story, Jesus looks up to heaven for his help from God. But he also says Ephaphata – the arimaic word for open up. Jesus encourages those of us who can hear – to open up our ears and to listen. Listen to God’s voice speaking in our lives. Listen to the voice of faith telling us God is here with us. Listen to the presence of love in our lives. It is the power of love that opens up doors that are closed. Setting Lofty Goals Richard Wilkie wrote a book on the Lord's Prayer. In it, he described how Dr. Albert Schweitzer loved to play Bach on the organ. In fact, even while he was serving as a surgeon in the steamy jungles of Africa, he was still known throughout the world for his musicianship. He loved music, but he loved people more. One evening, as one of the nurses was preparing to leave, he stood at the gang plank preparing to bid her goodbye. As he took her hand he said, "Before you go, I want to recall an incident that happened several months ago. One night, you took a sick baby into your own bedroom so that you could care for it even as you slept. All through the night I heard cries coming from your room. Finally, in the wee hours of the morning, the tone in the baby's cry changed. Immediately I knew that the fever had broken and that the child would get better. I'm supposed to be something of a musician but I want you to know that was the most beautiful music I've ever heard." Schweitzer sought for excellence as a musician but he also sought for excellence in loving human beings. That would be a lofty goal, wouldn't it - to be the most loving human being in our community? To be the most trustworthy? To be the most generous? The call to follow Christ is the call to set lofty goals. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Love is the real winner in both of these stories, it was love that called God into the healing of a sick daughter, and it was Jesus love that helped the man and those around him to hear. That is what our faith is all about – opening up doors and letting love come in. Today we open to doors of our hearts and of heaven for a little one as she is baptized. Originally, when Martin Luther designed his baptismal liturgy – the priest was supposed to out spit on the babies ears and mouth and says ephaphtha – open up. There was this whole ritual of blowing on the babies face to scare away the devil, then putting spit on the face to open the baby to the spirit, lighting a candle. As a matter of fact, it was Martin Luther who said that if you didn’t have water, then you could use milk or even beer to baptize the baby in an emergency. Luckily, a lot of that symbolism was taken out – today the power of the baptism is in the water and the holy spirit. And yet the lessons of love and faith remain. As the holy spirit opens her life to the presence of grace, may our hearts to be open to the love of God. May we experience God anew. o My church’s prayer of illumination every Sunday: “Holy Spirit, open our hearts to the story of your love, open our minds to new ways of knowing you, open our doors to all whom you would welcome. Amen. Let all of us remember this prayer Ephphatha! Be opened. “Let your ears be open to Christ’s word of forgiveness for your sin. Ephaphatha! Be opened. “Let your eyes be open to see the opportunities God is making available in your world. Ephaphatha! Be opened. Let your mind be open to new ways of thinking that will expand your understanding of God’s will for you and yours. Ephaphatha! Be opened. Let your mouth be opened to share with your friends what God is doing in your life. Ephaphatha! Be opened. Let your life be opened to the movement of the Spirit, open to release from whatever is scaring you stopping you, holding you back, from becoming the person you want to be, the person God wants you to be. Amen. Song He touched Me UMH 367 Response to the Word It is easy to be overwhelmed by the pain of the world. We want to turn off the evening news and tune out the stories of human suffering, but God calls us to pay attention to those around us, to do more than simply give to worthy causes, to do more than pray the situation into God’s hands. Our faith is to be lived out in righteous actions, that we might resist wickedness and avoid condemnation for our lack of compassion. We are challenged to meet the needs of others, to reach out with hand and heart, to provide for the real human needs of others. (United Methodist Ministry Matters, June Boutwell) Pastoral Prayer Lord’s Prayer Stewardship Moment In the scripture reading from Mark 7 we heard reports of the healing Jesus accomplished in Tyre and the Decapolis. Both in the recovery of the child, and the healing of the man who was deaf and had a speech impediment we hear of Jesus giving new and different lives to the girl and to the man. His healing gift surely affected those directly healed, but also their families and communities as they were freed to engage more fully. As followers of Jesus, we, too, have opportunity to share our gifts with those around us. In this congregation we have some who ___________________ (name one or two ways people engage in your tutoring, food pantry, meals for unhoused…). In this congregation, we have others who _________________________ (name your outreach to the nursing home, your care group leaders, your program planners) What are the gifts you bring today? How can you offer support and engagement? Your financial gifts are one important way to provide life-enhancing and life-changing moments as we help expand the Body of Christ in (your town). With joyful hearts, standing with Jesus, let us offer our gifts in this time of offering. Prayer of Thanksgiving Giver of all good gifts, Thank you for the ways you’ve equipped each one of us with gifts we can share. Open our hearts, our wallets, and our calendars, so we might freely offer our individual and congregational gifts to a world yearning for release from “unclean spirits”, physical challenges and scarcity. Renew in us our desire to be generous followers of Jesus, the Christ. AMEN (Disciples of Christ Center for Faith and Giving) Announcements Closing Prayer for Facebook Go into the world as agents of healing Appreciating the wonder of creation In all forms, expressions, and ways Boldly embracing the fullness of humanity Welcoming the stranger And considering the other as friend. Go in peace. (United Church of Christ Worship Ways, Cheryl Lindsay) Community Time Joys and Concerns Benediction Beloved, may God bless you today and all days with wisdom that guides you to notice the needs all around you and to share in the work of nurturing abundant life for all of God’s creation. Amen. Written by Dr. Lisa Hancock, Discipleship Ministries, June 2024. Additional Illustrations In ancient Greece it was customary for peddlers who walked the streets with their wares to cry out, "What do you lack?" The idea was to let people know they were in the vicinity, and also rouse the curiosity of the people. Coming out of their houses they would want to know what the peddler was selling. It might be something they lacked and needed, or simply something they desired. What do you lack? We may have sight and hearing, but what do we lack? Take an honest inventory of yourself. Have you found contentment? Are you close enough to God to receive his guidance and strength? Have you secured peace of heart and peace of mind, invaluable assets in life? Deciding what we lack is the first step in securing it. Christ can fulfill our needs -- needs that are to some extent physical, but, more so, the deepest needs of heart, mind, and soul. The man in Mark 7 lacked the physical ability to hear. But many of us lack the spiritual ability to hear. We suffer a kind of a spiritual deafness. The affliction of not listening to people, or, to put it another way, the affliction of physically listening to people, yet failing to comprehend, to understand, and come to grips with what they are saying, is a plague upon the Church. For, you see, it is possible to listen to a person, yet fail to really hear them… The Buzzard, the Bat, and the Bumblebee If you put a buzzard in a pen that is 6 feet by 8 feet and is entirely open at the top, the bird, in spite of its ability to fly, will be an absolute prisoner. The reason is that a buzzard always begins a flight from the ground with a run of 10 to 12 feet. Without space to run, as is its habit, it will not even attempt to fly, but will remain a prisoner for life in a small jail with no top. The ordinary bat that flies around at night, a remarkable nimble creature in the air, cannot take off from a level place. If it is placed on the floor or flat ground, all it can do is shuffle about helplessly and, no doubt, painfully, until it reaches some slight elevation from which it can throw itself into the air. Then, at once, it takes off like a flash. A bumblebee, if dropped into an open tumbler, will be there until it dies, unless it is taken out. It never sees the means of escape at the top, but persists in trying to find some way out through the sides near the bottom. It will seek a way where none exists, until it completely destroys itself. In many ways, we are like the buzzard, the bat, and the bumblebee. We struggle about with all our problems and frustrations, never realizing that all we have to do is look up! That's the answer, the escape route and the solution to any problem! Just look up. Source Unknown _________________ The Kingdom of Heaven Breaks Open Jesus' referring to Gentiles as dogs - clearly this is one of those difficult gospel moments with which Christians must wrestle. Who is this Jesus who is scornful of other nationalities and religions? What kind of savior doesn't want to heal a young girl simply because of who her family is? What are we to do with such an indifferent and despising Christ? Because this passage is so troubling, Christians through the centuries have tried to sweeten or domesticate it, for example pointing out that the Greek word translated here as "dogs" literally means "small dogs," that is, puppies or house dogs. I don't think that mitigates the insult much. I will admit, however, to getting a chuckle out of the images -- such as Sebastiano Ricci's Christ and the Canaanite Woman -- in which a smiling Jesus seems to change his mind because that puppy is just so darn cute! But I think a more productive approach in this case is not to domesticate this scriptural quandary but to embrace it as a moment in which the Kingdom of Heaven breaks opens and becomes more inclusive, a moment in which we are reminded that no one is outside the embrace of God. Karen A. Keely, The Crumbs Under the Table: Bread Enough for All Be Opened When Martin Luther put together a baptismal liturgy in 1523, the actual rite required the pastor to take some of his own saliva and touch the ears and lips of every child getting baptized. At the same instant, the pastor was to repeat the words of Jesus to the deaf man, that one with the speech impediment. The baptizing pastor was to say: Ephphatha - That is, be opened. We don't do this anymore in the Lutheran Church. And I'm not sure I'd be serving my congregation very long if I started using this saliva ritual. But the idea isn't bad. From the very get-go in life, with a lot of help from parents and pastors and adult mentors, we need to find better ways to not be so bound-up with our lives and so tongue-tied with our faith. Have courage. Grab hold to what is good. Loosen up and love a bit more freely. Support the weak. Strengthen the faint-hearted. Honor all people. And for Jesus' sake, keep looking for those ways to open your life to the power of the Holy Spirit … relying on that great prayer of the Psalmist if it helps: O Lord, open thou my lips, and let my tongue declare your praise. Peter Marty, It's Time We Open Up! Success Is Sometimes Measured in Inches Success is sometimes measured in inches. After winning the Pontiac 400 in Richmond, Virginia, several years ago, stock car driver Mark Martin discovered that the spacer between the carburetor and the intake manifold was one-half-inch too long according to NASCAR rules. He was fined $40,000 and penalized 46 points in the season standings. Something that small seemed very significant for Mark. In his book The Range of Human Capacities, Dr. David Wechsler says that if Cleopatra's nose had been just a fraction of an inch longer, the face of Europe might have been changed because Caesar might have shown less interest in the lady. This is another example of how the size of the difference can be small, but the size of the consequences can be huge. A tragic illustration of the crucial importance of little things was furnished a few years ago when a jet crashed shortly after takeoff. All 95 people on board were killed. An exhaustive study of the wreckage determined that it could have been caused by the rudder-control system's losing a bolt that was less than one inch long. For want of a bolt, so many lives were lost. Success can sometimes be measured in inches. Take for example, the distance between the lips and the heart. Jesus was chastising the religious leaders of his day and he quotes the words of Isaiah: "These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me." God on the lips, but not in the heart. A fatal distance of less than 12 inches. King Duncan, www.Sermons.com _________________________________ She Thinks That I Am Real A story is told of a family that went into a restaurant. The waitress walked up and, looking at the young boy, said: What will it be? The boy eagerly shouted back: “I'll take a hamburger, French fries, and a chocolate shake.” The mother immediately interrupted: Oh, that's not what he wants. “He'll take the roast beef, a baked potato, and a glass of milk.” Much to the surprise of both the mother and the boy, the waitress completely ignored her and again asked the boy: “And what do you want on that hamburger?” The boy shouted back, “ketchup, lots of ketchup.” “And what kind of shake?” “Make it chocolate.” The boy then turned to his parents with a big smile on his face and said: “Say, ain't she something. She thinks that I'm real!” Well, let me give you fair warning. If you once, just once, start really hearing people they are suddenly going to become real to you. Staff, www.eSermons.com The Miracle Bridge Perhaps you have heard the story of the Miracle Bridge. (Chicken Soup for the Soul, No. 3) In l883 a creative engineer, John Roebling was inspired to build the Brooklyn Bridge. Experts told him to forget it. He convinced his son Washington, an up and coming engineer to build the bridge. They hired a crew and began to build their dream bridge. The project was only a few months old when there was a tragic accident. John Roebling was killed and his son was severely brain damaged. He was unable to move or talk, but his mind was sharp as ever. He was able to move one finger and touched the arm of his wife. From that point on they learned how to communicate. For the next l3 years he tapped out instructions to the bridge builders who then completed the spectacular bridge. Our ability to communicate is our greatest asset. The best way to be disciples is to be people who are understood and at the same time be folks who are willing to listen. Keith Wagner, Is Anyone Listening? Seeing the Face of God There is a scene in the Hollywood motion picture, Ben-Hur. Ben-Hur is by a well, and he is filthy, stooped in the dirt, and overcome with a fierce thirst. The camera focuses on Ben-Hur's face. His countenance is twisted in misery. Then the shadow of a man crosses his visage. We do not see the man. The camera remains fixed on Ben-Hur's face. The man offers Ben-Hur water. As Ben-Hur lifts his wretched face to behold the merciful stranger, we see a sudden radiance transform his face. We know instantly, by the radical change of his countenance, that when he lifts his head he looks directly into the face of Christ. What a difference it makes when someone is in the presence of Jesus. When someone is in the presence of Jesus he may not regain his physical hearing, but still he hears things he's never heard before--words of assurance and love and hope. He may not regain his physical vision, but he sees things he's never seen before--inwardly he sees the face of God. King Duncan, Collected Sermons, www.Sermons.com Little Annie As a young girl, "Little Annie" was diagnosed as being hopelessly insane, and was locked up in a mental institution. An elderly nurse believed there was hope for the child, and day after day she would visit with her, even though she was often rebuffed. Over a long period of time, Little Annie gradually improved, and was finally released from the institution. Filled with compassion for others because of what she herself had gone through, Anne Sullivan, whose own life had been miraculously opened, was able to open the life of Helen Keller. Kenneth C. Landall, Being Open • The infirmity harkens back to Isaiah 35:6, “Then the lame will leap like the deer, and the tongue of the speechless will sing. Waters will spring up in the desert,and streams in the wilderness” - eschatological implications. o This is the passage of Isaiah that is talking about the one who will prepare the way and make the paths straight. o This is a part of the work of Jesus, which continues with the highway which is the Holy Way. • “Open Up” - United Methodist slogan of “Open hearts, open minds, open doors.” o Many progressive UM’s question the validity of this statement because we continue to be closed to the LGBTQ community. o I read the “opens” as verbs, not adjectives. Instead of the slogan being a description, I see it as a prescription. It is what we are called as a church to do - to go out and open hearts, open minds, and open doors. polis is on the opposite side of Galilee from Tyre. Tyre is far northwest, on the Mediterranean Sea. Decapolis is on the other side of the Sea of Galilee. There has to be a significant amount of time passing between these stories, yet they are tied together. There were other aspects of this service that are not commonly done today. Near the beginning, salt was placed in the mouth of the child with the words, “(Name) receive the salt of wisdom. May it aid thee to eternal life.”[9] Following the reading of Mark 10:13-16, the priest put spit on his finger and touched the child’s nose and ears, saying, “Ephphatha, that is, Be thou opened. But thou, devil, flee; for God’s judgment cometh speedily.”[10] There were also anointings both before and after the baptism. Overall, Luther’s main concern was that the parents and sponsors hear God’s Word and pray for the one being baptized. He mentions that some of the other “external things” were less important.[11] And so when the 1526 revision was published, many of these rites were gone. Gone was the blowing under the eyelids, the salt, the spit, the anointing and even the baptismal candle. Several prayers were omitted. In general, the whole service was shortened. Previously Luther had left many of these ceremonies in because of “weak consciences,” but three years later he was comfortable removing them.[12] In our day, some of these practices have come back (e.g. the baptismal candle). Other new ones have been added (e.g. the welcome by the congregation). In Luther’s day it was necessary to pare back the ceremonies a bit, as they were distracting from the baptism itself. Luther found it necessary to emphasize that the water and the Word of God were the main thing in the baptismal rite by reducing the number of ceremonies. In some places the additional ceremonies have been found to be helpful to teach and emphasize what is happening in baptism. “Each generation trims a little, adds a little (extolling is never finished); but always the actual Baptism itself remains the same: ‘one Lord, one faith, one baptism’ (Eph 4:5).”[13]