Song of Solomon 2: 8-13
Psalm 45: 1-2, 6-9
James 1: 17-27
Mark 7: 1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Many of us probably grew up with a few of our parents choice aphorisms constantly sounding in our heads. “A stitch in time saves nine”. “Make hay while the sun shines”. “Fools rush in where angels fear to tread”. “What goes up must come down”. “Don’t put the cart before the horse!” “You can’t judge a book by its cover.” “You’ll have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.” and “Cleanliness is next to godliness.” These short, pithy sayings are meant to express more complex truths in as few words as possible. They have a meaning far beyond the words themselves. They seek to influence behaviour, to set priorities or express emotions such as surprise or dismay. Sometimes, it’s the only way to say something important.

When I am talking to a family in preparation for a funeral, I often ask them if their loved one has a favourite expression or saying. Often the sayings express a character trait, or give a sense of what was important to that person.

When it comes to life, and to our priorities in life, what IS important? What IS important in society? What IS truly important in our life of faith? It would be nice if the life of faith were clearly defined, like a credit course at school or university: read these books and write these essays, complete these assignments on time and attend classes with no more than a certain number of absences. If you do these things you’ll get your credit and if you earn enough credits you will graduate! There is a great deal of disagreement among those who consider themselves people of faith, as to what really constitutes that kind of life. Some people believe that the life of faith involves nothing more than going to church and avoiding breaking any of the ten commandments, especially the ones about murder, stealing and adultery. On the other hand, there are those who believe that there are many additional rules that one has to follow such as not drinking, smoking, or gambling! Such people may feel that those in the first group need to take their faith much more seriously while those in the first group might very well see the rules of the second group as excessive and ‘nit picky’.

In Jesus’ day, there was a group of religious and community leaders called Pharisees who took their faith very seriously. They believed that in order to be faithful they needed to pay scrupulous attention to the finer points of the ten commandments and the additional laws that governed their diet and social interactions. Despite their negative portrayal in the gospels, we make a big mistake if we label the Pharisees as “bad people”. In fact they were very good people. They were very sincere, they took their faith very seriously and felt that everyone else should as well. They were especially concerned that those who sought to be leaders in the faith community pay strict attention to these rules of faith and life. They were convinced that their faith must be applied to all aspects of their lives; both the great and the small. The problem, as the gospel writers saw it though, was that they had lost the forest for the trees. In paying attention to the laws about Sabbath observance for example, they seemed to forget what the Sabbath was really for. The whole purpose of Christian preaching on these stories, should not be to trash the Pharisees, but rather, to join with Jesus in warning the church against making the same mistakes. Unfortunately Gospel passages such as this one have been used to foster and promote anti-Semitism when they should have been used to call the church to a greater faithfulness.

It is very clear in this passage that many of the rules ARE very important, such as the ones against murder, adultery and theft but they are not seen as independent actions, but rather as activities which come from a heart which has strayed from God’s plan. One does not follow the rules in order to gain God’s favour, to avoid punishment, or to show the world one’s faithfulness, but rather, because the love of God in Christ has so transformed the life of the Christian that nothing less is possible. “Actions speak louder than words”, as the saying goes, but the actions must be a result of a genuine faith, not a result of a rote following of rules and regulations.

The presenting issue in the gospel lesson for today is the washing of hands before eating. For the benefit of Mark’s non-Jewish readers, reference is also made to the washing of cups, bowls and other utensils. If we really think about it, it’s not too far from our own experience. In many ways we are a culture obsessed with germs and cleanliness. Compare the amount of laundry done in the average household with the amount done 40 years ago; automatic washers and dryers mean we can do twice as much wash three times as often.

We have to be taught these cleanliness standards though! One day about 11 years abo my nephew asked me if I could take him to pick blueberries, which were too near the road for him to go by himself. He’d been in the barn so I told him to go and wash his hands. Instead of going to the house, he went over to the nearest mud puddle, swished his hands in the water, wiped them on his pants and presented them to me, pronouncing them to be “All clean”!

Clearly, some of the concern over cleanliness and health is very real. SARS was a real threat, particularly in Ontario hospitals earlier this year and cleanliness was really and truly very important in fighting the spread of that disease. Everywhere you turn in a hospital is a sign reminding health workers to wash their hands. There are rules for restaurants and butchers and grocery stores and the rules are all there for public safety.

Yet in the context of the gospel lesson the Pharisees who encountered Jesus on that day seemed to see these cleanliness rules as being an essential part of faithfulness. We know that what we eat or breathe in can make us sick or kill us but that is hardly the same thing as what they meant by spiritual uncleanliness defilement.

Jesus argued that what we put into our bodies cannot defile us; that whether we wash our hands or not, does not separate us from God; it is what comes out, in our living, that makes us ‘unclean’ in God’s eyes.

No doubt, some of the Pharisees felt that Jesus was ‘watering down’ the faith and, in the process, leading people astray. But, of course Jesus took his faith very seriously and wanted those who followed to do so as well, but he wanted the priorities viewed in a different light. He wanted to have religious commitment flow from people’s hearts and not begin and end with their actions alone. Clearly, some behaviours are inappropriate but they were not so much prohibited, in and of themselves, as they were signs that one was not a true follower of the gospel.

We tell children to look both ways before they cross the road and sometimes they forget - and end up in hospital or worse - hearing the word is the first step, doing it is the second. There is a third step and that involves integrating the rule4 into one’s life so that one understands its purpose and reason and following it becomes second nature, part of our being. Another passage speaks of the law written on our hearts. The goal is that our Christian faithfulness becomes part of who we are, not just something we do.

What are the signs of faithfulness: merely avoiding wrong? NO!

Talking a good talk? NO.

Hearing and doing should be an indivisible unity. “Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only” is a verse many of us memorized in Sunday School and it is contained in today’s passage from the Epistle of James.

Some people, including the great reformer, Martin Luther, saw James’ epistle as being flawed because it seemed to present a salvation by works, but in reality, I don’t think t does. The Epistle of James knows, what Paul implies, that faithfulness involves an indivisible unity of belief and action. We don’t earn God’s love and grace, but we must live as if we know that love deep within our bones. James writes about those who look in a mirror, see a faithful person, but then go away and forget what they saw. We are all like that to a certain extent; we have great intentions but in our day to day living, but we fall short of even our own goals, let alone God’s intention for us.

In Canada we have laws which prohibit discrimination based on race, national or ethnic origin, colour, religion, sex, age or physical disability. We have the laws because, for the most part, they are necessary. We may SAY that everyone is equal but statistics and experience show that we actually BELIEVE that some groups of people are more worthy than others and they prove the truth of the saying, “Actions speak more loudly than words”! The law seeks to enforce our best intentions because we can’t guarantee they will be honoured otherwise.

40 years ago this past week a man stood on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial and said that he had a dream; a dream of true equality, a dream that one day his four little children would be judged, not by the colour of their skin, but by the content of their character. That man was the Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr and his was a dream that captivated his country and is one which many people around the world came to share, that discrimination based on colour was simply wrong - because one’s colour had nothing to do with one’s abilities to do a job, or be a good neighbour, or to study a certain course, to give just a few examples.

We are left with the question: what does defile us, or separate us from God. We could all make up a different list, and some of us might say to the others, “Oh, don’t sweat the small stuff!” How then are we to tell what is really important.

I think that the first test is “does the action affect others? Does it actively show God’s love for others and for myself, or does it show that I am merely using others for my own gain or pleasure?

Secondly, does the action show that I place God’s call first in my life or is God someone I think of only when the going gets rough, or only when it’s convenient.

Lastly, am I acting to earn God’s love and favour, or am I seeking to live up to that image I see in God’s mirror: a child of God, created to truly love and to spread that love to everyone I met.

This kind of faithfulness cannot be learned from books, or by following someone else’s list of rules. We can’t check a manual every time a response or action is called for. We must be guided by a life of prayer and reflection on the situations in which we find ourselves and then stepping forward in the confidence that we follow a God of love and grace who seeks for us the best of what life has to offer to us.

(St. Andrew’s ending) Let us give praise to God as we seek to live out all that God has intended for us.

Amen

(St Stephen’s ending) We have gathered here in St Stephen’s for our Annual Memorial Service. We think back over the history of this congregation and over the history of our own families. We remember those who have gone before us and what their lives have meant to us; we remember those who were ‘true characters’ whose were a little rough around the edges but whose hearts were pure gold. We remember those who were a little too concerned about appearances and those who weren’t at all concerned about what anyone thought. As we reflect on those who have gone before us and give thanks for their lives, we are called to reflect on God’s call to us as a faith community in 2003. What is God’s will for us and how are we to live that out? There are no rules, save one -love God with all that you are and love your neighbour as yourself. God will be with us to love us and challenge and support us as we seek to know what this means in our day today lives.

Amen.

Proverbs 22: 1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
James 2: 1-10, 14-17
Mark 7: 24-37

It’s a particularly good commercial, even if it makes some adults feel uncomfortable. A child is caught shoplifting and the parent has to deal with it. The father says that he doesn’t know where his child learned to steal and looks at the child in hurt, anger and embarrassment. After a stony silence the child says, “But Dad, you steal satellite signals!”

Some things seem to go without saying; they’re supposed to be common sense’. Except that we sometimes need to be reminded of these ‘common sense things, the things that go without saying’. “A good name is to be chosen rather than great riches”. Or, “If your brother or sister lacks the necessities of life and all you give is spiritual platitudes, what is the good of that!” Yet, as a former parishioner of mine used to day, “common sense, is not always all that common any more”!

In today’s passage from the epistle of James we have more advice on the character and form of the Christian community. It seems that the divisions that had long prevailed within many societies had also come into the church.

The passage doesn’t seem to have a lot of deep or confusing theology; like the passage from the book of Proverbs the advice is simple and crystal clear. “Don’t play favourites!” “You don’t like it when others do it to you! He gives some examples and makes it clear that such behaviour is not appropriate for a follower of Jesus. It’s advice that seems to ‘go without saying’, but, as we see, it needed to be said.

In today’s gospel reading we have a story in which Jesus’ attitude toward foreigners seems to undergo change and growth. As Mark’s gospel shows us, Jesus was unwilling to help a non-Jew until he was challenged by her to broaden his perspective on what he had come to do. The fact that Jesus came to show God’s love to everyone seems to ‘go without saying’ but even Jesus needed to learn that!

We may be surprised to find that Jesus himself needed a lesson in this, but the story from the gospel told it very plainly. The woman clearly had a deep faith in Jesus and was prepared to fight for what she needed.

Many of us like to think of Jesus as always being right and always doing and saying the right thing. Actually though, a Jesus who grew in faith as he interacted with the people during his ministry impresses me much more than one who is always pictured as being perfect. The early church struggled mightily with this question as they had to decide where to; first, focus their missionary efforts and; second, to decide what the converts to Christianity had to do to belong to the Christian community. Eventually Christianity became separate from Judaism and being Jewish was no longer a prerequisite to being Christian.

The early communities were, in all likelihood, a microcosm of society in general. There were rich people and poor people and they tended to model the community after the society. Apparently, in the congregation to whom James wrote, the poor were treated differently from the rich and the rich saw little or no obligation toward the needs of the poor.

James calls for much higher standards. Among the things that are mentioned in today’s passage are: extending an equally warm welcome to all who come to worship and fellowship and caring for widows and orphans. Faith for James involved action; it was not just ‘believing in Jesus as the saviour’. The passage ends with those memorable words, “Faith without works is dead!”

Today in St Andrew’s we welcome (welcomed) back the Sunday school. As a community we are called to reflect upon the matter of faith formation. How do we teach our children the faith? What ‘faith’ do we teach them? Teaching the faith involves much more than learning the names of the 66 books of the Bible in order, or the ten commandments or the beatitudes or the ten or twenty most important verses by memory or a few favourite Bible stories. Christian education is about forming Christian faith in children and allowing it to develop and grow and inform their lives as they become adults. Christian faith formation is a life long process; it is not something from which we graduate. Christian faith formation cannot be learned from a book, it needs to be lived into being!

A university chaplain received a call from some irate parents one day. Haven’t a clue where I read this but it came from some book or periodical a few years ago It seemed that their daughter, a recent graduate, had decided to forego a second degree in order to take several years off and work as a volunteer on an overseas project. Apparently the chaplain had named the project as an appropriate use for the talents of young university graduates and had challenged the chapel full of students to give some of their lives to meeting the needs of others. The parents were calling to blame the chaplain for the girl ‘throwing her degree away’. The chaplain, unfazed by the parents began his reply with a series of questions: Did you have your daughter baptized? Did you encourage her to be confirmed? Did you support her as a youth group leader while she was in High School? Did you encourage her to go to chapel services while at University?

The answer to each and every one of the chaplain’s questions was, “Yes”. The chaplain then asked, “Well then, why are you so surprised that she wants to use her gifts and education in that way.” The father replied, “Weeeeee jjjjjust wanted her to go to church and stay away from drugs. We didn’t want her to take it THAT seriously”

Well Christian faith is NOT just something to keep us ‘out of trouble’ , however we might define that! Christian faith is about responding to the great love that has been offered to us in and through the life, death and resurrection of Jesus of Nazareth. Not everyone is called to go to a foreign country and dig wells, or become a minister, but everyone is called to apply their faith to every aspect of their lives. In some cases being a committed Christian will get you into trouble with your friends and relatives and coworkers as they fail to understand your values, your decisions and your priorities.

In Sunday school and within Christian community we are invited to struggle with those questions and to live out our responses as best we can. Christian education is not about getting knowledge, though knowing some stories and some verses and some of what makes us different is indeed important; it is knowing who we are, whose we are and what that means in our day to day living.

Christian faith is about living God’s love as we encounter those we like and those we don’t like. Christian faith is about seeking to meet the needs of those who lack the basic necessities of life. Christian faith is about setting the story of the world and its ambitions to one side and focussing on the call of the gospel. Christianity is not a one day a week thing, but the call of the gospel is to a life of commitment, 365 days a year, every remaining year of our lives. It is a high calling, a calling in which the way is not often clear nor easy. In Christian community we find our challenge and our support for the journey which we have undertaken.

The other aspect of these passages is the ‘welcoming’ of strangers and newcomers. We are called to reflect on how we welcome guests and strangers into our worshipping community. Whose job is it to say hello? Who makes sure their pew has a hymn book (how are they to know that no one sits in that pew). Whose job is it to visit if they have moved in and are looking for a place to worship. When it comes to church committees do we really want new blood, or do we just want the new people to do it in the ways we have always done it! Does our church sign list the service times and dates. (If someone showed up on our off Sunday how could we let them know who to contact or where else to go to find a United Church service) Three of the churches I serve have worship services only every second week The ‘bells of St Andrew’s give people a 60 minute warning but what other ways are there to welcome, truly welcome newcomers. We’ve carpeted most of the family pews so small children will have a play space. We’ve got lots of crayons and colouring books, but what else can we do?

Friends of mine visited last week and said, “I suppose that we’re sitting in someone’s pew?”

I replied, “Yes, I guess so, but they won’t say anything!” Not all churches are like that. A former parishioner of mine who was new to Canada had gone to church in a large stone cathedral type building and just a few minutes before the service began was asked, by an usher dressed in a tuxedo with tails and white gloves, to MOVE. This sanctuary literally had hundreds of empty seats!!! He never went back. If worship had not been so important to him he might never have gone to a church again! What James reminds us is something that while it ‘goes without saying’ , it still ‘needs to be said’. Welcoming and creating safe and welcoming spaces is important.

So we have taken on a large task, the forming of Christian community, and the maintenance of Christian community. Its not something we learn while we are young and then forget about; it’s a life long task. Let us seek God’s guidance as we go forward to answer the call to be God’s people, to be followers of Jesus, in this time and place.

Amen.

Proverbs 1: 20-33
Psalm 19
James 3: 1-12
Mark8: 27-38

Who is for the world? Who is Jesus for you? A few years ago there was a singing group, the Common Cup Company, based in Winnipeg that wrote and performed a song called, “Who do you say that I am”.

Chorus:
Who do people say I am?
What see you in their eyes?
Who do you say that I am?
Come be filled with surprise!
Some say that you're a carpenter,
One of Joseph's sons,and that you'll rebuild the earth
before your time is done.
Some say that you're a fisherman,
One of Peter's friends,
and that you will feed the poor
before your journey ends.

Some say that you're a great man
Elijah come to earth
and that you will heal the sick
and give to us new birth.
Some say that you're a lover
lifting weights from wrongs long past
and that you'll forgive our sins
long as your journey lasts.

Some say your restless Spirit
leads too many folk astray
and that you'd turn things upside-down
if you ever got your way.
Some say that you're a fighter
or a madman or a fool
and that you'll lose your followerswhen Pilate's heart turns cruel.
Son of Mary, Son of Joseph
Lord of life and Lord of loss
I think you are the Son of God
and living out your cross
Son of Mary, Son of Joseph
Lord of life and Lord of loss
I think you are the Son of God
and living out your cross

 	Let’s play Jeopardy!  You know, the game show with Alex Trebek in which the question is actually an answer and the contestants receive points for the right answer, phrased always, as a question.  Of course, our category of choice will be “Christianity” !   Question one: “The mother of Jesus.”  The answer: “Who is Mary?”  
Question Two:  Is said to have written the majority of the New Testament epistles”.  The answer: “Who is Paul?”  Question three: “Founded in 1925, it is Canada’s largest Protestant denomination.” Answer: “What is The United Church of Canada?”  Question Four: “This first book of the Christian Bible means ‘Beginning’” . Answer: “What is Genesis?” 
 	Today’s gospel sounds a little like an episode of “Religious  Jeopardy ” With Jesus as the game show host we have come 

to the double jeopardy round, and the category is “Who Am I”?  There are two questions asked.  The question,  “Who do PEOPLE say that I am?” being the first; and, “Who do YOU say that I am?”, the second.  
 	The first was little more than a survey.  “What’s the word on the street?  What stories are going around?  What are people thinking?  Who do they think I am?”  
	
 The answers on the disciples’ lips seem a little off the wall, to us.  To begin with, each one of the folks being referred to was 

dead, or at least had not been heard from in several centuries.  (Remember Elijah did not really die, but was carried off in a flaming chariot).  Secondly, we are in the ambiguous position of already knowing the answer and wondering how the disciples could have missed what seems to us to be very obvious!  
 	However, we need to give the disciples a break.  No doubt they felt that they had been ‘put on the spot’ constantly since they had decided to become fishers of people! They were continually being asked to change 

their thinking and their assumptions were constantly being challenged.  Jesus teachings interpreted the centuries old law in exciting and challenging new ways.  I doubt that they were ever really sure what to think!    
 	Back to the questions at hand.  Among the disciples’  contemporaries, it seems that there was widespread amazement concerning this Jesus, carpenter and itinerant rabbi from Nazareth.  He healed.  He performed miracles.  He spoke of God in a way that moved them heart and soul.  Once you met 

him you just wanted to be in his presence day in and day out!  Since they had no categories in which to place him they looked to their past for answers.   No doubt some reasoned that one of those legendary figures had returned!   Unlike the modern-day  “Elvis sightings” by the slightly unstable, the belief in the possibility of such supernatural occurrences was much more widespread.  
 	It was obvious to many that this man was ‘of God’.  It was obvious that he spoke the truth.   They reasoned that he must be a 

prophet!  So the disciples reported this ‘word on the street’ in answer to Jesus’ question. 
 	Yet, this was not REALLY what Jesus wanted to know.  He probably could have answered that question himself!  The real question, the question on which the disciples were actually being asked to wager all of their money,  was the second one: “who do you say that I am?”  
	
 Peter was the one who pressed the buzzer first.  He answered, You are the Messiah”.  Peter had the right answer, but, 

as we shall discover,  was all wrong in terms of understanding what the messiah had come to do and be about!  
 	Who was the messiah?  What did Peter and the rest of the people expect of the Messiah?  Some of the common consensus in Jesus’ day would centre on political power, military might and the restoration of the glory,  wealth and grandeur of the reign of the great King David and Solomon’s temple. In the context of first century Palestine, the Messiah was seen as someone who would 

come and overthrow the current oppressor, the Roman Empire.  He would restore the rule of God over God’s chosen race.  
 	So for Peter to state his bold faith that Jesus was the Messiah meant that Jesus was fulfilling these age old hopes, that he was God’s way of putting things ‘right’ again! It was a hope very focussed on turning back the clock to the ‘good old days’ and making sure those hated foreigners never took over again!   	
	
 Yet the gospels are intent on showing 

that Jesus was not a throwback to the past, he was the future of Israel, he was God’s Messiah.  Jesus immediately orders them not to spread this news around.  Why?  Seems to me like a guaranteed way of letting the cat out of the bag!  Tell a group of people that it’s a secret and you’re sure to see it in the tabloids within a week!  
 	I think that Jesus told them to keep quiet because he needed time, time to present a different vision, an alternate hope.  You see, Jesus needed to show that his way 
of being Messiah was to be totally different than that which had been expected and prayed for, for many  generations.  
 	As we see,  Peter and, no doubt the other disciples, were totally opposed to the idea of the Messiah needing to suffer or die in order for his work to be truly completed.  They wanted glory and honour for their God and his chosen people, not more pain and suffering.   
	
 On Thursday morning I turned on the tv to look at the “September 11th” memorial 

observances.  Never again will this be just another date on the calendar; for many years to come, either the words, “September 11th”, or the numbers  “9 and 11"  will mean planes crashing, tall buildings falling and thousands of people dying.   Those events have defined the outlook of a city, a nation, a continent,  and perhaps even an entire planet.  “Where were you when the twin towers were hit?”, has become the question of a new generation in the same way that the assassination of  President Kennedy and the Challenger 
explosion defined earlier ones!  
   	Part of Thursday’s coverage on A&E was taped in the days following the attack 2 years ago.  The footage depicted New Yorkers going out of their way to help;  waiting in long lines simply to donate supplies such as food, gloves and flashlights, for the rescue workers.  It may have been seen as  uncharacteristic, but it became a new reality in those confusing, frightening and overwhelming days.  There was less individualism as total strangers embraced in 

tears, shared their supplies and worked together to do what they could to clean up, and get by, hour by hour.  
 	The coverage also showed a fire truck, half hidden by rubble, crushed almost beyond recognition; the sign of strength, power, might and help had become a sad victim of a force much more deadly than anyone had ever imagined.  We have all no doubt heard interviews with survivors who had been amazed to meet firefighters on their way in as they were desperately struggling to leave 

the doomed buildings. Most of the firefighters interviewed, when asked the question, “Why did so many of you enter a building that was surely doomed?” answered with words something along the lines of,  “That’s who we are”, “That’s our job”, or “That’s what we’re there for!”  It was almost a foregone conclusion that they would be there risking their lives to save others even beyond the point of hope.   They paid dearly for this dedication losing their chief, their chaplain and hundreds of members.  Would 

they do it again.  Of course!  
 	It’s not really a game show that we’re in though.  It’s life.  It’s the life of faith!  We are asked the question, Who is Jesus?   And once we figure that one out, we have to figure out what it means to follow him; what it means to be a Christian?  Are we Christian because of what God, in Christ can do for us, or because of what we can do through this relationship which is part of our lives.  A large part of answering that question involves answering the next question: Then what is a 

Christian to do and be about in the world?
 	The other day I was listening to someone talk of the role of religion in relation to the problem of intolerance.  She saw the obvious solution to be the keeping of religion as a private matter which did not affect one’s life in the world.  
	
 It should come as no surprise to you that I strongly disagree and feel that the weight of Christian tradition disagrees as well.  Tolerance DOES NOT have to be sacrificed on the altar of faith, rather it is 

-20-
part and parcel of it.  Love of neighour does not just mean United Church neighbours, or white neighbours, or Canadian neighbours, or Christian neighbours, or 
	
 In this passage Jesus is talking about a way of living that takes the high road, that gives in ; that does not always have to win, to be right, or even to survive.  There are worse things than death, worse things than being occupied by the hated Romans, (to use the immediate situation of the gospel).  
	
 Its not about how or faith or our 

church or our society or the government can make things better for US or for  ME.  Its about how we as a people of faith can make life better working with society and churches and  governments  or, if need be in spite of, all of those things.  
 	As Christians we are called to take up our crosses as we face issues of justice and injustice, wealth and poverty, human rights, employment and unemployment and underemployment, health care and lack of it, not only here in New Brunswick and the rest 

of Canada but in places around the world , the homes of political allies and enemies and in those places we have never heard tell of.  
 	To change a well known phrase just a little, “We are not to ask what our God can do for us as much as we are to ask how we can serve God in the world..”  Of course, we don’t do this on our own, but by the power of the Holy Spirit who is with us always.  
	
 Finally, we are at the end of Jeopardy.  The million dollar question: Name A Christian”  Are we willing to write our own name down?

 September 21, 2003   
 Proverbs 31: 10-31 
 
Psalm 1	

James 3: 13 - 4:3, 7-8a	

Mark 9: 30-37	


			Greatness

	
 The middle of last week, The Guardian,  the newspaper which claims to ‘cover the Island like the dew’ carried an obituary for one of my high school teachers.  Now he was no ordinary high school teacher, perhaps there is no such thing, but Mr. Morrison was certainly out of the ordinary.   You see, when we entered his classroom we left the halls of  Charlottetown Rural High 

School and entered a different world.  We entered the world of “William Avery Bishop Memorial High School”.  Billy Bishop was Mr. Morrison’s hero. It was possible, in fact, to earn over 100% on any history test because there was always one mark for writing the initials WABMHS below our name at the upper right hand corner of our paper and there was always a bonus question.  We could be studying the “dirty thirties” or “confederation” but there would be a question such as, “Who was the greatest 

WW1 flying ace?”  We all knew that the answer to that question was the Canadian pilot, Billy Bishop.  Awarded the Victoria Cross for his success at shooting down German planes, this native of Owen Sound Ontario remains, even in death, a colourful and highly controversial figure.  It is fair to say that not everyone believed everything that he claimed had happened while he was engaging the enemy planes.  Yet, in Mr Morrison’s mind, at least, Bishop was the greatest, and we all played along.  

	Right now we are in the middle of at least two provincial elections and a federal leadership race.  The winners will be, in a sense, the greatest!  They will receive the invitations to the important functions and people will want to meet them just because they are the ‘winner’.  
	
 We are a culture which loves winners, which remembers those who were regarded as the best.  Many people can list off which teams won the World Series, the Gray Cup, the Stanley Cup, the Vanier Cup or the Super 

Bowl for a number of years running, but most could not list those who came second!  In a world of the ‘great one’s’ the ‘also rans’  are all but forgotten.
	We are a world which thrives on hierarchies; we believe that life is supposed to be structured in that way.  There are the people in charge and there are the followers. The culture in which the church was born was probably even more hierarchical than our own.  Controlled by an army of occupation with its own chain of command imposed from 

Rome, a local government full of power struggles and a synagogue structure which was certainly hierarchical, all of Jesus’ 
fellow citizens were certainly well aware of the importance of being the ‘greatest’.   
	It should come as no surprise to find the disciples discussing these matters as they walked along from place to place.  It is natural that the disciples would not be immune to these attempts at one-upmanship! We should have realized long ago that the disciples were  very ordinary people.  I 

suspect that they naturally assumed that this new community of which Jesus spoke would be organized around similar 
assumptions.  Even though he had just been attempting to talk about his suffering and death, hardly a commonly accepted sign of greatness, the disciples were still thinking along traditional lines and using old models.  
	Of course, they were attempting to argue about it in private but Jesus knew they were talking about!  He always knew!  The disciples were silent when confronted about 

the true nature of their discussion because, in their hearts they knew somehow that, despite what I have already said, such 
personal goals and ambitions detracted from their proclamation of the Good News.  
	What did Jesus do?  What did he say?  We are told that he reminded them once again about a paradox of the gospel; the greatest is the one who is the last and the least.  He then took a child and placed the child in their midst and told them that they had to welcome children in his name and that welcoming children was just like welcoming him.  
	Why a child?  What was it about children that related welcoming children to the reversal of commonly held notions of greatness?   Well, FIRST of all children had little or no status in that culture.  Many of the things we take for granted about children are inventions of the last two centuries.   The family of Jesus day 
certainly did not exist for the children; the children were brought into the world to 
ensure the survival of the family.  Children had no value until they could contribute, or in the case of girls, marry and have children of their own.   
	When Jesus took the child, embraced her and told the disciples that a welcome to the child was a welcome to him, I’m sure the disciples must have done a double take.  
What was Jesus talking about, surely he’s more important than a mere child?
	
 What they had to learn was that the Christian faith was not just another scheme 

to replace one set of elites with another set; it was about turning the world upside down.  Instead of this, the disciples wanted glory. They wanted a recognized position in this new realm that Jesus was always talking about.  Of course, most of the country wanted the Romans gone and the glory of David’s reign returned.  As we know, Jesus had other ideas.  His ideas of reversal went to the level of people’s hearts and then went out to the community and world.  It wasn’t that he didn’t care about the people and 

their oppression, quite the contrary, but he taught a different way to combat it.
	As I have said before, we miss the 
power of the gospels if we limit its application to the world of the disciples.  In the end the gospel has relevance because it is talking about and to us.
	
 Jesus’ command to welcome the child and thus to welcome the Christ can be taken on several levels.  First, as a community our welcome must be extended to children.  Second, our welcome must be extended to all 

those who are like children; those second class and all too easily ignored people in society,  must be welcomed and cared for.  Third, we must embrace those child-like parts within ourselves and hear the proclamation that welcoming and accepting them is welcoming the Christ.
	We have come a long way since the days of ‘children should be seen and not heard’ in church.  However we must continue to work at ways to embrace the children in our community in love and care.  We have a fund 

in our church for the ministry of caring for needy children.  We have used it for school lunch and sending a child to camp.  Where families are unwilling or unable to care for their own children we need to have the resources and the will to care and to offer assistance.   	 
	  It is sometimes a call to take a long, hard journey.  Someone,  (Dr Joy Browne)  once said, “Kids would rather be praised than punished but they’d rather be punished than ignored.”  Sometimes the call of the gospel is 

simply to spend a lot of time getting to know and understand the kids that make us crazy.  In Robert Munsch’s book,  Love You Forever,   the dear sweet boy whose mother loved him dearly, and used to take him to the zoo, went through a phase so bad that the mother thought she lived in a zoo!  
	The second aspect of welcoming I spoke of is that the welcoming of a child can stand as a metaphor for the welcoming of all who have special needs, who have limited gifts, in the minds of the wider society.  As a 

community of faith the accessibility of our building for those in wheelchairs or walking with canes is an issue to look at.  Have we done everything we can so that the hard of hearing can hear and the visually impaired can see.  Have we advocated for those same things in the communities in which we live, or in other communities.  What about programs for street people and drug addicts, certainly among the “least of these” in our larger cities.  And no, it’s not just “their” problem, partially  because some of those people in 

need come from our province and maybe even our community.  In the midst of asking why they are there, we need to marshal the resources to keep them safe and to help them help themselves.   As a society we need to work together on issues of poverty, homelessness and adequate housing in our communities and in our larger cities, instead of just hoping that these problems will just go away.  In many areas the policy of law enforcement officials seems to be limited to removing the person from the area and 

dumping them somewhere else.  People have died because of this practice; there needs to be a better way to respond and to truly welcome these children of God.  
	The third aspect I would like to look at is our own child-likeness.  We all have within us a kind of  ‘inner child’, a small person looking for love, for care and for attention. It does not matter who we are, or how old we are, or how wealthy or how educated or how popular.  We may be the star basketball player from our high school class, the person 

chosen captain of our hockey team, the top employee of our firm but we may feel as if we are eight years old, useless and ignored.  Or we may be nursing age old hurts that came from never being picked, never having received a blue ribbon, or never being recognized or loved in the way we wanted to be.  We may desperately be trying to address these issues by appearing as if we have it all together, as if we have all of the answers, as if we have everything to give and nothing to need.  In calling people to welcome 

the child, the one member of society that cannot hide their need, Jesus called all of those who follow to embrace this child within ourselves and within others.  
	 The message of the gospel is that Jesus takes the child, the obviously marginalized or needy person, the person with the hidden problems and  embraces and loves that child, not just into adulthood,  but as it is – as valuable, as loveable, as God’s child.  Jesus takes us and embraces us and calls us to do that for others. 
 Amen.