Words 11.4

 Words Twice a Week        11.4

If you are more into listening than reading, Words Twice a Week is sometimes available, if I get to it, along with other good stuff, as a podcast from St Paul’s Episcopal Church.  Click here.

Some thoughts on some of the lessons for this Sunday – Proper 27  (These are thoughts on proper 27 – many churches will be observing All Saints Sunday which would be a different set of lessons.  We’ll have a prayer for All Saints at the end.)

Ruth 3.1-5, 4.13-17

+ on a quick, surface read, this story is kind of dicey.  First we note that this was a strictly patriarchal society in which women needed men for security, for sustenance, for identification. And secondly, we note that there was a legal process to all of this – Ruth, Naomi, and even Boaz were to some extent caught up in it.  Much of the material between the two sections of the lesson goes into what was required.  And finally, we note that the issue behind the whole book of Ruth is the continuing of Elimelech’s (I always want to sing The Lion Sleeps Tonight – wa-wi-me-weh) line, somehow finding another son for him.  The “punchline” so to speak, is that the son who arrives, whom God has manipulated life towards(?), is in fact the grandfather of David!

+ a note before we move on, Ruth, a Moabite, a foreigner, is in fact the great grandmother of David.

+ 4.15 – “your daughter-in-law who is more than 7 sons to you” – recognizing the special gift of friendship between women?

+ note that in the material between the two sections, Ruth does not just wait for Boaz to take the lead (as Naomi had suggested), but actually prompts him about his responsibilities according to his (and now her) faith.

+ two immediate legal issues – the land that would belong to Elimelech’s descendants, and the responsibility for the women.  When another closer relative to Ruth would buy the land, he backs off when Ruth is thrown into the deal.  So – Boaz gets her after all, and gets to be Great Grandpa to David!

+ so in this case, anyway, all the legal and religious requirements work out for the best.

Psalm 127

+ a line from Walter Brueggemann – “I can think of no direct way to avoid the embarrassment of this psalm in its preoccupation with sons.”  First, it values sons over daughters; second, it values many sons – troubling to adults who are childless (by choice or by chance), and also troubling to folks who are concerned about over-population.

+ all that said, it’s a nice little piece.  Vs 1-2 note that effort outside of God’s vision is vain, is useless.  “Unless the Lord builds the house….” - it just has a nice sound.  Is “house” a metaphor for “family”?

+ how do you feel like you are working with God today?  

+ and then the joy, and usefulness, of sons (and daughters).  How are your children a joy (or sorrow) to you?  How are they useful?  Garrison Keillor once said the decision to have children is to decide to have your heart walking around outside your body for the rest of your life.

1 Kings 17.8-16

+ note that Elijah asks something from the poor widow.  What might we receive from the poor, if we asked?

+ have you ever found yourself in a situation like either Elijah or the widow?  If we think more than just financially?

Psalm 146

+ again, a few nice lines – “Put not your trust in princes…”  There was a book by leadership guru Margaret Wheatley – she said in the context of a community in difficulty, “No one is coming to save you – but, you have within you the power to save yourself.”  Not sure how that works with our understanding of God and faith, but it’s worth thinking about.

+ the Lord gives food to the hungry….  How do today’s hungry people hear that?

+ humans are temporary (transitory!), God is permanent.

Mark 12.38-44

+ This is the end of Jesus’ public teaching.

+ Beware of Scribes/rich/powerful.  Fred Craddock notes that being a scribe was a necessary and honored position, but “places of honor tend to attract persons who are not honorable.”  

+ who would be these people today?  Where do we draw the line about faith and appearance – wearing a four inch wooden cross around your neck (I did that at one time)? Having a religious bumpersticker? Wearing a religious t-shirt? Wearing your choir robe to Sunday brunch?  Wearing your pulpit robe to the mall?

+ they say long prayers for appearance sake.  Brian Wren, one of my heroes, said that you should be able to write a one issue prayer (like a collect) in 50 words or less.  Not always that easy.

+ and the woman – perhaps her poverty is a result of scribes taking advantage of her sorrow and financial unfamiliarity.  Again, Craddock notes “she doesn’t whine or complain, she takes the small remainder and acts, taking responsibility for her life.”

+ will the aforementioned scribes take care of her, now that she has (financially) nothing?  Or what does she really have?

+ Joseph Donders helps me see this story afresh – he retells it until he gets to where she put in her two coins, and he says Jesus stood up in astonishment and said “Wow – she gave everything she had.”  I was used to thinking of Jesus commenting on the scene, not so much his being astonished by it.  Donders goes on to suggest that at the last supper, when Jesus put the bread and wine, everything he had/was/is, on the table, possibly he was thinking of the woman in the temple.

So – a prayer for All Saints, in 50 words or less!

Eternally Creating God,

you made heaven and earth and all that is in them,

and you keep faith forever.

Thank you for the witness of those who have gone before us

and those who walk with us today. 

   (Pause to remember?)

May their examples inspire us towards a life of faith

and encourage us in times of trouble.

We ask it in the name of Jesus, who goes before, behind, and alongside us all.

   (Well, 72 words – maybe a little “showy”!)

That’s what I got for now…..

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