SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 29, 2024 | AFTER PENTECOST - Proper 21 (B)

Texts

Numbers

Nostalgia can really put flaps on your eyes - Oh remember the food in Egypt, never mind the toil, slavery, and dehumanization.

Moses complains that all this work just on him (and Aaron, I suppose), so he gets daring with the Lord. The Lord allows it and then commissions 70 elders and then there are two more, unofficial ones - the work of the Lord requires many hands, both officially appointed and those that happen into it.

James:

Importance of community and prayer

Mark:

Refers to allowing others to serve the Lord, even if they are not in an “in-group” - God recognizes it.

News:

Missouri to execute Marcellus Williams despite prosecutors’ objections and innocence claims

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/sep/24/missouri-to-execute-marcellus-williams-prosecutors-objections-innocence-claims

(follow-up later)

https://www.npr.org/2024/09/23/nx-s1-5120912/octopuses-and-fish-hunt-enforce

Good morning,

What a week - Hurricane Helene has been tearing through places in Florida, Tennessee, or North Carolina; the deadly tension in the Middle East continues; flooding affects Nepal; and in Austria, a far right political party with Nazi roots may claw their way to power in the ongoing elections. More than ever, we need to stand in solidarity and prayer with fellow bearers of God’s image. Cooperation is, as ever, crucial and the texts mention a lot cooperation from expected, but also unexpected sources. After all, cooperation is a big part of God’s creation - not only between humans, but animals as well. Some are well-known and expected - lions hunting together for example. However, I have also read that octopuses and fish can form a hunting party for a mutual benefit, despite their differences.

Quote:

“The fish explore the environment,” Dr. Eduardo Sampaio says, the researcher. “They find the prey. And then the octopus chooses between the options that the fish give—and [the octopus] moves there, flushing out prey. Then the whole group moves with the octopus.”

More than that, if there are freeloaders that are not helping and only eating (like the blacktip groupers), the octopus punches them. Yeah, I think I would avoid doing a group project with an octopus! Yikes.

Cooperation is in our DNA, even among difference and diversity. The problems start when we do not see that and try to be extra picky about whom we cooperate with. In Numbers, we can see how people are totally okay with the 70 elders prophesying because it is all official like, but then have a problem with Eldad and Medad just because they weren’t where they were supposed to. Luckily, Moses, as one of those with the spirit of the Lord on him, has a wider lens than that and have people accept them. The same goes in Mark - there is someone clearly with the power to cast out demons in Jesus’ name, but the disciples do not like him because he is not one of them. Again, Jesus, as the great leader he is, stops them from any further damaging behavior and says: no one who does a deed of power in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. 40 Whoever is not against us is for us.

Sometimes us humans put weird and unnecessary rules for cooperation like belonging to our group or a core common experience and thus limit the potential. For example, the ecumenical council of churches in South Plainfield currently has three churches - St. Stephen, First Baptist, and Wesley Methodist. If you think to yourself - surely there are more churches than that in South Plainfield, you would be right, including the one just next to us. Their theology and beliefs prevent them from cooperating on the Lord’s vineyard - we could do so much more than just sunrise Easter service and Thanksgiving service if more churches joined the efforts! Many of them profess their belief in the one “catholic/universal church,” but they do not live it out fully.

But sometimes it gets worse - a lack of cooperation because of differences can actively harm or kill someone. Like this week in Missouri, where Marcellus ‘Khaliifah’ Williams was executed by the state, even though the prosecutors and the family of the victim he allegedly killed opposed it. The state leadership push to proceed with the execution was politically motivated as no physical evidence could be tied to Mr. Williams and he maintained his innocence. And let me also lift up that Mr. Williams was a man of faith, working in the prison as imam, a Muslim religious leader. Again, perhaps he would find more mercy among some, if he was of the “right religion,” Christianity. Alas, divisive ideology was more important than justice system cooperation and thus a potentially innocent life was taken.

Again, we return to the eternal problem of partiality, choosing one over the other, often based on perceived benefit or a good feeling. That is obviously not how God intended us to be in a community together and the reading in James confirms that - “confess your sins to one another, and pray for one another, so that you may be healed. The prayer of the righteous is powerful and effective.” Just notice there are no qualifiers - no “but only if you are all members of the same church” or “as long as you agree on everything.”

Sometimes, we may received more mercy and grace from those that are not churched or even profess any particular religion - I have friends that will bring food or lend a helping on a moment notice to support our family and they do not call themselves Christians, but they have a loving heart made of flesh that I am sure comes from the Lord. And then there are Christians that focus more of their energy on harassing women going to a Planned Parenthood clinic or picketing military funerals than helping their neighbor.

Beloveds, We are called to be in a community and cooperate, within and without on the good works of the Lord through prayer, acts of mercy and grace, and loving our neighbor. In this God rejoices and sends the Holy Spirit to strengthen us and inspire us to remain steadfast in our resolve to live into the Kingdom of God, where there will be no more weeping, strife, and suffering, but rather joy and celebration in the Lord, from whom all goodness and mercy flows. Let us not be stopped from a potentially fruitful cooperation with someone different from us - just like the fish working with the octopus, we are called to contribute on all that is good and persevere in our prayerful work. Amen.