Devotion after Annual Conference

Scripture

Mark 7:24–30 NRSV

24 From there he set out and went away to the region of Tyre. He entered a house and did not want anyone to know he was there. Yet he could not escape notice, 25 but a woman whose little daughter had an unclean spirit immediately heard about him, and she came and bowed down at his feet. 26 Now the woman was a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin. She begged him to cast the demon out of her daughter. 27 He said to her, “Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children’s food and throw it to the dogs.” 28 But she answered him, “Sir, even the dogs under the table eat the children’s crumbs.” 29 Then he said to her, “For saying that, you may go—the demon has left your daughter.” 30 So she went home, found the child lying on the bed, and the demon gone.

Did Jesus just call this woman a dog?

(This is a chunk in the middle so keep that in mind. You can find the whole thing at Iaumc.org)

But didn’t Jesus just call this woman a dog? Yes, he did. But Jesus changed his mind. In this story, both Jesus and the Syrophoenician woman walk away transformed, healed, and strengthened. If Jesus could change his mind because he loved the woman and listened to her plea, might we also be open to humbly changing our minds by deep listening? I remind you that shortly after this story, Jesus was given the opportunity to practice what he just learned by feeding four thousand Gentiles. You see, you and I are such insiders that we forget that this Syrophoenician woman, the outsider, is us. She is our ancestor, our foremother in the faith. And so, when we come to the Lord’s table, we, too, hope to catch the crumbs of God’s mercy and grace not instead of, but in addition to, God’s first family. The good news is that, as it was for the Syrophoenician woman, even the crumbs that fall from the table are more than enough. Even the leftovers of God’s grace and mercy are more than enough to heal, save, redeem, forgive, and bring those of us who have ever felt like outsiders into God’s fold. And Jesus gives us far more than leftovers!

What someone gets out of the sermon isn’t always what the preacher intended

Jesus changed his mind

He saw someone who was an outsider, listened deeply to her experience and was challenged by it

What I got out of the sermon was that we connect with the outsider because we see ourselves in the outsider

So I started thinking about who the outsiders might be of our church

Did Jesus just call you a child of God?

What has your experience of being an outsider in the church been?

Even if you were raised in the church maybe you have had the experience of going to a new church or even of worshiping in a different style or tradition. What was that like?

I will start to share while you think about your answer....

My answer

Going to Catholic Mass

I found that experience to be freeing

to be not put together

And no one was anxiously rushing to correct me

When I begin to say the end of Lord’s prayer out of habit and have to quickly figure it out

I think so often I am working to try to almost anxiously make sure everyone is comfortable and cozy

And understands whats going on in the service

I found myself kind of just wanting to take it all in