September 5, 2021: May God’s words be spoken, may God’s words be heard. Amen.
Happy Labor Day Weekend everyone!
This is a time when we remember those who labor for what we need, what we enjoy, and in many cases, for what we take for granted. They are the ones we see, and the ones we do not see. So we pause to thank God for them, and for their service in the world. Now, back to the sermon…
So…. anything happen since we last met?
Seriously, that was one heck of a storm we had this past week, and so many are still suffering – having lost their home, or water & power, or for some…far worse, having lost loved ones. We here were not immune from that wretched storm, as the local creek swelled, Bloomfield Avenue became a river of rapids, and more than 2’ of water crashed against our front doors, seeping underneath and leaving a trail of water, mud, and debris. A small group that was here had to shelter in place until 1am. Still, while there is yet work to do to clean up, we were fortunate not to have had far more damage, and everyone returned safely home.
There was something prophetic though about this storm walloping our church. Lord knows, we have had our share of storms lately. The COVID pandemic has taken a toll on our finances, our school enrollment, and very possibly our future. Yet when I posted pictures on Facebook of the early part of the cleanup from Storm Ida that Don, our Sexton, and I did the morning after, a friend replied “You can’t kill Christ Church B/GR! I would have to agree.
We have had a resiliency to weather the storms and come out even stronger, because we have faith enough to know that there is no darkness Christ’s light cannot defeat, and that should death come, there is resurrection on the other side. So, we move forward without fear into the future, guided by the Holy Spirit, and trusting in God’s grace. We also know that we have to roll up our sleeves and be bold in our faith. We are a bit like that meme often posted about social media:
“They said to her “You cannot withstand the storm.”
She responded “I AM the storm!”
And whenever I see that, I am reminded of the woman we hear about in the gospel today.
In our Gospel passage, it strikes me from the start that the woman isn’t even given a name! Like so many women in the bible, she is without that most basic form of identification – she is “a Gentile, of Syrophoenician origin.” Why is it that they can name all the apostles, the entire genealogy of nations, but they can’t give this woman a name, not here, or in the Matthew version of the story, where she is known simply as the Canaanite woman.
Well, let’s give her one. As I did last time this scripture came around, I suggest we call her…Phoenicia.
Phoenicia comes to Jesus and bows down at his feet. She was humbly pleading for mercy, not for herself mind you, but for her daughter who was plagued by a demon. Now Jesus, well… we expect him to grant mercy, do a miracle, and be on his way, but that is not what we get in this story. Jesus, our Christ, not only initially refuses to help, but insults her people in the process, calling them dogs. He tells her that his food, his grace, is for the children of Israel – outsiders are not welcome at the table.
Not welcome at the table? Syrophoenicians need not enter – Israelite seating only? Really?
But, like others who have stood ground against those who seek to marginalize them, Phoenicia was not about to be cast aside, not even by the Messiah, who in this moment would initially appear to be showing much more of his fully human, rather than his fully divine, nature. No – she was not about to be sent away with her Syrophoenician tail between her legs. Defiantly she answered Jesus that even dogs get the crumbs that fall from the table, and her faith and persistence is met with God’s grace.
And so the Gospel story does not end with the denial of healing for Phoenicia’s poor daughter. Jesus, who in the very verses we heard today after this encounter gives speech and hearing to one who was deaf and mute, who gives sight to those who are blind, our savior – removes the blinders from his own eyes to see Phoenicia, and unplugs his own ears to hear her pleas for her daughter. Then Jesus’ fully divine self begins to shine through. He blesses her daughter with the grace that he knows is unending and abundant.
Phoenicia was the Storm!
And I suspect that Jesus was changed by the experience of that Phoenician storm – thanks be to God!
I like this woman! I really do.
She was pesky, faithful, and strong. Her heart grieved for her daughter’s pain, and she was not to be so easily dismissed from the grace that would heal her child, because she believed that Jesus could heal her. She was a storm Jesus was not about to still!
Now when those in power encounter women like Phoenicia, strong women, women who refuse to acquiesce, who are defiant in the face of power, who have the audacity to believe in their dreams, who have the faith to move mountains – they call them agitators, extremists, angry feminists, uppity women. Well you know what? The world needs more people like her! Let’s hear it for uppity women!
Thankfully, we have been blessed with a few uppity women and girls of our own age, and I don’t have to make up names for them – they made sure that history knew who they were: Sojourner Truth, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Harriet Tubman, Dorothy Day, Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, Shirin Ebadi, Rosa Parks, Malala Yousafazi, Greta Thunberg, and so many more. These women fought against the boundaries that were meant to keep them, and others, out.
And I want to tell you about another one. One I met just over a week ago, while participating in a march on Washington for the right of all people to have a say in how they are governed, to have the freedom to vote. We were there to make some “Good Trouble,” as the late Rep. and civil rights activist, John Lewis, used to say.
“Good Trouble.”
Now that is something I think our scriptural Phoenicia would love, because that is exactly what she was up to in this gospel. Still, while I love people who put their faith into action in the world like Rep. Lewis, men so often get far more attention for what they say and do than women, so I want to get back to telling you about the woman I met at that march.
It was a hot and humid day as is common in August in DC. I grew up in that area, and Lordy, the humidity will kill ya if the heat doesn’t. Still, about 50 thousand, the news said, gathered to stand up for those who are being marginalized – and no amount of heat would stop us. As we were waiting to begin, I began chatting with an older woman next to me. She was with a group from West Philly who had traveled by bus to be there, and this was not her first march – not by a long shot.
As we marched past the White House and towards the US Capitol, and to our final destination on the mall, she recounted how she had been marching since 1973, and it was clear, she wasn’t about to stop any time soon. As an African-American woman, she knew more than most the tyranny of oppression. As we passed the Museum of African-American history, I could see tears in her eyes as she told me about the first time she went there. It was something she never thought she would ever see in her lifetime – her story, the story of her people, told honestly – by them, for them, and for all the world. She has been there many times since, and as she told me, the experience never dissipates for her heart and her very soul. And here she was today – shouting out with all the rest of us – for those without a voice.
She and I were making some “Good Trouble” which I later found out was something she did quite often. We later got separated when I stopped to take a picture, but I was grateful she had given me her business card. When I went to look her up, I found out that she is well known in West Philly. In an article about her (and there were a few) Aminata, also known as Sandra Calhoun, it seems is quite the force for good. There were many stories I found, and I want to share a few with you some that mostly came from one particular article, a link to which is here: https://citizensplanninginstitute.org/citizen-planners-in-action/aminata-sandra-calhoun
Once, when Aminata was walking from her house to the bus stop, a brick fell from the third story of a vacant building and nearly hit her…”When that happened,” she recount[ed], “Wherever I was going was no longer important. I turned around, went back to my house, typed up what I experienced and took photos, and sent them to my Councilwoman’s office.” Through tireless advocacy for her neighborhood and staying in constant contact with her Councilwoman’s office and the City’s 311 service,…that dangerous building was finally demolished!
Aminata didn’t stop there. Once the building was gone, she began advocating for a mural to be painted on the exposed…wall of the adjacent house. Persistence paid off again…she received confirmation that the Mural Arts Program would be painting a mural there of Edward Bradley, the former television commentator for 60 Minutes and a West Philadelphia resident. CBS Channel 3 contributed $25,000 toward the mural. But wait, there’s more!
She then approached Neighborhood Time Exchange, an artist residency with a strong neighborhood community service requirement. Working with artist-in-residence Macon Reed, Aminata had decorative boards made and installed over the plywood-covered windows and door of a vacant rowhome on her block. “People have pulled over when they drive by to ask how they could get artistic designed boards on properties in their neighborhoods,” Aminata reported.
Through learning about zoning and urban design at the Central Pennsylvania Institute for Science & Technology, Aminata’s love for architecture was rekindled and she was inspired to continue onward to get a degree in Architectural Design! She then distinguished herself at a public forum for the Urban Thinkspaceproject, which aims to create learning opportunities in public outdoor spaces. The members of her break-out group were so impressed with her input they asked her to join the design team![1]
There is more to her story, much more, but suffice it to say that Aminata knows how to make “Good Trouble.”
Aminata IS the storm!
Yet there is more work to be done – then, and now, and the Phonecia’s and Aminata’s of the world are still fighting, still kicking up some “Good Trouble.”
We need to stand beside them – to be like them!
We need more people like them in this world to be sure, because right now there are a lot of fully human folks who are pushing people away – discarding them, ignoring their pleas, building walls to keep them out, or prisons to bind them. Thankfully, there are those like our Phonecia in this gospel passage, and Aminata from West Philly, who ares not one to be pushed aside – not when someone they love, or something they believes in, is at stake. These are the ones who fight for the Syrophoenician children today.
So who are those Syrophoenicians?
The children of the world who are not be able to learn in safe environments, women who live in fear of being sold into slavery, sexually mutilated, or forced to bear a rapist’s child, our neighbors to the South who die crossing the desert to get into our country to escape war and violence, gay couples denied the right to love as God intends all around the world, and people of all races, ages, religions, physical and mental abilities, and gender identities that are systematically denied what is accorded others. These are the Syrophoenicians of today who cry out for justice, for freedom from oppression, for the right to breath, and for the simple dignity to be fed spiritually, emotionally, and physically.
Yet, far too often these cries fall on deaf ears. These Syrophoenicians of today are willingly unseen by those who are blinded by fear, ignorance, and greed. It is as though we see the other as a threat to our own daily bread, not even wanting to share the crumbs from our tables. It is as if we fear that there is not enough to go around, that “their” quest for freedom, justice and the dignity of self-sufficiency will somehow diminish our own. We respond as Jesus did initially – attempting to hoard grace for our own people, and forget the rest of the story – that there is more than enough grace for all of God’s creation.
And isn’t that amazing that when it comes to God’s love, there is a never ending supply? Isn’t it a wonder how God’s grace is without limits?
But, more than that, when we feed another, we are fed.
When we serve another, we are blessed.
When we fight against the injustice done to our brothers and sisters, we are freed from bondage!
When we open our hearts to the infinite embrace of God’s love, we are showered with unending grace to do God’s work in the world, and all that we do affects all of God’s creation.
If we live as we are called to live, as followers of Jesus, we will never turn our backs on those in need.
We will fight tirelessly for those in the margins (and not solely those who look, think, love, speak, or act as we do).
We will be the uppity people we need to be to stand defiant in the face of power and speak truth!
We will be Phoenicia – the Syrophoenician woman!
We will be Aminata from West Philly!
We will be THE STORM causin’ some mighty Good Trouble!
And the world will be a better place for it, and our souls will be filled with Christ’s peace.
Amen.
For the audio, click below, or subscribe to our iTunes Sermon Podcast by clicking here:
[1] Paraphrased from this article: https://citizensplanninginstitute.org/citizen-planners-in-action/aminata-sandra-calhoun
The Rev. Diana L. Wilcox
Christ Church in Bloomfield & Glen Ridge
September 5, 2021
The Fifteenth Sunday After Pentecost
1st Reading – Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23
Psalm 125
2nd Reading – James 2:1-10, [11-13], 14-17
Gospel – Mark 7:24-37
