Imagine

Proverbs 22:1-2, 8-9, 22-23, Psalm 72:1-7, 12-14,18-19, James 2:1-17, Mark 7:24-37

Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, September 10, 2006

Heritage Congregational Church, Madison, WI

Imagination. I use the word a great deal. I like to daydream, to imagine the way things might be if all were right with the world. I imagine a world with peace, harmony and unity, where people have health, happiness and faithfulness. I like to imagine God.

As a congregation we have imagined God together. Last winter and spring we imagined what God would do, where God would lead us.

In his book, Imagining God, Garrett Green says that imagination is where revelation comes to us. It is the point of contact between the human and the Divine. Imagination is the human capacity to see God. To Greene, the imagination is sacramental because it makes that which is absent present. Imagination is an alternative form of consciousness that allows us to hear God, which is what we did last winter. Religious consciousness, or awareness, is the product of a marriage between imagination and thought, fusing its images into a genuine new unity. In other words, it is a tool for us to use to get beyond our human limitations and see what God would have us see. Imagination helps us to see patterns and say what things are like, to form images and interpretations of events. And, imagination allows us to see God and feel a connection, a family resemblance, with God and each other. Imagination is what enables us to live our likeness to God.

Today we look at the story of the Syrophonecian Woman from Mark’s gospel. It is one of my favorite stories from Mark. And in my Gospel of Mark class in seminary, this passage is the one we used to write our last and largest paper.

The context of Mark thus far is this: Jesus goes back and forth from Jew to Gentile across the sea of Galilee, healing first the Jew, then the Gentile, casing out demons of one and then the other, feeding the 5000 Jews and then the 4000 Gentiles. The Psalm, Proverbs and James all speak about justice for the poor, so we know how Jesus feels about those in need. We have seen him minister to both Jew and Gentile. And yet, in this story, with this woman, Jesus issues a very harsh response.

Jesus is in the region of Tyre, a Gentile part of the land. Just who does Jesus believe He will encounter there? But when approached by this woman, Jesus is uncharacteristically insulting. We have seen Jesus in situations where He has spoken sternly to people—“Get behind me Satan!” He says to Peter, He becomes angry and turns over the tables in the Temple saying they have made His Father’s house into a den of thieves, He has won many a verbal debate with the scribes and Pharisees, but here in this passage Jesus openly insults a woman who comes to Him seeking the healing of her daughter. This is different.

We know Jesus is trying to be alone, for it to be a secret that He is there. But by now in Mark’s gospel, (we are all the way to chapter 7!) Jesus is so popular that wherever He goes, a crowd follows. He is even known among the Gentiles. Mark’s gospel is filled with implications of the Messianic Secret: don’t tell about how Jesus has healed you; don’t tell anyone Jesus is near; you can’t know everything about Jesus yet because the time has not yet come. And yet everyone who encounters Jesus shouts from the rooftops about how He has impacted their lives and brought them closer to God.

Now Jesus is not just using reverse psychology—hoping that if He says not to speak that everyone will speak. The reality is that people are so changed by their exchanges with Jesus that they cannot help but speak, they cannot help but share the Good News and proclaim, as Jesus does in Chapter 1, that the Kingdom of God is near.

Jesus does want to be alone, which is impossible, but is that reason enough to call the woman a dog? You can color it any way you want, you can say Jesus is talking about a household dog, or that by saying the Jews must come first that indicates that the Gentiles are second. But the reality is that Jesus calls her a dog, a street dog, an insult found in the Old Testament both in 1 Samuel and in Isaiah. Dogs were considered unclean. They were scavengers and predators in the streets. Dogs were a blight on society. Calling someone a dog was a direct and powerful insult.

The woman has come humbly to Jesus. She believes in Him. And when she hears Jesus has arrived she comes to Him immediately and bows at His feet. She begs Jesus to cast out the demon from her daughter.

When rejected in such an insulting manner, she answers Jesus, saying she will take whatever crumbs He will give her, another show of humility. And Jesus changes His mind. The woman’s daughter is healed. Her words have caused Jesus to respond in a new way.

What makes this unnamed woman in Mark’s gospel so persistent, so brave? After such an insult how does she have the strength to respond, feel the freedom to speak? I believe she is able to continue her conversation with Jesus because of her imagination. She can imagine Jesus responding differently. She can imagine Jesus healing her daughter. She can imagine the goodness of Jesus responding to her plight. She can imagine that whatever crumbs Jesus might throw her way are more than enough to make things right.

She can see it all, picturing things going the way she would have them, she and Jesus understanding one another. She sees herself as connected to God through Jesus. She is able to feel that family resemblance. The Jews are God’s children and she might only be a dog, but she is still a creature made by God. Her imagination, that place where the human and the divine meet, gives her what she needs to express the fullness of her faith and make things right with Jesus.

Just as Jesus gave the Syrophoenecian woman the gift of her child’s health, Jesus has given us a gift. Jesus has given us this church, Heritage Church. Do we imagine the kind of church it is supposed to be in God’s eyes? Do we imagine the kind of church Heritage could be?

Last winter and spring we discerned together, using our faith, our prayers and our imaginations. W asked what God would have us do as a church. And the answer we received was loud and clear: God’s vision for Heritage is to reach out. Since then we have been trying to imagine with our faith and our prayers what form that reaching out should take, what God wants Heritage to look like in a more specific way.

Let me share with you what I have been imagining. I can really see this:

· A church that is alive and faithful in prayer and scripture reading, study and worship attendance, for our faith is not a stagnant thing, but an ever-growing living organic part of our identity as children of God. We are a living church worshiping the living God.

· A church that truly welcomes new members and by example and flexibility—allowing for the gifts God sends us through new members to be joined with the gifts of those who are already members.

· A church whose members invite others to be a part of the joy of Heritage—who are excited to share what God has done in our lives and why being a member is valuable to us.

· A church that is active and known in our community for action taken in divine love, moving from one project to the next, faithfully responding to the needs in our community, viewing them as opportunities God places in our lap.

· A church that responds to need in our nation and our world—when we hear about a natural disaster in the United States or abroad we would ask “What can Heritage do about this?” We would ask first what Heritage could do before seeking out other avenues of response. We would know that our church can make a difference.

· A church who sees itself as God’s gathered people, attuned to the movement of the Holy Spirit in our midst, and faithful to God and one another through the living out of our church covenant.

Can you see it? I can! God has given us all we need to do it, the signs are all there. I see glimpses of this wherever I look, a people passionate to grow closer to God, members inviting friends to worship and work together, increased interest in prayer and other spiritual disciplines, an intense movement toward seeking oneness with God and one another. It is a beautiful thing to see.

Church membership is not an easy thing, especially in the Congregational Church. We are responsible for ourselves. We are the church. We don’t just believe and follow in the Congregational Way, we take action, working directly with God for God’s vision to come to life.

My colleague and friend (and your former pastor) Steven Peay says it this way: Being a church member is not like joining a club (like Rotary or Kiwanis). Being a church member is not like being a part of a worthy fraternal organization (Masonic or otherwise). Being a church member means being a part of the Body of Christ—the Church. It’s important for us to remember that ‘member’ is a body part and that bodies do not do well when their members become detached. The Church is a living organism and is only able to be healthy, to grow, and to function—like any body-when all of its members are together.

I agree with Steven. Being a church member means being a part of the whole. It means being involved. We are here to assist God in the work of the Kingdom. About church membership and the fulfillment of God’s Kingdom, Charles Finney said: Every member must work or quit. [There are] No honorary members.

So let’s get busy! What do you imagine for Heritage? How is God working in our midst and what is God telling us we should do to move forward in faith? How is the Spirit leading us to live out the promises we have made to God and each other in our covenant? What would it take for this to happen? For each of us to live as God’s children, seeing the family resemblance, living our covenant each and every day?

Like the Syrophonecian Woman, God speaks to us through our imaginations, and then equips us to fulfill the image we see, the vision God has given us.

The Kingdom of God is near! A new year is upon us! Our call from God is clear! Let us join together in faith with God and with one another to grow into the church God would have us be, by standing and renewing our covenant…Amen!