Choosing the Right Side
Friday, September 3, 2010 -- Week of Proper 17, Year Two
Prudence Crandall, Teacher and Prophetic Witness, 1890
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 31 (morning) 35 (evening)
Job 19:1-7, 14-27
Acts 13:13-25
John 9:18-41
Job's friends know that Job is a guilty sinner because their belief tells them that God only punishes the guilty and that God rewards the righteous. The religious authorities know that Jesus is a sinner because he violates the Sabbath law by making mud and placing it on the eyes of a blind man to heal him. In the synagogue, Paul begins his standard sermon to name Jesus as the Jewish messiah and to proclaim forgiveness to all, including the Gentiles who listen as outsiders within the synagogue. When many of the Gentiles respond to the free gift of forgiveness and follow Paul, there will be a conflict, and Paul will be forced out of town.
From our perspective as Christians in the year 2010, we find Job's theology more compelling. Sometimes the righteous suffer and the guilty thrive. We see the flaws in the dominant theology of Job's friends, and we are emotionally swept into the drama of Job's personal thirst for God. From our perspective, we are sympathetic to Jesus' priorities for compassion on the sabbath, and we wonder at the hardness of those who would dismiss the value of giving sight to a man born blind just because it happened on a sabbath. From our perspective, we value Paul's message of inclusion, for we are Gentiles who have experienced God's grace and forgiveness without having to become Jewish and adopt the particular practices of Judaism.
Yet, from the perspective of these three conflicts, the sentiments we appreciate would all have been minority positions. Job's friends represented conventional Biblical orthodoxy in his day. The authority's enforcement of the sabbath in Jesus' day represented the official position of those who worked seriously to uphold the Bible's statutes and traditions. The synagogue's reaction against Paul made sense to the congregation because Paul's message undermined the centrality of the Temple and all of the Jewish traditions of forgiveness and cleanliness.
We look back at these historic conflicts, and we recognize the insight of a minority opinion. We appreciate these challenges to traditional, conventional thinking.
Today we celebrate a new commemoration in our proposed calendar. Prudence Crandall started a girls school in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1831 where she educated the daughters of the town's elite. In 1833 she admitted a young African American girl named Sarah Harris. Harris wanted to create a school for other African American children.
The town was outraged. Crandall refused to expel Harris, and opened a new school for African American girls. Later that year the Connecticut legislature passed the "Black Law" to make it a crime to open a school which taught black children from anywhere other than Connecticut. Since Crandall received students from other states, she was arrested, jailed, tried and convicted. A higher court reversed the decision, so she continued teaching. The harassment however grew worse, and fearing for her students safety, she closed her school the next year. Today she is recognized as the official State Heroine of Connecticut.
I see a pattern in these conflicts between traditional, settled, conventional, or orthodox thinking and the controversial new way that becomes convention. In each of these conflicts, the tendency toward more empathy, compassion, acceptance and inclusion has been the more powerful and enduring stance.
Job asks for empathy and compassion, acceptance and inclusion even though he appears cursed because of his suffering. Jesus values compassion and healing over the religious claims of the sabbath. Paul removes cultural and religious barriers to open a way of forgiveness and inclusion for outsider Gentiles. Crandall extends acceptance and education to people excluded by race.
There are many conflicts in our generation that have some of these characteristics. How can we learn from history and choose what later generations will see as the right and just side? History shows us that it is a wise strategy to be more empathetic, compassionate, accepting and inclusive and to choose the side which best embodies those qualities.
When we ask "What would Jesus do?" -- or Job or Paul or Prudence Crandall -- the answer very often will include empathy, compassion, acceptance and inclusion. The arc of justice and history is bent toward those values.
Prudence Crandall, Teacher and Prophetic Witness, 1890
To read about our daily commemorations, go to our Holy Women, Holy Men blog:
http://liturgyandmusic.wordpress.com/category/holy-women-holy-men/
Today's Readings for the Daily Office (Book of Common Prayer, p. 983)
Psalms 31 (morning) 35 (evening)
Job 19:1-7, 14-27
Acts 13:13-25
John 9:18-41
Job's friends know that Job is a guilty sinner because their belief tells them that God only punishes the guilty and that God rewards the righteous. The religious authorities know that Jesus is a sinner because he violates the Sabbath law by making mud and placing it on the eyes of a blind man to heal him. In the synagogue, Paul begins his standard sermon to name Jesus as the Jewish messiah and to proclaim forgiveness to all, including the Gentiles who listen as outsiders within the synagogue. When many of the Gentiles respond to the free gift of forgiveness and follow Paul, there will be a conflict, and Paul will be forced out of town.
From our perspective as Christians in the year 2010, we find Job's theology more compelling. Sometimes the righteous suffer and the guilty thrive. We see the flaws in the dominant theology of Job's friends, and we are emotionally swept into the drama of Job's personal thirst for God. From our perspective, we are sympathetic to Jesus' priorities for compassion on the sabbath, and we wonder at the hardness of those who would dismiss the value of giving sight to a man born blind just because it happened on a sabbath. From our perspective, we value Paul's message of inclusion, for we are Gentiles who have experienced God's grace and forgiveness without having to become Jewish and adopt the particular practices of Judaism.
Yet, from the perspective of these three conflicts, the sentiments we appreciate would all have been minority positions. Job's friends represented conventional Biblical orthodoxy in his day. The authority's enforcement of the sabbath in Jesus' day represented the official position of those who worked seriously to uphold the Bible's statutes and traditions. The synagogue's reaction against Paul made sense to the congregation because Paul's message undermined the centrality of the Temple and all of the Jewish traditions of forgiveness and cleanliness.
We look back at these historic conflicts, and we recognize the insight of a minority opinion. We appreciate these challenges to traditional, conventional thinking.
Today we celebrate a new commemoration in our proposed calendar. Prudence Crandall started a girls school in Canterbury, Connecticut in 1831 where she educated the daughters of the town's elite. In 1833 she admitted a young African American girl named Sarah Harris. Harris wanted to create a school for other African American children.
The town was outraged. Crandall refused to expel Harris, and opened a new school for African American girls. Later that year the Connecticut legislature passed the "Black Law" to make it a crime to open a school which taught black children from anywhere other than Connecticut. Since Crandall received students from other states, she was arrested, jailed, tried and convicted. A higher court reversed the decision, so she continued teaching. The harassment however grew worse, and fearing for her students safety, she closed her school the next year. Today she is recognized as the official State Heroine of Connecticut.
I see a pattern in these conflicts between traditional, settled, conventional, or orthodox thinking and the controversial new way that becomes convention. In each of these conflicts, the tendency toward more empathy, compassion, acceptance and inclusion has been the more powerful and enduring stance.
Job asks for empathy and compassion, acceptance and inclusion even though he appears cursed because of his suffering. Jesus values compassion and healing over the religious claims of the sabbath. Paul removes cultural and religious barriers to open a way of forgiveness and inclusion for outsider Gentiles. Crandall extends acceptance and education to people excluded by race.
There are many conflicts in our generation that have some of these characteristics. How can we learn from history and choose what later generations will see as the right and just side? History shows us that it is a wise strategy to be more empathetic, compassionate, accepting and inclusive and to choose the side which best embodies those qualities.
When we ask "What would Jesus do?" -- or Job or Paul or Prudence Crandall -- the answer very often will include empathy, compassion, acceptance and inclusion. The arc of justice and history is bent toward those values.
Lowell
_____________________________________________
Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
Lowell Grisham, Rector
Audio podcast: Listen to an audio podcast of the most recent Morning Reflections from today and the past week. Click the following link: Morning Reflection Podcasts
About Morning Reflections
Morning Reflections is a brief thought about the scripture readings from the Daily Office of Morning and Evening Prayer according to the practice found in the Book of Common Prayer of the Episcopal Church.
Morning Prayer begins on p. 80 of the Book of Common Prayer.
Evening Prayer begins on p. 117
An online resource for praying the Daily Office is found at www.missionstclare.com
Another form of the office from Phyllis Tickle's "Divine Hours" is available on our partner web site www.ExploreFaith.org at this location -- http://explorefaith.org/prayer/fixed/index.html
The Mission of St. Paul's Episcopal Church
is to explore and celebrate
God's infinite grace, acceptance, and love.
Visit our web site at www.stpaulsfay.org
Our Rule of Life
We aspire to...
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
worship weekly
pray daily
learn constantly
serve joyfully
live generously.
Lowell Grisham, Rector
St. Paul's Episcopal Church
Fayetteville, Arkansas
Fayetteville, Arkansas
posted by Lowell @ 7:42 AM
1 comments
1 Comments:
The popular viewpoint of today would say that Job should think more positively. He should not dwell on his miseries and should recreate his reality by envisioning good things for himself and by nurturing thoughts of gratitude. "Sometimes the righteous suffer and the guilty thrive" but also one can be grateful for the good things, without ignoring/repressing the difficulties of life. Wouldn't that sugar-coated attitude totally sterilize the story of Job? Wouldn't the true meaning be lost? I think in this day and age we have the mentality you talked about earlier where we blame the victim for their hardships and believe they somehow brought these things upon themselves. Add to that the suggestion that that same victim should use the predictament as a means for personal growth; that actually he/she is fortunate for the opportunity. In this sense nothing bad happens in the world. While I agree that hardships encourage growth, I also believe that understating to ourselves and to the world our sorrows, our frustrations, our struggles is not healthy. I think the cultural aspects of this attitude are dangerous and it promotes selfishness and discourages compassion and acts of kindness. I can appreciate and maybe understand such a mindset as "when you are falling, dive." But then when I think about the message it sends, I become concerned w/ this type of thinking. When we are falling we are not diving. Picking yourself up after a fall is different from pretending that you are diving when you are actually falling. When there are situations in which we have no control, it seems to me dishonest to fool ourselves into thinking that we are calling the shots. Sometimes we have to endure the horror of falling. Sometimes we have to be miserable. Sometimes thing are bad and if we live in the reality of that moment of tragedy then we do not begin to heal and make things better before we acknowledge the pain. We are in way too much of a hurry to jump from grief to gratitude and this is culturally encouraged. To deny misery is to deny reality and to deny the complexities of life. We deny ourselves the full experience. We distance ourselves from Job. I wish we weren't so uncomfortable w/ discomfort that we have to present it as something different from what it really is.
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