Talk To Me, Will You?

The Lessons assigned to this coming weekend are difficult.  If there’s a thread running through them, it’s that of Community Development.  That is, God is trying to build The Good Community–the Kingdom of God?– from a motley crew of sinners who are coming along with a great deal of baggage!  Blinded by tribal sayings that may or may not be of God, we stumble in un-knowledge  and try to discern the sacred presence within and around us.

In England, there’s a pub–maybe several–called “The Silent Woman”.  It’s sign depicts a female form with no head.  (The correctness police are on their way!)  We begin with a questionable passage from Proverbs 31, beginning at verse 10:  “A capable wife who can find?….”  I have no idea how this got to be Biblical, for it has been used to abuse women for 2500 years!  It may have been a descriptor of the Ideal Wife in ancient Israel; perhaps it was a love-letter by some well-meaning guy that got slipped into the manuscript…  Oft-quoted by insecure males who’re afraid of women when they’re not barefoot & pregnant, it seems to have little value.  Can YOU find any Grace or God-talk here?

James has flowing images for building up the Church as Christ’s body (3:13-4:3, plus 7 &8).  I especially like his scolding us, “You want something and do not have it; so you commit murder.  And you covet something and cannot obtain it; so you engage in disputes and conflicts.   You do not HAVE because you do not ASK.” (v.7)  Of what are we scared?  Is our dealing with authority so terrifying that we hang back?  Somehow we’ve gotta ditch the tribal wisdom that we’re “in the hands of an angry God”!

Well, Jesus WAS kinda angry with the thickness of his disciples who didn’t get it because they didn’t want to hear it.  Pastor Michelle calls them the “duh-ciples”!  We see this especially in Mark’s account which doesn’t use unnecessary words to capture the intensity of Jesus’ radical teaching.  “But they did not understand what he was saying and were afraid to ask.” (9:32)  And a few verses later, Jesus asked them what they were arguing about as they traveled–but they were silent.  C’mon, folks, how can we experience the Holy if we won’t talk to God??

Talking with God involves more than praying for a pony, or that Saturday will be nice for the picnic.  Sacred Writ through the ages has stressed the delight of meaningful conversation with a caring friend.  We dare approach the Creative-Redemptive-Sustaining energy of each day as this divinity swirls around us!  Our assignment, then, is to revel in this relationship AND to invite others in:  don’t be scared!

God Bless Us, Every One.              Horace Brown King