Aug 15, 2017
Each of the set readings for today give us strange pictures of unity. Psalm 133 speaks of Unity being like perfumed oil that runs down the hair and beard of Aaron, (Moses’ brother). Genesis 45 has Joseph forgiving the brothers who wanted to kill him sold him into slavery. Romans 11:1-2,29-32 has Paul tell us that Godless gentiles and Christ denying Jews are equally included in the mercy of God. Finally in Matthew 15:21-28 we have Jesus calling a non Jewish woman a dog! Yet in the end Jesus praises her as having great faith and this story with others in Matthew gives the sign that in Jesus the people of God is no longer only Jewish people but potentially all people. Even the people we would regard as dogs are the objects of God’s mercy.
The congregation this podcast comes from is very diverse. For instance there are people who love the screen and people who hate it. There are those who love the Creeds and would have them on every Sunday and those who would never have them. On Sunday afternoon, to my surprise I discovered there are a very wide and sometime strongly held range of views about marriage. What holds us together? How is it that we are friends? I believe it is because we are all the objects of God’s mercy. (I would say God’s mercy in Christ, but there are a few people who would disagree with me.) In our own acts of mercy and reconciliation let us bear witness to God’s mercy!
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