September 6, 2009
Rev. David Boyd
One of the things that I remember from the Living the Hope Emerging Spirit workshop we had here in our church last May was a reflection by Keith Howard. He said that for those of us who are baby boomers and older, those of us in our late 40's and older, we are used to a particular pattern of membership. When we were confirmed in the Church, we learned what to believe, how to behave and then to belong; the important thing for us older folk is what we believe. Howard says that things are turned around for those who are younger than the baby boom generation, late 40's and younger; for this age group the focus is on belonging. How one behaves and what one believes comes later.
It's interesting to think about the differences between belief and belonging. I suspect that this debate has been going on for centuries. The story of Jesus and the Syro-Phoenecian woman, as told by Mark, is certainly a case in point, and this took place 2000 years ago. Jesus, perhaps concerned with issues of belief, rejected the woman because she didn't belong. The Syro-Phoenecian woman was also concerned about belief, but for her the importance was that she felt that she DID belong. She belonged to Jesus' message of hope in the face of despair, love in the face of fear, and new life in the face of death. In the end, Jesus saw that she did belong and so told her to go on her way for her faith has made her daughter well. Belonging and belief were intertwined in this story, both wrapped in God's gift of healing and wholeness.
At the Edge of the Enclosure website, Suzanne Guthrie offers materials on prayer and Christian mysticism; she wrote in her reflection on Mark's passage,
"An essential part of wholeness is the sense of belonging. Belonging within nature. Belonging to one another. Belonging in your own skin. At first, Jesus rejects the Syro-Phoenician woman's entreaty to cure her daughter, because she does not belong to his people. The woman cleverly dismantles his sense of limitation however, and now the Gospel belongs to all of us."I like this idea that the Gospel now belongs to us all because of this un-named woman who had grace, courage and the wit to confront Jesus and turn his sense of limitation on its head.
I think that what this story clearly illustrates is the idea that we all belong to God. No one, no matter what age or what creed or what belief system, does not belong to God. Simply put in a positive manner, we all belong to God! I think I agree with the research that suggests younger folk aren't so concerned about what we believe; I think belonging is more important. Knowing that we belong to God leads us to a sense that we belong to each other; this, I believe, far outweighs the need to affirm what we believe or don't believe. The fact that we are all on the path to spiritual enlightenment and openness means that we can walk together, learn from each other, and be enriched in our quest for mending the world.
I remember the first time I went to an United Church in Vancouver; Janet and I were married and we had had Megan and Hamish. I'd made the decision to go into ministry and so thought it a good time to start attending a United Church again. We'd been going to Janet's family's Anglican Church. I tried different churches. The one we chose was in some ways in spite of itself. I had gone the first few times by myself. And while there was a sense of welcome, it was rather underwhelming. When I brought Janet and the kids, the sense of welcome was hugely different. It was a rather remarkable shift. Had I been by myself, I'm not sure that I would have persisted. I didn't feel that I belonged.
Some years ago, I was in a small group and we were asked to describe the worse welcome we'd ever experienced and the best in a religious setting. The church we went to in Vancouver wasn't the worst experience I'd ever had, but that's another story. The best sense of welcome I'd ever experienced as just a regular guy attending a religious place of worship was, interestingly enough, out at the Ashram at Kootenay Bay. Ten or eleven years ago I went for a weekend retreat. I was made to feel part of the community. The serviceÑcalled SatsangÑwas clearly explained to me. I was welcome to sit in a chair where everyone else was sitting cross-legged on the floor. I was made to feel as if I belonged and that I was part of the family. It was quite a moving experience. And consequently, the weekend was a healing and restful time for me. I was rather anxious to begin with, but that was soon put to rest.
If a sense of belonging leads to wholeness and healing, we all know how debilitating anxiety can be. We can all probably remember times when we went to some place new and wondered, "will they like me? Will I be accepted? Will I be OK? Will I be picked on? Will I be popular?" Anxiety is tremendously damaging to us; it literally comes from a Latin root that means to choke or strangle. We feel strangled or choked when are anxious. Paul Tillich, one of the greatest Church thinkers of the 20th century, wrote about anxiety as nonbeing and characterised this age as the age of anxiety. We live in an age when nonbeing sometimes feels like the norm. Think about the last time you tried to call some major company or the government; we speak to a recorded voice and often don't get a live operator. It is demeaning and dehumanizing.
The Syro-Phoenecian woman experienced this dehumanization when Jesus referred to her as a dog, but she persisted. She sensed something deeper in Jesus' message. She felt she belonged and she overcame her anxiety to persist. In this story, really, it is this woman who embodied the gospel of love and acceptance for she forced Jesus' hand. And that hand and the arms of Jesus, because of this un-named woman, opened wide to say to us all, "you belong."
That's why communion is so important to us. It embodies this understand that we all belong. We can all eat at this table. We can all gather around to share in the bread and the fruit of the vine. We can do this because we, with our human anxieties and limitations, don't host this banquet; God hosts it. Christ is present in some mysterious way and invites us to this table with arms open wide to say to all the world, "You Belong!"
So, come to this table for you belong, and the Gospel belongs to us all.
Amen