Year B
Genesis 2:18-24
Psalm 8
Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12
Mark 10:2-16
<\/p>\n\n\n\n
May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n
By the time my father died four years ago\u2026 my parents had been married for sixty-seven years\u2026 and even though there was some dysfunction\u2026 mostly around being taught how to name\u2026 honor\u2026 and express the widest range of our feelings\u2026 they had a good marriage\u2026 and we had lots of fun\u2026 I later came to consider myself fortunate\u2026 there were family trips up to New England\u2026 long weekends in the Catskills\u2026 also called the Jewish Alps\u2026 day camp in the summer\u2026 Jewish sleep away camp\u2026 why\u2026 one time\u2026 after dinner\u2026 my mom and dad actually had a whipped cream fight in the kitchen\u2026 spraying Reddi-Whip on each other\u2026 and my brother and I laughed with glee\u2026 there was never the kind of overt tension that some families experience\u2026 but no marriage\u2026 is perfect\u2026 though there are both arranged marriages which flourish beyond expectation\u2026 and those with very long courtships which crash and burn almost as soon as each person says I do<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But today’s Gospel is difficult to preach on\u2026 because so many of us have been divorced ourselves\u2026 or have been affected by it\u2026 and because we are broken people\u2026 we have broken relationships with each other\u2026 and with God\u2026 but I’ve long said that we are wired\u2026 we were created\u2026 to be in relationship\u2026 and our reading from Genesis emphasizes that point\u2026 when God says\u2026 It is not good that the man should be alone<\/em>\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And one of the pastors in a Bible study group\u2026 wondered if this verse implies an admission that God got something wrong the first time around\u2026 so to correct the miscalculation\u2026 God will next march all of the animals past the human\u2026 so that the human may name them\u2026 but Plan B doesn’t work either\u2026 among the animals no suitable companion is found\u2026 so Plan C\u2026 deep sleep\u2026 remove a rib\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n And so we can talk about whether its Adam and Eve\u2026 or Adam and Steve\u2026 but there is one deeply inarguable claim made by St. Aelred of Rievaulx \u2026 that we move toward God in and through our relationships with other people\u2026 and not apart from\u2026 or in spite of them\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n In fact\u2026 at a global gathering of Episcopal bishops\u2026 Rabbi Jonathan Sachs once talked about covenants and contracts\u2026 he explained that in a covenant\u2026 two or equals come together in a mutual bond of love and trust\u2026 to share their interests\u2026 maybe even their lives\u2026 by doing together\u2026 what neither of them can do alone\u2026 and that’s not the same as a contract\u2026 because a contract is about interests\u2026 a covenant is about identity\u2026 a contract is about transaction\u2026 and a covenant is about relationship\u2026 and that\u2019s why\u2026 he said\u2026 that contracts benefit\u2026 while covenants transform\u2026 <\/p>\n\n\n\n But in order to understand why Jesus was so vehemently against divorce\u2026 we have to remember that the power structures between men and women had been even more skewed than they are today\u2026 women had no voice\u2026 no vote\u2026 could not own property\u2026 and her husband could divorce her if he disliked what she cooked for dinner\u2026 listen to what Deuteronomy 24 says\u2026 Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman\u2026 but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her… and so he writes her a certificate of divorce\u2026 puts it in her hand\u2026 and sends her out of his house… she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man\u2019s wife\u2026 then suppose the second man dislikes her\u2026 writes her a bill of divorce\u2026 puts it in her hand\u2026 and sends her out of his house\u2026 or [suppose] the second man who married her dies\u2026 her first husband\u2026 who sent her away\u2026 is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled<\/em>\u2026 made unclean\u2026 but why then is the second man allowed to marry her\u2026 and what is it that has made her unclean\u2026 and who has done that\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n This Law to which Jesus refers was given to protect both individuals\u2026 and the community\u2026 and Jesus is speaking to men who are used to being able to divorce their wives for trivial reasons\u2026 and when that happens\u2026 there are ripples of consequences\u2026 and so we have to ask\u2026 why was the divorce happening\u2026 under what circumstances\u2026 and we have to remember that marriage was a social service network\u2026 to be married meant that one had at least some social standing and access to certain kinds of services\u2026 the way being a mother these days gives access to playgroups for their children\u2026 and the social interaction with the other moms\u2026 but to be divorced was to lose that interaction\u2026 to lose that support\u2026 to be divorced puts someone in jeopardy\u2026 and far too often\u2026 it’s the wife and children\u2026 and too often\u2026 when the couple gets divorced\u2026 their families and friends get divorced too\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n But on the other hand\u2026 although some churches and some pastors have looked past various kinds of emotional\u2026 physical\u2026 or sexual abuse\u2026 and encouraged couples to work it out\u2026 I can’t imagine Jesus telling any woman to simply accept it\u2026 in fact\u2026 at an address about sexual ethics given [at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL] on October 4, 1992\u2026 Catherine Wallace observed that divorce is another instance where sexual ethics can provide spiritual guidance\u2026 though not specific advice… in the terms I have outlined\u2026 <\/em>she said\u2026 when the relationship has ceased being a blessing for [both of] its partners\u2026 the sacramental marital union has [already] ended\u2026 and some people should divorce\u2026 <\/em>she said\u2026 [but] some people should stay married and work it out\u2026 only they can know what to do\u2026 and they can only know by praying\u2026 by that difficult and sustained openness to the sacred depths within us and beyond us<\/em>\u2026 We are broken people\u2026 if you have any doubt\u2026 just look at what’s going on socially and economically\u2026 we may be unable to cure everything\u2026 but we can be healed\u2026 and part of that healing comes to us through the forgiveness which God in Christ has already made available\u2026 and our reading from Hebrews affirms\u2026 It was fitting that God, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings<\/em>\u2026 because\u2026 I believe\u2026 perfection\u2026 is the inclusion\u2026 and forgiveness of imperfection\u2026 just as Jesus said\u2026 Father forgive them\u2026 for they do not know what they are doing<\/em>\u2026 and it is in our imperfect humanity\u2026 that we are saved\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Year B Genesis 2:18-24 Psalm 8 Hebrews 1:1-4; 2:5-12 Mark 10:2-16 May the words of my mouth O God\u2026 speak your truth\u2026 By the time my father died four years ago\u2026 my parents had been married for sixty-seven years\u2026 and even though there was some dysfunction\u2026 mostly around being taught how to name\u2026 honor\u2026 and express the widest range of our feelings\u2026 they had a good marriage\u2026 and we had lots of fun\u2026 I later came to consider myself fortunate\u2026 there were family trips up to New England\u2026 long weekends in the Catskills\u2026 also called the Jewish Alps\u2026 day camp in the summer\u2026 Jewish sleep away camp\u2026 why\u2026 one time\u2026 after dinner\u2026 my mom and dad actually had a whipped cream fight in the kitchen\u2026 spraying Reddi-Whip on each other\u2026 and my brother and I laughed with glee\u2026 there was never the kind of overt tension that some families experience\u2026 but no marriage\u2026 is perfect\u2026 though there are both arranged marriages which flourish beyond expectation\u2026 and those with very long courtships which crash and burn almost as soon as each person says I do\u2026 But today’s Gospel is difficult to preach on\u2026 because so many of us have been divorced ourselves\u2026 or have been affected by it\u2026 and because we are broken people\u2026 we have broken relationships with each other\u2026 and with God\u2026 but I’ve long said that we are wired\u2026 we were created\u2026 to be in relationship\u2026 and our reading from Genesis emphasizes that point\u2026 when God says\u2026 It is not good that the man should be alone\u2026 And one of the pastors in a Bible study group\u2026 wondered if this verse implies an admission that God got something wrong the first time around\u2026 so to correct the miscalculation\u2026 God will next march all of the animals past the human\u2026 so that the human may name them\u2026 but Plan B doesn’t work either\u2026 among the animals no suitable companion is found\u2026 so Plan C\u2026 deep sleep\u2026 remove a rib\u2026 And so we can talk about whether its Adam and Eve\u2026 or Adam and Steve\u2026 but there is one deeply inarguable claim made by St. Aelred of Rievaulx \u2026 that we move toward God in and through our relationships with other people\u2026 and not apart from\u2026 or in spite of them\u2026 In fact\u2026 at a global gathering of Episcopal bishops\u2026 Rabbi Jonathan Sachs once talked about covenants and contracts\u2026 he explained that in a covenant\u2026 two or equals come together in a mutual bond of love and trust\u2026 to share their interests\u2026 maybe even their lives\u2026 by doing together\u2026 what neither of them can do alone\u2026 and that’s not the same as a contract\u2026 because a contract is about interests\u2026 a covenant is about identity\u2026 a contract is about transaction\u2026 and a covenant is about relationship\u2026 and that\u2019s why\u2026 he said\u2026 that contracts benefit\u2026 while covenants transform\u2026 But in order to understand why Jesus was so vehemently against divorce\u2026 we have to remember that the power structures between men and women had been even more skewed than they are today\u2026 women had no voice\u2026 no vote\u2026 could not own property\u2026 and her husband could divorce her if he disliked what she cooked for dinner\u2026 listen to what Deuteronomy 24 says\u2026 Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman\u2026 but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her… and so he writes her a certificate of divorce\u2026 puts it in her hand\u2026 and sends her out of his house… she then leaves his house and goes off to become another man\u2019s wife\u2026 then suppose the second man dislikes her\u2026 writes her a bill of divorce\u2026 puts it in her hand\u2026 and sends her out of his house\u2026 or [suppose] the second man who married her dies\u2026 her first husband\u2026 who sent her away\u2026 is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled\u2026 made unclean\u2026 but why then is the second man allowed to marry her\u2026 and what is it that has made her unclean\u2026 and who has done that\u2026 This Law to which Jesus refers was given to protect both individuals\u2026 and the community\u2026 and Jesus is speaking to men who are used to being able to divorce their wives for trivial reasons\u2026 and when that happens\u2026 there are ripples of consequences\u2026 and so we have to ask\u2026 why was the divorce happening\u2026 under what circumstances\u2026 and we have to remember that marriage was a social service network\u2026 to be married meant that one had at least some social standing and access to certain kinds of services\u2026 the way being a mother these days gives access to playgroups for their children\u2026 and the social interaction with the other moms\u2026 but to be divorced was to lose that interaction\u2026 to lose that support\u2026 to be divorced puts someone in jeopardy\u2026 and far too often\u2026 it’s the wife and children\u2026 and too often\u2026 when the couple gets divorced\u2026 their families and friends get divorced too\u2026 But on the other hand\u2026 although some churches and some pastors have looked past various kinds of emotional\u2026 physical\u2026 or sexual abuse\u2026 and encouraged couples to work it out\u2026 I can’t imagine Jesus telling any woman to simply accept it\u2026 in fact\u2026 at an address about sexual ethics given [at St. Mark’s Episcopal Church in Evanston, IL] on October 4, 1992\u2026 Catherine Wallace observed that divorce is another instance where sexual ethics can provide spiritual guidance\u2026 though not specific advice… in the terms I have outlined\u2026 she said\u2026 when the relationship has ceased being a blessing for [both of] its partners\u2026 the sacramental marital union has [already] ended\u2026 and some people should divorce\u2026 she said\u2026 [but] some people should stay married and work it out\u2026 only they can know what to do\u2026 and they can only know by praying\u2026 by that difficult and sustained openness to the sacred depths within us and beyond us\u2026 We are broken people\u2026 if you have any doubt\u2026 just look at […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1381","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1381"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1382,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1381\/revisions\/1382"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1381"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1381"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/twochurches.org\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1381"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}