Sermon by The Very Rev Chris Yaw, 9/8/2024
Centering Prayer
Lord Jesus Christ, Son of God, may your will be done, Through me.
Welcome to fall everyone!
This season brings my wife her favorite two words: Pumpkin Spice!
Welcome back to your work routine, your school routine, and your church routine, tanned, rested, and ready, following our Summer Sabbath!
God gave you some time on the bench, some time off the field, because rest plays an integral role in our optimum performance!
And Jesus has a lot going on, it's a big game happening all around us, and he needs his key players in great shape to do the work we are called to do!
Maybe you're the peacemaker in your circle of influence? And God needs you to have the patience and poise that's integral in bringing that non-anxious presence to those around you?
Maybe you're the encourager! God has given you the ability to see situations through the eyes of hope, and when people around you go dark and negative, you're the one Jesus is counting on to speak the promises of encouraging hope?
Maybe your role is, to use a modern term, the adult in the room! Maybe it's your common sense that God has given you to speak words of basic intelligence in the midst of conspiracy theories and fake news! And you need the fortitude, the courage, the resilience, to fill that role, to speak with love, tenderness, and kindness - which is to operate at your optimum performance?
Yes, the new program year calls us each to our own station!
Lights, Camera, Action!
We're each given gifts according to God's grace - and we're being called to use them as best we can! For the time is short, the mission is crucial!
And we get no better role model than in our Gospel today!
Here we meet a woman of uncommon resilience - she is a heroine of great inspiration for many of us - the famous 'Syrophoenician woman' - a gentile, an outsider - who refuses to take "NO" for an answer!
I could name a lot of names here - because I think I recognize her in many of you this morning!
This is a woman who has no qualms about busting up Jesus' vacation - and making demands of a Jewish teacher even though her Gentile status makes this totally inappropriate -
But she doesn't care what people think or what obstacle blocks her!
She's living by that great line from poet Dinos Christianopoulous:
"They tried to bury us. (But) they didn’t know we were seeds."
She'll beg, argue, and deflect any insult to get what she wants - plead her case, and advocate for something important to her: her sick daughter!
I think there's something some people are just as passionate about this morning!
Maybe it's you!
We have that goal, that vision, that Godly ambition!
And we need this example of this driven woman to get us over the obstacle!
We need her to say, 'Don't take NO for an answer!'
'Don't believe those voices of negativity and hopelessness!'
'You have spunk, grit, and determination to do what needs to be done!'
Ya! That's what this woman's attitude was!
And at first, Jesus won't have it!
You see, he's clear on his mission as well!
He knows he was called to get the House of Israel in order! He's called to heal, feed, and reform Judaism - and it will be THEIR job to take these things to the Gentiles - that was what Pentecost was all about!
"Let the children be fed first," says Jesus, "For it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs!"
I know this sounds off-putting - to have humble, meek, and mild Jesus call a poor, begging woman a 'dog' -
But it may not be as off-putting as it sounds -
Let's first make the point that there are two Greek words for 'Dog' used in the Gospels - the first is KUON, which refers to the lost, wild, and snarling dogs that roamed the streets.
Then there's KUNARION, which refers to the small dogs kept in the house as pets.
It's this second word Jesus is using here - yes, a dog, yes, derogatory -
But, that takes us to our second point, NO the Syrophoenician woman does not push back against that characterization - she doesn't act insulted nor is she deterred -
But she makes the counter argument that even these household pets get the leftovers!
This woman doesn't care about Jesus' mission!
She has her own - and will not be deterred!
She cares about nothing other than finding the compassion, healing, solution, and salvation that she's looking for.
Once again, I think there are many of us here today who can see how important her example is for the problems we're facing right now.
Where do we need resilience?
What is knocking on your door - that's trying to knock you off of your horse?
Is there a health matter that's trying to take us off course?
Is there a worry about money, work, or family that is beating you down?
Are you being lulled off course due to the influence of others who you are holding in outsized importance?
Let me say something about regret -
Research says that 90% of people die with regrets -
And that the number one regret on their deathbeds is that they wish they lived a life that was true to themselves - and not the life that others expected of them!
God needs us to be resilient about following the path WE'VE been given!
God has uniquely gifted every one of us here - and God's work in the world is done as we all live into those gifts with optimum performance!
We were not created to live the life our mothers wanted for us!
We were not created to live the life our fathers wanted for us!
We were not created to live the life our best friend wanted for us!
We are called to live the life God wants for us! It's the life of no regrets!
That's why we need Resilience.
The ability to bounce back - come back - head back in the right direction when life, inevitably, takes us down the wrong one!
A professor recently gave a lecture -
He told his class about some research that had recently been completed about the success of tennis players.
"What do you think is the one thing?" he asked his class, "That separates the top 5 tennis players in the world, from the next 25?"
Is it their training? No
Is it their coach? No
Was it the number of years they've been playing? No
Was it their country of origin? No
Was it their nutrition program? No
Was it the college they attended? No
Then what was it?
What separated the top 5 tennis players from the next 25?
Research done on these top performing tennis players found that they had one important thing in common.
It was their ability to talk well of themselves after they had made a mistake.
"Oh, I missed that shot, I'll get it next time!"
"Well that didn't go as planned, but I know I what I did wrong and I can fix it!"
"Wow, that was a tough point to lose, but isn't it a great day to be on the court?"
Compare this to what the other 25 players were saying to themselves:
"Man, I'm such an idiot, I missed that shot!"
"Oh, man, things never go my way!"
"That ref is terrible, I can't believe he missed another call!"
A big enemy to our resilience is the negative self-talk that plagues us when we make a mistake!
Our frustration and anger gets pointed inward - and we beat ourselves up -
These researchers say that this plays a toll - and the psychological and physical energy used to criticize and beat ourselves up, no matter how small, adds up - point after point, match after match, game after game - so that when that energy is needed - those who've used it to denigrate themselves, fret, and lament, are simply passed by those who have found ways to channel their distress in healthier ways.
How are you handing life's regrets, setbacks, and challenges?
In what ways do you chalk them up to learning experiences, and reframe them in a positive light?
You see, our mission - of peacemaking, encouragement, and talking sense to an increasingly nonsensical world - is not as paltry as a tennis match.
Sure, you might think it is - but:
We DO live in an upside-down world - where the largest salaries paid to employees of public school systems - are not the principles, counselors, or administrators - but it's to the athletic coaches!
Football, basketball - and yes, that statistic reminds us of how crazy this world is - how distorted things have become.
But let's be clear here:
Your work - my work - is more important than a tennis match -
You have people depending on you-
You have work that's vital and needful - that only YOU can do -
Your role, your station, is as invaluable as it is irreplaceable -
We need resilience to acknowledge that - we need resilience to meet the challenge.
Maybe you're here and you're not in a place where words of resilience and encouragement are what you need -
Maybe you're going through a tough time of sadness, lament, or mourning?
Many of you have heard of the British actor Stephen Fry -
He likes to frame things this way:
"I've found that it's of some help to think of one's moods and feelings about the world as being similar to weather.
Here are some obvious things about the weather: It’s real. You can't change it by wishing it away. If it's dark and rainy it really is dark and rainy, and you can't alter it. It might be dark and rainy for two weeks in a row.
But. It will be sunny one day.
In the same way that one has to accept the weather, so one has to accept how one feels about life sometimes. "Today's a bad day," is a perfectly realistic approach. It's all about finding a kind of mental umbrella. "Hey-ho, it's raining inside: it isn’t my fault and there's nothing I can do about it but sit it out. For the sun may well come out tomorrow and when it does, I shall take full advantage."
On our 'Welcome Back Sunday!' as we thank God for the summer Sabbath - and set our eyes on the work St. David's is called to do - let us be kind to ourselves - yet - not fail to challenge ourselves -
Taking a cue from the Syrophoenician woman - whose vigor and swagger set an example and inspiration - to go do what we've been called to do.
Let it be so!
Amen!