A Conversation About Church (Ecclesiology and Missiology)

This week we are going to do things a little different. We will gather at Wesley at 7pm as we usually do and then walk down to Panera on Green Street. If you will be later than 7:00 you will have to venture down to meet us. Let me know if you can come this week or not so we get a big enough table. After we eat we can remain in the restaurant or we can venture outside if it isn't too hot. Our study this week will consist of some questions such as:

1. What is really important to us as young adults? What do we need in a church? What must we preserve from our traditions? Where must we innovate?
2. To what extent are we responding to pain in the world around us?
3. What is the source of our support?
4. Does the church really exist for those who do not belong?
5. If we get them to the table, what will be the menu?
6. What will be the cost of the meal?

So you will not really need your bible, unless you want to bring it to point anything out. I am sure these questions will lead to some interesting comments. Hope to see you Tuesday!

Remaining food schedule

This is the remaining weeks food schedule:

6/30 Anne
7/7 Caci
7/14 Michael & Kristen
7/21 Anthony
7/28 Josh

Thanks to Kristi & Eric for the last 2 weeks!

Healing

For Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Curing and Healing

But we see the challenge to the purity system not only in the teachings of Jesus, but in many of his activities. His ministry of healing shattered the boundaries of the purity system. He touched lepers and hemorrhaging women. He entered a graveyard inhabited by a man with a "legion" of unclean spirits who lived in the vicinity of pigs, which were of course unclean animals.

John Dominic Crossan has pointed out that medical anthropology has proposed a basic distinction between curing a disease and healing an illness. Diseases are "abnormalities in the structure and function of body organs and systems." Illnesses are "experiences of disvalued changes in states of being and in social functions." A disease is between me and my doctor and I go to the doctor to be cured. But what is lacking in that picture is not just the psychological component of my disease but, much more importantly, the entire social dimension of the phenomena. How does my disease involve my family, my job, or in some cases, wider and wider levels of society? There is a difference between curing a disease and healing an illness. The leper who met Jesus had both a disease (probably psoriasis) and an illness, the personal and social stigma of uncleanness, rejection and isolation. And as long as the disease was not cured the illness also would remain. In general, if the disease was cured, the illness was healed. What, however, if the disease could not be cured but the illness could somehow be healed? Take the disease known as AIDS. A cure for the disease is absolutely desirable. But in the absence of a cure we can still heal the illness by refusing to ostracize those who have it. We can empathize with their anguish and have compassion with them by enveloping their sufferings with both respect and love.

The question which the healing miracles of Jesus raises is: Was he curing the disease through an intervention in the physical world, or was he healing the illness through an intervention in the social world? He could have been doing both. Or he could have been healing an illness without curing a disease. In his healings, whether of disease or illness or both, the important issue is that Jesus acted as a subversive of the purity world. He welcomed back into the human community those persons who were excluded from the purity society of his day. John Dominic Crossan ruminates, "It would, of course, be nice to have certain miracles available to change the physical world if we could, but it would be much more desirable to make certain changes in the social world, which we can."

- Richard Wheatcroft

Sacred Texts

Mark 1.40-44

On one occasion he was approached by a leper, who knelt before him and begged for help. "If only you will," said the man, "you can make me clean." Jesus was moved to anger; he stretched out his hand, and said, "I will; be clean." The leprosy left him immediately, and he was clean.

Mark 5.23-34

Along them was a woman who had suffered from hemorrhages for twelve years; and in spite of long treatment from nay doctors, on which she had spent all she had, she had become worse rather than better. She had heard about Jesus, and came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak; for she said, "If I touch even his clothes, I shall be healed." And there and then the flow of blood dried up and she knew in herself that she was cured of her affliction. Aware at once that power had gone out of him, Jesus turned round in the crowd and asked, "Who touched my clothes?" His disciples said to him, "You see the crowd pressing round you and yet you ask, 'Who touched me?'" But he kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the women trembling with fear because she knew what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and told him the whole truth. He said to her, "Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace, free from your affliction."

Discussion Questions:

1. What 'grabbed' you? What did you notice?
2. Is there a question you would like to put to any character in the story?
3. Did you have a 'feeling' reaction at any point in the story?
4. What did the passage say to you?
5. What do you think the passage says to us?
6. Summarize the passage in one sentence.

A PRAYERFUL LITANY FOR HEALING

We live in a world desperate for healing.

Brokenness touches our lives as empty spaces are created; as relationships are strained or broken;
as the reality of the fragility and finitude of human life lurks in our visual field;
as uncertainties, anxieties, and fears nest in our consciousness;
as verbal and nonverbal violence hurts individuals and communities.

In the midst of suffering, we utter these words:

“If I touch even his clothes, I shall be healed.”

God hears our cries for wholeness as we take Christ’s path, walking—sometimes being carried—and from time to time finding rest and refuge in God’s house.

At the door to God’s house, we hear these welcoming words, “You are accepted. A meal is prepared, and there are many resting places.”

Bathing in the flowing rivers of God’s abundant grace, love, and acceptance, words of calling beckon us, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” This call to mercy echoes in a rainbow of faith traditions spanning the globe. These words challenge us to see others through a lens of divine grace and to mirror that knowledge to those whose hearts are broken and lives fractured.

Caring God,

We acknowledge before you our fears, our anxieties, our doubts, our hurts, our burdens.

Transform the empty spaces in our lives into thin places through which we experience your gracious presence.

Sanctify your people that we might be for you the body of Christ in the world,
opening thin places of Divine acceptance, compassion, and justice:
communing with those who are isolated or marginalized;
opening hearts to peace and justice;
easing burdens and suffering; and
supporting those in processes of letting go.

Trusting in the hope we have in Jesus, in whose spirit we pray. Amen.

Supplemental Media:

• Listening Generously: The Medicine of Rachel Naomi Remen (Speaking of Faith)
  "Our guest's lifelong struggle with chronic illness has shaped her philosophy and practice of medicine. She speaks with us about the art of listening to patients and other physicians, the difference between curing and healing, and how our losses help us to live."
• Heart and Soul: The Integrative Medicine of Dr. Mehmet Oz (Speaking of Faith)
  "The word 'healing' means 'to make whole.' But historically, Western medicine has taken a divided view of human health. It has stressed medical treatments of biological ailments. That may be changing. Mehmet Oz, a cardiovascular surgeon, is part of a new generation of doctors who are taking medicine to new technological and spiritual frontiers."
• Patterns of Prayer (Speaking of Faith)
  "In recent years, the practices of prayer have been evolving for many religious traditions. Even western medicine is looking at prayer as it expands its concept of healing. In this program, we consult several people from a variety of practices about the role of prayer in their lives."
• Beyond the Yellow Ribbon: How Churches Can Help Soldiers and Their Families Readjust After Combat by John Morris (Speaking of Faith)
  "After the joyful, long anticipated reunions there is a difficult period of transition, readjustment, and hard work ahead for every soldier and their family. The church can be a helpful partner in the process."
• Healing Words (Velveteen Rabbi)
• Blog Posts on Health (Velveteen Rabbi)

If you have more, feel free to share them in the comments below.

Summer 2009 Prayers & Concerns

If you would like to share prayers and concerns on the blog, this is the space to do so.

Grace and peace,
Anthony

Levi's Hospitality

For Tuesday, June 16, 2009

This week's sacred story is set at a meal in Levi's house. Originally recorded in Mark, parallels of this story are also found in Matthew and Luke. Before Tuesday, please read this story, complementing it with your preferred meditation practice (such as lectio divina), and then consider the study questions.

Mark 2.15-17:

"When Jesus was having a meal in Levi's house, many tax-collectors and sinners were seated with him and his disciples, for there were many of them among his followers. Some scribes who were Pharisees, observing the company in which he was eating, said to his disciples, 'Why does he eat with tax-collectors and sinners?' Hearing this, Jesus said to them, 'It is not the healthy who need a doctor, but the sick; I did not come to call the virtuous, but sinners.'"

Matthew 9.9-13:

9 As Jesus was walking along, he saw a man called Matthew sitting at the tax booth; and he said to him, ‘Follow me.’ And he got up and followed him.

10 And as he sat at dinner* in the house, many tax-collectors and sinners came and were sitting* with him and his disciples. 11When the Pharisees saw this, they said to his disciples, ‘Why does your teacher eat with tax-collectors and sinners?’ 12But when he heard this, he said, ‘Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. 13Go and learn what this means, “I desire mercy, not sacrifice.” For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.’

Luke 15.1-7:

15Now all the tax-collectors and sinners were coming near to listen to him. 2And the Pharisees and the scribes were grumbling and saying, ‘This fellow welcomes sinners and eats with them.’

3 So he told them this parable: 4‘Which one of you, having a hundred sheep and losing one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the wilderness and go after the one that is lost until he finds it? 5When he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders and rejoices. 6And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and neighbours, saying to them, “Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.” 7Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous people who need no repentance.

Study Questions:

1. What 'grabbed' you? What did you notice?
2. Is there a question you would like to put to any character in the story?
3. Did you have a 'feeling' reaction at any point in the story?
4. What did the passage say to you?
5. What do you think the passage says to us?
6. Summarize the passage in one sentence.

Sacred Meals, Sacred Stories Week 2

Hey Everyone! Here is the scripture for the week and also the reading that goes along with it. Please try to read this and read/meditate on the scripture before Tuesday. Sorry this is later than I said. Still not sure what we will be eating Tuesday. But plan on coming to Wesley first at least. Also if you could bring money to pay back Anthony and I from last week, it was about $4 a person. This week I will let you know the price soon. Thanks!

~Brooke~

Scripture: Luke 14:15-24

Another characteristic activity of Jesus was an open and inclusive
table. Anthropologists maintain that "In all societies, both simple
and complex, eating is the primary way of initiating and maintaining
human relationships . . . once the anthropologist finds out where,
when, and with whom the food is eaten, just about everything can be
inferred about the relations among the society's members . . . To know
what, where, when, and with whom people eat is to know the character
of their society."

Sharing a meal with someone had a significance in the social world of
Jesus that is difficult for us to imagine. It was not a casual act, as
it can be in the modern world. In a purity society one did not eat
with anyone who could be considered impure. For in a general way,
sharing a meal represented mutual acceptance. That is why there were
rules surrounding meals. One couldn't be too careful. Those rules
governed not only what might be eaten and how it should be prepared,
but with whom one might eat. Pharisees and others would not eat with
somebody who was impure, and no decent person would share a meal with
an outcast. The meal was a microcosm of the social system -- table
fellowship an embodiment of a social vision of a purity society of
hierarchies, differences, distinctions, and discriminations.

The meal practice of Jesus therefore had socio-political significance.
His open table fellowship became a vehicle of cultural protest,
challenging the ethos and politics of holiness which led to a closed
table fellowship. It embodied an alternative vision of an inclusive
community reflecting the compassion of God. Open commensality(1) is
the symbol and embodiment of radical egalitarianism, of an absolute
equality of people that denies the validity of any discrimination
between them and negates the necessity of any hierarchy among them.
The inclusive vision incarnated in Jesus' table fellowship is
reflected in the shape of the Jesus movement itself. It was an
inclusive movement, negating the boundaries of the purity system. It
was what Walter Wink has called a Domination-Free Society. It included
women, untouchables, the poor, the maimed, and the marginalized, as
well as some people who found his vision attractive. It has been said
that for Jesus, "the Kingdom of God is pictured as a new kind of meal
arrangement. A nondiscriminating table depicts in miniature a
nondiscriminating society, and this vision clashed fundamentally with
the basic values of ancient Mediterranean society."
- Richard Wheatcroft

Please Join Us!

We will kick off our 1st night of the Summer Grad Study tomorrow (tuesday) at 7pm. Please come and join us, we will have pizza and drinks, so please bring $5 to help cover the cost. Thanks and see you there!

Brooke & Anthony