Abundantly persistent and unwavering

 It is hard to know what to write this week. Life has suddenly become very uncertain. It is hard to even know what church will look like. And in all that I am supposed to come up with a theme. Maybe the theme this week is learning to live in God in all this uncertainty. And we have two sources of help in this week’s readings.

The first (Matthew 15: 10-28), is the Canaanite woman who out taught the Teacher. This story looks back to when Jesus taught about the abundance of God in feeding the 5000+. It begins with Jesus teaching his disciples that the important thing about actions is not whether we are obeying external rules for a perceived reward, but what they reveal about our hearts. Who we are is more important than what we do. And then Jesus goes into Gentile-land where he is confronted by one of the locals whose heart is full of faith. She is not a Jew. She does not behave properly. She is unclean. But she knows who Jesus is and needs his help. Out of her heart filled with persistent and unwavering caring for her daughter she confronts Jesus with her persistent and unwavering trust that he could help her she. And many would say she taught him that there is more than enough grace for both the House of Israel and those seen as dogs.

The Psalm (67) takes this a little further. It invites us to be people who know God’s abundant blessing. We do not earn this blessing. we simply are invited to receive it. Even in these uncertain and hard times, God’s gracious activity is all around us. So, let us be like that un-named women and be persistent and unwavering in knowing we are blessed.  May we be icons of God’s ongoing blessing and help all we meet know that they too are blessed.