Mark 7: 24-37  Growing in Faith ? Breaking Down Barriers E/GR  Sept10/06

1. Jesus was very tired.  He had been traveling from town to town helping and teaching about God?s love.  Now he needed a rest.  He wanted to be alone.  Where would he go?  And then he had an idea.  He would go and stay in a house where he thought no one would know who he was.  Then he could rest.  I talked to a colleague this week who said he?d had a great holiday.  But he?d been back since August 1 and felt like he was in one of those McDonald play structures with all the balls.  And there?s too many balls to keep them in the air, or to wade through.  Some of you understand that feeling.  In fact you may have just been through the busiest time of your year!

2. Jesus, and my friend, and many of you, needed a rest.  But as often happens it wasn?t long before there was a woman knocking at the door.  She had a little girl who was very ill.  She had heard that Jesus healed people.  The woman knelt at Jesus? feet and cried out, ?Please Jesus.  My little girl is very sick.  Please come and make her well.?

3. Jesus was hoping he wouldn?t have to see anyone.  He was tired and this woman was from another country.  She was not a friend, she was not family, she was different from Jesus in many ways.  Jesus felt he needed to spend his time helping people in his back yard.  You understand how easy it is to think like that.

4. But the woman did not give up.  She said to Jesus, ?God?s love is for everyone!?  Jesus listened and then said, ?Yes, you are right.  God?s love is for everyone!  God wants us to be kind to everyone ? not just our own friends and family.  Thank you for helping me to see more clearly.  God?s love is for everyone.  Go now.  Go home and see your little girl.  She is well again.?  The first time people heard this, you could see mouths falling open, breath gasped, the world almost stand still.  A woman, a Gentile ? not one of the people, challenging a man ? a Rabbi.  Now that was stretching the boundaries.  Those things never happened.  But the woman dared to break down the barriers of race, gender, religion, and challenge Jesus.  For the child?s sake.  You know when there is something so important, we?d risk anything.  In the face of such need, human-made boundaries don?t seem very important.  Because of her faith and perseverance Jesus grew in faith. 

5. Then Jesus returned home, and we hear that someone brings a man who is deaf and has a speech impediment.  We?re not told who brought him, family, friends, or neighbours.  It?s clear by this, that it?s not the relationship that matters, but just that we act on another?s behalf.  Perhaps it?s so we don?t dismiss the woman?s persistence as simply that of a mother.  The barriers are not so different, are they?  The man cannot speak on his own behalf.  Because of his advocates bringing him, like the child, he was opened to healing and returned to community.  Who do we need to advocate for?

6. Breaking down barriers.  Growing in faith.  We?re on an exciting journey this year of growing in faith.  It?s the theme we?ve chosen for the year.  You?ll be reading and hearing much more about this, as we celebrate our rich heritage of faith that you are building on and the ways you?ve already grown.  Today?s scriptures invite us to think of what barriers we need to break down as we grow in faith, and so we can grow in faith. The fact that Jesus allowed his barriers to be challenged and himself to grow is incredibly important for us.  Are there any of us who would think ourselves done growing in faith?  Unlike Jesus of course!

7. So where are your areas that need to be stretched?  Barriers of exhaustion?  The solution is definitely not to risk further exhaustion.  Instead we need to see what we can do to be more whole, healthy.  To ask, what are our priorities?  Do they need to be challenged and changed?  How can we re-create like Jesus did, in prayer, time alone listening for God?s word to us, time with friends.  And when we are interrupted, to take time again.  So we can enjoy keeping a reasonable number of  balls in the air!

8. Or what about barriers of ?I couldn?t do that!  How many of you have said, ?Oh I couldn?t do that!?  Then with courage have given it a chance.  Stretched yourself beyond what was comfortable and found you could indeed do it.  And grew in the process.  Maybe even enjoyed it.  Our Sunday Schools are in need of teachers.  Our choirs and the Christmas Cantata in need of singers.  We need people for Fellowship committee, boards, and workers for events.  Is there an area that you would like to try that would stretch the known for you?

9. Barriers of ?Those are not my people, not my problem, like Jesus wrestled with.?  For three years our boards have wrestled with a mutually positive way to walk with or learn about our aboriginal brothers and sisters.  This fall our boards have suggested that the first step could be having an elder come to talk to us about native spirituality.  Helping us to grow in faith as we learn about the faith of others and increase the understanding between us.

10. Because of persistence, because of advocacy, because of Jesus? willingness to be open to grow, we see that boundaries can tumble, that lives can open up, that we can grow in faith.  May God bless you on your continued journey of faith.