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Updated 12 August 2020
'Us' not 'Them'
Trinity 10, Proper 15 (A)
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28
I have a friend who has employed some insurer-appointed builders who are working on his house to do ‘a foreigner’ for him after the insurance repair is over. ‘Do a foreigner’ – an odd expression, isn’t it? But yes, the builders are doing something outside their agreed contract, beyond what is expected, and not typically part of what they are contracted to do. The extra job is therefore ‘foreign’ to their original undertaking. In this case the term is wholly positive. The builders are capable and trustworthy. My friend is delighted that they’re willing to do ‘a foreigner.’
Often, of course, to be termed ‘a foreigner’ doesn’t have any of that positivity attached to it. It’s usual about ‘them’ and the main thing to notice about ‘them’ is that they are not ‘us.’ Distinctions are being made; boundaries are being drawn; and, who is acceptable and who is not, is being marked. That sense of seeing some people as alien is there in all today’s Bible readings.
The prophet Isaiah insists that all people can be God’s people – it’s not about who you were born to or where you were born, God gathers all. We can imagine that the prophet was so direct and unambiguous because the message wasn’t popular. His hearers thought they knew exactly who the foreigners were and acted accordingly.
A similar thought lies behind the reading from Romans. Saint Paul’s critics thought his advocacy of Christian belief meant he was throwing aside his heritage. It was as if he was tearing up all that was precious and treating his own people as despised foreigners. ‘No way,’ says Paul. It’s not that God had rejected the ancient people of Abraham; far from it. Rather God extends his mercy to all people despite the ‘gone-wrongness’ of things. No one is a foreigner to God’s mercy.
The Gospel reading makes plain just how invidious this foreigner-labeling is. Even Jesus gets hooked by it. The woman who comes asking for help is on the wrong side of all the ‘them’ and ‘us’ boundaries. Ethnically, culturally, politically, economically, religiously, and in terms of gender; she’s as foreign as foreign can be.
There is every reason to ignore this woman. And that’s just what Jesus does initially, ‘he did not answer her at all.’ The prejudices, the stereotypes, the callousness, that infects every human soul, infects Jesus as well. In this he is at one with us. But let’s pray that we like him can be changed by human encounter. Not once, but three times she acknowledges him as Lord. Not once, but four times she pleads and shouts and challenges. She demands inclusion and Jesus sees the faith of that. Indeed, Jesus says her faith is ‘great,’ in stark contrast to the ‘little faith’ of the disciples in other parts of the Gospel.
‘We’re all in this together’ has been an often-repeated pandemic refrain. So much so that that some companies have even incorporated it into their commercial straplines. But we know the reality of the pandemic is a wide difference in outcomes and possibilities dependent on social, economic, and ethnic divides. ‘Us’ and ‘them’ figures all too prominently. These things can be deadly, literally. But in God’s economy there is no ‘them.’ Surely that means there can be no ‘foreigner’ in person or in what we do because God’s grace is for all.
Trinity 10, Proper 15 (A)
Isaiah 56:1, 6-8; Romans 11:1-2a, 29-32; Matthew 15:21-28
I have a friend who has employed some insurer-appointed builders who are working on his house to do ‘a foreigner’ for him after the insurance repair is over. ‘Do a foreigner’ – an odd expression, isn’t it? But yes, the builders are doing something outside their agreed contract, beyond what is expected, and not typically part of what they are contracted to do. The extra job is therefore ‘foreign’ to their original undertaking. In this case the term is wholly positive. The builders are capable and trustworthy. My friend is delighted that they’re willing to do ‘a foreigner.’
Often, of course, to be termed ‘a foreigner’ doesn’t have any of that positivity attached to it. It’s usual about ‘them’ and the main thing to notice about ‘them’ is that they are not ‘us.’ Distinctions are being made; boundaries are being drawn; and, who is acceptable and who is not, is being marked. That sense of seeing some people as alien is there in all today’s Bible readings.
The prophet Isaiah insists that all people can be God’s people – it’s not about who you were born to or where you were born, God gathers all. We can imagine that the prophet was so direct and unambiguous because the message wasn’t popular. His hearers thought they knew exactly who the foreigners were and acted accordingly.
A similar thought lies behind the reading from Romans. Saint Paul’s critics thought his advocacy of Christian belief meant he was throwing aside his heritage. It was as if he was tearing up all that was precious and treating his own people as despised foreigners. ‘No way,’ says Paul. It’s not that God had rejected the ancient people of Abraham; far from it. Rather God extends his mercy to all people despite the ‘gone-wrongness’ of things. No one is a foreigner to God’s mercy.
The Gospel reading makes plain just how invidious this foreigner-labeling is. Even Jesus gets hooked by it. The woman who comes asking for help is on the wrong side of all the ‘them’ and ‘us’ boundaries. Ethnically, culturally, politically, economically, religiously, and in terms of gender; she’s as foreign as foreign can be.
There is every reason to ignore this woman. And that’s just what Jesus does initially, ‘he did not answer her at all.’ The prejudices, the stereotypes, the callousness, that infects every human soul, infects Jesus as well. In this he is at one with us. But let’s pray that we like him can be changed by human encounter. Not once, but three times she acknowledges him as Lord. Not once, but four times she pleads and shouts and challenges. She demands inclusion and Jesus sees the faith of that. Indeed, Jesus says her faith is ‘great,’ in stark contrast to the ‘little faith’ of the disciples in other parts of the Gospel.
‘We’re all in this together’ has been an often-repeated pandemic refrain. So much so that that some companies have even incorporated it into their commercial straplines. But we know the reality of the pandemic is a wide difference in outcomes and possibilities dependent on social, economic, and ethnic divides. ‘Us’ and ‘them’ figures all too prominently. These things can be deadly, literally. But in God’s economy there is no ‘them.’ Surely that means there can be no ‘foreigner’ in person or in what we do because God’s grace is for all.
PreacherRhetorica -
dedicated to preaching that's alert to the contemporary,
passionate about Christian memory, and works to be heard.
Saint Aidan - Holy Island of Lindisfarne
In a social environment where discordance is all too apparent the preacher struggles to be heard as a voice of eternal verities. So much conspires towards a forgetfulness of the memory from which that voice speaks, and to which that voice gives enabling testimony. Yet the preacher still speaks: turning this way and that, between text, memory and world; striving, in a largely amnesic society to create something out of whatever materials come to
hand; trying to shape in words that generative drive that is tradition’s gift; and exemplifying in that trying what is the calling of every believer—to live in the memory of Christ.
In the words of Augustine, the preacher prays:
[Lord,] you have honoured my memory by making it your dwelling-place.
Augustine, Confessions, 10.25
The sermons on the pages that follow attempt to address both that forgetfulness and
that remembrance.
hand; trying to shape in words that generative drive that is tradition’s gift; and exemplifying in that trying what is the calling of every believer—to live in the memory of Christ.
In the words of Augustine, the preacher prays:
[Lord,] you have honoured my memory by making it your dwelling-place.
Augustine, Confessions, 10.25
The sermons on the pages that follow attempt to address both that forgetfulness and
that remembrance.
Preaching as memory work
Every Christian gathering is a mnemonic event. Christians gather to remember that they are remembered by God. This is an actual re-membering: a way of putting together again the Body of Christ in order that it may be dispersed into the world when the gathering is over. In the coming together each individual's faith memory is renewed as it is reincorporated into the collective memory of
the people of faith. We remember by communicating with one another, and that remembering enables us to live out the faith. Without that social remembering
our individual memories fade.
We live in forgetful times which make it ever harder for an inherited faith to be heard. This website is dedicated to the ways preaching can help overcome our contemporary cultural faith amnesia. It is offered in thankfulness for the many who have prompted and reinforced Christian memory by what they have said or written.
Preaching is always a communal effort that is dependent on what has been said before – not least, of course, in the Scriptures themselves. Any originality in these pages is little more than a combination of ideas in an unfamiliar pattern. For that continuing pattern-making you are free to use anything you find useful here in assisting your own Christian memory work or that of a congregation of which you are a part. An acknowledgement of PreacherRhetorica would be great if possible. Notice of errors, omissions, or oversights in these pages would be appreciated. Please use the form above.
Every Christian gathering is a mnemonic event. Christians gather to remember that they are remembered by God. This is an actual re-membering: a way of putting together again the Body of Christ in order that it may be dispersed into the world when the gathering is over. In the coming together each individual's faith memory is renewed as it is reincorporated into the collective memory of
the people of faith. We remember by communicating with one another, and that remembering enables us to live out the faith. Without that social remembering
our individual memories fade.
We live in forgetful times which make it ever harder for an inherited faith to be heard. This website is dedicated to the ways preaching can help overcome our contemporary cultural faith amnesia. It is offered in thankfulness for the many who have prompted and reinforced Christian memory by what they have said or written.
Preaching is always a communal effort that is dependent on what has been said before – not least, of course, in the Scriptures themselves. Any originality in these pages is little more than a combination of ideas in an unfamiliar pattern. For that continuing pattern-making you are free to use anything you find useful here in assisting your own Christian memory work or that of a congregation of which you are a part. An acknowledgement of PreacherRhetorica would be great if possible. Notice of errors, omissions, or oversights in these pages would be appreciated. Please use the form above.
Click here to see the reasoning behind using a story as a sermon - sometimes.
Preaching in an amnesic society.
Practicalities of design and delivery here.
What is preaching? An attempt at a definition here.
Designing a sermon
What sermon styles and structures serve the maintenance of Christian collective memory best? Often the answer to that question will be 'any that are effective generally.' Unfortunately it's all too easy to preach without giving enough thought to the basics of what's effective. Paying attention to things that serve
the collective memory of the faith can be a way into overcoming that oversight. Sometimes the design of a sermon confuses what is otherwise pertinent and useful
content.
Occasionally in these pages a sermon will be analysed
so as to demonstrate what decisions were taken about style and structure, and the reasoning behind the choices made. You can find the first such analysis of a
sermon for Pentecost here or you can find the sermon script without commentary here.
Updated 12 August 2020.
What sermon styles and structures serve the maintenance of Christian collective memory best? Often the answer to that question will be 'any that are effective generally.' Unfortunately it's all too easy to preach without giving enough thought to the basics of what's effective. Paying attention to things that serve
the collective memory of the faith can be a way into overcoming that oversight. Sometimes the design of a sermon confuses what is otherwise pertinent and useful
content.
Occasionally in these pages a sermon will be analysed
so as to demonstrate what decisions were taken about style and structure, and the reasoning behind the choices made. You can find the first such analysis of a
sermon for Pentecost here or you can find the sermon script without commentary here.
Updated 12 August 2020.