Stand Up!

Karen Sloan 27/08/2023

Readings - Exodus 1: 8-20, Matthew 16:13-15

Sometimes I really love my tradition and sometimes, well, I really hate it.  Harsh I know but that’s the reality of what we have inherited.

I had dinner the other night with my friend from overseas, who I have known since we were young.  We have travelled together over the years, keeping in contact as she made a life for herself in the UK.

After a few wines she reflected on her journey and particularly her faith journey, something we stumble on every time we meet.

But this time it made me in equal parts sad and mad.  While I dont want to share everything, she was raised a very good Baptist, which meant being told since she was a child that she was a sinner, and not worthy of God’s love.  Only by believing in Jesus, as the divine rescuer, could she be reconciled to the father of the universe.  Endlessly she heard that message, not good enough, not worthy, nothing she could do would make it right!!!

Of course she is now not a good Baptist or a Baptist at all, and after many years of working in places with the poor and destitute, and a few years of therapy she loves herself enough to say it’s all bullocks.  Which it is.  The doctrine of original sin has to be the most life denying and destructive doctrine the Christian tradition has put together.  Not biblical unless you really take genesis literally, but even then it is not named as such.  Paul speaks about it in Romans, in a round-about way. but really it found its life from the early church fathers and particularly from Augustine.  Augustine  considered the church to be the main arbiter of all things divine, and that humans are born sinful and in need of rescuing.  An idea that was adopted by subsequent generations of Christians so that even today many people believe it.

Yet here we are in a world where evolution, modern physics, geology and cosmology and every other science suggests we are all connected, and we are all connected to the spirit which resides in all of us, regardless of what Adam and Eve did!  Luckily at every stage there were people who disagreed with the doctrine, particularly Pelagius from the 5th century, a Celtic monk,  who said Augustin’s ideas were crazy…. Pelagius believed that the image of God can be seen in every newborn child, and that although we are diverted by sin, our deepest desires come from God and they are good, not bad. God exists at the heart of every person, whether they be part of the church or not.  Original blessing rather than original sin, if you want to put it that way, thinking of Matthew Fox, who was excommunicated for suggesting it!

So when Jesus asks who do I say I am in today’s reading from Matthew, I can say with wholehearted confidence, that he is not the blood sacrifice for our sins that some believe God needs for our reconciliation but a reflection of the divine spirit that  is found in us all.  A fully human being who shows a way to live a life of love and justice and peace and compassion, if we accept the invitation and the challenge.  To live for others.   

And if we follow him we will have a life worth living here and now.

Phew, I got that out!

But I’m not finished yet!!!.  I also want to talk about the Old Testament reading.  For another major gripe I have is about women in the church and how badly they have been left out of the story.

Again,  in some conservative or even evangelical circles women are not allowed to  be teachers or leaders and rather need to under the tutelage of men. Today, in the 21st century!! Think the Anglican Diocese of Sydney!

Yet as the history of the original sin doctrine shows, reading the bible should mean actually reading it, not selectively or literally but with eyes wide open.   In terms of the role of women, there is one passage from Paul’s letter to Timothy about women and their limited role and a lot of passages in the rest of the scriptures about love, inclusion and many examples of women who teach and lead and are even apostles.  Women like Anna, Phoebe, Pricilla, Junia, Deborah, who was a prophetess and judge, Esther, who saved the entire Jewish people from slaughter, which is hardly a minor accomplishment.   Lydia, a leader in Paul’s church, Ruth, and the women who were the first at the tomb, like Mary Magdalene,  Joanna and others.  In addition we know from the gospel of Mary, that Mary Magdalene was certainly in the close net group supporting and following Jesus, and probably was an apostle.

Many, many women.  Today we heard about two Hebrew midwives who saved their  people, and ultimately Moses, by being feisty and brave. Who opposed power and violence with compassion.

The reading introduces us to a king who has no recollection of the history of the Israelites and who did not know Joseph.  Instead he seems worried that the Israelites are increasing in number and may take over his land. Instead of telling them to go away, he deals with them shrewdly in case they side with his enemies against them in times of war.   So he calls for the Hebrew midwives, here named as Shiphrah and Puah and tells them, “when you deliver the Hebrew women, look at the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him, if it is a girl let her live. As Amy Jill Levine suggests a smarter move to keep the population down would have been to kill the girls not the boys.   To presume that girls would not engage in political activism was naïve. The midwives fearing God, or more aptly being in awe of God, did not do as the king ordered, but instead let the boys live. Theirs was a response based on faith. When the king calls them back to explain themselves, he asks “why have you done this thing letting the boys live”. They reply “because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women: they are vigorous. Before the midwife can come to them they have given birth.  Ha what can you do….”

I love that, a bit of fun when it was not really a laughing matter…For they were facing death by disobeying the king.

So here is a pretty outstanding reading, that goes with all the other outstanding readings about women who are not just bit players, but central to bringing the kingdom of God into the world.  A kingdom where everyone is included, regardless. 

…….

So we have some work to do, you and me.  If we truly believe the Christian faith and tradition is worth fighting for, then we must try to change the narrative surrounding it.  And that includes challenging doctrines that just don’t work and have never worked. And have actually been very harmful. 

Rather we should be shouting from the rooftops that it’s about love for all and everyone, and about a divine spirit that doesn’t require some payment for us to be reconciled.  All are included in the banquet.  It’s the beauty of the mysterious and it’s about the unknow thread that we hold onto and which we take out into the world, not to save ourselves, but to be life giving to others. And it’s about a Jesus we follow because his way is a way to do it, even today.  For love never gets old.

Okay, I’ve finished now!!!

Karen