May 19, 2024
Pentecost
Collected Stories
From the Book Study Class on
This Is Why I Came by Mary Rakow
Introduction
Serendipitously, our reflection for Pentecost says, “We are the vessels of God’s voice, her words blowing through us, bidding us to tell the tales that only we can speak.” Jan L. Richardson, In Wisdom’s Path
That is exactly what we are offering this morning.
Last term in the School of Christian Growth I lead a book study on Mary Rakow’s book entitled This is Why I Came. This is a novel about an older woman who has not been to church, to confession or received the sacrements in over 30 years. We do not know what caused the rift but what we do have is a collection of stories that she wrote trying to make sense of her faith, of God and the biblicial stories.
Several themes emerged in those stories, which as a class we followed.
One was the ineffableness of God. The difficulties in defiing or describing God which is beyond our understanding. A second theme was’ “This is why I came” like the title of the book, and a third was “I want a better God.”
We worked with these themes and with the stories that Rakow offered throughout the 6 weeks of the class, and at the end I asked everyone to pick a biblical story that either resonated with them or raised questions that they had always wanted answered which were not in the Biblical narrative and to rewrite it so that it answered those questions.
This morning you will here these stories for the Children’s Word, for the scripture lessons and for the sermon. We hope that these stories from a very different perspective or with new insights might open your heart in much the same way the the hearts of the disciples and those who were with them were opened on Pentecost.
The Greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven (Offered as the Children’s Word)
by Marta Brenden
Scripture: Matthew 18:1 – 6; Mark 10:14-16; Luke 18:15-17
My name is Miriam. In the time when Jesus lived and began teaching, I was 12 years old. We heard from our friends who had already heard Jesus. We heard he was a teacher with a new, different message. My Mother was eager to know what Jesus was teaching. One afternoon she had time to rest from the field work and spend the time with the younger children. I usually care for my little brother and sister.
We heard that Jesus was teaching about 1 hour away. That was too far for my mother and me to take the little children. So I walked to where Jesus was teaching. There were lots of people gathered. I had to push through the people to get close enough to hear him. Jesus noticed parents and children. Then he saw his disciples sternly speak to the parents to leave.
Jesus stopped his disciples from directing the parents to leave. I was surprised. Jesus invited the parents with children to come closer. Then he took the children into his arms and held them, he talked softly to them and looked into their eyes with love and tenderness. I saw him hold one infant after another, handing them back to the parents with comments on the child’s preciousness and beauty.
Then the older children came, one, two and three years old and older. Some of these children were eager for play and Jesus tossed them in the air while they giggled and laughed. Yet not all of them reached out in curiosity to this stranger. Jesus seemed to understand those who wanted to be held and those who chose not to.
When the parents began to leave, the rest of the crowd and disciples remained. I could see that Jesus understood that his disciples were anxious about what Jesus thought of them. They were not confident that he understood them. They wanted to know what was important to Jesus so they could be recognized and assured that he has high regard for them.
I heard Jesus say to the disciples. “You want to know who is greatest in the Kingdom of Heaven? I tell you, those who become as humble as these little children will enter the Kingdom. Even more, if you can be like these little children, ready to play and love and trust, then you will belong to God. And if you accept these children as your own, then God will accept you. And if you open your hearts and minds like these children, then you will be mine. For those who want to be first, they will come last in the Kingdom. Those who take the lowest place will become first. That is how the Kingdom of God works.”
When Jesus had completed his lesson to the disciples, I returned home. I was full of stories. Mother listened to me while I told her about the children and Jesus. I also told her what had been said to the disciples.
Mother was warmed by my description of Jesus. She said to me “Remember this experience, Miriam. This is a lesson you can carry the rest of your life. You will use it many times. It will support you as a mother and whatever you do in your life.” Mother smiled and hugged me.
I remembered all my life what I learned from Jesus.
And Miriam’s children, and for all the generations following her knew of the importance that children are an example to us of how to live as Jesus teaches.
********
Two thousand years later, a young woman named Miriam carried out the desires inspired by that teacher, Jesus. She grew up in the U.S. where she chose to study in the field of social work. Eventually she was called to work in Vietnam during the war. There was a Community Center where she worked. There were several programs in the Center. One program was a pre-school program established to prepare the young children for school. The pre-school program not only taught preparation for reading and writing, but the children were taken out of their neighborhood on field trips to visit parks and beaches and have fun beyond the confines of their neighborhood. They learned what their neighborhood was like beyond their street.
Eventually she returned to the U.S. Some how, each time she took a new job, her work was eventually directed to children. Often she remembered the story of Jesus and the children, how important they to teach us how to live.
“Whoever becomes humble like this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. Whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”
Scripture Lessons
First Reading: ADAM & EVE IN THE GARDEN– An Alternate History
by Keith Seat
BACKSTORY: The creation story is clear: Adam and Eve were created “in the image of God” and were naked but “felt no shame.” God saw all that God made and that it was “very good” (Genesis 1:27, 2:25, 1:31). The state of being naked is (or at least can be) pure and innocent, as when God first created humans.
But then Adam and Eve sinned and lost their innocence and suddenly felt naked. They made loincloths to cover their nakedness. And when God walked in the Garden in the cool of the evening, they hid themselves. We pick up the story with God calling out:
“Adam? ADAM? Where are you and Eve? What’s up?”
“Well, we heard you walking in the Garden, and we were afraid because we were naked, so we hid ourselves.”
God thundered, “I made you in my own image. How could you be afraid of being naked?? And what are those ridiculous things you have wrapped around you?”
Adam responded, “I just felt ashamed to be bare. I realized I don’t look as big or strong as I would like. And my belly is a little bit soft.”
Trying to come to Adam’s defense, Eve added, “And I really need to lose about 10 pounds before I feel confident enough not to cover up.”
God sputtered, “Pounds? POUNDS? How the Devil did you hear about pounds? Was it that wily serpent?”
Eve responded, “No, it was actually some glossy magazines I came across, where the women all looked way curvier and better than I do, and I’m afraid I won’t measure up as soon as Adam sees them.”
God: “I can promise you that no one will ever look that way in real life. This is the road to self-loathing and eating disorders.” (Adam, trying to help out Eve, asks, “What’s a road?”)
God: “What’s more, being naked in nature isn’t about sex, but being able to accept your bodies even as they age and wrinkle and sag – for that is natural and has its own beauty, too.”
God, “I don’t mean to do all the talking here, but don’t you understand that making humans is the way I get to be in close connection with nature and all of life, to feel sun on bare skin and the intensity of pelting downpours on hot summer days? That sensation of being fully embodied in nature is what I came for.
Second Reading: MARY DID YOU KNOW?
by Brenda Seat
Mary lay in the sunshine listening to the sounds of the birds. It was hard for her to move these days, so they had brought her bed out into the garden so she could see the flowers and feel the wind as it moved through the trees. Her mind wondered to another time and another garden….
When she visited Elizabeth all those years ago she had found solace in Elizabeth’s garden, too. Scared by what was happening to her and uncertain about what she was being asked to do she was filled with doubt and uncertainty as her belly swelled with the child within. The horror of having to tell Joseph and the fear of what would happen to her if people found out overwhelmed her. But when she was in the garden it all faded away. The sounds of the bees and the smell of the roses had been comforting and healing.
She remembered being with Elizabeth after her son, John was beheaded. How she hugged Elizabeth whose grief was so overwhelming. Mourning the loss of her son, and fearful of the retribution that might come from Herod and wondering if the neighbors would ostracize her because her son had been killed for being a terrorist. Mary had stayed with Elizabeth, then too. Reciprocating the love and support that Elizabeth had given her thirty years earlier. Mary had wondered then if Elizabeth regretted being the mother of John. If she had known this is how it would end would she have wanted this long-awaited precious child? But she had never asked that question of Elizabeth. How could she?
Now in the warmth of the sun, Mary unpacked that very question for herself. She was at the end of her life; she had nothing more to fear. Her son had died an ignoble, torturous death. He had suffered, and Mary had watched him suffer. She knew that people now celebrated his death as something triumphant, somehow conflating that pain and suffering for what happened three days later, but Mary could not do that. She had felt every minute, every second of that torturous death in her own body, wondering why she couldn’t have died instead of him. Children should not die before their parents, but both she and Elizabeth had experienced that tragedy. If she had known this would happen, would she have agreed to bring this child into the world? Even knowing he was special, God’s Son, some say, would she have done it?
She toys with the question, turning it over and over in her mind.
The sun is warm, and she drifts away. In her mind’s eye she sees the sweep of history. Those who followed her son, spread The Word, the good news Jesus gave them, and many follow, but instead of this news bringing about peace, their words and actions cause fear, and they are arrested, tortured and hunted down, martyred for their beliefs. She turns her eyes away and skips ahead and sees vast armies carrying a cross coming to Jerusalem. They claim they are bringing liberation, claiming Jerusalem in the name of her son, but instead they bring death and destruction. She shakes her head, restless now in the horror of it all. She moves ahead watching a civil war in a land called the New World where both sides claim God is on their side. After a brutal war the evil of slavery is finally abolished, but the effects of that wrong reverberate hundreds of years later affecting generations of people.
A cat jumps on her lap, waking Mary. She startles and then sinks back on her pillow, grateful to be awake. What was the point she wonders? Why did my son have to die? What good did it do? Again she wonders, if I knew then what I know now would I have birthed and loved this child, only to have him die in such a way?
But I didn’t know, she says to herself.
I didn’t know, instead, I loved my son with all my heart and treasured each moment I had with him.
Third Reading” THE PARABLE OF THE SAMARITAN IN TWO STORIES
by Trish Nemore
First Story: Two Black men help a White guy
“Where am I and who the hell are you?”
“I am an innkeeper and you’re in my inn. Of course, it’s against the law here in Alabama in 1950 and I’m taking one hell of a risk having you here. A black dude brought you here near dead a while ago, He tried to figure out who you were but apparently, you’d been robbed, and all your stuff taken. He was terrified to try to take you to a white establishment, knowing that they’d accuse him of beating and robbing you and that they’d probably lynch him. Which, of course, would be totally ridiculous because why would he beat and rob you then bring you someplace he wasn’t even welcome to be taken care of? And, of course, it would be a totally reasonable fear.
“Anyway, he had a little money that he gave me and he asked me to take care of you. Even told me he’d come back to see if he owed me more. Of course, I’ve had to keep you hidden away, which was easy as long as you were unconscious but now. . .”
“Well, thanks, I guess, to him and you for saving my life. I’m probably a dead man anyway if my Klan neighbors find out where I’ve been all this time. I mean, I’m not like that but they don’t much care for mixing of the races, ya know? And how would I even find this other dude – did he leave a name or address?”
“Nope. He’s no fool. He just said to tell you to pay it forward.”
“Well, I guess I can do that but I sure don’t know if I’ll have the courage he did. They say that God requires this separation of the races. We need a better god.”
2.A Samaritan helps a Jew – The Next Chapter
“Where am I? And who are you?”
“Welcome back to the land of the living. You’re in an Inn in Jericho; I’m Joe, the Innkeeper. A woman brought you here near dead a couple of months ago – you’ve been out a long time. I’m not sure how she did it – you’re a lot bigger than she but somehow, she got you on her donkey. And I really don’t know what she was doing alone on that terrible road anyway – a woman! I’m pretty sure she was from Samaria – there’s a look, ya know? Anyway, she gave me a whole lot of money to take care of you and said she’d swing back later to see if she needed to give me more. She didn’t see you attacked but surmised it was robbers – pretty common on that road. But she did see a priest walk as far around your body as he could – you know, priests are into that purity thing – he probably thought you were dead.”
“That’s what my god demands – they can’t do their priestly thing if they touch a corpse. OMG, I’m so happy to be alive but what do I do now? I am indebted to a Samaritan – and one who’s a woman! The shame of it. She’s part of a group of our sworn enemies – I’d be ostracized from my community if I made any overtures of repayment to her. I know I would.”
“This woman was pretty cool. She knew you’d have that dilemma when you got better. You know what she said to me? She said, ‘Tell him to pay it forward.’ Ya know, help someone else, instead of repaying her. Have you ever heard of such a thing?”
“My religion doesn’t even allow that – it tells me I’m indebted to her. But you know what? I’m gonna do what you said she said to do. Oh, man, I need a better god.”
Sermon (Four Stories)
- ELIZABETH’S JOURNAL by Joan Dodge
(The following entries are from my personal journal—Elizabeth)
First Entry
My name is Elizabeth, and I’m a descendant of Aaron and wife to Zechariah. My husband and I are old and have not been blessed with any children. Sometimes, I’m sad about this and I know it is hard on Zechariah. No children feels as if we are cursed by God. Our friends also sometimes shame us as to what is wrong with us.
Second Entry
Five months ago, Zechariah came home after doing his job at the synagogue and tells me that I would be having a child—he had a vision with an angel and the angel had told him that I would get pregnant. “Oh, my, what a crazy, old fool my husband is” ….It’s not the first time either that he has come home with some type of crazy talk. I’m really past the point of being able to conceive and now he is saying that we are to be parents! We don’t even have sex that often!
Even if it is true, I don’t know if I even want a child at this stage of life. After all, I have my women friends and various groups and a wonderful sense of freedom. I would be giving all this up for caring for a baby and young child. “Yes, it would be me that does all the parenting as my husband has his priestly work and he rarely helps around the house”.
What is this “angel thing” and “vision thing” that Zechariah talks about all about?
Why didn’t God visit me and talk with me since I am the bearer of the baby rather than my husband. That seems unfair to me. Don’t angels and God talk directly to women?
Third Entry
Cousin Mary arrived on our doorstep yesterday after traveling from her home in Nazareth. I am already 6 months pregnant and while it hasn’t been easy, I have come to accept that I will have a child soon. I guess Zech was right about that.
Mary seems anxious and overwhelmed by her own situation of being pregnant although she had an angel visit her. Mary’s angel was named, Gabriel, and told her why she was pregnant. At first, the whole encounter seemed liked the fictional justification of a scared teenager who was pregnant but I did grow to understand more as she talked.
I confess that half of me listened and tried to be sympathetic to Mary’s situation and the other half just wanted her to stop chattering and just go home to her own family. I need peace and space for my own job of birthing this baby.
What does Mary want from me? What can I give her? Isn’t that the questions for most people? What does this person want from me and what can I give to them that is helpful and kind?
Fourth Entry
After 3 months, Mary is still living with Zechariah and me but she is leaving soon. After my initial shock and doubt, I’ve come to accept Mary’s story. However, it hasn’t always been easy having her live here with us during this long period of time. She has been a wonderful companion for my own pregnancy. Yet, it is time for her to go and join with Joseph as he will need to support her as best that he can. She has brought a spark to both Zach and me but it is enough. Now we need to parent this new son of ours—named John, according to the angel. Again, why does the angel coming from God get to name our son rather than ME! Oh well, I guess that is the way it goes. Maybe, someday, the Holy One will speak more directly to us, women, rather than give vision and voices to just the menfolk.
2. A BETTER MESSIAH by John Hassell
“The sisters Mary and Martha are asking for you to come see Lazarus. He’s really sick. I think he’s got TB, maybe worse, AIDS. Not sure. But hardly anyone is going to see him to help him out. They’re afraid they might also catch his disease,” said his friend and follower John.
“I know. I know. I have a lot on my mind right now. I’m trying to focus. I have a terrible headache. There are only so many hours in a day. So many people want a piece of me right now and it’s overwhelming!” replied Jesus.
“Well you better get it together, Jesus. He doesn’t have much time left. At least try to squeeze something into your schedule,” said Thomas the twin.
“Are you serious? Can’t I have a couple of days to chill and settle my spirit? I nearly got stoned to death when we were in the temple in Jerusalem for the feast of the dedication last week. No good deed goes unpunished, you know. Besides I hear he’s not as bad as what they say. Mary and Martha are always hysterical and exaggerate everything. I bet he’s just sleeping.”
Jesus wandered over to be by himself. His companions were so frustrated. “Why is he so stubborn?” they muttered to each other.
Then the message came to Thomas the Twin. “Just heard Lazarus died. We need to get to Bethany now. No more dilly dallying. This is your family Jesus,” said Thomas. “Family is everything.”
So Jesus started walking the two miles from Jerusalem to Bethany along with his crew of followers. Before they got to the edge of town, they could hear the wailing and crying.
“So now you show up?” said Martha. “Where the hell have you been? Are you like all the others? Talk big and fancy and yet you don’t lift a finger to help. Are you afraid of catching AIDS or TB like all the rest of the people who stayed away?”
“Where’s Mary?” Jesus asked.
“Now you show up!” screamed Mary. “You knew Lazarus was sick. You ignored all our messages to come support us. But no! You wanted to show off again. You opened the eyes of that blind man. Why couldn’t you have done something to stop Lazarus from dying? Don’t you realize that all those religious hypocrites don’t give a damn how many miracles you perform in front of them. You abandoned your closest friends who really do believe in you, who desperately needed you. Not much of an audience for your tricks here in Bethany, huh? You should be ashamed of yourself. You disgust me.”
Jesus sobbed uncontrollably and doubled over in grief.
“Get up!” ordered Mary. “Get your act together now. The least you can do is go to where we’ve laid him and pay your respects to the friend who loved you until his last breath. He constantly asked for you, you know. ‘When’s Jesus coming?’ Lazarus asked. Those were his last words! Calling out for you. Yet you couldn’t be bothered,” said Mary.
“I know. I know. I’m so sorry. I should be a better friend. This saviour act is too much for me. Take me to his tomb so I can pray” said Jesus.
“Pray? It’s a little late for that, don’t you think?” said Mary.
“Open the tomb,” Jesus quietly asked.
“Are you nuts?” said Martha. “He’s been dead for days. Your’e only making it worse for us. Do you think we want to see and smell his decaying flesh? Not only would that make us unclean, it will traumatize us all over again.”
“Please. Do what I say,” Jesus replied.
The guys pushed the stone away. Jesus stepped forward to the tomb. He cried out tears, rolling down his face, “Lazarus, come out! Come out of your tomb!”
Then nothing happened.
Jesus shouted louder, “Come out. Come out, now!”
Then a hush went over the crowd. This mummy-like figure stood up and slowly walked toward Jesus. Screams erupted from the crowd that had gathered around the tomb.
“Take off his linens. Let him breathe the air again,” said Jesus.
Taking deep breaths, Lazarus stood naked in front of the crowd. His fit nude body was completely restored to health.
“Let him go free,” said Jesus.
“Better late than never,” said Martha. “Can we get a better Messiah,” she mumbled to no one in particular.
3. JESUS IN GESTHEME by Ken Burton
Jesus: I need to be alone for a while to pray, but I also need your three nearby. So would you sit here and pray, while I go a bit farther? And, please, STAY AWAKE. I know it is late and we have had a long, grueling day, but I really need you to be here for me and with me, so please, keep alert.
John: Of course we will stay awake. You have trusted us about so much. Surely you can rely on us to keep our eyes open!
Jesus: I appreciate your confidence. I just hope you are right!
Jesus goes a bit further into the garden, kneels and begins to pray. As has been the case for some time, he is at once filled with a sense of God’s presence. He is gifted with the ability to be aware of God with all of his senses. His flesh tingles. There is a sweet smell which defies description. He hears a soft murmur which is equally beyond words. And there is this gorgeous multi-colored light which seems to both surround Jesus and well up within him. None of this is new or unusual for Jesus. He has come to expect it when he prays.
Usually, Jesus’ prayers are what we might call centering prayer, simply opening himself as much as he can to understanding God’s will for him and taking in the power he needs to do it. This time, however, is different. Although it is not the first time that Jesus has come into God’s presence with an “ask,” a prayer of petition, this is one of a very few such moments. Jesus has long since become clear about what awaits him in the days ahead: trumped up charges courtesy of the Temple authorities, a phony trial with a death sentence, and, most horrible of all, crucifixion, one of the painful, agonizing types of execution ever devised. Now, despite all he has done in a ministry that has seemed directly dictated by the Holy One, Jesus again has doubts about himself and his call. He thinks again, “What have I gotten myself into? Constant giving of myself for others is one thing. Being crucified is quite another. Then he prays, “Dear Abba, let this cup pass from me. Please help me find some other way for this story to end!” He knows that God has heard his doubt as well has his more appropriately worded prayer, but this matters little. Jesus simply wants the loving compassionate Father God, whom he has come to know so well and who has, through him, brought healing and hope to so many, to help him avoid being crucified.
Suddenly Jesus feels a need for the closer presence of Peter, James and John. He gets up and returns to where he left them, only to find them all sound asleep. Jesus falls to the ground in anger and grief. At this moment, all seems lost. He is facing crucifixion, but his trusted disciples can’t even manage to stay awake, despite their promises to do so.
Jesus: Peter, James, John! Couldn’t you manage to stay awake for a few minutes to support me while I pray?
Ashamed and dazed by sleep, the disciples hesitated before responding to Jesus. As Luke reports, “Suddenly a crowd came and the one called Judas, one of the twelve was leading them.” (Luke 22:47)
4. AT THE TOMB by Marjory Bankson
“Don’t touch me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father.”
“What? You mean I could hold you here? Now? Yes. I want that.…”
“No Mary, it’s just that you don’t need to hold onto me as others do. You see me for who I am.”
“And who are you now?”
“As I have been and ever shall be Mary. Spirit present with you always. Present with others, always, everywhere. In this form, I’m not bound by time and space. But right now, I need you to go and tell the disciples what you have seen and heard.”
“You know they won’t believe me – that they resent our relationship – that they’ve not been accepting of women in their circle.”
“Yes, I know that. It’s the reason you must go now, before they get preoccupied with their former lives. Before they forget what you know, how I’ve welcomed you, depended on you and the other women who have traveled with us. You’ve always been able to see me, to reflect back who I was meant to be. Different from my mother, yes, but like that too, as if you could see beyond the surface. … Please go. I know it’s hard but there is no other way. “
And just like that, he was gone. Is that what I have to tell them? That he comes and goes like my breath? Can I tell them anything more? That he’s alive? Really here? Now?
And just as I feared, they scoffed and went on discussing how they could get back at Judas.
