Proper 17A 2014

A sermon preached by the Rev. Beth Maynard


A while ago I listened to a podcast featuring a Christian teacher of prayer named Jim Finley. He’s an expert on the writer Thomas Merton, as well as a psychotherapist, but the thing that was interesting to me about this podcast was that it was put together by a publisher of New Age spirituality books. So what that meant was that a New Age leader was interviewing this Christian contemplative. Finley spoke from his own experience, which was deeply shaped by Jesus -- but did so, I thought, very accessibly and graciously for an inter-religious context.

The interviewer was open and gracious as well, but at one point she asked Finley a question that I found tremendously revealing.  He had made some references to a point that clearly was totally foreign to her, and finally she stopped him for an explanation.

What she wanted clarified was the mentions he’d made in his story of weakness and suffering. He had talked more than once about how he had been through times of feeling powerless and surrendering to God. Why did he keep mentioning this? This New Age leader just didn’t grasp how suffering could have anything to do with what she understood spiritual growth to be. ....

Proper 15A 2014

A sermon preached by the Rev. Beth Maynard

One of the frustrating things about today’s Gospel, the story of Jesus and the Canaanite woman, is the fact that we can’t get inside Jesus’ head.  This happens a lot when you read Scripture – you often simply can’t tell what is motivating people.

In our day, we are used to films and novels that delve into the human psyche. Well, Biblical narratives aren’t like that. The way they tell the story is nearly always strikingly economical, and they almost never give the kind of subjective psychological descriptions we 21st century people enjoy. Which means we often naturally find ourselves guessing at people’s inner thoughts or motivations. So of course people have made various guesses as to what is going on in Jesus’ head as he, a Jewish man, talks with this woman of a different ethnicity and a different status. ....