October 2, 2005: Pushy Mothers As Peace-Makers
Matthew 15:21-28, Philippians 3:4b-14, Psalm 19
Eileen Parfrey, Springwater Presbyterian Church

      As part of a planning process, I once asked session to list Springwater's strengths and weaknesses, and one elder summed it up perfectly. "We can always come up with more good ideas than we have time and energy to accomplish." In other words, we keep coming up with one more great ministry to engage in, one more great mission effort, and do not focus on a single project. This is not "analysis paralysis." It's more like avoiding responsibility by not committing in particular. We distract ourselves with multiple ways of accomplishing things so we can't be held accountable, since we don't know what completion or success looks like.

      My spin on the long-ago statement of Springwater's weakness sounds harsh, but our ability to see possibilities is also a strength. We never lack for potential responses to the needs of the world. What you may not know is that I'm like a proud parent who can never hear enough good things about their baby-Springwater in my case. When Leon reported on his experience preaching here last week, I pumped him for details. He called Springwater "gospel in action" because of the magnitude of witness projects we're involved in. And he's right.

      But the magnitude of our involvements is also the source of our discouragement. Moving from one good idea to the next doesn't give us accomplishments to celebrate, taken up as we are in responding to newly-perceived needs. Session saw this as a need to be less reactive to mission needs, and they authorized a mission study. From my experience with a construction company, I knew the value of a concise mission statement. We knew we were general contractors, what we discovered was that we were more successful in marketing ourselves when we were able to say (with integrity) who we were and what kind of business we sought. We ran down fewer rabbit holes and wasted fewer resources by targeting our efforts. Churches do mission studies for the same reason. Given the rate of change in culture and neighborhoods, presbytery recommends churches do a mission study every 3-5 years. Who are we? What is God calling us to do in this time and place?

      Even Jesus had to do this. Some scholars see the harsh exchange between Jesus and the pushy mother as a mission study thrust upon Jesus. Was he reaching the people he was sent to serve, ought he to enlarge his mission? Pairing this gospel story with the reading from Philippians can give us perspective on our mission study process. Paul declares that being a follower of Jesus is the most important thing in his life, and he hopes this is true for his readers, cautioning us to make sure we're not just hell-bent on "accomplishing" salvation. It's all gift, he says. Even social justice mission is just accomplishing salvation, unless our over-arching goal is to try to be like Jesus.

      We take Paul's caution so seriously that, when we gather for corporate discernment as part of our mission study process, we read scripture and pray together in order to listen for God's leading. And even when we aren't sitting in the same room with each other, during the week at home and as part of the Tuesday afternoon prayer group, we continue to ask God to guide this congregation and to care for individuals. As we pray for the world, we ask God to enlighten us as to our corporate mission in the world.

      But maybe you are still troubled about my audacious comment regarding Jesus' need for a mission study. The mother pushes on behalf of her voiceless daughter. She's an outsider, unclean to Jews, but she bursts on Jesus' scene shouting his Messianic title, which the Jewish crowds had not yet agreed on. She is ignored every way but Sunday when she persists in trying to get Jesus' attention, until finally the disciples ask Jesus to do something about her. Jesus insults her. To call her a "dog" is equivalent to our coarser way of talking about donkeys. It is not nice. But the mother keeps pushing. Finally, Jesus says he only feeds those at his table, which might be a pious proverb of the time. She responds the way a devout Jew would respond, that God has provided enough and to excess. She's not trying to diminish Jesus' established mission, she is advocating on behalf of a vulnerable child and Jesus affirms her faith with rave reviews. Why? Is it her conviction that the faith community has an obligation to respond, even to an unknown child? Is it her relentless determination to speak for the voiceless, the vulnerable? Whatever, Jesus redraws the boundaries of his mission, seeing that it is God's intention to reach all nations. It's a prophetic act, redefining family boundaries, demonstrating God's mercy for everyone one at a time.

      This pushy mother reminds me of my own mother, who had a passion to stick up for underdogs. Her finely tuned antennae caught whenever someone was being picked on or was vulnerable and needed an advocate. Her sensitivity led her to volunteer as a troop leader for profoundly disabled Girl Scouts, which led her to a master's degree in special education. Her passion for advocating on behalf of throw-away kids led her to work to improve education and care programs for compromised kids.

      Which makes me wonder how she would have responded to the catastrophe of meth babies. Already we see these are children whose compromised medical, emotional, intellectual, and functional capacities challenge our educational, social welfare, and legal systems. These challenges will change over time, but will last their entire lives. The church has a role to play in this crisis-even our small congregation. We probably won't be developing the social policy and infrastructure to support the profound needs of meth kids, but we are available to support professionals and teachers who work with these kids. Buechner defines call as "where our greatest joy and the world's greatest need meets." Congregations, just as surely as individuals, need to discern their call. This requires all the prayerful listening we can muster. We might see needs and continue to address them the way we've always done. But it is incumbent upon us, as discernment is a faith practice, to continue to be open to God's address to us regarding needs as God sees them. Unless we do, we're accomplishing mission the way Paul accuses Philippi of accomplishing salvation.

      It's not hard-hearted to check your mission statement when presented with mission needs. After all, Jesus did it. There will always be hungry, vulnerable, homeless, oppressed, violent, sick, needy people in the world. Are we called to meet all their needs? Even if we re-channeled all the energies of all our people, surely this would tax the resources of 71 hardy souls. And what if an individual sense of call doesn't match this? What about those, for instance, who feel called to teach Sunday School? Ought they instead shelve food at the Resource Center, bringing the preschoolers with them? Or should we be offering those kids and their parents an opportunity to learn Christian faith practices and mission in the home? If advocacy for vulnerable others requires social courage, who will teach our young people the coping skills to survive when kids make fun of them for befriending geeks, because that's what Jesus would do? Is our mission to teach kids facts about the Bible, or does it involve faith practice and mission experience? Does child advocacy invite adults to grow in their faith in order to support the promises we all make when a child is baptized? If Springwater's mission is to provide sacred place, is monthly Taize part of our mission, or should we explore a wiggle-friendly worship style? Is there a place for contemplative faith in this world? Is it even attractive or necessary?

      Even Jesus needed to check his mission statement. Even Jesus needed to tune up his sense of who he was and what he was doing here. Even Jesus needed to hear that it was time to re-adjust the scope of who he was ministering to and with. That God's instrument, God's messenger, was a pushy mother ought to tickle our funny bones. And make us sit up and listen closely on our own behalf. That Jesus re-assessed his mission should inspire us with gratitude as we check our sense of mission. We are church together, in ministry and doing mission together. Together, we are the skin-on of Jesus in the here and now. Your prayerful support is necessary as we are intentionally involved in discernment of our mission together. Your attentive listening is as essential to who we are, as the pushy mother's voice was to Jesus' sense of mission.