"In the name of the one God, creator, redeemer and sanctifier"

In this morning's gospel lesson from Mark, we find a very weary, very human Jesus. He had come to the region of Tyre, entered a house and "did not want anyone to know he was there." He was to find no rest, for a desperate, Gentile woman found him and immediately began begging him to cure her daughter who was possessed by a demon. His response was shocking for he said: "Let the children be fed first, for it is not fair to take the children's food and throw it to the dogs." In other words, my mission is to the people of Israel…not to those lesser ones, those 'dogs' who are gentiles. She was not a member of the right "group," she was not "of the faith," so was to be put beyond the healing power of Jesus. Our very human Jesus was not initially very kind, to put it mildly, but the persistent and desperate plea of the woman served to break him open, to demonstrate that she had total belief in his power to heal. After healing her daughter Jesus then expanded his mission and traveled through Gentile territory, performing healings as he went. Jesus learned through the woman more of who he was and was to be as God's son.
Almost all of Jesus' healings and exorcisms were individual and personal. His subsequent healing of the deaf man in the region of Decapolis was done privately, away from the crowd. We never read about "mass healings" for it was not about medicine. Each healing was an icon of what it means to be in full relationship to God. His ministrations gave sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, words to the mute, and clear thinking to the possessed.
My time this summer had a primary underlying theme, one that I didn't fully understand until I was immersed in the workshop at Caux, Switzerland on "An Honest Dialogue for a Clean and Just Africa." Peacemaking and reconciliation begin with each of us as individuals and then move to dialogue with another person or persons. Only then can these issues be addressed in a broader social context.
I saw this principle at work in Coventry, in Liverpool, in Cape Town, in Umtata and with my own family in France and Colorado. Archbishop Desmond Tutu and President Nelson Mandela understand it. Hope for the Cities, the Healing of Memories and Initiatives of Change are grounded in it. Honest dialogue on a personal, individual level is essential to healing and new life.
We begin with ourselves, healing our own relationships. Then, and only then, do we dare to move out to help others make peace and reconcile. When we being the dialogic process, one to one, we learn to know the other, to hear the other, and a real person emerges and "otherness" disappears. This is individual and personal, a reflection of Jesus' approach to healing as an icon of the love of God.
Early in my time at Caux I met an elderly priest by the name of Elkanah, which means, in the Hebrew, 'provided by God.' You may recall that Elkanah was the husband of Hannah, and they, in turn, were the parents of Samuel, the last of the judges. Elkanah was one of a number of clergy present of a variety of denominations and nationalities. We were placed in the same group and began to talk with one another. I learned that he was an Anglican priest – a Nigerian whose first cousin is Archbishop Peter Akinola of the Anglican Church in that country. It was fascinating, however, that we never talked about the Anglican Communion or big international church issues. It wasn't that we avoided the topics, they simply didn't come up. We were involved in talking about poverty, education, economic development and civil war. Women priests were not a compelling topic! We found we were two people with similar hopes and a common faith. Toward the end of the time he gave me this lovely Nigerian dress…and I treasure it!
I suspect that Elkanah will have a different view of America and of women clergy now, just as I have a vastly different view of Nigerian clergy. Our relationship meant that we ceased to be "other" or "one of them," for each of us now has a human face! I suspect our differences still exist, though I cannot be certain that he shares his cousin's views. (I know that I have relatives with whom I have profound disagreements!)
Jesus' world view was challenged by a desperate, Gentile mother and, as a consequence, his ministry was transformed. He truly heard that woman's pleas and, thus, she became a person of value in his eyes, not a pariah.
We too are called to be open, to listen and to hear – to allow our ministries to be broadened and transformed. May they become icons of God's love in this broken and suffering world. Let us pray again the Collect for today:

"Grant us, O Lord, to trust in you with all our hearts; for, as you always resist the proud who confide in their own strength, so you never forsake those who make their boast of your mercy." AMEN