<html><body>Second part of the draft for Sunday -<br><br><br><!--[if gte mso 9]><xml>
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<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:
.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Last
Tuesday, Gay Jennings, the President of the House of Deputies of The Episcopal
Church, and Katharine Jefferts Schori, our Presiding Bishop, wrote a letter to
The Episcopal Church in all of its seventeen countries around the world, asking
that this day, the 6<sup>th</sup> of September, be a Day of Confession,
Repentance and Commitment to end Racism.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:
.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Perhaps
it’s helpful for us to think of this call in terms of where Jesus found Himself
when He and the Syrophoenician woman engaged in dialogue. Jesus seemed so sure
of Himself, and of His role in the world. He walked from Galilee to Judah; He
stood and talked in the massive, gorgeously arrayed Temple in Jerusalem as well
as in the small, probably plainly arranged synagogues of the countryside; He
engaged people as He walked the trade routes; and He spoke about the inclusive
love of God, the overwhelming desire of God to take care of <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>ALL</u></b> of people’s needs. Then He
turned around and was incredibly dismissive of the woman whose young daughter
was in such desperate need of healing.</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:
.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">She
was a woman. She was from a different ethnic group, albeit probably close to
being cousin to Jesus. She had an accent. She seemed so uppity in her demands.
But all she wanted was to be treated like everyone else. All she needed was
what she’d seen and heard Jesus do and say all around her. So she took on
Jesus. She called Him out for His shortsightedness, for His lack of awareness
of what was happening and who was being oppressed. She wouldn’t give up. She
argued until finally Jesus paid her such a backhanded compliment. “Because
you’re such a wily nag, your daughter’s healed.”</span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:
.5in;line-height:normal"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">Jesus
was really amazed. His eyes were opened, His own vision of the love of God was
expanded limitlessly. And He found out first hand that persistence <b style="mso-bidi-font-weight:normal"><u>DOES</u></b> pay off, no matter uncomfortable
is makes one feel.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt;text-indent:.5in"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;font-family:"Arial","sans-serif"">“On <span class="aqj">June
17</span>, nine members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South
Carolina, were murdered by a white racist during their weekly bible study. Just
a few days later at General Convention in Salt Lake City,” wrote Gay and Katharine,
“we committed ourselves to stand in solidarity with the AME Church as they
respond with acts of forgiveness, reconciliation, and justice (<a href="http://publicaffairs.cmail1.com/t/r-l-fdlkujy-xihjhoid-n/" target="_blank">Resolution
A302</a>).</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“Now
our sisters and brothers in the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church have
asked us to make that solidarity visible by participating in ‘<a href="http://publicaffairs.cmail1.com/t/r-l-fdlkujy-xihjhoid-p/" target="_blank">Confession,
Repentance, and Commitment to End Racism <span class="aqj">Sunday</span></a>’ …” <sup>3</sup></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>Each
one of us, and each Episcopal congregation is asked to pray and to take action,
to talk earnestly with God, asking “What’s wrong with us, that this goes on in
our own communities?” </span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“Racism
will not end with the passage of legislation alone; it will also require a
change of heart and thinking,” writes AME Bishop Reginald T. Jackson. <span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“This
is an effort which the faith community must lead, and be the conscience of the
nation. We will call upon every church, temple, mosque and faith communion to
make their worship service on <span class="aqj">this Sunday</span> a time to
confess and repent for the sin and evil of racism, this includes ignoring,
tolerating and accepting racism, and to make a commitment to end racism by the
example of our lives and actions.”</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>One
of the tragedies of human life is that it often takes some situation of
desperation before we act. We find ourselves confronted with all sorts of
Syrophoenician women, begging for life, for education, for food, even, for
their children. Yet even when our peace is shattered by the latest violence or
atrocity we rush for our label jar and reach in to pull out something to excuse
and justify our inaction or the behaviour of others.</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in;margin-bottom:.0001pt"><span style="font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:"Arial","sans-serif""><span style="mso-tab-count:1"> </span>“It’ll
cripple the economy if we do such-and-such.” “The city cannot afford to open
clinics or any more meal programmes.” “Why doesn’t everyone else live up to our
standards? What’s wrong with them?” </span></p>
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