Grace: It's Our Way of Life

As Episcopal Christians we
Worship at home daily and together weekly;
Study the Scriptures, our tradition, and what it means to be a disciple today;
Serve our families, our parish, and our world in the name of Christ.

Everything we do is done with an ethic of Welcome
because we are only here by Grace.

18 June 2013

Sermon, Pentecost 4, Proper 6, Year C, 16 June 2013 - Wickedness, Wisdom, Women, and Fathers




Father's Day sermon on women as strength and Wisdom in the Bible and the wickedness of passive men.  The texts center in both the Hebrew and Gospel passages on women, first as wickedness unleashed by the passivity of a wicked king and then as the personification of Wisdom, shocking in context because a sinful woman would not automatically be assumed to be wise or good. 

Two minor notes:   Anita Diamant's novel about women in the Bible is called The Red Tent, and is both wonderful and sometimes criticized.  The other book is a little fluffier, but surprisingly informative called Bad Girls of the Bible by Liz Curtis Higgs. 

Second note: the picture of the pericope from Luke is of the woman (a sinner) as the picture of Wisdom versus the Pharisee who is inhospitable and believes that he is justified as Folly.  This plays further into the two children of Wisdom and could be seen as direct criticism of Proverbs and possibly even John the Baptist.  It would not be the only place where Jesus criticized John. 

The story of Abigail is found in 1 Samuel 25, and the name Nabal means "to wilt or fail" and took on the shameless type of failure meaning. 

1 Kings 21:1-10, (11-14), 15-21a


Psalm 5:1-8


Galatians 2:15-21


Luke 7:36-8:3


The Collect
Keep, O Lord, your household the Church in your steadfast faith and love, that through your grace we may proclaim your truth with boldness, and minister your justice with compassion; for the sake of our Savior Jesus Christ, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and for ever. Amen.