We’ve spent the last few months in the Hebrew Scriptures studying Kings and so I thought we would delve into a new testament epistle before returning to the gospels in Advent.
I heard a news story this week that I loved so much. A Haitian minister in the Episcopal church in New Hampshire invited members of his congregation and the community to bring their pets to church for the annual blessing of the pets.
“Bring your pet,” he said. “Bring your dog and cat. I am a Haitian, and I am not going to eat them. I will bless them. I will embrace them. I will embrace you. I will make community with you.”
The Blessing of the Animals is observed by various Christian denominations in honour of St. Francis, who was known for cherishing the poor and the animal kingdom. People bring pets and sometimes livestock to receive a blessing that acknowledges their importance to God.
I love this story so much because it is such a beautiful of example of Christians drawing on the ancient traditions, liturgies, stories and calendar of the church to respond to what’s happening in the world.
This invitation of course was in response to the comments made by Donald Trump, who falsely alleged that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were “eating the pets of the people that live there.”
While these rumors, which spread like wildfire on social media, have been debunked many remain concerned about the effects of a hostile rhetoric that has emerged aimed at Haitians and other immigrants.
And so this minister, Rev. Jean Beniste, turned one of Christianity’s rituals into an act of good-natured resistance. The Episcopal bishop of New Hampshire, said “Our gathering of blessing, instead of cursing, can be seen as an act of resistance to a culture that is fomenting violence of thought, speech, and action.”
Today we are beginning a series on the book of Hebrews.
The Book of Hebrews is not an easy book. It’s a bit strange and mysterious and sometimes hard to understand. It uses some violent imagery and has some rather strong warnings about falling away from faith. This book has also been experienced as anti-Old Testament and anti-Jewish. And as we make our way through this book we will have to wrestle with all that.
Now, there is no doubt that the author of this book is proclaiming that Jesus is a superior revelation of God than all that has gone before. This does not mean however, that everything that has gone before is invalid.
According to Long, in the commentary I am mostly drawing on for this series, “The word spoken in Jesus does not void the previous promises of God; it fuses, clarifies, and fulfills them; it brings them ‘to perfection.’”
“It is crucial to remember the Preacher’s conviction that the God who speaks in Jesus is the very same “God who spoke to our ancestors in many various ways,” the same God who spoke to Abraham and Sarah, to Moses and Miriam, to Deborah and Jeremiah. God’s speech did not suddenly change its essential character when it came in Jesus but was always the good news of blessing and peace across the generations.”
Who wrote the text, to whom and when is unknown. It was originally attributed to Paul, but Christians as early as Origen in the third century recognised the style was different to Paul’s. However, it seems likely the author was involved in Paul’s missionary activity and so friends of Paul like Barnabas, Apollos and Priscilla have all been suggested as the potential author.
At the Presbytery meeting and retreat two weeks ago the guest speaker Rev. Dr. Sunny Chen from the Assembly made a pretty strong case for Priscilla. The fact the author is not named is certainly very unusual and if the author was indeed a woman this would explain it. As well as the uniqueness of the style and content.
While, we refer to this text as the letter to the Hebrews most scholars now believe it was not a letter but a sermon because of the style of the Greek. This sermon was sent by the author to the congregation, a congregation they knew well.
And so, like Long, in this series, I am mostly going to refer to the author as the preacher. I am also going to use the pronoun she. Again it has not been proven the author was a female but it has not been proven they were male either and as I only have two choices for once I am going with she.
This sermon is sent to address a pastoral problem. The congregation is tired. Long describes them as exhausted, tired of serving the world, of being peculiar and whispered about in society, of the spiritual struggle, of trying to keep their prayer life going etc. etc. Perhaps you can relate.
Many of them are leaving the community and falling away from faith.
But the preacher of Hebrews, as do I, believes that holding fast to Jesus is in fact the best way, that the promises of God are worthy of trust. That in God they will find the rest that their tired souls long for.
The preacher, faithful to the narratives of the Old Testament, does this in these opening words by painting a picture of God as One who has been speaking, arguing, pleading, wooing commanding, telling stories, conversing and generally spinning words across the lines between heaven and earth since the beginning of time.”
“This speech of God is not unbroken chatter but episodes of speech punctuating seasons of silence. We do not know why the revelation of God is episodic, why the will of God seems crystal clear in one circumstance only to be opaque in another. We only know that there is a mysterious rhythm to the speech and silence of God that uncoils from the wild and wise freedom of God.”
And now according to the Preacher, this wild God has spoken to them by taking on their humanity, sharing their suffering and redeeming it through the Son Jesus. As Brittany read, “Since, therefore, the children share flesh and blood, he himself likewise shared the same things, so that through death he might destroy the one who has the power of death, that is, the devil, and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by the fear of death.”
The preacher urges them to remember their faith saying in chapter 10, “But recall those earlier days when, after you had been enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, sometimes being publicly exposed to abuse and persecution, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. For you had compassion for those who were in prison, and you cheerfully accepted the plundering of your possessions, knowing that you yourselves possessed something better and more lasting.”
The preacher exhorts them to therefore, “lift your drooping hands and strengthen your weak knees, and make straight paths for your feet, so that what is lame may not be put out of joint but rather healed.”
And in a similar way that the preacher of Hebrews draws on the stories of her faith, her people, her tradition to encourage and inform her community so too did Rev. Jean Beniste who drew on the Christian story and traditions in a new way to address an issue in his community, in his time and place.
And as we seek the Kingdom here in Mparntwe at this time in our work, play and worship I hope we too will draw from the deep wells of our traditions and story while also seeking and seeing the new thing that God is doing.
And as we gather today for our congregational meeting to discuss a new vision statement for this time may we also do so in this spirit, surrounded by, grateful for and faithful to the great cloud of witnesses who have come before us in this place, but also running with perseverance the race that is set before us, willing to take up the challenges that God is calling us to.
And so let us sing, in honour of the Haitian Bishop and his blessing of the pets. All thing bright and beautiful. Please sit for this one and use it as a time of quiet reflection on all that we have shared this morning, a time of prayer perhaps for all immigrants facing persecution and our flora and fauna friends.