Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician Woman
 The Gospel reading for this weekend is the challenging encounter of Jesus and the Syro-Phoenician woman who is desperate for the health of her daughter. How do we explain Jesus seeming rebuff to her in very rude terms: “it is not right to take the children’s bread and toss it to the dogs”? Of course it provokes a marvelous and deeply insightful response “Yes Lord, but even the dogs eat the children’s crumbs.” Did her response, as one writer I read this week suggests, stretch Jesus’ vision of grace to give him a deeper understanding of God’s Kingdom for all: Jew and Gentile, male and female, slave and free, insider and outsider?This week I have worked on writing various new pages for our website: on Confirmation, Funeral arrangements, Ecumenical and Interfaith relations, Prayer, Living Room Dialogues, Friday Club and TGIF and a 2012 in photos thus far. I look forward to our new website being more fit for purpose as it clearly is the main way that people find their way through our doors. I can do the writing but am wholly reliant on others with the technology.
There was a good buzz this morning with many of our families now back and new people finding their feet in the community. Friday Club will begin next week with a couple of weeks to focus on a Harvest theme. It was lovely to welcome two friends from the Chinese Study group that I attended two weeks ago, who seemed very happy to be part of an international community. |