Midweek Devotion 5 June 2024

Reading

Matthew 15:21

"Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon." 

Devotion

 

This is the newly released Episcopal pride shield.  Designed by graphic artist Melissa Walker, it was unveiled by the national church office last month.  The upper left retains the nine crosses of the nine original dioceses arranged in a St. Andrew's cross to reflect our Scottish roots--our first bishop, Samuel Seabury, was consecrated by Bishops in Scotland in 1784 since the Anglican Church of Scotland's consecration rite contained no oath to the crown, which would have been very problematic following the American Revolution.

I find myself drawn to the cross as a meeting place between the four quadrants of colors and designs.  Not only does the rainbow remind me of the traditional pride month rainbow, but also of the sign of God's first covenant with humanity following the flood.  The addition of the upper right quadrant of different colors in a diagonal highlight, for me, ways of being human I haven't considered before.  I wonder at and ponder the borderlands of human self-understanding.

Jesus' ministry was as a border walker.  He journeyed in geographic areas that were considered by many to be sketchy, like Tyre and Sidon.  In a time of strict religious purity, he engaged with people on the margins, many of whom were considered unclean, for a variety of reasons.  He talked freely with men, women, poor people, rich people, enslaved people, and free people.  His ministry relentlessly engaged people across boundaries overcoming the forces of estrangement and alienation.  The cross is the ultimate sign of God's absolute determination to be with us and love us through death and beyond.  I wonder who this week, dear reader, you will meet as you walk, symbolically, your own district of Tyre and Sidon?  I pray that grace may abound in the encounter.

Prayer

God, who made me in Your image, teach me to love myself as You love me.

God, who made me in Your image, allow me to show that image to the world.

God who made me in Your image, help me to see Your image in all those I meet.

God, who made me in Your image, teach me to conserve and protect all Your creation.

God, who made me in Your image, bless, protect, and keep me and all Your children safe. Amen.

(From the More Light Presbyterians Retreat & Mission Weekend in New Orleans, 2006)