St Barnabas Episcopal Church, Warwick, RI

St Barnabas Episcopal Church, Warwick, RI At St. Barnabas Church we are dedicated to serving Christ in the world in which we live.

We believe that his Gospel is good news for all people everywhere, and that Christian faith equips us to live fully in the world in which God has made.

09/09/2026

Sermon for August 6, 2026
Rev. Andrea Hutnak

This year on Valentine's Day, Joe and I took our teen and their best friend out to dinner, and we laughed through the whole meal, because during the first half of our dinner the restaurant was playing the most anti-Valentine songs like Love Stinks, and I Used To Love Her, and all sorts of break-up songs and I will Survive, and then at one point it switched completely over to love songs.

I was reminded of that while reflecting on today's portion of Psalm 119. Songwriters can be moved to write about a wide range of emotions, and focus on specific ones that speak truth to experience. The Psalms sung to God, and to God's people (and often a combination of both) remind listeners that the living God, who existed in the midst of the people throughout history is faithful and continues to provide strength and hope to those who seek God's help.

Today's Psalm is like a river that runs in two directions down the same mountain.
There is Praise, and there is also Rage - most likely against an unnamed injustice that has caused harm to the people of God. (A stream that could dangerously be taken out of context and used to justify violent actions.) However, the rejoicing outweighs the desire for punishing, and both streams run down well-worn paths of human experience into the source from which they were created, singing of a God who is still speaking, and singing creation into existence, and sustaining it through all things.

There is HOPE in this: those who, with God's help, seek and choose justice and try to live lives that honor the dignity of every human being and the God of creation share something in common as we unite to join our voices to God's song, singing "Alleluia" in times of celebration and "Alleluia Anyhow" in troubling times.

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From the time of the Israelites about to leave slavery in Egypt through modern times there will always be forms of tyranny in our broken world. How are we to be ready to respond to God's work in the world? The Israelites had to trust in God's Process, Promise, and Provision. God was in the details and the people had a plan to follow. Did it all make sense at the time? Probably not. But to call God our "Deliverer' and our "Strength" is to make a bold statement in the face of trouble. It requires trust that the One who delivers Israel from oppression and tyranny will be true to the promise, will not leave us without help, and that there will be celebration.
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For a few years when my brother and I were kids, our Dad would say night prayers with us, and he always began with the words "Jesus said: When two or three are gathered in my name there will I be." Thankfully, cynical-child-me knew better than to challenge that with "Well isn't Jesus also there when one person prays?"
I'm thankful, now, that my father did that with us, and I better understand the bigger picture of that quote from scriptures is that: we are meant for community.

Jesus promises to be with us when we need to gather to discuss the difficult things, even when we gather in conflict - whether in the church family, our own families, or friend groups. In fact all of Matthew chapter 18 shows Jesus's desire for restoration and for the community to be open to one another and to share in his work of restoration. And for the disciples, he gave them authority to bind and loose the laws, or to hold onto or let go - for example, the restriction about eating on the Sabbath - as long as they remained aligned with God's word and the teachings of Jesus. There would be conversations, and differences of opinions. Jesus promised to be there with them.

Even in the difficult parts of today's Gospel reading, for example when Jesus said that if an offender refuses to listen let them be to you as a gentile or tax collecter, He speaks to us of HOPE for restoration, since the tax collectors and gentiles are the very people Jesus wishes to restore to the community through repentance, and healing, and gathering the lost sheep.

If you knew that Jesus was there in the room with you in the difficult conversations, would that change anything? What is he ready to provide if we remember that he is there with us? We are free to accept or decline God's help. What do we gain or lose if we choose to trust only in ourselves?

In our society, it seems that we've forgotten how to deal with conflict. However, those of us who are bound together as the Body of Christ serve a God whose will is that none should be lost. In the name of Christ we are free to be who God made us to become - agents of reconciliation to each other and to the world. Our world needs people who will take responsibility for wrongdoing and who will offer and accept forgiveness, and who can empathize with the pain and isolation of another.

And we need it now. Paul in Romans writes that what is of God is of Love, and that NOW is the time to wake from sleep. Fr. Scott explained once how the Early Church, the followers of the Way of Jesus who were eventually called Christians, called themselves "Alive and Awake."

Paul instructs us to be awake and to set aside all forms of living that do not honor God and the law of loving our neighbors as ourselves, and to focus on those things that respect our own dignity and the dignity of others. To put on the armor of light is to live as close to the heart of God as earthly possible - putting on Love in such a way that it becomes your reality, your very being.

(Steven Charleston, a Choctaw Elder and former Episcopal Bishop of Alaska, writes about being alive and awake in his book Ladder to the Light: An Indigenous Elder's Meditations on Hope and Courage), saying that:
"Spirituality is not an escape from reality, but a vision for how to change it. Therefore, faith is a tool for transformation. It is not a private escape from history [or from the present] but a broad and open path for many to follow together in changing history.
Where we once saw only more problems and greater dangers, now - revealing itself all around us - is a plan for renewal, healing, and reconciliation. Hope lets us literally see the presence and action of the holy in our everyday lives. This is not an imaginary desire viewed through rose-colored glasses. It is solid evidence of the power of love made visible in abundance.
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We have just begun the first week in the season of creation which is observed by many Christians around the world. It began with the Feast of Creation in Christ on September 1 and continues to the feast of St. Francis of Assisi on October 4. This year's theme is
Living Waters: Immersion in Living Waters. I'll post a link on our page if you'd like to explore further at seasonofcreation.org to learn more about this worldwide connection and for ideas on ways to participate and and celebrate this short season of hope in action.

This prayer is from a video on the website:
"In a land that thirsts not only for water but also for understanding and reconciliation, the image of living water becomes a quiet prayer for peace. A reminder that God's grace can soften hearts and make life flourish even where hope seems fragile. May this Season of Creation renew our faith and deepen our responsibility. Let us walk together as one human family, caring for our common home, so that wherever God's river flows, life may flourish again." Amen.

09/03/2026

Some FatherLee thoughts:
“And all of us, with unveiled faces,
seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror,
are being transformed into the same image
from one degree of glory to another.” (2 Corinthians 3:18)

What is the goal of the Christian life? Take a moment to really consider that question. Is the goal to be nice to others? Live with integrity? Many people believe the goal is to get to heaven. While we are most certainly destined for eternal life, heaven is a byproduct of the Christian life, not the goal. What is the goal of the Christian life and faith?

When our Savior called to the disciples, “Follow Me,” it was an invitation to learn what it means to live a life of faith. In the Gospels, we see how much those disciples struggled to understand the revolution that is true faith. You see, religion is about following a bunch of rules. The disciples could comprehend rules, so can we, but faith is about more than rules. Sure, there are rules we must follow. “Thou shalt not kill,” is always a good law to keep. However, I hope that your faith is bigger than just rule-following. What is the goal of the Christian life and faith?

When the disciples agreed to follow Jesus as their rabbi, they understood their goal was to follow their teacher so closely that they would become more and more like their rabbi. They desired to be covered “in the dust of the rabbi”, which I is the title of a I read book I remember. Now, you have to follow really close to someone to be covered in the dust that comes from walking together. Do you follow so close to our Savior that you are covered in Christ’s dust? It’s like the bumper sticker on the back of a car, “Do you follow Jesus this closely?”
�The goal of the Christian life and faith is transformation. We don’t like that word, do we? It sounds too much like change, and most of us adamantly oppose change. However, this transformation is to become more and more like Jesus. It does not mean that God wants us to be little clones of Christ, nor does our Savior want us to to become a different person. Quite the opposite! Christ simply desires for who we are to be perfected. Through the power of the Holy Spirit, we are to become more fully ourselves. You see, we are created in the image of the Living God, and “Christ is the visible expression of the invisible God,” (Col 1:15) so when we become more like our Savior, we are closer to the likeness of our God in whose image we were made.

This idea is something that has grown over the Summer months. We have been hearing the stories of Abraham and Isaac and Jacob/Israel, the patriarchs of faith. There was occasionally a name change, but these individuals didn’t become someone new. Abraham was already a person of hospitality, but that hospitality is perfected when it welcomes many, many nations. Isaac was created with great faithfulness, which he demonstrated by allowing his father to bind him for sacrifice, then he grew in faithfulness because the more Isaac trusted in the Lord, the more he found our God to be worthy of his faith.

Then there is Jacob. That is a person I can relate to. How about you? Jacob knew the faith of Isaac and the hospitality of Abraham, but he really only trusted in himself. Then, he literally wrestled with how to hold life and faith in balance, especially since faith demands hospitality. Out of love for spouse and children, Jacob grew in faith and grew in love. Israel is the name of a Jacob who has “struggled with God and with humans.” (Gen 32:28) He wrestled with how to live with faith in a world filled with all sorts of people. Are you wrestling with how to live with faith in a troubled world?

The problem is that many of us think that faith should fix all the problems in our lives and in the world. While I do believe that faith and prayer changes things in a beautiful way, faith isn’t a magic wand. Actually, faith is the assurance of two things: 1) that God is with us through the ups and downs of life in this world, “I am with you always,” (Mt 28:20) and 2) when our time on earth is done, Christ has prepared for us a dwelling place, eternal in the heavens. (Jn 14:2)

So, we do our best to walk with faith. The question then becomes: Is my goal every day to follow Jesus more closely? Will I follow so close that I begin to look more and more like our Savior? For some of us, this transformation will be manifested as Wisdom, others will be filled with more of Christ’s compassion, and I believe every one of us will grow in love for God and love for others.

There are a lot of people who complain that things are not as they should be in the world. I agree, but there comes a point when the Lord asks, “What are you going to do about it? I have wonderfully made you,” declares the Lord, “and have called to you.” Instead of settling deeper into the comfort of our complacency, will we let the Holy Spirit mold us more and more into the image of Christ, which is the very image of God.

That is the goal of the Christian life. And the transformation in us will have a transformative impact on our world. May we become so completely ourselves that we shine with the light of God’s love.

Faithfully
Fr. Scott Lee

09/02/2026

While Michelangelo was painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, he looked down from the scaffolding and saw a solitary elderly woman. She was kneeling in a pew, deep in prayer.

Since the woman could not see him, Michelangelo decided to have a little fun. He called out, “I am Jesus Christ . . . hear me!”

The woman did not look up; she just continued to pray. So, Michelangelo said, even louder, “I am Jesus Christ, Son of God, obey me!”

Still the woman did not budge. So, Michelangelo took a deep breath to really bellow, “I am Jesus Christ . . . HEAR MY WORD!"

The old woman still didn’t look up. She just moved to the next bead on her rosary. “Will you PLEASE be quiet,” she said, “I’m trying to talk to your Mother!”

That joke brings to mind several questions: Is it truly God who is speaking? Or, is someone just messing with us? A lot of people out there saying a whole lot of different stuff. Is it from God? Next, are just asking the Almighty only for what WE want? Or, are we listening for what our Savior desires? Finally, are we bold enough to go and do as the Lord instructs? Those questions get us right to the heart of today’s readings.

Let’s dive right into Exodus, where Moses is tending sheep for his father-in-law. I hope you are paying attention to the story and asked, “How’d we get here so fast? Good question. Last week, Moses was just a baby who was taken by Pharaoh’s daughter from a basket in the Nile. Now, all of the sudden, he’s an full-grown adult tending sheep. What happened in between?”

I am so very glad you asked! Moses should have been executed, thrown into the Nile as a baby to drown. But, his mother just could not let that happen. Most mothers would do anything to make sure something like that doesn’t happen. She hid Moses as long as she could, then she placed him in the Nile, but not to drown. He was in a miniature Ark, which gave him a chance at life.

Pharaoh’s daughter noticed the child crying. Immediately, she knew it was a Hebrew baby boy. She also knew her father would want this child dead. Instead of following orders, she kept the baby, naming him, Moses. She even sought out his mother, paying her to continue to nurse her own baby. Once weened, Moses moved into the palace and was raised as Pharaoh’s own adopted grandchild.

Similar to the life of Jesus, there is a large gap in details between the birth story and when things get really interesting. Know this, if the text doesn’t tell us precisely what happened, we are to assume that everything is what you would expect to be part of a normal life. In this case, however, “Normal” for Moses was being a grandchild of Pharaoh.

Once Moses had grown up, “he went out to HIS people, and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of HIS OWN people.” The text makes it very clear that Moses knew he was not Egyptian. He knew he was adopted, and he seemed to identify as a Hebrew. What do you do when you have power, which Moses did, and you see a member of your clan being beaten?

Moses intervened. The text says, “He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.”

The next day, he again went out to HIS own people, and saw two them fighting. “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?” Moses asked.

That man answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?”

That was the moment Moses became very afraid. He thought, “If this person knows what I did, Pharaoh certainly knows, too.” Fearful for his life, Moses fled.

However, you can never run from who you really are. It seems Moses instinctively knew right from wrong, and something inside of him would’t let powerful people abuse their power. At a well in a place called “Midian”, some girls had been sent to get water from a well. Some men were there and “drove them away”.

“Moses got up and came to their defense.” The girl’s father was a shepherd and priest, and took Moses into his home, as family. There are a lot of things in this world that you cannot choose, but who you name as your real family is a choice.

In today’s reading, Moses is tending sheep, and everything in his life led to this moment. What all has led you to this moment in your life? Do you consider it just luck or chance?

From a bush that was burning but not consumed, God calls, “Moses, Moses!”

Moses answered, “Here I am.” It is amazing how many times those three words are in Scripture. When the Lord calls, do we say, “Here I am”?

“Moses,” the Lord declares, “I have observed the misery of My people. I have heard their cry . . . Indeed, I know their sufferings.” It brings me great comfort knowing that nothing is hidden from God. The Lord knows all of the pain and suffering that is part of the human experience. But, God also knows everything that is wonderful about life.

“I have seen what you have seen, Moses, and I will deliver them,” Declares the Lord.

When we see suffering, the temptation is to ask, “Where is God? Scripture makes. It very clear, the Almighty always works towards deliverance. The Lord helps us to imagine a better tomorrow, then God gives us the miraculous grace for the journey.

“I have come to bring My people out of Egypts hardships,” God promises, “I will bring them into a good land. (And, here’s where you come in, Moses) You will lead them.”

This story came to me differently this year. Everything that happened to Moses led to this moment, and in this precise moment, Moses had to make a decision: Will I run from who I am and what God is asking me to do? Or, will I take time to first decide if it is indeed the Lord who is speaking, then give everything that I am to God and do “all such good works as Thou has prepared for us to walk in”?

Everything about who you are and everything that has happened in your life has led to this moment. You are not here by accident. Like Moses, you have had privileges, and you have overcome significant obstacles to be here. Now what?

Some of you may be expecting that I’ll tell you. I can’t. I don’t know all of the wonderful blessings God has gifted to you, and I don’t know your history. Those things have prepared you for what the Lord is asking you to do.

What I do know is: You have been wonderfully created to be beautifully unique, and what you have been through in life formed you to be the person you are. What good works has God prepared for you?

All I can say is that our prayers are longer now than they have ever been. Things are getting harder and harder for more and more people. Remember, “I have seen misery in our people,” declared the Lord. “I have heard the cry of those who suffer.”

As the Almighty sought Moses, the Lord seeks us. I know the gifts, attributes, and resources at my disposal. We face a decision. Now what?

Will I run from the person God created me to be, or will I embrace who I am? Will I listen to make sure it is indeed the Lord calling to me, and not just a crazy painter on some scaffolding? Ultimately, will I listen for a God’s vision for a better tomorrow? Will I understand how the Lord has prepared me for the road ahead? And, will I do my part to work towards that hope for deliverance? Amen.

ST. BARNABAS CHURCH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄Saturday Nov. 21st 9am-3pmSt.Barnabas Church3257 Post Rd (Apponaug)Warw...
08/31/2026

ST. BARNABAS CHURCH ANNUAL HOLIDAY BAZAAR
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Saturday Nov. 21st 9am-3pm
St.Barnabas Church
3257 Post Rd (Apponaug)
Warwick, RI 02886
🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄
Come join us for a day of shopping and fun!
There will be Raffles, the ever popular Penny Social table, the White Elephant Room, a tasty Baked Goods Table and lots of great items for sale. Enjoy a bite to eat in our Luncheon Cafe.
New this year is an area for children to do their own shopping.😊

Any questions, please contact the Parish Office @ 401-737-4141

08/25/2026

There was a lawyer who had a wife and 12 children. 12 children! The family needed to find a new place to live, but they were having difficulty finding a new home. Every time he said they he had 12 children, no one would rent to them because any landlord knew that many children would destroy the home.

The lawyer could not lie and say that he had no children, because we all know that lawyers, like politicians, can never tell a lie.

But, he had an idea: He sent his wife with 11 of the children for a walk in the graveyard. He took the remaining one with him to see homes with the Real Estate Agent. When he found a house he liked, the agent asked, “How many children do you have?”

The lawyer answered truthfully, “12 children.”

The agent asked, “Where are the others?”

With a sad look, the lawyer answered, “They are in the cemetery with their mother.”

And, that’s the way he was able to rent a home for his family . . . without lying.

While that is technically correct . . . it was fundamentally wrong and very misleading. But, it causes me to wonder: How do we know what is really true? Especially as humans become more and more dependent on A.I. how can be sure of the truth? And, things are often far more complicated than they may appear.

However, before we are too hard on the poor lawyer, let’s take a moment to understand the situation. What do you do when the world is stacked against you, and all you desperately want is to provide for women and children? Well, that was precisely the dilemma for the midwives in Egypt.

A new pharaoh came to power. If you recall ast week, we heard of a good pharaoh during the time of Joseph, but today, we come face to face with a monster.

This pharaoh was afraid of loosing his power. He noticed how numerous God’s people had become. So, the text describes that pharaoh decide to act “shrewdly”. The people’s labor became increasingly hard and oppressive.

“Ruthless” is the word Scripture uses more than once to describe the working conditions. But, the people persevered, and seemed to thrive despite the hostility.

This, of course, made pharaoh even more afraid. So, he took things to a new level of horror; he told the midwives, “When an Israelite child is born, a baby girl is permitted to live, but if it is a baby boy, kill it!”

What would you do if you were a midwife in ancient Egypt with orders to kill babies? Telling pharaoh “No” would be su***de, but any decent human knows that killing babies is a terrible atrocity.

So, the midwives had to decide: Do I support a monster? Or, do I protect innocent women and children, even if it means a slight misrepresentation of the truth?

“Why have you allowed the boys to live?” Pharaoh shouts at the midwives in anger.

Cowering in submission to the ruthless ruler, the midwives describe the strength of the Israelite women, “(They) are not like the Egyptian women (they) give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

That isn’t even technically true, like the lawyer and the cemetery, but the Lord blessed those midwives because they respected human life more than they feared pharaoh. Even pharaoh’s own daughter disobeyed this mandate of death.

What taught the midwives and pharaohs daughter this perspective? What gave them the courage to undermine the most powerful person in the world? After all, pharaoh was considered a god; his decree was absolute. Why did those midwives choose to resist?

Personally, I believe that every human is born with a conscience. Somewhere deep inside of us, we basically know right from wrong. The problem is that many of us get programmed to not notice what is wrong. Are you able to notice what is wrong? Or, have you accepted the programming people in power use to justify terrible things?

Do you listen to the still, small voice inside of you more than what is misrepresented as news on the television? How do you decide what is actually true? What will you do in resistance to what is evil?

Pharaoh escalates the horror even more. Seeing so many slave babies, he orders that every baby boy is thrown into the Nile. Pharaoh tries to drowned his fears in the river that brings life to the land.

Most scholars try to dismiss this story, but those are the same people who believe the Holocaust didn’t happen either. I visited Dochau, one of the Concentration Camps in Germany. I understand that we may not want to believe that humans are capable of that kind of atrocity. But, denying the horror also denies the fact that we humans are also capable of unimaginable good.

We are capable of hearing a voice inside of us that says, killing babies is not OK, and we are capable of undermining those systems of violence and oppression. All it takes . . . is believing in something more than we like being comfortable. There is a famous quote, “all that is necessary for evil to triumph is for good people to do nothing”. And, in our world today, people do a whole lot of nothing.

The result: a lot of people can’t afford food and a place to live in Rhode Island. Babies are drowning in the oppression of the Ocean State. What will we do to resist? What will we do to help where we can?

To briefly weave in our Gospel reading for today, Jesus asks a very direct and personal question: Who do you say that I am? There comes a point at which it doesn’t matter what others say, our Savior asks, “Who do YOU say that I am?”

Peter blurts out something that almost doesn’t even make sense, “You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.”�
“Blessed are you,” Jesus responds, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven.” The point is: Peter didn’t learn this in school; didn’t hear it on the news. God revealed it! And, when we allow room, God will reveal truth to us.

I am convinced that the Lord whispered to pharaoh’s midwives and daughter, and gave them courage to do what was right. The same God is whispering to us. Are we listening through all the noise?

The same Lord will also give us strength and courage to do what is right. Will we . . . DO what is right?

One final thought: Jesus called Peter “son of Jonah”. Now, maybe his father’s name was Jonah, but I believe it is a reference to the Old Testament prophet, which makes three important points: 1) That our Savior would soon spend three days in the grave just like Jonah spent three days, probably dead, in the belly of a fish 2) It names Peter a reluctant prophet, something I can relate to, and 3) It describes a world that is destined for eminent destruction unless somethings changes dramatically, something that sounds eerily familiar to me.

So, may we pause to listen to what is really true, may we hear the Lord whisper to us, may we refuse to “be conformed to this world, may we be transformed by the renewing of our minds, so that we may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect,” and may the Almighty give us strength and courage to do what is right. Amen.

08/17/2026

A truck driver stopped at a roadside diner for lunch. He ordered a cheeseburger, a coffee, and a slice of apple pie.

Just as he was about to eat, three tough bikers walked in. One biker grabbed the trucker's cheeseburger and took a huge bite from it, the second one drank the trucker's coffee, and the third wolfed down his apple pie.

The truck driver didn't say a word, just paid the waitress and left. After the waitress cashed him out, one of the motorcyclists growled, “He ain’t much of a man, is he?”

“He’s not much of a driver, either,” the waitress replied, “He just backed his 18-wheeler over three motorcycles.”

When I’m being honest with myself, that is exactly the kind of justice I crave. Sure, I’ll pretend to be the bigger man and not cause a scene, but I want my revenge! Am I the only one? However, is that the kind of justice God desires? Is revenge on the menu for those who seek to follow Jesus?

We begin, today, near the very end of the book of Genesis. I used to think that Genesis was nothing more than an explanation of how God’s people ended up as slaves in Egypt, but the more I study, the more fascinating I find the stories about the first family who sought to follow our God.

There was nothing particularly special about Abraham, except that he showed hospitality and was willing to trust the Lord. Isaac was Abraham’s miracle child, but the only thing exceptional he did was to submit. Then there is Jacob. Jacob was pretty much a scoundrel, at least until after he wrestled with God, and his kids were filled with the same jealousy and vindictiveness of most families around the world throughout much of history.

Every single one of them was incredibly . . . ordinary. They were just so . . . human! And yet, we remember them, don’t we? In fact, Scripture even refers to the Lord as the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.

We do NOT worship the god of Pharaoh or Babylon or Caesar. We follow the one, true God, and the Lord of heaven and earth is the God of ordinary people like you and me.

The problem is: Following our God means that we are to do things a little different. We are to show hospitality to strangers, like Abraham did, we are to faithfully submit as Isaac did, and we are to choose forgiveness instead of revenge.

Our reading from Genesis actually skips a huge chunk of the story. Last week, we heard about Joseph, Jacobs favorite child, who was betrayed by his brothers, thrown in a pit and sold into slavery. We missed all the hardships Joseph later endured. Ultimately, he was falsely accused of a crime and spent years alone, forgotten in tiny a prison cell.

Joseph spent years in that prison. It is the kind of experience that could have bred bitterness and hatred. Most people would stew and plot revenge in a situation like that.

But, then Pharaoh had a nightmare. Joseph interpreted the bad dream, like a prophecy. It described seven years of plenty that would be followed by seven years of famine.

Of course, no one in Egypt believed that a famine was coming. No! To them, everything seemed . . . normal. People often can’t see the reality of what is coming because comfort is a huge distraction. Do you know what might be looming?

Fortunately, Pharaoh understood what he dreamed, and believe that Jospeh was right. This was a good Pharaoh, who raised Joseph from that tiny jail cell, and made him the second most powerful person in the most powerful kingdom on earth at the time.

Fast forward: After years of plenty, came those years of famine. Largely because of Joseph, Egypt had stored grain from those plentiful years. When the famine came, there was still more than enough food.

This famine was widespread. It reached into what we later will call “The Promised Land”. Joseph’s family was devastated. We actually had hints that a drought and famine was coming in last week’s reading. If you remember, Joseph went to look for his brothers and their flock, but he couldn’t find them where they were supposed to be. They had to move to a place where the flock could graze. Some people have enough insight to see the bigger picture. Do we?

After years and years of desperation, Joseph’s family were forced to search for food. Egypt was the only place where they might survive. The rumors said Egypt had extra food, so they took a chance. Speaking of chance, this was Joseph’s chance to get even, to have revenge. This is when Joseph drives his 18-wheeler over the bikes of his brothers. But, does he?

No! He tells them that there will be several more years of famine. He forgave them and promised to provide for them because that is what God’s family is supposed to do.


It’s hard to choose forgiveness over revenge, isn’t it?

And, things get even more complicated when we consider who we are to accept into our family, and who we want to remain outside of our family. That is precisely what I believe is going on in today’s Gospel.

Jesus has a conversation about what comes out of our heart. The faith, hope, and love that should flow from within us is far more important than what goes into our belly. This was very contrary to our faith ancestors. To be a member of the faith family in those days meant you had to obey a lot of rules about food. It is at that moment when a Canaanite woman, a true outsider, shouts to Jesus, begging for mercy.

Jesus didn’t even bother to answer.

Now, there are a lot of commentaries that suggest our Lord ignored her, but later had a change of heart. Initially, Christ did dismiss her, “I only came to the lost sheep of Israel,” Then, after calling her a dog (Did you catch that? A dog!), Jesus saw the woman’s faith and showed her mercy.

Personally, I hear this story, and I think our Savior was just letting things play out. If you notice, it was the disciples who were annoyed. They asked Jesus to send her away. He responds to them, not her, about coming to the lost sheep of Israel. I imagine the disciples agreeing, “Yeah! That’s right! And, she isn’t one of us!” Is there someone that you insist isn’t one of us?

The disciples had been taught that because their great, great, great, great, great, great, (I don’t actually know how many greats) grandparents were Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, they were part of the faith family.

What we see here is a woman who was clearly not part of that family, but she kneels at the feet of our Savior saying, “I’m know I’m not worthy, but,” she says, “I trust in your goodness, in your mercy which is everlasting, so please, please help me!”

Maybe Jesus had a change of heart, or perhaps, as I am suggesting, our Savior was driving the point home to the disciples and to us, that the family of God can make room to welcome others, even people we’d like to send away.

We, too, are members of God’s family not by our family lineage or because we follow a bunch of religious. Because, “We are not worthy so much as to gather up the crumbs under thy Table. But thou art the same Lord whose property is always to have mercy.”Mercy to us, and mercy to someone we are tempted to dismiss. She trusted in the mercy and grace of God. Do we?

Finally, since we are celebrating St. Mary today, have you taken time to really ponder the Magnificat?

We see it play out in all of our stories today. “God’s mercy is on them that fear him throughout all generations. He hath put down the mighty from their seat, and hath exalted the humble and meek. He hath filled the hungry with good things, and the rich he hath sent empty away.”

Joseph was the favorite child, who was brought low, thrown into a pit and later jail. Same Joseph was lifted up, right?

We see Joseph’s brother’s feeling powerful. They abused that power to harm their brother, then they are humbled, forced to beg for food. Again, however, Jospeh raises them up, too.

We see the disciples, ordinary people who were invited to follow Christ, raised up to a privileged position, but they began to think a little too much of themselves, like they were special enough to insist an annoying mother be sent away. But, our Savior always lifts up the lowly. She is raised up.

Even Christ came down from heaven, was lifted on the Cross, descended to death, rose from he grave and ascended into heaven.

This same movement now comes to us. And, every one of us is part of God’s family. Many of us, here, have plenty, even extra. Will we share out of our abundance with those who have nothing?

Are we aware of what is coming? Personally, I believe we are entering into a time of famine in the land. Are we prepared? Will we save extra to share? Will we welcome the stranger? Will we choose forgiveness over revenge? Will we let God bring down the mighty instead of trying to do it ourselves?

And, though we are very ordinary people, will we do what is extraordinary? Will we lift up the lowly? Will we love others AS Christ loves us? Amen.

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3257 Post Road
Warwick, RI
02886

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