Here’s our Confession that some present said they found very helpful. It’s taken, with a few alterations, from the Presbyterian Book of Common Worship: “Gracious God, our sins are too heavy to carry, too real to hide, and too deep to undo. Forgive what we do not even want to name and what our hearts can no longer bear. Set us free from a past that we cannot change; open to us a future in which we can be changed; and grant us grace to grow more and more into your likeness and image, through Jesus Christ, the light of the world. Amen.”
In our Gospel, Jesus is being challenged by the Sadducees, a group that did not believe in Resurrection. They tell him an exaggerated and tawdry story about a childless widow who, following the Levirate marriage tradition, must marry her dead husband’s brother to produce an heir for her original husband. She ends up having to marry six of them, one after the other, since the men apparently keep dying on the poor woman! The Sadducees demand to know whose wife she will in the hereafter.
Jesus, as always, uses their mockery to make an important point. Eternal life, he says, is not simply the continuation of mortal life beyond death, although we often wish it were. What matters in this life is not what finally matters to God. And so in heaven, there is no giving in marriage. Jeus is addressing deeper issues of ownership, marital rights, human longings. Such remarriage might provide for the widow’s needs, but it meant that she couldn’t choose her own new husband. This legal tradition was a way to insure patrilineal inheritance; the woman was essentially family property.
This arrangement has been compared to the situation within slavery in this country. Legal codes ensured that the child of any enslaved woman, regardless of the father’s legal standing, would also be enslaved. The woman’s gift of life was valuable because it sustained the system of slavery. In Toni Morrison’s brilliant novel Beloved, a slave women kills her baby to protest the child from slavery.
Jesus wanted his listeners to understand that in heaven, women are no longer the property of men and men are no longer trapped in a system that requires marriage to a sister-in-law. Moreover, our names and identities are not limited or defined by membership in a particular family. What matters to God is the fullness of our relationship with God. God honors who we are, in and of ourselves. Jesus teaches that in resurrection life, each of us will know joy and peace that we have lost or never found on earth.
Even in this life, we can begin to model relationships that reject ownership and exploitation, relationships based on the logic of this world. We can be inspired to do so by remembering the words of the prophet Haggai: God’s spirit abides among you. What matters to God is leading us in paths of righteousness, right here, right now. Amen!
Faithfully, Pastor Dora
Please join us in worship every Sunday at 11:30 am. This month’s Open Mic for poetry and music will be on Thursday, Nov 20, 7:30 to 9:00.
About Our Church
Our church has been part of the South Side community since 1833. The building was begun before the civil War with the main section completed in 1869. Our gym was the first gym for public use in the neighborhood. We have space for all kinds of community projects. A vital current ministry is our Open Mic, held the third Thursday of every month for poets and musicians, experienced and just starting out. There is a $5 cover, but we provide refreshments as well as a safe and nurturing space with terrific acoustics.
We worship every Sunday morning at 11:30. You can also join us via telephone conference call by calling (412)-307-7952 ten minutes before services start & hold on until we greet you. You can contact the church at 412 431-0118 or on our email, [email protected].
At South Side Presbyterian Church, we take Christ’s Social Justice seriously. We serve this community and the poets and actors who are drawn to it. We invite your presence and your contributions. Join us!