Rosh Hashanah: sundown Fri. Sep. 29 -- Sun. Oct. 1

World-wide Communion Sunday

What will it take for the Church of the Jew Jesus to enter into Communion with His sisters and brothers, the children of YHWH God?

World-wide?? Communion?? Sunday

Whom-- and Whose-- does the Church exclude from its world?

Esther 7: 1-6, 9-10, 9: 20-22

[alternates suggested]

Since this is the only excerpt from Esther in the entire lectionary cycle, and since the accusal and impaling of Haman (is this a type for Christ?) hardly seem pertinent to World-wide Communion Sunday, I propose these alternate verses to form an hopefully more appropriate allegory.

King Ahasuerus... gave a banquet for all the officials and courtiers... in his service. (1: 2..3) At the end of this period, the king gave a banquet for seven days in the court of the king's palace garden for all the people... high and low alike. (1: 5) Royal wine was served in abundance, as befits a king. (1: 7) And the rule for the drinking was, "No restrictions!" For the king had given orders to every palace steward to comply with each [person's] wishes. (1: 8)

On the seventh day... he ordered... the seven eunuchs in attendance... to bring Queen Vashti before [him] wearing a royal diadem (1: 10..11). But Queen Vashti refused to come at the king's command.... The king was greatly incensed (1: 12). Then the king consulted the sages learned in procedure. (1: 13) "What... shall be done, according to law, to Queen Vashti for failing to obey the command...?" (1: 15) "...[L]et Your Majesty bestow her royal state upon another who is more worthy than she." (1: 19)

When the king's order and edict was proclaimed, ...Esther too was taken into the king's palace (2: 8). [A]t the end of the twelve month's treatment prescribed... (2: 12) Esther was taken to King Ahasuerus (2: 16). The king loved Esther more than all the other[s].... So he set a royal diadem on her head and made her queen (2: 17). The king gave a great banquet... [and] proclaimed a remission of taxes for the provinces and distributed gifts as befits a king. (2: 18)

If, in this allegory, you consider the characters' gender merely as aids to distinguish between them(1), rather than as physical attributes to be taken literally and slavishly adhered to, then you should have no difficulty interpreting the text relative to the Christian faith and today's sacrament. You may wish to add or subtract verses and details to better serve your theme.

Please note: if you equate Queen Vashti with the nation of Israel, recall that the verdict, that Vashti shall never enter the presence of [the] king (1: 19), was not included in the edict as recorded (1: 22), and that when the anger of King Ahasuerus subsided, he thought of Vashti and what she had done and what had been decreed against her. (2: 1) Since that sentence might indicate an appreciative reminiscence and longing(2), and since Vashti's fate is not related, there seems to be "wiggle room" here, so we are not forced into an "anti-Jewish" position.

Psalm 124
Does this resonate with your feelings of inadequacy, weakness, helplessness? It should. It makes me feel like a fourth-grader on the way home from school, confronted by a gang of high-school bullies. In my day, there were no houses with a "helping hand" pasted in the front window; I had nowhere to turn, to seek protection, and I could not out-run them. I felt lost, like a goner....

I usually was only teased and frightened by them; rarely did I receive a few blows and bruises. Now was that on account of their charity? Or was some other force-- of which I was then not even aware-- at work?

I remember hearing this as the KJV, NRSV, NIV, NNAS and REB translate:

where the preposition, 'in', makes the statement difficult to understand. Is the name of the LORD like a bowl, or even a strong fortress, within which Our help is contained like a mess of pottage or a restless gang of captives? The TNK and NAB resolve the problem: that the name of the LORD itself is Our help makes sense.

Those who know the name of the LORD, high and low alike, are not only rescued from their fears and foes, but are at the same time invited to a lavish banquet where the wine flows freely and in abundance....

James 5: 13-20

What do you think that the LORD serves at that sumptuous banquet? Caviar and cheeses, steaming lobster, white asparagus in hollandaise and champagne? Or relief from suffering and bounteous good spirits (13), physical healing (14), salvation, resurrection and forgiveness(3) (15)? But like any other banquet, this one also requires cooks, waiters, stewards and dishwashers. This banquet is fully and freely stocked with provisions, but they will all lie useless and spoil unless servants and helpers come to do the work.

How heavy, demeaning and soiling is that labor? According to James, it involves prayer and praise (13), prayer and anointing with oil (14).(4) We, the presbyters of the church (14), have work to do. For the king [has] given orders to every palace steward to comply with each [person's] wishes.

But there is another responsibility revealed in James' words, which falls on the shoulders of the invited, the "hungry". Are you suffering or sick? Then it is up to you to do something about it, to actively engage yourself in seeking out your own relief. Do not expect to be sought out, carried up to the banquet table and be spoon-fed.

Finally, both sufferer and steward have another need and obligation: to trust that God can and will supply the provisions, that the LORD desires and wills to respond to fervent prayer (16). But do we not have to be righteous in order for that to happen? Jesus said, 'You are already clean because of the word I have spoken to you.' (Jn. 15: 3, REB) What we really have to do is believe Jesus.

Mark 9: 38-50

John said to [Jesus], "Teacher, we saw someone driving out demons in your name, and we tried to prevent him because he does not follow us." (38) Is this not an apt picture of much of the Church today? If someone does not follow us, then we judge them as unbelievers, unchristian, in spite of the evidence emanating from their good works.(5)

The problem is that too many Christians have construed "God's Church" as "our church", even "my church". Then we condemn people because they do not follow us when, in fact, they are following Jesus. We get all upset when others do not subscribe to "our creed" nor bow down to our "Book of Order", as if we alone were the possessors and proclaimers of the "one true faith". And then we wonder why, when we come to the banquet-- the table of the Lord-- we partake but do not get fed, we eat and drink and walk away feeling empty.

But there is Good News in John's complaint. "[W]e tried to prevent him", John says, but from the whining tone of voice and reticence concerning the result, we infer that they were not able to do so. Those who follow Christ will be opposed-- even by members of the Church-- but their works will succeed.(6) And those who try to prevent them will come away whining, frustrated, and feeling empty.

1. 1 Recall that, in one of Jesus' parables, the dirt of the earth stands for the faithful.

2. 2 Do the Hebrew words support, or allow, this?

3. 3 Are these in increasing, or decreasing, order of importance? Why?

4. 4 Notice what gets mentioned twice. Any particular reason for that?

5. 5 To the contrary, read James and Mat. 7: 16-20.

6. 6 See John 14: 12-14.

7. 7 Haiku poem by Phil Gilman. Please feel free to utilize anything from these pages; just give God the Glory, Praise and Thanks and me whatever credit may be due.

(comments to Phil at ENAPXH@aol.com )