My most absorbing pastime to try and write songs that mean something occasionally record them and perform them in the hope they might mean something to someone else. One such song is called Hill of the Angels an attempt to be lyrical about finding the heart of God in the hearts of people (so lyrical you wouldn't know that's what it's about I only came up with that explanation because I was writing about it for this talk). I sang the song a couple of weeks ago at Greenbelt. Spoke with a couple afterwards Dave and Emily from London - Hill of the Angels played during communion at their wedding because it embodied for them something of the kind of spirituality that finds God in others, and that was a sentiment they wanted to associate with their marriage commitment. I was 'well cheesed' I can tell you. A mysterious and wonderful form of communication between us.
I've observed this phenomenon in others a lot in recent weeks. Edinburgh Festival Glastonbury Greenbelt Festival Gillian Welch (like an old time revival meeting) Bruce Cockburn through whose music I have vicariously wept for the world and also burned with passion and longing for the world for 25 years now. (so many songs, so little time),
What happens? We, the audience are caught up engaged moved because the music is an advocate for the inarticulate speech of the heart (Van Morrison).
...If it's not true for you then we can at least say it's true for a staggering number of people who are prepared to pay significant money to expose themselves to it, as though it was a therapeutic drug....the music is an advocate for the inarticulate speech of the heart because it offers us gifts of speaking for us and to us of our deepest instincts and longings unspoken or inexpressible joys unrealised sadnesses we weren't aware of reveals silent inner voices we hadn't heard before (things we did'nt know were important to us) embraces broken hearts calls to mind and empathises with unrequited loves
I believe this is one way of describing what happens when we worship the liturgy the singing they are advocates for our spiritual selves, made in the image of God, and longing for the light
I believe our Gospel reading reveals something about 'spiritual advocacy'. The Syrophoenician woman's advocacy for her daughter, and the advocacy of the deaf and dumb man's friends. I believe the point of the story is that redemptive healing came about as a direct result of the advocacy of this mother and these friends. That's what Jesus responds to. Look closer
S-ph woman
This was a bit of a weird encounter. In
the story of the Sph woman, Mark says something about boundaries. It
is set in Tyre beyond the historical boundaries of Israel, - on
the Mediterranean coast about 40 miles north of Jerusalem - beyond
the comfort zone for the Jewish Jesus and his followers (not only is
all this wild stuff happening but it's happening in an unfamiliar and
potentially unsafe environment.
A gentile woman who although
showing deference by bowing at his feet, breaks convention.
-
She seeks help from a man outside her culture and faith
and
then betters him in an argument
The one conventional thing about the story is that Jesus first responds as a male Jew might be expected to do in this scenario. Although in hindsight we find it surprising to find Jesus behaving like a typical man that's because the historically distanced church has not been good at appreciating Jesus' Jewish humanity. He uses the probable contemporary vernacular by referring to her people as 'dogs' as opposed to the 'children' of Israel (interesting maybe he was parodying this typical attitude, with a twinkle in his eye?). Whichever the gentile woman stayed deferential and is not cowed by his answer. She challenges Jesus to recognise her own faith and her right to that which God offers. Eleanor Roosevelt said 'No one can make you feel inferior without your consent'.
So being a spiritual advocate may involve being a voice for the voiceless, beyond boundaries that we may feel comfortable and familiar in, and may involve refusing to collude with other people's dismissal of us..... This isn't my kind of person these aren't my kind of people, what am I doing here what am I doing talking to this important person how can I be the one taking on this institution, why can't anyone else see how something needs to be done here, why can't anyone else see how unjust this is.....??
The deaf man
The most important verse in the story
of the deaf man v32 'They brought to him a deaf man....and
they begged him to lay his hand on him'
Ive always been fascinated by the
cinematic details of the fingers in the ears and the spitting, and
the mysterious bit about Jesus wanting folk to keep quiet about what
happened (it happens all through Mark's Gospel known as the
'messianic secret') but the really important axis of the story is
v32 'They brought to him a deaf man....and they begged him to lay
his hand on him' The friends the advocates - are the source
of the healing they who brought him and begged on his behalf.
Lives are touched and changed the microcosm, the small world of these people is transformed, redeemed, rescued and made glorious because of this advocacy it's the advocacy that Jesus responds to.
As we pray, we might set ourselves to the possibility of being a voice for the voiceless. How might someone's microcosm be redeemed, rescued, made glorious by such advocacy? And let's hear with satisfaction, the spiritual reality (which is so hard to rationalise, and to hold onto) that God will respond to the petitions of our hearts on behalf of others.