Toward Sunday (Page 2)

Please turn in your Deep Commitment either online or in worship this Sunday if they have not already done so.   Here is a link to the online Deep Commitment Card.

This is the second of a four-week worship series on troubling texts from the Bible.  We have chosen stories from the Hebrew scripture which are often neglected because of the difficulty of the content.  Our hope is to wrestle with these stories and see what meaning may lie hidden beneath the difficult circumstances of the women’s lives that are depicted.   This week our worship will focus on the story of Tamar.

A four-week worship series on troubling texts from the Bible.

The following paragraphs are from The Social Principles of The United Methodist Church.   Please read:

These topics may raise intense reactions.  If, at any point, you become overwhelmed with emotion, please slow down and take time for prayer.   Hold the space for God’s healing presence to be with you. Please let me know if you need someone to talk with about anything that arises.

Biblical scholar Phyllis Tribble describes the terror in this week’s reading: “From the book of 2 Samuel comes the story of a family enmeshed in royal rape. Brother violates sister. He is a prince to whom belong power, prestige, and unrestrained lust. She is a princess to whom belong wisdom, courage, and unrelieved suffering. Children of one father, they have not the same care of each other. Indeed, the brother cares not at all. Though part of a narrative about King David and his court, this tale of terror stands on its own. Within a well-ordered design the plot moves from obstacles and plans to the crime and its aftermath” (Texts of Terror).

Read Tamar’s story in 2 Samuel 13:1-22.

While we cannot hope to resolve the many issues raised, Tamar’s story challenges us to name and work to end sexual assault. Tamar is not an ancient anomaly.  Tamar is all around us. Our college students receive instruction on unwanted advances and sexual violence as part of orientation to school. Too many people in our community have experienced sexual harassment, abuse, & assault.

Here is a prayer to share with someone you trust this week:

ONE: Loving God, help us to remember that all people

are made in your image and are worthy of care, love and respect.

When we have ignored the needs of the most vulnerable people;

ONE: When we have believed the powerful and disregarded the cries of the voiceless;

ONE: We pray for each other, remembering: Those who find themselves in despair today;

ONE: Help us to transform our church into a place of safety, where we can tell our stories; where we can choose to show the scars of wounded bodies, hearts and minds;

where there is the possibility of healing

and a willingness to

stand as pain bearers

for one another.

ALL: God who bears all

Peace,

Linda