10th Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year B

​“For we know that if the earthly tent we live in is destroyed, we have a building from God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens.”
~2 Corinthians 5:1
 
The Episcopal priest Stephanie Spellers says “Institutions and cultures are durable partly because they obey the law of inertia. Even if you think you’ve exerted a strong external push and knocked a moving object or an entire institution off its set course, wait. Just wait. With barely a nudge, the object will drift right back to its original path.”
 
There is value, of course in institutional stability. Their predictability provides shelter and nurture and a moderating influence that keeps us steady in tumultuous times. The downside, of course, is they delay needed change, repress diverse life-giving creativity, perpetuate inequity, and exclude.
 
It should be no surprise that Jesus would seek to turn upside down his own religious tradition given the disruptive and chaotic scene Mark has for us in today’s gospel text. Indeed, while the institution of family continues to be one of humanity’s greatest blessings, we can see along with him the tendencies to lose sight of these central purposes and fundamental human connections. Who are my mother and my brothers? Who is counted among our true family? What is this durable shelter we have from God, eternal in the heavens?
 
We will have an opportunity to experience a sign of this truth, of the promise of the church as a place of nurture and thriving on Sunday as we celebrate with Violet Montano her quinceañera—the celebration of a girl’s 15th birthday, marking her passage to adulthood. Many of us have known Violet and her sister Jasmin and mother Mirna for over a decade when they came to the Center of Hope. They have made a life for themselves and kept company with many of us over the years, including Godparents Roger and Judy Paulsen. We celebrated Jasmin’s fifteenth when we were separated furing the Covid years. You can see that celebration here as a part of our Advent worship in 2020.
 
The family has asked to celebrate with St. Andrew again for this important marker in Violet’s life. Come and join the celebration. Festive dress is perfectly appropriate!
 
Enter into worship.
 
Readings: 1 Samuel 8:4-11, 16-20 † Psalm 138 † 2 Corinthians 4:13-5:1 † Mark 3:20-35
 
 
About the Art: Dennis Oppenheim. Device to Root Out Evil (second version), from Avenue Magazine, Calgary, Canada. Original source: https://www.avenuecalgary.com/city-life/work-of-art/device-to-root-out-evil-by-dennis-oppenheim/. Five years after it disappeared from its former site in Ramsay, the sculpture found a new home in 2019 in Calgary’s East Village neighborhood. Made of aluminum, galvanized steel, Venetian glass, and Plexiglass, the sculpture depicts a New England-style church turned upside down as if to invite scrutiny from the heavens.

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