Sunday Stretch: Vol. 96

Start off your week with a grounded take on Bible, prayer, the world, and your life ...

Hi Readers,

If you’re reading this on Sunday morning, I’m likely preparing to preach at Grace Lutheran Church in River Forest, Ill., (next to Oak Park - close to the city of Chicago). I’ll be preaching this morning at 10 and then leading a forum at 1 p.m. If you’re in the Chicago area, I’d love to see you! I started my pastoral ministry as the Pastor of St. Philip Lutheran Church in Glenview, Ill., just north of Chicago, and this city will always hold a special place in my heart (it’s also where my husband lived before we got married, during years of long-distance dating, and where my brother, Kevin, met his wife, Bianca - and they were married!)

Also this past week, I had the chance to participate in a pre-VP debate Zoom conversation with some really powerful faith leaders: Dr. Anthea Butler, Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg, Texas state Rep. James Talarico, and moderator

Guthrie Graves-Fitzsimmons

, who I got to meet (finally!) this past summer in Minneapolis at a shared event for Christians Against Christian Nationalism. Guthrie now serves as senior director of policy and advocacy at Interfaith Alliance, and he’s volunteering with Faith for Harris- Walz, which organized this pre-debate Zoom with faith leaders.

As many of you know, I’m generally pretty cautious/reserved about participating in partisan politics in any way. I’ve previously registered as a political independent and, years ago, interned for a Republican Congressman in Minnesota. I’m also very cautious about the temptation to mix faith and politics in a way that veers into Christian Nationalism.

So why did I decide to participate in this Zoom? Well, there’s no question who the anti-Christian Nationalist candidate is in this year’s presidential election. The Trump/Vance ticket, with its legislative plan Project 2025, has leaned heavily into Christian Nationalism. In contrast, as you can see in this Zoom itself, the Harris/Walz ticket has committed itself to maintaining the separation of church and state. Part of this work is lifting up non-Christian voices, which is why I was glad to see Rabbi Ruttenberg as a part of this Zoom.

There’s a clear distinction between aligning religion with power and control and violence, in the case of idolatrous Christian Nationalism, and using your faith as a lens through which to view politics. I am strongly committed to the faith-based principle that every single human being is a beloved creation of God, deserving of rights and human dignity. I am worried about the ways that Christian Nationalists dehumanize people: whether it’s pregnant women, Haitian immigrants, transgender Americans, or anyone else on a long list of those “othered” by the Trump/Vance ticket. Therefore, in this season, I have decided that part of my calling to speak against Christian Nationalism involves participating in some conversations that I may previously have understood as partisan.

You can view our pre-debate conversation here, and here’s the brief article I wrote about the debate for the Minnesota Star Tribune.

Now - let’s get to the texts (because ultimately our commitment to that faith-based lens is dependent upon consistent prayer, discernment, and reading of the Bible) …

Genesis 2:18-24

Gen. 2:18   Then the LORD God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper as his partner.” ¹⁹ So out of the ground the LORD God formed every animal of the field and every bird of the air, and brought them to the man to see what he would call them; and whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name. ²⁰ The man gave names to all cattle, and to the birds of the air, and to every animal of the field; but for the man^a there was not found a helper as his partner. ²¹ So the LORD God caused a deep sleep to fall upon the man, and he slept; then he took one of his ribs and closed up its place with flesh. ²² And the rib that the LORD God had taken from the man he made into a woman and brought her to the man. ²³ Then the man said,

“This at last is bone of my bones

and flesh of my flesh;

this one shall be called Woman,^a

for out of Man^b this one was taken.”

²⁴ Therefore a man leaves his father and his mother and clings to his wife, and they become one flesh.

Oh boy. Nothing like just dropping in one of the most misunderstood and deeply problematic texts of the Bible into a busy fall season leading up to a U.S. Presidential Election!

It’s fine. Let’s do it. Let’s talk about Adam and Eve.

I’d be remiss to neglect to mention that I discuss this Scripture passage in detail in the third chapter of my new book Disciples of White Jesus. The reason for that is that this passage has been misused in order to support a gendered hierarchy in the church, suggesting that women were made of men’s ribs, and were somehow then a derivative creation, with men being at the top of the human hierarchy.

Jesus, of course, frequently reminds us that he is anti-hierarchy, both by his words and by his choices of whom he associates with and who he decides to reveal himself to.

For our purposes today, I think it’s important to very quickly look to the original Hebrew text of this passage, and at one word in particular. The word that we often translate as “Adam” and as “man” is the Hebrew word אָדָ֖ם which actually does transliterate to English as, loosely, “ah-dam.” But in the Hebrew, this word is not necessarily a gendered word, and it certainly doesn’t have anything to do with traditional, John Wayne-esque American masculinity. Instead, it refers to “creation” and to “human being.” From this word stems all of humankind: not one gender, not one race, not one ethnicity, not one language, not one religion.

Questions to Ponder

Try reading this passage with a focus on the human’s relationship to the rest of creation, including animals. How do you think we’ve carried about this commission from God?

Why was it significant that the human was given the right to name the animals?

Have you had the chance to name people or other things in your life? What does the act of naming mean to you? Is it spiritually significant?

Hebrews 1:1-4, 2:5-12

Heb. 1:1   Long ago God spoke to our ancestors in many and various ways by the prophets, ² but in these last days he has spoken to us by a Son,^a whom he appointed heir of all things, through whom he also created the worlds. ³ He is the reflection of God’s glory and the exact imprint of God’s very being, and he sustains^a all things by his powerful word. When he had made purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high, ⁴ having become as much superior to angels as the name he has inherited is more excellent than theirs.

Exaltation through Abasement

Heb. 2:5    Now God^a did not subject the coming world, about which we are speaking, to angels. ⁶ But someone has testified somewhere,

“What are human beings that you are mindful of them,^a

or mortals, that you care for them?^b

⁷ You have made them for a little while lower^a than the angels;

you have crowned them with glory and honor,^b

⁸ subjecting all things under their feet.”

Now in subjecting all things to them, God^a left nothing outside their control. As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, ⁹ but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower^a than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God^b he might taste death for everyone.

Heb. 2:10    It was fitting that God,^a for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the pioneer of their salvation perfect through sufferings. ¹¹ For the one who sanctifies and those who are sanctified all have one Father.^a For this reason Jesus^b is not ashamed to call them brothers and sisters,^{c  12} saying,

“I will proclaim your name to my brothers and sisters,^a

in the midst of the congregation I will praise you.”

Oh boy. Another simple easy text for us to read here … not.

Again, we have before us a text that would be easy to read as a sanction for human/Christian power and dominance.

“Now in subjecting all things to them, God^a left nothing outside their control.”

That’s quite a statement. And one that’s not easy for humans to negotiate. I find myself grasping for words here, and I’m thinking about these words in the hands of authoritarian leaders, who rule with violence and control, often claiming that it is God who has given them this right.

As a counter to this text, we have the wisdom of Luther’s On the Freedom of a Christian.

(my translation):

A Christian is a perfectly free Lord of all, subject to none.

A Christian is the most dutiful servant of all, subject to all.

It’s not easy to know how to live in this duality of freedom and service. But at the same time, I think it’s a natural way to live, when we lead with compassion for ourselves and for one another.

May God help us.

How do you think this passage understands God’s relationship to Jesus, and then Jesus’ relationship to human beings? Is it a strict hierarchy, or something else?

This text partially quotes Psalm 8. Go back and read Psalm 8 in entirety. How do you think this Psalm helps us understand human dignity as a function of creation?

How about this verse: “As it is, we do not yet see everything in subjection to them, ⁹ but we do see Jesus, who for a little while was made lower^a than the angels, now crowned with glory and honor because of the suffering of death, so that by the grace of God^b he might taste death for everyone.” Can you see a connection here to the theology of the cross: the idea that glory and honor from God is often also tied first to suffering and death? How does this contrast to the theology of glory, which promises riches and power in the world?

Mark 10:2-16

Mark 10:2   Some Pharisees came, and to test him they asked, “Is it lawful for a man to divorce his wife?” ³ He answered them, “What did Moses command you?” ⁴ They said, “Moses allowed a man to write a certificate of dismissal and to divorce her.” ⁵ But Jesus said to them, “Because of your hardness of heart he wrote this commandment for you. ⁶ But from the beginning of creation, ‘God made them male and female.’ ⁷ ‘For this reason a man shall leave his father and mother and be joined to his wife,^{a  8} and the two shall become one flesh.’ So they are no longer two, but one flesh. ⁹ Therefore what God has joined together, let no one separate.”

Mark 10:10   Then in the house the disciples asked him again about this matter. ¹¹ He said to them, “Whoever divorces his wife and marries another commits adultery against her; ¹² and if she divorces her husband and marries another, she commits adultery.”

Jesus Blesses Little Children

Mark 10:13   People were bringing little children to him in order that he might touch them; and the disciples spoke sternly to them. ¹⁴ But when Jesus saw this, he was indignant and said to them, “Let the little children come to me; do not stop them; for it is to such as these that the kingdom of God belongs. ¹⁵ Truly I tell you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God as a little child will never enter it.” ¹⁶ And he took them up in his arms, laid his hands on them, and blessed them.

Well hey. We are 3 for 3 on tough texts today. Thanks lectionary!

But let’s dive in. This text came up once when I was teaching Confirmation to a group of students, some of whom had parents who were divorced. I know some of you reading this may be divorced. I want to be clear I don’t believe this text should be read as a condemnation of divorced people. At all. Same for the language about second marriages.

In my personal study and discernment of this text, my belief is that the central heart of this text, and Jesus’ words, is instead read best as a sadness about the fallout of broken relationships, and the reality that we live in a world that is beset by sin of all kinds.

I believe Jesus is saying that God does desire for us to have harmonious and love-filled relationships. And that God’s heart is broken, just as ours are, when those relationships become broken. At the same time, the biblical record is also clear that God condemns abuse of all kinds, and no command to preserve marriage rises above the command not to abuse and harm one another. It is irresponsible for any faith leader to counsel abused people to remain in abusive relationships, for any reason.

The last thing I’ll say here about Jesus’ words on divorce is that it is notable that this is the sin