Maggie
shaved her head. It looks really good, actually. When I asked her what her husband Dale thought, she replied that
he had done it. I envied her, now that the heat of the summer has finally begun. Our church is very small, barely a dozen people, and tonight we sit in Billy and Brenda's living room.
I really miss having Zack, Maggie's older brother, here. He used to play the guitar for our opening worship services. He and his younger brother, Saul, and their friend Jason would all play together, and they were very good. Now with Maggie's mom doing it, it's just not the same; her voice is too high and she's too much a hippy for the sounds I'm used to. Jason stopped coming to church a few months ago and he won't talk to anyone about why. Zack's wife, Angie, has had a recent falling out with his side of the family and has since then also stopped attending, which pretty much means we don't see Zack that much anymore. There are all these empty chairs now.
Zack, Saul, and their dad Billy are all covered with tattoos and now Zack works at a nearby tattoo shop, where I hope to get mine done before I move. I feel left out in this group because I don't have one yet.
Tonight was Matthew 15, the faith of a Canaanite woman whose daughter had been badly afflicted by demon-possession. She must have been to other healers who could not help her daughter, and I'm sure all her time was taken up by trying to get her daughter healed. I'm sure at times, she was frustrated enough to want to kill her child so as not to see her suffer, so as not to suffer herself in her helplessness.
She pushes and pushes Jesus and his disciples for a miracle. It is here that I am told of the first time in my memory that Jesus draws a distinction between Israel and everyone else (this is merely an interpretation): "It is not right to take the children's bread and feed it to their dogs."
Now, our church's speaker connected the reference to dogs as being directed at this woman, for she was not an Israelite, the only people for whom Jesus was sent. Instead of responding to the insult and defending herself, she put the needs of her child in front of her own dignity and replied, "but even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their master's table." Upon this, Jesus answered her request and her daughter was healed.
After we had communion, we decided to move the Memorial Day cookout tomorrow to around 6:30, so it wouldn't be so hot and I would be able to swing by after work. Damn, Brenda makes good iced tea.