Litany

The above litany was used in a service recently at Crooked Creek Baptist Church, in which Rev. Joy Amick delivered a sermon which was essentially a first person narrative told from the perspective of the daughter of the Syro-Phoenician woman mentioned in the Gospels. The service mentioned Jesus having his horizons broadened by his encounter with the woman, and the woman herself suggests that Jesus was delighted when she bested him in their discussion.

Christians often say that we worship a Christlike God. If there is a resemblance, surely it is the other way around – with Jesus seeking to be God-like in his behavior.

And this reminds me of the famous story in the Babylonian Talmud, in which God laughs when his children “defeated” him in an argument.

Unfortunately, too many who claim to be Christians worship a God and a Christ who more closely resembles them. And just as our egos may be too inflated to laugh when we are bested in an argument, we imagine God and Jesus in the same way.