If Your Tweets Cause You to Stumble . . .
30 September 2018 St. Paul’s, Kansas City Esther 7:1–6, 9–10; 9:20–22 Psalm 124 James 5:13-23 Mark 9:38-50 The book of Esther recounts how the Jewish exiles in Babylon were saved from extermination by the happy coincidence that one of them was married to King Ahasuerus. The remembrance of this deliverance makes up the Jewish festival of Purim , which is usually celebrated in February or March due to the Jewish Lunar calendar, so, accordingly, the Revised Common Lectionary puts it in the Fall. Tradition holds that during the reading of Esther in the Synagogue, every time the name of the bad guy, Haman, is mentioned the congregation makes noise, traditionally with a device like this, called a gragger. As we all know kids love the opportunity to make noise during church, so Purim is especially boisterous in Synagogues. However, for today’s reflections I was drawn to our Gospel reading. The disciples approach Jesus and tell him that someone was casting out