October 5, 2014
Pentecost 17 - World Wide Communion
Psalm 19:1-10
(prayer)
Over the past couple of
weeks, we have been following Moses and the Israelites as they journey through
the Sinai wilderness having crossed the Sea and left the years of Egyptian
slavery and oppression behind.
But freedom isn’t free of
problems.
This large nomadic group
was in constant need of fresh food and water - not every part of the Sinai that
they traveled through was filled with abundant supplies.
//
In Exodus 16, there are the
complaints about a lack of food. In
chapter 17, the complaint is about having enough water.
//
Hindsight is a powerful
diagnostic tool - I assume that (like me) you have this amazing ability to discern
the best path forward... after the fact.
As we read through chapters
16 and 17, we can hear how the Israelites’ hindsight complaints were a real
challenge for Moses. Why did we even leave Egypt anyway? Sure, we were slaves (and had to endure
oppressive, hard, forced labour), but at least we had enough food and drink.
The need for sustenance was
real, and it was a problem that Moses was well aware of... but did it merit
questioning the whole Exodus? Did it warrant conveniently forgetting about
God’s help and guidance all along the way - that whole fiery pillar thing?
As chapter 16 and 17
demonstrated, the God who claimed to have initiated the Exodus because God had
not abandoned the people in their distress, continued to guide and care for the
people: bread from heaven, migrated birds to hunt and water from the rock.
The pattern repeated
itself:
ÿ The people complained to
Moses;
ÿ When Moses couldn’t take it
any longer (and feared for his own life), Moses complained to God.
ÿ God provided.
//
Today, I showed a video
from the next (but similar) chapter in this story - not literally the next
chapter: comes from Exodus 20.
Between chapters 17 and 20,
Moses had led the people to the foot of Mount Horeb - the same place where
Moses mission had begun, when he spoke to God at the burning bush.
They camped there for some
time. Moses reconnected with his wife’s
family - he got some good management advice about delegation from his
father-in-law.
At one point, God invited
Moses to come up to the mountain for a private meeting. That was when the Ten Commandments were
shared Exodus 20:2-17.
If you read on in Exodus,
God continues to instruct Moses for eleven more chapters - up to and including
chapter 31: instructions on how to
organize the religious life of the people - providing guidance for how to offer
worship and live faithfully. This is the
beginning of The Torah (the law).
//
From that point forward The
Torah became the cornerstone of Hebrew life.
It guided them for the rest of their journey through the wilderness and
it provided them with the societal structure to govern their lives once they
began to settle in the land of Canaan.
Throughout the years, the
basic laws established during the time of Moses were refined and adjusted to
meet the specific needs of the people as their society developed.
Many centuries later, a
poet wrote the 19th Psalm, which extols the value and purpose of The
Torah for the Hebrew People.
·
the law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
·
the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the
simple;
·
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the
heart;
·
the commandment of
the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes;
·
the fear of the Lord is pure, enduring forever;
·
the ordinances of
the Lord are true and
righteous altogether; more to be desired are they than gold; sweeter than
honey.
The Psalm-writer gives us a
series of poetic pairs: a characteristic of the law and the impact of the law on
the human experience.
The Law is... perfect, sure, right, clear, pure, true and righteous.
The therefore the Law... revives, creates wisdom, is a cause
for rejoicing,
enlightens,
endures,
and (therefore) is deeply desired.
//
In other words, the Torah
is the glue that holds Hebrew society and culture and religion together.
//
//
For the most part, as a
human species, we have chosen to govern ourselves by some standards of
behaviour - yes there is ample variety from place to place, from culture to culture,
even from person to person. Yet there
are some very commonly held basic standards
of behaviour that are widely held.
As we can
see from the video and the Psalm that was read, our faithstory is filled with
the language of law – what does that mean for us?
Is faith
as simple as following the rules?
Sometimes,
I wish it was.
//
Murder (for example, as a
matter of common principle) is almost exclusively viewed as a bad thing. It’s right there in the Ten Commandments.
And yet, there are many circumstances
where it might be seen as justified - even within the perspective of a faith
tradition - to kill another.
There are still many places
in our world that muddy the waters of the standard of behaviour by having laws
that allow for capital punishment (i.e. state-sanctioned murder). And of course, rules of war allow for the
willful killing of others.
//
We are to honour parents
and not desire things possessed by others, and yet people of faith might
encourage others to disown their families if they do not hold the right beliefs.
And let’s be honest, far too many religious people feel
justified in selective coveting (desiring what others have) - especially in the
way the rules of business and finance work.
//
The purpose of the
development of the seeds of ancient Hebrew Law during the time of Moses was to
guide the people to a way of living in faith and justice in the land to which
they were heading. The Torah would
become the basis of their society as a freed and settled people - a nation with
a homeland.
//
Yet... “reason” tells me
that faithfulness is not as simple as following some rules.
Faithfulness is knowing what we believe, why we believe it; and applying those
beliefs authentically and consistently in the ways in which we
live and move and have our being!
//
Rules seem to be made to be
broken (or at least to have certain exceptions), faithfulness is living out
what we believe.
//
The questions each of us is
challenged to ask is: what do I believe - why do I believe it - and will I live
out those beliefs.
Obviously, the last
question is the key one. Not living by
what one professes to believe is called hypocrisy and it is one of the least
respected characteristic a person can have.
No one respects the hypocrite.
//
Now, I am not going to be
hard on us - every single one of us - is constantly being challenged to bring
of actions and beliefs in sync with each other.
In fact, I don’t know anyone who has to deal with that conflict on a
daily basis.
The challenge of
faithfulness is to find ways to match our actions with our beliefs.
Mathematically...
Faith = Beliefs + Actions
//
So, there are two ways to work
at making our living match our beliefs - if they are not in sync:
·
Adjust
what we do.
·
Adjust
what we believe.
It may surprise you how
often it is the latter that is the more faithful response.
//
The rules of living in the
ancient world (even those enshrined in Torah) may not apply in the same way as
contexts change over time.
In the ancient Hebrew
world, there were Torah rules against eating shell fish and pork. Eat a tasty lobster or crab was described as
an abomination toward God.
And yet, even though the
Christian life is an extension of Jesus faith-tradition (Judaism), how many
Christians do you know that refrain from pork and shellfish because it is
thought to be detestable to God.
The Ten Commandments
require that the Seventh Day (Sabbath) be considered Holy and set apart from
other days. It is a day of rest,
literally - there are strict rules for how far one can walk or how much work
one can do on the Sabbath Day.
Now, this is the point that
someone will remind us that we used to have laws in Canada restrict what could
be done on Sundays. Sports teams never
had practices or games on the Lord’s Day (by the way all three levels of
the Leduc and District Minor Football Association have games today at the Leduc
High School - the Atom game is already underway)
Since we do not live as a
whole society as a religious state, the civil laws must not force particular religious
practices on everyone, so the Lord’s Day Act in Alberta (and similar
legislation in other provinces) was deemed unconstitutional under the right to
practice religion freely.
Even so, there are many
Christians who still do their best to set aside Sunday as the holiest day of
the week - maybe gather in places like this for church - focus on less busy
family time. I suspect that people see
this as being faithful to the commandment to remember the Sabbath Day and keep it holy.
But, even that is out of
context, the Bible refers to the Hebrew Sabbath (Saturday on our calendars) -
how many Christians do you know that treat Saturday with religious reverence?
Sometimes, we adjust what
we believe. In the case of the Sabbath,
remember that as the early Christian movement grew, it expanded way beyond its
Hebrew base - over time, they moved their holy rituals to the day of Jesus’
resurrection (the first day of the week) from the tradition of the earliest
disciples who kept the Sabbath according to the Torah.
When we change what believe
and why we believe it, we do it for reasons we believe are good and just.
//
Maybe that is why Jesus
resisted the trap to pick the Greatest Commandment from the thousands of rules
is the Torah.
Mark 12:28 One
of the scribes asked Jesus, ‘Which commandment is the first of all?’ 29Jesus answered, ‘The first is, “Hear,
O Israel: The Lord is our God, the Lord alone. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart,
and with all your soul, and with all
your might”(Dt
6:4-5) 31The second is this, “You shall love your
neighbour as yourself.”
Jesus knew that the details
of the Torah are (and have always been) contextual. Jesus knew he had to be more general - more
summary orientated than specific.
·
Love
God with heart, soul and might.
o
Heart
- love God from the depth of what you feel;
o
Soul
- love God as part of the very essence of who you are;
o
Might
- love God in what you do.
·
Love
your neighbour as yourself.
o
Love
others as if they were you;
o
Love
others the way you want to be are loved;
o
Love
yourself and you can truly love others.
If you are tempted to ask
Jesus “okay that’s fine, but who is my neighbour” - I refer you to the Parable
of the Good Samaritan (Luke10:29-37).
//
For me focusing on the
great commandments as voiced by Jesus, I have been able to find the basis of
what I want to believe, and what rules I want to try to live by. If the action choices before are not in sync
with that I am in conflict.
//
Faithfulness in this way is
hard. If I really see all people as kin
- as neighbours in the way Jesus meant it - how do I look at the bog issues of
our day:
·
Climate
change;
·
Hunger;
·
War,
Terrorism;
·
Violence
in homes, on streets among nations and within nations.
·
Gendre
equality;
·
The
equality of all people regardless of their sexual orientation or identity.
·
And
what may be the linchpin in all of these problems: The exponentially widening gap between the rich and poor and that
very basic (ten- commandments-noted) sin of... coveting.
//
In the end, no law on the
books of a nation or community; no system of enforcement means as much as the
attempts of each of us as individuals to see to live in faith and justice. It is not a destination. It is a journey.
What do we believe?
Why do we believe it?
Will we live it out?
//
Faith = Beliefs + Actions
Let us pray:
God, in your love and
guidance, help us learn from our experiences to seek to know what is important
to us and how we can make that real in our world. Amen.
***OFFERING***
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