The Fourteenth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 17B, August 30, 2015; The Rev. Pamela L. Werntz
James 1:17-27 Welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.
Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 There is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile.
O generous God, grant us the strength, the wisdom and the courage to seek always and everywhere after truth, come when it may, and cost what it will.
This Sunday we turn back to the Gospel of Mark in our lectionary for the rest of the season of Pentecost in our liturgical year. [1] I’m tempted to dive in to this libelous text, to defend Pharisees and certainly to defend hand and dish washing, and also to deplore hypocrisy and all the evils that can come out from within our polluted hearts. I’m tempted to point out that this should be a troubling text for people like Episcopalians who cleave to traditions, sometimes at the expense of healing and feeding and freeing people who are ailing, undernourished and stuck in narrow places.
Fortunately, for all of us, the beauty in the love Song of Solomon and the Letter of James caught my eye before I got too far down the path of the rant that was growing in me, fueled by all kinds of violence and ugliness in the news of this past week. I thought about that famous Cherokee legend about an elder who teaches his grandson about the battle that goes on inside people. You probably have heard it. The elder says, “my child, the battle is between two ‘wolves’ inside us all. One is evil. It is envy, jealousy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, lies, inferiority, and superiority. The other is good. It is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion and fidelity.” The grandson thought about his grandfather’s words for a moment and then asked, “which wolf will win the battle?” The grandfather simply replied, “The one that you feed.”
Song of the Songs, Shir Ha-shirim in Hebrew, might be the most beautiful book of the whole Bible. When I was a young teenager in confirmation class, our pastor got us reading this book of the Bible early on. It was a brilliant re-introduction to our sacred text (the Bible) because The Song of Songs was a page turner for adolescents. Our wise pastor stayed with us through our giggling at the sexual imagery, and led us into a deeper appreciation of what holy scripture has to say about the sensual nature of the love of God, just at the time in our lives when we were waking up to our own and to others’ bodies. I will always be grateful for that. The poet beckons the reader to understand his, to understand her belovedness. Arise, my loved one, and come away to see what beauty there is – look up and see the beauty of the moon and the stars, hear the beauty of voices of birds and of people singing songs, smell the beauty of fragrant blossoms and spices, taste the beauty of the fruit of the trees and vines, feel the beauty all around you.
It’s like Frederick Buechner’s words: “Here is the world. Beautiful and terrible things will happen. Don’t be afraid.” A number of years ago, my spiritual director gave me an assignment for Lent to write down at the end of each day the most beautiful thing I had experienced. In order to complete the assignment, I had to be looking for beauty all day every day and wondering, “is this the most beautiful? Is this more beautiful than the other beautiful thing or was that more beautiful?” All day, for forty days, searching for beauty. I commend it to you as a spiritual exercise, as a spiritual discipline. You don’t have to wait until Lent. You can start today. If you can’t manage it every day, just do it once a week! It will feed the hungry good wolf in your heart.
The Letter of James is beautiful. It’s about how beautiful and terrible things will happen. It’s a sermon or treatise on how a community can embody the love of God even in the midst of terrible things that happen. The James of the title of the book is traditionally understood to be the brother of Jesus, who led the community of Jesus-followers in Jerusalem after Jesus’ execution, and who, himself, was executed in the year 62 CE. Although it’s not likely that the brother of Jesus actually wrote this sermon, it seems probable to me that it contains teachings that came from James. Biblical scholar Ben Witherington dates this book very early in the development of Jewish-Christian community, a text in conversation about moral and ethical practice – the right ways for faithful communities to behave. It seems to be in conversation with the early writings of Paul who emphasized belief over works. Martin Luther famously called the Letter of James an “epistle of straw,” in other words, worthless. He thought it should be excised from the New Testament canon. I’m glad he didn’t succeed.
James and Paul are essentially in agreement, I think, but they’re debating which comes first, and in the end, which is more important. It’s not that confessing faith is unimportant, the Letter of James responds to the Apostle Paul, it’s just that without behavior rooted in loving-kindness, confessing faith is worthless. It doesn’t matter what one believes if one is not caring for and advocating for people who are vulnerable, who are without adequate food and shelter, who are without dignity and respect. The Letter of James asserts that faithful community life encourages much more than self-discipline and beliefs. Faithful community life is “not found exclusively in prayer…true holiness involves making concrete provisions for those unable to take care of themselves.” [2]
Notice that the Letter of James is saying that every generous act of giving is from God – not just the generous acts of some people, or some of the generous acts of all people – every generous act is from God. The Letter of James is saying that we are born by the word of truth – that is, we are created by God’s compassionate purpose, whether our parents knew it or not, whether our parents celebrated it or not, whether our parents could handle it or not! We are beloved of God and so here is how it must be with the beloved community: we must be quick into the listening, be slow into the sounding out (or speaking), be slow into anger – because our anger does not produce God’s justice. Now, if I could invite James to dinner, I might argue a little with this point because I think anger can be great fuel for change for the better when it doesn’t burn out of control. Then James might answer me that the word he used also means punishment – what he meant was be slow into punishment – because our punishment does not produce God’s justice. Then I would completely agree with him and we could move on to coffee and dessert.
The Letter of James goes on to say that the beloved community must put off all moral impurity – literally all dirt and surplus or excessive amounts of evil and receive with gentleness the implanted word that will be able to save the life in us. (Saving our soul is an okay translation unless you hear the word soul and think that this is talking about life after death. The Letter of James is teaching about life before death. Feed the good wolf. Be doers of the word and not hearers only. Religion that is clean and unsullied before God the Author of that word implanted in your heart is this: to care for destitute and bereaved people in their distress. We have both the capacity for evil and the capacity for good – focus on the good. Feed the good.
Words from two prayers from our Book of Common Prayer came to me while I was reflecting on what it is we’re doing here to feed the good – here in this church, in this beloved community. The first one is from the seldom used Eucharistic Prayer C, which asks God to “Open our eyes to see your hand at work in the world about us. Deliver us from the presumption of coming to this Table for solace only, and not for strength; for pardon only, and not for renewal.” [3] Bishop Gates chose that prayer for his consecration ceremony last year. The second is from the General Thanksgiving from our Morning Prayer liturgy that says to God: “And, we pray, give us such an awareness of your mercies, that with truly thankful hearts, we may show forth your praise not only with our lips but in our lives, by giving up our selves to your service, and by walking before you in holiness and righteousness all our days.” [4]
I wonder, as you imagine the week ahead of you, how remembering that you are God’s co-workers in making the world a better place – safer, healthier, more trustworthy, you might practice quicker listening, slower speech, and even slower punishment with the people you might encounter. When you remember that you are “forgiven, blessed, and called” into lives of deeper “meaning and purpose,” [5] it is possible to respond more generously, compassionately, mercifully in every encounter, wherever you go, even while walking or driving around Boston! It’s true.
Today Emmanuel Church is excited to be welcoming visitors and folks who are new to this community. We are excited to be welcoming everyone, no matter how long you’ve been here, to engage in a deeper relationship with the Holy One of blessing and to feast at God’s table. And if our excitement seems tempered, it is because we are also bidding farewell to two people who have modeled for us just what I have been describing: generous, compassionate, merciful deeds every day. They have taught me so much about faithful living. For the last three years, Helen McKinney has been sharing her energy and enthusiasm for the beloved children of God in here and out there – on vestry, in mission and outreach, in helping to lead worship, and in nurturing our Small Wonders. Helen has moved to New York to work on a Masters’ Degree in Social Work at Columbia University while she continues her journey into ordained ministry as a Deacon in the Episcopal Church. We’ll still be her sponsoring parish, so I expect we’ll see her from time to time, but we’ll miss the weekly dose of her vigor and her zest!
For nearly eighteen years, Nancy Granert has made such beautiful music come out of various key and pedal boards, and various vocal ensembles. She is a masterful organist, a wonderful colleague in worship leadership – one of the best hymn players I’ve ever heard. The most striking thing to me about Nancy, is the rare combination of her extraordinary musical talent with her huge pastoral heart. For the 7 ½ years I’ve been privileged to work with her, Nancy has taught me so much about the art of pastoral care. For me, both Helen and Nancy embody the lessons that the Letter of James is hoping to teach us all. Helen and Nancy, we will give thanks for your ministries in our prayers, and before the peace, we will lay hands on you and pray for you as you embark on these next legs of your journeys. I, for one, will shed some sacramental tears, and remind us all of what you have modeled for us during your time at Emmanuel, that: “Life is short and we have never too much time for gladdening the hearts of those who are traveling the…journey with us. So be swift to love, make haste to be kind.” [6]