The Heart of the Matter

8/29

Good Shepherd Faith

my friend Chris Kim

For the first time since the pandemic began, I am back at Good Shepherd Faith to preach. They are meeting in their or basement, joint service English and Korean. Masks, no congregational singing. Covid protections in place. I am finally admitting we are still living in Coronavirusworld. (My friend Chris Kim translates for me...) 

Here is my reflection for the service, trying to get to the heart of the matter. 

Well here we are.  Last Saturday was supposed to be the big “Welcome back” celebration.  Covid-19 was supposed to be on the run and we well on the way to “normal life.” Well the weather cancelled the concert but we are nowhere near “back to normal.” The Delta variant has us all uncertain as we try and figure out what’s next. 

I did my annual Shakespeare in the park. But it’s all online lotteries and virtual stand by lines and IDs and proofs of vaccination and masks…"Broadway is back”…but I went the other night and same thing…IDs, vax cards, masks….we are a long ways from ‘back’…and the road uncertain…

Scenes from Afghanistan feel, like Yogi used to say, “deja vu all over again…”. People desperately hanging on to copters and planes as the country has fallen to the Taliban…20 years…and…and…

Here we are.

In today’s gospel, Jesus is talking to three audiences. There are “the scribes and pharisees” who “came from Jerusalem,” the ever-present crowd and Jesus’ disciples. 

What’s on the table is a question about ritual purity, following rules, or traditions, and ultimately authority. And it’s not necessarily an attempt to trick Jesus.  The Pharisees in particular have not yet made up their mind. They may well be seriously trying to find out where Jesus stands on these issues, since it appears that his disciples are inconsistent in these matters. 

While his answers are focused to each group, the message is the same, it’s not what we take in that matters so much as the content of our hearts. Not what we consume, but how. 

As annoying as kosher might seem to us from outside the Jewish tradition, as mysterious as some of these rules might seem, the basic purpose of kosher is as a guard against mindless consumption.  It is about being mindful, conscious and intentional about what and how we consume. An Orthodox Jewish person has a blessing for everything that is taken in, even a glass of water. (Though we are learning in our world that even a glass of water may indeed be precious…)

Just a a side note, always pay attention to Mark’s details. He is always intentional about what he includes. Note that our scribes and Pharisees come from Jerusalem. That is where he will go to fulfill his destiny, his crucifixion and death, the cross. These questioners come from that place to where he is already headed.

‘

And they won’t eat anything from the market without washing it. What comes from the market is unclean. Yet in the previous chapter, Mark has told us that  the market is where the sick are, the poor and needy. those in need of healing. It is not just unclean food that these authorities want to avoid, it is unclean people as well.  And for Jesus, no people are unclean,

And so he calls out their hypocrisy. They obey the rules and miss the heart of the matter. When Bill Clinton said he “did not have sex with that woman,” he was using a precise definition but sure did not go to the heart of the matter. (Like it depends on what the meaning of what is is...) When I coached kid’s soccer and was teaching the out of bounds rule, I always tried to teach them to go to the heart of the matter. The disciples, as always are slow to catch on.

When I hear Jesus speaking to the Pharisees, he could  just as well be talking to the Biblical literalists of today. 

Once in a church I worked at, a young man came out as gay. The church was very confused and of different minds until one elder said, “Friends, I know how we think we know how we understand the Bible. But this young man is one of ours. Sometimes you just have to set principle aside and do what’s right.”

By his going to the heart of what “defiles,” Jesus was making a radical new understanding.

His point is an important one…the source of evil does not come from outside ourselves.  It is not the devil or  satan or republicans or democrats socialism or capitalism or Qanon or….the source of evil comes from inside the human heart. Inside ourselves. And it is what comes out that defines who we are, not what goes in.

Take a look at that list again….

"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person.

If you come to think of it, each of those is a form of mindless, self obsessed consumption.  Consuming without regard for the other.

The question is…who are we in this story? Self satisfied scribes and pharisees? Curious crowd? Confused disciples? What is Jesus’ message for you today?

What come out is important. I know the old saying “sticks and stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me..” Well yes, but not. It’s not that simple. Words do a lot of damage. 

It’s true on the personal level…that we say to each other can really hurt. 

On an institutional level, nothing is worse in a church than gossip, talking behind peoples’ backs. It corrodes us, eats away at is from the inside. Religious  Jews have a practice of lashan harah, that is not speaking ill of another on the sabbath. To do so breaks the spirit of sabbath. What of we had a rule of not speaking ill of each other once we enter the church doors, even if  only on Sundays?

And on a national level, words can inspire compassion and courage. And they can also destroy faith in our system, lead to invasions of the capital, distrust of science to the detriment of the greater good and public healthy and safety. 

Yes…what goes out is important…

It’s what’s in the heart that matters. And we may have gone too far here. I had dinner with two (progressive) college professors the other night both of whom are seriously concerned about the loss of free inquiry on campus. People parse every word carefully just ready to pounce if something's not precisely right. Careers are damaged. 

In Pittsburgh last week I read the story of a lifelong peace advocate, founder of the Thomas Merton Center, one of the Plowshares 8 who went to jail with Daniel Berrigan in the struggle against nuclear proliferation. She naively said something not quite right and the new generation of activists removed her from the board and removed any mention of her from the website. 

Go to the heart friends, go to the heart…and perhaps that’s our true sermon title today…the heart of the matter…

Who are we in this story? How do we move past culture and tradition to the heart of God’s law? Let those with ears to hear, hear…..

Amen

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

Let those with ears to hear DO

9/2 

Welcome back Mark

It's Labor Day weekend . The unofficial end to summer. And I am back to Beverly Church on a hot and humid Sunday. Walking through the streets with the English names and Victorian homes. And occasional gardens.

a home garden

And Pakistani restaurants...and Mexican panaderias...Still flyers up from last week's church flea market and barbecue...


Mark, who is in the Navy,  as he does whenever he is home on leave has come. And brought an old friend.  Here is the reflection....

It's good to see you again. As always, there's a lot on my mind. I spent a week back home in Pittsburgh. And many of my friends were struggling with a grand jury report that came out and said that in Pennsylvania, there was testimony of  300 priests abusing over1000 victims. And they believe those figures are conservative. Everyone was checking  the list. One of the musicians from my old church found the priest who  had married him, baptized his first child. Beloved parish priests . Men I used to work with. Some friends wanted to know where to turn. Because they could not go back. Can you imagine how that would feel? 

I continue to wrestle with that. Thinking of all the victims. 

I'm also thinking about the death of John McCain. When I was at the ballpark yesterday afternoon, the flags at Yankee Stadium were at half mast. In his honor. And so all the other flags were lower as well so as to not be higher than the US flag. His body lie in state in the Capitol Rotunda, rare for a Senator. And everything from invited speakers to pall bearers had symbolic value and meaning. 

Of course some can argue about some of his decisions, his positions. But at the end of the day, I think we want to have someone who symbolizes for us a different way of being than we are living out right now. Where personal integrity is important and valuing and respecting others, especially our opponents, is honored. And I believe our desire to lift up those values says something good about us. 

I think both these stories relate to our scripture passages today. In the Gospel, the religious leaders are very upset at Jesus' disciples' failure to wash before eating. (Not a bad idea..) Jesus is very clear that no ritual of what to do before eating or even what we eat is as important as righteous behavior.  You've heard of clean hands, pure heart? He's saying clean hands don't count when your heart isn't pure....

Part of what's going on here is opening up the doors of the community so more can come in. Jesus is saying no ritual, no tradition, is more important than the living, moving spirit of God.

Let me clear though. Jesus is not saying that tradition has no value. Think about it....Jesus went to worship regularly. He prayed.  He was going to Jerusalem to celebrate Passover. In our communion service today we'll recall Jesus following the traditions of his faith.

I've spent enough time with you to know that you have your special traditions, your  ways of doing things that are different from what any other church does. If I asked you, what would you say you'd most want to hold on to? Or miss the most if it were gone? 

This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 

We take our human prejudices and make them doctrines. 

Certainly, our Roman Catholic church knows about tradition. They've been at it longer than we have. But I wonder if some of those traditions may not be contribute to their problems. Maybe it's time to have women priests. And allow priests to marry. 

Certainly we Presbyterians have had to move beyond tradition.  We divided over slavery in the 1860's and didn't reunite until 1983. We hesitated to ordain women and when we made it mandatory, some of our churches got angry and left. And when we finally allowed LGBTQ folk to have their God-given ministries officially recognized, more couldn't abide that and left. 

Traditions keep us and imprison us. We have a President who seems to be telling people things can go back to the way they used to be. No uppity women or scary black people or other languages on our phones. 

So OK. What makes us us? What is distinctive? We don't dress like the Amish people I saw in the Philadelphia Greyhound station. Or wear yarmulkes like Jewish men or hijabs like Muslim women or turbans like Sikhs. 

I think it should be in our practice...in James' words, caring for widows and orphans. 

In James' words, being doers, not just hearers. And he's got some wonderfully specific advice...

: Let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 

Is that true of us? Of you? Of the church?

I had a preacher who used to end his sermons with Let those with ears to hear, hear...

But maybe today what I want to say is Let those with ears to hear, do....

And once again we pray for each other. And share bread and cup together before sharing a meal. I remind them that just being here...just choosing to spend Sunday morning in worship is a witness. Is important. Has value. There is still tomorrow left before we go back to our regular lives...
   
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Second Reading James 1:17-27

17Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. 18In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

19You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; 20for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. 21Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

22But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. 23For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; 24for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. 25But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

26If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. 27Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

Gospel Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

1Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him, 2they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. 3(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; 4and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) 5So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?" 6He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; 7in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.' 8You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

14Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: 15there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

21"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder, 22adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. 23All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."

How far is what people see from who we really are?

8/30

A little after church fellowship

It is a struggle getting to church. Trying to avoid at all costs a cough or sneeze either of which result in serious pain. Very happy to see the smiling face of Dion walking down the street to help me out. I won’t be alone. Walk up Amsterdam to go into Barney Greengrass and pick up an iced coffee. The steps are a mess. One of the sisters is there with all their worldlies.  And there’s a sleeping figure in a wheel chair. After I look closer, I know it can’t be Sean because he has one leg while Sean has none. Forgive me for saying this, but my first feeling is,the way I feel right now,  I’m leaving this for the Koreans to deal with.

Soon enough Leila and Pat K have arrived as well . And John R has arrived for one more Sunday of music. So we will have church. Back in the Sanctuary for the first time since Antigona.

I discover hitting high notes hurts as well. The congregation will need to take charge of its own singing.

Much on my mind today.

It’s the 60^th anniversary of the death of Emmet Till…lynched at age 14. And it is the 10^th anniversary of Katrina.

So what’s at stake today in our scriptures? Jesus is in conflict with the Pharisees again. Much to do about hand washing. We know all about hand washing. Sanitizers are everywhere. We carry mini-sanitizers in our purses and pockets. We worry about germs. Think about even one subway pole on a hot summer day…I remember Good Shepherd Faith’s Maundy Thursday hand washing  ritual in place of foot washing.  So much more in tune with our present urban reality. Some of us won’t shake hands. Prefer fist bumps. Some churches have stopped praticing intinction. (The way we do communion…)We take our shoes off at peoples’ doors. But sanitation is not what is being discussed here. It’s ritual purity. Holiness.

We don’t talk much or think much about that. But what are our holiness codes? The unwritten rules of NYC liberal upper west side culture? Our equivalent of handwashing? What boxes do we check off?  Political correctness? Do we carry righteous bags to Whole Foods?

More importantly, how do we define unclean? As the Presbyterian Outlook asked this week, more than who hasn’t washed their hands, the question is  who would we not want to bold our hands? Or our children’s? And what do we do with that information?

Jesus, in language more graphic than our NRSV, says that it’s what comes out from us that matters more than what comes into us and that it is the content of our heart that determines that.

James has his word to say as well.

We should be….quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger …(and we might add slow to hit the send/post/tweet button… email and social media, the devil’s tool….)

We are to be doers….not just hearers… of the WORD. how to say that and not sound obvious or didactic? Again he gets specific…. to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world….

Who are our widows and orphans? What does it really mean to care for them?  And how do we remain unstained by the world?

James compares us to those who look in a mirror and then forget what they see…although I’m not so sure that’s us…I feel for many of us, we look in the mirror and struggle…and wonder how we measure up…I don’t detect much selfrightouesness when I look out here at our gathered community…

But it does get to the question  I posed earlier in the week…what do others see when they see us? If Christian or righteous or holy were defined by what others see in us, what would that definition be? And I believe that the honest answer would be something mixed, good and bad…ultimately human…

So how far is what people see from who we really are? And as we sit here today, are there 3 things you could do to narrow the gap? I think one of the greatest compliments paid is when someone says he/she is who the appear to be…authentic.

(Later my friend Pastor Steve will call me out on that one..Donald Trump is authentic, he will say, but is that enough? Where do values, community values, fit in? What good is it if you’re authentic….and a jerk?...And I will respond by recalling how when my son Nate went to Seattle U, a Jesuit school, they said to us parents that their goal was not that their students be  Catholics or even Christian but that they be authentic…in the context of a community committed to building a more just, humane and sustainable world.. and Steve nodded, we agreed…authentic is not enough…)

Doers of the word…another anniversary…50 years ago, Martin Luther King, Jr. visited the southern Presbyterian conference center Montreat…his visit made some traditional southern Presbyterians nervous, if not outright offended. I’m pleased that this week over 1000 people gathered at Montreat to talk about “the unfinished agenda”….and I enjoyed the steady stream of tweets I received …and the wrestling going on…certainly to be righteous today requires us to seriously wrestle with the unfinished agenda, the racial divide in our country…

And last Wednesday there was an eclectic gathering in my neighborhood… at First Corinthian Baptist Church… speakers included Christian Cornell West and communist Carl Dix, ….parents of children who have died by police violence and activists and Baptists …all trying to make a plan to raise a voice that cannot be ignored..and our own Presbyterian friend Stephen who ‘s with us this morning boldly declared that God is angriest when we’re told to wake up and we roll over….(well, that was my version..pretty close, Steve?)

I actually find myself thinking of Michael Jackson…yes, really, do you remember this?

I'm starting with the man in the mirror
I'm asking him to change his ways
And no message could have been any clearer
If you want to make the world a better place
Take a look at yourself, and then make a change

Amen….

And when I ask John to play something for our offertory, John immediately responds with, of course, the man jn the mirror…

Later, as we lift up our prayers, my son Dan asks for prayers for his high school friend Kyle Jean-Baptiste.  The first African-American and youngest actor to star as the lead Jean Vajean in les Miz on Broadway, in rehearsals for the Color Purple, dead at 21. Fell off the fires escape athios mother’s in Brooklyn. (http://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/01/theater/mourning-kyle-jean-baptiste-les-miserables-actor-who-plunged-to-his-death.html)

There was a cool young couple fresh from California. Set to move to Grteenpoint. I share my experiences of Greenpoint with them, the confluence of old Polish and young and hip, Café Edna and my singer-songwriter-dancer friend, truly one of a kind, Liana.

Session meets to discuss a proposal for rental of our sanctuary on Sunday mornings. Are we ready to make that move? Jamie has visions of how sacred the chapel could be. If it were reserved for sacred use only.  And there will be budget issues to face,  not only practical but philosophical. Missional, to use a term I generally don’t like.

The meeting ends as the pain begins to set in once more. I’ve made it through.

and one with Dion....

EPISTLE JAMES 1:17-27

¹⁷Every generous act of giving, with every perfect gift, is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change. ¹⁸In fulfillment of his own purpose he gave us birth by the word of truth, so that we would become a kind of first fruits of his creatures.

¹⁹You must understand this, my beloved: let everyone be quick to listen, slow to speak, slow to anger; ²⁰for your anger does not produce God's righteousness. ²¹Therefore rid yourselves of all sordidness and rank growth of wickedness, and welcome with meekness the implanted word that has the power to save your souls.

²²But be doers of the word, and not merely hearers who deceive themselves. ²³For if any are hearers of the word and not doers, they are like those who look at themselves in a mirror; ²⁴for they look at themselves and, on going away, immediately forget what they were like. ²⁵But those who look into the perfect law, the law of liberty, and persevere, being not hearers who forget but doers who act-they will be blessed in their doing.

²⁶If any think they are religious, and do not bridle their tongues but deceive their hearts, their religion is worthless. ²⁷Religion that is pure and undefiled before God, the Father, is this: to care for orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

GOSPEL MARK 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

¹Now when the Pharisees and some of the scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,²they noticed that some of his disciples were eating with defiled hands, that is, without washing them. ³(For the Pharisees, and all the Jews, do not eat unless they thoroughly wash their hands, thus observing the tradition of the elders; ⁴and they do not eat anything from the market unless they wash it; and there are also many other traditions that they observe, the washing of cups, pots, and bronze kettles.) ⁵So the Pharisees and the scribes asked him, "Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders, but eat with defiled hands?"⁶He said to them, "Isaiah prophesied rightly about you hypocrites, as it is written, 'This people honors me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me; ⁷in vain do they worship me, teaching human precepts as doctrines.'⁸You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition."

¹⁴Then he called the crowd again and said to them, "Listen to me, all of you, and understand: ¹⁵there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile, but the things that come out are what defile."

²¹"For it is from within, from the human heart, that evil intentions come: fornication, theft, murder,²²adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander, pride, folly. ²³All these evil things come from within, and they defile a person."