Delivered September 7, 2008
by Pastor Marilyn Henderson
It is always interesting and, sometimes, entertaining to hear what some children have learned from Sunday school, bedtime stories and Bible story books.
After hearing all that, it's obvious that these children have some remedial Sunday School work to do! They have heard the stories but they haven't processed them correctly. Maybe they weren't listening carefully. More likely is that the stories were far enough outside their experience so that they couldn't connect the words and ideas with any experience or word they already knew. So they did the best they could with what they understood.
During the days of Jesus' ministry, the people of Judah and the Galilee had a similar challenge. They had been taught the law and the prophets from little on up, but only the favoured few could read and were educated. These people, the religious leaders of the day, were sincere in their beliefs that their religious practices would help the Jews keep the Law of YHWH. The Pharisees were, in their own way, trying to protect the people of Judah when they questioned Jesus.
For the Jews, remaining faithful to God's Law, believing in the promise of Messiah and living in the prescribed ways of obedience to their rabbinic laws defined who they were. And yet, Jesus seems to say, there was too much pressure on most people. Being a good, fully practicing Jew was impossible for most Jews. Life then, as it is now, was invariably messy. It was not neat and tidy.
So the people of Judah did the best they could. They followed the laws as best they could within the necessities of life - making a living for themselves, caring for their extended families and neighbours, attending synagogue on Sabbath. There was constant tension between making a living and living a life pleasing to God.
Today life seems even more complex and bewildering. Many no longer live in one community all their lives. Cultures clash and mix. The gap widens between rich and poor within and between countries. Information seems widely available - except to the poor. Healthcare is improved - except for the poor. What gives the rich their wealth sickens the earth, the home of us all.
Many are on a quest for meaning in life. They search everywhere for truth, for goodness, for peace, for connectedness to each other.
One of the most ancient customs of life, earlier supported by more stable populations and close-knit communities, has been rapidly crumbling in the wake of the isolation and fear engendered by new "communities" where neighbours are disconnected from each other. Following are two examples from Practicing Out Faith, edited by Dorothy Bass, where hospitality - one of God's ways of Life - shines through.
"A Catholic priest recently told a gathering of friends about a time when he arrived in Israel late on a Friday afternoon, just as everything was about to shut down for the Sabbath. Public transportation was no longer available, and the house where people were expecting him was fifteen miles away. So he picked up his suitcase and started to walk. He did not get far before a family saw him and invited him to spend the Sabbath with them. He accepted their invitation, and they all had a wonderful time. When Saturday evening came, he found his bus and went on his way."
"After the priest finished his story, a Jewish friend said that he had a similar story to tell. As a long-haired college student in the late 1960's, he was traveling through Spain. One night, he got off a train in a village that was already asleep. A little frightened, he approached the only lighted place. It turned out to be a monastery, and the monks received him gladly. After his departure, he discovered that they had quietly slipped some coins into his pocket as he slept" (2-3).
The Jewish family and the monks practiced hospitality as a way of connecting their faith with their own lives. In practicing hospitality, their stories became connected to God's story. They practiced a life-giving way of life.
Practicing Our Faith outlines practices, or ways of life, that nurture connectedness with God, others and self. "In both of these stories, we get glimpses of ancient traditions sustaining ways of life that shelter and nourish people, ways of life ready to receive strangers who are passing through. The hospitality these two young men received came from communities structured with hospitality in mind. In each of these places, hospitality was more than an individual act of kindness - it was sustained by a way of life" (Bass, 3).
No longer are the ways we do life necessarily shared with those we live next to or across from. Shared ways of life have cracked. Isolated people are left to figure out how to put their lives together in meaningful ways by themselves. There is no longer the network of community support and connectedness that has sustained and given meaning to life for millennia.
What "way of life" sustains and nurtures us and works itself out in our daily lives and practice?
Rapid changes in the basic activities of our lives make life "less coherent, less morally clear," as Bass puts it. She suggests that our daily activities or ways of life do not necessarily contribute to balance and wholeness and health - and flourishing. We are pushed into decisions and directions we may never have intended to go (Bass, x).
28Come to Me, all you who labour and are heavy-laden and overburdened, and I will cause you to rest. [I will ease and relieve and refresh your souls.] 29Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls. 30For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
Practicing Our Faith outlines 12 practices the authors consider essential for human beings, especially in our time (xiii). "Reflecting on practices as they have been shaped in the context of Christian faith leads us to encounter the possibility of a faithful way of life, ... attuned to present-day needs and taught by ancient wisdom ... this encounter can change how we live each day" (Bass, xi).
Through the ages the faithful Church has embodied the following practices or ways of life, exhibiting in real, truthful ways God's care for all.
29 Take My yoke upon you and learn of Me, for I am gentle (meek) and humble (lowly) in heart, and you will find rest (relief and ease and refreshment and recreation and blessed quiet) for your souls.
What are these practices, these "ways of life?" Again, I'm referring to Bass' book.
The first is honouring our bodies - loving self. In addition to being a commandment of Jesus, loving our bodies acknowledges that we approach ways of life not only from a spiritual perspective, but also as people made of flesh and bone, created in the Creator's image.
Hospitality is an essential way of life, for we all need to be welcomed and embraced and included. We all need the respite of rest and peace. In the community of God we can provide these for each other. This practice leads us to think about how we manage our households and how those practices impact the households of the earth, our home.
There is an ancient practice of saying yes and saying no. Bass says, "If we want to say yes to God and to life abundant, we must also say a related no to other things." She suggests that this practice is integral if we are to persist in living out any of the other practices. Saying yes and no is also strengthened, she says, by the disciplines of prayer, examination of conscience and small faith-sharing groups (xii).
"Keeping Sabbath ... forms us to say yes to regular rest and worship and no to a society and economy that force - or lure - many of us to work too hard."
Three practices or ways of living spotlight our world's "urgent need for speech that is truthful, decisions that are well-considered, and communities that are structured to permit the just and full participation of all ... giving truthful testimony, making discerning choices and shaping worthy communities" (xii).
Forgiveness is a way of life "without which ... any practice ... could continue for long." In this practice we as followers of Jesus "participate in the divine activity of reconciliation ... "
"The strength of God's reconciling love also provides the foundation of the practice ... of healing. Dying well ... rests on this same foundation ... shapes us in lament, hope, judgment, and mercy, not only in our last hours but as we respond to the reality of human mortality through ... our lives." Singing is the way of life or "practice in which our very breath sounds the truths of our lives and responds with beautiful music to the active presence of God" (xi-xii).
30 For My yoke is wholesome (useful, good--not harsh, hard, sharp, or pressing, but comfortable, gracious, and pleasant), and My burden is light and easy to be borne.
We are invited to a way of living that births new life and nurtures existing life. We are invited to live in ways that are welcoming to ourselves and others and God. I don't think we're expected to take on these practices all at once. Rather, we should consider carefully and prayerfully which one, possibly two, in which God might be inviting us to grow. I'm going to pray and at the end of that prayer, if you care to, you may come forward and write down on the provided paper what God is inviting you to do. Take those papers home, keep them in your Bible or somewhere where you will be reminded of God's invitation to you this morning. By coming forward you signify to this gathered Body of Christ that you are not perfect, that you need to grow in the things of God as we all do. By staying in your place you signify your solidarity with this gathered body of Jesus' followers in prayer for each other, fellowship and worship.
Let's pray:
Honouring our bodies Making discerning choices
Hospitality Shaping worthy communities
Household Economics Forgiveness
Saying yes and no Healing
Keeping Sabbath Dying well
Giving truthful testimony Singing
Petitcodiac Mennonite Church