Online Sermons
13th Sunday in Pentecost (proper 17): August 30, Barbara Schlachter
Welcome to our website. You are here: The Word --> Online SermonsIt’s good to see you. Lest some of you think I might be speaking to you directly because you’ve been gone, let me assure you that it is I who have been gone as well. It feels like a long time.
Most of what I was up to in the month I was gone can be summarized in one word “grandparenting.” There is nothing like a new child straight from God to awaken you to the miraculous in the ordinary and make you fall in love with life all over again.
And part of what I was doing was having my annual re-charging on the shores of Lake Erie. So I bring you a soul that has been washed in the water, warmed in the sun, basked on the sand. And as I have done the last few years, I invite you to shut your eyes and put yourself in your favorite beachside spot. Hear the water in its contact with the shore, feel it by putting your feet or hands in it, smell it, feel the sunshine upon your skin. Give yourself a mini-retreat.
Well, that almost is a transition into the gospel for today. Jesus is being challenged about washing—or rather, not washing. In our germ conscious time, we probably think the practice of the Pharisees makes more sense than not washing.
We have to forgive Jesus for not knowing about germs. Or the other problems in our era associated with eating food. He didn’t know about genetic modification, about additives or pesticides, and he didn’t have food security issues or concern about empty calories. He was only concerned that people have enough to eat because it was all good, healthy, whole food.
That’s not the concern in the gospel today, however. Today’s reading is a challenge that comes down through the centuries. It’s not what goes into you that matters, but what comes out of you. He is concerned about ethical living, and the defilements that he lists are those that come from breaking the ten commandments. These are the actions of a heart that has not been transformed into a heart of love and compassion producing the fruits that come from this kind of heart.
Do you ever wish you could challenge Jesus or add onto what he says? I do all the time. So here I am. But Jesus, don’t you think that what people take in has anything to do with what comes out? We know about the irritability that can come from food allergies or the listlessness that can come from a poor diet, or the hyperactivity from red dyes in food. Garbage in, garbage out doesn’t just refer to computers. We could spend a long time this morning talking about the Sad American Diet; remembering that we are what we eat.
But it’s more than that. I am not sure Jesus could have imagined all that we take in every day, or on many days through our eyes and ears. I wonder if he might have more concerned about what we take in this way, without even a thought as to how it might be impacting our hearts, our minds, and eventually our actions.
Let’s just start with noise. In Jesus’ world there was the sound of axes and hammers, but only for work hours and not everywhere. One morning on the beach the lapping of the water and the cries of the birds was over powered by road crews working on edging the road behind me. Necessary work, but very jarring to a system that is in contemplation. We have become used to highway sounds and power tools all the time, perhaps quieting only in the dark or in the wee hours. Add to this the sounds and call to attention and work of cell phones and other electronic aids. Do you think there might be a connection between that and the higher levels of stress and anxiety many people experience?Or, what about television, movies, video games where we are exposed to violence and perhaps pornographic sex, or even the news with its emphasis upon sensationalism. Do you think there might be a connection between the images we see and the actions we perform? Maybe not, if you know of other ways of being and have good impulse control. But maybe, if you don’t.
Certainly we know that the advertisements that bombard us on television and in newspapers and magazines create a need within us. We must have the thises and the thats that are being advertised or we feel insecure and out of it.
Jesus had to worry about none of the above! Here’s an invitation: I invite you to pay attention to what you are exposed to—through your ears, eyes, and mouths—and notice what you are thinking and feeling, and see if you notice any correlation between what’s going in and what’s coming out.
That’s the first thing I invite you to do. The second is to make sure you surround yourself with goodness and beauty. Do you have access to the natural world for part of every day? Do you have beautiful pictures hanging on the walls of your offices and homes? Do you listen to uplifting music and read things that inspire you to live lives of love and compassion?
And what about the company you keep? Do you seek out people who do not dwell on the negative but are working to make their lives and this world a better place? Of course you do. Here you are at Christ Church! Keep up the good work.
I would like to contribute to your positive thoughts by sharing a couple of stories about two of my favorite Celtic saints: Aidan of Lindsifarne and Cuthbert of Lindisfarne. Aidan’s day in the calendar of Lesser Feasts and Fasts, or Holy Women and Holy Men, as we are now calling it, is Monday. Cuthbert has had a separate day in March, but at the General Convention in July it was suggested that he now share the day with Aidan.
There’s more to tell than we have time for. Aidan was the first successful bishop and abbot of Lindisfarne, which is a monastery off the coast of Northumbria. He ministered among the saxon heathen with a sense of gentleness and love that made them fall in love with Aidan and the Jesus he kept telling them about. He was known for his concern for the poor and his desire to be among them, on their level, and not up on horseback. But King Oswin gave Aidan a horse he could ride if he had urgent business or needed to cross a river. One day he was mounted when a beggar came by asking for alms. He immediately got off his horse and gave it to the beggar. The king heard tell of this and asked Aidan if he could not have given the man a less valuable horse, not the royal one intended for him. Aidan replied, “King, what are you saying? Surely this son of a mare is not dearer to you than that son of God?”There is more to the story, but what this means to me is to keep on working to be as generous as Aidan, so that I do not calculate and hold back, but give generously from my heart and to let myself be put in situations where such actions may be asked. It’s a cutting edge for me.
Cuthbert was called to a monastic life by seeing the angels come for the soul of Aidan the night he died, while he was out tending sheep. A few years later, he also became abbot of Lindisfarne and was beloved and popular, following in the footsteps of Aidan. There is a story told about him, that whether it is true or not, illustrates the nature of the man. One night a monk decided to follow him out of the monastery to see what he did when he left in the middle of the night. He saw Cuthbert standing in the sea, with water up to his chest and neck, with the waves buffeting him. In the morning he got out and as he knelt down on the sand to pray, two otters jumped out and stretched over him, warming his feet with their breath and trying to dry him off with their fur. Then he blessed them and they went back into the sea while Cuthbert went in to the monastery for morning prayer. Cuthbert spent as much time as possible in prayer and solitude, apart from his time with the community. He is a reminder to me to work both on living in harmony with nature as much as I possibly can and to take time in solitude, both of which are challenges for me.
Well, I hope you have enjoyed the story time and that you will reflect on Aidan and Cuthbert this week as well as upon the two invitations I gave you. Pay attention to what comes in to you through your senses and surround yourself with goodness and beauty.
Blessings to all of you. Amen.