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Boundaries Exodus 20:1 – 17; John 2:13 – 22 Tuesday evening I was privileged to worship in Charlotte, North Carolina, in an ecumenical experience. I had been asked to pray at the service, and the pastor of the congregation gave me permission to go to the pulpit to pray. He did NOT ask me to process or sit in the chancel. During the early part of the service, all the scriptures were read ( by a variety of people) from a lectern which was not in the chancel but on the floor of the sanctuary. After my prayer, while the congregation was singing a hymn, the preacher for that evening (who was a bishop) asked me to help with communion, but then instructed me to go behind the sanctuary and get a robe. It was only then I realized that everyone in the chancel — all clergy men — two of whom were bishops — were robed. I was literally dressed (or undressed) inappropriately. I did as I was instructed, but had to wonder where I would be finding a robe in a strange church. But sure enough, a woman met me in the hallway, took off her robe, and fitted me into it. She then sent me back into the sanctuary where I climbed the steps into the chancel. We then proceeded to the communion table, where all the clergy first washed their hands and then knelt at the table. The other surprise of the service was when the preacher of the evening (an AME bishop) stood to speak the ruling bishop of the host congregation (A.M.E.Zion) also stood. And when he stood, the entire congregation — well, some of us were slow at this — stood in respect. These fairly foreign customs, rituals, observances did not come across as trite, archaic or trivialized in the least. The necessity of “robe-ing,” cleansing hands before touching the emblems of the table, and kneeling before communion were all indicators that the worship had nothing to do with me (or my colleagues) and everything to do with being in the presence of Almighty God. Every one of those rituals was humbling, and at the same time each spoke of the immense responsibility placed on us as leaders of a congregation in worship. The respect shown when the congregation stood for the bishop — again — was a moment of awe for me (even coming from the Disciples tradition in which the word ‘bishop’ has recently come to have a negativity surrounding it). It was not the individual that was being honored in that moment. It was his office. It was the fact that he obviously had been chosen for a leadership position because of HIS love and respect for God. We have lots of historic evidence that the power of those offices has been abused. But the respect afforded in the moment on Tuesday evening — that swelled a congregation and lifted them to their feet — was inspiring. It was far away from any issue of the abuse of power. The commandments that Moses received from God and passed onto the Israelites did NOT include anything about making sure one is robed before entering the chancel. There is not a commandment about washing one’s hands or even kneeling before entering the holy of holies. Is it possible to use the Ten Commandments to inform our post modern lives? Can we somehow allow them to be a standard – to judge other traditions, laws, injunctions, morality? If so, how? In a congregation whose core values include diversity and community and that is theologically liberal and socially conscientious, how are we able to jive with a set of commandments given thousands of years ago? Yes, yes, and let’s figure this out. I believe those ancient commandments can guide us IF — and this is a big if — if we grasp their initial intention. Through the years, we have often separated the commandments into those related to God and those related to moral life with others. This is a false dichotomy. We also tend to prioritize the commandments — a premise that then gives permission to deem some of the commandments more important than others. For instance, most of us would not equate desiring our neighbor’s donkey (read: car) in the same category as worshipping an idol. Since most of us have no idea what keeping Sabbath would entail — let alone have even tried to keep Sabbath time — we certainly would not put that on the same scale as murder. Then within the commandments we tend to make exceptions. Stealing a car from the church parking lot is certainly not the same as fudging a bit on our taxes? My oh my — I am sure we wear out God with our mind games and maneuverings! The commandments came to a people who had been saved by God. They came through Moses to his people so that the people would know how to respond to the generosity and love of a God who wanted to be in relationship to them. They came so that the Israelites would have a way of saying ‘thank-you.’ They were not laws that if kept, would get the people in a better place of righteousness with God. They were not laws that, if kept, would bring honor to the people. They were written as script/testimonies for people to say: yes, God we know what you have done and we believe in the incredible gift of life you have provided — and since we do know and believe we will thank you in these ways. Rather than being constricting boundaries, they were permissive acts of gratitude. When you know the nature of my gift, says God, then you will also know the nature of the thankful living following that gift. With time, however, those acts of gratitude deteriorated into the same kind of burdensome nitpicking that we do with laws, teachings, rituals, customs. When they lose the spirit of intent, commandments, instructions, admonitions become test cases and opportunities for us all to move our own agendas and forget the initial reason for them. Jesus’ reactive anger in the Gospel wasn’t to people abusing the Ten Commandments, but it was to the rituals and customs that were sparked — inappropriately — by them. What he was fired up about was the way in which the religious leaders had tuned the rules of the faith community to bring them gain — while abusing and using God’s name. Cattle, sheep, coins and doves in the temple were not Jesus’ concern. It was that those cattle and sheep were being used for sacrifices; the coins were being traded for taxes the faithful were supposed to pay to the temple; the doves were being sold to those who needed to make an offering of cleansing. People were making money in every one of those instances — making money by selling a ritual that not coincidentally had God’s name attached to it. We have the same kind of marketplaces today, and I feel certain Jesus is just as irate now as he was 2000 years ago. I know it is possible to love the words of this holy book — including the Ten Commandments — believe they were inspired by God and discover amazing ways that our ancestors were given means of thanking God and staying in relationship to God. I also know it is possible to be energized and spiritually deepened by rituals of the church and synagogue, and to be drawn into the presence of God through those rituals and through music and art. But I also know that throughout history — including the present day — that every culture, every society, and probably every one of us have perverted the commandments, the scriptures, the rituals, the customs that were supposed to help us give thanks to God. We have switched them around and used them as billyclubs to make people adhere to our way of acting and then attached God’s name to them. It happens when we use the Bible to claim that some people are in God’s family and some are not. It happens when we attach God’s name to our particular idea in order to reinforce our own power. It happens when we forget that everything we do in a sanctuary is about bringing honor and glory to God and not about limelight, prestige or power to us. It happens when we think we can buy our way into power and/or standing with God either by giving or not giving our resources. It happens all the time and every day when we think that anything we do will get us into a better seat with God. Those are boundaries we dare not cross. Jesus continues to turn the tables upside down – his claim is: God loves this whole creation; God has loved all of us into being. Our response is one of gratitude and thanksgiving; service and love; respect and compassion. This will bring honor and glory where it is due — to God. May we live by commandments, and may we be energized and helped by rituals and disciplines that bring us into the attitude of thanksgiving to the one who created us, loves us and wants fulfilling life for us. SW |
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