Union Church

August 30, 2009.
Mark 6:53-7:8,14, 15,21-23.

Christmas was approaching and discussions were beginning about who would host the family meal and who would bring what.
Now this was a new experience because the next generation was taking over the responsibilities.
All the family members wanted it to be a smooth transition, a perfect transition.

But an argument broke out between two of the sisters.
You see, their mother had always prepared a marvellous Christmas ham. In the preparation, one end of the ham would be cut off and placed in the pan, then a glaze would be put on. The two sisters began arguing about how much had to be cut off the end of the ham to make it taste just right.
One said two inches.
The other said four.
Finally in exasperation, they decided to call their mother.
In bewilderment their mother responded, “Why girls, I didn’t have a roasting pan big enough so I cut off enough to make the ham fit in my pan.”

Has something like this ever happened to you?

You know, when external acts become separated from their internal logic.
When what we do gets separated from why we do it.
When tradition gets separated from the original intent.

Have you got a memory, a picture?

This situation is a basic experience of human life together.

In our gospel story, the Pharisees are presented as those who separate the external from the internal: They separate the external trappings of the tradition from the internal purpose of it.

The presenting external issue is hand washing - that is ritual purity. The internal reality is a pure heart.

The Pharisees were actually a reform-minded group that attempted to extend to the common people the purity code of the temple tradition. In the past, it had been confined mainly to the upper class who could afford all the burnt offerings and sacrifices required. Following an abbreviated set of hygienic rules and observances was another way of being pure.
It also formed the necessary boundary markers and identity politics under Roman occupation.

In Jesus’ time, to be a good Jew, to be in harmony with the elders, you had to follow these external acts which defined who was in and who was not.
It identified the pure from the polluted, the Jews from the Gentiles. But it did not define the heart of the faith.
The external easily became separated with the internal.
Remember, Jesus is in the midst of an amazing healing tour when the Pharisees start quibbling about table manners.

One of the complications of life seems to be that what we think we should believe often is at cross purposes to what we actually believe.

Graham Standish in his book "Humble Leadership" addresses this problem that so many Christians have when it comes to explicit beliefs and implicit beliefs.
"Explicit beliefs are what we tell people we believe or what we think we should believe.
Explicit beliefs are our conscious beliefs.

Implicit beliefs are what we show we believe through our actions. Those beliefs that are so deeply embedded that we aren’t always aware of them when we act. "

Let me give you an example :
While outwardly and explicitly we might say we believe we love our neighbour, our actions may reveal an implicit lack of compassion and love for certain neighbours.
The Bible thumping preacher comes to mind who shouts angrily at his congregation, “You have got to love!”

Or when we convince our-self and others that we are not afraid but then find our-self ducking for cover in the moment of truth.

We have all been there one way or another, haven’t we?

Now the second complication can be when we willfully misread the situation for selfish reasons.

Thomas Long, New Testament theologian suggests that this is also what is going on in our gospel lesson.
He suggests:
“It is about keeping our hands ritually washed while being up to our elbows in evil.
It is about getting an A+ in ethics but flunking life.”

In other words, it is like the pious Christian who says, “I don’t drink, smoke or swear.” which really means, “I don’t have to do anything else.”

It is like defining our Christian practise in a way that is convenient rather than challenging.

It is the church that wants people to come in and fit in, rather than asking “what does the community around us need?”

The Christian life calls us to line up what we think we believe with what we actually do:
To connect our explicit belief with our implicit belief.
Explicitly, our tradition tells us that God is with us everywhere, in every moment.
Implicitly, we act as if God is absent most of the time.

In our religious strivings, we find it easier to act as agents for an absent God than act as conduits of God’s presence and power in every moment.

Jesus holds the explicit and implicit together.
Jesus is the conduit of God’s presence wherever he is.
His anger at the Pharisees indicates that we too are called and expected to act as conduits like Jesus.

The Application for Today:
God is everywhere, in every moment.
God’s presence and power can affect every situation when we allow it to flow through us.
Hymn: #278 In the Quiet Curve of Evening.

James 1: 19-27

We all know this passage.
And we all know the great gulf between hearing and doing.

It is so easy to hear. It is such a challenge to do.

So what are the things that crowd into the space between hearing the Good News and doing the Good News of the gospel?

Well, 9 times out of 10, negative thoughts, and negative feelings crowd the space and leave no room for action.

Often they are heard as excuses for limitations: Excuses for our limiting belief system.

You know what I’m talking about - “I can’t. I don’t. Who am I to do this?”

Now, let’s take note here, action does not respond to the words we use or the thoughts we think.
Action springs from how we feel.

When we feel overwhelmed or burdened, we don’t want to go the extra mile or turn the other cheek.
When we feel put upon or unequal to the task,
we tend not look for reasons to charge forward.

As I said, action springs from how we feel.

It is the difference between duty and desire.
We may get around to doing something out of a feeling of duty but we are more likely to act on our feelings of desire.

So, the biggest thing between hearing and doing is “allowing.”

Allowing is the absence of doubt. The speed at which actions flow from hearing is a direct proportion to, how much we allow ourselves to accept the possibilities. How we allow ourselves to feel the creative possibilities.

Let me give you an example.
God calls us to be generous.
Paul reminds us that “God loves a cheerful giver.”

But the first thing we can hear in our head is
“Well how generous do I have to be?”
The first voice we hear is the limiting belief that asks,
“Give until it hurts?”
However, the allowing belief responds,
“Give until it feels good.”

What if we as a church allow ourselves to put out there a number of expectations where hearing the gospel turns into doing the gospel?

Allowing attitudes such as appreciation and gratitude, for who we are as a church and what God can do with us.
Allowing attitudes such as,
“We are in the process of transformation.”

How about attitudes such as “Lots can happen?”
You know, lots can happen in a hurry when we open ourselves up to the Spirit.
Lots can happen when we express appreciation and joy.

How about the allowing attitude “We’ve decided?”
We have decided to thrive for another 20 years.

I hear these allowing statements, these allowing beliefs, these allowing affirmations in the song we are going to listen to - With My Own To Hands by Ben Harper.