Readings: James 1:17-20 Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23
We pray: May the words of my mouth and the meditations
of our hearts be acceptable in your sight O God, our rock and our sustainer.
Amen.
On Thursday night
Andrew and I were at the induction of Rev Jono Ryan into a new ministry in
South Dunedin. This is not a parish ministry,
neither is it an established ministry.
It is new, it is different, it is uncertain, yet it is a ministry most
assuredly needed. In conjunction with
Presbyterian support and Knox Centre and with funding from Synod, Jono and
intern Gabe Hawker are part of this seedling ministry that seeks to build
relationship with and support the community in which it lives – to make Jesus
Christ known in word and deed - in a different way.
The service itself
was different – held in the Armitage Centre King Edward St, there was no
congregation to promise support for the ministry (the pastoral role presented as
a symbol of ministry was a blank canvas), and people from Grant’s Braes and
South Dunedin congregations were there as support partners. The physical ‘church’ is the Family Works
office – working from there during the week and worshipping there Sunday
afternoon.
All very
different. Wayne te Kaawa preached and
he used the text from today’s Gospel reading as the basis for his sermon. That might stretch your imagination – until
I tell you how he connected the dots – much as we might feel strongly about
holding on to certain ways, to particular ritual, as did the Pharisees and the
Scribes, there are times when we need to let them go. There are new times, new ways of the heart
that need to be listened to and taken up.
And Wayne held this seedlings initiative as a new way when the old ways
were not working.
And that is true
in that whole swathe of South Dunedin, Andy Bay, Peninsula – the churches are
closing (or close to), the energy for traditional parish is waning, there is no
stipended ministry in the area. It is
also true in the Dunedin area – of the seventeen churches, seven are not in a
position to call anyone for more than 10% , three potentially have resourcing
for half time, and seven for full time (for the meantime anyway) - and we are
one of those.
Doom and gloom –
and a sense of ‘what is the point?’ I wonder if that is what Jesus felt when he
was accosted by the leaders of the faith that he belonged to and chewed out for
not keeping the cleanliness law of washing hands before eating – which we have
to note also had a health advantage.
Jesus frustration at way in which he and the disciples were chastised
would have been matched by the frustration of the priests at such a revered and
long standing tradition being flagrantly ignored.
Impasse! Not when Jesus is around. His angst comes from the knowledge that this
ritual has lost its connection with God.
That it was being taught that by doing this particular thing, they were
good with God, giving honour to God when their living was at complete odds with
the way of God.
This their act of
worship had morphed into a human construct alone, had become a doctrine without
the heart of God in it. It was empty, foolish, frustrating to one who had the
heart of God as his driving force.
This idea of
living in the heart of God is something we have touched on in recent weeks –
that sense of God within us and us in God is a powerful image, for me anyway,
of the way in which we move from being a people who follow rules to ones who
has the law written on their heart. It
was a lesson that the Pharisees and Scribes needed to re-member and so do we.
We are made, it is
said, in the image of God, we are, according to James, ‘given birth by the word
of truth so that we would become a
kind of first fruits of his creatures.’ And the fruits are living in fulfilment
of God’s purpose, moving within the heart of God as Jesus was.
Yet we note that
Jesus did not go around telling people not to do this washing of hands – he
instead zeroed straight in to the core understanding of the practice –
defilement – and redefined it to that which we do and say that violates
the commandment of God. The practices
that make the fruit of our living rotten, diseased, barren. And there are no holds barred in the listing
of these – fornication, theft,
murder, adultery, avarice, wickedness, deceit, licentiousness, envy, slander,
pride, folly.
But less we hold
those familiar words in a convenient ‘biblical phrase’ container we have popped
on a shelf somewhere, I would think it worthwhile to redefine some of them into
current living and perhaps into our practices as church. And to think about where we fail to allow
them to be informed by the heart of God.
For me one of the
biggest is when we think about marriage.
Over time we as a
church have understood it as a covenant that cannot be broken, holy before God
– yet throughout time it has also been a
place of abuse, exploitation and deep unhappiness, When this happens the heart
of God had gone from what is meant to be two people living in love and mutual
respect and care for each other. You can see why we have a belief that marriage
is for life – but not when it becomes evil.
Equally some people’s absolute
obsession with who can marry who (based on sexual orientation, race, social class)
neglects to challenge the marriage that is, for instance generated for audience
participation on television, or used for citizenship or divorces at the first
imagined hurdle, or the celebrity marriage that lasts 3 hours or the heartache
of children caught in the maelstrom of who is to blame. Surely two people living in love and respect
and care for each is what marriage is about.
We could also
tackle the way we handle money, how we value self over community, etc etc.
In our church what
might some of the things be that have lost their way? In the South Dunedin scenario, can we accept
something other than the familiar ‘full time minister in a parish’ and trust
God to work in other ministry scenarios as well. Are we brave enough to get down and dirty in
needy places or to share who we are with those who might not fit neatly into
our space? Are we as fruitful for God as
we could be in the living of our faith?
These are all disturbing and pertinent questions in this time of change
in our church – actually they have always been questions for the people who follow
Jesus Christ – it’s just that we, like those people long ago, are good at
asking for adherence to our ways but not so good at seeing when and if they no
longer reflect the heart of God living in us and find the courage to do new
things.
And that is why we
come to the table – it is a place, a time where we meet God face to face, where
we drop the importance of self, the illusion of control, the tyranny of
injustice - and become one with each other in the presence of Jesus
Christ. It is where the heart rules, and
it doesn’t matter who you are, where you are at, if the piece of bread is a bit
big or the glass gets spilt – it’s not about the formality but it is about the
reverence, it’s not about the reward of membership but it is about the imperfect
and hurting and vulnerable welcomed in love, it’s not about a ritual being
fulfilled but rather the sense of being surrounded by the generous gift, the
perfect gift that is the person of Jesus Christ made flesh and come to dwell
among us. And for this we say – thanks
be to God. Amen
Margaret Garland
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