What’s Driving You?

The Rev. Lea Harding began her sermon by asking,  “Do you have a pet peeve?”, and then humorously suggesting some which involved grocery check-out lines and traffic foibles.  But then she asked, “Is there an issue that you care about so much that you’ll take action?”  Since I’m a passive grumbler, this caught my attention.  Many of us are timid about wading into a justice or ethical situation.  Readings for the weekend’s worship lift up some community standards and remind the traveler that responsibility leads to real freedom.

The Ten Commandments (Exodus 20:1-17) are “common”, but don’t tune ’em out:  they’re a basic constitution for the Hebrew-Christian experience.  The Desert Wanderers needed some by-laws, and this is what the Lord sent via Moses the Law-Giver.  You probably remember that the first four have to do with our relationship with the Divine; and that the remaining six deal with our relationship with each other.  (Read the Priestly footnotes in the books of Leviticus and Deuteronomy.)  Many have been enslaved by trying to keep each letter–have you watched “Living Biblically” on CBS?; Jesus freed us up with his statement that everything depends upon “loving the Lord your God…and your neighbor as yourself”.

Paul also goes for simplicity.  To the diverse cultures of the Church in Corinth he offers Christ’s Cross as the final word to the signs/miracles beloved by Jews and the sophistication of rational knowledge as claimed by the Gentiles.  (John Wesley had much to say about Scripture/ Tradition/Experience/Knowledge as being the litmus-test for our holiness issues.)  “Day by day,” says Jeff Paschal, “we are a people being saved from cramped little lives of selfishness and saved for the broad, roomy, loving discipleship of the cross.” (FEEDING on the WORD, B 2:89)  God’s “foolishness” in the cross demands that we respond by naming what we value.  “The cross speaks God’s peculiar power and wisdom.” (ibid.)  In the shadow of the cross, what’s driving you?

Whether it occurs at the beginning of Jesus’ ministry (John’s gospel) or at the end, during Holy Week (the synoptics), the Cleansing of the Temple seems of tremendous importance to each one telling the story.  This year’s version is told by John (2:13-22), and is remembered gleefully (?) in retrospect.  You know how it goes:  a passionate Jesus rids the Court of the Gentiles of both unnecessary sacrificial animals AND those guys who were getting rich by gouging devout worshipers trading Caesar’s image for acceptable Jerusalem money.  My imagination pictures the money-tables not just tipped over but upside-down, a symbol of how the Church has met the rest of the world and left it topsy-turvy!  This is not a polemic against commerce, but a zealous expression of maintaining space for worship.  Even for Gentiles.

Well, how secular can the Church afford to be without losing itself?  When do we stop saying, “boys will be boys” and speak up for justice? The Ten Articles of Holy Living give a basis, and they’re summed up nicely by Jesus.  Paul lifted the Cross of Christ out of the rubble of  holy confusion, and Gospel writers rejoice that Christian enthusiasm defined the boundary again between the Community of God and business as usual.  So today, what’s driving YOU?

God Bless Us, Every One                   Horace Brown King

My wrestling with scripture assigned to the upcoming weekend can be found every Tuesday at this spot on Facebook; or at horacebrownking.com