How worldly can a congregation get without losing its Christian flavor? More to the point, how secular can I get without losing my name as “Christian”? Lent is a season for thinking especially about these things which usually creep in by degrees, as dictated by the surrounding culture. Scriptural texts to be heard on the upcoming weekend address this conundrum of how we’re supposed to proceed without totally giving ourselves over to the gratifying power of Everybody Does It.
We begin by hearing the Ten Commandments, the Decalogue, from EXODUS 20:1-17. To begin with, these are not restrictions but rather assurances that if we as a community, as individuals, follow these directions, then we shall live fully and wholly within the affections of those around us. The first four speak of our relationship to God, the second six have to do with our lives within the community. God has called these recently enslaved HABIRU into an arid place of beginning again: will they again flourish and fulfill YHWH’s original purpose of the People of God? Ignoring these commandments is tantamount to falling back into slavery.
We also hear from St. Paul in his First Letter to the CORINTHIANS 1:18-25. Difficult to understand, it is the Apostle’s meeting of the diversity of Corinth–Jews & Greeks–about the significance of the Cross of Christ, already becoming a symbol of the Church. He says that some folks are just too darn wise for their own good and that a “foolish” receptivity to divine mystery is in order. Jeff Paschal tells us, “Day by day, we are a people being saved from cramped little lives of selfishness and saved for the broad, roomy, loving discipleship of the cross.” (FEASTING on the WORD, B 2:89) Again we’re called away from the transitory glitter of the World into a counter-cultural sphere of allegiance to Christ alone.
The Gospel of JOHN is a compendium of stories about Jesus’ meeting with those who just don’t get it yet. This week in 2:13-22 is the familiar tale of Jesus driving the money-changers and the sacrifice salesmen from the Temple precinct. The Synoptic writers–Matthew, Mark & Luke–place this story at the very end of Jesus’ earthly ministry, during Holy Week. But here John tells it at the start-up of his ministry, probably to tell the surrounding culture, “Hey, here I am!” Don’t be too hard on the Temple leaders and merchants: they probably thought that they were making worship more convenient. Sacrifices needed to be bought, Roman coins exchanged for Jewish ones. Like most secularities in congregations, these folks wandered in a step at a time until the tail wagged the dog. What tables does Jesus turn over in our mutual lives? Or does he just turn a blind eye with a wink at humanity?
Truth to tell, we all could do with a good dose of Temple Cleansing. My own idols are legion. How many of them can I accept without becoming a total hermit? The roller-coaster of Lent sometimes thwacks me with how far I’ve drifted from God’s creative word into my oh-so-human practices.
In the process of unfolding, Horace Brown King
Come along every Tuesday as we wrestle with scripture to be read on the upcoming weekend–at horacebrownking.com
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