FIFTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Deuteronomy 4:1-2, 6-9

Psalm 15

James 1:17-27

Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23

Prayer of the Day: O God our strength, without you we are weak and wayward creatures. Protect us from all dangers that attack us from the outside, and cleanse us from all evil that arises from within ourselves, that we may be preserved through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children’s children—” Deuteronomy 4:9.

The Book of Deuteronomy, literally the “second giving of the law,” is Moses’ swan song. The people of Israel are encamped before the Jordan River, poised to enter and take possession of the land of Canaan. But Moses, who led them out of slavery under the Egyptian Empire and for nearly half a century through the wilderness where they lived hand to mouth, will not be with them. He knows the time has come to pass the torch of leadership to the next generation. Moses also knows there is a danger lying ahead for the people of Israel far greater than those they confronted during their years of slavery in Egypt, in the trials they faced in their wilderness wanderings or even the threat of death they will soon meet from the armies of Canaan. The greatest danger Israel will face in the land of Canaan is forgetfulness.

Later on in Deuteronomy, Moses spells out precisely the nature of his concern:

“Take care that you do not forget the Lord your God, by failing to keep his commandments, his ordinances, and his statutes, which I am commanding you today. When you have eaten your fill and have built fine houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks have multiplied, and your silver and gold is multiplied, and all that you have is multiplied, then do not exalt yourself, forgetting the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery, who led you through the great and terrible wilderness, an arid waste-land with poisonous snakes and scorpions. He made water flow for you from flint rock, and fed you in the wilderness with manna that your ancestors did not know, to humble you and to test you, and in the end to do you good. Do not say to yourself, ‘My power and the might of my own hand have gained me this wealth.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, so that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your ancestors, as he is doing today. If you do forget the Lord your God and follow other gods to serve and worship them, I solemnly warn you today that you shall surely perish. Like the nations that the Lord is destroying before you, so shall you perish, because you would not obey the voice of the Lord your God.” Deuteronomy 8:1-20.     

Wealth, power, comfort and security have a tendency to skew one’s memory. The danger here is that, once settled in the promised land, the people of Israel might begin to imagine that they are finally home, that their journey is over and that they have arrived. Nothing could be further from the truth. In the truest sense, Israel’s journey is only beginning. Israel is to be a light to the gentiles, a blessing to all the peoples of the world and an example of what it means to be human. This new people of God is not to be distinguished by the might of its armies, the magnificence of its architectural achievements or the wealth of its cities. Rather, its greatness is to be the “wisdom and discernment to the peoples, who, when they hear all these statutes, will say, ‘Surely this great nation is a wise and discerning people!’” Deuteronomy 4:6. Israel is only beginning its journey into becoming all that God has declared it to be.

Moses would not have his people forget that their earliest spiritual ancestor was called to leave home and live the life of a nomad in a land not his own. Genesis 12:1-3. Abraham, Sarah, Isaac and Rebecca fled across international borders to escape starvation, prepared to trade sexual favors for sanctuary. Genesis 12:10-20; Genesis 26:6-11. Jacob and his family likewise sought refuge from famine in Egypt where they were “redlined” in Goshen and ultimately enslaved. “It was not because you were more numerous than any other people that the Lord set his heart on you and chose you-for you were the fewest of all peoples,” says Moses. “It was because the Lord loved you and kept the oath that he swore to your ancestors, that the Lord has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of slavery, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.” Deuteronomy 7:7-8. If Israel is to know where it is going, it must remember from whence it came.  

Similarly, disciples of Jesus have no ground for boasting. We ought to remember well from whence we have come. Each year on Palm/Passion Sunday many of our churches read the passion narrative from one of the gospels. There we are reminded that our own spiritual ancestors were traitors, cowards and deserters. There were no heroes standing with Jesus on the night of his arrest. That the risen Christ sought out these very disciples who had failed him so miserably and entrusted them with the task of bringing the good news of God’s reign to the ends of the earth is by far the most profound act of grace in the New Testament. Like Israel, the disciples are chosen, not by virtue of their character and nobility, but by grace. They are not saved by their faith, but by God’s faithfulness. They are elected, not to privilege in the world, but to service for the world.  

Disciples of Jesus are sojourners who “have no lasting city, but we seek the city which is to come.” Hebrews 13:14. The one, holy, catholic and apostolic church knows no borders and recognizes no distinctions on the basis of nation, race, blood or soil. But just as Israel was prone to lapses of memory, so too Jesus’ disciples tend to forget that their Savior was a poor, dark skinned, non-citizen whose family fled to Egypt as refugees from political persecution. They tend to forget that the gentle reign of God Jesus proclaims advances through suffering love that embraces even the enemy as a neighbor. They forget Jesus emphasized that our loyalty to him and the kingdom he proclaims is measured by how we treat the “least” among us. Like the Pharisees in our gospel lesson, disciples of Jesus too often remember the bare bones of religious piety, but lose sight of the story giving meaning, direction and lifegiving power to their practices.

To forget our stories is to forget who we are and why we do the things we do. In Pierre Boulle’s book, Bridge over the River Kwai, a group of British soldiers under the command of Lt. Colonel Nicholson are taken prisoner by the Japanese during World War II and ordered to work on building a bridge across the River Kwai. In order to keep up the morale of his men under cruel and inhumane conditions of captivity, Nicholson orders them to take special care with their work. He directs them to build the best bridge possible to show the Japanese just how skilled and competent the British are and what the Japanese are up against. The bridge was to be a symbol of British power-an act of defiant resistance giving the captive soldiers a sense of purpose and dignity. But before long, Colonel Nicholson becomes enamored with his bridge, proud of the project-so much so that it consumes him. In the end, when British commandos show up to destroy the bridge, Nicholson joins with his Japanese captors to protect his bridge.

Colonel Nicholson forgot who he was. He forgot who his enemy was. He forgot why he was building his bridge. So, too, Moses knew that his people would be tempted to forget who they were, how they were called from slavery into freedom and the reason for which they were brought into the land of promise. He knew how easily commercial interests, national ambitions and the lust for dominance could subvert the Torah and empty it of its power to ensure justice and equity. Moses therefore admonishes Israel (and us) “neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life.”  Deuteronomy 4:9

As “Christian” as America is alleged to be, a lot of American Christianity has little to do with Christ and a lot to do with political ideologies of hatred and exclusion. Much of what passes for Christianity in these United States manifests as a jumbled and conflicting collection of beliefs cobbled together from myths about American history, fundamentalist religion, convictions that God has providentially given this land to our European ancestors and divinely ordained its boundaries. Many American Christians insist that America’s constitution and declaration of independence are “divinely inspired.” Added to this slough of misguided notions is a toxic mix of fear, resentment and irrational hatred of foreigners, particularly those of color threatening to “poison the blood” of our nation. While these convictions are admittedly “extreme,” they are extremely common these days and, sadly, they have received a warm welcome by large sectors of a church that has forgotten its story.

Let us take care lest we forget where we came from. Let us take care that we do not forget the parable of the Good Samaritan, the parable of the Last Judgment, the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus. Let us take care lest we forget that we worship a savior who was executed by the state and spent his last hours with two criminals also with him on death row. Let us take care lest we forget that we follow the Lord who reached out to touch people nobody else would touch with a ten foot poll. Most important, let us not forget that it is not too late to remember. Let us not forget that as often as we do forget, our Lord continues to remind us who and whose we are, where we came from and where we are going.

Here is a poem by pastor, theologian, teacher and martyr Dietrich Bonhoeffer reflecting on the struggle of remembering who and whose one is.    

Who Am I?

Who am I? They often tell me
I would step from my cell’s confinement 
calmly, cheerfully, firmly,
like a squire from his country-house.

Who am I? They often tell me
I would talk to my warders
freely and friendly and clearly,
as though it were mine to command.

Who am I? They also tell me
I would bear the days of misfortune
equably, smilingly, proudly,
like one accustomed to win.

Am I then really all that which other men tell of?
Or am I only what I know of myself,
restless and longing and sick, like a bird in a cage,
struggling for breath, as though hands were compressing my throat,
yearning for colours, for flowers, for the voices of birds,
thirsting for words of kindness, for neighbourliness,
trembling with anger at despotism and petty humiliation,
tossing in expectation of great events,
powerlessly trembling for friends at an infinite distance,
weary and empty at praying, at thinking, at making, 
faint, and ready to say farewell to it all?

Who am I? This or the other?
Am I one person today, and tomorrow another?
Am I both at once? A hypocrite before others,
and before myself a contemptibly woebegone weakling?
Or is something within me still like a beaten army,
fleeing in disorder from a victory already achieved?

Who am I? They mock me, these lonely questions of mine.
Whoever I am, thou knowest, O God, I am thine.

Source: Letters and Papers from Prison, (c. 1953, 1967 and 1971 by SCM Press, Ltd.). Dietrich Bonhoeffer (1906-1945) was a German Lutheran pastor, theologian and anti-Nazi dissident. He was a key founding member of the Confessing Church which rejected the Reich’s effort to impose Nazi ideology into its teaching. His writings on Christianity’s role in the secular world have become widely influential. In addition to his many theological writings, Bonhoeffer was known for his staunch resistance to the Nazi dictatorship, including vocal opposition to Hitler’s euthanasia program and genocidal persecution of the Jews. He was arrested in April 1943 by the Gestapo and imprisoned at Tegel prison for one and a half years. He was transferred to Flossenbürg concentration camp. Bonhoeffer was accused of being associated with the plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler, tried along with other accused plotters and hanged on April 9, 1945.

FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Joshua 24:1-2a, 14-18

Psalm 34:15-22

Ephesians 6:10-20

John 6:56-69

Prayer of the Day: Holy God, your word feeds your people with life that is eternal. Direct our choices and preserve us in your truth, that, renouncing what is false and evil, we may live in you, through your Son, Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Now therefore revere the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and in faithfulness; put away the gods that your ancestors served beyond the River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. Now if you are unwilling to serve the Lord, choose this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served in the region beyond the River or the gods of the Amorites in whose land you are living; but as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.” Joshua 24:14-15.

This declaration of Joshua comes at the close of the book by his name. Israel is entering upon a new stage in its history. The future holds both promise and danger. In its own land, Israel has the unprecedented opportunity to become a people formed by Torah. Unlike the Egyptian Empire and the petty kingdoms of Canaan and its rulers who claimed godhood and exercised exploitive power over their subjects, Israel was to be a people ruled by the God who liberates slaves, champions the poor, the widow and the orphan. Israel is to model the way of being human that God intended from the beginning. It was being given the opportunity to become an agent of blessing to the world as was promised to Abraham.[1]

It should be noted that Joshua’s was not the first conquest of Palestine. For centuries before, the fertile crescent had been fought over by competing tribes, petty kings and empires. Though Joshua’s struggle was with the Canaanite city states residing in the land, Palestine was at that time nominally under the jurisdiction of the Egyptian empire. According to the Books of Judges and I Samuel, Israel’s hold on the promised land was at best partial and always precarious. The Israelite tribes were frequently under the control of competing tribes and rulers. Occupation of the land clearly was not the same as exercising sovereignty over it. Indeed, neither God nor God’s prophet Samuel favored Israel’s exercise of sovereignty and only reluctantly gave in to Israel’s demand for a king to rule over it that it might be “like the other nations.” Israel was not intended to be “like other nations.” Over all, Israel’s experience with monarchy did not produce the just and compassionate society envisioned in Torah, but led rather to its conquest, loss of the land and exile. Living faithfully as God’s people in the land of promise does not require the exercise of sovereignty over that land.

Disciples of Jesus interpret Joshua’s final words through the lens of the great commandments, namely, that we are to love God with all the heart, soul, mind and strength and the neighbor as ourselves. Saint Paul reminds us that, unlike Joshua’s struggle, “our struggle is not against enemies of blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the cosmic powers of this present darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenly places.” Ephesians 6:12. This is critically important for a world that is erupting into wars driven by the deities of nation, race, blood and soil. The devil would have us believe that our enemies are of blood and flesh. The devil would have us believe that our freedom and security depend on our willingness and ability to kill all who would take it away from us. The devil would have us believe that war is inevitable and necessary for the sake of the greater good. Understand that the devil is completely nonpartisan, taking no interest in the justice or injustice of any party’s cause in any military conflict. The devil takes no sides in war. He doesn’t have to. No matter who prevails on the battle field, the devil always wins.

According to the latest surveys, Christianity is still nominally the dominant religion in America. But I believe the surveys are wrong. I believe that the dominant religion in America is America. Think about this. If I were to boast that my children were volunteering to take up arms against people deemed hostile or resistant to my religion, one would think me backwards, primitive and uncivilized. But if I were to say that my children had enlisted in the armed forces, I would likely get a slap on the back and kudos for my family’s patriotism. I am, of course, not suggesting for one minute that killing for the sake of religion (or anything else for that matter) is justifiable. My point is that what people are willing to kill, die and send their children to die for says a great deal about what they hold most dear. For Americans, that is America.

It is important to understand that the Canaanites who sacrificed their children on altars and condemned women to a life of temple prostitution were not inherently cruel and perverse. They believed that the gods they worshiped demanded these things from them and that the wellbeing of the whole community depended upon satisfying those demands. Human sacrifices had to be made for the greater good. That is the mark of a false god. It always demands a blood sacrifice. America is no different. The blood of our soldiers must be given and that of our enemies shed to defend its interests. Child laborers in developing countries working on starvation wages must be sacrificed to ensure the flow of cheap goods we need to maintain “our American way of life.” Human sacrifice is not a relic of the dark and barbaric past. It is very much a part of American life, though we prefer to give it more palatable names.

I do not mean to say that America is inherently evil by identifying it as an idol. Idols, after all, are usually good things in themselves. They are good gifts of God that, due to our human propensity for disordered desires, have been elevated above the Giver. Government is a gift of God for maintaining order, ensuring justice and providing protection for the most vulnerable among us. Politics is a gift of God though which we are able corporately to love and care for our neighbors. But when the nation is elevated to godhood and politics become religion, the shedding of blood is sure to follow.

This week I have been watching the Democratic National Convention on and off. A political convention is about as religions as religion ever gets. It has liturgy, hymns, prayers and avid worshipers who chant responses on cue. It has speeches with all the hallmarks of revivalist sermons. These conventions were designed to stir up love of, admiration for and devotion to America. There is no disputing that they are good at what they do. I am watching this convention with mixed feelings. Clearly, I do not want to see another four years of Donald Trump. As thoroughly sickened as I am by our nation’s support of war in the middle east and eastern Europe, I am appreciative of the many positive contributions of the Biden administration and believe that Joe Biden is a good man who has given much that is good to this nation. So when I listened to his speech on Monday night, I was almost carried away by it. I was with him until closing remarks when he recited the words from the American Anthem, “Let me know in my heart when my days are through. America, America, I gave my best to you.”

With all due respect, Mr. President, no. I love my country. I love the American people. I will always try to do my part to make this land a kinder, more equitable and beautiful place. But my best belongs and always will belong to Another. America can never be first if I am to love it rightly and well. So as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.

Here is a poem/song by Phil Ochs that illustrates well the blood sacrifice required of that religion called America.

White Boots Marchin’ in a Yellow Land

The pilots playing poker in the cockpit of the plane
The casualties arriving like the dropping of the rain
And a mountain of machinery will fall before a man
When you’re white boots marching in a yellow land

It’s written in the ashes of the village towns we burn
It’s written in the empty bed of the fathers unreturned
And the chocolate in the childrens eyes will never understand
When you’re white boots marching in a yellow land

Red blow the bugles of the dawn
The morning has arrived you must be gone
And the lost patrol chase their chartered souls
Like old whores following tired armies

Train them well, the men who will be fighting by your side
And never turn your back if the battle turns the tide
For the colours of a civil war are louder than commands
When you’re white boots marching in a yellow land

Blow them from the forest and burn them from your sight
Tie their hands behind their back and question through the night
But when the firing squad is ready they’ll be spitting where they stand
At the white boots marching in a yellow land

Red blow the bugles of the dawn
The morning has arrived you must be gone
And the lost patrol chase their chartered souls
Like cold whores following tired armies

The comic and the beauty queen are dancing on the stage
Raw recruits are lining up like coffins in a cage
We’re fighting in a war we lost before the war began
We’re the white boots marching in a yellow land

And the lost patrol chase their chartered souls
Like cold whores following tired armies.

Source: The War Is Over: The Best of Phil Ochs (1988) (c. Barricade Music Inc.) Phil Ochs (1940-1976) was born in El Paso, Texas. He was a folk singer/songwriter and contemporary of Bob Dylan, Pete Seeger and Arlo Guthrie. He wrote hundreds of songs in the 1960s and 1970s and released eight albums. He performed at numerous anti-Vietnam War, civil rights and organized labor rallies. Ochs’s mental health deteriorated in the 1970s owing to what is now known as bipolar disorder and alcoholism. Tragically, he took his own life in 1976. You can find out more about Phil Ochs and his music at this website. If you would like to listen to the above song as performed by Phil Ochs, click here.

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[1] The book of Joshua is a problematic one for people of faith. The wars conducted by the people of Israel against the inhabitants of Canaan under Joshua’s leadership could fairly be characterized as genocidal. That this account of Israel’s conquest of Canaan does not likely reflect the actual historical realities on the ground is beside the point. I do not feel the need to defend or rationalize these wars (as though God needed or wanted our defense). Neither will I call in the historical critical cavalry to put the blame for Joshua’s rough edges on some anonymous redactor. I will only say that we who identify as Christian are disciples of Jesus, not Joshua, Moses, St. Paul or any other biblical figure. The way of Jesus is to love one’s enemies and pray for one’s persecutors. It is through the lens of this “great commandment” that we read, interpret and re-interpret the Bible. The theological assertion made in our passage from Joshua is that God has delivered on the covenant promise made to Abraham and Sarah. The land is now in the possession of their descendants.  

THIRTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

Proverbs 9:1-6

Psalm 34:9-14

Ephesians 5:15-20

John 6:51-58

Prayer of the Day: Ever-loving God, your Son gives himself as living bread for the life of the world. Fill us with such a knowledge of his presence that we may be strengthened and sustained by his risen life to serve you continually, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“Be careful then how you live…” Ephesians 5:15.

Something deeply American in my bones wants to cry out, “How I live my life is my own damned business!” No church can tell me how or whether to worship God, what I should or should not believe or what is right and wrong. No government has the right to tell me to wear a seatbelt when I drive, a life jacket when I Kayak or tell me where I can and cannot carry my gun. What I do with my life is my own concern.

Of course, a moment’s reflection dispels that notion. The way I live does have an impact on others, whether or not I recognize it. It matters a great deal to my fellow citizens what I believe about God and how I worship God, especcially if I believe God wants me to destroy God’s enemies and censor literature I believe offensive to my God. I may not care enough about my wellbeing to buckle up, but the family members who depend on me and my fellow Americans whose insurance premiums are driven up by the severity of injuries incurred by careless people like me have good reason to care. The Coast Guard, law enforcement and victims of gun violence all pay heavy prices for the “freedoms” I insist upon. Unless I am a hermit living off the grid-and perhaps even then-my life is inseparably bound up with those of everyone else on the planet. How I live is not my own damned business.

How then should disciples of Jesus live out the kingdom of heaven in service to their neighbors in a self centered world intent on plunging itself into hell? Paul does not answer that question directly. Instead, he gives some pretty down to earth, small scale directions. Don’t waste time. Don’t be stupid. Don’t drink to excess. Instead, be filled with the Spirit. How? By singing. The Spirit is infused into the church through the singing “psalms and hymns and spiritual songs among yourselves, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts, giving thanks to God the Father at all times and for everything in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Let singing shape your heart, soul, mind and actions.

Song is a potent antidote to despair, helplessness and apathy. Martin Luther has said of singing:

“Music is hateful and intolerable to the devil. I truly believe, and do not mind saying, that there is no art like music, next to theology. It is the only art, next to theology, that can calm the agitations of the soul, which plainly shows that the devil, the source of anxiety and sadness, flees from the sound of music as he does from religious worship. That is why the Scriptures are full of psalms and hymns, in which praise is given to God. That is why, when we gather round God’s throne in heaven, we shall sing His glory. Music is the perfect way to express our love and devotion to God. It is one of the most magnificent and delightful presents God has given us.”

I wholeheartedly agree with Luther on this point, but with one caveat. I think that music trumps even theology. I know from experience that when I have been too tired, too dispirited, too overwhelmed with doubt to believe, I could still sing. I have often sung my way out of sorrows too deep for thinking through. In my view, talk therapy is overrated, but singing is highly underrated. Moreover, the value of singing is not merely therapeutic. The Civil Rights movement was animated by songs that sustained people of color throughout two centuries of slavery and decades of Jim Crow. The Power of Song, a book written by Guntis Šmidchens, documents the struggle for freedom by people of Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania and how their “Singing Revolution” won their independence from Soviet domination. A song can evoke visions, bring people together and inspire movements for change and transformation. It reaches back to the lives of ancestors, inspires the hearts of those living in the present and turns their gaze toward a better tomorrow. Recall the still potent anthem, We Shall Overcome, derived from a song by the Reverend Charles Tindley in 1903 and sung to the tune of an African American melody.

Saint Peter declares to Jesus in Sunday’s gospel, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” These words, enshrined and sung in our liturgy, testify to the power of music. Song is indeed the vehicle of lifegiving words, the lifegiving Word. You could almost say that singing is how the Word becomes flesh. Song is the means by which many individual members are united in word, in voice and in expression. Whatever divisions there may be in the congregation, whatever ill feeling between members, whatever divisive issues may be brewing, a good hymn sweeps a singing church into unity of thought and feeling.

In an insightful essay on a passage in Paul’s letter to the church in Colossae similar to our lesson from Ephesians, Amy Whisenand Krall points out that singing “both witnesses to the abundance of the new creation and enacts it. Taking part in singing together allows the congregation to inhabit that abundance and to grow up into the new creation; it gives body to what it means to grow into the maturity Paul desires for the congregation….As they take part in corporate singing, we find the congregation participating in thanksgiving to God in Christ, learning to give thanks together as diverse members who now constitute one community, the church, which is the Body of Christ.”  “A Singing Creation: Music Making and Christian Maturity in Colossians 3:16,” published in The Art of New Creation, (C. 2022 and edited by Jeremy Begbie, Daniel Train and W. David O. Taylor; pub. by Intervarsity Press), p. 142.

Can we sing our way out of the hateful ideologies, hurtful caricatures, insults and broken relationships that characterize so much of our common life these days? Consider this. On election day 2020 in Warren, Michigan a group of Donald Trump supporters and backers of Joe Biden started shouting slogans and insults at each other through bullhorns-a none too common occurrence. But then Matthew Woods, a 59-year-old Trump supporter and travelling musician, challenged the Biden supporters to a “sing off.” The opposing groups soon started singing together and even posed for photos. “We shook hands, hugged each other and apologized for saying bad words to one another,” Wood said. Harmony: Opposing “Trump and Biden groups make music together,” CityNews, November 3, 2020. To the cynical spirit of our times, this was but an anomalous island of civility in an ocean of uncivil and bitter acrimony. To people of faith, however, it is tiny flicker of hope, a fleeting glimpse into the better way of being human to which Jesus calls us, a new creation into which the Spirit carries us through song.

Here is a poem by Friedrich von Schiller extoling the power of song and its transformative potential.    

The Power of Song

The foaming stream from out the rock
      With thunder roar begins to rush,—
The oak falls prostrate at the shock,
      And mountain-wrecks attend the gush.
With rapturous awe, in wonder lost,
      The wanderer hearkens to the sound;
From cliff to cliff he hears it tossed,
      Yet knows not whither it is bound:
‘Tis thus that song’s bright waters pour
From sources never known before.

In union with those dreaded ones
      That spin life’s thread all-silently,
Who can resist the singer’s tones?
      Who from his magic set him free?
With wand like that the gods bestow,
      He guides the heaving bosom’s chords,
He steeps it in the realms below,
      He bears it, wondering, heavenward,
And rocks it, ‘twixt the grave and gay,
On feeling’s scales that trembling sway.

As when before the startled eyes
      Of some glad throng, mysteriously,
With giant-step, in spirit-guise,
      Appears a wondrous deity,
Then bows each greatness of the earth
      Before the stranger heaven-born,
Mute are the thoughtless sounds of mirth,
      While from each face the mask is torn,
And from the truth’s triumphant might
Each work of falsehood takes to flight.

So from each idle burden free,
      When summoned by the voice of song,
Man soars to spirit-dignity,
      Receiving force divinely strong:
Among the gods is now his home,
      Naught earthly ventures to approach—
All other powers must now be dumb,
      No fate can on his realms encroach;
Care’s gloomy wrinkles disappear,
Whilst music’s charms still linger here,

As after long and hopeless yearning,
      And separation’s bitter smart,
A child, with tears repentant burning,
      Clings fondly to his mother’s heart—
So to his youthful happy dwelling,
      To rapture pure and free from stain,
All strange and false conceits expelling,
      Song guides the wanderer back again,
In faithful Nature’s loving arm,
From chilling precepts to grow warm.

Source: This poem is in the public domain. Johann Christoph Friedrich von Schiller (1759-1805) was a German poet, playwright, historian, philosopher, physician and lawyer. He was born in Marbach, Germany. His initial goal was the priesthood. But in 1773 he entered a military academy in Stuttgart and ended up studying medicine. After a brief stint as a regimental doctor, he left Stuttgart to accept a post as professor of History and Philosophy at Jena. Schiller developed a close friendship with the already famous Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Together they formed the Weimar Theater. You can read more about Johann von Schiller and sample more of his poetry at the All Poetry website.

TWELFTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST

1 Kings 19:4-8

Psalm 34:1-8

Ephesians 4:25—5:2

John 6:35, 41-51

Prayer of the Day: Gracious God, your blessed Son came down from heaven to be the true bread that gives life to the world. Give us this bread always, that he may live in us and we in him, and that, strengthened by this food, we may live as his body in the world, through Jesus Christ, our Savior and Lord.

“So then, putting away falsehood, let all of us speak the truth to our neighbors, for we are members of one another.” Ephesians 4:25.

I have told this story previously, but it bears repeating in these days of “fake news,” “false narratives” and “gattcha journalism.” Not so many years ago, I was leading my confirmation class in a discussion of the Eight Commandment (Thou Shalt Not Bear False Witness). In so doing, I posed the following hypothetical. Imagine, I said, that you are on the school board. The board is planning to hire Mary Smith to be its treasurer. In that position, she will, of course, be responsible for managing school district funds. You learn that Mary was formerly convicted of embezzlement and sentenced to ninety days in prison. Should you inform the board about Mary’s conviction?

Under these circumstances, the class unanimously agreed that the board should be made aware of this event in Mary’s past. As treasurer, Mary would be responsible for managing a substantial amount of public money critical for the operation of the schools within the district. It would be a breach of duty for a member of the school board to turn a blind eye to the facts and allow the board to place a person with a history of financial dishonesty in this important position of public trust.

But then I added to the hypothetical. Mary was a foster child who aged out of the system when she turned eighteen years old. At that time, she was informed that she could no longer live in the group home where was staying. At just eighteen years of age and not yet out of high school, she had little in the way of savings, but desperately needed a place to stay. She finally found a room for rent, but the landlord insisted on a $300 dollar deposit. Mary was working part time at a convenience store during this period of her life. One evening, when her employer left early and asked her to close up the store for the night, Mary took three hundred dollars from the cash register to cover the deposit. She had intended to pay the money back again once she got established, but her theft was detected and Mary was arrested shortly thereafter.

Upon release from prison, Mary found a job at a restaurant. She put aside as much money from her meager salary as she could each week. As soon as she had saved enough, she went back to her former employer at the convenience store and repaid the three hundred dollars she had taken with interest. Her former employer was impressed with Mary’s offer of restitution and offered to re-hire her. Mary soon became her employer’s assistant and has been managing the store’s finances faithfully for over twenty years. In addition, Mary has been doing volunteer work with an agency helping first time offenders newly released from prison to find work and integrate back into society. She is currently serving as treasurer for her church.

The class agreed that having this additional information made the decision a great deal more difficult. Is something that happened so long ago in the life of a desperate and inexperienced young girl relevant to the woman she had become? There was some lively discussion over what obligation a school board member had under these circumstances. Some of the kids felt that there was no need to disclose Mary’s conviction and that doing so would be unfair. Others expressed the view that, although duty bound as a member of the board to disclose the conviction, they would also be obligated to provide the context and relate the exemplary nature of Mary’s subsequent life of integrity and service. All agreed that simply disclosing the conviction, without more, would be wrong.

Speaking the truth to our neighbors, as St. Paul would have his churches do, is not as simple and straight forward as it might seem. A single fact taken out of context can distort the truth, ruin reputations, reinforce prejudices, incite rage and generate unfounded fear. For example, many Americans believe that undocumented immigrants are a criminal threat to society. The Republican party, led by their presidential nominee, former President Donald J. Trump, has leveraged this false assumption to inflame the rhetoric around immigration from the U.S.-Mexico border. In so doing, Republicans[1] and their allies have highlighted cases such as that of the recently murdered twelve-year old Jocelyn Nungaray. Two undocumented Venezuelan men have been charged with capital murder in the killing. The case is, without a doubt, horrific and a great tragedy for the families involved. But the party and its leaders care less about those involved than the “rage value” this story has for feeding this nation’s racist hysteria and supporting their false narrative to the effect that America is being “invaded” by criminals, insane asylum discharges and other assorted “vermin.” As in the case of my hypothetical, so too in this instance, this one isolated fact is being exploited in support of a lie.[2]

Saint Paul knew well that the truth is more than the sum of the facts. For this reason, he goes on to tell his audience the manner in which the truth is to be spoken. “Let no evil talk come out of your mouths,” he says, “but only what is useful for building up, as there is need, so that your words may give grace to those who hear.” Ephesians 4:29. Thus, there are three considerations to be made in contemplating when and how to speak the truth. First, is it necessary to speak this truth? Just because a particular assertion of fact is genuinely accurate does not mean that it needs to be shared. It might arguably have been necessary for a member of my hypothetical school board to disclose Mary’s criminal conviction for the greater good of the public. But it would be quite unnecessary and wrong to share it with fellow members of the mall walking group, thereby needlessly damaging her reputation.

Second, will the information to be shared build up the church, the community and the people involved? As a pastor and as an attorney, I have sat through countless meetings of one kind or another. If I have one regret in life, it is over the hours of my life spent in council meetings, committees and litigation groups I will never get back. I would be hard put to say whether lawyers or pastors are more deeply in love with the sound of their own voices. What I do know is that a lot of what is shared does more to boost the ego of the speaker, vent personal frustrations and impress the rest of the group than further the purpose of the meeting. Speaking is reflexive for many of us. We would, I think, be better served to ask ourselves before we open our mouths, “Will what I am about to say build trust, enhance understanding and move the conversation forward in a helpful direction?”

Sometimes painful truths need to be spoken. Essential truths are not always welcome. The Hebrew prophets frequently exposed the painful truth about Israel’s injustice and betrayal of its covenant with God. But they did so always with the purpose of returning Israel to faithfulness and restoring its covenant relationship. As Professor Gerold O. West points out, sometimes the good news of the gospel needs to be experienced as bad news before it can be heard as good. Sometimes you must learn to hate what you most love before you can learn to love it properly. Luke 14:25-26.

Finally, one must ask whether the information to be shared will “give grace” to those who hear? In the final analysis, the truth is not facts, information or opinions. The truth is a person. “I am…the truth” says Jesus. John 14:6. Jesus came, John the Evangelist tells us, not to condemn the world but to save it. John 3:17. Everyone to whom one has opportunity to speak is a person for whom God sent the only Son. Thus, before speaking, one must ask: 1) whether the truth one would tell needs to be told; 2) whether the persons to whom one speaks need to be told this truth at this time; 3) what tone, tenor, words, images, parables or analogies can be used to tell this truth to these persons at this time faithfully, courageously and compassionately so as to move all involved toward the restoration of justice, reconciliation, peace and the strengthening of community. Speech that does not further these sacred objectives is not true, however factually accurate it might be.

Here is a poem by Robert Hayden about Fredrick Douglass, a man whose truthful speech still pierces the darkness of racial injustice with both judgment and promise.

Frederick Douglass

Source: The Collected Poems of Robert Hayden (c. 1966 by Robert Hayden; pub. by Liveright Publishing Corporation). Robert Hayden (1913 –1980) was an American poet, essayist and educator. He was born in Detroit, Michigan where he was raised by a foster family following his parents’ separation. The Haydens, his foster parents whose name he eventually took as his own, were contentious and abusive. Short of stature and visually impaired, Hayden was unable to participate in sports like most of his peers. He became a voracious reader, however, and developed a keen interest in writing. Hayden attended Detroit City College where he majored in English and Spanish. He left just one credit short of graduation in the midst of the Great Depression to serve in the Works Progress Administration Federal Writers’ Project. There he researched black history and folk culture. Hayden served as Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress from 1976 to 1978, a role today known as US Poet Laureate. He was the first African-American writer to hold this position. You can read more about Robert Hayden and sample more of his poetry at the Poetry Foundation website.

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[1] Some have complained that my association of Republicans generally with the MAGA ideology of hate is unfair. In response, I can only point out that your party nominated as its presidential candidate the chief mouthpiece of racist MAGA ideology and sidelined everyone in the party who has had the courage to speak out against him. It is clear where your party is headed and if you are not down with where that train is going, the time to get off is now. Otherwise, you cannot complain about being known by your associations.

[2] Immigrants are actually 30 percent less likely to be incarcerated than are U.S.-born individuals who are white. See The Mythical tie Between Immigration and Crime, Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, July 21, 2023.