Being Kind

You can listen to this sermon here

 Gate Pa – Year B  22^nd  Sunday in Ordinary Time,

Readings:

Psalm                                       Psalm 45:1-2, 6-7

First Reading:                           Song of Solomon 2:8-13         

Second Reading:                       James 1:17-27                        

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

What I want to say:

Being kind is quite hard work. But Jacinda and James are both pretty clear about how important it is to be kind, compassionate. I want to look at Mark 7 and Jesus teaching around paying attention to what is going on in the heart as a way of becoming kinder. And then I want to introduce the daily examen as a way of paying attention to the heart during lockdown and beyond

What I want to happen:

People to use the examen as a way to grow in compassion and kindness, to others and to themselves.

The Sermon

       1.     Introduction:

• How are you doing?
• What has surprised you about the last week?
• What have you struggled with?
• When have been the moments of grace?

One of the things that  I’ve struggled with over recent weeks is being kind to people who I really disagree with: people who oppose the lockdown, antivaxers, and people on Facebook who celebrated large number people who went out and protested in Australia last weekend.

I just don’t want to be kind to them at all. I get really frustrated and want to yell at them. I want to grab them and convince them that they are wrong. None of which is very helpful to anyone – them or me. And while I am feeling this, Jacinda’s words ring in my ears - Be kind

I’m finding at least that being kind is not so easy. With myself or others.

       2.     James

Being kind is very similar to what James invite us to in his letter which we heard today. This is the first week of five we will hear from the only letter we have from James the Just, Brother of our Lord (however we understand that word “brother”), and leader of mother church based in Jerusalem. He was pretty important in the life of the very early church.

He was renowned both for his devout faith – he was devout Torah obeying, temple worshipping Jew to the end; and for his and that church’s work among poorest and most vulnerable in Jerusalem, including the sick, widows and orphans

For James, true holiness was not absence of bad things, but a presence of compassion. And as I have noted, compassion/ being kind, not always easy thing. It can be hard work. I think that deep within me there is a hidden desire to not be kind. Hidden, except when it pops out.

So, while it is good to remember that God is with us in these times, I am struggling with this being kind thing, this being compassionate thing.

So thank goodness for our reading from Mark!

       3.     Mark 7.

This week, after 5 weeks of John 6 and Jesus the living bread from heaven, we back to Mark. Unlike John, Mark is fast paced, direct, keeping it short and simple. At this point of the story, some leading Pharisees and scribes from Jerusalem turn up to Galilee to check out what is happening. And they are none too happy about some of disciples not washing before eating. In their view these disciples have broken some pretty important rules about being ritually clean. (As an aside – this is not about hygiene or about washing hands all the time – all which is really important). Being ritually clean was all about their identity and their righteousness. Firstly,  those rituals allowed them hold on to their identity as Jews in the face of a procession of empires that sought to erase their identity. These rituals allowed them to not assimilate. And as we can see in Aotearoa New Zealand today, lots of people get unhappy with people don’t assimilate. So these rituals are important and from that standpoint good.

But these rituals were established by pious well to do Jews who had time and water resources wash up to elbows before ate and at many other times. But these are not be found in Torah. Over time they had become the accepted practice among some leading Jews as the way in which Torah was to be observed. And these rituals also established their identity and their righteousness. They allowed them to separate themselves off from vast majority who did not have time or resources to wash in this way. In some ways they allowed them to say “we are cool with God and you are not”. And before we get too judgemental, if we are honest that is something we as Christians still do that today.

       4.     Radical Jesus

In face of that Jesus says some pretty radical things. Or at least the Jesus in Mark says some pretty radical things. Matthew does not quite tell it the same way, leaving out some of the more radical elements, and Luke just leaves it out all together.

When we read Mark’s gospel if it is useful to remember it either came out of a non-Jewish community, so ditching the law was useful; or it came out of a conflicted community with Jews and Gentiles who were trying find a way they could all to live together with single identity. In this case one of the points of contention would be the food laws – which is where Mark is heading with this.

For Jesus, like many others then and now, the law was to be read in terms how it helps the people of God be the gift we are to be for all other people. It was and is a means to keep them focussed on the things that make for humanity’s wellbeing. Or as Jesus describes it they was they were to Love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and mind, by/and loving your neighbour as yourself. Or as one commentator suggested, we might live in such way that we bring healing and health in communities. And our communities need healing and health right now.

       5.     The Heart

Jesus uses this approach to offer an alternative focus of attention. Instead of being concerned about behaviour, living in a way that keeps the precepts of law; Jesus says pay attention who you are first, to what is going on in our hearts: to our motivations and desires, our longings and hopes. That is what counts the most and our actions come from that. Pay attention to what is going on in your hearts and the actions will follow.

So when I want to be NOT kind, before I speak or act, I need to stop and look into my heart and see what is going on inside me. Which is easier said than done.

        6.     Daily Examen

One way people found really helpful in to do this paying attention is the daily examen - spending time each day asking “when have I been drawn to God and when have I been drawn away.” It does not need to be big thing. But many people have found it a helpful way to learn to see who we truly are as      people invited into God’s love, and as             people who at times reject that invitation, and to learn to see God at work in us and in our world

So I invite you at end of each day, especially over the next few weeks, to ask yourself

what am I most thankful for?

            how have I experienced God this day?

what am I least thankful for?

            how have I been led astray?

You might want record your reflections. You might want to pray about what you see as a way of ending your day. I invite you to use the Lord’s Prayer from Night Prayer which we will use again in this service.

 

Eternal Spirit,
Earth-maker, Pain-bearer, Life-giver,
Source of all that is and that shall be,
Father and Mother of us all,
Loving God, in whom is heaven:

The hallowing of your name echo through the universe!
The way of your justice be followed by the peoples
of the world!
Your heavenly will be done by all created beings!
Your commonwealth of peace and freedom
sustain our hope and come on earth.

With the bread we need for today, feed us.
In the hurts we absorb from one another, forgive us.
In times of temptation and test, strengthen us.
From trials too great to endure, spare us.
From the grip of all that is evil, free us.

For you reign in the glory of the power that is love,
now and for ever.    Amen.

 (https://anglicanprayerbook.nz/167.html)