Holy Work
“They do all their deeds, to be seen by others; their works are performed to be seen; they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes, their tassels, long.” — Matthew 23:5
Well, it is the season of little hobgoblins, is it not? If you are home when Trick or Treat time comes tomorrow, it’s likely you will be visited by costumed little ones, sometimes even costumed older folks, as they go on a quest for sweets. But what is, as this older form of English has it, Hallow-een?
It is, more formally, All-Hallows-Evening. Hence Halloween is the evening before All Hallows Day or the Day of All Who Are Holy, the Saints, better known as the Feast of All Saints, November the First. In any case, since this is the time of All Hallows Eve (and by the way, have you noticed Halloween is no longer a day but a whole season?) tomorrow being the actual date, I thought I’d offer an amazing statistic about how we Americans have come to celebrate Halloween.
So, what do you think the current estimate is of how much Americans spend each year on costumes and candies and parties as we celebrate Halloween? (Slight pause.) Would you believe the tab on these items currently runs at about seven billion dollars— seven billion dollars? (Slight pause.)
Now, when I said seven billion dollars is an amazing statistic, let me put that in perspective with another amazing statistic. How much do you think all candidates for President of the United States in the major political parties spent in 2008? Now, this calculation is the total spent by all the significant Republican Candidates and all the significant Democratic candidates together in the campaign which ran two years from 2006 to 2008? (Slight pause.) Would you believe that total was two billion dollars? (Slight pause.)
O.K. We spend seven billion dollars each year on costumes and candies and parties to celebrate a holiday which we made up, a holiday which has nothing to do with the real day which should be celebrated— All Saints Day. And then, over the course of two years, Americans spent two billion dollars in deciding who the leader of the most powerful nation in the world should be, or as the position is often named: the leader of the free world.
Can anyone explain that to me? Can anyone make any sense of that except by writing it off as a cultural phenomena? (Slight pause.)
Many think the worst year of the Great Depression was 1933. That was the year my late mother would have been nine. When I was a child, she would let us go out to do the Trick or Treat routine. After all, had we not gone Trick or Treating we might have been ostracized by our friends, our own peer group.
On the other hand, she often wondered out loud, so I think she meant all her children to hear it, why we might partake in this somewhat self centered exercise on the evening of all that is holy. You see, she would explain, aside from the fact that the day which celebrates all who are holy is more important, when she was growing up, in inner city poverty in the midst of the Great Depression, a common practice was for children to put on their worst clothes, clothes with holes and stains, on Thanksgiving.
And then, on that day— Thanksgiving Day not Halloween— they’d go out and knock on doors and say to anyone who answered: “Do you have anything for the ragamuffins?” The real question they were asking is: ‘do you have anything for us— children who live in poverty as you offer thanks to God for what you have?’
Was it meant to be a guilt trip? Probably. But they did this in the hope that the person answering the door might be generous. They hoped they would get not candy, but something more nourishing like an apple or a banana or a potato or a yam or (the saints be praised) something even more valuable like a nickel or a dime. (Slight pause.)
And we find these words in the work known as Matthew: “They do all their deeds, to be seen by others; their works are performed to be seen; they make their phylacteries broad and their fringes, their tassels, long.” (Slight pause.)
Tradition has it that Halloween— the Eve Before the Feast of All the Saints— is the day in 1517 on which Martin Luther nailed 95 Thesis to the Cathedral Door in Wittenberg, Germany. Theologians count this as a turning point in the history of the church, the point at which the Reformation became real.
Theologians will tell you the great instruction of Luther is we are justified by faith, not by works. But I want to suggest what is embodied by those 95 Thesis is much more subtle than the simplicity of the saying ‘justified by faith, not by works’ makes it appear. After all, one could logically conclude from that sound bite that works should not be a part of the undertaking of our life with God, that works are superfluous, unnecessary.
In fact, the place Luther starts the 95 Thesis is by saying Jesus calls us to (quote:) “repent.” And from the Biblical perspective, what is repentance? Repentance is handing our whole life over to God.
And what does that mean— ‘handing our whole life over to God’? (Slight pause.) It means constantly seeking to do the will of God and constantly seeking to do the work of God. (Slight pause.)
Now, I don’t want anyone here to think that I am some kind of ogre, that I am against fun or against Halloween. I am not. I’ve been know to give out candy on Halloween. (I just did it, didn’t I?) [1]
I’ve also been known to occasionally root for a specific baseball team, especially an underdog. (I just love it that the underdog Saint Louis Cardinals won the series.) I’ve even been known to do and to say all kinds of frivolous things— if you have ever seen me and Tom Rasely, you know that’s true! [2] In short, I’ve been known to have some real fun.
But I also like to think I try to put things into perspective. And I don’t think it’s a good thing that we spend seven billion dollars on Halloween, for instance. The practice seems to be not just cultural but culturally ego-centric.
And I think that is what Jesus is getting at in condemning those who wear phylacteries and fringes and tassels. This seems to be not simply cultural but culturally ego-centric, something done with neither sincerity nor, more importantly, a desire to seek the will of God and do the work of God. (Slight pause.)
So, what is work, really? Why should we do it, really? And how does it fit into being justified by faith? (Slight pause.)
The work we are called by God to do is first seeking the will of God and second, seeking out ways to fulfill that will. Based on the Biblical witness, the work to which God calls us seems clear: protect the human rights of all people, especially the outcast and the needy.
Is there a human right to food? Is there a human right to be clothed? Is there a human right to be housed? Is there a human right to health care? If so, we should be striving to feed those who are hungry, to clothe those who wear tatters, to shelter those who are homeless and to comfort and to strive to cure those who are ill.
I am not saying any of these are easy. These are all tall orders. I am saying there is a Biblical call, an invitation by God, to be about this work. (Slight pause.)
A couple of minutes ago you heard about some of this work from Cathy and Gary. [3] And, indeed, in November we will also have our Annual Thanksgiving Basket effort where we help feed nearly 500 families— a major piece of work.
We will also be a part of Operation Christmas Child. [4] Last, we will have our so called ‘enlistment campaign,’ and will make some determinations about supporting a part of our outreach ministries.
This is all the work of God and, historically, this church has been outstanding in its efforts in these areas. All of which is to say if we are justified by faith, we also need to be doing the will of God and the work of God. We need to constantly be about repentance and, therefore, to be about steering our lives toward God. We need to constantly be seeking the ways in which God would have us walk.
Last, there is one thing the work to which God calls us is not. It is not fire insurance, as in: if I do this, it will be a sure path to heaven. And doing this work will keep me out of you know where— H-E-double hockey sticks. Indeed, if there is any kind of fire insurance, it is embodied by trusting God and seeking the will of God and acting in the work to which God calls us. Amen.
10/30/2011
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Who are saints? What are saints? Saints are people set aside to do the work of God. We are, you see, all saints. Friday morning bright Fall sunlight fell around Bonnie and I as we visited the Philadelphia area and as we looked around the graveyard of the Episcopal Church of Saint James the Less for some of Bonnie’s ancestors. I noticed a tombstone for the Fifth Bishop of Pennsylvania, one Ozi W. Whitaker, who died in 1911. On the stone was this inscription: ‘Well Done Good and Faithful Servant.’ And I think that’s the point. Do it well; trust God; that’s it.”
BENEDICTION: Go from here in the Spirit of Christ. Dare to question that which is false and that which holds us captive. Count it a privilege that God calls upon us to be in covenant and to work in the vineyard. And may the peace of Christ which passes all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the love, knowledge and companionship of God the Creator, Christ the redeemer and the Holy Spirit the sanctifier this day and forever more. Amen.
[1] Note: the pastor gave out candy at the Children’s Time.
[2] Tom Rasely is the Music Associate at the church. The pastor and Tom have written sermons together which have a comedic bent.
[3] Cathy Hammons, Chair of the Deacons and Gary Gray, a member of this church and a volunteer at the food pantry spoke about working at Our Daily Bread Food Pantry at the Episcopal Church.
[4] For the first time this year the church will participate in the widely known activity Operation Christmas Child.
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