SERMON ~ 10/14/2012 ~ Seeking Good

10/14/2012 ~ Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost ~ Twenty-eighth Sunday in Ordinary Time (Proper 23) ~ Job 23:1-9, 16-17; Psalm 22:1-15; Amos 5:6-7, 10-15; Psalm 90:12-17; Hebrews 4:12-16; Mark 10:17-31.

Seeking Good

“Seek good and not evil, / that you may live; / so Yahweh, God, / the God of hosts, / God the omnipotent, / may be with you, / just as you have said, / just as you have been claiming. / Hate evil and love what is good, / and establish, maintain justice / at the city gate; / and may it be that Yahweh, God, / the God of hosts, / God the omnipotent, / will be gracious / on the remnant of Joseph, / will take pity / on the remnant of Joseph.” — Amos 5:14-15.

Since I have mentioned it often enough, I think most of you know about my diverse religious background.  I grew up Roman Catholic.  I migrated to the Episcopal Church.  I wound up as a Congregationalist and, needless to say, not just in the Congregational Church, but as a pastor in a Congregational Church.

Hence, given the Roman Catholic heritage, it should be of no surprise that my first 10 years of schooling were in Catholic Schools.  The first six years of that were in the same parochial school, in Brooklyn, New York.  And, in fact, I was a student at the same neighborhood Catholic School both my Father and my Uncle, his brother, attended.

Now, back then, most of the teachers in Catholic Schools were Nuns.  These schools were hiring some members of the laity.  Indeed, my Dad taught at a Jesuit High School in Manhattan.  So there were members of the laity who taught.  But there were lots of nuns and brothers and priests whose assigned duty it was to teach.

Bishops moved priests who served local churches from parish to parish.  But teachers— especially the Nuns— stayed put.  They were an unmovable fixture.

To make a long story short, my Father and my Uncle and I had something in common besides our stint in the same parochial school in the Bushwick neighborhood of Brooklyn, the place in which we were all raised.  We all had the same the second grade teacher— a Dominican Nun— Sister Rose Agnes.

If my math is right, I entered the second grade 29 years after my father left it.  Now, while 29 years is a long time for a teacher to be teaching the 2nd grade, I don’t think it’s as outrageous as it might first sound.  After all, I am sure we all know teachers who have taught for a long time and taught the same grade in one place.

Perhaps I think of this as an oddity because it happened in New York City to a city kid, as opposed to someone who is a native of a place like, well for instance, Norwich.  It’s my guess the population in places like Brooklyn tends to be relatively mobile.  It’s my guess the population in places like Norwich tends to be relatively stable.

So, the surprise is not that Sister Rose Agnes was teaching the second grade for 29 years.  The surprise is my family was in the same neighborhood, indeed, the same house for all those years.

I am grateful for the long and dedicated work of my teachers who wore a habit.  I believe they taught me a lot about life.  I believe they taught me well.  I am even grateful for the Nun who I had in the eight grade, despite the fact that I suspected then and I still suspect today she was a tad wacky.  (But that’s a real long story and I will not get into it.)

Since these parochial schools were religious institutions, part of their mission was to help students think about faith and its meaning.  Part of their mission was to help students think about how one lives out one’s life as a person of faith.

Now, it was in the second grade under the tutelage of Sister Rose Agnes that I made what Catholics call my First Communion.  Hence, it was there was, in the second grade that there was a certain emphasis on faith formation.  Faith formation was taught at a second grade level, of course.  But it was taught, none-the-less.

One of the items I heard discussed is that it is wise to avoid the (quote:) “near occasion of sin.”  That term is, in fact, incorporated in a standard prayer taught as a preparation for First Communion.  Part of that prayer reads (quote:) “I firmly resolve, with the help of Your grace, to sin no more and to avoid the near occasion of sin.”

Now, you may think a term like the ‘near occasion of sin’ sounds like it’s not on a second grade level, but it really is.  You see, for a second grader avoiding the “near occasion of sin” means nothing more than keeping away from things or people that can lead you astray, lead you away from listening to God.

Therefore, don’t watch movies that have bad words.  Don’t play with someone who is a bully.  Avoiding the near occasion of sin is just as simple as that— nothing more, nothing less.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Amos: “Seek good and not evil, / that you may live; / so Yahweh, God, / the God of hosts, / God the omnipotent, / may be with you, / just as you have said, / just as you have been claiming. / Hate evil and love what is good, / and establish, maintain justice / at the city gate; / and may it be that Yahweh, God, / the God of hosts, / God the omnipotent, / will be gracious / on the remnant of Joseph, / will take pity / on the remnant of Joseph.”  (Slight pause.)

I think the words in this passage are fairly straightforward.  Seek good, not evil; hate evil, love good.  (Slight pause.)  Can you say, “avoid the near occasion of sin?”  (Slight pause.)

Theologian and scholar of the Hebrew Scriptures Walter Brueggemann says the Hebrew Scriptures are about a movement from a culture of anxiety— slavery in Egypt— to a culture neighborliness— freedom in the Sinai.  It is, therefore, about a radical choice— a choice to not just seek good for one’s own self— a culture of anxiety but to seek the common good for all people— a culture of neighborliness.

Part of the premise Brueggemann puts forth is we live in a world bent on the opposite, bent on seeking good only for self.  (Slight pause.)  Can you say, “avoid the near occasion of sin?”  (Slight pause.)

When this passage speaks about ‘establishing and maintaining justice at the city gate’ it is making a point about the ancient world and the world in which we live today.  Establishing and maintaining justice at the city gate says both individuals and a society who possess a mature faith will be committed to the common good.  Establishing and maintaining justice at the city gate says both individuals and a society who possess a mature faith will be committed to going beyond private interests.

Establishing and maintaining justice at the city gate says both individuals and a society who possess a mature faith will be committed to transcending sectarian interests, committed to transcending political interests for the common good.  It says both individuals and a society who possess a mature faith will be committed to human solidarity.

Establishing and maintaining justice at the city gate says both individuals and a society who possess a mature faith will be committed to avoiding exploitive practices which oppress the poor and the outcast.  (Slight pause.)  Can you say, “avoid the near occasion of sin?”  (Slight pause.)

Bishop Desmond Tutu says this (quote:) “If you are neutral in situations of injustice you have chosen the side of the oppressor.”  (Slight pause.)  Can you say, “avoid the near occasion of sin?”  (Slight pause.)

This, too, is clear: we cannot not claim to have a mature faith unless we actively seek justice for those who are poor.  We cannot not claim to have a mature faith unless we actively seek to see that human rights of all people— all people— are maintained— the rights to food, clothing, shelter, healthcare— these need to be maintained for all people, not just some.  We cannot simply be neutral in striving for those rights.  (Slight pause.)

You know what?  Avoiding the near occasion of sin felt easier when I was in the second grade than it does now.  Avoiding the near occasion of sin turns out to be hard work.  Why?  Because a true faith involves establishing and maintaining justice for all people.

I want to suggest establishing and maintaining justice is the place where a mature faith, a faith wrapped up in loving God and loving neighbor, takes us.  Seeking good, you see, means actively striving to establish and maintain justice for all people, not just for some, not just for the privileged few, not just for one’s own class, not just for one’s own group.  Amen.

United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
10/14/2012

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “At the end of the service last week I said I don’t take the Bible literally.  I take the Bible seriously.  In a similar vein, the message of Amos, indeed, the message of all the Prophets is we need to take faith seriously.  Actions do speak.  And we are called to be actively involved in establishing and maintaining justice for all people.”

BENEDICTION: The Word of God guides us and assures us of God’s saving grace, God’s healing love, God’s eternal promises.  May the face of God shine upon us; may the peace of Christ rule among us; may the fire of the Spirit burn within us this day and forevermore.  Amen.