02/16/2014 ~ Sixth Sunday after the Epiphany ~ Known in Some Traditions as the Sixth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ Deuteronomy 30:15-20 or Sirach 15:15-20; Psalm 119:1-8; 1 Corinthians 3:1-9; Matthew 5:21-37.
The Straight and Narrow
“Say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘yes’ and ‘no’ when you mean ‘no.’ Anything more than that is from the Evil One.” — Matthew 5:37.
I have said on a number of occasions Bonnie and I are a city mouse, country mouse match. I am from New York City; Bonnie has roots in the great State of Maine. But a neutral observer might suggest other differences.
Bonnie’s undergraduate degree is in Heath and Physical Education. Mine is in Writing and Literature.
Bonnie stayed on track by earning a Master’s Degree in Physical Education. Mine is in theology, what we euphemistically label a Master of Divinity degree, meaning a degree to prepare pastors. A seminary professor told me that a writing degree is in line with a Divinity Degree, since pastors are called on to do a great deal of writing. So, I guess my graduate work is of a piece also.
Now, to say one of us has a totally athletic bent and the other does not is inaccurate. As I mentioned a couple weeks ago, I played on a softball team for the New York City Parks Championship that made it to the semi-final game in the Borough and County of Queens.
Yes— we lost that game 19 to 1, but we did make it to the semi-finals. I also said I was 35 before I had my first sit down job. An active life was not alien to me.
On the other side of this coin, to say Bonnie is not academically inclined lacks credibility. She is one of the best read people I have ever meet. She has a passion for the arts and at the risk of embarrassing her— she is as smart as a whip (pardon the cliché).
And we are both sports fans. But that mutual interest also uncovers some divisions. I tend to favor games where the action is governed by intrinsic rules— games that don’t have clocks: baseball, tennis, golf.
We overlap on golf but Bonnie, for instance, likes basketball— especially the college game— especially the Hobart Statesmen. (That’s an inside joke; don’t worry about it. [1]) I, on the other hand, have said all you have to see is the last two minutes of any basketball game and you’ve seen the game.
Why? The clock in basketball and in other timed sports is overwhelmingly involved in determining the outcome. Put another way, play an extra period or play one less period and a different team might be the winner. There’s really n o doubt about that.
However, I think we have a similar approach when it come to understanding what sports are and what they are about. Sports— all sports, everything from the Olympics to Little League Baseball— are games.
For participants sports offer exercise and training and learning, especially learning about discipline. I, personally, rate learning about discipline as one of the most important things sports can teach.
And sports offers entertainment for the observer. So, yes— for us, you and me the observer— it’s fun. But sports are still games— nothing more, nothing less. When we give them more import than that, we make a mistake.
Games will not solve the world’s problems, will not end violence or wars or cure hunger or homelessness or disease. They are games. To reiterate: Bonnie enjoys sports. I enjoy sports. We can learn from them. But they are games. (Slight pause.)
This week I came across an article by Brad Griffin. Brad is a youth pastor and the Associate Director at the Fuller Youth Institute where he develops research-based training for youth workers and parents.
He started the article with what some might think are controversial words (quote): “I’ll be honest: I hate a lot about kids’ sports. I am the wet blanket in the office about everything from little league to major sporting events.”
Saying this partially because his son is about to start playing organized “T-Ball” Griffin continued, “Mainly I get concerned about the ways our culture obsesses about kids’ performances. All kinds of parental anxiety and dysfunction plays out on the sidelines, in the bleachers and you only need walk to your local park to catch a glimpse.”
“Sports have potential to build character, perseverance and skill. Sometimes they succeed. Other times coaches, parents and mobs of hot-or-cold fans burn out or puff up kids in damaging ways.”
Then Griffin adds this: “Based on psychological research, the three healthiest statements parents can make to children before a competition are: ‘have fun; play hard; I love you.’ After a competition the healthy statements morph slightly: ‘did you have fun? I’m proud of you. I love you.’”
Last, he writes, the six most important words any parent can offer a child are these: “I love to watch you play.” [2] (Slight pause.)
You see I think, sports is not a problem. As I said, Bonnie and I like sports and clearly so does Mr. Griffin.
But we so often turn sports into more than games. Paradoxically, especially with children, when we let sports be games, sports do have the potential to have a positive impact. But if sports become larger for us, central for us, or if they become simply about winning and losing, I think they then become diminished. And we are at fault if that happens. (Slight pause.)
We find these words in the Sermon on the Mount in the work commonly called Matthew: “Say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘yes’ and ‘no’ when you mean ‘no.’ Anything more than that is from the Evil One.” (Slight pause.)
A question was asked by one of the participants in Bible Study on Wednesday as we looked at this passage. “You can’t possibly take this literally, can you?” All that stuff about putting you eye out and being thrown intro Gehenna. [3] “You can’t possibly take this literally, can you?”
“Well,” I said, “that depends on what you mean by taking it literally.” My answer probably confused everyone. (Slight pause.)
If I have said this once, I have said it a hundred times. Never ever, ever ask what Scripture says. Ask what Scripture means.
Which brings us to what this passage might mean, not what it says. What underlying import, significance, sense, idea, thought, implication can be found in these words, since on the surface they do sound gruesome and even frightening in places, don’t they? (Slight pause.)
I think the key to understanding this passage is in that last verse: “Say ‘yes’ when you mean ‘yes’ and ‘no’ when you mean ‘no.’” I believe what Jesus is addressing is honesty.
But it is not, as we might presume, the honesty of our relationships with each other. That is exactly what you might assume if you take the passage literally— cut off this or that or the other body part or throw the whole body into Gehenna.
Our relationship with others is not what Jesus is primarily addressing but rather our relationship with God. Jesus is addressing our covenant commitment with God.
In that commitment Jesus is calling us to a state of wholeness. Jesus offers this call despite the reality that we reside in a state where brokenness is both real and a given. We are flawed.
In short, before any temporal consideration, what Jesus is really addressing is spiritual honesty with God. Jesus is addressing our honesty, the honesty of we who are finite with God who is eternal. Jesus is addressing our honesty with God from Whom all grace flows.
It is then, only, when the eternal relationship is considered, that our finite relationships with others can be addressed. Hence, I do not think Jesus addresses the literal in each of the earlier scenarios outlined. Rather, this is call for an entirely new way of viewing human relationships.
You see, behind the prohibitions in the passage lies a vision of humanity restored to union with God, a place where we do not dwell now. Behind the prohibitions lies the thought we should not play games with our lives without being aware of the eternal.
To use a common phrase, we are called to the straight and narrow. Not, however, the way we normally think of the straight and narrow. We are called there, to the straight and narrow, knowing we are not eternal, knowing we are not perfect, knowing we are not the Alpha or the Omega, knowing we rely on the grace of God, knowing we are flawed, knowing we are not perfect. (Slight pause.)
Coming back to my first thoughts, my only criticism of sport is not the games, themselves. It is how we humans twist them into something they are not— something which seems eternal. After all, what are we doing by giving events names like World Series or Super Bowl, if not making some grandiose, eternal claim? It would seem our goal is to inflate their importance.
Similarly, we humans seem to twist our relationship with God and our relationships with one another into something they are not. And what relationship with God and relationships with each other are not is static, motionless, becalmed.
Relationships are, by definition, active— filled with motion, movement. So, I believe we are called to one thing: not just honesty but honesty with God, who is eternal as we also recognize we are not eternal. And yes— it’s a tall order, that. Amen.
02/16/2014
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 Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Speaking of sports if you have not heard, the film Rocky has been turned into a musical. It is now in previews on Broadway. In an interview the actor playing Rocky said felt vulnerable and battered, much like Rocky, who has to fight continually to go the distance and every day step up to the challenge. Sports metaphors, it turns out, work perfectly for theater, too. But they work for life also, if you think of life as a grueling enterprise fraught with uncertainty, disappointment, rejection and constant reminders of your own fragility, because that is certainly a reality of life. And, of course, that is another way of making the same point. We need to be concerned with the pressures of the temporal without forgetting the eternal.”
BENEDICTION: God heals and restores. God grants to us the grace and the talent to witness to the love God has for us. Let us be ready as we go into the world, for we are baptized in the power of the Spirit. And may the peace of Christ, which surpasses understanding, keep our minds and hearts in the companionship and will of the Holy Spirit, this day and forever more. Amen.
[1] The son of the Director of Music Ministries of the church plays for the Hobart College Basketball team and Bonnie does go to some games.
[2] http://fulleryouthinstitute.org/blog/the-only-six-words-parents-need-to-say-to-their-kids-about-sportsor-any-per
Note: some phrases are shortened for the sake of brevity.
[3] When this passage was introduced, this is what was said: “One word in the translation you are about to hear needs to be explained. It is the Hebrew word Gehenna. However, many translations translate that word as ‘hell.’ At best, that is a poor translation. Jesus is recorded as using Gehenna. This is a place near Jerusalem where followers of various gods sacrificed children in a fire.”
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