13th Sunday after Pentecost--Proper 16B

13th Sunday after Pentecost--Proper 16B August 26, 2012 Someone once wrote, “[most of the time,] we prefer religion to God.” In the Old Testament reading for today, we see a defining moment in the Jewish religion: Solomon has constructed the temple in Jerusalem, and the ark of the covenant, which contains the 10 tablets upon which are written the 10 Commandments, is being brought into the new temple and placed in its position of high honor. In this part of the story, we are witnessing the transformation of Judaism and the people of Israel from being a tent people into being a temple people. Tent people are people who are wandering, people who are searching, people who, because of their very uncertain circumstances, are forced to rely upon the promises of God. They are homeless and rootless and longing for that place of belonging; they are uncertain of their future; and their relationship with God is tangible in a covenant that is represented by 2 tablets with 10 commandments written upon them that literally lead them through the wilderness. Not to mention the fact that tents are not comfortable places in which to dwell for long periods of time. Temple people are people who have finally arrived. They are established. They are no longer homeless, rootless, and longing and may be eager to shed that former identity. They are established; they have a beautiful building with all the fancy trappings to show for it, and they are much more secure. The heart of their relationship with God is still the covenant that is represented by 2 tablets with 10 commandments, but now they have a fancy place to keep it, which can, at times, overshadow the straight-forwardness of the covenant: that they will be God’s and God will be theirs. Over the course of time, Israel began to add more and more trappings to its temple, to its worship, to its common life. And there are times in their history, in our history, when it is true that they preferred religion over God. This is precisely what Jesus is critiquing in his life and ministry, and we see this at work in the gospel reading for today. Jesus is inviting all his followers to make their home in him and for them to let him make his home in them: abide in me and I will abide in you. But some are offended by his graphic images of belonging; eating and drinking the flesh of others were what pagans did. This was radical and unfit talk for faithful Jews at that time. And so some of his followers leave him. I imagine that they go back to the temple, and pick up where they left off there. In that moment, they choose religion over God. In a moment of sheer poignancy, Jesus asks the remaining 12, “are you also going to leave me?” and Peter answers, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” In that moment, the 12 are bound together by their willingness to follow Jesus. They are bound together in their return to being tent people, those who wander because they have already found their home and they choose to move with, to follow him. I imagine that the 12 may not have had much in common before that. Perhaps they found it difficult to find things to make small talk about, but in that one defining choice, the choice not to leave but to continue to follow Jesus when others have left, they are bound together in their common homing in ways that go beyond any superficial commonalities. We in this parish know what it is like to be both temple people and tent people. And we have strains of both in our DNA, in our history, and in our practice. I know many of you who gathered together the Sunday after August 29 in the shell of this building or in Jones Park have truly lived what it means to be tent people. And it’s ok to not ever want to go back to that feeling of loss and homelessness, as long as we can remember the gifts that type of relationship with God has to offer us which is a keen awareness that we are in God and God is in us, and that God is the only thing between us and the abyss of lostness and chaos. Always we must ask ourselves in our lives, in our faith, in our church, if we are choosing religion over God, because that is one of the temptations of being a temple people. The writer of this statement goes on to talk about what that looks like in the life of the church. She writes, “[Most of the time,] we prefer religion to God. We, like the disciples, are offended by Jesus’ offer of spirit and life. We feel good about serving in the soup kitchen, but we refuse to forgive our pew mate for his addiction. We feel righteous when we teach Sunday school, but we are annoyed by the coos of the baby in worship. We make religion about the rules because we can control the rules. We can amend books of order, we can use Scripture to oppress, we can punish the rule breakers—much easier than compassion and forgiveness.”i It is true that it is much easier to choose religion over God. And yet, we are mindful, this day, of Jesus’s question to us as we stand at a crossroads between choosing what is easier, what is more self-serving, and what is of God, what is of the demands of loving God and loving others; we are mindful of Jesus’s question to his 12: Are you also going to leave me? And we can speak with Peter’s voice: “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life.” May God give us the courage this day and everyday, to choose God over religion, that we may make our home in God by loving, forgiving, and offering compassion to others. Such is the way of eternal life. Such is our home. i.Feasting on the Word. Ed. David Bartlett and Barbara Brown Taylor. Year B. Vol 3. Westminster: 2009. Proper 16. John 6:56-69. Pastoral Perspective by Amy C. Howe. p. 384