A Poem/reflection for VI Epiphany St. Andrew's Church,
Nags Head, N.C.
February 16, 2020 Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy
Soul Observations
Today, we are continuing the journey into what is called by many, “The Sermon On The Mount” as reported by Matthew. Last week, I told you of how Pat and I went to the place in the so-called “Holy Land” where Jesus is supposed to have delivered that Sermon. The whole visit, a month long study in my sabbatical of visiting the places where Jesus walked, was a wonderful experience, a check-off the bucket list, an experience which found its way into sermons, lunches, cocktail party conversations and driving other people into intense boredom. It was my fetish to walk on “Holy Ground” as a tourist, but the true Soul Work is not in places of faraway Real Estate, but in the “Holy Ground” of everyday life.
Most of the Organized Religions focus on outward behavior and following the norms of the community. The word religion comes from the Latin of the act of fastening, to tie together. Religion is what can hold a community together. Many states had the practice of killing people who undermined the religion of the community because that behavior would cast disrespect on the Divine and the subsequent withdrawal of the easily offended God's protection. In Organized Religions the goal is obedience, to follow the dictates of behavior as determined by the leaders of that religious organization who assure us that being a good follower would please the far off Divine deity behind the tenants of that religion. It is about following the rules.
Jesus was not an employee of the organized religion of his time. He doesn't really care if you put a lot of energy into the dictates of religion; but he is especially concerned in moving us from being followers of the rules to being people who understand that their God is not far off up in heaven but right here; here in every breath we take, here in every space between us and our family, friends, neighbors, enemies and creation itself, here in the depths of our very soul.
Matthew, in his remembrance, combines a series of statements that Jesus passed on to his followers about working on their souls. Matthew sets his collection on a “Mount”, because Matthew has a theme of Jesus being the fulfillment of the Law of Moses given on the Mount in Sinai. Luke in his Gospel puts similar instructions on a plain in his emphasis that Jesus is part of everyday life.
Clement of Alexandria tells us that if one really knows oneself, they know God. Jesus in these collections of sayings is telling us to go deeper than just outward behavior. He is leading us into Soul Work, the understanding and illumination of one's deeper self, the land beyond the recitation of laws, and sins. As Thomas Moore in his classic Care of the Soul writes, “ 'Soul' is not a thing, but a quality or a dimension of experiencing life and ourselves.”
Jesus looks at the commandments of Moses and says they are fine as they are, as rules go for obedience's sake, but they do not go deep enough to be part of our very soul where love is the norm. Look at Matthew's remembrance of Jesus' view of adultery. The law is about the wife as a man's, either the father or husband, property and not to be used by others for their own enjoyment without paying for her from the father. It is a fine rule for a male-dominated society and is a clarification, a subset of theft.
Jesus suggests that we go deeper, into the soul's disruption; the disruption where people, other images of God, are seen as disposable and not worthy of respect or commitment to the relationship. In Jesus' view, God does not throw away people, each one is infinitely precious; so precious that truth is sacred, we do not lie to one another. The concern is not about bodies bound together but about souls treating one another with the love that God, who is love, has placed in our very souls.
Love is complex and not always Valentine's day, happily ever after. We live in a world that has its share of darkness and difficulty. Our souls are not immune, and good soul work goes even into the depths of the darkness. Jesus goes there when he says that calling someone a “fool”, or holding on to anger, or allowing an alienation to continue is a sign of a soul flirting with murder. Or looking with lust is a soul's flirtation with adultery, or swearing falsely begins when the integrity of the soul seems not enough.
To do good Soul Work is to daily go deep. Luke remembers Jesus telling the story of the Rich fool who becomes a stranger to his own soul and the souls of his neighbors in need and says: “And I will say to my soul, Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry. But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”
Moore writes, "Even when I say "I know myself", an infinitesimal ego - the Knowing "I" - is still distinct from myself." To do good soul work is to go even, and at times especially, to the dark sides of our soul for healing. Moore writes about when one is depressed, the first thing we do is to try to get rid of it by medicine and behavior to heal the body and mind. However, Moore suggests, “Melancholy gives the soul an opportunity to express a side of its nature that is as valid as any other, but is hidden out of our distaste for its darkness and bitterness.” Jesus, in the Sermon on the Mount, tells us that disruptions in relationships begin in our souls and that is where true healing needs to visit.
In the 18th Century, in the Anglican Church, there was a small group of people who decided to augment the Anglican Religious Services with time spent in prayerful work in small groups. They used a Method, where each meeting would begin with a question by their leader, an Anglican Priest, Charles Wesley; “How is it with your soul?” They would courageously and truthfully share their soul's progress with each other. Gradually the groups grew, but the establishment of the church sneered and called them “Method-ists”. They took the name as a compliment and broke away from the hidebound Church of England forming the Methodist Church. There they became as hidebound as the church they left, leaving daily soul work for the easier work of being a Religious Organization.
In 10 Days we will begin the season of Lent with Ash Wednesday.
Usually we think we should give up something for Lent, but I'm asking that you take on a discipline of having deep and prayerful discussion with your soul. My brothers and sister; “How is it with your soul?”
Soul Observations
He
heard the joke of how dislocating a shoulder
is a result of always patting oneself
on the back.
Realizing that hearing himself
praised wasn't lack
of pride, but deep desire to make him
look bolder.
How he longs for all the people to be
impressed
with his holiness, intelligence and
great sanctity,
so none could ever suspect an
underlying perfidy,
lurking, hiding, great fear of not
being suppressed!
He was so busy wearing a mask to look
perfect,
that he never quite got around to
fully living
into the gift of his soul; only
taking not giving,
instead of a deep spirit, his surface
was slicked.
It's only when he stopped pretending
a perfection,
he's
able to accept forgiveness or a resurrection.
No comments:
Post a Comment