September 2, 2012 The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

The Cathedral Church of the Nativity

Sunday September 2, 2012

The Very Rev. Anthony R. Pompa

James 1:17-27, Mark 7:1-8,14-15, 21-23

A wedding. A handshake. A kiss. A coronation. A parade. A dance. A meal. A graduation. A ritual is the ceremonial acting out of the profane in order to show forth its sacredness. A sacrament is the breaking through of the sacred into the profane.

A sacrament is God offering his holiness to us. A ritual is our raising up the holiness of our humanity to God.

I have oft used this quote from Fred Buechner at weddings or even funerals when I am aware the listeners gathered may be from different religious traditions or as may be the case moreso today, especially at weddings, when those in the assembly may have little experience with religious practices. I do so as an introduction to point to the importance of the rituals we take part in, the purpose of them,  the heart of them.

I do so, especially at weddings to remind all of us gathered that the point of the beauty of the rituals say of “dressing in beauty” or “processing to a public and visible place to consent to a joining” or  “repeating beautiful and profound words of promise to a new creation of marriage defined by covenant” or “joining hands bound symbolically by a stole, the yoke of Christ” or “by humbly kneeling before the altar to have this new creation blessed”  or triumphally, joyfully, and with dignity processing out of the Church and into the world” The point, the heart of the meaning of such ritual is to bring us into the full awareness that what we are about is “holiness”. It is not the pageantry of the symbolic acts that lead to a beautiful photo opportunity, or even the beauty of the words themselves, but what they point to and invoke in us.  Buchner so beautifully says it, to lift the holiness of our humanity to God and have it met by God’s holy offering for our lives!

The ritual pointing to the “mindfulness”  and “heartfulness” and “soulfulness” is what is at play in today’s Scriptures, especially in James and in the Gospel according to Mark.  

In the gospel reading today, Jesus again takes on the religious establishment. The engagement today is about ritual. In this interaction we are reminded of the ritual practices of the priestly establishment ironically enough concerned with a “holiness code”. The establishment are concerned it seems with Jesus’ disciples who are clearly not as concerned as they in keeping the purity rituals, in their minds, the rituals of holiness. Jesus seizes the moment as he often does to bring the audience into the “mindfulness of the heart of the matter.  On this occasion Jesus is asking the people to think of what holiness is discovered in the ritual? – Does the heart of their ritual reveal a holiness found in cleanliness or does their ritual of eating make them mindful that there are those who are hungry who need be fed?  Is compassion brought into mindfulness and action in this ritual?

Jesus reminds those who will listen that it is easy to lose sight of the heart of the matter and become lost from being in mindfulness of ritual for Godly things. It is the state of a holy heart that matters and what is borne from that holy hearts can be fruit of good works, as St. James would have it, or many opportunities for things that defile as Jesus would list them.

  It is not what goes into your body that will defile you or make you holy, and it is certainly not going to matter how meticulously you follow a ritual to “make these things clean” but rather what matters is an awareness of the heart of God that lifts our humanity to holiness and calls us out to live with integrity, compassion, dignity and with respect for all of God’s creation.

What matters to us? What begs us to raise our holiness to God in our rituals and seeks to be met by God’s holiness for us? What is the heart of the matter for us when it comes to bearing fruit reflective of our mindfulness, heartfulness, soulfulness of God’s promise for our lives?

For St. James, like Jesus’, it must go beyond just the ritualistic words of our faith, the words we say and receive is not the heart of the matter, but what is borne from our holiness matters, that is holy lives in activity of “holy living”, “holy acting”.  “Be doers of the word, not just receivers who deceive themselves”, James implores us.

Consider these holy words, taken from an old collection of prayers, produced in 1937 Forward Movement for personal devotion.  Pray this prayer mindful of St. James invitation to be doers of the Word, and Jesus call to the crowd to be mindful of what is in your heart.

Send us, O god, as thy messengers, to hearts without a home, to lives without love, to the crowds without a guide. Send us to the children whom none have blessed, to the famished whom none have visited, to the fallen whom none have lifted, to the bereaved whom none have comforted. Kindle thy flame on the altars of our hearts, that others may be warmed thereby; cause thy light to shine in our souls, that others may see the way; keep our sympathies and insight ready, our wills keen, our hands quick to help our neighbors in their need; for Christ’s sake. Amen.