Lent 3, Sunday, March 15, 2009
Exodus 20.1-17
“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”
With our western devotion to liberty and freedom, it is hard to imagine a celebration of the law. Especially for Lutherans, who take great pride in our understanding that God does not value us according to our obedience to the law, but that our relationship with God depends, not on us, but only on God’s mercy and grace, God’s pure gift to us.
So we Lutherans, sometimes too intent on abolishing the law, can learn something from our Jewish neighbors. “Rejoicing in the law” is the theme of a Jewish holy day, Simchat Torah, a holiday which follows Sukkot, in the fall of the year. Simchat Torah is the celebration of the Torah, marking the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle. In a year the entire Torah is read, beginning with Genesis 1 and finishing with Deuteronomy 34. This is a joyous occasion for the Jewish community. The scrolls of the Torah are carried in procession around the synagogue with high-spirited dancing and singing—an exuberant celebration of the gift God has given us in the Torah, the rules by which we live our lives. The law is God’s gift to us because it shows us how to live in harmony with God, with our world and with our neighbors. When we live by these rules, we find we are living in peace and contentment. Without the law we would be miserable, living in chaos.
The ten commandments which we read today, then, are not God’s “gottcha!” God’s rules for living are, rather, a gift. These rules are how God provides for our well-being and happiness.
When I was in Jerusalem, I got to participate in another lively celebration, Shabbat, which happens every Friday at the Western Wall, the only remnant of Solomon’s famed temple. Toward sundown on Friday, children, women and men walk from all over Jerusalem, entering the gates of the Old City and making their way to the Wall, whe
re they dance and sing and celebrate the beginning of the Sabbath, another of God’s gifts to them—a time for rest and relaxation—a time set by God in the these commandments we read today. Friday evening Shabbat is a time for bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvah parties and for family gatherings, a time for Jewish pilgrims to the holy city to pay their respects and make their prayers at the Wall. A time for the joyous gathering of the community. Women gather in circles, singing traditional Jewish songs and dancing. The men do the same. It is a festive time as the shopkeepers close up and the city quietens for the night. It is a brief time of joy and harmony and peace, in a city that is sometimes more known for conflict than peace. The photo shows prayers, written on small pieces of paper and left in the cracks of the Western Wall, the remnant of Solomon's Temple.
Central to the Jewish faith is the understanding that God’s laws are for our benefit and happiness, a gift to us because of God’s great love for us. Earlier that Friday, just before the beginning of the Sabbath, I had walked the streets with the Franciscans on their weekly Stations of the Cross, a Friday ritual commemorating Jesus’ walk through Jerusalem’s streets carrying the cross, on his way to death. Jerusalem is an amazing city, with room enough for three great religions and a multitude of peoples, all of us descendants of Abraham. May we live to honor God’s city and God’s gifts to us.
O God, you desire only what is best for your creation. You give us beautiful gifts of time, your creation and one another. Help us to honor your laws, your gift to us for our happiness, so that, obedient to your laws, we may live lives of peace and find our true freedom. Amen.
Exodus 20.1-17
“Remember the Sabbath day, and keep it holy.”
With our western devotion to liberty and freedom, it is hard to imagine a celebration of the law. Especially for Lutherans, who take great pride in our understanding that God does not value us according to our obedience to the law, but that our relationship with God depends, not on us, but only on God’s mercy and grace, God’s pure gift to us.
So we Lutherans, sometimes too intent on abolishing the law, can learn something from our Jewish neighbors. “Rejoicing in the law” is the theme of a Jewish holy day, Simchat Torah, a holiday which follows Sukkot, in the fall of the year. Simchat Torah is the celebration of the Torah, marking the completion of the annual cycle of Torah readings and the beginning of the new cycle. In a year the entire Torah is read, beginning with Genesis 1 and finishing with Deuteronomy 34. This is a joyous occasion for the Jewish community. The scrolls of the Torah are carried in procession around the synagogue with high-spirited dancing and singing—an exuberant celebration of the gift God has given us in the Torah, the rules by which we live our lives. The law is God’s gift to us because it shows us how to live in harmony with God, with our world and with our neighbors. When we live by these rules, we find we are living in peace and contentment. Without the law we would be miserable, living in chaos.
The ten commandments which we read today, then, are not God’s “gottcha!” God’s rules for living are, rather, a gift. These rules are how God provides for our well-being and happiness.
When I was in Jerusalem, I got to participate in another lively celebration, Shabbat, which happens every Friday at the Western Wall, the only remnant of Solomon’s famed temple. Toward sundown on Friday, children, women and men walk from all over Jerusalem, entering the gates of the Old City and making their way to the Wall, whe
re they dance and sing and celebrate the beginning of the Sabbath, another of God’s gifts to them—a time for rest and relaxation—a time set by God in the these commandments we read today. Friday evening Shabbat is a time for bar-mitzvah and bat-mitzvah parties and for family gatherings, a time for Jewish pilgrims to the holy city to pay their respects and make their prayers at the Wall. A time for the joyous gathering of the community. Women gather in circles, singing traditional Jewish songs and dancing. The men do the same. It is a festive time as the shopkeepers close up and the city quietens for the night. It is a brief time of joy and harmony and peace, in a city that is sometimes more known for conflict than peace. The photo shows prayers, written on small pieces of paper and left in the cracks of the Western Wall, the remnant of Solomon's Temple.Central to the Jewish faith is the understanding that God’s laws are for our benefit and happiness, a gift to us because of God’s great love for us. Earlier that Friday, just before the beginning of the Sabbath, I had walked the streets with the Franciscans on their weekly Stations of the Cross, a Friday ritual commemorating Jesus’ walk through Jerusalem’s streets carrying the cross, on his way to death. Jerusalem is an amazing city, with room enough for three great religions and a multitude of peoples, all of us descendants of Abraham. May we live to honor God’s city and God’s gifts to us.
O God, you desire only what is best for your creation. You give us beautiful gifts of time, your creation and one another. Help us to honor your laws, your gift to us for our happiness, so that, obedient to your laws, we may live lives of peace and find our true freedom. Amen.
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