Oh Poop!

August 30, 2009

Rev. Jan Bodin

              I sat next to a former member of our church on my ride back from the State Fair to Northtown Park and Ride.  We talked about this and that: members he would remember, the former pastor, Fred; what we liked about retirement.  When we got on to the subject of retirement, we both agreed that we were busier now than before retirement.  I mentioned that I hadn’t given enough thought to saying I would preach today.  I’d neglected to consider how busy harvest time is, the Fair, etc.  “Maybe,” I said, “I should just give a sermon on a stick.”

              Then, I remembered the text and decided I would go a different direction.  It just seemed wrong to have my sermon title and then….Well, you get the idea.  Let me get on with it.

              The thing about this Markan text that really excites me is that I heard it in an entirely new way a few weeks ago.  Remember Jesus is asked why his disciples do not wash their hands before they eat?  The implication is that they are breaking with tradition.  I always thought that meant the traditions that one would read in the Holiness Codes of the Old Testament.  But that is not the case.  There is NO law in the Old Testament about washing hands before one eats.  None.  I looked very carefully.  Jesus is being held up to scrutiny for something that does not come from the Torah, but something that comes from social conditioning. 

              I thought about this when I was sitting in a restaurant a couple of weeks ago.  A nice looking couple was seated shortly after Deb and I arrived.  Both of them had on baseball caps.  I was surprised that the man did not take off his hat.  He sat, ordered, and ate with his hat on his head.  Then, I realized that I did not feel surprised that the woman hadn’t taken off her hat.  I was witnessing a social tradition that I had absorbed from childhood – the expectation that the man would only be polite if he removed his hat.

              I pondered this again when I sat in church a few days after that.  For some reason, I looked at the red carpet and thought, “Most churches have red carpet.  Why is that?”  What would happen if we put in blue carpet or orange or purple?  Would we feel disrupted and uncomfortable in worship?  Can’t we just imagine a church splitting over orange carpet in the sanctuary?  I sure can.

              And finally, let me give you one more social conditioning that we have absorbed in our culture.  This one Rick Steves would point out does not exist everywhere in the world: we are uncomfortable when two people of the same gender show any affection towards one another in public.

              Social conditions like these are not enough reason to crucify someone.  They are reasons to be annoyed with someone.  But I think Jesus went beyond these simply annoyances.  I think he frequently disturbed the peace, the status quo, and the imagination of the faithful. 

              So, when I read this Markan text, I realized what Jesus probably said.  He probably said something like, “It isn’t washing your hands before eating that contaminates a person, it’s poop!”  “It’s what comes out of a person!” 

              I can imagine people gasping!  “Ugh, what he said!”  “Did he actually say that!”  “How vulgar!  How nasty!” 

              Such things would never be uttered by our beautiful, blue-eyed, slightly Scandinavian-looking Jesus.  This Jesus never had unshined sandals, or dirty clothes.  His hair was always perfectly coifed and never had a dull luster or split ends.  Surely his hands were gorgeously manicured and his feet never smelled.

              I think that the images we hold in our heads may keep us from developing a deeper relationship with God.  What happens to our connection with God when we consider that Jesus was not concerned about social conventions?  What if he perspired, got dirty, couldn’t get the grass stains out of his tunic?  What would we have left to memorialize in stained glass windows?

              Perhaps we would have the primary message of his life.  Life is not about social conventions.  It is about what comes out of a person’s life.  It can be poopy or it can be wonderful.  It can be embarrassingly petty or it can be magnanimously loving.  It can be self-absorbed and conceited, or other-bent and justice-seeking.

              For what comes out of us can contaminate not only ourselves but others.  What comes out of us can spoil not only our own lives, but the world.  What comes out of us can help bend the arc of justice a little faster, a little broader, a little deeper.

              What comes out of us when we are loving is an awareness of others, of their needs, and of their gifts to our lives.  Jesus knew this.  He reminded his disciples and all who would listen that it was essential to love God and to love others.

              Several years ago, I attended a Methodist church in Wausau, Wisconsin, that had this reminder affixed to the walls of its chancel.  Gold letters about six inches high were glued to the pecan paneling in the foyer.  But one of the letters had lost its adhesion and was apparently sitting in the church office waiting for someone to glue it back in place.  So, on the day that I attended worship, the wall proclaimed, “We should love our neighbors as our elves.”  I commented to the pastor that I thought that was quite imaginative.  The pastor was clearly annoyed with me.  It was too bad.  It was a connection missed between us. 

I’ve wondered all these years later what would happen if we loved our neighbors as our elves – as those who had the potential of working magic in our lives, of bringing goodness and unexpected gifts.  For surely that is what happens when we find the occasions to connect with others.  We are changed.  Sometimes we learn from their flaws, sometimes from their greatness, but always we have the possibility that we can be renewed, that we can grow, that we can move toward our potential as human beings.

So let us agree to not get hung up on social conventions like church carpet colors, or wearing hats, or believing that it will morally damage children if they should witness to men holding hands or two women exchanging a kiss.  These things are silly to be upset about.

Rather let us work hard to see our neighbors as our elves. Let us live our lives so that what comes out of us is always and in all ways the gift of love.  Amen.

Church Office is open to
receive telephone calls:
763-421-3375
Monday-Thursday, 9 a.m.-3 p.m.

The office is closed Fridays and national holidays.

E-mail:1stcongo@pro-ns.net

Fax: 763-421-3093