ACTING FROM THE INSIDE-OUT
Mark 7:1-8,14-15, 21-23
When I was a working as a youth worker and lay-assistant in a cathedral parish, Spencer Elliott, a well known preacher in those days, was the priest in charge of the parish while the Rector was on a sabbatical. One Wednesday morning, we were going to a 10 am service of Holy Communion, and Spencer asked why I had missed breakfast that morning. I said that I liked to keep the tradition of fasting before communion. He remarked, “It is good to keep that tradition as long as you don’t turn into an insufferable bear because you haven’t eaten”. I had to admit that I was beginning to growl at the time and it wasn’t just my stomach that was growling.
I’m sure that you know of some clergy whose actions are all in accordance to the best traditions of the church. They do all things well liturgically. They keep all the rubrics in the Prayer Book. Outwardly they are model of efficiency. However, in dealing with people they are unbearable and intolerable. We can be people with good habits but without a good heart.
I was interested in a piece written on Sermons.com this week:
Rev. David Chadwell posed a rather interesting question: Which would you prefer for a next-door neighbor: a person of excellent habits or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a good friend: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a husband or a wife: a person of excellent habits, or a person with a good heart? Which would you prefer for a child: a child with excellent habits, or a child with a good heart?
I ‘m sure that you have experienced neighbours, friends, husbands and wives and children with excellent habits but would find it difficult to see them as preferable to having a good heart.
Also, I sure that you have also experienced congregations who have wonderful buildings with gorgeous sanctuaries and have magnificent services that include great music. Everything is done decently and in order. Everything on the outside seems beautiful but inwardly the congregation may be ugly with conflict. They will even say that they are a friendly congregation but in reality they are a cold and unfriendly people. The view on the outside is not always indicative of what is on the inside.
We like to keep all the traditions and practices of a religious life and I am certainly not saying that it is wrong to do so. These practices can be quite helpful to us but when it comes right down to it, there are spiritual values that take precedence over those outward things if we are to be in any way Christ-like. Our spirituality does not consist solely on keeping outward traditions and practices. The spiritual values such as love, kindness, tolerance, forgiveness, and the like, come from within. The heart of the matter is always a matter of the heart.
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In the Gospel today the Scribes and the Pharisees were concerned about keeping the rules and doing things right but were unconcerned about what love demanded of them. Jesus chides them with words from Isaiah:
This people honors me with their lips
but their hearts are far from me;
Real change is an inside job. I think this is why the psalmist cries “Create in me a new heart, O God, and put a new and right spirit within me.” (Psalm 51:10) NRSV , Or Paul says “Fix your attention on God. You’ll be changed from the inside out (Romans 12:2 in The Message).
There is a constant need in our lives for nurturing the inner person. It doesn’t come automatically from doing religious things. It is not change from the outside-in but from the inside-out. I believe that it comes, first of all from turning our hearts and will over to the care of the God of Love, then continuing in the relationship of Love. I think that it is in nurturing this relationship that our attitude toward situations and people change. It leads to acting not just in self interest but for the benefit of others. It can be a slow transformation but ultimately we experience an inner peace that does not come and go but remains with us constantly no matter what the outer circumstances of our lives might be
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It is interesting to me that the Dalai Lama talks about this inner peace as the source of happiness in his book Ancient Wisdom, Modern World. He talks of a need for a spiritual revolution apart from any particular religious system but on based on the qualities of the human spirit – such as love, compassion, patience, tolerance, forgiveness, contentment, a sense of responsibility, a sense of harmony- which brings happiness to both self and others. He says that we are all looking for happiness but we often think that happiness is found in gathering more and more material things around us, even though we may gain these things without respect or concern for other people. It may be purely self-indulgent. We may even think of happiness as indulging in our senses, but as one ancient writer has remarked, “Indulging in our senses and drinking salt water are alike; the more we partake, the more our desire and thirst grow”. The Dalai Lama says:
According to my experience, the principal characteristic of genuine happiness is peace: inner peace. By this I do not mean some kind of feeling of being ‘spaced out’. Nor am I speaking of an absence of feeling. On the contrary, the peace I am describing is rooted in concern for others and involves a high degree of sensitivity and feeling, although I cannot claim personally to have succeeded very far in this. Rather, I attribute my sense of peace to the effort to develop concern for others
(Dalai Lama Ancient Wisdom, Modern World , 1999, reprinted in paperback by Abacus, UK, 2006 p.55)He goes on to say that this inner peace comes first from a change of attitude. Quoting Indian scholar-saint, Shantideva he says
“while we have no hope of finding enough leather to cover the earth so that we never prick our feet on a thorn, actually we do not need to. Enough to cover the soles of our feet is enough.” While we can not always change our external situation to suit us, we can change our attitude. (ibid p.60)
Secondly, the peace of mind comes from spiritual activity:
” that is those qualities of love, compassion, patience , forgiveness, humility, tolerance and so on which presume some level of concern for others well being. We find that the {spiritual) actions we undertake which are motivated not by narrow self-interest but out of our concern for others actually benefit ourselves. And not only that but they make our lives meaningful.” (ibid p.62-63)
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That’s why I love that passage on Choice by Max Lucado in When God Whispers your Name. It is written from the perspective of our Christian faith but has those same characteristics needed for true peace of mind. He chooses his attitude toward the circumstances of the day. He also chooses to act according to the fruit of the Spirit found in Galatians 5. I know that I have presented it before in sermons but at this moment it seems to fit:
It’s QUIET. It’s early. My coffee is hot. The sky is still black. The world is still asleep. The day is coming. In a few moments the day will arrive. It will roar down the track with the rising of the sun. The stillness of the dawn will be exchanged for the noise of the day. The calm of solitude will be replaced by the pounding pace of the human race. The refuge of the early morning will be invaded by decisions to be made and deadlines to be met. For the next twelve hours I will be exposed to the day’s demands. It is now that I must make a choice. Because of Calvary, I’m free to choose. And so I choose.
I choose love …
No occasion justifies hatred; no injustice warrants bitterness. I choose love. Today I will love God and what God loves.
I choose joy …
I will invite my God to be the God of circumstance. I will refuse the temptation to be cynical … the tool of the lazy thinker. I will refuse to see people as anything less than human beings, created by God. I will refuse to see any problem as anything less than an opportunity to see God.
I choose peace …
I will live forgiven. I will forgive so that I may live.
I choose patience …
I will overlook the inconveniences of the world. Instead of cursing the one who takes my place, I’ll invite him to do so. Rather than complain that the wait is too long, I will thank God for a moment to pray. Instead of clinching my fist at new assignments, I will face them with joy and courage.
I choose kindness …
I will be kind to the poor, for they are alone. Kind to the rich, for they are afraid. And kind to the unkind, for such is how God has treated me.
I choose goodness …
I will go without a dollar before I take a dishonest one. I will be overlooked before I will boast. I will confess before I will accuse. I choose goodness.
I choose faithfulness …
Today I will keep my promises. My debtors will not regret their trust. My associates will not question my word. My wife will not question my love. And my children will never fear that their father will not come home.
I choose gentleness …
Nothing is won by force. I choose to be gentle. If I raise my voice may it be only in praise. If I clench my fist, may it be only in prayer. If I make a demand, may it be only of myself.
I choose self-control …
I am a spiritual being. After this body is dead, my spirit will soar. I refuse to let what will rot, rule the eternal.
I choose self-control…
I will be drunk only by joy. I will be impassioned only by my faith. I will be influenced only by God. I will be taught only by Christ. I choose self-control.
Love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. To these I commit my day. If I succeed, I will give thanks. If I fail, I will seek his grace. And then, when this day is done, I will place my head on my pillow and rest.
(Max Lucado in When God Whispers your Name, Word Publishing , US, 1994 p.73-75)
Now I think that is acting from the inside out! If I were to practice this regularly, it might even keep me from growling like an insufferable bear.
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