The Sacred and the Secular

Is there a line between what is sacred and what is secular? I learned as a child in absolute terms that there was a firm, hard line between what is sacred, and all that other stuff that isn't sacred.

This line showed up in the way I was taught to keep our sacred books apart, and never stack other books on top of them.

This line showed up in the way we kept a copy of our most sacred book---a particular version of the Bible which we called "The Word"---on a special elevated stand in a point of prominence in our home.

This line showed up in the way our family held "family worship" every week-night---a time devoted to God and sacred scripture and sacred songs---during which laughter was not welcome, nor was fidgeting.

I can remember the deep shame of being sent to my room for giggling, and another time for trying too persistently to straighten my sock.  Nothing interrupted family worship; not favorite television shows, not phone calls, not social engagements (how dare the hosts schedule an event during "family worship time," a time which my parents wanted added to the community social calendar).

It was taught in the very way my community lived set apart. I grew up in an intentional Christian community that saw itself as more important and more worthy than regular society ("the world") by virtue of us "having" the truest sacred scripture and understanding of it than any other group, and because the community was devoted to raising its children in the teachings through its dedicated religious schools.

I learned that the best answer to "what would be the one thing you would grab to save if the house was on fire?" was "The Word". Since we all had our own copies of the Word in our bedrooms, if the house did burn down, we would be standing outside with seven identical copies of this sacred book, while photos, pets, heirlooms, art, sentimental or uniquely meaningful possessions and all other books went up in flames.

I have to laugh at the notion now, even as I have a somewhat tender empathy for the earnest sincerity of my parents, (and I also better understand the psychological underpinnings of the personality types that are drawn to this sort of absolutism). Such earnestness is not even remotely pragmatic. We would have had no food or blankets or tools or communication devices. But we would have proved to the Divine that we valued the Word above all things!

I wonder sometimes if the resilience and *cough* "wisdom" (perspective?) I seem to have today would be available to me given a different upbringing. I can never know who or what I would have been had I not been raised the way I was. I only know that while I absolutely value "the sacred", I refuse to tell someone else what that should be sacred for them.  The sense of being near something sacred is personal and unpredictable, (and guided by a being much bigger and better than myself.)

Having been raised with a "great gulf fixed between" (Luke 16:26) the sacred and the secular, much of my adult attention has included exploring that boundary.

And my conclusion is that there is no real boundary. I believe that the boundary is a human construction necessary for the development of a moral compass. It is necessary for our ability to make choices about what we value and support and what we do not.  And those values are variable depending on our personality, our nervous system, our culture, and our community.

While I believe that there is absolutely a difference between good and evil, I believe that how humans sort that difference into moral values is variable, (and a constant source of fear and tension).  I don't think humans are great arbiters of whose perspective is "right" nor how our varying perspectives ought to shape our society.

An example: "The Life of Brian" was one of the top favourite movies among my seminary peers and professors. Surprised? As thinking, living, questioning, and intelligent students of the sacred and secular, we all appreciated the questions it asks and the silliness of our human tendency to draw nonsensical boundaries and call them religious. "The Life of Brian" is just one more form of art pointing to what has always been true: humans tend to take natural things and set them up as sacred, and then get upset when someone else doesn't respect our sacred thing.

"We shall be people of the gourd!" "No! We shall be people of the shoe!" shows a first division in "believers" who aren't even listening to the original speaker.  Humans make meaning from all sorts of things, and move quickly into fighting about who is right.

When it came out in 1979, I deliberately refused to see "The Life of Brian".  The person I was back then would have been upset deeply by it.  My family culture with its absolutist view of the sacred and secular had shaped me to be incapable of comprehending the movie's message. I would only have seen it as an assault on the MOST IMPORTANT AND SACRED, and been unable to see the nuance, humor, intelligence or indeed, the RESPECT of the questions being asked. I didn't see it as an invitation to explore human rigidity around the sacred and secular. I just saw someone spray-painting indecencies on a creche set.

While there was something beautiful in how reverently I was taught to treat certain objects and spaces and practices as a child, there would be something missing if I never grew beyond that original simplistic spirituality to understand that those precious things "stand for" spiritual things and are not sacred in themselves.

As a rule, we humans can't help but see churches as sacred places. We can't help but see certain objects or people as "set apart" and innately holy.

But it is also very important (in my estimation) never to forget that the Divine is not MORE present some places than others. The Divine is not more able to hear us or help us or be present with us due to certain people or objects being near, or due to our location on the planet. What part of Omnipotent, and Omnipresent do we not understand?

It is our feeling and thinking that affect whether we feel or believe that a thing or person or place is more sacred or not. God is everywhere always. It is our choice to treat certain people, places and things as more sacred or not. The Divine is within everything that exists, aware and wise, listening and caring.

All of the rules and religions and boundaries and categories have been created on the human, mortal side of the tennis fence. We make them. We need them. And we use them for harm as well as good.

Today I invite us all to pay attention to where we draw our boundaries. I am inviting curiosity and mindfulness and intentionality about our boundaries. I want increasingly to understand why I say yes to some things and no to others. I want to understand that in my living, where the rubber hits the road, nothing is cut and dried (too many cliches?); that judging others for being different does not help peace on earth. Listening and making space helps peace on earth. (And saying clear "NO"s as necessary are part of this process too.)

Peace on earth is sacred to me. Peace on earth is complicated and seemingly impossible. But whether we get there through sacred meaning-making or secular boundary-drawing, may we get there. May we fight less about what we see differently, sacred or secular. The God I believe in doesn't care what name we use, or whether we believe, or what is or isn't sacred in our individual lives; the Divine One I follow wants us to treat each other well. Period. Fighting over what is or isn't sacred is just another distraction.

End pontification! Now go love yourself some neighbors!

Keeping the Sabbath Holy - a sermon

“Keeping the Sabbath Holy In 2014”

Rev. Alison Longstaff

Jan 19, 2014

Bath Church of the New Jerusalem

Exodus 31: 12-18; Mark 2:23-3:4; AC 10730

                                                                                                           

            In 2007, I had the privilege of travelling to the Holy Land with a group from my seminary.  We had a layover in London. It turns out that this next flight was very full, due to delays affecting many other travelers.  We were put on one of those planes with two aisles and nine seats across, which carries over 300 people, to accommodate all the volume. And as this was a flight to Tel-Aviv, many of our fellow passengers were observant Jews.

          

  We all got seated, and we taxied for a long time.  We taxied for so long that when we finally came to a stop, the fellow next to me jerked awake, thinking we had already landed in Tel-Aviv.  No such luck.  Instead, we sat idle in a long line-up of planes waiting for take-off.  This was Heathrow after all.  We were in for a wait. 

            Finally, the captain’s voice came on the speaker, to announce ... that there was a mix-up with the baggage and we had to taxi all the way back to the gate to offload one stray piece of luggage. 

         A groan passed around the cabin, and cell phones popped out as folks called to warn relatives.  Our delay was of particular concern to the many observant Jews aboard.  You see, it was Friday afternoon, and the minutes were ticking away to the official start of their Sabbath, which began at sunset.

             It turned out that if we were delayed much longer, all the observant Jews would have to get off the plane right there at Heathrow, so that they could observe their Sabbath.  They would not ride in a plane, even if someone else was flying it.  They needed to arrive in Tel Aviv well before the start of the Sabbath, as they would be forbidden to walk more than a mile nor to accept a ride to their various destinations once the Sabbath started.  Complicating things further, if they did all deplane in Heathrow, all of their luggage would have to be found and removed due to security laws, before the rest of us could get on our way.  What a nuisance!

The captain was made aware of the dilemma, and he must have pulled some strings.  The stray luggage was removed double-time without our taxiing back to the gate. Our flight was bumped to the head of the line for take-off, and the pilot “stepped on the gas” to get us to Tel-Aviv about a half hour before the start of the Sabbath.  Our fellow passengers scattered.

            I tell you, that was the quietest, emptiest airport I had ever seen.

I was more impressed by this experience than I would have expected.  It was touching to observe these people’s willingness to be massively inconvenienced so as to honour their understanding of God’s laws.  It was something to see how “the whole world” was, in a sense, inconvenienced by this one group’s devotion. 

            I was impressed, not just by the integrity of the devotion of these conservative Jews, but also by the way the airline scrambled to accommodate their need. I also felt deeply grateful to be Swedenborgian, which lets us view the text of the Bible spiritually, not literally, and frees us from such logistical nightmares.

            But it did make me reflect. What does it mean to “keep the Sabbath Holy” when one is a Swedenborgian?  Should we be so strict?  Certainly today’s modern life often makes shift work, homework assignments, long drives, and a host of other obligations and activities  land on Sundays, whether we like it or not.  Should we refuse work shifts, not shop, not run errands, and not drive anywhere on our Sabbath?  Are we observant enough?

In our text from Mark, Jesus was careful to warn us against such literalistic thinking.  Jesus urges us to live by the spirit of the holy texts rather than the literalistic laws. He implies that we must keep the Sabbath Holy in spirit first, then choose how we wish to honour it physically and materially. 

            So, how do we keep the Sabbath in spirit?  Reading in Swedenborg, we find words of beauty, hope and promise, as he describes the true meaning of the Sabbath.  The Sabbath means “rest” and “peace,” because it corresponds to the time when all our spiritual battles will be won.  The Sabbath describes the Lord’s state when He finally united His Human fully with His Divine, which is what we celebrate on Easter morning.  It therefore also represents the time when we will be conjoined with the Lord and heaven in our hearts---when our work of regeneration is finally “done.”

How far away does that feel?  Life on earth is pretty full of struggles, misunderstandings, broken relationships, and widespread injustices.  This state of inner connection with heaven can seem like it is a long way off.  Nevertheless, the Lord does give us periodic glimpses of heavenly peace, in moments of tenderness in relationships, in hearing human stories of hope and redemption, and in witnessing acts of pure creative joy.  Eventually, as we do the work of regeneration, we will experience such states of inner gratitude and hope and joy more fully and more deeply.  And this is one way heaven comes to earth.

            Swedenborg tells us that to the extent that we do the work of regeneration, we will be granted this internal Sabbath rest.  Not only will we experience it, we will become it, for everyone, so far as he or she advances toward heaven is called “a Sabbath to the Lord.”  (Heavenly Secrets # 85)  Imagine being so filled with hope and peacefulness that it spreads to those around us.  I know I have met people like that.  I know I would like to be one of those people some day.

            In contrast to this vision of heavenly peace are the Old Testament warnings against ignoring the Sabbath.  They can be unnerving to read.  “Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people…[and] put to death.” 

          Yikes.  That’s pretty harsh.  Can you imagine if we went around having to kill everyone who did work on Sundays? It would sure solve the overpopulation problem!  And you’d have to kill me, because I definitely work on Sundays.

Despite the external harshness, mercy lies in the internal meaning of these laws.  

            In the internal meaning, keeping the Sabbath “Holy” is describing our need to remember that all good and truth come from the Lord.  “Profaning the Sabbath day” is describing the times when we are lead by our fears and our neediness, not by trust in the Lord.  When we have forgotten that the Lord is in charge, we succumb to the illusion that WE are the source of our wisdom and strength---that we do everything ourselves.  We all think and feel this sometimes.  We can’t help it.  We are born limited and blind.

            To say that someone is “cut off” if he or she profanes the Sabbath isn’t actually describing a punishment; it is a description of what happens.  When we are in a place of forgetting that God is Wise and Good and in charge, then we are in a state of being cut off from

God. We feel alone.  We start struggling to do it all ourselves, usually from fear and emptiness.  We start grabbing for objects or people or accomplishments that we think will fill our needs.  And at those times, we aren’t connected to the reality of God’s love and care.  We have succumbed to the illusion that we can and must fix our emptiness ourselves, through doing more and doing it better, and through getting more things or having the right friends.... So long as we remain trapped in these illusions, we are in a kind of hell.  Believe me, it’s not a great place to visit, and you certainly don’t want to live there.  It is empty and frightening and a place of great struggle.  But falling into that illusion is what we do, and repeatedly falling into that illusion is how we learn about the difference between heaven and hell.    The point isn’t that we

make this mistake, the point is that we are able to return again and again to the Lord, until the peaceful realization that God is in charge becomes permanent.  “Remembering the Sabbath” for you and me today, may mean keeping a firm grip on God’s promise of our regeneration, despite how many times we find ourselves falling into the illusion of our own power and into fear.

            “The Sabbath” is describing a state of constantly remembering God’s loving care.  The Sabbath means being fully good and fully wise, and living from this goodness and wisdom.  The Sabbath is the state we all long for: true peace, true love, and true fulfilment. 

            In our reading in Mark, we heard that “the Jews” were offended when Jesus freed his followers from a literalistic observance of the Sabbath.  Now remember, “Jews” in the story do not mean a specific ethnic group out there.  No.  It is referring to a part of us, a part of you and me that has a certain quality. We are not to judge that part of us, just understand it and be patient with it. In the realm of correspondences the “Jew” is the part of our nature that is deeply earnest and attaches strongly to literalistic interpretations of Scripture.  There is a part of us that wants the observance of the Sabbath to be so concrete. It is so earnest it wants compliance to

be easy and measurable, because then it feels safe.  If God’s holy laws were strictly about measurable physical actions, then we could go to church, and check off “keep the Sabbath,” and feel good. We also would never have to enter the messy realm of examining our feelings and intentions.  We could keep spiritual life external. That’s what the inner “Jew” finds comfortable.  But yet the realm of feelings and intentions is where the true spiritual work lies. 

Of course, if checking off “keep the Sabbath” by sitting in a pew for an hour each week is the best someone can do, then God accepts that.  There is a place for that way of doing “spirituality.”  But that external life of worship is so far from the deep and rich inner spiritual life that God intends for us.  Surely it is better to strive for the peace promised by the true inner Sabbath.

            To keep the Sabbath spiritually we must dare to stray from the safe shores of certainty into the realm of feeling and intention.  The spirit is not an area of such easily cut and dried rules.  We can’t measure if we are keeping the Sabbath “right” when it’s all about our spiritual movement and growth.  Because, in the realm of spirit and heart, it isn’t so much

about being “right” anyway.  Sincerity counts, and humility, intention and compassion count, far more than “rightness.”  It isn’t about being right, it is about being more loving.

            What does keeping the Sabbath look like for you?

            For me, it means to pursue regeneration sincerely.  For me, it means to pursue the Lord’s presence earnestly, and to trust His leading, no matter how remote it can seem sometimes.  It means to trust the process, and keep getting back on the horse no matter how many times I fall off.  I think that keeping the Sabbath Holy means trusting absolutely that no matter how broken you or I may look to ourselves, the Lord promises us wholeness. He promises me.  He promises you.  He promises every one of us.   The minute you or I believe we are too broken to be saved, the illusion has won.  But Hell is never stronger than God.  Never.  I keep the Sabbath Holy when I trust in God’s loving goodness and the promise of regeneration, and I keep trying, no matter what.

            Keeping the Sabbath also involves taking good care of our relationships.  We grow through relationship just as much as through individual work.  We need community, however we find it, despite how attractive the notion of the hermit’s pursuit of spirituality might be.  Much of our spiritual life and work happens in relationship.  Part of the beauty of the Harry Potter series is the message that he could not beat the “dark lord” alone.  He was only able to succeed with the love and support of his friends and the whole community.  This is true for all of us.

            And on the deepest level, remembering the Sabbath means to hold before our eyes the promise of regeneration.  The Lord promises a time of rest for us all—a time when our hearts and our minds will truly be at peace.  This is the true love that we all seek, an internal union of such love and integrity, that we will have no more pain or struggle, and this will be reflected in all our relationships, from our most intimate to our most public.

            This is my charge to you today, whether you make it to church regularly or not, keep the Sabbath Holy in your heart.  If you do this you will be blessed in your work and in your relationships and in your home.  Trust in the Lord, wait patiently for Him, and he will give you your heart’s desires.    Amen. (Psalm 37)

Originally preached August 5^th, 2007, Church of the Good Shepherd, Kitchener

The readings

Exodus 31: 12-18

Then the LORD said to Moses, "Say to the Israelites, 'You must observe my Sabbaths. This will be a sign between me and you for the generations to come, so you may know that I am the LORD, who makes you holy.  Observe the Sabbath, because it is holy to you. Anyone who desecrates it must be put to death; whoever does any work on that day must be cut off from his people.  For six days, work is to be done, but the seventh day is a Sabbath of rest, holy to the LORD. Whoever does any work on the Sabbath day must be put to death.  The Israelites are to observe the Sabbath, celebrating it for the generations to come as a lasting covenant.  It will be a sign between me and the Israelites forever, for in six days the LORD made the heavens and the earth and on the seventh day he abstained from work and rested.' “When the LORD finished speaking to Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, the tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.

Mark 2:23-28 – Mark 3:4

 One Sabbath Jesus was going through the grainfields, and as his disciples walked along, they began to pick some heads of grain.  The Pharisees said to him, "Look, why are they doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?"  He answered, "Have you never read what David did when he and his companions were hungry and in need?  In the days of Abiathar the high priest, he entered the house of God and ate the consecrated bread, which is lawful only for priests to eat. And he also gave some to his companions."  Then he said to them, "The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath.  So the Son of Man is Lord even of the Sabbath."

Mark 3:4 Then Jesus asked them, "Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?" But they remained silent. 

Secrets of Heaven, Emanuel Swedenborg # 10730.  The statement: 'And the seventh day shall be a holy day for you, a Sabbath of rest to Jehovah' is actually referring to the second state in the regeneration or enlightenment process of a person, in other words, when that person is joined to the Lord… In its highest meaning, it is describing the union of the Lord's Human with His Divine.  With humans, first the Lord leads by means of truths or laws, and then the Lord uses those laws to draw the individual into a life of love and integrity, and thus joins the individual to Himself.  ‘The Sabbath' is describing this second state in the regeneration of a person, which is when inner goodness or loving-kindness is now ruling the individual’s decisions and actions, and once they are inwardly ruled by goodness, they are led by the Lord.

[2] Strictly speaking, 'the Sabbath' means rest and peace, because when the Lord united His Human to His Divine He had peace.  Then all the spiritual battles ended, and everything in heaven and hell was restored to order. Therefore, not only did He Himself have peace but it spread to the angels in heaven and the people on earth.  All of creation dwelt in peace and safety. 

[3] It is an all-embracing reality that a person should be joined to the Lord, which is achieved through regeneration.  This alone brings a person inner peace and spiritual security. This is also why among the Israelite nation the Sabbath was the number one illustration of their covenant with Jehovah, that is, of being joined to the Lord….  For a covenant joins together those for whom it is binding.