Esther 7:1-6, 9-10; 9:20-22 Psalm 124
James 4:7-12 Mark 9:38-43,45,47-48
Holy Scriptures were generated within communities and for communities and within them are contained in various methods of conveyance, recommendations for best community practices. In the diverse readings which we are presented on each Sunday from the lectionary, one can find a diverse mosaic of good community practices which have derived from the experiences of the people who generated the biblical texts. We have a range of these good practices found in our readings for today.
The book of Esther implies the wonderful deliverance by God for a people in exile without mention of the name of God in the entire story, yet the Esther story resulted in the establishment of the Purim feast. And how is the Purim feast observed? By two days of thanksgiving for timely rescue from serious harm with the practice of sharing gifts of food with each other, but also with presents for the poor. Purim as a feast of thanksgiving for wonderful rescue involves giving presents to the poor, for their timely rescue. Celebrating thanksgiving for having been helped by helping the poor is the recommended best practice of enlightened community living.
And if the book of Esther does not mention the name of God, certainly the Psalmist does. The Psalms often are songs of confession and thanksgiving for having escaped harm in the wonderful event of being rescued from dire straits. Beyond attributing rescue and salvation to people and events that we can see, there is also a grander "whyness" to salvation events. Something much greater was working in the events of our rescue, indeed it had to be an event of grace that has come from the loving and strong hands of the one who resides over all probabilities. Phew! We've been saved and we dare not commit the pride of saying that we deserved it or that we effected it completely on our own. The community of the Psalmist believed that liturgy exists to express our humble reality in face of greater forces which are always at work, and when we experience the event of grace, we give credit to where it is due. It is good community practice to celebrate the greatness of God.
What is another good community practice? It is to practice the community psychology of health. The community of the writer of James practiced rituals of healing. The rites of the Prayer for Sick are not for guaranteeing the immediate physical cure of anyone; rather, that we have rites of the Prayer for Sick are already evidence of the healthy loving community practicing care for each other. Along with the anointing oils and prayers for the sick, goes the support practices, like in our time, taking care of children, fixing meals for the sick and their families, and providing all of the things that cannot be done by the person who is sick. Health is more than an instant cure; health is a person within loving relationship within a community. Community health practice is a very significant placebo; we not sure how and why it works, it just does. At one time when I worked as an orderly at a VA hospital, I noted on a regular basis that the patients who had caring, visiting, and praying family and friends, had shorter hospital stays than the patients who had no community at all. Community health practices are recommended behaviors for good community.
The community of the writer of James also believed that it was important to reconcile community members who had alienated themselves from the community by violating the important values of the community. The message: Don't give up on anyone. Continue to believe the reconciling love of Christ to be winsome in their restoration to the fellowship.
The writer of the Gospel of Mark had some good community advice as he channeled them through the witness of words of Jesus, the Risen Christ leader of the Movement. A good piece of advice: Don't make goodness into a presumed petty possession of your religious or political group or party. Goodness is goodness. If a person becomes healthy at a hospital different from the one you work at, be thankful and rejoice. Don't be jealous when realizing that none of us has exclusive copyright on goodness. Rejoice in goodness, health, and salvation however it may happen. And don't overestimate one's own importance in the gift of goodness which is always available to everyone.
Another good community practice is also presented in our reading from Mark's Gospel. Stated bluntly, "Don't be hypocrites!" Why do many say they don't go to church? Because the church people they have known are hypocrites. If members of the community drive people away because of their offensive behaviors they contradict the entire mission of Jesus Christ. How do we deal with hypocritical behaviors? By fasting from them. We have the exaggerated words of Jesus to illustrate fasting from offending behaviors. Cut off your hand and foot and tear out your eye. This is a very expressive way of saying until you learn to use your gifts in winsome ways, it is better that you fast from the use of them at all. The first step in retraining of our human gifts is fasting from doing what is wrong, and then being retrained to do the good which does not offend and keep people from the love of God in Christ.
The final advice for good community practice in the Gospel of Mark's Christly advice is to find the salt of life for healing. Saline is used for cleansing and healing. We are ever in need of salty cleansing from our bad practices. That cleansing is needed so that we can perform healthful behaviors in exemplifying the love of Christ to each other and to our world.
May God give us wisdom to find the salt of the Holy Spirit to cleanse our lives, so that we may healthy to practice the winsomeness of the love and grace of Jesus Christ. Amen.
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