"Heart, Mind, and Soul”

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. Hilary J. Barrett

Preached at Pleasantville United Church of Christ, October 23, 2011

Matthew 22:34-40 & 1 Thessalonians 2:1-8

“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.  This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

For the past twelve years, I have spent almost every Monday night singing with a small group of women whose voices, when blended together, sound far better than any one of ours do alone. The size of the group has varied slightly over the years – sometimes there are as few as seven of us; other times there are as many as ten.  This season we are eight.  Those of you who sing in the Choir can well appreciate that such a small group doesn’t allow the luxury of missing rehearsal very often.  When you are doing close-harmony work, one voice lost is like one bell lost in a bell choir: it makes a huge difference.

Some of us have been singing together for almost twenty years -- when we were part of another choir together.  We’ve known each other long enough for them to remember when Sam was carried to our concerts on his Daddy’s shoulders.  As is often the case with old friends, we have been through many changes together -- job changes and health changes, the beginning of relationships, the end of relationships, we’ve been through the death of family members, and the growing awareness that as our parents age we have to step up and become grownups in ways we somehow never dreamed we never would – without their guidance and support.

Singing together for so long we frequently get on one another’s nerves and wonder why we bother to dedicate so much of our lives to one another and to this obscure musical endeavor.  And then we remember how, in a world such as ours, relationships that endure over time are precious indeed.  We remember how rich it is to have people in our lives who know what we’ve been through, who know our story, who can be a witness to the things that are most meaningful and the things that are the most difficult to articulate out loud.  We remember how important it is to be in relationship with people who are different from us – people who are deep and passionate and loving – and also who think differently than we do.  Two of the women are Jewish.  Three are Christian.  One considers herself to be “post-Christian,” and two have been so wounded by the Christian Church that they have yet to find a spiritual home in which they feel safe.

“Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  [Jesus] said to [them], “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment.  And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

Most of our rehearsals are at Juliet’s house.  Juliet and her family are devoutly faithful Jews.  Their life is rich and full and centered completely around living out their faith in thought and word and deed.  And so, two weeks ago, as we were there for rehearsal, we saw the preparations they had begun for the Jewish holiday calledSukkot.

The festival of Sukkot lasts seven days.  Those who observe it build and live in a sukkah (which means ‘covering’ or ‘shelter’).  These huts are constructed as temporary shelters.  The roof is made of branches which are laid across the beams in such a fashion as to let in the light of the stars. Inside, the hut is decorated with fruits and vegetables and other colorful items.  During Sukkot, families eat their meals in the huts, under the evening sky and depending on the weather; some even sleep in the sukkah as well.[1]

On one level, Sukkot is an agricultural festival celebrated during the ingathering of the harvest, somewhat like Thanksgiving.  During the harvest, fieldworkers lived in these huts out in the field to make the work of gathering in the crops more efficient.  But Sukkot has another level of meaning – one which has helped it survive modernity: it is also named to remind the Jewish community of the huts that Moses and the Israelites lived in as they wandered the desert for 40 years before they reached the Promised Land.”[2]  It is a festival that focuses upon the Israelites’ time in the wilderness, and it is meant to be a reminder that, ultimately, we all live in temporary shelter; ultimately, we all rely upon the saving grace of God to get us through our wanderings.  Listen to how it is described by one person:

“We celebrate our bounty even while acknowledging that we are not ultimately in charge. Why else would we dwell in a flimsy booth, with a see-through roof, often times in the cold?  We do so to acknowledge that only God can truly provide protection from harm.”[3]

I learn so much from the women I sing with. 

This week, Juliet sent us an e-mail to share some of the experiences she has been having during her family’s observance of Sukkot. I want to share some of that e-mail with you all now:

Tonight, our sukkah was filled with a group of Iraqi Kurds, who are here in the U.S. from the Dialogue Institute of Iraq, to learn about religious pluralism and tolerance.  Included around the table were also a woman from Indonesia and a dear new friend of mine…who is a Rwandan survivor.  Almost every one began their introduction by stating that though they were raised to hate Jews, they reject that teaching and know that Jews are normal people like themselves. This is not news to me, but hearing this tonight in my own home -as simply a matter of fact- was somehow excruciating. Yet, as the evening wore on and our conversations deepened, I was once again reminded that there really is hope...

We have a banner hanging in our sukkah, with flags [that have] the word "Peace" written in English, Arabic, Hebrew, Hindi, and Russian. Midway through the meal, our guests requested a marker and some material, so they could add their languages to the collection. It was really something watching these Iraqis - an appellate judge, a law school dean, a family court judge, and the religious affairs advisor to the president of Iraq- bent over their spontaneous art project and presenting their flags with huge smiles on their faces. We now have Kurdish, Rwandan, and Indonesian blessings added to the banner of peace.  Survivors and their descendants of three separate genocides - those targeting Jews, Kurds, and Rwandans - finished our meal with tea and pistachios, cake and fruit.

While cleaning up after dinner, I reached for the remainder of the pillowcase I had cut up to use for the fabric for their flags. It was then that I noticed that this pillowcase had my grandmother's name on it; everything she had taken with her to the nursing home where she lived her final days had a label with her name on it. Part of the pillowcase that belonged to my grandmother, the Holocaust survivor from Hungary, has been transformed by Iraqi Kurds, Rwandans, and Indonesians, under the sukkah of peace. 

I am grateful beyond words to The One who has sustained me and enabled me to reach this day.  What a wondrous holiday. What a wondrous and hope-filled time we are living in.  May we all know peace speedily in our day.  With love and immense gratitude, Juliet

 “Teacher, which commandment in the law is the greatest?”  [Jesus] said to [them], “’You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’  This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’  On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets.”

We live in a world which is torn apart by violence. 
We live in a world torn apart by hate.
And, we live in a world where good people continue to try to make peace on their own back porch.

Reinhold Niebuhr was one of the greatest Christian theologians of the 20^th century.  He was a Christian realist, which is to say, he could look at sin and evil with his eyes wide open and he still proclaimed a word of hope.

Reinhold Niebuhr is the author of what is known throughout that world as, “The Serenity Prayer” – a saving grace to countless people recovering from addiction.  He is also the author of these words:

Nothing worth doing is completed in our lifetime;
            therefore, we are saved by hope. 

Nothing true or beautiful or good makes complete sense in any immediate context of history;
            therefore, we are saved by faith. 

Nothing we do, however virtuous, can be accomplished alone;         therefore, we are saved by love. 

No virtuous act is quite as virtuous from the standpoint of our friend or foe as from our own;
             therefore, we are saved by the final form of love,
                        which is forgiveness.[4]

You shall love the Lord your God
with all your heart,
and with all your soul,
and with all your mind.
And ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

All the rest is commentary.

Amen.