Outrage and the 10 Best Ways to Live Lent 3 March 8 2015

+ Modern day Jerusalem is divided into East and West Jerusalem. East Jerusalem is part of the West Bank, a Palestinian territory and West Jerusalem is part of Israel. East Jerusalem includes the “old city” which is the Jerusalem  referenced in the Bible. At the center of the old city is the temple—well what remains, part of the western wall and most of the northern —so whenever I hear the gospel we just heard I’m transported back to my time in the old city. And I totally “get” Jesus’ rage. The old city, including the area around all the Christian hot spots the hill that is Calvary, the tomb and the courtyard where Jesus was “tried,” is crowded, dirty, loud and everywhere you turn someone is hawking this that or the other thing. It is really difficult, until you’ve been there a few days, to find the Holy in the old city. My first few days I really disliked the Old City, I couldn’t wait to get out of there. So yes, I really get Jesus’ rage at turning his “father’s house” into a den of thieves.
The Middle East has the same problem that we here in the relative peace and tranquility of the Great Lakes’ region of North America have---people don’t resepct the sanctity of sacred space. You’ve heard me lament about the people who clamor to see our windows, walking in and treating this space as a museum rather than a worship space. But it isn’t just tourists---a few weeks ago I did a private baptism on a Saturday morning---one of the people attending the baptism sent the entire service taking pictures of our windows!!! People don’t respect the sanctity of our worship space, nor do people respect the faith that is proclaimed within these walls. It’s a special challenge here at GS. Mr. Jewett wanted this place to be a community gathering spot for the Parkside neighborhood and we certainly try to honor his vision. Usually the two functions, a sacred place of worship and a community gathering spot works, but when it doesn’t work, the sanctity of our worship is what suffers.  Yep, I get Jesus’ rage.
Some days I become discouraged, feeling as if the world is simply passing us by.
Of course, the most common response to laments such as mine is: well people just don’t know, they aren’t taught respect for the church, they don’t know that their behavior is offensive.
And these folks are probably right—people don’t know. People aren’t taught. People don’t learn.
Not now, and not 3500 years ago when Moses was given the ten commandments on Mt Sinai.
 In Godly Play the lesson about the Ten Commandments is called The Ten Best Ways to Live. I think this is a better title, for they really serve as guidelines for a better living. These guidelines--these best ways to live---will, when followed, keep us on the right track, keep us focused.
They help us keep our side of the street clean.
And that’s the real link between today’s reading from Hebrew Scripture and our New Testament reading. Jesus was cleansing the temple---ridding his Father’s, our Creator’s, house of trash. Clearing the way so the focus of the worshippers would be on God instead of on stuff. The ten best ways to live do just this, they cleanse us, freeing us from distraction and misdirection, allowing us to give God the attention and focus God deserves.
Listen to the Ten Best Ways to live again, hear them in a new way!
1. Love God and Love people. People are God’s creation, so loving people is loving God. And that is good.
2.God Loves us beyond all reason, so don’t worship other gods and don’t confuse stuff with God. [This is a big one because we easily confuse stuff with God.] Seeking happiness and security, a sense of worth from the stuff we have (or the stuff we want) instead of seeking our joy, our contentment in the one who is always ready to give us that security: God.
3. And speaking of God:  Be serious when you say God’s name. Don’t toss it around as an expletive or in exasperation.
4. Keep the Sabbath holy…make one day solely for those whom you love, including God. These relationships need nurturing, our relationship with God, with all our loved ones: devote one day a week to this nurture.
5. Honor your parents and all who raise you. There is no more important job than raising children. We must always honor those who devoted themselves to our growth, our health, our well-being. And then we get into the don’ts. But these don’ts seem pretty reasonable:
6. Don’t kill. And don’t stand for the killing of others!
7. Don’t break your commitment to your spouse, your partner, your husband, your wife!
8. Don’t steal.
9.Don’t lie.
10. Don’t even want what others have.
These are GREAT guidelines. We really can’t go wrong if we follow them. Of course, we often confuse everything, complicating things. It really is as simple (not easy, but simple) as these best ways to live: keep our focus on God and on all those things in life which are God-given: love of family and friends, respect for creation, respect for each other. The Ten Commandments, if taken seriously, keep us from getting too self absorbed, keep us from getting too distracted, keep us from getting off track. The Ten Commandments keep us clean.
I don’t know if I’ll ever stop a wedding or a baptism or a funeral to rage at the drunk bridesmaid, or the oblivious photographer or at the man who insists on wearing his baseball cap throughout the service… I hope not. I don’t know if I’ll ever interrupt a tour group and scream, “this isn’t a museum, it is God’s house,” but I understand the desire to do so….but really, the frustration I feel, and the frustration  Jesus felt isn’t for the merchants in the temple or the ignorant tourists, the frustration is for a culture, a society, that is so distracted, so wrapped up in the here and now, in the gaining more and more, in the having this and that,  that the Love of God and respect for all that God has given us, gets lost in the shuffle.
So, as we settle into the middle of Lent, rage against those things that get in your way, rage against the distractions of your daily life, and free yourself to follow the good road, the one paved with the ten best ways to live.