 |
|
A Year Literally
SERMON - 10.15am, Emmanuel Church, Pokfulam, Hong Kong
Sunday 26th October 2008. Bible Sunday
Revd. Matthew Vernon
Since we're marking Bible Sunday today, I'm going to tell you about this wonderful book:
"The Year of Living Biblically" by A.J. Jacobs. It's subtitled "One Man's Humble Quest to Follow the Bible as Literally as Possible"
Its all about A.J's quest to follow all the commandments in the Bible: from the 10 commandments to not wearing clothes of mixed fibres; from loving your neighbour to not winking.
It's true: Proverbs 16.30 says "He who winks his eyes plans perverse things…"
wink
Yes, he uncovers commandments that our weird and wonderful.
Initially his project is to prove that people who claim to follow the Bible literally are barmy.
He quickly shows how only the very few, extreme groups come close to following the Bible literally.
Groups like the Church of the God with Signs Following –
• "the ultimate Biblical literalists" –
• who pick up poisonous snakes as signs of faith –
• yes, it's American.
They pick up snakes because in Mark's Gospel, after the resurrection, Jesus says to the disciples, "these signs will accompany those who believe: by using my name they will cast our demons; the will speak in new tongues; they will pick up snakes in their hands, and if they drink any deadly thing, it will not hurt them" (Mark 16.17-18).
Most Christians, of course, interpret that metaphorically,
• if they know the verse is there at all.
So A.J quickly shows how only the very few, extreme groups come close to following the Bible literally.
The many groups who claim to follow the Bible literally are as selective as the liberal they condemn for being selective.
But the project changes him personally.
He doesn't have any great conversion experience,
• but his spiritual life is awakened.
He follows the commands to pray regularly each day and learns that practice is essential to the religious life.
He also learns that to embrace religion, you have to surrender some control.
The author is an editor for Esquire magazine so is used to living and working in a very secular job and living a secular life.
He's culturally Jewish so his odyssey is partly personal in trying to learn about his heritage.
It's a great book:
• engaging, entertaining, informative and inspiring.
One of the fun parts is the wide range of religious advisors that he consults.
There's as wide a range as you can imagine, and more.
One is the sensible and wise Pastor Elton Richards.
He is a retired Lutheran minister and calls himself the pastor out to pasture.
A.J meets an openly gay, Orthodox rabbi Steven Greenberg.
He's an extreme minority.
As is, Ralph Blair, a gay, evangelical minister who runs Evangelicals Concerned, an organisation for gay and gay-friendly evangelical Christians.
There's Mr Berkowitz, a shatnez tester.
Shatnez is the Hebrew word for "mixed fibers".
Shatnez testers will come to your home and inspect your clothes to make sure you have no hidden mixed fibers.
It's based on the verse in Leviticus (19.19) 'Nor shall you put on a garment made of two kinds of materials'.
Some Jewish groups take this very seriously and Mr Berkowitz is a great character.
A.J. says "Mr Berkowitz reminds me of an Orthodox CSI. God's wardrobe detective."
His equipment includes a microscope and he looks for wool and linen mixes.
They are the problem, according to Deuteronomy 22.11.
Poly-cotton blends and Lycra-spandex blends are fine.
The problem is mixing wool and linen.
A.J. asks Mr Berkowitz why God would care about this.
He explains "This is a law that God gave us. We have to trust him. He's all-powerful. We're like children. Sometimes parents have laws children don't understand. Like when you tell your children not to touch fire, he doesn't understand why, but it's good for him."
Following the inexplicable laws shows you're committed, that you have great faith.
It's fascinating to read about this because it's so different to my approach to the Bible and to faith.
That's one of the great things about the book.
Its frequently laugh out loud fun, but A.J. doesn't mock the weird and wacky religious characters he meets.
He's open about having difficulties with the people at the Creationist museum in Cincinnati and their astonishing mental gymnastics.
His guide explains that in the beginning, humans and dinosaurs lived together in harmony. The T. Rex's scary incisors are for coconuts and fruit, just like panda's teeth.
It would be easy to mock ruthlessly, but A.J. is respectful.
One part that challenged me was his visit to Jerry Falwell's church.
Jerry Falwell embodied a certain ultraliteral brand of Christianity.
He died last year.
The Thomas Road Baptist Church is a megachurch with amazing facilities.
It's like an enormous shopping mall including the Lion and the Lamb Café,
• and a playground with a huge whales mouth that kids can climb into like Jonah.
Its worship auditorium seats six thousand.
Falwell is a hate figure amongst many liberals,
• but A.J finds the people at the church extraordinarily friendly and welcoming.
Most of the messages he hears are inoffensive, standard church stuff.
That's not to deny the homophobic, xenophobic comments Falwell made,
• but A.J. points out
• "The radical wing of the Christian right is a lot more boring than its liberal detractors would have you believe."
Through the book you meet these people.
And as is so often the case, once you meet people its much harder to demonise them.
Some of the best bits, for me, are interactions between A.J and his wife.
His wife, on the whole, supports his project – sometimes tolerates his project.
Occasionally she loses her sense of humour.
One of the commands in the Bible relates to women menstruating.
A man should avoid touching his wife whilst she's menstruating. You guessed it, its in Leviticus (15.19).
And everything that a woman lies or sits on during her impurity shall be unclean. (Lev 15.20)
A.J. tries to follow this and eventually leads to him avoid contact with any women at all, just in case it's the time of the month…
But one evening his wife Julie has had enough.
He comes home and is about to sit down on a chair when she says "I wouldn't sit there if I were you." She is menstruating and has sat on the chair.
He moves to the next chair and she says "I wouldn't sit there either."
The next chair is the same and the next.
It turns out that Julie has sat on every chair in the living room. A.J ends up crouched on a tiny stool in the corner.
For the sake of balance I should point out that A.J deals with male impurity laws too.
The Bible's female impurity laws are more famous, but there are, in fact, corresponding laws for men.
Leviticus says that a man shall be unclean for the day after his "emission of seed" and must take a bath to purify himself.
He writes: "My male friends usually assume that I'm evading the handshake because of germs. Since I'm biblically required to tell the truth, I say, "No, not germs." And then I explain. Which somehow turns out to be even more awkward than discussing the monthly cycles with women. Men just don't like talking about their emissions."
A.J learns that he needn't be so concerned. As one friend says "Well, I haven't in a week ... Not that it's any of your business."
In another incident of radical, biblical honest, A.J, Julie and their son bump into someone who Julie hasn't seen since college.
She says "We should all get together and have a playdate sometime."
"Absolutely," says Julie.
A.J says he's not sure, so Julie glares at him.
A.J says "You guys seem nice, but I don't really want new friends right now. So I think I'll take a pass. Just being honest."
Julie stops glaring at him because she's too angry to even look in his direction.
Its one of several incidents when there's a clash between one biblical command and another.
In this case, honesty versus treating his wife and he would have her treat him.
That comes up again, in fact, in relation to gossip.
This will be my last example from the book.
The Bible is particularly hard on gossip.
Leviticus 19.16 "Do not go around as a gossiper among your people…"
Ephesians 4.29 "Do not let any unwholesome talk come out of your mouths, but only what is helpful for building others up according to their needs"
Psalm 34.13 "Keep your tongue from evil…"
The Bible has at least twenty passages condemning gossip – many more than verses against homosexual practice.
A.J writes "This means I can't join in when my coworkers discuss a certain boozy actress who scribbled obscenities on a bathroom mirror, or the rumour that a news anchor is about to ditch his wife for a younger woman.
He quotes one of this Bible commentaries:
• "This refers to any derogatory or damaging statement against an individual … which if publicised to others would cause the subject physical or monetary damage, anguish or fear."
"In other words, about 70 percent of all conversations in New York."
The incident with Julie, his wife, is over dinner one evening.
She's had a particularly difficult client.
A.J is trying to avoid negative speech and so ends up sounding like he's supporting the client.
"Why aren't you supporting me?" Julie asks.
"I am. But I don't want to say anything negative. It's gossip."
"Well, you sound like a creepy child psychologist."
A.J is confronted with two commandments clashing.
He realises he chose the wrong way and concludes that even absolutism must have exceptions.
The reflections on gossip include a wonderful visit to an Amish community.
A.J meets Amos Smucker, the head of a household.
He turns out to be a man of antiquated lifestyle, but deep humility.
The Amish book Rules of a Godly Life says "let your words be thoughtful, few, and true."
Its like the monastic advice:
• only speak if you can improve on the silence.
Amos talks slowly and carefully, like he only has a few dozen sentence allotted for the weekend.
In his struggle with gossip, A.J realises he will have to cut out about a third of everything he ever says.
Which feels familiar to me.
|
|
