“Values” Vance L Toivonen
READING Matthew 6:1-6, 16-21
"Beware of practicing your piety before others in order to be seen by them; for then you have no reward from your Father in heaven." So whenever you give alms, do not sound a trumpet before you, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and in the streets, so that they may be praised by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you give alms, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, so that your alms may be done in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you pray, do not be like the hypocrites; for they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, so that they may be seen by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But whenever you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "And whenever you fast, do not look dismal, like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces so as to show others that they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, put oil on your head and wash your face, so that your fasting may be seen not by others but by your Father who is in secret; and your Father who sees in secret will reward you. "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust consume and where thieves break in and steal; but store up for your selves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust consumes and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.
MEDITATION
Yesterday was Super Tuesday, which fell this year on the same day as Fat Tuesday, which is traditionally a day for over-indulgence. Our political machinations this election cycle are over-indulgent to the extreme, so I suppose that convergence was appropriate. Only the political junkies are left wanting more, and we have another 10 months to grind out before the election!
Election cycles usually involve issues, and issues and values are closely related, especially for a large percentage of voters who voted for Mike Huckabee. Let me take a straw poll. Taking into consideration five major issues I want to ask by show of hands which issue is your top issue. Let’s consider Health Care, The Wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, Education, Economics, and the Environment. These are just five issues, among others…Think about it for just a second…Now, how many of you would choose those ongoing wars as your #1 issue in this campaign? How many of you would choose Education as your #1 issue? How many of you would choose the Environment as your #1 issue? How many of you would choose Health Care as your #1 issue? How many of you would choose Economics as your #1 issue?
The issues we are most passionate about may reflect our values. Jesus talks about values in the reading tonight. He brings up the subject of piety. This is not a word I hear a lot around here. I don’t hear us referring to each other as pious people. The word pious sort of gets thrown in with the word religious, and often gets spun as a conservative characteristic. Jesus warns of piety being about public display. But piety is about faithfulness, devotion, and commitment to one’s values.
Every few years or so I will schedule a lunch with my ELCA bishop. And every time when we are out at a restaurant we have that moment when he invites a prayer. When I think about praying in a public place, like a restaurant, I cannot help but think about this passage. I will inevitably tell him that I am not comfortable with praying in a restaurant. I balk at this mostly, I think, because I cannot help but be conflicted about motive. Why would one wish to pray in a public place like a restaurant? Is it because one is legally bound to do so by their religion? Is it because the food will not be a blessing to the body without the prayer? Is it because one cannot be grateful for the food without expressing it in this outward, public manner. Or, and this is where the conflict comes in, is it because one wishes others to see that the praying is happening, to observe the faithfulness of the one doing the praying?
Jesus suggests that prayer is something to be done in private. He literally recommends going into your room and closing the door to pray. The code word for these public displays in most Christian churches is called witnessing. The devout Christian wishes to proselytize, and uses these behaviors to enhance the process. I take issue with this, and, it seems, so does Jesus. Our Divine Parent, God in heaven, sees what we do in secret. And that, Jesus teaches, is what really matters. It is when our values are evidenced in the secret corners of our lives that we touch upon the heart of the message here. Our values are set forth not in the political bandwagons we jump on, or in how controlled and religious we come off in public. Our values are evidenced in the secret, internal wrangling of our hearts and minds.
There is in the Buddhist tradition a spirituality of so emptying one’s self that one becomes invisible. This is expressed in the following poem by one of China’s greatest poets, Li Po, who lived and wrote in the 8th century C.E.. This poem is entitled Zazen on the Mountain.
The birds have vanished down the sky.
Now the last cloud drains away.
We sit together, the mountain and me,
until only the mountain remains.
It seems to me that the goal, which is admittedly not easily achievable, is to so weave our web of transformation in the world that both the weaving and the web are undetectable; to so work the transformation within ourselves that the transformation is unnoticeable. Like the mustard seed and the yeast Jesus referred to in the readings on Sunday, the Spirit of God is like a fifth column working within us, and then working through us into the world. The values that we foster within ourselves blossom forth like the mustard seed that grows into the large bush, and the bread that grows into a large loaf. Our internal faithfulness is the crucible of our values, and it is bound to bear fruit when we foster it within ourselves.