Sermon preached by The Reverend Dr. Harold T. Lewis

SERMON PREACHED BY THE REVEREND DR. HAROLD T. LEWIS, RECTOR CALVARY EPISCOPAL CHURCH, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA ON THE FOURTEENTH SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST BEING RALLY SUNDAY 10 SEPTEMBER 2006


"And they brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech." (Mark 7:32)


We hear a lot about "boundaries" nowadays. When people presume to be more friendly or familiar than they ought to be with another group --- be they subordinates or superiors, children or parents, or members of the opposite sex, they are said to have "issues" about boundaries. Boundaries are said to be crossed by what we say, what we wear, and even through "body English." Through our speech and actions, we can render others uncomfortable, and infringe on their space --- psychological as well as physical. There is, of course, nothing new about "boundaries." I am reasonably certain that Emily Post never used the terms, but she subscribed to the concept through her intricate rules about opening doors and removing hats, extending one's hand or not, speaking to another person or waiting to be addressed, and sending thank-you notes on paper whose size and color were appropriate to one's position in society.

Boundaries were of major concern in the society in which Jesus lived and exercised his ministry. There were very strict rules about relationships between men and women ---- indeed, the rules seemed to dictate that men should ignore, mistreat and even abuse women. There were intricate laws about greetings and departures, complete with footwashings and osculations (you will remember that Paul admonished the Thessalonians to greet the brethren with "a holy kiss") --- and rules about eating ---- with whom and with which utensils. If there is one thing we can say about Jesus with absolute certainty, it is that he had serious boundary issues. He broke rules with impunity --- dining with prostitutes and tax-collectors; speaking to the woman at the well (who was not only a woman but a Samaritan); allowing women to be in his retinue, and allowing one of them to wipe his feet with her long tresses. Not to mention his crossing religious boundaries by his insistence on performing miracles on the Sabbath!
Jesus continues on his boundary-crossing spree in this morning's Gospel, which really has to be understood in light of the story that immediately precedes it, in which the Syrophoenician woman (and therefore a Gentile) begs Jesus to heal her daughter. Jesus rebukes the woman and says (in what must be his most non-PC utterance) "It isn't right to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs!" But when the woman, who no dearth of chutzpah, pointed out that even dogs are allowed to eat up the children's crumbs, Jesus relents, and heals the child as requested.
When he continues on his journey, he goes further into Gentile territory to an urban sprawl Greek settlement known as the Decapolis (or Ten Cities)--- he finds a deaf man, and engages in another boundary-crashing (this time ignoring the health code) using his own spittle and placing it on the man's tongue, and this, along with sticking his fingers in the man's ears, (all this was probably Jesus' "sign language," designed to show the man what he was going to do) and uttering the word "Ephphatha" --- "Be opened" --- he cures the man of his infirmity. But I want to bring your attention to the verse that described the man's condition before the miracle: "They brought to him a deaf man who had an impediment in his speech." Now as you know, I am fond of expatiating from the pulpit on topics about which I know nothing, and this morning it is otolaryngology. But I think I am safe in saying that speech impediments are common among the deaf for the simple reason that we learn how to speak by hearing. We learn to talk by repeating the sounds heard by our ears, so if the ears are incapable of receiving those sounds, the tongue has nothing to imitate.

But hearing is not simply the functioning of the outer, middle and inner ears, and all of their constituent parts, such as the hammer, the anvil and the vestube. When all is said and done, it is not easy to hear another human being. To listen to another, to understand another, to understand what others say to us, and moreover, what they mean, is hard work. Why? Because we bring to the listening process our individual histories, along with our issues, our hang-ups and our baggage. We bring our overarching worldviews and daily working assumptions, our personal philosophies and perceptions, our aptitudes and interests. This is why all of us, particularly in a moment of need, when we seek help -- either professional or personal -- marvel, saying that our counselor or therapist or friend, "just listened." And how often, in the very moment of our surprised declaration, do we also realize anew that listening is a great skill.
My sisters and brothers in Christ, I need not remind you that the principal malaise affecting the church today is spiritual deafness and the impediment of speech that is a consequence of it. As I pore over e-mails and blogs and pronouncements and promulgations from this group and that, I realize that each of these groups a) speaks a different language from the others and b) is totally unintelligible each to the other. Each party seems to bring to the discussion (if we can call it that) its own presuppositions, its own theological givens. This causes them, in effect, to stop up their ears to the corresponding opinions, just as ardently held, of other groups. Their ears, having heard selectively and filtered out information not germane to their argument, thereby make it impossible for their tongues to utter anything that the ears did not receive in the first place.
What is wrong with this picture? What is wrong with this picture is that this is Christ's holy catholic church, which came into being on Pentecost, a day when everyone who gathered --- those Elamites and Mesopotamians and Cappadocians et al. --- understood each other although they spoke different languages. The Holy Spirit gave them utterance. Pentecost, when all came together "of one accord" was seen as the antithesis of Babel, where God confounded the people's speech and made it impossible for them to communicate with each other because their purposes were less than holy.
Today is Rally Sunday. It is not merely a day to sign up for this or that activity or ministry. It is not merely a day to greet people we may not have seen over the summer, as laudable and pleasant as those activities may be. It is a day, in the words of the prophet Isaiah, "to lengthen our loins and strengthen our stakes", and to commit ourselves ---- and listen carefully from the lips of this dyed-in-the-wool Anglo-Catholic --- commit ourselves to be a Pentecostal church ---- a church that, in the spirit of the Day of Pentecost, listens to each other, speaks to each other, learns from each other, seeing our differences not as an impediment but as an enrichment to our common life, as we offer our several gifts to the honor and glory of God and the building up of God's Kingdom. Let us be so glad that Jesus has said to us "Ephphatha" ---- "Be opened" ---- that we, too, will ignore his admonition to keep quiet about it, and instead, will share that good news with anyone who will listen.
Let us pray: Hear him, ye deaf; ye voiceless ones, your loosened tongues employ; Ye blind, behold, your Savior comes, and leap, ye lame, for joy! Glory to God and praise and love be now and ever given By saints below and saints above, the church in earth and heaven. John Wesley, "O for a thousand tongues to sing" The Hymnal 1982, 493.