Why Don’t We Do That?

The Rev. Whitworth Ferguson III
The First Presbyterian Church
Washingtonville, New York
October 30, 2005

Why Don’t We Do That?
Matthew 23:1-12
Leviticus 23:26:32

“Discipline”: that’s one of those words we use all the time,
especially as we get older.
It generally comes out in sentences like:
“That child needs some discipline”;
“When I was younger, we knew what discipline meant.”
I have been thinking about the word for the past couple of weeks,
ever since a colleague remarked
that my morning routine was disciplined.
I spend the first three hours of most morning exercising:
first, I do physical exercises on our treadmill,
our exercise bicycle,and our weight machine.
Then I turn my attention to exercising my mind as I read through
two newspapers, and various articles and journals.
Then I exercise my faith with my daily devotional
readings and prayer.

I had never thought of my routine as discipline;
to me, the word “discipline” suggests punishment,
something unpleasant for having done wrong.
While I will admit that some mornings I find myself wanting
to skip the treadmill and go directly to the coffee and newspaper,
I find that my morning routine gives me a great deal of pleasure.
My routine helps me to prepare for the day ahead,
helps me to prepare physically, mentally, and spiritually.

My dictionary defines discipline as:
“training expected to produce a specific character
or pattern of behavior,
especially training that produces moral or mental improvement.”
(Am. Heritage, 4th ed, p. 515)
So what I consider a routine is a discipline:
it is how I stay somewhat fit,
keep up to date on the world,
and most important, stay focused as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

We need discipline in our faith lives if we hope to grow in faith.
Coming to church on Sunday is a good start,
but we need to do more.
Over this past month we have been witness
to wonderful examples of disciplines in two other faiths.
Our Jewish brothers and sisters,
observed Rosh Hashanah earlier this month.
We think of Rosh Hashanah as the Jewish New Year,
but it is most definitely not the raucous rave
that we think of when we hear the term “New Year”.
Rather, it is a solemn ten-day period,
when one’s thoughts turn to mortality,
sin, and repentance.

The ten days of Rosh Hashanah come to an end with Yom Kippur,
The word Yom is Hebrew for “day”,
and the word Kippur is Hebrew for “atonement”.
This Day of Atonement is the most solemn day of the year
for faithful Jews.
It is the day we heard about in our first lesson.
It is day of fasting, of worship, of prayer: a day of discipline.
It isn’t about dashing into house of worship
for a one-hour, you’re in, you’re out service;
it is about being prayerful and worshipful for the entire day.
On this holy day, the faithful sit down in reconciliation
with family and friends.
They seek forgiveness,
and they offer forgiveness.
In Leviticus we read,
“For on this day atonement shall be made for you to cleanse you;
from all your sins you shall be clean before the Lord.” (Lev. 16:30)

Fasting is an important part of the discipline.
It is a “display of self-discipline,
a sign that [one] can control [one’s] appetite
[not just for food and water] but for all things.
[In fasting] the focus is on the spiritual rather than the material.”
(Robinson, Essential Judaism, p. 97)

Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur
are unlike any days we have in our liturgical year.
As I reflected on these holy days in the Jewish year,
I found myself wondering, “why don’t we do that?”
Yes, we have our holy days,
but we have turned them into holidays,
days for celebration,
days of relaxation from work or school;
Days for revelry rather than repentance,
for feasting rather than fasting,
for playing rather than praying.

The text from our first lesson gives us a clue
as to why we don’t have holy days like that:
In the text we hear the instructions,
“you shall deny yourselves.”
That is not something we do well.
We rarely deny ourselves anything.
We are a society that is “me first”,
“immediate gratification” is our mantra.
We take what we want, and we do what we want.
whenever we want.

This past month was also a holy time for the more than one billion
followers of Islam who live throughout the world.
Islam has been unfairly vilified over the past few years;
When it is practiced according to the Quran,
Islam’s holy book, it is a faith of peacefulness,
mercy, righteousness and discipline.
Each year the faithful mark the month of Ramadan,
which this year happened to fall in October.
It will come to an end this week.
The faithful fast each day from sunup till sundown,
and then in the evening have a simple meal with family.
As with Rosh Hashanah, fasting is a spiritual discipline
to help the faithful focus on God.
The Quran tells us,
“God desires you to fast the whole month
so that you magnify God and render thanks to him
for giving you his guidance.” (Surah 2:185)

Muslims will end their holy month
with the festival of Eid al-Fitr,
which means the breaking of the fast.
This festival is second in importance
only to the spiritual pilgrimage each Muslim
is called to make to Mecca in one’s lifetime.
In addition to fasting, Muslims are called to pay
special attention to their charitable giving.
Charitable giving is one of the “Five Pillars”
or five disciplines Muslims practice,
but it takes on even greater importance during Ramadan.
Once again, as I read through the Quran and other texts
in my attempt to learn more about Ramadan,
I found myself asking, “why don’t we do that?”

We are only a month away from the beginning of one of our holiest
and most joyful times of our liturgical year: Advent.
Yes, believe it or not, the First Sunday in Advent
is just five weeks away.
Advent is supposed to be a time of preparation,
preparation not for the festivities of Christmas;
but preparation for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
The coming of our Lord not as a baby in a manger,
but the coming of our Lord in glory.
We don’t know when that will happen;
it is as likely to happen in any of the other 48 weeks of the year
as it is to happen during the four weeks of Advent.
Our Lord tells us in the gospel of Mark,
“about that day or hour no one knows,
neither angels in heaven nor the Son,
but only the Father
[so] beware, keep alert!”
(Mark 13:32ff)
In other words, be disciplined: prepare.
And that is what we are called to do during Advent.
But what do we do?
We have turned the time into preparing for Christmas parties.
Now there is nothing wrong with the joyful activities
we all look forward to during the Christmas season,
but the foundation for those four weeks
should be our discipline of preparation
for the coming of our Lord.

Our other significant holy time on our liturgical calendar
is Lent, the 40-days that run from Ash Wednesday till Easter.
It too should be a time of reflection, of preparation,
as we walk with our Lord to the cross.
But instead it has become a time of shopping for new outfits,
for stocking up on peanut butter eggs,
Discipline is not giving up ice cream or French fries
for those 40 days!

It was misguided discipline,
a lack of discipline, a lack of focus
that caused Jesus to be upset with the Pharisees.
The Pharisees were learned, knowledgeable men,
but their focus was on doctrine, orthodoxy,
judgment, rules and regulations
They were more concerned with pointing out the ways
in which others were not following the laws,
than they were in growing in spirit and faith in their own lives.
For the Pharisees, the word discipline was what they did
to others who didn’t abide by their rules,
rather than something they each applied to themselves.

We cannot hope to grow in faith
unless we have spiritual disciplines.
And our spiritual disciplines come in countless ways.
What works for me may or may not work for you;
we each have to find our own disciplines.
Yesterday at our Session meeting, our Elders spent the beginning
of our time together with their Epaphras partners,
talking and listening to one another.
You may recall that I wrote about Epaphras in the newsletter;
your Epaphras is someone who is your prayer partner,
someone with whom you can grow in faith,
struggle in faith, practice discipline together.
Our Session is devoting more time to spiritual disciplines
so we can be more faithful spiritual leaders of this church.

We are going to be hearing about Stewardship
over the next few weeks from our Stewardship co-chairs,
Nick Grounds and Nancy Popoloski.
They will share with us not just the need
for support of our church,
but the joy that comes with giving.
But if we were disciplined,
we would not even need a Stewardship campaign
because everyone would be tithing.
We would be tithing, giving 10%,
bringing our first fruits here,
because that is what God expects of us,
and tells us so clearly to do.
Perhaps that’s a discipline for you to consider
taking in the coming year: working toward tithing.

Without discipline, we run the risk
of settling for “church lite”;
faith defined the way we want it to be defined,
faith that doesn’t intrude too much on our lives.
But is that what our Lord Jesus Christ calls us to?
Doesn’t he call us to follow him,
to lose our lives so that we can gain our lives?
To take on his yoke?

What new discipline will you make a part of your life this week?
What will add you the week after?
Each week add something new, however small.
Perhaps it is remembering to say grace before every meal,
not just family dinners.
Perhaps it is remembering to pick up one thing
for the Food Pantry on every trip to the grocery store.
Perhaps it is finding your Year of the Bible Bible,
or buying a new one and starting your reading again.
Perhaps it is beginning to work toward tithing.
Perhaps it is learning from other faiths
and adapting a discipline,
such as fasting, or daily prayer.

Let the Spirit guide you;
Let the Spirit help you.
Deny yourself and open yourself to God more completely
Lose yourself
and then you will understand what Jesus means
when he says only then will you truly find life.
AMEN