Sermon
Sunday, August 15, 2004
The Reverend Pamela Snare

Today is the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary. In the Roman Catholic Church it is the feast of the Assumption of Mary, and in the Orthodox Churches, it is the feast of the Dormition of Mary. Although Anglicans are not committed to the assumption of Mary as a dogma, the opening prayer of today's liturgy alludes to that reality: "O God, you have taken to yourself the Blessed Virgin Mary, Mother of your Incarnate Son..." The thought is that Mary, both in spirit and in body, now lives in the full presence of God.
Reginald Fuller, an Anglican biblical scholar, has noted that although Anglicans are not committed to the assumption of Mary as a dogma, yet we sing about it in hymns and speak of it poetically. Indeed, the familiar hymn,"Ye Watchers and Ye Holy Ones", which we will sing today, devotes its second verse to Mary:

O higher than the cherubim, more glorious than the seraphim, lead their praises, Alleluia!
Thou bearer of the eternal Word, most gracious, magnify the Lord, Alleluia!

Mary is here portrayed as above the cherubim, seraphim, angels and archangels and all heavenly beings. She is the lead singer in the heavenly choir which unceasingly sings God's praise. Mary's hymn of praise in response to the annunciation is our gospel today: "My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God, my Savior." This is the same heavenly choir with which we join our voices at every Eucharist when we sing, "Holy, holy, holy Lord, God of power and might." We become part of a choir which praises God “twenty-four/seven,” so to speak.
Essentially, the feast of the Blessed Virgin Mary is about purity of heart: "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." Mary was given such purity of heart and intention that she could see God - she could be taken directly into the presence of God. Without purity of heart and intention none of us can see God, however dimly or sporadically.
Flannery O'Connor wrote in a letter to a friend that purity of heart was for her the most mysterious of all the virtues. Flannery does not explain what she means by that, but my thought has always been that it is mysterious because it is so difficult to say what it means. It does not mean simply doing what is right, like obeying the moral law, or keeping the Ten Commandments. One can, like some of the Pharisees and St. Paul, be obedient to all religious laws, moral and ceremonial, and still have an unclean or impure heart because one's motivation is rooted more in one's own ego and desire for self-justification than in the love of God and the desire to please God.
Purity of heart involves not just one's actions, but one's motivation and intention - one's whole self - exterior and interior. Not only what is seen, but what is unseen, in the heart. So if I had to give a definition of purity of heart, I would say something like: It is having the heart of God: a heart which bears malice toward none, which desires that all come to the knowledge of the truth, which desires that the wicked turn from their wickedness and live. A heart in which there is no deception or self-deception, no falsehood, no ulterior motivations. A heart perfect in its charity toward all, and transparent in its goodness and good will toward all.
Several years ago I posed these questions to myself and I continue to ask them from time to time because they remind me of the necessity of purity of heart in order to see God. I asked myself, "How much time and effort do I spend cleaning, grooming, cultivating and attending to my exterior self - my clothes, my body, my hair, what I eat and how I look? How much time and effort do I expend getting my exterior self ready for the day? How does that compare with the time and effort I spend cultivating, grooming and attending to my interior self, preparing my interior self for the day?” Remembering God's mercy and his daily mercies in prayer, thanking him for his goodness, listening for his word to me that day; preparing myself to see Christ in the people I will encounter, preparing myself to be patient - refraining from judging others and myself - not having a critical spirit toward others and myself; cultivating understanding, listening and being fully present to God and to others?
If I am honest with myself, I see that more often than not my life is out of balance - that I spend more time on the external than on the internal. That I have allowed the lesser goods, the externals, to distract me from and to crowd out time spent in cultivating the true riches: patience, kindness, longsuffering, praise and thanksgiving, silence, prayer, attention to the life and teachings of Christ - in three words, purity of heart. Forgetfulness and neglect of God result in loss of purity of heart. A retreat director I once had told us retreatants that the antidote of a critical spirit is praise and gratitude offered to God. Mary shows us the way in this. Her purity of heart is a result of her praise and gratitude:"My soul magnifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior."
This connection between praise, gratitude and purity of heart, the necessity of cultivating our interior life by spending time with God, caused me to reflect on my upcoming three months sabbatical, which begins September 1. "Sabbatical" comes from the word "sabbath" and derives its meaning from the word "Sabbath."

And on the seventh day God finished the work that he had done, and he rested on the seventh day from all the work that he had done. So God blessed the seventh day and hallowed it, because on it God rested from all the work he had done in creation (Genesis 2:2-3).

In Jewish theology, the sabbath is a day of rest which means cessation from work. One refrains from labor, commerce, making money and all the daily tasks which occupy one the other six days of the week. But the sabbath is not rest for the sake of rest or leisure for the sake of leisure. Cessation from work and from daily routine is to make time for God - to remember God and to praise him for his goodness. The sabbath reminds us that we did not create the world, we do not sustain it, and the world will continue to exist without us and our labor, as long as God wills it, and sustains its existence. We are not the center of the universe. Our shoulders do not hold up the world. Buying and selling and making a profit are not the end and purpose of life.
The sabbath reminds us who is the center of the universe, who is the end and purpose of life - God. His goodness, his mercy, his praise, his will - for us and for all creation. The sabbath balances our life. It brings us back to the heart of God. It lets us see life in its true perspective, from the eyes of God.
The sabbath gives us a breather from those things that we allow to stifle our desire and love and need for God. It gives us breathing space to enjoy God by singing his praise. It is time with no other agenda than God and his praise. It is time to bask in his goodness and love, to remember the great things he has done for every one of us.
And the curious thing about this sabbath breathing space is that it renews us. It refreshes us. It brings us joy. It lets us see and lets us be the person - the creature - God intended us to be. It is life-giving. It is spirit-giving. It is purity of heart giving because authentic praise of God banishes anger, malice, evil intent, a critical spirit and all that makes our hearts impure and unclean.
A sabbatical is an extended sabbath. It is not a vacation. It is not leisure for the sake of leisure. It is a time when one ceases from one's normal work and one's daily routine in order to step back and to remember that God willed the universe into existence and sustains it very nicely without our labor. It is a time to remember his goodness and praise him for it. It is a time to restore a proper balance to one's life and to learn to view it from God's perspective and to order it according to his vision and purpose, not only for oneself, but for one's family, one's friends, one's community of faith, and one's community. The more that more of us can live in this balance the better it is for all of us because it helps all of us to live closer to the heart of God.
To this end, I will spend the first month of my sabbatical, September, in a Benedictine monastery in Normandy, living as a Benedictine. My spiritual director, Sister Sarah, and I have already corresponded several times. The last two months, October and November, Jerry and I will spend in a house in the country near the monastery and I will continue spiritual direction with Sister Sarah.
Based on my experience in the monastery, we will establish a daily rule of life - a more balanced way of life, including prayer, reading, meditation on scripture, reflection, writing and manual labor. My hope and my intention is to learn or to discover how Benedictine disciplines and practices can be adapted to family life and to parish life to help all of us live more balanced lives - to help all of us live more in sabbath time than in American hurry up and get on with it time. To help all of us live closer, every day, to the heart of God. Jerry and I will be praying for all of you. I ask your prayers for us.
"My soul magnifies the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior." Amen.
 

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