aj PPROPRIATE PEITY JAMUART BY, sore
wp(HEM 5:14-16, 6:1-18 yrve Ad Caren JOHN fi. BUCHANAN

1 always fiad myself deeply moved by what we have done this morning. I
suppose it's partly because it reminds me of an occassion nine years ago when
I knelt and felt the weight of hands on ny head. And beyond that it reminds
me of growing up in a Presbyterian Congregation an¢ being vaguely aware of
those meverable old men who sat on the front pews on Cownunion Sunday. That
was at the end of the era in which election to the Session im a Presbyterian
Church was for life, and elders were old.

But beyond that, I find myself moved by what we've done because it's
been happening in much the same way for more than four hundred years: in
Geneva, Switzerland, as John Calvin laid his hands on the heads of the Elders
of the Consistory: and in Scotland, where they called it the Presbyterian
Kirk, and where the Elders often signed a Covenant with their own bieod to
defend the purity of the faith and the peace of the Kirk.

And beyond that, even, to the very earliest days of Christian History,
when struggling churches met in catacombs and darkened hourses, and elected
men from among their number to bear responsiblity for the life of the Church.
They were called PRESBYTEROS in Greek, which translates Ciders, and they were
éat. aside for their responsibility by prayer and the laying on of hands.

i aw reminded of all of that as we set aside menzand women from among our
number to be Elders and Deacons. I am aware as we do it, that the life and
effectiveness of this particular congregation rests heavily on their shoulders.
They will not cet much credit for the work they will do in three years.
lts not a clamorous job. But what they do and how they do it: all} the night
meetings, all the panning, all the hours they will invest, will be the power
that propelis this church in the near future.

They have been singled out and set aside for a specific task. They are
now conspicuous in their identity with the cause of Jesus Christ. And I
would like to use the occasion to reflect on what tht means, in a way that

will bear on everyone of us as we attempt to follow our Lord faithfully.

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e. they have some standard some Vist of things @

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ee ©. some defi snitton of piety: ad the simple fact is they

yg and frankly aren't too japress?¢ with the prospect of

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© they back awey- and it is at this point that 1 would like to

ee k if bs Ta" a 4 s
on about tne whole matier of wnat 5 appropriate peity amd wie

/ to do the defining.

@ begin, nowever. jet's take two soundings + first, in the eres of

he area of Our particular culture's

psyctio logy or psychoanalyst wmnggor in

sefinition f piety.

We KNOY, fram bie wed :
om the psychological disciplines. that human motives ar@ very
~ ao bal 5

yery comp 4» In fact, it might be said that no motive is ever Simple; w
. a) we

go what © do ually for @ whole Tot of veasons , SOME of which May not, ve

mr se ious age

_forive 4
s ever entirely pure- votivational ly: we are & mine bod, =

We do good th
hin

igs, Sometimes fny the wreng reasons» and pad thins, stuciline

ae es

for the right re
ght reasons, and inside each of us is 4 yabyrinth of motiva‘ ww

and needs and desices tt : t
hat no one totally comprenhends , except God - at @

worries us a bit. Dees
$ r. Because somtelmes we KNOW ourse ives better thai we wis

we did,
In any case, think a!
i ? re
° , think about -ove- Jove between & man and a woman What

motivates it? What creat i
at creates ttt 1s jt just there. Lying dormant in our psyci

waiting for ti
he right person to happe 7 5 :
happen aicng: ts ita pristine, pure emotion

that flows, unfitte
is, ittered from _—
: ered from our neat.? Or is it conditioned and influences by

otner consider ede
alii eitireaiy » fanner Ss 2
es human Tove happen an a vacuum or 45 4 dependent

= + ot ein - os

on someone to return it? In literature Dante loved Beatrice from a distance:

he worshipped and idelozed her. But he ever wet her. And realism demands that
we acknowledge the mythology of that kind of pure, unanswered love. We love
because we feel it - but also, at least in part, because we are interested in
being loved. Take that away: take away any pessibility of our receiving something
and our feelings of love are very much inclined te diminish and then evaporate.

In the practice of religion - piety - the same observations may be made.
We are religious because we feel it, but there are side beefits. And who is to
say which are more important. It is an act of piety to get up on a cold,
January morning and come to church: and we do it because we feel as if we
ought to or need to. But it doesn't hurt te know that our neighbors will see
us and think highly of us fr our devoutness.

That's the first sounding: human motive are very complex and we need to
proceed with great caution whenever we think we know why peopie do the things
they do. The second sounding has to do with our culture's deindtion of
appropriate piety. Webster defines plous as “manifesting devotion; zealous in
prayer and acts of worshp”: and pety as “dutifulness in religion: devoutness.”
How, our culture assumes that it knows what that means for a Christian and
expects certain behavior patterns as the norm. Our culture assumes that it fs
appropriate peity te pray before P.T.A. meetings, football games and service
club banquets. Our culture assumes that piety means a certain predictable life
style and vocabulary. Consider the furor created when the Journal-Courier quoted
an explative several weeks age in reference to a man's recollection of Pearl
Harbor. American piety surfaced in these anquished souls who didn't want the
Lord's name taken in vain - even in print. And not a word was spoken aawt the
fact that the nasty phrase preceded the word “Jap”. It's @ K to call Japenese
Japs, or blacks - niggers: but don't precede It with four letter angio-
saxonisma. I don't know if Sod ever taughs in his heaven ~ but surely he must

have in tne middle of that little absurdity.

Tnat's the second sounding: our culture has a definition of piety that ds
yory superfictal ane thai has very little to do with being a Crristiai

Jesus has quite a bit say about piety. In fact, he lived ia a culcure
which thougat it knew all there was te know about the practice of relicion.

And fe got Ainself into a Tot ef crounle by violating the standards of pteiy
of that culture, by digging beneath the outward forms in the inner motivations.

Piety, to a first century Jew, was a way of life. A devout man practiced
nis religion in three basic ways. First, alias giving. Tae aood Jew gave a
tithe. a tenth of a1] ie had, and on top of that he @e alws for clarity and the
support af tne poor. Th. tithe was expected: alms were ‘icing on the cake! .
ac certain tines during the year a trumpet was sounded to signal a special
offering. fic Jesus suggested that some sie were using that aceasion for a
puvlic display of generosity. de suggste! that Aimanowho was really interested
la ading See's will would be go inconspicuous about t£.that his left hand
woulda't know wnat ats right nana was giving.

Second, praying. Taree times daily, at appointed times 3 good Jew
Stopped whatever Ae yas doing, turned toward Jerusalem and prayed. desus
suggested inal sein cen ware arranging ta be on the busiest corner. or in the
Biccle Of the warket place, at the appointed time. Ana that their praying was
dose for the benefit of the audience. He suggested thet appropriate piety
was Finaing @ secret place, and there srayiag to God - who kncws what's going
ov anyway.

Third, fasting, &s an act of penance and devotion fasting was prescribed

several times a year. ut the really pious fasted twice a week, on Monday and
Thursday. Ang it was tie custom to be very visible about it - to dawn a sack
Cloth, cu smear mud and asnes on one’s face, and to walk around the crowded
Streets caning anc groaning. Jesus suggested that it was all a show: that
tiese fasters were actually enjoying their martyrdom: tuat the yoal of the

picty was puslic recounition. Aopropriate fasting, he suggested, was invisible.
i ‘J tu ‘ | 3

‘Wasi your Faces: he told them, “no one ougnt to know what you are about but God

Ǥ-

Now, it is possible I suppose, to deduce from this that, one, since the
church seems to be the institution must interested in public displays of
piety and since desus saw the phoniness of such displays, he would be opposed
to the church. And two that a man can be a totally individualistic, that is to
say, an invisible Chrisitan. Beth are possible, but both are wrong.

Jasus took for granted that his disciples would give alms and fast and
oray. He was no opponent of institutional religion. The question for him ~-
and for us - is, “for what reason are these things done? The hypocrites, as
he called them, did these things in order to be seen and recognized. And try
got their reward. They were applauded for their piety: The account was closed,
and he wanted no part of it. \‘& he didmt oppose piety, appropriately practiced.

In fact, earlier in the Sermon on the Mount, feom which our lesson was
taken thiswrning, he said “Let your light so shine before men that they will
see your good works ana give glory to your-father who is in heaven’.

Know there's a paradox - “Beward of practicing your piety before men” and
“Let your light so shine." Whatie meant, I would suggest, is that Christian
discipleship is very visible, it is te be practiced in the worid: but acts
of devotion, religious acts that could be the cause of admiration - and not to
be done fer the sake of display. They are, rather, private matters of the
heart.

Our N. T. interpreter puts it this way: “Show when tempted te hide: and
hide when tempted to show’ (Expositors’ Greek Testament)

Jesus Christ called his inen to a life of discipleship: a disciplined life
of following him in the world. That is the model for the appropriate practice
of Christian Religion. He told his disciples thet things like peace and love and
reconciliation and standing with the poor and oppressed were the things that
really mattered - not how many times a day they prayed, or whether their
yocabulry was fit te be used around a polite dinner table.

He told then that this life of follwing him would be hard and misunderstood

and risky. So it is still. He warned them that if they lived the life they