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You will also remember how people put them up in front yards, in places of business and on car bumpers, I’ve even seen one up in the front of a night club. It was all the rage.
And in some of the Episcopal parishes I’ve been around, and in the youth and young adult community in this Diocese, there has also been much discussion about the Ten Commandments.
First of all, most people could not even recite all ten (but then again, people who had them up at their places of business, for the most part, couldn’t recite them either), but that never seems to stop people from having opinions.
Some said we should have them up in public places…some said we should not…Some said we no longer were subject to them. Some said we were.
Some said that they are oppressive and should not be read in Church. Some said they were not very Episcopalian.
So, I stand before you this morning to tell you something you might not know- The Ten Commandments are Episcopalian…in fact, Moses was an Episcopalian…
I tell you this morning, the Ten Commandments were given to an Episcopalian…and the Episcopal Church in Mississippi has very close ties to The Ten Commandments.
For most of us who grew up in the Episcopal Church, the Ten Commandments, otherwise known as the Decalogue, is very much a part of our lives on Sundays.
Without fail, as I youth, I remember each and every Advent and Lent the Choir and the priest processing round and round the outside isles of the Nave chanting them…
and I remember chanting back- Lord have Mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep Thy laws…By fourth grade I could chant the whole thing by heart, and I also learned that when we sang them, all my friends got home from their Churches before me…
But that doesn’t really make the Ten Commandments Episcopal- except that maybe we are last in the Sunday buffet lines…
So, a little trivia for you to tie all of this together and prove that that Moses was Episcopalian. In the year 1859 the Rev. Fr. Joseph Holt Ingraham wrote a book titled The Pillar of Fire.
Fr. Ingraham was the founding Rector at the same Church I came to you all from- St. John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen MS. In 1956, his book, Pillar of Fire, became the screenplay for the Movie, The Ten Commandments. So, a priest of the Diocese of Mississippi had a large hand in a very famous movie.
Charlton Heston, as some of you may recall, starred in the Ten Commandments as Moses. And Charlton Heston was a devote and faithful Episcopalian until the day he died. So, therefore, I say Moses was Episcopal and the Ten Commandments were given to an Episcopalian.
Even though I can prove, albeit through horrid logic, that Moses was Episcopalian, we are still left with the question of the Ten Commandments and their place in our lives of faith.
So, a little background. We all remember the story of Adam and Eve. They were created by God to live forever in the Garden of Eden- created to live forever united to and in the presence of God.
They fell from grace and were expelled from the garden. So, the inhabitants of the earth were separated from God. Humanity, whom had been created to live with Him, had separated themselves from Him.
And so God began the long and patient task of reconciliation- of rejoining man to Himself so all could be as it was created to be.
God’s first covenant was with Abraham. God promised Abraham that He would be their God and the descendants of Abraham would be His people.
The task of Abraham was to bring the people of the world back to a righteous and loving relationship with God.
And as we have been reading over the past few months, the people of Abraham could not even get it right themselves- the people of Abraham could not live in a right relationship with God, let alone bring others back to God.
So, as an act of mercy and of freedom, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, to help the people know right from wrong…to help them live in a righteous relationship with God and with each other.
God gives the Ten Commandments to help reconcile the world to Himself. So, the Ten Commandments are not an act of oppressing human freedom…rather they are an attempt to free humanity from oppressive bondage.
There are two parts to the Ten Commandments…instructions for how to live in a right relationship with God and instructions for how to live in a right relationship with our fellow man.
With God: you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, Remember the sabbath day…
With each other: Honor your father and your mother, You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
These commandments, whether we walk around chanting them in Church or not, are a part of our Sunday Liturgy. At 8:00, we hear the summery of the Law at the beginning of the service, and at 10:30 the summery of the Law is read right before the General Confession.
God gives us these commandments to make our lives right before His eyes and in the eyes of our fellow man. They are central to our faith…
Now, whether or not they should be in courthouses or on the facades of businesses…I will leave that to the other pundits…the fact remains- they are written on our hearts each and every Sunday.
God gave them as an act of mercy and to give us freedom. Shifting gears a bit to this morning’s Gospel, this idea of freedom and mercy…of the groundwork for our lives being laid by God is very present.
In prayer this week, I was very reluctant to preach on the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in the Vineyard.
Mainly because it deals with the reality of humanity beating and torturing and killing not only the prophets of the living God, but the Son of God Himself.
It’s difficult to wade through in 15 minutes, and I’ve heard it abused in so many different ways…but there is a thread that is not often pulled.
The vineyard itself. Notice, if you will, that the workers did not have to plant the vines, dig the irrigation, build the winepress, or put up the hedge round about the perimeter.
All the tenants had to do was care for what was given them. They didn’t have to invent the wheel…they didn’t have to invent anything- they only had to show up and take care of what was already created for them.
And as we contemplate the Ten Commandments today…I think that is an important thread. We are not left to our own devises to try and figure out how to respond to and live with God...nor are we left alone to try and figure out how to treat and live with one another.
And that in and of itself should be very freeing. We don’t have to build the vineyard…all we must do is tend it.
So, as people do as people will, as people hit each other over the head with stone tablets and judge one another based on accessories on building edifices…
Let us take the commandments to heart. Let us love our God with all our mind, and all our heart and all our soul…and let us love our neighbor as we love ourselves...let us love one another as God loves us.
10/05/2008
Sermon- October 5th 2008
by Fr. Jeff
“And Moses said to the people, "Do not fear; for God has come to prove you, and that the fear of him may be before your eyes, that you may not sin."” (Exodus 20.20 RSV)
There has been much ado made of the Ten Commandments in our time. If you will, remember back a few years to all of the media pundits talking about how the Ten Commandments should not or should be allowed in courts of law.You will also remember how people put them up in front yards, in places of business and on car bumpers, I’ve even seen one up in the front of a night club. It was all the rage.
And in some of the Episcopal parishes I’ve been around, and in the youth and young adult community in this Diocese, there has also been much discussion about the Ten Commandments.
First of all, most people could not even recite all ten (but then again, people who had them up at their places of business, for the most part, couldn’t recite them either), but that never seems to stop people from having opinions.
Some said we should have them up in public places…some said we should not…Some said we no longer were subject to them. Some said we were.
Some said that they are oppressive and should not be read in Church. Some said they were not very Episcopalian.
So, I stand before you this morning to tell you something you might not know- The Ten Commandments are Episcopalian…in fact, Moses was an Episcopalian…
I tell you this morning, the Ten Commandments were given to an Episcopalian…and the Episcopal Church in Mississippi has very close ties to The Ten Commandments.
For most of us who grew up in the Episcopal Church, the Ten Commandments, otherwise known as the Decalogue, is very much a part of our lives on Sundays.
Without fail, as I youth, I remember each and every Advent and Lent the Choir and the priest processing round and round the outside isles of the Nave chanting them…
and I remember chanting back- Lord have Mercy upon us, and incline our hearts to keep Thy laws…By fourth grade I could chant the whole thing by heart, and I also learned that when we sang them, all my friends got home from their Churches before me…
But that doesn’t really make the Ten Commandments Episcopal- except that maybe we are last in the Sunday buffet lines…
So, a little trivia for you to tie all of this together and prove that that Moses was Episcopalian. In the year 1859 the Rev. Fr. Joseph Holt Ingraham wrote a book titled The Pillar of Fire.
Fr. Ingraham was the founding Rector at the same Church I came to you all from- St. John’s Episcopal Church in Aberdeen MS. In 1956, his book, Pillar of Fire, became the screenplay for the Movie, The Ten Commandments. So, a priest of the Diocese of Mississippi had a large hand in a very famous movie.
Charlton Heston, as some of you may recall, starred in the Ten Commandments as Moses. And Charlton Heston was a devote and faithful Episcopalian until the day he died. So, therefore, I say Moses was Episcopal and the Ten Commandments were given to an Episcopalian.
Even though I can prove, albeit through horrid logic, that Moses was Episcopalian, we are still left with the question of the Ten Commandments and their place in our lives of faith.
So, a little background. We all remember the story of Adam and Eve. They were created by God to live forever in the Garden of Eden- created to live forever united to and in the presence of God.
They fell from grace and were expelled from the garden. So, the inhabitants of the earth were separated from God. Humanity, whom had been created to live with Him, had separated themselves from Him.
And so God began the long and patient task of reconciliation- of rejoining man to Himself so all could be as it was created to be.
God’s first covenant was with Abraham. God promised Abraham that He would be their God and the descendants of Abraham would be His people.
The task of Abraham was to bring the people of the world back to a righteous and loving relationship with God.
And as we have been reading over the past few months, the people of Abraham could not even get it right themselves- the people of Abraham could not live in a right relationship with God, let alone bring others back to God.
So, as an act of mercy and of freedom, God gives Moses the Ten Commandments, to help the people know right from wrong…to help them live in a righteous relationship with God and with each other.
God gives the Ten Commandments to help reconcile the world to Himself. So, the Ten Commandments are not an act of oppressing human freedom…rather they are an attempt to free humanity from oppressive bondage.
There are two parts to the Ten Commandments…instructions for how to live in a right relationship with God and instructions for how to live in a right relationship with our fellow man.
With God: you shall have no other gods before me. You shall not make for yourself an idol, You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, Remember the sabbath day…
With each other: Honor your father and your mother, You shall not murder.
You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
These commandments, whether we walk around chanting them in Church or not, are a part of our Sunday Liturgy. At 8:00, we hear the summery of the Law at the beginning of the service, and at 10:30 the summery of the Law is read right before the General Confession.
God gives us these commandments to make our lives right before His eyes and in the eyes of our fellow man. They are central to our faith…
Now, whether or not they should be in courthouses or on the facades of businesses…I will leave that to the other pundits…the fact remains- they are written on our hearts each and every Sunday.
God gave them as an act of mercy and to give us freedom. Shifting gears a bit to this morning’s Gospel, this idea of freedom and mercy…of the groundwork for our lives being laid by God is very present.
In prayer this week, I was very reluctant to preach on the Parable of the Wicked Tenants in the Vineyard.
Mainly because it deals with the reality of humanity beating and torturing and killing not only the prophets of the living God, but the Son of God Himself.
It’s difficult to wade through in 15 minutes, and I’ve heard it abused in so many different ways…but there is a thread that is not often pulled.
The vineyard itself. Notice, if you will, that the workers did not have to plant the vines, dig the irrigation, build the winepress, or put up the hedge round about the perimeter.
All the tenants had to do was care for what was given them. They didn’t have to invent the wheel…they didn’t have to invent anything- they only had to show up and take care of what was already created for them.
And as we contemplate the Ten Commandments today…I think that is an important thread. We are not left to our own devises to try and figure out how to respond to and live with God...nor are we left alone to try and figure out how to treat and live with one another.
And that in and of itself should be very freeing. We don’t have to build the vineyard…all we must do is tend it.
So, as people do as people will, as people hit each other over the head with stone tablets and judge one another based on accessories on building edifices…
Let us take the commandments to heart. Let us love our God with all our mind, and all our heart and all our soul…and let us love our neighbor as we love ourselves...let us love one another as God loves us.
