A Perfect 10
by the
Reverend Dr. Byron E. Shafer
(Rutgers, October 3, 1999; 27th
Sunday in Ordinary Time, Year A;
World Communion, Peacemaking
Offering, Bring-A-Friend Sunday)
Psalm 19 (OT, p. 550); Exodus
20:1–4, 7–9, 12–17 (OT, p. 73)
Alas,
we Christians—we're not accustomed to dancing for joy over
scripture, but hooray for our Jewish brothers and sisters, who are!
Today, in synagogues throughout the world, they're marching and
dancing with Torah scrolls, singing and laughing all the while.
For today Jews are observing and celebrating Simchat Torah,
the festival whose name in English is: "The Joy of Torah,"
"Rejoicing in the Law," "Gladness in God's Teaching."
In
Judaism, there's an annual cycle of prescribed readings
from the Torah—the Torah being the first five books of the Bible,
the five books attributed to Moses—
Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy.
And
today's the day when that Jewish lectionary has the congregants
begin by hearing Torah's last verses, from the end of Deuteronomy—
verses describing the death + burial of Moses in the land of Moab–
and then immediately thereafter has the congregants hear
Torah's very first verses, from the beginning of Genesis—
verses describing God's creation of the heavens and the earth.
Hearing the Torah's last verses followed immediately by its
first verses is intended to remind
the assembly that learning
about God and about God's teachings should never end,
but should continue throughout the
cycle of a person's life.
& joining Torah's last verses to its first verses also links
inseparably God's commandments to God's creation.
The
Festival of Simchat Torah, Rejoicing in the Law—
it's a day for dancing; it's a day
of abounding joy and gladness!
It's
that spirit of Simchat Torah that's captured so well for us
in our First Lesson today—Psalm 19.
The joy that the psalmist feels springs from two sources—
the glory and beauty of God's creation,
as celebrated in the Torah's opening verses,
and the glory and beauty of God's commandments,
as communicated throughout the Torah.
Our
psalmist begins his hymn,
which C. S. Lewis has called "the greatest poem in the Psalter
and one of the greatest lyrics in the world"—
our psalmist begins his hymn by expressing joy over
the wonders and splendors of God's creation, the universe:
"The heavens are telling the glory of God;
and the firmament proclaims God's handiwork."
So
magnificent are these words and the images they inspire that
numerous composers have set them to music.
My favorite among these settings is the one by
the 18th-century Austrian composer Franz Joseph Haydn.
I've asked Marshall + the choir to give you a taste of it.
Listen, please, to this work's awesome opening!
[Choir sings just the opening chorus]
And
don't go away! Later you'll get
even more goose bumps when
the choir sings, as our Offertory Anthem, a piece from a setting of
the mass by the French composer Charles Gounod—a piece that
also celebrates the glory of God that's manifest in the creation:
"Sanctus, sanctus, sanctus, Dominus Deus Sabaoth—
Holy, holy, holy, Lord God of Hosts,
heaven and earth are full of Your glory—
pleni sunt coeli et terra gloria tua.
Hosanna in excelsis! Hosanna
in the highest!"
But
back to Psalm 19.
After offering praise for the creation,
the psalmist offers praise for God's commandments:
"The law of the Lord is perfect, reviving the soul;
the decrees of the Lord are sure, making wise the simple;
the precepts of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart;
the commandment of the Lord is clear,
enlightening the eyes.
More to be desired are they than
gold, even much fine gold;
sweeter also than honey, and drippings of the honeycomb."
We
Christians are certainly more accustomed to praising God
for the glory and beauty of creation
than we are for praising God for the glory and beauty
of the law, God's commandments, God's teachings.
Who
here hasn't had the experience of sitting out under the stars on
a clear summer night—whether on a beach or in the mountains—
and of feeling shivers of awe at the sheer beauty of it all,
and of saying to oneself something like,
"Ahhh, God! This is a
perfect 10!"
But,
in contrast, is there anyone here who's had the experience
of shivering in awe or dancing for joy over the beauty of God's laws?
Is there anyone here who's ever sighed in wonder over the glory of
the 10 Commandments, the Decalogue
I read as our 2nd Lesson,
saying, "Ahhh, God!
This is a perfect 10!"?
Yet
the author of Psalm 19 is urging us to do just that—to find
the same transcendent beauty + glory that we link with the starry
heavens in the eternal truths revealed to us in God's ordinances.
Taoism
and Confucianism, which are Chinese religious philosophies,
communicate a message somewhat similar to that of Psalm 19.
They speak about the Tao of the cosmos,
the Tao being that which is both the origin of heaven and earth
and the ongoing creative rhythm of the cosmos.
Both
Taoism and Confucianism teach that for humans to experience
peace and contentment in life we must place ourselves
in the stream of the Tao, living in harmony with it.
Taoism
teaches that harmony with the Tao can best be attained by
withdrawing to a quiet contemplative life in natural surroundings.
Confucianism,
on the other hand, teaches that harmony with the Tao
can best be attained by staying within the relationships of society
+ by consistently practicing the virtues that conform to the Tao,
the virtues taught in the Analects of Confucius.
Traditional
Chinese culture has found it wise to blend together
the Taoist valuing of spontaneity and a mysticism of nature
nd the Confucian valuing of conformity to virtue.
And
I believe that Psalm 19 is an even more ancient version of
that venerable Chinese insight, albeit somewhat different from it.
For the psalmist, peace and contentment follow from placing
oneself in harmony not with the Tao but with God + God's way.
And the way of God is found through both
reverence for nature and obedience to commandments.
I believe the psalmist invites us to understand God's Ten
Commandments afresh, not simply as rules of conduct
but as the moral structure
for God's glorious creation.
This
moral structure is a gracious one that opens our lives
to the possibility of deep and lasting peace and well-being,
as we commune with God as the source and ground of our being
and as we commit ourselves to living in love with our neighbors.
The
Ten Commandments express the moral structure of the universe
and call upon us to love both God and neighbor.
Thus, the Ten Commandments are not a burden or a yoke
to be borne by us in grumbling servitude.
Nor are they obstacles that God has placed
in the way of our road to happiness.
Rather
the Ten Commandments are a joy-filled path
toward harmony with God and the universe,
a joy-filled path toward a life of peace and contentment.
These
commandments revive the soul; they rejoice the heart;
they enlighten the eyes.
To let them become the spine of our being is to experience
liberation from chaos and disorder, alienation and anxiety.
To fill our soul with them is to taste a sweetness that
endures.
To fix our heart on them is to
experience communion
with the One who sets right the
universe.
That's why today is for Christians as well as for Jews
Simchat Torah, a day for rejoicing in God's law.
I
pray that each and every one of us here this morning may come to
find the same transcendent beauty we link with the starry heavens
in the eternal truths revealed to us in the Ten Commandments.
I
pray that each of us may come to experience
the deep and lasting peace and well-being that flows
from following the way of the Ten Commandments,
from acknowledging God as the source and ground of our being
and committing ourselves to living in love with our neighbors.
I
pray that each of us may come to shiver in awe and to dance for joy
not only over the beauty and glory of God's creation
but also over the beauty and glory of God's Ten Commandments.
For both the cosmos and the commandments are a perfect 10!
Let us pray:
O
Lord God of Hosts, the heavens and the earth are full of Your glory.
So,
too, are the Ten Commandments, which You gave to Moses on Mt. Sinai.
May
these be for us a joy-filled path to peace and well-being.
In
the name of Christ, we pray. Amen.
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