Proverbs 4; James 3:13-18
James Sledge June
21, 2015
Some
of you may be familiar with H. L. Mencken’s take on the Puritans. He wrote, “Puritanism:
The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” And just in case you
didn’t know it, Presbyterians are close theological relatives of Puritans.
Presbyterian was the name chosen by the Reformed Church in Scotland, while the
Reformed Christians in England were called Puritans.
People
of faith are known for a few “Thou shalt nots,” and I suspect most people
recognize the need for some of these. When we had the Deacons’ picnic a couple
of weeks ago, a group of us was talking about how the church was a great
location for the event except for the closeness to Broad Street. About that
time a soccer ball got loose and rolled into the street, a child close behind.
Immediately shouts of “Stop! Don’t go after it! Don’t go in the road!” came
from all over. A few, well-placed “thou shalt nots” are sometimes necessary.
Parents
usually know something about shalt nots and other prohibitions. Children may
disagree, but most parents don’t see their primary purpose as ensuring children
experience a healthy dose of unhappiness. “Yes, ice cream tastes great, but no,
you cannot eat it for breakfast, lunch, and supper. Yes, it would be wonderful
to be able to fly like Superman, but no, you may not tie a cape around your
neck and jump off the roof.”
Certain
prohibitions and shalt nots are essential to create some safe boundaries within
which a child can go about the business of figuring out how to be a reasonably
healthy, well-adjusted, contributing member of human society. But the rules are
not goals in and of themselves. They are simply a framework to help along the
way.
In
the weeks following Pentecost, we have been talking each Sunday about how the
Spirit equips us for life as followers of Jesus. The last two weeks we’ve
spoken of loving God and of loving neighbor. Many are familiar with the words
Jesus spoke about what is most important for walking in the way of God, how we
should love God with heart, mind and soul, and how we should love our neighbor
as ourselves. But what, exactly, does it mean to love others as we love
ourselves? Do we even know what it means to love ourselves?
Very
often, self love is understood as catering to my preferences, giving me what I
want. But as any parent can tell you, indulging wants and desires is far from a
foolproof guide to happiness. Eating ice cream all day long or jumping off the
roof turns out to have some real negative consequences. Parents who allow their
children to do such things might rightly be regarded as not loving those
children at all. Children, it seems, can have faulty ideas about loving
themselves, as can I.