We began worship this morning with a question, “How do you honor God?”  Several mentioned daily prayer, morning devotion, and weekly worship.  I’ve been witness to some of those things.  It does something to my heart when I see a family gathered around the dinner table at McDonalds or McCormick’s or Mi Ranchito’s with heads bowed and hands joined in prayer before eating.  That’s a powerful witness to and an honoring of God.

I thought of some others during my prayers this week.  We are a nation of sports fanatics.  With the beginning of the football season we’ll soon be seeing wide receivers charging into the end zone pointing to heaven just as baseball players do when the cross the plate after a homerun.  That’s their way of honoring God.

I’ll put a plug in for Deb Stokley and the Lay Leadership Committee by saying that serving on church committees is a way of honoring God.  United Methodist’s even believe that “conferencing” is a spiritual discipline.

We’re in the month of Ramadan when Muslim’s honor their understanding of God with daily fasts.  Our Jewish friends wear yarmulkes (ya-ma-kas), keep certain “feast days” and in Jesus’ day they washed their hands in certain ways before they ate.

Maybe you’ve never thought of hand washing as a religious act.  That’s probably because most of us have been taught through the years that the Pharisees were bad people.  In Matthew’s gospel particularly they are the enemy that is always questioning Jesus about his actions, beliefs, and authority.  I’d like for you to learn to read scripture without that bias because when we do we discover amazing things about our own relationship with God.

Today’s gospel lesson was preceded by all we’ve read during the past few weeks; the death of John, the desire to be alone with the disciples, a day of healing and teaching that ended with a meal of 5 loaves and two fish for 5000 + women and children, a night of prayer for Jesus and hard rowing for the disciples, Jesus walking on the water to their side, Peter’s walking on water for a time, Jesus’ immediately reaching out to lift him up, Jesus calming the storm, the disciples proclamation, “Truly you (Jesus) are the Son of God”, and the Pharisees and scribes asking, “Why do you disciples break the tradition of the elders?  For they do not wash their hands before they eat?”

I know, it sounds like a silly question to us.  Partly because some of us have forgotten that all those commands recorded in the book of Leviticus (yes…the 10 Commandments are in there too) were not just about community relations and personal hygiene.  They were given and written as a guide for those who wanted to honor God by learning to live every day the way God wanted them to live.  Maybe they were the first with the motto, “Putting God First … Every Day.”  The Pharisees were a lay movement dedicated to holding that idea up in front of God’s Chosen People.  Most did it not because they wanted to be mean but because they truly believed it was what God wanted.  So washing hands became a way of honoring God and when Jesus’ Disciples didn’t wash their hands a certain way (there were after all instruction sheets in all the public washrooms ;) they wondered how he could claim to have been sent by God when he didn’t teach his followers to honor God’s rules.

That question comes up often concerning many different aspects of God’s Law.  Most of the reported trouble centered on keeping the Sabbath which is what eventually caused the Jewish of that day to extreme measures to silence this so-called Messiah.  Jesus answered those Sabbath questions with a reminder that the Sabbath was made for humanity and not humanity for the Sabbath.  It was a matter of mixed up priorities and essentially that was the problem with hand washing rules.  They were given for humanity not the other way around.

We know that.  Today we read that Jesus called the crowd together and taught them, “it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but it is what comes of the mouth that defiles.” (Mt. 15:11, NRSV)  Makes sense to me but the Disciples led by Peter asked Jesus to explain it more clearly.  After wondering why they were so slow to understand, Jesus explains, “Don’t you know that anything that is swallowed works its way through the intestines and is finally defecated? But what comes out of the mouth gets its start in the heart. It’s from the heart that we vomit up evil arguments, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, lies, and cussing. That’s what pollutes. Eating or not eating certain foods, washing or not washing your hands—that’s neither here nor there.”  (Mt. 15:17-20, MSG)  I don’t think I can say it any better.

So, I’m wondering how you honor God.  This is not a rhetorical question.  I really want to know.  So pick up your cell phone and text or e-mail me right now.  (There was a slide with my mobile number and e-mail address)  Or do it the old fashion way and grab the pencil and paper that’s in the pew in front of you then include it with your offering.  How do you honor God?

  • “I honor God by loving myself and all of God’s Children…as a parent I know how I feel when someone is unkind to my child so is our God with His.”
  • “Be in prayer 24-7.”
  • “By treating people we meet, both personally and professionally, with respect and fairness.  Mark Twain said, ‘always do right – that will please most people and astonish the rest.’”
  • Going to Youth Group
  • Hang out with Teens is how I honor God.
  • I worship God to the highest
  • With music, both vocal & instrumental
  • I honor God with my praise each day

I’m also aware that there are some things that we do around here that have become, “washing your hands” events and traditions.  I’d like to know what you think those are.

  • Acolytes are dumb
  • I was just wondering why the Acolytes light the 2 candles on the Altar.  I know it’s important, because we do it every Sunday.  I’m just not sure why.
  • I’d like to have the sermon last, as a climax to the service – perhaps followed by a song and invitation.

(Thanks to the two who texted, “Nice Prayer” and “Good Message”)

We honor or dishonor God every day with what comes out of our mouths.  If it is our goal to, “Put Christ First … Every Day” then perhaps the best way for us to do that is by being always aware of what we are saying and how we are saying it.  This includes all those places we move about in that are outside the walls of the church’s buildings.  We witness to our faith in God while waiting for the waiter, driving down the road, sitting at our desk, walking our halls, sitting in the stands/recliners/couches/lunch rooms, and shopping.  Maybe even by washing our hands.  One of the church’s saints wrote about honoring God while he washed the dishes at the monastery.

How will you honor God this week?

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