{"id":1186,"date":"2015-08-30T11:00:29","date_gmt":"2015-08-30T15:00:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/?p=1186"},"modified":"2021-02-26T09:54:52","modified_gmt":"2021-02-26T14:54:52","slug":"take-and-read","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/2015\/08\/30\/take-and-read\/","title":{"rendered":"Take and Read"},"content":{"rendered":"

Click here to listen to the full service<\/a><\/p>\n

Mark 7:1-8<\/a>, 14-15<\/a>, 21-23<\/a><\/p>\n

Click here to listen to the sermon only<\/a><\/p>\n

Gracious God, Holy and Just, Whose Mercy is over all thy works<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

We invoke thy blessing today as we embark on this new journey<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Guide us as we sail out for points unknown, ports unseen, and horizons unexplored<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Be our North Star, our compass, sextant<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Keep a clean wind blowing through our lives to make us happy and humble<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Help us to seek shelter when the gusts of loneliness and failure threaten to capsize<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Bless and help us to be a blessing to those commissioned to sail this ship, to the set our course, and to the lead the way<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And a special intercession today for all sailors and crew on the good ship 2019<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For those on the bridge\u2014wisdom<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For those learning the ropes\u2014patience<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For those working the in the rigging\u2014a light heart<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For those who bid farewell at the gangplank, our parents and sponsors\u2014thanksgiving, <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

thanksgiving for the birthpangs that brought life, the hands that prepared us to sail, the hearts that forgave and conditioned and seasoned us, for the tear filled eyes and proud hearts that wave to us as the ship leaves the harbor, our mothers, fathers, aunts, uncles, and our communities of meaning, belonging and empowerment\u2014thanksgiving, thanksgiving.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

O Thou who stills waters and calms seas, grant us fair winds, bright skies and an adventurous voyage <\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Amen<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Here is a matriculation account. Vernon Jordan went to Depauw, a small Methodist school in Indiana, lead by various BU graduates. \u00a0His dad, mom, and younger siblings drove him up and dropped him off their in Greencastle, \u201cup south\u201d, Martin King might have said, from their home in Lousiana. \u00a0Weeping, his father said, \u201cVernon, we are not coming back until four years from now. \u00a0You are here where your future opens. \u00a0At graduation we will be here, sitting in the front row. \u00a0This is your time. \u00a0I have one word of advice. \u00a0Read. \u00a0When others are playing, you read. \u00a0When others are sleeping, you read. \u00a0When others are drinking, you read. \u00a0When others are partying, you read. \u00a0When others are wasting precious time and encouraging you to do the same, you read.\u201d \u00a0\u00a0He did. \u00a0Read, that is. \u00a0Last week, on Martha\u2019s Vineyard, Mr. Jordan celebrated his 80<\/span>th<\/span> birthday, in the company of Presidents Clinton and Obama.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/span>Speaking of Presidents, Boston University\u2019s third President, Lemuel Merlin, left Boston for Greencastle Indiana, to become the President of Depauw, nearly 100 years ago. \u00a0All of our Presidents\u2014Warren, Huntington, Merlin, Marsh, Chase, Christ-Janer, Silber, Westling, Chobanian, and Brown\u2014would salute this Augustinian slogan, \u2018take and read\u2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

For like our gospel lesson today, they and this University, have been interested in what makes a person human, in what makes a human be human, in what lies not outside, but inside, not in measurement but in meaning, not in the visible but in the soulful, not in making a living, only, but in making a life, fully. \u00a0\u00a0Our gospel lesson today from Mark 7 is about the inside. \u00a0Set aside the details. \u00a0Set aside the religious conflict about kosher laws as Christianity moved out from Judaism. \u00a0Set aside the cups, pots, and kettles. \u00a0\u00a0Set aside the ancient language that depicts what is evil. \u00a0Licentiousness is not a word we use a lot, however present the reality to which it points. \u00a0\u00a0The inside. \u00a0The passage is about the priority of what is inside, about the priority of the heart, about the priority of the soul, about the commandment of God which ever trumps tradition. Gospel ever trumps tradition.<\/span><\/p>\n

You hear echoes of other verses. \u00a0<\/span>One does not live by bread alone but by every word that comes from the mouth of God\u2026Cleanse the inside of the cup\u2026.What will it profit to gain the whole world and lose one\u2019s soul?…Enter in at the narrow gate\u2026<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Your challenge in these fours years is not only to earn a BA. \u00a0Your challenge is to do so without losing your soul. \u00a0Your challenge is to do so gaining your soul, tending to the inside, walking in the light, becoming your own best self, finding the place where your heart, \u2018the inside\u2019 comes alive, uniting the pair so long disjoined, knowledge and vital piety, and uniting vocation with avocation, \u2018as two eyes make one in sight\u2019. \u00a0Frost:<\/span><\/p>\n

Yield who will to their separation<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My object in living is to unite<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

My vocation with my avocation<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

As my two eyes make one in sight<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Only where love and need are one<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

And the work is play for mortal stakes<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Is the deed ever really done<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

For heaven and the future\u2019s sakes.<\/span><\/i><\/span>\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\n

Take and read. \u00a0You read.<\/span><\/p>\n

Each Synoptic passage is like a choral piece, including four voices. \u00a0There is the Soprano voice of Jesus of Nazareth, embedded somewhere in the full harmonic mix. \u00a0In Mark 7, Jesus conflicts with the Pharisaic attention to cleanliness. \u00a0There is the alto voice of the primitive church, arguably always the most important of the four voices, that which carries the forming of the passage in the needs of the community. \u00a0Here the community is reminded about the priority of the \u2018inside\u2019. \u00a0The tenor line is that of the evangelist. \u00a0Mark here, marking his own appearance in the record. \u00a0\u00a0The baritone is borne by later interpretation, beginning soon with Irenaeus, Against Heresies: \u00a0\u201cWhat doctor, when wishing to cure a sick man, would act in accordance with the desires of the patient, and not in accordance with the requirements of medicine?\u201d (in Richardson, ECF, 377) (If our church music carries only one line, we may be tempted to interpret our Scripture with only one voice, and miss the SATB harmonies therein, to our detriment.)<\/span><\/p>\n

Take and read.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n

Our focus this year at Marsh Chapel is prayer. \u00a0Adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication. \u00a0An hour a day, a day a week, a week a quarter, a quarter a year. \u00a08am, Friday, school break, summer. \u00a0But prayer is mostly resistance. \u00a0Resistance to what harms the inside, to what eclipses the soul, to what makes us less than human. \u00a0Your mission, should you decide to accept it, is to earn your degree, as you will want to do with all life\u2019s future earnings, in a way that leads to life. \u00a0In a soulful way. \u00a0In a hearty way. \u00a0In a healthy way.<\/span><\/p>\n

Here is what we mean. \u00a0For a moment, we will take an imaginary walk, along with my colleagues Ms. Jaimie Dingus and Ms. Kasey Shultz. \u00a0We will set out and walk down the Esplanade, enjoying the sights of sailing and sculling. \u00a0\u00a0When we come to the statue of Arthur Fiedler we will stop, and read, perhaps a passage from Chaim Potok. \u00a0In \u2018My Name is Asher Lev, the young artist recalls a moment with his father. \u00a0The artist is six years old. \u00a0A bird has died and lies along the curb.<\/span><\/p>\n

Kasey<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cIs it dead, Papa?\u201d \u00a0I was six and could not bring myself to look at it.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cYes\u201d, I heard him say in a sad and distant way.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cWhy did it die?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cEverything that lives must die\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cEverything?\u201d<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cYes\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cYou, too, Papa? And Mama?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cYes\u201d.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cAnd me?<\/b>
\n<\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cYes.\u201d, he said. \u00a0But then he added in Yiddish, \u201cBut may it be only after you live a long and happy life, my Asher.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>I couldn\u2019t grasp it. \u00a0I forced myself to look at the bird. \u00a0Everything alive would one day be as still as that bird?<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cWhy\u201d, I asked.<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cThat\u2019s the way the Ribbono Shel Olom mad this world, Asher.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cWhy?\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/b>\u201cSo life would be precious, Asher. \u00a0Something that is yours forever is never precious.\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Then we will walk a little farther, stopping for a moment in the Public Garden, as lovely a common space as there is. \u00a0We see Commonwealth Avenue, what Winston Churchill called the loveliest street in America. \u00a0We notice and name the flowers, enjoy the shade, perhaps take a boat ride. \u00a0\u00a0Then we open a volume of poetry from Gerard Manley Hopkins:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
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\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>We are not far from the Public Library. \u00a0We enter, and go up the stairs. \u00a0We notice the civil war remembrances. \u00a0We look at the frieze that includes the Hebrew prophets. \u00a0John Updike came regularly to this great reading room\u2014to read, and then, to write. \u00a0\u00a0We pull up a chair for a moment. \u00a0At hand is a copy of David Brooks\u2019 new book, <\/span>The Road to Character.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

Kasey<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cRecently I\u2019ve been thinking about the difference between the resume virtues and the eulogy virtues. \u00a0The resume virtues are the ones you list on your resume, the skills that you bring to the job market and that contribute to external success. \u00a0The eulogy virtues are deeper. \u00a0They\u2019re the virtues that get talked about at your funeral, the ones that exist at the core of your being\u2014whether you are kind, brave, honest, or faithful; what kind of relationships you formed (p. xi).\u201d<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>The day is bright and cool\u2014beautiful autumn in New England. \u00a0We choose the path along the Emerald Necklace, an unusual place to stroll, to saunter\u2014saunter, a saintly walk. \u00a0A bench beckons. \u00a0We sit. \u00a0A Boston surgeon\u2019s book is in our bag, <\/span>Being Mortal<\/span><\/i>. \u00a0We stretch and read his meditation upon medicine and meaning in the twilight of life. \u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jaimie<\/i><\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>\u201cPeople with serious illness have priorities besides simply prolonging their lives\u2026avoiding suffering, strengthening relationships with family and friends, being mentally aware, not being a burden on others, and achieving a sense that their life is complete\u2026our system of technological medical care has utterly failed to meet those needs\u201d (p. 155)<\/b><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 <\/span>Take and read: \u00a0an awareness of wonder may greet you on the Esplanade, an awareness of beauty in the Public Garden, an awareness of virtue in the Library, an awareness of mortality by the Emerald Necklace. \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So that when you return to campus, you may take a seat for a moment in Marsh Chapel, under the window of St. Augustine, just here, who amid tears, misery and lamentation reclaimed his own soul by reading:<\/span><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. I was saying these things and weeping in the most bitter contrition of my heart, when suddenly I heard the voice of a boy or a girl I know not which\u2013coming from the neighboring house, chanting over and over again, \u201cPick it up, read it; pick it up, read it.\u201d [\u201dtolle lege, tolle lege\u201d] Immediately I ceased weeping and began most earnestly to think whether it was usual for children in some kind of game to sing such a song, but I could not remember ever having heard the like. So, damming the torrent of my tears, I got to my feet, for I could not but think that this was a divine command to open the Bible and read the first passage I should light upon. For I had heard how Anthony, accidentally coming into church while the gospel was being read, received the admonition as if what was read had been addressed to him: \u201cGo and sell what you have and give it to the poor, and you shall have treasure in heaven; and come and follow me.\u201d By such an oracle he was forthwith converted to thee.<\/span><\/i><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    So I quickly returned to the bench where Alypius was sitting, for there I had put down the apostle\u2019s book when I had left there. I snatched it up, opened it, and in silence read the paragraph on which my eyes first fell: \u201cNot in rioting and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and envying, but put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh to fulfill the lusts thereof.\u201d I wanted to read no further, nor did I need to. For instantly, as the sentence ended, there was infused in my heart something like the light of full certainty and all the gloom of doubt vanished away.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Take and read\u2026<\/span><\/p>\n

    Take and read.<\/span><\/p>\n

    Take and Read!<\/span><\/p>\n

    Boston University, proud with mission sure<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Keeping the light of knowledge high, long to endure<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Treasuring the best of all that\u2019s old, searching out the new<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    Our Alma Mater Evermore, Hail BU!<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

    -The Rev. Dr. Robert Allan Hill, Dean of Marsh Chapel<\/a><\/p>\n

    For more information about Marsh Chapel at Boston University,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

    For information about donating to the Chapel,\u00a0click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Click here to listen to the full service Mark 7:1-8, 14-15, 21-23 Click here to listen to the sermon only Gracious God, Holy and Just, Whose Mercy is over all thy works We invoke thy blessing today as we embark on this new journey Guide us as we sail out for points unknown, ports unseen, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2679,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[52,22],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2679"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1186"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1193,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1186\/revisions\/1193"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1186"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1186"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blogs.bu.edu\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1186"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}