Deut.4:1-2,6-9
Psalm 15
James 1:17-27
Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

Pentecost 13 Proper 17B RCL HE 2A 10:00

SECURITY SYSTEMS

Credits: Pulpit Resource 9/1/85
Previous: '85,97,03

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One cannot help noticing these days, the growing emphasis on security: alarm systems, watchdogs, security guards, and so forth. But those are only a system of something much deeper. Security is a basic goal for all human beings, and all of life can be understood and interpreted in terms of security.

Security begins in the womb. The baby doesn't even have to breathe. Every desire is satisfied. There are no worries, for there is a very stable and steady and dependable surrounding.

Then the baby is born and has a rude awakening. Its security system is left behind. It must learn to breathe, and to put up with the changes and chances of life till the day it dies. Perhaps our struggle for security in a world of chaos and hunger and danger is an unconscious desire to recapture the security of the womb. This has spiritual overtones. One of the first stories in the Bible is that of Adam and Eve being expelled from the Garden of Eden, and some have seen that story as being about the human, - being expelled from the security of the womb.

Our second security system is the home we are born into - mother's arms, the shelter of the house, the comforting cradle or crib; and we find safety there. We grow and learn to feel safe in more and more complex patterns. But we never cease to need the regular return to what is easy, familiar and trusted. That is what holidays and vacations are for. But we see this also in a baby's first wobbly steps and the baby then plops down on its bottom, - a return to the security of what is familiar.

Life then becomes a search for security in a thousand forms; and we labor and make our living to provide those securities: insurance, burglar alarms, karate courses, health foods, safety belts - all these are defenses against those hazards that, we believe, threaten our security. Some people look for security by trying to keep everything the same: clinging to a traditional role, trying to do everything the way father or mother did them, keeping experience confined to a narrow world, mistrusting anything which represents change. Others find security in various cults, or in narrow beliefs about life or God or the Bible or the Church. And a growing number look for security in addiction - not just tobacco or drugs or pills or alcohol or overeating, but also those who look for safety in film star images, television, work, sports, pleasure, or immature behavior.

Then there is the woman or man who has suffered a deep emotional injury in love or marriage, and vows never to let another person close to their feelings, and who finds security in being hard and bitter. Or the sensitive person who takes refuge in being tough in school; or the person who feels inadequate and covers it up by bragging.

But in spite of such security substitutes, the human need for security, and the search for it, are legitimate. The Bible speaks to this human need, and this week's readings speak to it strongly.

The Book of Deuteronomy has Moses advising the people of Israel to find their security in faithfulness to the Lord God, walking in His ways and keeping His statutes and commandments, that they may prosper in all that they do and where ever they turn. The Psalms again and again emphasize that our security is in the Lord, the Maker of heaven and earth.

The second reading, from the letter of James, emphasizes what we heard from Deuteronomy, and may remind us of what we heard last week, about putting on the whole armor of God.

In the Gospel, Jesus warns us against finding security in following external rules and human traditions - even religious traditions. They are all external, and God looks at the heart.

The emphasis of the Bible is that human security rests not in our own efforts to fortify ourselves against life's hazards - but in surrendering our own efforts to God. Our help comes from the Lord, as the Psalms tell us. And our own arsenals of protection are inadequate compared to the armor of God which St. Paul described. Trust and obedience to God are the basis for true security. Protection is found in what one of our favorite hymns calls the Lord: "Our shield and defender, the Ancient of Days, our Maker, Defender, Redeemer, and Friend."

I keep saying, one way or the other, that salvation through Christ offers ~s what no other way offers. And this is true. Some of the things said about Senator Kennedy this week rang the changes on that theme: that our greatest losses are an opportunity for God. And anyone who has seriously looked into their own heart and sees there the same plagues that infect human nature universally (cf. I Kings 8:35), - that person knows only too well what God can do with the broken pieces of our lives, with our failures. That is what the Cross and Resurrection are about new life out of death. And it is that salvation that we give thanks for every day, and praise and celebrate every Sunday.