The 10 Commandments

Exodus 20:1-4, 7-9, 12-20

Then God spoke all these words: I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; you shall have no other gods before me.

You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth.

You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.

Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. Six days you shall labor and do all your work.

Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.

You shall not murder.

You shall not commit adultery.

You shall not steal.

You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.

You shall not covet your neighbor's house; you shall not covet your neighbor's wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.

When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid and trembled and stood at a distance, and said to Moses, "You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die." Moses said to the people, "Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin."

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I want to go back and think with you about the culture wars we experienced in 2006 surrounding the 10 commandments. If you'll remember, Judge Roy Moore, a chief justice of the Alabama Supreme Court became a hero of the religious right for his willingness to "go to the mat" over the display of the 10 commandments in the courthouse. After he was removed as a justice for his refusal to remove the 10 commandments, he became a national figure speaking all over the country and bringing those 10 commandments with him. What got lost in this entire conversation, at least for me, was the size of the monument that Moore had built. It was 5,280 pounds (2 1/2 tons)! Whenever he would travel and go to an event, a crane had to lift it out of the trailer. What struck me about this whole event were two things: 1.) The number of folks who supported Moore (initially 80% in a nationwide poll) yet who couldn't name the 10 commandments -- don't worry I won't ask you to name them -- and 2.) In the Jewish tradition, the 10 commandments are a source of joy and life, not something oppressive -- especially 5,280 pounds of oppression. Psalm 119, the longest chapter in the Bible, is devoted entirely to singing the praises of the commandments -- "Your law gives life to my soul" says the psalmist. That's quite different than 2 1/2 tons of granite.

Given that each commandment could be a sermon unto itself -- this morning I want to simply think with you about two of those commandments: idolatry and sabbath.

First idolatry. Now you might be thinking "I don't have any graven images in my house, so I'm safe." Well that's not exactly what this commandment is talking about. Idols are about self-worship. They point us away from the worth and dignity of all human life. This week has been a difficult week for many of us as we watched the stock market take a drastic hit. We wonder about our retirement, our pension, our savings. Will we have enough money? Those who have set up money as an idol have had a very hard time. Money is a means to an end when used appropriately. Money allows us to provide food, clothing, and shelter for our families and to give money away to God and to the poor. Accumulating wealth just for the sake of accumulating wealth is a form of idolatry. It's putting your trust in something besides God. It's easier to go through life with idols. It's much harder to trust in the unknown, in the darkness. In the voice answering Moses' request for revelation with the words: "I AM WHO I AM."

Church is the place we come each and every week to have community. To regain our center and to be reminded that God should be at the center of our lives and not idols of wealth, status or position.

The second commandment I want to think with you about is Sabbath. Now you might wonder why I chose this one. It's because this is probably the one commandment we throw around more loosely than others. People don't usually walk around and say, "I'm goint to steal today." "I'm going to commit adultery today." "I'm going to lie." But how many times do we go around talking about "working all weekend" trying to gain the favor of our boss and to try and emphasize the value we place on work?

Six days of work followed by one day of rest is woven deep into the fabric of the Bible.  It all starts with creation where on the seventh day God rested.  Are we better than God?  We as God's people are to rest on one day because God did.  In the Exodus as the children of Israel were fleeing the Egyptian Empire, God provided manna for them in the wilderness.  They could only gather enough manna for the day ahead, but the day before Sabbath they could gather enough for two days.

In 1991 Juliet Schor published a book entitled The Overworked American.  It became a surprise best-seller.  In the book, Schor argues that work hours and stress are up and sleep and family time are down.  Add overtime or second jobs to schedules and single parents are stretched in so many directions that they sometimes feel that they can't manage.  Simultaneously, we are bombarded by messages that urge us to spend more (and so, ultimately, to work more) to keep our homes cleaner, to improve ourselves as parents, investors or athletes.  To make all of this possible, grocery stores are open 24 hours, entertainment options are available around the clock.  We live in an economy and a society that are demanding too much from people.  It seems that the American economy is nearly a 24-hour-a-day, 7-day-a-week, 365-days-a-year economy.

So what is one to do?

Culture tells us to take a fancy vacation (yet again requiring more money and thereby more work) or buy a piece of exercise equipment that can burn 500 calories in 5 minutes.

Here is where our Jewish brothers and sisters have something to teach us.  The idea of Sabbath is at the heart of Judaism.  What would it be like for us to set aside one day a week for rest and worship.  If you have to work on Sunday, like me, finding another day to do it.  Spending a day where you focus on taking a walk, resting, talking with loved ones, reading.  Taking a break from shopping or e-mailing.

So the next time you run across the 10 commandments I hope you can name at least two of them and to remember that they aren't weights to bog us down, but a way to help us stay centered by focusing on God rather than idols -- especially the idol of money and to give us rest and peace by keeping Sabbath.  Amen.  

The Rev'd Thomas S. Rogers, III

Assistant Rector

All Saints Episcopal Church

Frederick, Maryland

October 5, 2008 // Proper 22