• Song of Solomon 2:8-13

Although later given spiritual and religious interpretations, the Song of Solomon is firstly a lyrical poem about human love.  The poet compares her lover to a “gazelle or a young stag.”  She finds him sneaking looks at her through a lattice.  He speaks and invites her to join him.  “For now the winter is past, the rain is over and gone, the flower appears on the earth, the time of singing has come….”

• Psalm 45:1-2,7-10

This psalm is unique in two ways: it is a love song written for a royal wedding and the poet celebrates his own poetical prowess.  These excerpted verses acknowledge the reign of God whose throne is “forgiveness” and who loves justice and hates evil.  This is the God who anointed the King, who is to wed this day.

OR

• Deuteronomy 4:1-2,6-9

Set in the form of the valedictory address given by Moses, the book of Deuteronomy offers its own version of the history of God’s rescue of Israel from slavery, the gift of the Law and its establishment in its own land.  The writer warns that no one should add or take away from his version.  He also requires observance of his admonitions, because this tradition has given Israel an international reputation as a “great nation,” a “wise and discerning people,” and because it is “just.”  Remember it yourself and teach it to your children.

• Psalm 15

The psalmist delineates the traits of the person who “will sojourn in the Lord’s tent” and “dwell in Your holy mountain” as the person who does justice, speaks truth, does not slander, does not malign neighbors or family, keeps her word.  The person “who does these things will never stumble.”

• James 1:17-27

The collection of moralizing aphorisms and sayings attributed to “James” rarely mentions Christ nor any aspect of the gospel.  The writer knows an unmovable “Father of lights,” who has given “us birth by the word of truth” to be exemplars.  He then provides a rather expected, conventional list of attributes– careful to speak, slow to anger, avoid “rank wickedness….”  But then he offers a practical, necessary balance to those who make religion abstract or vague or sentimental.  He insists: “be doers of the word and not merely hearers only.”  He then defines “pure religion” with certain specific tasks: “care for orphans and widows in their distress.”  He concludes, “keep… untainted by the world.”

• Mark 7:1-8,14-15,21-23

After following for the past four Sundays John’s lengthy and pivotal meditation on Christ as the generous conduit of the superabundance of God, which followed his version of the feeding of more than 5,000 women, men and children, we return to Mark’s leaner narrative.  In Mark’s gospel, the spectacle of Jesus feeding  such a huge number of people in one seating with more leftovers than they knew what to do with is followed immediately by confrontation.  “The Pharisees and scribes” now take Jesus much more seriously and begin to scrutinize him and his followers more closely.  The Pharisees notice that his disciples did not wash before eating.  “Why do your disciples not live according to the tradition of the elders..?”  Jesus snaps.  He has just fed the population of several towns and there are baskets of leftovers sitting all around and these religious leaders focus on ‘tradition’!  Isaiah warned about hypocrites like you, Jesus says curtly.  Then he delivers the coup de gras: ” You abandon the commandment of God and hold to human tradition.”  In the dead silence that follows, Jesus turns from his critics and speaks to the huge crowd, “Listen to me, all of you, and understand: there is nothing outside a person that by going in can defile.”  “All evil comes from within, and they defile a person.”

Given the controversial and uncertain path to be or not to be included in the biblical canon, the Song of Solomon and the Letter of James raise the questions: What makes words ‘religious’; What is ‘religious’ behavior?

Words are in and of themselves neutral.   What gives them power, sometimes devastating and other times wonderful power, relies on the intentions and the expected outcome of the person who spoke/wrote them; the motives and intentions of the person(s) who interprets them; the reactions/actions that result from the person who hears/reads them.  Therefore, any language can be religious, including the most secular novel, movie or poem, (as in the case of the Song of Solomon, for example).  Conversely, language purporting to be religious can be too easily perverted.  If the author/speaker (preacher) reads/hears the canonical words and interprets them in a spirit of fairness, respect, justice, carefulness and humility, her intentions are clear.  Those who hear/read/interpret and react to her words bear responsibility for their decisions, too.  The words “that come [out of the mouth] are what defile; all evil comes form within,” Jesus said.

The same is true of actions.  At some point, all the talk eventually stops and actions follow.  Religious actions ought to be obsessed with the exact same concerns as religious language– care, justice, fairness, protection of the vulnerable, respect,  Writing admiringly of the Letter of James, Jean-Luc Nancy insists:

“What James, for his part, would have us understand is that faith is its own work.  It is in works, it makes them, and the works make it.” (Dis-Enclosure: The Deconstruction of Christianity, p.52)

We know from sad experience that language that purports to be religious can be used as cover for indifference, self-satisfaction, cruelty or even violence.  Now we are reminded that the plainest, everyday language and action can fulfill the highest biblical aspirations.  “The person who does all these things”– does justice, speaks truth, does not slander nor malign family or neighbors, keeps her word– “will never stumble,” the psalmist teaches us.  The impact of all language is the test of the meaning meant when it was spoken or written and the meaning  interpreted when it is read or heard and the actions that follow.