Out of the abdundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Luke 6:45

   Yesterday, as I was watching the ceremonies commemorating the third anniversary of the 9/11 attack, the words of Jeremiah took on a new relevance:

As I have watched over the house of Israel
to pluck up and break down,
to overthrow, destroy, and bring evil,
so will I watch over them to build and to plant,
saith the Lord.
(31:28)

   Perhaps more than any other people on the face of the earth, the Jewish people have had the experience of rebuilding after destruction and apparent annihilation. This is why, when Canaanites, Hittites, and Babylonians are only names in ancient history books, the Jews today are still a people, who have returned after centuries of exile to their ancestral land.

   One does not have to approve of all the policies of the modern state of Israel to be able to marvel at this miracle of national renewal and to seek to find in it some lesson for ourselves. For whether we are talking about nations or individuals, survival is only possible through constant renewal.

   Jeremiah foretells that the covenant written on tablets of stone, which the Israelites broke, will be replaced by a new covenant written on human hearts (31:32-33). The knowledge of God will no longer come from without, by one person teaching another, but from within: all will know the Lord, from the least of them unto the greatest of them (v. 34).

   At the Last Supper Jesus appropriated the prophecy of Jeremiah when he said:

This is my blood of the new covenant,
which is poured out for many
for the forgiveness of sins.
Matthew 26:28

   We Christians claim to be the people of the new covenant. Our religion is supposed to be a religion of the heart ("out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh"). The teachings of our faith only take on life when they are internalized, when, in Christ’s words, the disciple who is fully taught will be like the teacher (Luke 6:40). At that point the external teacher becomes superfluous, since each one, as in the prophecy of Jeremiah, will know the Lord from within, by the law written on each human heart by the finger of God, the holy spirit.

   Then morality will no longer be obedience to an external code, whether the law revealed on Mount Sinai or the superego of Freudian psychology. Rather, morality will be "doing what comes naturally," since our nature will have been transformed by the spirit dwelling within us.

   I offer these thoughts today as we begin a new year together, a time when we consider our need for personal renewal and for the renewal o our parish life. This afternoon the Rt. Rev. Colin Johnson will be installed as the 11th Bishop of Toronto. The latest issue of the Anglican proclaims, "Three knocks on the door of St. James’ Cathedral will begin a new era." May God renew our diocese from within, not just bringing in new faces but creating new hearts, by the power of God’s grace.

September 12, 2004