Readings: Song of Solomon 2.8-13; Psalm 45.1-2, 6-9; James 1.17-27;Mark 7.1-8, 14-15, 21-23

“Lattice” is a funny word. It sounds like “lettuce”. It is fitted to a window to stop people breaking and entering, but to let the wind pass. It is there to stop people seeing too much. A lattice is what is used by the women of the house in Nobel prize winner Naguib Mahfouz’s Cairo Trilogy, so that they can see without being seen, observe what is happening in the street without being observed themselves.

And yet in today’s passage from the Song of Solomon it is God, the beloved, who “stands behind our wall, gazes through the windows, peers through the lattice”. Isn’t a lattice precisely what we use to be seen by God – that is, we allow him a qualified view, the best parts of ourselves, the ones we’re prepared to share? We are much more reluctant to let him see us all, to let him see us in our nakedness, as a lover would, warts and all.

We compartmentalize and are happy to show him the good stuff – the house we have constructed, the nicely pruned roses, the smartly trimmed lawn. We are even happier if our neighbours make complimentary remarks and this enhances our reputation. A wonderful neighbour, a worthy neighbour, a reputable neighbour. We might even have dropped a few coins in the tray of the beggar on the corner of our street.

Yes, but what about some of the darker stuff that is hidden behind the latticework which allows only a partial view (the way we would like to be seen)? James, in his letter, describes it as “all moral filth and the evil that is so prevalent”. Mark’s list, unfortunately, is longer: “sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly”. Mark describes these as evil thoughts that come from within, and he warns us that it is they that defile a person. Note that it is thoughts he cites, not words or actions.

I am in the habit of taking my dog for a walk two or three times a day. That is, he goes for three walks – I do two of them, three if my son is away. Most of the streets and parks around where we live I have become overly familiar with, and as Simi potters along, sniffing and pulling in certain directions, there is a limit to how much I can observe the scene and I fall to thinking. How many of my thoughts are “sexual immorality, theft, murder, adultery, greed, malice, deceit, lewdness, envy, slander, arrogance and folly”? Well, it depends what kind of day I’ve had. And what do we do about these thoughts that, if we are not careful, can lead to words and actions?

The first point to make is that we all have them. No human mind is as pure as the ivory that adorns kings’ palaces or as gleaming as gold from Ophir, a place from which gold was imported to the Middle East and which is said to have existed, though its location is uncertain.

I would say that the first way to counter thoughts that might lead to immoral behaviour or acts of revenge is to accept that they exist and then to ignore them.

Another way is to speak them aloud to a confessor. I am sorry that the sacrament of confession is so little used because I think it can be very helpful in the process of cleansing our souls. Perhaps we associate it too much with feeling guilty, with penance and punishment, but it needn’t be like this, if, as I said before, we accept that evil thoughts are common to us all and it is done in a spirit of communal love and non-judgementalism.

We can pray to God, cry out to the Lord for help, but in the heat of the moment, when lust or anger or hatred blinds our vision, this might not bring us the calm we seek.

We can surround ourselves with other believers. As it says in Psalm 133, “How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!” We can look for a change of scene, avoid people or places that trigger temptation.

We can be grateful. It is very difficult to have evil thoughts when you are grateful. Thankfulness and hatred do not go hand in hand. We can respond with gentleness, adopt an attitude of lowliness in the light of Christ’s sacrifice and rejoice in the things that he has done.

It says in Proverbs, “The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves the one who pursues righteousness.” We find the same message in today’s readings. In Psalm 45, “You love righteousness and hate wickedness.” In James, “human anger does not produce the righteousness that God desires.” This letter is traditionally attributed not to James the Apostle, the brother of John and son of Zebedee, but to James the Just, the brother of Jesus, who became leader of the Church in Jerusalem. James goes on to tell us that vanity is not the answer – looking at ourselves in the mirror – but piety, “looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom”.

“Looking intently into the perfect law that gives freedom.” That is, a righteous way of life will free us from our passions. We think of freedom as getting what we want, as indulging the ego, but this will lead to frustration, isolation and a lack of bearing fruit. It is when we glimpse something greater than our own needs – which will be met anyway – that we can lay down the hatchet and begin to find peace.

So, we embrace righteousness. We make a conscious choice. We say to ourselves that this is the life that I choose in order to become the best version of myself, the best that I can be. True freedom is submission. The last will be first, and the first will be last. We must lose our life in order to find it. Christianity is full of paradox, which I take to be an indicator of truth.

That latticework is what hides our innermost thoughts. We try to prevent God from entering, or at least from seeing too much. It is as if a guest arrives unannounced and we rush around stuffing dirty clothes under the bed, dirty plates in the oven. We don’t have to do this. We can let him in. And when we do this, we will see that:

The winter is past;

the rains are over and gone.

Flowers appear on the earth;

the season of singing has come,

the cooing of doves

is heard in our land.

I would like to stress that this is a conscious choice “to keep oneself from being polluted by the world”. Of course, it’s not always possible. I normally find that my good intentions are thwarted after five minutes. But I also have the impression that if we declare this intention, God, who knows our weaknesses, will keep us from falling – if he sees a commitment on our part, a willingness to steer our lives in the right direction.

Let us pray:

God of constant mercy,

who sent your Son to save us:

remind us of your goodness,

increase your grace within us,

that our thankfulness may grow,

through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Jonathan Dunne, www.stonesofithaca.com