Mark &:5-8,15-15, 21-22 by Rola Al Ashkar

        I think we are all very conscious today of the term “pollution.” We see it in the newspapers, on TVs, on social media and hear it discussed all the time; air pollution, mind pollution, soil pollution, water pollution, noise pollution, and my biggest pet peeve: plastic pollution… 
 
There is a new type of pollution that Jesus recognizes in our gospel reading for today; I like to call it religious pollution. It is when religious beliefs and traditions that creep into religion become a limitation to human connections and an obstacle to a good relationship with God. God calls us for an unpolluted life. And if that is the case, if we are to be undefiled and unpolluted, then we must understand what pollutes us, where does it come from and how to deal with it.
 
Being polluted -or in biblical terms defiled- can mean a lot of different things in the Bible: Titus 1 says unbelief defiles; I Corinthians 8 says idolatry defiles; in Hebrews 12, bitterness defiles … And as I’ve reflected earlier, impurity has yet another meaning in Judaism. In Greek philosophy, the human body is altogether unclean by nature. Now when Jesus takes part of this conversation, he doesn’t give clear-cut answers but he redirects the focus from the outside to the inside.
 
      Friends, Jesus warns us in today’s gospel that human hearts are the real sources of intentions and therefore of impurity or toxicity whenever it exists. And that we should not hide the inside by blaming the outside.
 
My home church does not recognize women in the same way it does men. And church leaders always blamed it on the society. The Arab society is not ready for women in leadership they’d say. But that isn’t the truth. For years and years they accused the outside environment for their unwillingness to open up and confess their toxic theology!

Let’s talk about toxicity.
 
Talk about toxic relationships. How many times do we blame circumstances to justify someone’s mistreatment toward us or toward someone else? Circumstances are not to blame, let’s admit that such a relationship is toxic.
 
Talk about toxic jobs. How many years would you stay in a job that is polluting your social life and affecting your relation with your family, just because it pays well?
 
Talk about toxic friendships, forced interactions, meaningless conversations. When it doesn’t add to your values, that is an unnecessary and toxic friendship.
 
Talk about toxic habits, toxic memories that forbid us from moving forward, toxic thoughts, associations, feelings… How do we get rid of all this pollution in our lives?
 
I do not pretend to have the answer, but we have a hint in Jesus’s statement. All these originate from the inside. Not that the outside doesn’t matter or doesn’t affect us but we shouldn’t let the outside circumstances hide the source of toxicity of pollution in our life which is our own hearts.
 

Since we were talking about aspects of my work, I am also part of a new initiative by the PCUSA called Vital Congregations, which aims at helping churches locate and address what pollutes their lives as churches and as congregations, and forbids them from thriving. This might sound a little arrogant at the beginning, but then, the other day, we -the team- were struggling with how we can inspire and enable churches to take steps into real change. We had to admit that we can inspire change but we cannot enforce it. And we were faced with the reality that we can lead congregations to the well, but we cannot make them drink from it.
 

Even at the personal level, change is only possible if it is initiated from the inside. I used to think that if I go to theology school, I’d become closer to God and my thoughts would become all good, but that’s not how it worked for me. An environment of theologians doesn’t necessarily ensure spiritual growth. But I had to search my heart and deal with what polluted my relationship with God.
 
It is important to realize that the only person able to clean your pollution is you. And the only pollution you have control over is your own pollution.
 
       I can speak for myself; I wasn’t always aware of all that polluted my life.
Today I want to invite you to think: do you know what are the things, the persons, the practices, the habits, the memories, the relationships, the thoughts, the associations, the plans, and the feelings… that pollute yours?

Let us bring all these before God who is able to purify our hearts, and empower us to live clean, unpolluted lives.