Written on our Heart

March 18, 2018

Jeremiah 31:31-34

Recently my family read the book Wonder together.  We watched the movie version too, which of course was not as good, but was beautifully done.  It is one of those rare stories that is appropriate and important for all ages.  And it made me rethink how I consciously and unconsciously treat the people around me that are different in some way.  I found myself wishing this book were required reading for everyone everywhere.

Wonder is about a year in the life of Auggie Pullman, a boy who was born with a rare genetic defect that left his face severely disfigured.  After dozens of surgeries and a very sheltered existence, Auggie begins school for the first time at a private middle school in New York City.  Middle school! The locus of all of my worst growing-up memories!  It is hard to imagine a more difficult entrance to society for a kid like Auggie.  We all know, or we think we do, what fate awaits him, and it isn't pretty.  And there is a lot to cringe about in this book.  So many moments when I just had to stop reading and check in with my kids to ask what they would do that situation.

But there are so many things to love about this story.  Since it is told from the perspective of different characters, we can imagine ourselves into their shoes.  We feel their pain and understand, rather than judge, their actions.  And because it takes place over the entire school year, we see growth and change in the characters.  We live with them as they move from being horrified by Auggie’s face and either ignoring him or terribly mistreating him, to understanding and friendship (at least from many of them).  In our fairly safe front row seat to society’s treatment of someone who is different, we are both convicted of our own short-comings and invited to grow in empathy and love along with the characters.  

I especially enjoyed learning how intentional all of that was by the author, R.J. Palacio.  In an interview she told about the experience that led her to write this book, one that will sound familiar if you’ve read it.  She was with her own children in front of an ice cream store when her three-year old son started to cry after seeing a little girl with a disfigured face.  Palacio was so fearful that her son’s reaction would hurt the little girl’s feelings that she rushed away as quickly as possible.  It was that situation that prompted Palacio to imagine what it would be like to be that child.  What it would be like to be that child’s mother.  Palacio started writing Wonder that night, almost as a meditation, she says.  And as she wrote, she knew that she wanted a book not just about avoiding unkind behavior — about not being a bully — but about being kind and empathetic and compassionate.

Along those encouraging lines, in Wonder one of Auggie’s teachers, Mr. Browne, begins each month with a new precept for the class to consider.  He explains that precepts are rules about really important things; they are understandings that inspire you to live life differently.  And the ones Mr. Browne offers are wonderful:

In September:  “When given the choice between being right or being kind, choose kind.” 

In October:  “Your deeds are your monuments.”  

In February:  ”It is better to know some of the questions than all of the answers."  

And in May: One from an old-time Anglican, John Wesley: “Do all the good you can, by all the means you can, in all the ways you can, in all the places you can, at all the times you can, to all the people you can, as long as you ever can."

Mr. Browne invites his students to consider what words might serve as their own personal life precept.  They can come from anywhere, he says.  They might be completely original, or quotes from famous thinkers, or something you’ve heard someone say, or even company slogans.  But they aren't meant to be just words that sound wise, or words that that we read once and forget about.  They are meant to represent a way of being and living that we strive to undertake in all of what we do, and say, and are. 

And although the students come up with individual precepts, it is clear from the story how influential the entire community is to the choice each kid makes.  By the end of the school year, they are in this thing together.

I think our Jeremiah reading urges something similar when it talks about God’s law being written on our hearts.  Rather than laws being engraved in stone and displayed for all to see but none to follow, an embodied faith will be engraved in people’s hearts and displayed in their lives.  We will know that we belong to God.  We will hear God speaking to our hearts and be transformed.

Having God’s covenant written on our heart isn't about following rules or steering clear of sin.  It isn't about avoiding causing offense.  We wouldn't have a story like Wonder — we wouldn't have any of the beautiful and important stories in our lives — just by minding our own business and not being mean.  The promise God holds out to us in Jeremiah is about living whole-heartedly.  It is about living in love of God and neighbor with all our heart and mind and soul.  It is about our active care and concern and love for each other, and especially for the most vulnerable, hurting, and alone.  It is about being transformed.

And for Jeremiah, the community context is just as important as it was for the students in Auggie’s school.  About this new covenant, God proclaims: ”I will write it on their heart."  In the original Hebrew, this passage refers to a single heart for the entire community, not the hearts of lots of individuals.  The heart of the entire people will bear the covenant. We aren't talking about the private reformation of individual lives here, but about a new way of being in community.

Now when the students at Auggie’s school first encounter Mr. Browne’s precepts, they don't really mean much.  At the start, I doubt any of the kids would have been able to imagine which precept might be formative for them.  But as the weeks pass, they begin to see the relevance of the precepts Mr. Browne writes up on the chalkboard each month.  They began to evaluate how well, or how badly, their own behavior and thoughts might fit within the precepts.  And they begin to imagine for themselves their own guiding principles for living life whole-heartedly.

I wonder what your precept might be?  What is so important that you want it to underlie your very being, to be written on your heart?  How do you want to live?  Who do you want to be? 

This isn't meant to be a pressure-filled assignment.  Your precept today might be just a starter precept - one to get your mind musing.  It might be very much a work in progress, rather than something you are already living well.  

Let’s take a minute to imagine what your precept might be.

And then, if you are willing, in a few minutes when we share the peace, consider sharing your precept too. 

I cant wait to hear what God has written on this community’s heart!