“Sole”
Matters
(Are
You Gellin’?)
A sermon by Siegfried S.
Johnson on the Fifth Sunday after the Epiphany, February 4, 2007
The
father said . . . “Quickly, bring out a robe – the best one – and put it on
him;
put a
ring on his finger and sandals on his feet. And get the fatted calf and
kill it,
and let
us eat and celebrate; for this son of mine was dead and is alive again;
he was
lost and is found!” And they began to celebrate.
(Luke 15:22-24)
Today is Super
Bowl Sunday, which has me thinking . . . well, not so much about football,
but about television commercials. I’ll find other things to do during the
game, then rush to the television during breaks so that I can see the
freshest ideas of Madison Avenue. Football isn’t the only contest going on
at the Super Bowl. At 2.5 million for a 30 second spot, it’s time to shine
for major corporations and their advertising gurus, time to display their
creative genius. As this sermon developed, one of the most familiar lines
from recent advertising worked it’s way into my title, Dr. Scholl’s ad
campaign for their gel-filled insoles, “Are
you Gellin?”
Dr. Scholl’s undeniably
sappy commercials feature that memorable line,
Are You Gellin? The idea is
that one can discover comfort, and even euphoria, in the most uncomfortable
of situations, when the “hollow”
of one’s arch is supported and filled with soft, malleable gel. My favorite
version begins with a waitress negligently spilling a cup of coffee in a
customer’s lap. Horrified at what she’s done, she asks, “Are
you okay?” The man responds with a grin and in a pleasant voice,
“Oh, it’s scalding and it’s blistering
me, but that’s okay. I’m fine. Can I have some more coffee?”
The waitress smiles and says, “Oh, you
must Gellin’!” The message? If the soles of your feet are
comfortable, your world remains undisturbed and wonderful.
So this morning I want
to talk about “Sole” Matters.
Now, it’s certainly not unusual in church for us to deal with “Soul”
Matters, but perhaps you will find it a bit odd for us to deal
with “Sole” Matters. In our
text, when the father is re-united with his son, he was quick to deal with
Sole Matters, instructing his
servants to bring a robe, a ring for his finger, and
sandals for his feet. There
were no gel inserts, to be sure, but the sandals must have been welcomed.
You see, the prodigal had come on a journey that was, despite its having
been caused by his own recklessness and sin, very difficult. The father
would offer comfort and acceptance by immediately taking care of his weary
feet.
This is not an unusual
theme of hospitality in the ancient Middle East.
Sole Matters are important, as
seen when our Lord himself took a basin and washed the feet of his
disciples, saying, “The Son of Man came
not to be ministered unto but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for
many.”
I want this morning to turn our congregation
into a class on Orthography,
which simply means the correct shape of letters. On the back page of this
sermon is an illustration I’ve titled,
The Evolution of “K”, shows that the letter K is derived from the
Hebrew word, Kaph (hand).
Kaph is very versatile in
meaning, but as we shall see, its various translations are quite logical.
For example, Kaph means both
“Sole” of the foot, and “Palm”
of the hand. But it is also translated “Socket,”
as in the socket of the hip, and is even translated “Spoon.”
What do all these words have in common?
Sole, Palm, Socket, Spoon? The
answer is, they are all shaped in such a way that creates emptiness, a
hollow. Everyone “cup” your hands. Do you see that your open palms have
created an emptiness, a hollow? When we come into this sanctuary, and
especially today as we come to receive the sacrament, we are coming in the
posture of recognized emptiness. And what shall we give you this morning to
fill that emptiness? The cupping of the hands is the most primitive
“spoon,” the most primitive way of receiving nourishment. So when the
utensil, the “spoon,” was
developed, it was given the same name as that of the palm,
Kaph – an emptiness yearning to
be filled.
Ah, but before I give my
sermon completely away, let’s allow our Hebrew class to get a bit more
intense. Let’s look at how the shape of the letter evolved. Do you see in
our “K” the remnants of the fingers, of the toes? In my handout I’ve given
you five stages in the Evolution of “K.” Paleo-Sinaitic goes back to the
time of Abraham and beyond, 1900 B. C. You can see that it’s almost a
pictograph of the hand, as if a child had traced out his or her hand. Do
you see clearly the hollow, and the digits of the toes or the fingers? If
you had been living 4,000 years ago and saw that sign, you would say,
Kaph, which would mean, “hand”
or “palm.”
The Early Phoenician form for “K”, 1600 years
before Jesus, looks like our own K in reverse, with the digits of the
fingers pointed left, instead of right. And, four hundred years later, the
Canaanite “K” turns the “fingers” straight up, creating a chalice, a hollow
to be filled. In modern Hebrew, the letter representing the K sound is
turned to face left, where in modern English the “K” sound is represented in
a way that turns the “fingers” to face right. Yet, in all these forms you
see two things: the hollow of the palm representing emptiness, and the
fingers and toes.
In the middle of the page
I’ve lined all five of these forms up, flipping them all onto their back, as
the original Paleo-Sinaitic form was. You will see that each shape forms a
chalice, not unlike the chalice we have on our altar right now.
To understand the image
at the bottom of the page, I need you to imagine yourself standing with
hands outstretched, palms turned upward to heaven. This image creates a
circle of emptiness, using our
English “K.” At the top are the right and left hands, palms up. In the
middle are the right hip socket and left hip socket, Ks turned outward. In
Genesis 32 we have the famous story of Jacob wrestling with the angel, an
encounter which left Jacob limping. Why? Because, says Genesis, the angel
of the LORD touched him in the kaph
yarek, “the hollow, or
socket, of his side.” The bottom line represents the soles of
the feet.
Put those three together.
Palm, sole, socket. What’s the
common denominator? A hollow, a place
of emptiness waiting to be filled. The palm of the hand can be
cupped and filled. The socket of one’s hip can, even after deterioration,
be filled by hip replacement. And, the arch of one’s foot can be filled,
with a gel insole. But in this image I’ve drawn for you, no matter how you
rotate the circle, there is always the chalice extending outward, craving to
be filled. This is what I call the “Circle
of Human Longing for God.”
When Luke tells the story of the Prodigal
Son, he pictures one whose life has left him in ruins. He’s brought shame
to himself and his family. His feet are worn and tired, bruised and dirty,
weary from his wandering. Coming to his right mind, and coming home at
last, his heart knows a great emptiness, a hollow thirsting to be filled.
His father fills that empty heart when he runs to him and embraces him, and
tells his servants, “put the best robe
on him, a ring on his finger, and sandals on his feet.”
The prodigal’s greatest emptiness, an
emptiness craving to be filled, was an emptiness of the heart, which I’ve
drawn in the center of the Circle of
Human Longing for God. When the “hollow
of the heart” is filled with love, there is renewed sense of
purpose, peace, and joy.
A century and a half ago
Henry David Thoreau wrote in the 1st chapter of
Walden Pond, “The
mass of men lead lives of quiet desperation.” I wonder how many
here, in this sanctuary, are leading lives of quiet desperation, an
unspeakable hollow in their hearts,
feet aching from life, bearing hurts that no other sees, nor would you have
them ever to see, ever to know how deep, how unhealing your wound is.
What shall fill the hollow of the heart?
What shall transform a life of quiet desperation to a life of purpose and
peace and joy? Well, surely such a filling requires many things, but the
best place to begin is with an awareness of God’s love and grace, a filling
of not only the Sole with sandals for weary feet, but also a filling of the
soul with love for a thirsty soul.
In a few moments, when we begin the serving
of the elements, I want you to listen to the words of the choir singing, “There
is a Balm in Gilead.” It seems to me a hymn written for
“Sole” Matters, searching for
the soothing and healing love of God. And when you come to this table, with
palms cupped to receive the bread, and raising the wine to your lips in the
chalice, may it be that the hollow places of your life are being filled with
God’s Presence.
The
Evolution of “K”
Meanings of the Semitic “Kaph”:
“Palm”
of the hand
“Sole”
of the foot
“Socket”
of the hip
Kaph is
the 11th letter of the Hebrew alphabet,
as “K”
is the 11th letter of the English alphabet
(The sermon notes handout included in the
bulletin had hand-written symbols for the characters below.
If a set of these symbols is desired, please call the church office)
|
 |
 |
| Paleo-Sinaitic - 1800 BC |
Early Phoenician - 1600 BC |
|
 |
 |
 |
| Canaanite - 1100 BC |
Modern Hebrew |
Modern English |
|
 |
Note
that, flipped on its back, EACH SHAPE FORMS A CHALICE
|
“K” and the Circle of Human Longing for God
|
 |
|
|
| Left Palm |
The Hollow of the Heart |
Right Palm |
|
|
|
| Left Hip Socket |
Right Hip Socket |
 |
|
| Left Sole |
Right Sole |