A sermon by Senior Minister John B. McCall, August 19, 2007
Jeremiah 2:1-13
The cartoon strip, “For Better or For Worse” showed the family stopping for a picnic in a beautiful spot, only to find that the ground is covered with litter dropped by others. “Why do people do this?!” asked Michael, one of the children. “I don’t know,” says Elly, the mother. “There are people who use and abuse things and just walk away, and then there are others who respect the earth and look after each other.” Answers the child: “Daddy, do you think there’s more of us than there are of them?”
It’s human nature to look at the world as “us” and “them” – those just like me, and those who are different. We each have our own criteria: gender, and generation, political point of view, social class, educational level, sexual orientation, nationality, and language. Or maybe it’s brand of toothpaste, yellow ribbons on the telephone poles, or the color you paint your house if you live on Main Street in historic Freeport.
Whatever those distinctions may be, we’re all witnessing a shift in our culture. There has always been a division between those who think only of themselves and those who think about the effect of their choices on others. We’re surrounded by bad examples. A few years back, journalist Carl Bernstein wrote:
We are in the process of creating what deserves to be called the idiot culture. Not an idiot sub-culture, which every society has bubbling beneath the surface and which can provide harmless fun; but the culture itself. For the first time, the weird and the stupid and the coarse are becoming our cultural norm, even our cultural ideal.
A New York Times poll shows that the majority of Americans think our culture is declining — and we attribute it to the effects of television and movies. On average, adult Americans watch four hours of television every day, and yet half of American adults can’t think of a single positive thing to say about it.
From the latest escapades of Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton, to the latest gutter talk from Don Imus, to the sexualized advertising that tries to sell everything from cars to carpet cleaners, we’re surrounded with the message that you should accommodate what I want, that being respectful of oneself, civil and concerned for the community is just plain stupid.
That’s not what I was taught, neither were you. That’s not what I believe; neither do you. “Do you think there’s more of us than there are of them?”
The prophet Jeremiah, writing 2500 years ago, saw the wandering of God’s people. Let’s not gloss over the parallels. The people felt threatened by the Babylonians to the north (modern day Iraq) and by the Egyptians to the south. External threats were only part of the problem. They were also deeply divided within their nation. Both political and religious divisions had left the people and leaders angry and bitter. [See Preaching through the Christian Year, C, by Craddock, et al., pg. 386]
Do you suppose God was speaking through the prophet to us, as well, when he said:”…my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit. {12} Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD, {13} for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”
It’s a graphic image. In the deserts where the only water comes in sudden spring downpours, people have always dug deep cisterns into the rock. One such place was Qumran near where the Dead Seas Scrolls were found. A community of Essene Jews had thrived there for generations, until 33 BCE when the community disappeared overnight. Archaeologists point to the huge rock basin in which they had collected rain water – split from an earthquake so it no longer could collect the rain. When there’s no fresh water for the body we wither and perish. Don’t forget when there’s no fresh water for the soul, the same happens. There’s a huge difference between an inexhaustible spring and a leaky pit.
Jesus’ promises are an everflowing stream of new life and hope. What he said and lived are true. Following his ways will transform any life. That faith didn’t come out of thin air.
Just a century ago, in 1908, my grandparents left rural Missouri on a slow boat to Japan as missionaries. They were very clear that as Christians they were in the tiniest minority. (Parenthetically, the adult population of Japan is about one percent Christian, while about 6% of teenagers claim the faith – at least in name… [Gallup, 2006]).
Grandpa was a pastor and grandma an English teacher. The Disciples of Christ congregation in Kansas City, Missouri, sent them out as missionaries of the Gospel; just the two of them and all they could carry in three steamer trunks. They were disciples who believed, proclaimed and lived the faith that there’s eternal life in Jesus Christ and without him, there isn’t. They heard the Gospel call to a change of heart and abundant life.
They chose a hard path. They gave birth to four children in Japan, including my father and my aunt Frances. Their two other sons died young and were buried in a little cemetery in a town called Akita. My grandparents grieved, of course, but refused to be bitter for they were confident their children were safe in heaven forever, and that they’d be reunited.
I don’t think I could make it as a missionary to a foreign land. It’s enough of a challenge being a missionary to Maine! I live my faith quite differently from the way they did, but at the core I believe the same thing:
• Jesus invites me to discover a dimension to life that I can’t find in our culture with all its empty promises and seductive messages.
• Jesus calls me to answer the world’s pain with the Gospel’s healing; to contradict our culture’s false promises with the assurance of life that flows from the Love of God.
My grandparents believed that the Gospel should tell the culture what really matters, rather than letting any culture try to tell the Gospel. I believe the same. What about you?
“Do you think there’s more of us than there are of them?”
So how shall we live in the face of the reality that our society is shaky and our culture is coarse? Some will ignore it or simply dismiss it as correction – as they do for the stock market. Others – particularly fundamentalist Christians – will scream that Armageddon is just around the corner, Jesus is returning soon in judgment at the close of human history.
Still others will appeal to their certainty – like the Vatican’s statement a few weeks ago that Catholics are still the only true Christians; that non-Christians are “in a gravely deficient situation”; and those of us who are Protestants are not part of the Church in a proper sense. (“Do you think there’s more of us than there are of them?”)[Cut & paste http://www.ucc.org/news/pope-says-protestants-not.html]
Frankly, I don’t believe any of these approaches reflects the love for which Jesus lived his life and gave his life. What do we do as Christians facing a culture and society that is so deeply wounded and so sorely in need of healing and redemption? I’d offer the following:
1) First (and always) examine your own heart. Confront your own fears and prejudices. When you have a log in your eye you can’t see the speck in your brother’s or sister’s eye. You don’t bring people to the table or the altar by screaming at them that they’re deficient.
2) Second, dig deeper – look beneath the apparent differences and find common ground; see that of God that’s in each one. I am unapologetic in my Christian faith. I’ve found new life in Christ and I am called to preach the Gospel. But in these troubling days we have to draw a larger circle: to feel a kinship with all who place God at the center.
3) Third, approach others with the assumption that they have something to teach you as surely as you have something to teach them. Do you really believe God intended everyone in Creation to be just like you – to look, dress, think, and feel as you do? Do you really believe you know everything you need to know already? There are teachers everywhere you turn, not just in the obvious places. Learn from them.
4) Fourth, as a person of faith, stand firm against all the forces that dismiss, demean, belittle and harm God’s holy realm – no matter what they call themselves. None of us has ever gotten it Right (with a capital “R.”)
I agree whole-heartedly that our society is out of balance and following false gods that will disappoint us. Ignoring the slip and slide of our culture will bring nothing good. I agree whole-heartedly that the New Life in Jesus Christ can heal the hurt in so many lives and that you and I must live what we believe in a way that invites others.
Unlike my grandparents, I never think about whether I’m saved. I believe God knows and because God loves me God will finally give me, and you, peace and wholeness. I could never earn it on my own. So I’m not driven by the fear that you or I might go to hell. Nor do I fear for the soul of a devout Jew, Muslim, or Buddhist who may see things differently or who may see different things. What we can do is to read scripture, pray, meditate, worship, and work in ways that we believe reflect the spirit of Jesus. So back to the opening question: “Do you think there’s more of us than there are of them?” Yes I do.
I believe every child of God is one of us.
We just haven’t figured that out yet.
But God has.