Will It Be Change or More of the Same?

What is the solution to America’s economic problem? How will we resolve the foreign policies debacles of the last eight years? How will insure that graduates of our schools, both pre-college and college, can meet the challenges of the coming years?

The answers to these questions, whether you want to hear them or not, will require money. And because of what has transpired over the past eight years, with almost unlimited spending for what has become a never-ending war on terrorism and an equally blind eye to greed and theft in the public market place, it is going to be a lot of money. The only problem is that most of the solutions that will be offered will be solutions that have no vision for the future and will in effect serve as a momentary fix instead of a permanent solution.

Just as the Preacher wrote in Ecclesiastes that there was a time for everything, this is the time of potholes in the roads where we live. The solution will be to patch the potholes and hopefully smooth them over enough that you cannot tell where they are as you drive on the roads. But winter comes and the ground freezes and the roads move with the freeze and thaw cycles, the potholes and the roads become separated and when the plows come by, out come the patches. The next plow then tears out more of the road and the pothole grows bigger and bigger. As long as the policy is to patch the potholes, the road will never get repaired. The only solution is to shut down the road, strip the layers and layers of asphalt from the road and repave the road. But no one wants that done. It will cost too much and it will be too much of an inconvenience for those who must use the road. So, the solution will be to continue patching the patches and perhaps one day in the future figure out how to create a material that will adjust with the continuing changes in weather.

But one day in the future, the road will be in such bad shape that it will have to be fixed. The only problem is that we are unwilling to see into the future. We seemingly no longer have the capability of seeing into the future; our children are not taught how to think and our solutions are always in terms of what we have now and the problems that we face now. We forget that problems will not be solved until tomorrow and today’s materials and methodologies were only good yesterday.

Do we need to fight against terrorism? Yes, but we need to work to solve the problems that create terrorism, not simply spend money in such a way that creates a never-ending war. When I was a high school student slogging through the history of Europe, I had a difficult time with the length of the wars that ravaged the continent. How could you participate in a Hundred-Years War or the Forty-Years War? It seems to me that our belief in military power has created a 21^st century equivalent to the epochal wars of the past. And while we may bring our troops home from Iraq, we still have troops in Afghanistan and apparently plan on sending more. And if we are not fighting in the Middle East, we are part and parcel of the fighting in the Gaza Strip. I am reminded of the first words of “Wooden Ships” by Crosby, Stills, and Kastner,

Stills: If you smile at me, I will understand
‘Cause that is something everybody everywhere does
in the same language.

Crosby: I can see by your coat, my friend,
you’re from the other side,
There’s just one thing I got to know,
Can you tell me please, who won?

Stills: Say, can I have some of your purple berries?

Crosby: Yes, I’ve been eating them for six or seven weeks now,
haven’t got sick once.

Stills: Probably keep us both alive.

Wooden ships on the water, very free and easy,
Easy, you know the way it’s supposed to be,
Silver people on the shoreline, let us be,
Talkin’ ’bout very free and easy…
Horror grips us as we watch you die,
All we can do is echo your anguished cries,
Stare as all human feelings die,
We are leaving – you don’t need us.

Go, take your sister then, by the hand,
lead her away from this foreign land,
Far away, where we might laugh again,
We are leaving – you don’t need us.

And it’s a fair wind, blowin’ warm,
Out of the south over my shoulder,
Guess I’ll set a course and go…

Why are we not spending our time, effort, and money to combat hunger and illness? What would happen if we were to focus on removing the causes of terrorism instead of just using violence when we know that the only response will be more violence?

We live too much in the present and we are worried more about keeping what little we have even when we know that there are so many who have nothing. We hoard what we have while we know that the number of people who have nothing continues to grow each day.

It is one thing to say that we are going to rebuild this country, that we are going to rebuild our schools, and we are going to fix the problems of society. But when the next words that are spoken, and these words come from both sides of the political aisle, are words of criticism and negative reaction, change will not come. In fact, it seems that the only change that many people want these days is the transfer of power from others to themselves.

We have become a society quick to criticize any solution that is not instantaneous and which benefits the individual first. And because power lies with those who have, the only acceptable solutions are ones which benefit those who have and ignore those who have nothing. And we are not willing to pay anything approaching our fair share. The very thought of increased taxes is anathema to everyone; the mantra of expenditure is almost universally “let someone else pay for it.”

True change only comes when everyone involved accepts the idea that change is necessary. Those men who meet in Philadelphia more than two hundred years ago sought to resolve the problems of government created by the Articles of Confederation. But they also understood that simply rewriting the rules would not solve the problems of the country. Only a radical and new approach would work and that is why we have a Constitution today.

I am not calling for a radical revision of American government. We quite honestly do not have the same sense of purpose in this country that marked those first days of this country. What I am calling for is a radical revision of our thinking process; if we do not begin to think of tomorrow more than we think of today, we are not going to have a country to worry about, we are not going to have a world to worry about, and we are not even going to have a tomorrow.

We need change, real change, and not just more of the same.

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Cross-posted to RedBlueChristian

It’s Not A Job, It’s An Adventure

This is the message I presented on the 2nd Sunday after the Epiphany, 16 January 2000, at Walker Valley UMC. The Scriptures were 1 Samuel 3: 1- 10 (11 – 20), 1 Corinthians 6: 12- 20, and John 1: 43 – 51.

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It should not come as a surprise to you all that I am a fan of the 70’s cartoon show, “George of the Jungle.” For those of a more modern era, this was the cartoon show on Saturday mornings that was the basis for the movie of the same name. As with most of the Saturday cartoons, there were a number of selections and one or two starring other characters. One of those characters was Super Chicken. As with all super characters, he had a faithful sidekick, Fred.

Invariably, as Super Chicken was saving the world, Fred would get run over by a truck or hit with a wrecking ball or some other physical disaster that would leave him beat up and bedraggled. But just as he was complaining to his boss about the unfairness of this (after all, wasn’t it Super Chicken who was taking all the risks?), Super Chicken would say “You knew the job was dangerous when you took it!”

But I would hope that such thoughts do not creep into your mind, especially if you are one of those who we honored this morning with the installation of officers of the Administrative Council and members of the various committees. Rather, borrowing from and with my apologies to the U. S. Army, I would hope that you see the task before you as more of an adventure and not just a job that has to be done.

Whether it is serving the church or some organization, leadership roles have taken on a different meaning in the past few years. To some, being the leader of an organization is a matter of honor and pride but it is up to others to do the work. Some see that the position means that they are the only ones capable of doing the job and that they have to do it alone. Somewhere in the middle is where I think leadership falls.

Yes, it is a matter of honor and pride that other considered you worthy of the position that you were asked to take but that same honor and pride should demand that you lead others in the work that must be accomplished. But, by the same token, if you do not involve others in the task, if you feel that you alone are the only one who can complete the yearlong tasks, you will quickly find yourself burned out and not willing to serve the next time you are called.

When it comes to leadership, I think back to a saying that John Kennedy used to explain why he was running for the president of the United States back in 1960.

“In every age there comes a time when leadership suddenly comes forth to meet the needs of the hour. And so there is no man who does not find his time, and there is no hour that does not have its leader.” (The Talmud)

But how do we know when it is our time? What must we do to insure that we know when we are being called to serve? Knowing when it is our time to serve requires that we be ready to serve when called, that we are prepared to serve when called, and to know when we are being called to serve.

Philip told Nathaniel about Jesus but Nathaniel, having studied the prophecies, believed that the Messiah would come out of Bethlehem, not Nazareth. Some commentaries make Nathaniel comment about anything good coming out of Nazareth as a put down on the people of Nazareth but it was more a statement of what Nathaniel’s understanding of the prophecies. But when Jesus showed that he knew who Nathaniel was and that He knew him before this encounter, Nathaniel quickly and unhesitating acknowledged Jesus as the Messiah. And like the others, Nathaniel quickly joined in following Jesus.

That Jesus was indeed the Messiah was that reason that He knew of Nathaniel’s character long before Nathaniel knew that Jesus was the Messiah. It was the manner in which Jesus could describe Nathaniel as “an Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” It was also the basis for Jesus saying that great things would come to pass “Very truly, I tell you, you will see heaven opened and the angles of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man.”

It was Nathaniel’s character that enabled him to be chosen by Jesus to be one of the twelve. It is a person’s character that is, in part, discussed in the Epistle reading from 1 Corinthians today.

Granted, reading this passage by itself may not seem to fit into a discussion of leadership and who gets picked to serve the church. But when you look at all of 1 Corinthians, you see that Paul is urging the church in Corinth to be unified in its mission and outlook as it lives out the message of the cross in its midst.

As you go back and read this letter, remember that it was addressed to the church at Corinth. We are, in reality, reading someone else’s mail. But, even when we stand outside the circle of the original conversation, because we have been sanctified in Christ and call upon the name of the Lord, as they did, the conversation enlightens us as well.

At the time that Paul wrote this letter the Corinthians were lamentably deficient in their conduct, in spite of the fact that some of them claimed to have a superior wisdom. Paul, in both Chapters 5 and 6, reminds the Corinthians that there are a number of things that they still do not know

No matter how good the leaders are, if there isn’t a common goal, then nothing will be accomplished. Paul, in this letter urged the Corinthians to become more united in their fellowship. He called on individuals to seek the common good rather than their own personal good, to be willing to make concessions in the interest of others. This letter also imposes limits on spiritual enthusiasm. While recognizing the power of the Spirit in energizing the church and its ministries, Paul also say the excesses of spiritualism. If spiritual pursuits threaten domestic stability; they should be curbed. If they threaten to undermine meaningful worship, they should be balanced with more edifying spiritual behavior. On the whole, what emerges from this letter is a set of exhortations and instructions designed to make congregational life a meaningful form of fellowship.

So we may ready when we hear the call; we may be prepared to serve when asked; but how will we know when the call is made?

For me, the passage from the Old Testament is very special, because I was twelve years old, like Samuel, when I made the decision to seek the God and Country Award in the Scouts. But I am going to save that story for a few weeks from now. More importantly, I want us to look at the response of Eli.

It was Eli that understood, granted not immediately, that it was God calling Samuel that night in the temple. If Eli had not provided the proper instruction, Samuel would have never understood that God was calling him.

Leadership is not just a matter of serving now. Leadership can only be successful if you prepare others to serve. Serving for the present time is important but if you do not build for the future, then what is done today is rather limited.

So, the charge before us today is very simple. To serve the Lord and to welcome all those who seek Him. It may be that you will never know when that moment arrives. The preaching and teaching of Jesus, Paul, Peter, Mary Magdalene, and other bearers of God’s good news had impact but not immediate rewards. As we look through the Bible, we see countless stories of God giving us second, third, and myriad chances. You may never know exactly when the words that you say or the works that you do become the Word of life for another person. Maybe that’s is why this is not a job that you have been asked to do but rather an adventure that you have been asked to undertake.