The Garden We Plant

I am preaching at two churches, Fort Montgomery UMC and The United Methodist Church of the Highlands (Highland Falls, NY) this coming Sunday, the 10th Sunday after Pentecost.

The service at Fort Montgomery United Methodist Church starts at 9:30 am with the service in Highland Falls beginning at 11 am.

Fort Montgomery United Methodist Church	US 9W South, Fort Montgomery, NY 10922
United Methodist Church of The Highlands	341 Main Street,  Highland Falls, NY 10928

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The Scriptures for this Sunday are Genesis 28: 10  - 19, Romans 8: 12 - 25, and Matthew 13: 24 - 30, 36 - 43.  Note this has been edited since I first posted it.

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Over the past few weeks and for the next few weeks to come the Scripture readings have focused (and will focus) on growth. The Gospel readings have been the parables of Jesus planting seeds in gardens and the difficulty of getting the right conditions for growth.

The Old Testament readings have been about the family of Abraham and its growing pains from the man Abram living in Ur to the establishment of the twelve tribes of Israel living in the Promised Land. Even the Epistle readings, Paul’s writings, have dealt with our own growth as individuals and with Christ.

Against that backdrop, my wife and I have been planting and developing a Children’s Garden at Grace Church (actually, my wife has been doing the work; I get the “fun” tasks of digging holes, moving rocks, rolling up the hoses, and putting the tools away). As we have prepared the soil, we have uncovered stones and debris of every size and shape; we have encountered the remnants of an old foundation, and we have dealt with and removed every sort of weed and unwanted foliage imaginable. I found a rock that I was going to call the “Peter Rock” because of its size until I found one bigger. If nothing else, the work in the garden has made the parables of Jesus come alive. But then again, that is why the parables were told and retold, to make the Gospel message come alive.

It is possible that Jesus could have told the message of the parables from an academic or theological standpoint and without the allegory or metaphors. He could have answered questions about the Heavenly Kingdom and God’s plan for us just has he did with the scholars and priests in the Temple when He was twelve (Luke 2:39-52). But many of those who came to hear Him when He was in the hills of the Galilee would probably not have understood such discourses. They were peasants, shepherds, and farmers; so the stories that they would remember and tell others needed to be stories about peasants, shepherds, and farmers, stories about themselves.

And perhaps that is why the disciples had trouble learning the message. As fisherman, stories about farming and being a shepherd were a far cry from their own lives, background, and knowledge. They understood the call to be fishers of men because they were fishermen. To seek the lost lamb as a shepherd would was a completely different story and one not easily understood by fishermen.

But it seems to me that even today, by the actions and words of the church today, we have forgotten the stories, do not understand those stories, or feel that they are no longer a part of our lives. Recent reports tell us that many people outside the church and even within the church see the church as hypocritical, of saying one thing but doing another. For me, this is not just something that others are saying.

I grew up in the South where people sang “Jesus Loves the Little Children” on Sunday and then went out and enforced segregation in the schools and public institutions on Monday.

Nor is it is just something from my past. Reports of young people leaving the church or never coming near it are painfully close to home. One of our granddaughters is not interested in church because of what she sees and hears from those who proclaim to be Christian but who lead lives that are anything but Christian. It used to be that we could say that the reason our children left the church is because they have grown up and are on their own. That is true but it is also evident that the church has driven them away.

And that can only mean that we have either forgotten the stories, don’t understand them, or they don’t figure into our lives anymore. We may sing “Tell Me the Stories of Jesus” but we sing them as songs from our childhood. We are adults now and childhood stories don’t count anymore. They are meant for someone else; we have to deal with more practical things. Many people see what is done and said on Sunday as totally independent of what we do the rest of the week. We prefer to think in terms of the world and what the world calls upon us to do. But the world around us, as Paul so often reminds us, is not attuned to the message of the Gospel.

And that is where we fail. The world may not be tuned to the message of the Gospel because we have failed to do what we have been asked to do.  The Gospel reading for today is to remind us, as the previous few readings have done and the readings to come will do, that we are asked to prepare the fields for planting and, when the time comes, harvest the crops. But, for so many, the garden planned and planted on Sunday begins to wither and die on Monday.

Do we not have people today who sow the seeds that grow into weeds in our churches today? By their inaction, indifference, and intolerance do they not choke the growth of the church and its work in the community? Is it possible that those who call themselves Christians are the ones who sow the seeds of mistrust and discord in the garden that we are trying to plant? Unfortunately, the answer for those questions is too often “yes.”

There are those who offer words that sound like the Gospel message but lack the substance of the Gospel. There are those who offer words of encouragement and hope but give little to bring about actual encouragement and hope. There are those who preach hatred, exclusion, and violence and yet dare to call it the Gospel. There are those who would call on the wrath of God to destroy people while God Himself is calling us to help them. The fruits of these words are the weeds that choke off and kill the flowers that should be growing in our gardens.

It is no wonder so many people are leaving the church today. They cannot see the small blossoms of truth and beauty growing in the church’s garden because the weeds have overtaken the garden.

And it isn’t that there are others working to destroy the garden. We don’t always want to do the work that is required. It is hard working in the garden day after day and we don’t want to do that. We like a Gospel message that is easy to listen to and doesn’t require much from us. And we get angry when we are called to do God’s work; why must it be us? We sometimes express the thoughts that Joseph Donders, teacher and chaplain at the University of Nairobi, Kenya, expressed,

Jesus sowed the seed in our hearts and then off he went. He knew that things would not be ideal. There would be birds, droughts, weeds, insects, parasites and blights. Growing the gardens would not be easy but then He gave us the power of the seed itself (from Verse and Voice, 15 July 15, 2008 – Sojourners).

The power of the seed is the Holy Spirit; just as God promised Jacob that He, God, would be there, so too is the power of the Holy Spirit present in the work that we do. But we ignore the presence of the Holy Spirit and try to do the work ourselves. And it is, as Paul pointed out very hard work and in a culture that expects the results now, the promises of rewards later doesn’t fit too well.

We planted the gardens several years ago and we are content with what is growing now. We know what it takes to care for a garden and we do not need anyone telling us what to do. At times, it seems as if we know the answers before the questions are asked. And we hold onto our own ideas, ideas that may have worked years before, but are clearly not working today (see “That’s nice, preacher”). Gardens are not easy to take care of; they require constant work to maintain. Unless you are willing to work in the garden that you planted, it will not grow; the weeds will come back and take over. And all our work is lost.

We can have gardens that remind us of the years past and the ones who have gone on to greater glory (as well we should). But we must also have gardens that speak to the future and what the future offers. As Paul said, our life is not a grave-tending life but one of adventure; our gardens should be full of the anticipation of what will blossom and flourish each year.

We must do like Jacob did in today’s Old Testament reading. Remember that Jacob is on the run from his brother Esau. Esau had threatened to kill Jacob because Jacob had lied and deceived Isaac in order to gain the birthright. When Esau finally understood that he had lost almost everything and nothing that he did would get it back, he vowed to kill Jacob. Jacob’s dream of the ladder to heaven is a sign from God that he, Jacob, was not running away from God but to God. In renaming the place where he slept as Bethel, Jacob was saying to the world this is God’s place, this is where my journey begins, not where it ends. We must do the same as well.

We must make a statement that God is present in everything we say and do. Paul speaks, not of our relationship with the world around us in the past and today, but of our relationship with God through Christ for today and tomorrow. Our gardens will not always be free of stones or weeds and it will be a constant struggle to let the garden grow. But that is symbolic of our relationship with God. The garden that we plant and take care of is our relationship with God. And it begins here today.

Why do we come to church each week? Do we come out of habit, trying to tend the garden of our memory when life was good and things weren’t so hard? Life, as Paul wrote in the words that we heard today, is always hard and we should not delude ourselves that it was once otherwise.

Or did we come here today because we want to plant a garden for the future? Do we come because we know that God is here, in this place, and this is our chance to once again be renewed and refreshed by the Holy Spirit so that we can go back out into the world and plant God’s garden? We are called to plant and care for a garden but which garden shall we plant?

There Is A Choice

I am again preaching at Dover United Methodist Church in Dover Plains, NY.  The service starts at 11 and you are always welcome to attend.

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The Scriptures for this Sunday are Genesis 25: 19 - 34, Romans 8: 1 - 11, and Matthew 13: 1 - 9, 18 – 23.

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I don’t know about you but I sometimes wonder what might have happened if Esau had not given away his birthright to Jacob as described in today’s Old Testament reading (Genesis 25: 19 – 34). Would the outcome have been any different? Would Esau have become the father of the twelve tribes? Or would Isaac still have been the father of the twelve tribes but without the double share of the inheritance that came with being the first born?

It is hard to say what would have happened but that is not our worry. That question, and the accompanying question of free will versus pre-determination, is for theologians and philosophers.

But if we say that Esau had to surrender his birthright then what we are saying is that we don’t have any free will and that everything is pre-determined. And to say that everything is pre-determined is to say that we don’t have much say in what is to happen to us. That’s good news for some because it means that they never have to take responsibility for their actions. They can do whatever they desire and say that they had no control over their actions.

But the bad news is that if we have no say, then we have no hope. And if we have no hope, then we have no future. And from the very start of His ministry, Jesus said He came to offer hope which means that we have a future.

But along with this future comes a choice. We can choose what we want to do but we have to be responsible for our actions and we have to face the consequences of what we do. We can see the world in terms of the things around us or we can see the world in terms of God’s plan for us and how we fit into that plan, even if we can’t figure out what that particular role might be.

Esau’s problem wasn’t a matter of pre-determination and that his brother Isaac would rule over him. It was that he was more concerned about his need for food and his desire to resolve that problem right then and there. He gave little thought to the future. Paul points out that when we lead our lives that way, for the now and immediate gratification, we are likely to end up in trouble.

We try to use the law to control our lives but as Paul pointed out in today’s reading (Romans 8: 1 – 11), the law is broken and flawed. Still, many people will try to use the law to control not only their own lives but the lives of others as well. Just as those who find in pre-determination the opportunity to do anything and not have to accept responsibility for their actions, so too do people use the law to protect themselves from the realities of the world around them and the tasks that God would have them do.

But, in the end, as Paul so often pointed out, the law and obedience to the law cannot deliver what people seek; the law cannot, in the end, deliver anything but despair and heartbreak. The law ties us to the present with wishful glances backwards; the law can never give us a vision of the future. Just as Esau was willing to give up his future for the present, so too does our reliance on the law prevent us from thinking and seeing the future. And our reliance on this type of thinking may have more to do with the problems of the world and our ability, or rather, our inability to solve them.

James Winkler, general secretary of the General Board of Church & Society for The United Methodist Church, gave the 2008 commencement address at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. While he was speaking about members of Congress and what they intend to do when they come to Washington and what they end up doing, he could have just as easily spoken about many of us when he said

Somewhere along the way many decided to cash in and get their own piece of the rock. We are living in a time of moral crisis. Our values have been systematically subverted since September 11, 2001, and our indifference is not only lethargic but lethal. The quiet acceptance of torture and preemptive war eats away at the soul of American life. Our acquiescence to the big lies told by the rich and powerful—and repeated by the media ad infinitum—is frightening and demoralizing (From http://www.sugrads.org/articles/news_from_su/2008_commencement_address.aspx)

You can say that this is the way the system works and there is nothing that you can do about it. But it is a system that allows politicians to bend and break the laws, to say whatever is needed to get elected without meaning it. It is a system that allows ministers and preachers to preach hatred, exclusion, and violence in the name of God. It is a system that allows merchants and manufacturers to send work overseas in the name of low prices and cheap quality. It is a system that tells our young that money and things that are bought with money are more important that what you think or say or do. It is a system that reduces education to a mindless acceptance of the status quo and that offers little in the way of a challenge for all children.

If the system doesn’t work, then you have to fix the system. Some might say that this will require a violent revolution; I think not. But change will not come if you choose to stand aside and let others take away your rights, your freedoms, and your beliefs. You cannot do this simply by thinking about it; you must seek the solution.

In his book, “Why the Christian Right Is Wrong”, Robin Meyers issued a call for a non-violent response for the problems facing this country and this world. He wrote that faith should be seen more as an action-based verb than as a noun. Faith, he said, should be more than simply believing certain things; it should be about doing those things which need to be done so that the Kingdom of Heaven can be built on earth.

We must, as the prophet Micah wrote, do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with God. We may despise injustice but we must do more than shake our heads and say how terrible acts of injustice are. Too often, we stand by and let injustice and oppression take place.

As I was coming home from church last Sunday, I had the opportunity to hear the Catholic Mass broadcast on the Fordham University radio station (WFUV). I don’t always get this opportunity since the broadcast starts at 11 and there are many times when I am out of radio range. But when I do get the chance, it is an opportunity to continue the worship of the morning. And this last Sunday I got to hear the presiding priest speak of a friend of his whose sister was killed by the El Salvador army in the early 1980’s.

She was one of several Christian workers killed at that time because they sought to bring the Gospel message to the peasants. And in doing so, she and her co-workers brought the anger of the El Salvador government. In his homily, the priest did not say whether his friend was angry at the death of his sister or the manner in which it was done; though, it stands to reason that he and his family were angry and upset. He could have done many things but the thing that he did was to channel his emotions through his skills as a lawyer and seek justice. It took a long time and it required overcoming many obstacles, including our own government who was supporting the El Salvadorian government at that time. But in the end, his quiet, persistent and non-violent efforts brought about justice.

But you will say, as others have said, that violence is sometimes necessary and often times the only way. Some say (and have said) that slavery would not have ended were it not for the Civil War some 140 years ago. I am not that certain that it did. Slavery still exists, perhaps not in the physical bondage that we associate with the term, but most certainly in economic terms.

It may be that the Civil Rights struggle of the 1960’s would not have had its success if it were not for dogs attacking children and water from high pressure hoses tearing away the skin of protestors in Birmingham, Alabama in April of 1963 or Alabama state troopers beating marchers on the Edmund Pettis Bridge in Selma, Alabama on Easter Sunday, March 7, 1965. It may have been the violence and the killings that caused people to cry out but it did not end the racism that was the cause of segregation. As long as one person continues to believe that the color of their skin or the size of their bank account makes them a better person than someone else, then racism will continue. As long as we see others less fortunate than we are as not worthy of the same treatment that we expect for ourselves, then racism will continue to exist in this country and throughout the world.

Peace and justice will not come if people hear the words but do nothing. In today’s Gospel reading, Jesus pointed out that there would be those who heard the words but, like the seeds that fell on the rocky soil and did not grow, will do nothing. They sometimes even use the the rocks to build a stand that will give them a better view of what is happening and let them cheer as the parade passes us by. But it moves them further away from the Gospel, not closer, and so the Gospel dies, like seeds scattered on rocky soil.

If we want the Gospel to grow, then we have to get in the dirt. Yes, we will get dirty but if you want the seeds of the Gospel planted right, you have to get in the dirt and there is no way that you will not get dirty. And then you can start removing the rocks that block the future and keep things from growing. We are very familiar with the rocks that block the future. Gandhi called them the seven deadly sins and, if we did nothing, would destroy us: They are wealth without work, pleasure without conscience, science without humanity, knowledge without character, politics without principle, commerce without morality, and worship without sacrifice.

Each of these sins works to keep the Gospel from growing. But when you work in the field to remove them, that is when the Gospel takes hold and things start to grow. But you have to choose to get off the side; you have to choose to do what it is that you say you believe in. Faith becomes more than a noun, it becomes the verb.

We know there is a choice and we have the opportunity to make the right choice. We can stand by, saying the system will not work and there is nothing we can do. We may believe that our choice affects no one. Or we can choose to accept Jesus as our Savior, knowing that as His disciple, we can make a difference. I have spoken of Thomas Pettepiece before and I used his words today as my closing prayer.

Lord, I already know the best way to alter my life-style to the best advantage for all — live like Jesus. The Christian existence ideally is to imitate what you do. You send the sun and rain on everyone, you want me to bet back to the basic facts of life, to love without reservation, to distinguish between life’s needs and life itself, and seek first your kingdom knowing you will meet all my other needs.

Still it is easy to trust in the “things” of today and feel like it is up to me to see that humanity survives. Keep me from undue worry and pride. Remind me that life is a gift — not a right, and that my attitude toward the ultimate resources and values in life will determine how the earth’s resources will be handled and provided for those who need them. I have already formed many habits of consuming and acting. Guide me in aligning my personal priorities to conform to my awareness of a world hungry. May my life-style become more compatible with our biosphere and supportive of peoples around the world.

Lord, help me choose a simpler life-style that promotes solidarity with the world’s poor, helps me appreciate nature more, affords greater opportunity to work together with my neighbors, reduces my use of limited resources, creates greater inner harmony, saves money, allows time for mediation and prayer, incites me to take political and social action.

May all my decisions about my style of life celebrate the joy of life that comes from loving you. AMEN (from Visions of a World Hungry by Thomas G. Pettepiece)

What Exactly Is Freedom?

I am preaching at Lake Mahopac United Methodist Church (Mahopac, NY) this Sunday.  You are invited to come if you are in the neighborhood (Directions - View Larger Map).  The Scriptures for this Sunday are Genesis 24: 34 - 38, 42 - 49, 58 - 67; Romans 7: 15 - 25; and Matthew 11: 16 - 19, 25 -30.

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I think that the hardest sermons to write and preach are those on Sundays, such as today, which coincide with a national holiday. I say this because, very often, the national interest or reason for celebration runs counter to the teachings or interests of the church. And then again, the way people see the particular holiday may differ from the intent or reason for the holiday. This particular Sunday is no different.

We have heard or will hear politicians on both sides of the political aisle and preachers across the similar religious spectrum speak of freedom. But the freedom which is spoken of from the pulpit is supposed to be different than that spoken on the campaign trail.

Politicians speak of freedom obtained through armed force and conflict. They speak of a freedom that comes through the sacrifice of blood and youth. But they see the cost of war and conflict as a plus, not a minus. They do not see war as it truly is. On Christmas Day, 1862, General Robert E. Lee wrote his wife and said,

“What a cruel thing is war; to separate and destroy families and friends, and mar the purest joys and happiness God has granted us in this world; to fill our hearts with hatred instead of love for our neighbors, and to devastate the fair face of this beautiful world! I pray that, on this day when only peace and good-will are preached to mankind, better thoughts may fill the hearts of our enemies and turn them to peace. … My heart bleeds at the death of every one of our gallant men.”

We should never be so stupid as to prefer war over peace; yet, that is what it seems we do or seek to do. No major politician today who seeks office ever says that the solution to the world problems comes through feeding the people, healing the people, or building them homes. They won’t because it won’t get them elected.

And while conflict is necessary at times to preserve our freedom and it is inevitable that blood will be shed in such conflicts and young men and women will die in that effort, I have to wonder if we should glorify such efforts? Must we continue to create a culture of war that says that only those who have lead young men and women on a field of battle are capable of leading us? If leadership is learned in battle, and battle is the only way to resolve conflicts, how will we ever live in peace?

The sad thing is that too many preachers today do not speak out against war and conflict but rather seek to support it. Last year, when I spoke at Stevens Memorial United Methodist Church (And What Will You Say?), I made the comment that I saw a parallel between what is happening today, relative to the church and politics in general, and what happened in Germany in the 1930’s.

Then, when Adolph Hitler came to power, one of his greatest supporters was the Lutheran Church in Germany. They heard his nationalistic rhetoric and overlooked his racism and bigotry. It is hard to realize that some seventy years ago people died because the church turned a blind eye to the suffering and pain of the people. John Conway wrote,

It was the tragedy of the German churches that they were so inadequately prepared to oppose such strident heresies. They lacked safety valves against the challenge of the ‘radical right’ that offered a vision of church and state working hand in hand to renew the nation’s strength. The more perceptive churchmen realized too late the dangers of Nazi ambitions. The heresy of a nationalist pseudo-religion had gained too many adherents for effective defenses to be built or successful alternatives to be preached. Cut off from potential allies in the ecumenical movement abroad, only a handful of staunchly orthodox members of the Protestant Confessing Church were ready to take up arms to uphold Christian truths and to suffer for their faith. The lessons to be drawn from the churches’ behavior before and after the rise of National Socialism remain (http://www.bonhoeffer.com/bak2.htm).

Many religious leaders today still speak of the inevitability of war and the need to fight to win the peace. But very little is said, in either the pulpit or in the heat of a political campaign, about removing the causes of war, or removing the causes of oppression. People seek war because they see it as the final solution. People who are hungry need food; people who are homeless need shelter; people who are sick need medicine; and people who are oppressed seek liberation. And they will listen to those leaders be they in the pulpit or in politics, who promise them everything if they will sacrifice their liberty and freedom and follow them.

Freedom is not won on a battlefield; freedom is earned when there is respect between people. Freedom is a choice made in compact with others.

This is, I believe the message of the Old Testament for today (Genesis 24: 34 - 38, 42 - 49, 58 – 67). The servant in the story is sent from Israel back to Ur to find a wife for Isaac. As you read or hear the words of the servant, you hear a certain hesitancy in his voice because he fears what will happen if he fails in this task.

You know how he feels. Sometime in your life, either as a child or at work, you have been given a task to complete. And with the task comes a feeling of dire consequences should you fail. This is how I think the servant feels. But he is given assurances that nothing will happen if he fails; in other words, he is given the freedom to finish the task.

Too often today we are told that dire consequences will come to us, individually and as a country, if we do not do something. The politics of today and any discussion of freedom today is given within the context of fear. But remove the element of fear and great things can happen.

Rebekah is also given a choice in this story. She can choose to go with the servant and become Isaac’s bride or she can choose to stay with her family in Ur. She did not have to go with the servant but she choose to do so and, in choosing that path, chose to follow God’s plan.

Paul, in his letter to the Romans (Romans 7: 15 - 25 ), also speaks of the freedom to choose. He understands that he is free to choose the path he wants to walk; he understands that he is free to chose to live however he chooses to live. And he understands the consequences of his choice when he chooses the wrong passage. Much has been made of this particular passage and other passages where he speaks of the things that bother him. Paul never does come out and say what it is that torments his soul. But he does say that the conflict is resolved when he views his life in terms of Christ and what Christ did for him, even when he (Paul) sought to persecute the early church.

I have heard it say that war is inevitable and that we must be prepared to go to war. I will not deny that we must defend our freedom but if we do nothing to remove the causes of conflict and distrust, then conflict will be inevitable. So why should we wait until the dogs of war are barking at our door? Why do we not do what we have been asked to do over the years.

The Great Commission states we are to go out into the world and make disciples of all the people. But that is not necessarily the best translation of that passage. It is a convenient translation because it gives us the opportunity to continue a war mentality; if you will not become a disciple, then we will make you one.

But other (and I believe better) translations tells us to have the people follow the ways that we were taught. And we were taught to feed the hungry, heal the sick, build houses for the homeless, and bring hope to the oppressed. The burden of freedom can be a heavy burden; that is why the Gospel reading for today (Matthew 11: 16 - 19, 25 -30) speaks of a yoke. We have chosen to wear a yoke that we call freedom but it is a heavy yoke and it encumbers us and enslaves us. We call it freedom but in reality it is sin.

But, in Christ, we are offered a chance to remove that yoke. In Christ, we are offered a choice of freedom, freedom over sin and death, freedom from slavery and oppression. And, as those who proclaim Christ as their Savior and Lord, we must bring that choice into the world.

Freedom is a choice, a choice to follow or not to follow. Freedom is an opportunity and we have that opportunity today.

Just What Is The Right Thing To Do?

This Sunday, the 7th Sunday after Pentecost, I am presenting the message at Dover UMC again.  The Scripture readings for this Sunday are Genesis 22: 1 - 14, Romans 6: 12 - 23 and Matthew 10: 40 - 42.

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Just what is the right thing to do? This, of course, is a question that has been asked by each generation and will be asked by each generation to come. Now, there are some who would say that right and wrong are relative; others say that the ability to discern right from wrong is somehow encoded in our genes; and there are those who tell us that there is a physical law which governs the concept of right and wrong.

If right and wrong are relative to particular places and times, i.e., if something such as slavery can be right 100 years ago but wrong today, then we will have a very difficult time explaining our history and we will have a very hard time deciding what to do in the coming years.

If the ability to discern right and wrong is encoded in our genes, then we are looking at a Pandora’s Box which, if opened, will create more havoc and destruction than anything that was in the original box. The same could be said if the notion of right and wrong are somehow governed by the laws of nature.

The other possibility is that there are clear distinctions between right and wrong and these distinctions can be taught. The question arises as to when and where should they be taught and who should teach them? And what happens when what one person teaches or is taught comes into conflict with the teachings of another?

Now, I started writing this message before the release of the second portion of Pew Forum’s Religious Landscape Survey, which dealt with the extent of religious beliefs and practices as well as the impact of religion on society. The first part of this survey, released in February, showed that many Americans switched their religious affiliations at least once in their life (see “Questions from the Religious Landscape”). Two things that came out of that particular report is that many of the mainline churches, including the United Methodist Church, are losing members and that one out of every six individuals who responded indicated that they did not belong to an organized religion. In other words, people believe but they do not belong. And they are searching for the right place to belong, the place where what they believe fits in.

They are searching because they are confused about God and what they believe. They see churches of all religions whose words and pronouncements do not match what is in their hearts and minds and the Holy Scriptures of each religion. This is, in part, what the second part of the Pew Study tells me.

In the second report, the vast majority of Americans (92%) believe in God, 74% believe in life after death, and a majority says that their religion is not the only way to salvation. On the surface, this is good news. But when you look beneath the surface, things do not appear to be that good. 21% of self-identified atheists said that they believe in God or a universal spirit with 8% “absolutely certain”. If one person out of every five says that they believe in something which by definition they cannot believe in, what does that say about the other results of this study? Other results of this survey are, for me, equally disturbing and confusing.

Many say that the results of this study indicated that we are either becoming more religious tolerant or we don’t completely understand what it is that we believe. The results suggest that we do not know the fundamental teachings of our own particular faith. And this fundamental misunderstanding of our faith is clearly indicated in other studies.

In a recent report, sixty percent of Americans could not identify five of the Ten Commandments and 50% of high school seniors thought that Sodom and Gomorrah were married. Three-quarters of the American populace believe that “God helps those who help themselves” comes from the Bible. Though it is biblical sounding, it comes from Poor Richard’s Almanac, a book definitely not one of the four Gospels and it actually conflicts with the basic message of Scripture.

Don’t ask too many Americans to identify the four Gospels because only one-half can name more than one of those books. And only one-third of the populace can tell you who delivered the Sermon on the Mount. (See http://www.usatoday.com/news/opinion/2007-04-29-oplede_N.htm?csp=34)

Another survey (http://www.theologicalstudies.citymax.com/page/page/1573625.htm) showed that less than one out of every ten believers possess a biblical worldview as the basis for his or her decision-making or behavior. And when given thirteen basic teachings from the Bible, only 1% of adult believers firmly embraced all thirteen as being biblical perspectives.

In the June 17, 2008, issue of Christian Century, Barbara Brown Taylor wrote about the “Introduction to World Religions” course that she taught at Piedmont College (“Faith Matters”). The course spends five weeks studying each of the world’s major religions. At best, only the basic information can be covered but it is enough to often change the thinking of many of the students. Students who completed the course indicate that they feel more at home in the world, they are less frightened by religious differences, and they are more informed and perhaps better equipped to wage peace instead of war.

But, when it comes to section covering Christianity, there are some disturbing results. Until they took the course, students said that they never noticed that the nativity story in Matthew was different from the nativity story in Luke and that Mark and John have no such stories. They never imagined that the first Christians did not walk around with a copy of the New Testament in their pockets. In fact, they have no concept of how the books of the Bible were assembled. Most of the students assumed that Paul was one of the disciples and that was how he gathered the information that he used to write his letters. And no one told them about Constantine, Augustine, Benedict or Martin Luther. They have no idea that there are branches to the tree of Christianity. For most students, nothing happened during the centuries between Jesus’ resurrection and their own profession of faith.

Now, from my own understanding of the learning process, this is entirely understandable. When you are presented with information that conflicts with information that you already have, the new information is often not processed beyond the moment. When it comes time to recall the information, you fall back on the old stuff rather than the new material. This is true whether you are studying chemistry or religion. And for most people, their last true class in religion was their confirmation class; so they are essentially junior high students when it comes to religion.

When you compare Dr. Taylor’s results and those of other studies that showed a similar Biblical illiteracy, the results of the Pew Study take on a new meaning. In the end, it means that we often don’t know what it is that we say we know. And if we don’t know or understand, then our belief will be weak. As one commentator noted, religion in America is 3,000 miles wide and three inches deep (see the “Americans: My faith isn’t the only way”). The tolerance of other religions that everyone says this study indicates is based more on weak beliefs than on a true understanding of each other.

As my colleague Henry Neufeld noted,

While I celebrate tolerance, I’m disturbed by the tendency to identify tolerance with weak beliefs. Unfortunately, that is what is happening. People become tolerant by becoming less committed. The article refers to this as “humility,” but it doesn’t seem so to me. Humility in one’s beliefs would require one to have some beliefs, but to admit that one might be mistaken and to be open to correction. The particular evidence for this is those who try to keep the label “evangelical” while altering the definition.

I would prefer a society made up of people with strong beliefs, who were willing to defend those beliefs, but were also determined to do so respectfully, and to respect–not agree with–the beliefs of others.

As one last note, let me add that I think this is the attitude that fosters hate speech codes. The tolerant in this sense are not really tolerant. Rather, they are tolerant of those who agree with them that their religious ideas don’t matter all that much. They are conformists, but they conform to a culture of apathy and indecision. Thus when they encounter someone who doesn’t fall within that culture, they feel justified in suppressing that person’s expression. (From “Good News and Bad News on Religious Tolerance”

The problem is that we have studied religion, and especially Christianity and Methodism, as if it were a disease for which we must be vaccinated. And once we are vaccinated, we are immune and we no longer have to worry about the material.

But, if we understand what it was that we say we are, perhaps we would be better off. When we study history, it is often with the idea of finding out who did what, when it was done and where it was done. We study the Bible as if it were a historically or scientifically based document because of that approach.

The ancients were not particularly concerned with same sort of facts. They were more concerned with the why. If we began reading the Bible like our ancestor’s ancestors did, then it would come to life and it would have more meaning for us. The Bible is an incredible description of other people’s relationships with God that was recorded so that we could understand our own relationship with God.

But changing the approach by which we learn often comes with a price; you begin to question things. And there are those who tell you that if you question even one fact in the Bible, you will begin questioning others parts of the Bible and suddenly the whole thing will become irrelevant. But there is another possibility; to question your faith is not to disown it but to claim it with a deeper passion, joy, and conviction (adapted from The Phoenix Affirmations – A New Vision for the Future of Christianity by Eric Elnes).

And I believe that God will allow us to question what He asks us to do or what He is doing. The Book of Job is about one’s man questioning of God. All Job wants is a fair hearing and, in the end, that is what he gets. We are reminded that many of the so-called righteous people associated with Job’s story want him to accept the notion that he, Job, did something wrong. And Job will not do that; he will not go quietly. As Henry Neufeld wrote, Job was willing to fight for what he believed and we should be willing to do so as well. It does not make us a lesser person and it does not confer some sort of apostate status on us; it makes us better believers.

The Old Testament Story for today (Genesis 22: 1 – 14) can be read one of two ways. Either Abraham followed God’s dictates blindly or he trusted in God because of what God had done in the past. As many translations tell us, God was testing Abraham. Had Abraham learned the lessons that had brought him to that time and place? Was he going to sacrifice his only son, the sign of the future that God had promised would be Abraham’s? God does not want us to blindly follow Him but to go where He directs us and to do what we are asked to do because we understand.

Glen Clark wrote, in I Will Lift Up My Eyes,

The first lesson God gives us in training our will is in making us go halfway with Him. He first puts us through a series of disciplines to see if we are worthy to make His team. After this lesson is learned we discover that there are many many times that God goes all the way with us. Over and over again He gives us far more than we have any right to ask. We call this “His Grace,” which goes so much farther than “His law” requires that He should go. God’s mercy goes so much farther than mere human justice goes.

And then there are many times when God give us the opportunity to go all the way with Him. He did that with Job. He did it with Abraham. He used it as a school for many of His greatest saints and leaders. One of the great privileges He may give to you – if He is preparing for you great leadership – is the opportunity sometime of going all the way with Him.

As Paul points out in his letter to the Romans, especially what we read today (Romans 6: 12 – 23), if we choose to stay where we are, if we choose not to learn, then we are condemned to a life of sin. If we, like Abraham, choose to follow God and walk the path that God wants us to walk, then we will have the life that we seek. But we cannot walk the path that God would have us walk unless we are willing to open our minds as well as our hearts.

So we are back to the original question, just what is the right thing to do? How will we every know or find out what it is that God wants us to and what the right thing to do is? The prophet Micah told us that God has shown us what to do.

But he’s already made it plain how to live, what to do, what God is looking for in men and women.

It’s quite simple: Do what is fair and just to your neighbor,
   be compassionate and loyal in your love,

And don’t take yourself too seriously—
take God seriously. (Micah 6: 8 – The Message)

Second, we need to seriously reconsider how the early Christians, our spiritual ancestors, lead their lives and brought Christianity from a small group in the Holy Land to a world encompassing movement. When Christianity began, there was no New Testament. And even if it had existed at the beginning of the movement, most of the people would not have been able to read it. And if they could read, books were very expensive.

But they told others the stories they had been told and they lived their lives according to those stories. They lived a life in which they loved God with all their heart, their mind, their soul and strength and they loved their neighbor as they loved themselves. It became very easy to see that when a law, secular or sectarian, contradicted the teachings of Jesus, such laws were suspect.

And Jesus reminds that it can begin with the simplest of acts, to give a drink of water to a thirsty person. It is time that we remember what it is that we say we are, to go back to school (as it were) if need be, and then to go out into the world and do what is right and just to bring the Gospel message to the people.

It’s About The Family

Here are my thoughts for the 6th Sunday after Pentecost.

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If the overlying theme of the Bible is care for the poor and downtrodden, then the second theme has to be the family and the relationship between members of the family and with God. From the very beginning of this story, it has been about the relationship between mankind and God. And in each chapter of the story, the subplot has been how we have rejected God’s direction and how God has always tried to direct us back to Him.

Now, the key thing about this story of the family in which God is the Father is that we, the children, are not the ones defining what the family is. And therein lays the problem; because too often, we tried to do just that. We try to tell God what He should be thinking and what He should be doing. I came across a very interesting reading as I was preparing this piece. Simon Tugwell wrote in Prayer,

It is assumed that if God is omnipotent he can do anything; but this is not strictly true. What God’s omnipotence does mean is that nothing can obstruct Him, nothing can prevent His being fully and eternally Himself.

But this means that it is actually a part of His omnipotence that God does not contradict Himself. He is free to determine the manner of His own working; and in fact, as we know from revelation, He has chosen to work in such a way that we can interfere, and interfere very drastically, with His creation. God made man such that man could rebel against Him, and set up his own “world” in opposition to God. Of course, God is not without allies even in “our” world; He knows that we can never really be satisfied with any world of our own devising, so that it will always be vulnerable to His influence in one way or another; and God exploits this to the full. But He always respects the freedom and independence that He has given us.

Abraham was told that he would be the father of many nations but he was told this when both he and Sarah were childless and Sarah was well beyond the natural years of child-bearing. As we know from the chapters preceding today’s Old Testament reading, they both conspired to seek a solution to God’s plan without involving God. Abraham has a son, Ishmael, with Hagar, Sarah’s servant.

And while Abraham may be celebrating the prophecy of God that he, Abraham, would be the father of many nations would be fulfilled through Ishmael, Sarah does become pregnant and gives birth to a son of her own, Isaac.

There is a rivalry born out of jealously and, if you will, natural law. For Ishmael, as Abraham’s oldest son, is the heir to the fortune and Isaac will be left with a minimal amount. So, as we read today, there is hardness in Sarah’s heart towards what she considers her son’s rival and his mother.

But even though she had been involved in the plan, Sarah quickly turns against Hagar and demands that Abraham cast Ishmael and Hagar out of his household. Our reading for today (Genesis 21: 8 – 21) points out that Ishmael will ultimately become the father of his own nation. We know today (or at least we should know today) that this prophecy is the basis for the founding of Islam and its spiritual ties back to Abraham.

There will be enmity between Isaac and Ishmael for years to come and it will only disappear when their father dies and they join together in the grief common to all families when the patriarch dies. But we still see that enmity today in the fighting that takes place in the Holy Land. We forget that the differences between Arab and Jew are not just differences found in modern-day politics but differences that are centuries old. They are resolvable differences, to be sure, but to solve these differences we must find a radical new way of thinking; one not based on force and violence but on peace and cooperation. It is not an easy solution as anyone who has had argument with their own siblings well knows. But there is an answer.

And I think that is what Jesus is telling us in the Gospel reading for today (Matthew 10: 24 – 39). I don’t think that He seeks to destroy the family nor do I think that He wishes war. But when our focus is on the world on which we stand, we are certainly not going to be focusing on the Heavenly Kingdom. How many times have children rebelled against their parents because they seek a different path than the ones the parents wish for them to walk?

With His teachings and actions, Jesus showed us a new way, one that differed greatly from the one offered throughout the generations. And for those that followed Him, it was a way that would cause grief amongst their relatives. Did not Jesus’ mother and siblings try to pull Him out of His ministry when it began? And did not Jesus seemingly renounce His family, proclaiming that those who followed Him were His true brothers and sisters? It was not that He gave up His lineage; rather He expanded it.

And that is what He wants us to do. We are not to see things from a limited view of things immediately around us. Rather, we are to expand our horizons and our views to include everyone, even those whom we may despise and those who would despise us.

The Bible tells us an interesting story of Father and child, of how the child rebelled against the parent, and wandered through the ages. It is a story of how brother fought brother, father fought son, and parents and children became estranged from each other. Throughout the Bible, we read the story of mankind separating into factions and groups, each with anger and hatred for others. In our anger and our hatred, we become lost in this world.

But, as Paul points out in his words to the Romans for today (Romans 6: 1 – 11), the Father sent His Son to save us from our wanderings and our indecision and our hatred for others. God sent Jesus to bring us back into the true family, the family begun at the beginning of the story.

When Abraham died, Isaac and Ishmael reconciled their differences to bury their father. God gives us the answer for the unity of the family. He provided the answer when He reunited the two brothers, Ishmael and Isaac, in grief. He provided the answer for each one of us when His Son died on the cross for our sins.

And so it is, the story of the Bible is all about the family, the family of God. A family separated at the beginning through jealousy, envy, greed, hatred, and anger but brought together when the Father sent His Only Son to die on the Cross to save his children from sin and death.

When Is The Time?

I am preaching at Lake Mahopac UMC (Mahopac, NY) this Sunday morning, the 5th Sunday after Pentecost.  The Scriptures for today a re Genesis 18: 1 - 15, Romans 5: 1- 8, and Matthew 9: 35 - 10:8.

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This summer promises to be an interesting period of time. First, with the heat wave that we had last week, it would appear that summer has arrived even though the calendar tells us that it won’t actually be summer for another week or so. And while the calendar says that it is just June, the political campaigns have all the hallmarks of late September or early October. The airwaves are filled with attacks and counter-attacks, accusations and denials, mud-slinging and more mud-slinging. The only thing that is not taking place is a serious discussion of the issues that mankind faces in these early days of the 21^st century.

The one nice thing about the political campaigns of today is that religion has been pushed to the back when compared to previous campaigns. That is not to say that it is entirely gone but only that it is being pushed back. It might have been nice if it hadn’t because we definitely need a serious discussion of religion in our lives but not within the framework of politics.

We need to understand what people believe when it comes to the Bible and the message of Christ. We need to understand what exactly the message of Islam is and how, like so many other religions including Christianity, it has been twisted and transformed into something entirely different. We need to understand what are the heart and soul of our life and how a belief in Jesus Christ as a Savior has been transformed into a corporate-based philosophy where big is better and individuals are shunned.

We need to understand what the Bible is and what it is not. We have to understand that a thing like the Rapture, so often mentioned in today’s popular religion, is not in the Bible but is in the writings of a 19^th century preacher, John Darby.

We need to see that the Gospel message is more than just the saving of souls but a transformation of society. It is not a transformation of society into one bound by religions laws and principles but one guided and directed by the presence of the Holy Spirit.

The words that we hear from politicians and preachers alike are words of hate and fear. The words of Jesus were words of promise and hope. When will we begin to ask or demand that those who wish to lead us socially or spiritually offer what was offered some two thousand years ago. When is the time for us to respond?

I would say that now is that time. We can start by thinking about what we read in the Bible. You cannot simply read it and say “that’s nice” or “that’s interesting.” You have to put some thought into what you read. And that is the problem we have today. Too many people want to take what is written in this book at face value. How many times did someone, a Pharisee or a Scribe, come up to Jesus and ask Him a question about the Scriptures or law that was intended to trap Jesus but ultimately showed the ignorance of the questioner?

When you take the Bible at face value, one of two things is apt to happen. You either develop a view of the world that is fixed and two thousand years old or you get confused by the contradictions and contrary actions that are described in the chapters of both the Old and New Testament. Either way, you miss the message and misunderstand the words. You look at the world around you and try to fit the world into the Bible; to use a quote by George Bernard Shaw that was often used by Robert Kennedy, “instead of seeing things as they could be and asking why not, you see things as they are and ask why.”

For me, the Bible is not a history book, a science book, or a novel. It is an explanation of the presence of God in our lives. It is about the relationship we have with God and others; it is not meant to be a restrictive set of rules. (See Jim Wallis’ comments about the Bible at “The Bible Is Neither Conservative or Liberal”.)

Yet there are those today who believe that the Bible should be nothing more than a restrictive set of rules governing our every action and thought. They would have us live in a world of laws and rules that govern our daily lives, literally telling us what to say and think, and even literally telling us when to breath. It is no wonder that so many people rebel against the church!

But against this perception, we have to remember that Christ Himself told us that He was the embodiment of the law and that the law was superseded by the Spirit. Two thousand years ago, Israel was a society of religious laws.

Now, the basis for laws in Israel in Jesus’ time was the Ten Commandments. But, because the people were so afraid of breaking the Ten Commandments, 613 additional laws were created. Now, of these 613 laws, 365 began with “thou shalt not” and were, thus, negative in nature (the other 248 were positive in nature, beginning with “thou shall”; from “The Journey Towards Relevance” by Kary Oberbrunner, page 37). Like the Pharisees of old, we make rules and regulations that create, control, and curb personal holiness. In the name of freedom, we create laws that take away our freedom. Jesus tried to get us to see beyond the rules and regulations of society and into the spirit that was behind the law.

We are reminded that the primary emphasis of both the Old and New Testaments is how we care for people, old and young, rich and poor, those who have and those who don’t. We are reminded that if we took our Bibles and removed every reference to poverty, the poor, or the needy then it would fall apart. The Bible and Christianity are not about the rich getting richer or the healthy staying healthy or the free remaining free. It is about the poor being given opportunities, the sick being healed and the imprisoned and down-trodden being offered hope and freedom.

Read the Gospel message for today (Matthew 9: 35 – 10: 8), especially the first two verses, again.

Then Jesus made a circuit of all the towns and villages. He taught in their meeting places, reported kingdom news, and healed their diseased bodies, healed their bruised and hurt lives. When he looked out over the crowds, his heart broke.

It does not matter what translation of the Bible you read the Gospel message from. In all cases, Jesus has compassion for the people as they come to him because they were confused and lost, helpless and sick, and without hope.

In 1960, when he was running for President of the United States, John Kennedy came face to face with what may have been one of the best-kept secrets of this country, the poverty of our rural areas. It changed his view of this country and it probably made him a better person.

And it changed his brother Robert as well. The other day, on the anniversary of Robert Kennedy’s death, I wrote

He was a politician who challenged the people to act and not simply accept the status quo. He pushed people to get involved. He was angry at a society that would allow people to go hungry in the rural areas of this country and not protect the workers who harvested the food that the middle and upper classes of this country ate. He was angry at a society that would fight a war that appeared to have no end and would sacrifice a generation of children. But he did not simply voice his anger. He offered solutions that were solutions; he challenged people to act; he challenged people to do what was right, not what was necessarily the popular thing. (“Forty Years Ago”)

As David Ulm wrote,

Stumping in South Dakota, he spent one of his two days in the state on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation. In Indiana, during a lunch sponsored by the Vincennes Civitan Club, he assailed a group of businessmen on the subject of hunger, offering what Tom Congdon Jr. of the Saturday Evening Post would characterize as “reverse demagoguery — he was telling them precisely the opposite of what they wanted to hear.” Later, at Indiana University’s School of Medicine, he chided the doctors in training for failing to make “decent medical care something more than a luxury of the affluent” and spoke against draft deferments as unfair to the poor. (http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/la-bk-ulin1-2008jun01,0,4884048.story)

Politics is about people but politics today is a far cry from a concern about people. At a time when the gap between rich and poor grows larger with every minute, I do not see or hear any leader stepping forth to proclaim that we need to be caring for the less fortunate and the forgotten. Rather, I see and hear too many leaders listening to the rich and want-to-be-powerful while the poor and less fortunate are pushed aside and quickly forgotten. They are unwilling to take the time to see the world around them and work, as Jesus proclaimed that first day of his ministry in the Nazareth synagogue, to heal the sick, feed the hungry, and bring the Good News to the oppressed.

Our politics today, no matter what some may say, are not politics of hope and promise for tomorrow; they are the politics of fear, offering words that encourage hatred and division. They are words that say that it is perfectly reasonable to seek wealth. It was given to you by God and you need not feel guilty about being wealthy. Poverty is a state of mind and those who are poor deserve their fate. It is not our responsibility to take care of the poor; giving money to the poor and social programs only wastes our money.

And what is perhaps worse is that too many people who are affected by this dichotomy in political and social policy are quite willing to accept this way of thinking because they think that they will somehow move up in the world. They are quite willing to place the blame for society’s ills and problems on others, somehow hoping that those who have will remember those who do not have.

The politics of today tell us to fight those who would teach new theories or bring about change in society. New thoughts run counter to tradition and when you challenge tradition, society falls apart. New knowledge can only destroy the values of society.

The politics of today tell us that only military power will defeat evil. We hear that the only thing evil understands is raw power and those who say that you can counter evil with love are extremely naïve. But violence only generates more violence and those exposed to violence see violence as the only solution to their problems. Terrorism and hatred grow out of violence and when violence is used to combat terror, it can only breed more.

The politics of today tells us that others are to blame for the troubles of society. It is those who have different economic status, different lifestyles, or different skin colors that are to blame for society’s troubles. We are told to cast aside those who are not like us; we are told to build walls, physical or otherwise, that keep them strangers away (adapted from “The Vision of Hope”).

We are told that our problems are caused because illegal immigrants take jobs away from Americans. Let us ignore for a moment that many of the jobs that immigrants fill are jobs that Americans will not take and let us forget that many immigrants work for wages below what many Americans feel are acceptable. And let us forget about punishing companies and corporations who hire illegal immigrants. Let us try and remember that we, or some member of our family, were once strangers in a strange land and we were once welcomed.

But how do we react to visitors to our church, our city, or our country? Right now, our country wants to build a wall along our Southern border to keep out the illegal immigrants. It is a physical wall today; it has been a legal wall in the past. But, yet, people still come to this country.

We claim that our history and our heritage is based on the Bible. What was the first thing that Abraham did in today’s Old Testament reading when the three visitors came to his camp site? He welcomed them with food and drink and he washed their feet; he made them feel welcome.

Many years ago a visitor came to a church. I was a member of that church but this visitor came many years before I did. And though his stay was a brief one, it was one that he remembered, for the people of the church made him feel welcome and a part of the community. And as a result of the efforts of the church community to make a stranger feel welcome and comfortable, when he died, his estate sent the church a check that enabled the church to build a new parsonage and turn the old one into an educational building.

But when I came to that church, only one person other than the minister and his wife said hello to my family and me. And it was a dying church. Somehow, that church had forgotten what had happened when they welcomed visitors. Fortunately, that situation of ignoring visitors changed and the church recovered and grew.

Somewhere along the line, we have forgotten what it is that we are supposed to do. Somewhere along the line, we began putting up walls and barriers that keep others out. And we forgot that when we do that, when we put up walls to keep others out, we trap ourselves in a prison of our own making. We need to see the world differently; we need for our actions to be different.

The economic situation today, the politics of the world and the nation all seem to say that there is nothing the little person, the common person can do. We hear the words of the Gospel to do the seeming impossible. We can barely make it ourselves and here today Jesus is telling us to go out into the world and do his work. When are we going to find the time? When are we going to find the wherewithal that will enable us to do it?

Some forty years ago, Martin Luther King came to my home town of Memphis. He came because there was a labor problem and he had been asked to help. And one night he got up before the workers, their supporters, and their leadership and gave a speech. We remember him telling us that there would be difficult times ahead and that he probably would not be with us at the end of the journey. This speech on April 3, 1968 was prophetic, not because Dr. King would die the next day but because of the other things he said that night.

He also spoke of God asking him what age of civilization he might want to live in. His answer to that most interesting question was

Strangely enough, I would turn to the Almighty, and say, “If you allow me to live just a few years in the second half of the twentieth century, I will be happy.” Now that’s a strange statement to make, because the world is all messed up. The nation is sick. Trouble is in the land. Confusion is all around. That’s a strange statement. But I know, somehow, that only when it is dark enough, can you see the stars. And I see God working in this period of the twentieth century in a way that men, in some strange way, are responding — something is happening in our world. The masses of people are rising up. And wherever they are assembled today, whether they are in Johannesburg, South Africa; Nairobi, Kenya; Accra, Ghana; New York City; Atlanta, Georgia; Jackson, Mississippi; or Memphis, Tennessee — the cry is always the same — “We want to be free.”

And another reason that I’m happy to live in this period is that we have been forced to a point where we’re going to have to grapple with the problems that men have been trying to grapple with through history, but the demand didn’t force them to do it. Survival demands that we grapple with them. Men, for years now, have been talking about war and peace. But now, no longer can they just talk about it. It is no longer a choice between violence and nonviolence in this world; it is nonviolence or nonexistence.

That is where we are today. And also in the human rights revolution, if something isn’t done, and in a hurry, to bring the colored peoples of the world out of their long years of poverty, their long years of hurt and neglect, the whole world is doomed. Now, I’m just happy that God has allowed me to live in this period, to see what is unfolding. And I’m happy that He’s allowed me to be in Memphis.

It’s all right to talk about “long white robes over yonder,” (which I take to mean angels rather than something more Southern in nature) in all of its symbolism. But ultimately people want some suits and dresses and shoes to wear down here. It’s all right to talk about “streets flowing with milk and honey,” but God has commanded us to be concerned about the slums down here, and his children who can’t eat three square meals a day. It’s all right to talk about the new Jerusalem, but one day, God’s preachers must talk about the New York, the new Atlanta, the new Philadelphia, the new Los Angeles, the new Memphis, Tennessee. This is what we have to do. (from I’ve Been To The Mountaintop” – Memphis, Tennessee, April 3, 1968)

When is the time to begin the work of the Gospel? The time is now. Before he spoke of being on the mountain top and seeing the Promised Land, before he spoke prophetically of his own death and the likelihood that he would not reach the Promised Land, he spoke of the Good Samaritan and the road from Jerusalem to Jericho, the path taken by the injured man, the rabbi, the Levite, and the Good Samaritan.

Let us develop a kind of dangerous unselfishness. One day a man came to Jesus; and he wanted to raise some questions about some vital matters in life. At points, he wanted to trick Jesus, and show him that he knew a little more than Jesus knew, and through this, throw him off base. Now that question could have easily ended up in a philosophical and theological debate. But Jesus immediately pulled that question from mid-air, and placed it on a dangerous curve between Jerusalem and Jericho. And he talked about a certain man, who fell among thieves. You remember that a Levite and a priest passed by on the other side. They didn’t stop to help him. And finally a man of another race came by. He got down from his beast, decided not to be compassionate by proxy. But with him, administering first aid, and helped the man in need. Jesus ended up saying, this was the good man, this was the great man, because he had the capacity to project the “I” into the “thou,” and to be concerned about his brother. Now you know, we use our imagination a great deal to try to determine why the priest and the Levite didn’t stop. At times we say they were busy going to church meetings—an ecclesiastical gathering—and they had to get on down to Jerusalem so they wouldn’t be late for their meeting. At other times we would speculate that there was a religious law that “One who was engaged in religious ceremonials was not to touch a human body twenty-four hours before the ceremony.” And every now and then we begin to wonder whether maybe they were not going down to Jerusalem, or down to Jericho, rather to organize a “Jericho Road Improvement Association.” That’s a possibility. Maybe they felt that it was better to deal with the problem from the causal root, rather than to get bogged down with an individual effort.

But I’m going to tell you what my imagination tells me. It’s possible that those men were afraid. You see, the Jericho road is a dangerous road. I remember when Mrs. King and I were first in Jerusalem. We rented a car and drove from Jerusalem down to Jericho. And as soon as we got on that road, I said to my wife, “I can see why Jesus used this as the setting for his parable.” It’s a winding, meandering road. It’s really conducive for ambushing. You start out in Jerusalem, which is about 1200 miles — or rather 1200 feet above sea level. And by the time you get down to Jericho, fifteen or twenty minutes later, you’re about 2200 feet below sea level. That’s a dangerous road. In the days of Jesus it came to be known as the “Bloody Pass.” And you know, it’s possible that the priest and the Levite looked over that man on the ground and wondered if the robbers were still around. Or it’s possible that they felt that the man on the ground was merely faking. And he was acting like he had been robbed and hurt, in order to seize them over there, lure them there for quick and easy seizure. And so the first question that the priest asked — the first question that the Levite asked was, “If I stop to help this man, what will happen to me?”

But then the Good Samaritan came by. And he reversed the question: “If I do not stop to help this man, what will happen to him?”

Forty years later, these are still difficult times, especially if we are to bring the Gospel into reality. The road that we have chosen to walk will not be an easy one to walk. And quite frankly, we don’t always want to have to walk the hard road; we would like to sometimes walk the easy path or the soft path.

In his letter to the Romans, Paul points out that 1) no road that we walk will ever be has hard as the one Christ had to walk and that 2) we know what truly lies at the end of our walk. And while it is uneasy to hear Martin Luther King’s words predicting his own death and while we do not want to hear Paul say that there are people for whom we should be willing to die, we also hear Paul tell us that we need not seek death. In fact, we are not asked to see death for Christ because Christ died for us; rather, we are asked to work for Christ in this world.

Too often we see the Gospel in terms of what we need. We see the need for the Gospel, especially as it pertains to the sick, the hungry, the naked, the homeless, the oppressed, and we wonder what we can do that we haven’t already done. But perhaps now, more than ever, is the time that we see the Gospel as the Good Samaritan saw it and as Dr. King expressed it. A phrase that resonated throughout my high school and college years was “if not now, when; if not me, who?” We are asked to fulfill the Gospel message; we are asked to do it today. And we have the capabilities to do so.

When God first spoke to Abram, He said that He would make Abram the father of many nations. But Abram was seventy-five and had no children. In today’s Old Testament reading, he is now Abraham and almost ninety. Sarah, his wife, is also close to ninety and, it would appear, no longer fertile. But God says that he will return within the year and when He does, Sarah will be pregnant. And when she hears this, Sarah does what we might do if that were the case with us, she laughed.

Much can be made about what happens next in this story, as it has for some two thousand years. I don’t know if Sarah was really ninety years old when she was told that she would be pregnant within the year or if the writer of the story set it up so that it would be more dramatic. That is not the point of the story.

It was, as Paul and others would write, by faith that Abram left his home and took Sarai to lands that God would show him. It was by faith that Abram became Abraham and Sarai became Sarah. It was by faith that Abraham took God’s word that he would be the father of many nations.

It is that story of faith that continues today with each one of us. By our presence, our prayers and our declaration this morning of our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior, we continue this story that has come down through the ages. And because we have chosen to continue the story, we must be willing and prepared to take on the tasks that Christ asks us to take on.

Who will go out and harvest? Who will go out and proclaim the Gospel? Who will proclaim the Gospel message of healing, comfort, hope and promise to the world. We will be the ones to proclaim the Gospel message and we know that now is the time to do so.

A Crisis in Faith

Here are my thoughts for tomorrow, the 4th Sunday after Pentecost.  The Scripture readings are Genesis 12: 1 - 9, Romans 4: 13 -25, and Matthew 9: 9 - 13, 18 - 26.  This has to be one of the toughest posts I have ever written.  Many things are going on in my life right now (and most of them are not good) and the crisis in faith that I see in the world is impacting my life.  But I have not given up hope nor have I renounced my faith as many might have done.

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The other day I was reading a report about problems with science education in this country. In response, one commentator blamed religion for the problems. This commentator then proceeded to list a number of references which, he claimed, proved that those who are religious are mentally ill. While I would say that I could personally be characterized as a “bit flaky”, I am not sure that I would go as far as questioning my mental stability. It is also interesting to note that this same commentator used the same exact comments in explaining why this country is having difficulty dealing with the idea of global warming. This commentator, along with many others on the extreme left of the theological spectrum, blames religion for the problems of society and the world.

Of course, while this is all going on, we have those on the extreme right of the theological spectrum telling us that we are in the “End Times” and that Armageddon is imminent. And it is all due to secular humanists and their agenda of decadence and immorality.

I cannot imagine that the problems of the world can be directly attributed to the various religions of the world nor am I willing to accept the notion that God is determined to destroy this world because some people do not willingly accept the notion of a omnipotent God. Yet, while I hold the views of those on both the extreme left and extreme right with disdain, I look around and wonder what is happening.

The cost of gasoline rises almost every day, sometimes by the hour, and we hear that the energy companies are making record profits and that tankers loaded with crude oil are parked off shore because there is no place to unload their cargo of “black gold.” We wonder who is benefiting from this because it doesn’t seem to be us.

And with the rise of the cost of energy comes the rise in other goods and services. We, as a country and as a society, have no real understanding of the relationship between the cost of crude oil and the cost of other materials that are dependent on the production of crude oil. We are watching the breakdown of airlines as they attempt to balance the desire of the public for low cost travel with the rising costs associated with that travel.

Our political system, once perhaps the envy of the civilized world, has turned into a 21st century equivalent of the Roman Senate, where every Senator seeks the power of Caesar and election is accomplished by coup d’état, backbiting, and conspiracy.

It seems to me that “conspiracy” has become the watchword for every event that has taken place in recent years. We are not willing to accept the obvious if we can somehow create a more sinister conspiracy. Pair “mortgage problems” with “conspiracy theory” gets 410,000 hits in a Google search; pair “rising oil prices” with “conspiracy theory” and you get 789,000 hits; “energy crisis” with “conspiracy theory” gets 1,420,000 hits; even “society problems” paired with “conspiracy theory” gets 2,490,000 hits. Granted that many of these results are combinations of the various words but it is clear that many people see conspiracies lurking in the shadows where there is nothing but discovery. Even religion and faith have become intertwined with the notion of conspiracy theories with the success of the DaVinci Code as a book and as a movie.

We are quite willing to accept a conspiracy theory as the answer for the problems of the world because it is easier to do so than it is to accept the real answer. The cause of mortgage crisis may be more related to societal greed than anything else. The rise in fuel costs may be more a reflection of the fact that we have lived with cheap energy for so long that we are totally unaware of it’s real cost. Our political process has broken down because we have let it fall apart; too many people have long accepted the idea that they could do nothing so they have turned a blind eye to the process. Now, with the process seemingly controlled by the rich and powerful and their special interests, it is breaking down.

We have longed placed our faith in a system. For many years, it was a faith well placed and it was a system that worked. I believe that the system still works but we, individually and collectively, must take action to fix the broken parts.

I could not help be amazed when people could not understand how Albert Gore, Jr. could win the popular vote in 2000 yet lose the election to George W. Bush. After all, have most people not studied the Constitution in at least high school? If they had remembered what they studied, they would have remembered that it is not the popular vote that decides who is president but the Electoral College.

People complain about rising fuel costs today and there are times when the complaint is justified. There are any number of reasons why the cost of energy is climbing in this country, but this country has always had relatively cheap energy and the rise in prices may just be an adjustment between what we are paying and what people in other countries are paying. But we are not ready, let alone understand, this explanation. We have long lived in our little world insulated from the outside and now the outside is somehow seeping into our comfort zone.

We see people living on the street. We see long lines of people outside food closets and hear how the lines get longer each week. We are told that we are the land of plenty and opportunity but the plenty is disappearing and the opportunities limited. We live in a world where we expect the answer to our problems now and when we don’t get the answer we want immediately, we question the system.

We are undergoing a process where our view of the world is changing from one where the answers all come from “above” (through religion) to one in which all the answers come from “below” (through science and rational thought). In doing so we, as individuals and as a society, have transformed God from what He is, was, and will be into what we want him to be. We have transformed God into our servant, coming when we need Him.

This transformation and change has not taken place overnight but rather has been slow and gradual over the history of the church, religion, and mankind. It is a transformation and change that began when the church became part of the establishment, not a thorn in its side. The transformation and change has, I think, only become more apparent in recent days because of everything else that has happened recently.

This change and transformation has created a world divided by and between faith and reason, a world where adherents of the faith proclaim everyone else doomed and without hope and where adherents of an empirical lifestyle proclaim that those who have a live in faith are hopeless mental cases. It is a world where you must choose one side or the other but not both. Those of us who live in both worlds are slowly being squeezed by both sides.

It is apparent that you cannot be a scientist and a Christian in today’s society. If you declare that you are a Christian, there are too many people who will proclaim that your scientific credentials are fraudulent (and that you may be slightly mentally deranged) while declaring that you are a scientist puts you in the realm of un-believers.

And as I write this piece, the state of Texas Board of Education is considering a new way to teach evolution. But this new way is nothing more than a disguised attempt to introduce creationism by circumventing the courts and their opinions concerning the teaching of creationism and intelligent design. All this will do is widen the gap between faith and reason, not bring it closer together.

But, as I have written before, a life based solely on empiricism and without faith is a life without vision. Albert Einstein put it this way, “Science without religion is lame; religion without science is blind.” You maybe successful in your life but you do not know where you are going or if you are ever going to get there. I also wrote that a life based solely on faith will provide you with a vision of where you are going but cannot give you the means to get there. (“Just a Thought”, 6 January 2007).

I wonder how society would react or respond to the three acts of faith that are given in today’s lectionary. What would the neighbors of Abram say today when he announces that he is moving from his established home and headed to places unknown because God has told him to do so? What would the people say when Abram tells others that he is to be the father of many nations when he doesn’t even have any children and his wife, Sarai, is beyond child bearing age? Would his neighbors seek to have him committed as mentally ill? We are a society that looks very cautiously at those who claim to hear voices telling them what to do so what would we do if Abram were our neighbor and fried?

What are we to say when a man loses his daughter to illness and seeks out a holy man to somehow bring her back to life? What are we to say when a woman, plagued by an illness for twelve years, desperately seeks a cure that will give a normal life? We see examples of those who proclaim that they have the ability to cure illnesses by a simple touch, just as Jesus did, but we are skeptical of those claims. Perhaps our skepticism is brought about the repeated exposure of such modern day holy men as fakes and charlatans; perhaps our skepticism is brought about because we have a greater trust in traditional medicine that we do in alternative forms of healing.

But is our skepticism justified? Remember that the miracles of healing proclaimed in today’s Gospel reading are not the first times that Jesus had healed someone. So the people are coming to Him for healing because they know that He can heal them. Keep in mind that the woman in this story, because of the nature of her illness, has been ostracized by society. She is no longer welcome in society because her illness has made her unclean. She, more than the synagogue leader, is desperate for a cure and she will do whatever she must in order to gain that cure. To venture out into society and come that close to Jesus is to risk all that she is and has. The leader of the synagogue most certainly had to risk the wrath of his colleagues by showing confidence in the Galilean preacher who was stirring up the countryside.

There are those today who are similarly desperate; they are quite willing to risk all in an attempt to find a cure because they have tried everything else or because society is not willing to try. And it is only natural that there will be those who will seek to take advantage of those who are desperate for their own benefit.

But the problem is not that there are those who take advantage of people’s desperation but that we let them take advantage. We do not challenge these charlatans and we do nothing to help those who seek help. We who truly believe have let those who do not abuse our faith and, as result, blacken our faith.

Faith requires some action on our part as well. Faith requires that we take a step outside of our comfort zone and go into areas that we are not altogether comfortable with. Faith requires that we put into action something so that we are able to obtain that which we seek. Those who seek must be able to find what they seek.

It is still a sore spot in my life that on a night when I was in the midst of the greatest crisis of my young life, a seminarian and would-be pastor told me that my baptism as an infant did not count and that I was condemned to a life in hell. I was seeking solace in a time of need and all I was receiving was further pain. Had I not had others who cared for my spirit, I might have walked away from the church that night.

But today there are too many others who act like that preacher-in-training, offering condemnation and rejection when love and grace is needed. When Jesus Christ was crucified that first Good Friday some two thousand years ago, two other men were crucified as well. One of the two rejected Christ, mocking Him as did the soldiers guarding them. But the other recognized the inequity of Christ’s punishment and begged forgiveness for his sins, the cause of which put him on the cross. Even in his own public and personal agony, Christ gave the grace that so many people seek today.

There are too many people today, who like the synagogue leader and the women, seek answers but are rejected by the church. These seekers do have faith but it is a faith that is being tested and it is the church that is testing the faith.

It certainly had to be by faith that Abram gathered up all that he owned and headed towards the unknown land. And it was on faith that Abram took God’s word that he, Abram, would be the father of many nations when he was ninety some years old and had no children.

Abram’s inheritance would only come about when he traveled to the place that God directed him. This required that he move from where he was settled and established and go to an unknown place at a unknown distance away. And society had virtually barred the woman for any societal contact because of her illness; for her to seek Jesus in any manner would have brought a greater response of wrath from society than anything the synagogue leader might have encountered.

If we do not understand what it is that is the basis of our faith, then we cannot act in faith. Too many people act as if faith were gained by following a series of steps, each one to be taken in turn. Faith is the reward for following and obeying each step. If living by and through the law was all that was required, then faith and any promise provided by faith would have no validity. And I think it would be safe to conclude that we may take Paul’s comment in Romans (Romans 4: 13 – 25) to hold true whether we are talking about any spiritual law or any physical law.

And those who proclaim the superiority of the law as the means by which faith occurs have to re-evaluate what it is that they are saying and doing.

Perhaps it is time that we as a church determine what it is that is the basis of our faith. I have written before, as have others, about the alarming lack of Biblical understanding among modern day Christians. This lack of understanding has a dramatic impact on how society views the church. Perhaps we need to undergo a massive Bible study so that we truly understand what it is that we are and what it is that we believe.

If we do this, maybe we will understand that the Bible is not a historical or scientific document but one that explains who God is and who we are. In doing so, we can show that the Bible is not a collection of lies, half-truths, or myths designed to cloud our minds as some on the left would have to believe.

Maybe, if we do that, we will understand that the Rapture is not a Biblical concept but rather the ideas of a nineteenth century Bible scholar. Maybe, if we study the Bible with as much conviction and effort that we put into determining who the next American Idol will be, we would know that Paul did not write all the letters that he is supposed to have written and we would better understand why he wrote what he, in fact, did write.

Maybe, if we began a new study of the Bible, we would find out that there are in fact other religions that believe in the same God as our God. And such belief is not bad or limited.

Maybe, if we began a new study of the Bible, we would find that the major emphasis of the Bible is the love and care we are to have for all mankind and to make sure that all of God’s children are fed and clothed. Maybe we would find that we are not to reject someone because their race, creed, or lifestyles are different from our own.

In these times, my faith is being tested; it is both my personal faith and my faith in a system in which I have lived. I trust in the Lord that He will not forget me nor let me down; but I also know that I must seek the solutions that He is providing for me. I will question my faith and, like Job, I will seek answers from God.

And while I wonder about the system in which I have lived and whether it will last, I realize that I can change the system if I try. After all, one man died on the cross to save my life and in that death the system was changed.

I am not asked to die but to work to insure that the change that was brought about some two thousand years ago continues to be made. But the church may die if it does not respond to this crisis in faith, if it does not look at the answers it offers to the people who seek answers and seek solace and comfort.

There is a crisis but it is a crisis that can be solved if we believe.

Which Side Are You On? (2008)

Here are my thoughts for this coming Sunday, the 3rd Sunday after Pentecost.  The Scriptures are Genesis 6: 11 - 22, 7: 24, 8: 14 - 19; Romans 1: 16 - 17, 3: 22 - 31; and Matthew 7: 21  -29

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While my two favorite Bible passages are Ecclesiastes 3: 1 – 13 and John 8: 31 – 32; there is a special place in my heart for today’s Old Testament reading (Genesis 6: 11 – 22, 7: 24; 8: 14 – 19) and Gospel reading (Matthew 7: 21 – 29).

Ecclesiastes 3: 1 - 13

There’s an opportune time to do things, a right time for everything on the earth:
A right time for birth and another for death,
A right time to plant and another to reap,
A right time to kill and another to heal,
A right time to destroy and another to construct,
A right time to cry and another to laugh,
A right time to lament and another to cheer,
A right time to make love and another to abstain,
A right time to embrace and another to part,
A right time to search and another to count your losses,
A right time to hold on and another to let go,
A right time to rip out and another to mend,
A right time to shut up and another to speak up,
A right time to love and another to hate,
A right time to wage war and another to make peace.

But in the end, does it really make a difference what anyone does? I’ve had a good look at what God has given us to do—busywork, mostly. True, God made everything beautiful in itself and in its time—but he’s left us in the dark, so we can never know what God is up to, whether he’s coming or going. I’ve decided that there’s nothing better to do than go ahead and have a good time and get the most we can out of life. That is it; eat, drink, and make the most of your job. It’s God’s gift.

John 8: 31 - 32

Then Jesus turned to the Jews who had claimed to believe in him. “If you stick with this, living out what I tell you, you are my disciples for sure. Then you will experience for yourselves the truth, and the truth will free you.”

I used the Old Testament reading from Genesis, or rather Bill Cosby’s interpretation of the Noah story as the basis for my first college reflection (there is a copy of this wonderful piece on YouTube.com but it is soured somewhat by the comments which are more theological and show no appreciation for the humor of the piece). And it was during that same college period that I became aware of that great theological study, The Gospel According to Peanuts by Robert L. Short.

In one passage from the cartoon strip, Linus is outside building a rather ornate sand castle. As he is working on this project, it begins to rain until, in the fourth panel, it is a deluge and all of his work has been washed away. Linus is sitting there saying “There’s a lesson to be learned here somewhere. But I don’t know what it is.” Mr. Short intersperses the panels of the strip with the words from Matthew about the man who built his house upon the sand and when the rains and floods came and the winds blew, the house was washed away.

In telling this story, Jesus was pointing out the difference between those who hear His words and act upon them and those who hear His words but do not act upon them. It is fitting that this passage is paired with the flood story because how many times in the past few years have we heard some pastor proclaim that the flooding of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina or the flooding of the Mississippi in 1993 was caused because God was angry at this country for a variety of reasons. Perhaps God is angry with us but we are reminded that God made a covenant with Noah that he would never flood the earth again and the sign of that covenant was the rainbow.

The problem is that too many people today want to use the Bible as they see it written rather than seeing the Bible in total. They are quite willing to utilize Biblical passages to justify denying church membership to selected portions of society while at the same time accepting the idea that Jesus dined with sinners and the dredge of society. You cannot have it both ways.

As I read Paul’s comments to the Romans today (Romans 1: 16 – 17; 3: 22b – 31), I hear a man telling a community that all are sinners but that all receive the grace of God. The Good News is the Good News to all, not just a select portion.

And therein lays our own personal dilemma. For what is to be done with the violence of this world; what is to be done with the inequities found in society because of race, creed, economic status, or lifestyle. Will God someday in the future (or any day now, as some would tell it) strike this earth and cause a great cataclysmic event to destroy the world while saving those who profess to believe in Christ?

Why is that Jesus in this passage from Matthew as well as in the passage in Matthew 25: 35 – 45 pointing out the difference between those that do and those that just talk? Is it because that those that do work to bring the Gospel into this world while those who just talk work to keep the Gospel away from the world?

If we know that the world is about to come to an end because of differences between people because of economic status, race, creed, or any other factor and we do nothing, who are we in the story? If we work to end hunger, poverty, racism, sexism, ageism, and oppression, what will happen to us in the end?

Paul wrote to the Romans that he was not ashamed of the Gospel. If we are who we say we are, then we should not be ashamed of the Gospel either. The Gospel is the promise that there is hope, that the hungry shall be fed, the naked shall be clothed, the sick healed, and the prisoners set free. But we must do more than simply say that we are not ashamed of the Gospel; we must also live the Gospel.

I have written two sermons in the past that have the same title as this piece today (see “Which Side Are You On?” (2004) and “Which Side Are You On?” (2005)). I have done so because of how society today views Christianity.

Whether we want to accept the notion or not, there are two sides to Christianity. There is the side that in reality opposes the Gospel and works to make the church today exclusive and closed. This is the side that is all too familiar to society. The other side of Christianity works to put the Gospel into action and opens the doors of the church to the unwanted and undesired; it is a side that does not fit well in today’s society.

When we say that we are a Christian, society today automatically puts us on one side of the Gospel whether that is where we really stand or not. Unless you are willing to stand up and be counted for Christ, by your thoughts, your words, your deeds, and your actions, then you will be on the wrong side. It is time to decide which side you want to be on and what you are going to do. So I ask, “What side are you on?”

Do As I Say? Or, Do As I Do?

This is a sermon I gave for the 12th Sunday after Pentecost (31 August 2003) at Tompkins Corners UMC (Putnam Valley, NY).  The Scriptures were Song of Solomon 2: 8 - 13, James 1: 17 - 27, and Mark 7: 1 - 8, 14 - 15, 21 - 23.

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I am a sometime listener to Garrison Keilor’s show, “Prairie Home Companion.” Since I don’t listen to it on a regular basis I don’t often get a chance to use some of what he says. It’s shame that I don’t because he has some pretty good stuff involving the pastor and parishioners of the Lutheran Church there in Lake Woebegone.

Now, I would presume that there is a United Methodist Church in Lake Woebegone (if there isn’t, then there is a great opportunity for some mission work). And knowing the makeup of the people who live there, it is very possible that it was at one time an Evangelical United Brethren Church. But it is still Minnesota and so most of the people, no matter their background or belief, attend the local Lutheran church. And it is the troubles and travails of the Lutheran pastor that Keilor speaks of when he gives the news of the past week in Lake Woebegone.

It does make for great listening and if I listened more often I know I would get some ideas that I could use, especially where the church is involved. Lake Woebegone is the town of our dreams, the place where there are only simple problems and as Keilor states every week “the women are beautiful, the men good looking, and all the children are above average.” The news is entertaining but fictitious.

Unfortunately, the news of the world isn’t. And more often than not, the news is more disturbing than entertaining (even if the news broadcasts try to make it sound entertaining). And the news out of Alabama is just that, very disturbing and not very entertaining.

I spent a year of my life as a student in Alabama and it is a year that I will never forget. I had already been exposed to the horrors of segregation and how the lives of both blacks and whites were controlled by this singularly repressive idea of inequality. But it was as a 7^th grader at Bellingrath Junior High in Montgomery, Alabama that showed me that racism and segregation affected everyone, not just one race or ethnicity.

Because the law required that all schools be funded equally, no public school received much in the way of funding. Families had to buy the needed textbooks, no matter what grade they were in. If the schools gave the books to the students, the black students would be on the same plane as the white students. And that was just not acceptable policy in Alabama at that time. And if you could not afford the books, new or used, that was your problem, not the schools. That was in 1962 and it was almost the same when we went to school in Memphis in 1966 (but that is another story).

It was also in Montgomery that I began to see the hypocrisy that existed because of racism and segregation. My grandmother had come to visit us from St. Louis. As we came out of church the Sunday she was there, we lost her in the crowd. We found her and she said she had been escorted by “that nice young man over there.” Later, that nice young man stood in the schoolhouse door and denied duly qualified blacks the right to attend the University of Alabama. Fortunately for the course of history, George Corley Wallace learned that his segregationist and racists views would not serve either Alabama or himself well and he changed his ways. By the time he had died, he had come to peace with those whom he sought to suppress. But I am not sure that many still living in Alabama have done likewise. For the news from Alabama shows that the spirit of hypocrisy, the spirit that Jesus spoke out against in today’s Gospel reading are still very much a part of life there.

There are two news items coming from Alabama. Both are related to God. One concerns the tax code in Alabama; the other a 5,000-pound block of granite.

As most of you know by now, the Chief Justice of the Alabama Supreme Court placed a 5,000 pound block of granite, on which the Ten Commandments had been carved, in the foyer of the state Supreme Court building. This was the culmination of a campaign he began a number of years ago when he was a local judge and he displayed prominently a plaque with the Ten Commandments in his courtroom. Since then, he has had a running battle with the courts over this issue. In fact, if I understand what is happening, he wasn’t supposed to have put that block of granite in the Supreme Court building. All of his actions to this date have been in defiance of the laws that he himself has sworn to uphold.

The problem, as I see it, isn’t so much about the Ten Commandments. After all, the Ten Commandments are part of our own judicial system. But there are other Codes of Law upon which our justice system is based and they should be acknowledged as well.

The insistence that this stone be left alone moves the discussion away from the Ten Commandments and towards the issue of whether God is a part of our life or not. It also moves the discussion away from the topic of whether we will obey the Ten Commandments and more to accepting only one viewpoint about God. Does obeying God mean just displaying the Ten Commandments where everyone sees them or does it mean holding to the laws in your heart?

As was noted in a discussion between Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty Law Center and Jerry Falwell on MSNBC last Thursday, ours is a society where the use of God’s name has almost become passe. We are quick to call on God when it suits our purpose but we are quick to hide when God calls us. There isn’t a politician alive who does not end a speech with a rousing “God bless America!” We are still fighting over whether or not the phrase “under God” should be included in our Pledge of Allegiance, even when we forget why it was put there in the first place. The phrase “under God” was not in the original pledge, but placed there during the 1950’s as a political statement in response to the great Red Scare of that time.

We are reminded that our own United Methodist preacher, Oral Roberts, claimed that God would call him home if he did not build a brand new 650-bed hospital in Tulsa, OK. This despite the fact that a new hospital was not needed and that everyone, on earth at least, knew that it was just a part of Robert’s plan to expand his presence in Tulsa. We also are reminded that Jerry Falwell called on his followers to invoke God’s name in the hope that three United States Supreme Court justices would change their minds regarding a recent court decision. What is troubling about that isn’t that he called his followers to prayer but rather what they should be praying for God to do. Neither of these