July 4, 2004 (Jimmie Johnson)


Galatians 6:7-10

Do not be deceived; God is not mocked, for you reap whatever you sow. If you sow to your own flesh, you will reap corruption from the flesh; but if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time, if we do not give up. So then, whenever we have an opportunity, let us work for the good of all, and especially for those of the family of faith.     

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On this July 4th weekend, I have a hunch many of you are like me: weary of the extreme meanness that now characterizes our nation’s political process. We are a very divided nation. I am very troubled by the intense negative feelings we have toward our fellow citizens on the other side of any issue, an anger and enmity enhanced and aided by modern communication technology.

I don’t mind the differences of opinions and the different ideas—that’s characteristic of a democracy. The plurality of perspectives is wonderful. That’s supposed to be the way it works. But it’s the spirit of the debate that causes me to fear for my nation. Young men and women are dying daily in armed conflict, and back here we are acting like preschoolers, throwing temper tantrums at our opponents. In my lifetime, I’ve noticed a change. Dirty politics has led to mean politics. There is no innocent institution. All have sinned--church, media, politicians, and John Q. Public.

There is a spiritual problem in these United States. We are letting our personal values and religious beliefs separate us rather than help us connect with one another. And, in all honesty, I find myself more comfortable with the godless than I do with those pretending to be so godly. I have my own stuff to work on, that’s for sure. Nevertheless, I believe we are letting our religious beliefs dominate our political process in such an arrogant way.

Both the conservative TV evangelists and the likes of liberal Barry Lynn of the American Way organization are all equally guilty. We have allowed religious leaders, community leaders, and political leaders to politicize every issue. Anymore, our first response to one another is to identify how we are different than how we share so much in common. We immediately look for an adversary.

We have a spiritual problem in our land. It really has nothing to do with sex. It has to do with a meanness of the heart and an intolerance of the mind.

I want to propose a possible way for us to do what St. Paul refers to in this text from Galatians: “Let us not grow weary of doing what is right...let us work for the good of all...” How could we do that? What might that behavior look like in a congregation?

First, as we interact with one another, let’s immediately look for the connections we have with one another. Let’s make sure our first assessments of each other have to do with how we are children of God together and not sole defenders of God’s truth. Frankly, you the members of First Pres do a good job in this area. Here we seriously practice the spiritual skill centered in the belief that as long as our hearts are one in Christ, our minds don’t have to be. Good for you congregation!

Secondly, in this congregation let’s try approaching the Bible in what will be a new fashion for most of Waco’s congregations. Instead of the way many believers are using the Bible to confirm their own political or social viewpoints, let’s allow the Bible to question our beliefs. Let’s let the Bible question our answers. Frankly, most of us are simply too wrapped up in ourselves. Let’s don’t rush to the Bible to reinforce our viewpoints regarding abortion, marriage, homosexuality, worship styles, gender roles. Instead for a time, let’s let the Bible question us, not only on our underlying assumptions about such controversial issues but especially about how we feel toward those who hold a different point of view than ours. This way we won’t forget how to disagree without being disagreeable, and that’s what I fear is ravaging the social fabric of our citizenship.I believe it takes a great deal of courage and moral strength to agree to disagree and still stay connected.

I also believe it takes a great deal of courage, intellectual courage and spiritual courage, to submit ourselves to the Scriptures so that in a spirit of prayer and humility, we allow the Bible to question our answers. It takes real nerve to think religion’s purpose is to question us and open us up rather than always to comfort us by blessing our preconceived answers.

St. Paul is calling us Christians to the common good and to Christian practice that doesn’t wear out in burn out regarding the pursuit of our common good. The trick, I believe, is to recognize that God is speaking to us in this life, sending out signals all the time, and we can hear the Holy addressing us if we will be open to a voice that doesn’t tell us what we necessarily want to hear.
Has it dawned upon us the Spirit of God might surprise us and question us and actually be interested in changing us?

When the famous theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer was thinking through his role as a German Christian regarding Nazi Germany and their treatment of the Jews in the mid 1930's, he discovered how his German Christian upbringing had left him really unaware of the Old Testament and the people of Israel except as they reinforced his Christianity. As he began to read the Old Testament with the prayer that God would use the text to question his life, the discovery of this approach to Scripture, where he was open to the Bible studying his life and his beliefs, led him to say: “Only he who cries out for the Jews may sing Gregorian chants.” In other words, only the Christian who speaks up for those who have no one else to speak for them (and I might add, only the Christian who listens to those whom everyone else ignores) only these Christians really glorify God in their religion.

How often do we read Scripture or pray with only our own interests or the interests of our immediate family or friends in mind? When was the last time you prayed for a stranger, someone even in this congregation that you do not know except by name and need? Our preoccupation with self is so great that it is startlingly difficult to open ourselves through prayer and Bible study
to the idea that God might seek to question us and examine our lives. What might happen to us if we are open to allowing prayer, hymn singing, Bible study, sermons, sacraments (all aspects of worship)for the rest of this summer and all the way up to election time—what might happen if we allow these aspects of our worship to question us about our attitudes toward others and our current answers to controversial issues? What might happen? I suspect we would bloom out with new spiritual growth.

Lastly, I think it is time to send a message to our politicians at all levels, local, state and national, a loud and clear message that we want them focusing on what brings us together as a people around our common good, especially our opportunities for prosperity and safety. Let’s instruct them to stop trying to politicize the human sexuality issues which are dividing us. We can argue night and day about abortion and homosexuality and never come to any solution
other than an extreme dislike for one another. You know that I think gays come from God and should be accountable only to the same standards as heterosexuals. Yet, you also know that I know I could be wrong and that I have no religious need for you to mirror my views. We are going to have to have compromise on any of these issues rather than all-out victory for whatever our side is.

Let’s tell our politicians that we want them to stop playing us as chumps and start presenting their ideas and plans for our national economy and security. Let’s tell our politicians we are not interested in them being preachers or moral exemplars. I want them to be politicians, which means to be agents whose purpose is to increase the common good. That’s what I want in a political leader. I don’t want a Sunday School teacher or a saint. That’s what I look for in my church, in the person down the pew from me or in the pulpit or choir.

Let’s get religion out of our political process. Religion has never been the glue that holds this nation together. It has always been economics. How naive and romantic to say this nation was founded for the purposes of religion. It was founded for the purpose of making a buck. And the best odds for economic betterment are found in representative democracy, not in a theocracy.

Let the church house be the vital source for our all-important relationship with God and our neighbors. Let city hall, the state house, the Congress, and the White House be about our common economic good and our security. The United States of America has always worked best when we kept the preachers out of politics and the politicians out of religion. Let’s insist it stay that way! And let’s insist we rethink the role of the Bible. Its best work might be to question us, not provide answers for us. When we relate to one another, for God’s sake, literally, let’s first identify what we share in common rather than what immediately divides us.

 

 


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