17 May 1998
Many of us have been watching the resurgence of the nuclear
arms race this week with growing alarm. Novelist Anne Lamott creates
a scene in which Jerry Brown is reported to have described the
arms race as a bunch of small boys
standing in a basement, knee-deep in kerosene, bragging
about how many
matches each of them had.
What's happening in a world in which nations play an all-too-serious game of nuclear "chicken", where a kindergartner brings a loaded gun to school planning to shoot a teacher who put him in time-out? Are we flaming out as a civilization, as some claim? Or is it just more of the same old thing, but with a bigger bang?
There are many theories, on which people differ sometimes quite strongly! and it is not my intent to give a political manifesto this morning. But it does seem to me that nations or individuals who would terrify their neighbors into submission are looking in the wrong place, worshiping the wrong god (with a small g) namely, power.
That was what sent the crowd in today's reading from Acts off
in the wrong direction. They saw a man healed, and wanted to worship
Paul and Barnabas because of their perceived power. They saw Paul`s
action, but not the man's faith or its source and home in God.
They heard Paul tell the man Stand upright on your feet. And
the man sprang up and began to walk. The crowd called Paul
and Barnabas Hermes and Zeus, names of two of their gods, saying
The gods have come down to us in human form! They brought
oxen and garlands to the gates [and] the crowds wanted to offer
sacrifice. They were looking in the wrong
direction, drawing the wrong conclusions. They were worshiping
the bringers of the message, not the true God who healed the man
who had faith. They were
reacting in terms of the only stories they knew.
But Paul and Barnabas were quite clear in their response, tearing their clothes and rushing out into the crowd, shouting, "Friends, why are you doing this? We are mortals just like you, and we bring you good news, that you should turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them...."
That's where the true and ultimate power in the universe is in God. The Living God. And yet we continue to fall into the trap of looking elsewhere. The names have changed, but we still go running off after false gods power, money, fame, various current gurus not that much different from the ones people have pursued, in various guises, across the ages. Our society puts a variety of stories in front of us to explain the universe. Do we -- and the children growing up in our midst -- know the story of our salvation, of God's constant love and seeking for us, well enough to use it to sift out the real God?
Now, with the millennium whichever year you assign it to coming soon, people are looking for ways to be safe (including being more dangerous than one's neighbor, on a personal or an international level) and to control the unknowns of life.
One of my favorite priests once defined heresy as a good thing taken too far. We don't talk much about heresy in this day and age, but it still exists. And many of today's heresies are around the issue of power power to "manifest" whatever we want as individuals (often with little or no real consideration of our interrelatedness); power to do it all ourselves; making ourselves into little gods that's where much of the New Age teaching veers off track. It teaches us, in effect, to worship human power as more important than, or taking the place of, God's power. And that's looking in the wrong direction. Much good can come of the human creative powers that we have been given or much evil but in either case, they are not the ultimate powers in the universe.
In today's Gospel, Jesus says, Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them... along with the Advocate, the Holy Spirit, who will teach and comfort and guide. Peace I leave with you, he told them, my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid.
That last part Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid can be a tough one, especially in the face of events like those this week. But I don't think he is here telling us that we must deny that we sometimes fear rather, we need to remember Who is ultimately in charge of the universe, and entrust our fears, our hopes, our lives wholeheartedly into His keeping. And then we need to live and act in faith on that solid foundation, watching and listening for the teaching, the comforting, and the guidance of the Holy Spirit and living in accord with that leading.
Then, with God's help, we can pray with the Psalmist: Let your ways be known upon earth, your saving health among all nations. And with confidence in a power higher than our own, we can pray, Let the peoples praise you, O God; let all the peoples praise you... Then we will be looking in the right direction, for the right direction.
A few days ago, I was reading a newsletter and found this story, posted on the Internet by Larry Linville of First United Methodist, in Maryville, Missouri. It seemed to me to fit with today's readings, so I share it with you now:
The upstate New York man was rich in almost every way. His estate was worth millions. He owned houses, land, antiques and cattle. But though on the outside he had it all, he was very unhappy on the inside. His wife was growing old, and the couple was childless. He had always wanted a little boy to carry on the family legacy.
Miraculously, his wife became pregnant in her later years, and she gave birth to a little boy. The boy was severely handicapped, but the man loved him with his whole heart.
When the boy was 5, his mom died. The dad drew closer to his special son. At age 13, the boy's birth defects cost him his life and the father died soon after from a broken heart.
The estate was auctioned before hundreds of bidders. The first item offered was a painting of the boy. No one bid. They waited like vultures for the riches. Finally, the poor housemaid, who helped raise the boy, offered $5 for the picture and easily took the bid. To everyone's shock, the auctioneer ripped a handwritten will from the back of the picture. This is what it said: "To the person who thinks enough of my son to buy this painting, to this person I give my entire estate."
The auction was over. The greedy crowd walked away in shock and dismay. How many of us, says Linville, have sought after what we thought were true riches only to find out later that our Father was prepared to give us his entire estate if we had only sought after his Son alone? ..........
Jesus said, Those who love me will keep my word, and my Father will love them, and we will come to them and make our home with them. That is the joy promised to us, the Presence promised to us, that is so much more than anything that this world can give.
Let the nations be glad and sing for joy.... and may all the ends of the earth stand in awe of him.
The Rev. Lois Hart
17 May 98