"Doing the Unthinkable"
A sermon by Rev. Charles Blustein Ortman
October 19, 2008
ANCIENT & MODERN READINGS:
Our first reading this morning is from the Book of Corinthians:
Prophecies will come to an end. Tongues will cease. Knowledge will
come to an end. We know in part, we prophecy in part. But when the
complete comes, the partial will come to an end.
When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child,
I reasoned like a child;
When I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.
Now, we see in a mirror, in a riddle. Then we will see face to face.
Now I know in part. Then I will know fully.
Now faith, hope, and love abide, these three, and the greatest of
these is love.
Our second reading is from the19th Century German writer, Johann
Wolfgang von Goethe (GURTA). Goethe's works spanned the fields of
poetry, drama, literature, theology, humanism, and science. Goethe's
most major work, lauded as one of the peaks of world literature,
is the two-part drama Faust. Goethe wrote:
Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back…
The moment one definitely commits oneself, then providence moves
too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never have
otherwise occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the decision
raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents and meetings
and material assistance.... Whatever you can do or dream you can,
begin it. Boldness has genius, power and magic in it. Begin it now.
SERMON:
The great American poet and inspiration to many in the Harlem
Renaissance of the 1920's, Langston Hughes wrote:
Hold fast to dreams for if dreams die
Life is a broken-winged bird that cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams for when dreams go
life is a barren field frozen with snow.
When I first had the idea for this sermon a little over a month
ago, I thought we might explore that human quality that calls on
us to step up, to do the difficult thing that is in front of us
that needs our doing. Eleanor Roosevelt, who overcame so many obstacles
to become a major force for good in the post WWII era of the 20th
Century said, "You must do the thing you think you cannot do."
So that's the direction I thought we might head in a month ago.
Since then, things have changed a lot. The whole world has changed.
In many regards, it really is a new world that we live in. As the
markets continue to ricochet up and down with record-setting velocity
and extremes, as the economy follows course on a downward trajectory
that will last for months, if not for years, we find ourselves in
a much less secure world today than we might have thought a month
ago. And while my remarks this morning are particularly focused
in response to the events of the last couple of weeks, I hope that
they might generalize to address whatever struggles any of us might
be facing.
I've spoken with a number of you who are struggling, knowing that
you've incurred losses and not having any idea of how sever they
might end up being. And I know that there are many more of you that
I haven't spoken with, who are in the same situation. I suspect
the truth is that, to some extent, we are all in that situation
to varying degrees. I don't suspect that any of us are going to
get out of this unscathed. Some of us will fare better than others.
But all of us are entering a new realm in which we'll be surrounded
by loss and hardship and reduced prosperity.
We don't know what's coming next. We know that there will be difficult
decisions that will have to be made, but we don't even know what
the choices will be that we'll have to choose from. Or do we? "You
must do the thing you think you cannot do," Eleanor Roosevelt
said.
Author Leo Buscaglia, who is not one of my favorite inspirational
writers, but who has written some very uplifting things, tells a
story about his mother and their "misery dinner." It was
the night after his father came home and said it looked as if he
would have to go into bankruptcy because his partner had absconded
with their firm's funds. His mother went out and some jewelry in
order to buy food for a sumptuous feast. Other members of the family
scolded her for it. But she told them that "the time for joy
is now, when we need it most, not next week." Her courageous
act rallied the family.
"Hold on to dreams for if dreams die life is a broken-winged
bird that cannot fly."
I've been thinking a lot about September 11th as all this has been
going on, over the last couple of weeks. There are a good number
of new folks who have moved to the area since then, and I trust
that, even if you lived far from this area, you experienced something
of a significant loss, at least psychically. For many of us who
were here, there was a very immediate loss of a person or of people
that we knew. Besides our grief and because of our proximity to
all those events as they unfolded and because so many of us are
in and out of the city so often, we felt a very real violation and
loss of a sense of security.
I remember so many of the conversations that I had with many of
you. And one of the predominant feelings that was expressed over
and over again, was that the attacks and their aftershock caused
you to put things in perspective and to recognize once again the
things that were really important in life. I think that maybe we're
finding ourselves once again with the opportunity to reassess our
perspectives, so that we can be even clearer about what is really
most important to us. If we're going to be honest with ourselves
and with each other, I think we have to admit that much of the buildup
to this market/banking/economic fiasco has been the result of a
theological switcheroo.
A couple of weeks ago, for the Jewish High Holydays, I preached
a sermon on "God's Chosen People…It's All of Us!"
One of the things I said was:
"Our culture is based and supported, theologically and religiously,
by a shared belief system, conscious or unconscious, that there
are those who are saved and there are those who are not…If
we are somewhere in the winner's circle and we have not exhausted
ourselves in the effort to widen the circle to include all of humanity,
then to some extent we have accepted things as they are and we have
accepted that we are the rightful recipients of our many blessings
by the grace of God, or fate, or chance."
What went unsaid but could have been recognized is that, to a large
extent, the god of the patriarchs, who was tough as nails because
the ancient Hebrews needed to be tough as nails themselves, has
gone through many reincarnations in the past six thousand years.
The most current incarnation of God that which is most worshiped
and adored; that which is looked to for strength and sustenance,
protection and comfort; that which really is the opiate of the people
- that god of this age is mostly widely known as money. The iconoclastic
representation of that god, the dollar, is what has been in such
a tumble.
I'm not claiming to be standing on some moral high ground, overlooking
this situation. I often say that I never preach a sermon that I
don't need to hear myself. Like much of our culture, I too, am addicted
to this iconoclastic struggle and to the privileged life and comforts
that come from having an ample supply of that god's blessings.
No hijacked planes have flown into our lofty cathedral towers this
time. The crumbling has begun from within. It's because the God
Money is not a great enough go to give the kind meaning to our lives
that our lives demand of us to make of them. The passing of a god
is never accomplished without pain from the upheaval. And I suppose
this will be painful passing. It will be painful for us together
and it will be painful for us individually.
Many of the stories about gods from ancient days and civilizations
include the element of resurrection. Not just Jesus, but all kinds
of gods have died and were resurrected, newly transformed by the
ever great attributes of humanity's needs of the divine. Memories
of and ever practices from the old god remain with the people, and
then the new rites and principles are overlaid upon them.
None of this is to say that money is evil. It's not. Greed is evil.
Theft is evil. Conspicuous consumption is evil. When these evil
activities are organized in a way that creates structures of oppression
they become devastatingly evil.
None of this is to say that it is not going to be painfully difficult
for some of us to wean ourselves from the bankrupt god, who was
exposed from behind the curtain, when his bluff was called and his
pyramid toppled. It will be painful. We will need each other. And
we will get through these difficult times.
It is to say that this is a good time to gain a new perspective,
to consider what is truly important to us in our lives. I have to
think it has for more to do with our relationships, in our personal
spirituality, in our families in our communities and in our world.
The latter of which has been waiting for us to be in right relationship
for too long and might not be able to wait for us much longer.
This is to say that it is time to become adults, to let go of naïve
notions of false gods that favor us over others. This is to say
that this is a good time to reengage, not in the worship of idols,
but in the age old religious practice of faith, hope and love.
It is time to have faith in that which is large enough to sustain
us - all of us. It is time for us to have hope that we are indeed
capable of caring deeply enough to secure the entire human family.
And that through our hopes for all we will each be sustained ourselves.
G.K. Chesterton, who didn't get things right all the time got it
right on hope:
"Hope means hoping when things are hopeless, or it is no virtue
at all…As long as matters are really hopeful, hope is mere
flattery or platitude; it is only when everything is hopeless that
hope begins to be a strength."
And it is time to love. Whatever might befall us in the time to
come, may we be blessed with the grace to love our lives, to love
one another and to love our world. Life is a gift that we did not
earn, and yet it is ours to love. Whatever other choices we might
lose along the way, we never lose the option or the capacity to
love life. And in so loving life, we are freeing ourselves to create
love in the world around us. We are freeing ourselves for the riches
that really matter. And I have to believe the rest of what we need
comes along.
Faith, hope and love. It's a matter of choosing and committing
to our choice. Goethe said:
"Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to
draw back…The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence
moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never
otherwise have occurred. A whole stream of events issues from the
decision, raising in one's favor all manner of unforeseen incidents
and meetings and material assistance, which no man could have dreamed
would have come his way. Whatever you can do, or dream you can do,
begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it. Begin it
now."
Are we talking about doing the unthinkable? We are talking about
doing the impossible! There is not time to lose. There are gods
falling around us and we must rise to the occasion.
Children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman said, "Whoever said
anyone has the right to give up?" Winston Churchill said, "If
you're going through hell, keep going."
It is time to do the unthinkable. Whatever you can do or dream
you can, begin it.
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