Readings:
Jeremiah 20:7-13; Ps. 69
June 23, 2002 Proper 7A
The Rev. Karen Siegfriedt
St. Jude the Apostle Episcopal Church, Cupertino,
CA
Oftentimes, in our quest for spiritual wholeness, we will select the so-called "best parts" of a religious tradition and forget about the more difficult aspects of that tradition. For instance in Christianity, many folks embrace the part about the resurrection, new life, mercy, joy, and compassion. They tend to forget about the agony of the cross, the call to sacrifice, justice, and repentance. Today's readings from the book of Jeremiah and the gospel do not let us forget the cost of Christian discipleship. Those who stand up for righteousness and truth in the face of opposition, usually do not receive the red carpet treatment or a pension plan. Instead, they open themselves up to ridicule, contempt, isolation, and persecution. This is part of the promise that has been set before us by our savior.
It is only logical to think and believe that if we do the right thing and tell the truth, then all will turn out well for us. This certainly was my kind of thinking back in my younger years. When this way of thinking proved to be inaccurate, I had to go back to the drawing board. I had to embrace a way of thinking that was based on reality (rather than wishful thinking) while at the same time, maintaining hope and working for a better world. What I would like to do today is to continue my sermon series on the essential components of modern thinking. The essential components of modern thinking are dualism, mechanism, reductionism, materialism, determinism, individualism, anthropocentrism, and patriarchalism. This so-called way of modern thinking encourages us to think our way into distinctions rather than relationships. As a result, we see only a partial truth of reality, thus causing separation and alienation. Today I would like to focus my comments on mechanism and reductionism and show how these ways of thinking can set us up for delusion and disappointment. I will use the text from Jeremiah.
The Book of Jeremiah is the second longest book in the Bible. It covers one of the most crucial times in history, perhaps rivaling that of World War II. Jeremiah was a prophet of the people of the Southern Kingdom of Israel (i.e. Judah). He was born about 600+ years before the birth of Christ and lived during the time when the great Assyrian Empire fell apart. He saw the fall of Judah; witnessed 4600 of the most educated and talented people in his country being deported to Babylon; and recorded the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple by the Babylonian army in 587 BCE.
Jeremiah's father was from a priestly family. Jeremiah believed that God had consecrated him in the womb to be a prophet to the people of Judah and that it was his duty to be a mouthpiece for God. The people of Judah were experiencing a spiritual malaise and had fallen away from the faith. They had forgotten the commandments of God which taught them how to live justly in community. They were hurtful in their relationships with each other and they were engaging in wishful thinking- ignoring the signs of the time. Jeremiah tried to get them to change their ways. He was one of those "in your face" kind of prophets. Whenever he communicated God's word, he would use a brick rather than a feather duster. As the people of Judah began to experience major geo-political upheaval, the last thing they wanted to hear was Jeremiah's call to repentance or his prediction that an invading army was going to succeed in overthrowing their government.
As a result of his unpopular message and manner, Jeremiah was beaten, put into the stockade, run out of town, placed in a pit without food, ridiculed, slandered, arrested, insulted, and attacked on all sides. It is into this context that we read Jeremiah's complaint (or lament) to God. He begins by expressing his pain, blaming God for calling him to be a prophet in the first place: "O Lord you enticed me and I was enticed." Then he complains about all his friends who have turned against him: "I have become a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me...My close friends are watching for me to stumble." Jeremiah then speaks with confidence, believing that God will win out in the end: The Lord is with me like a dread warrior; therefore my persecutors will stumble and will not prevail." Finally, the complaint (or lament) ends with a song of praise to God in whom Jeremiah has place his hope. Even though today's reading ends with this song of praise (a positive note), Jeremiah’s lament actually continues for another five verses. He goes onto say: "Cursed be the day on which I was born…Why did I come forth form the womb to see toil and sorrow, and spend my days in shame?" These are familiar words to anyone who is experiencing personal anguish. Jeremiah is experiencing the dark night of the soul; a time when the trials and tribulations of his life are too great of a burden to bear. His lament articulates words and feelings that are universal for all those who have plunged into such depths that they would rather not go on. While suicide might seem like a viable option at this level of despair, he holds on to the one thing that offers hope- a long term view of creation where God has the power to affect a different future.
The lament that we read today is a path that is offered to people as an alternative to suicide. One of the great reasons for learning the Scriptures is to have available such prayers of lament when the pain is so great and a voice is needed to express it. While it is difficult to recommend such a prayer, it is important that it be available for the grasping when there is nothing else to hold on to. It does no good to tell a person "Don't Cry" when they have experienced a terrible loss or a deep depression. There needs to be an avenue where one can honestly express one's anguish, disappointment, and despair, while at the same time, hold onto a glimmer of hope. Jeremiah’s lament as well as today's psalm (69) offer such an avenue.
So while anguish, disappointment, and persecution are part of the Christian experience, mechanism and reductionism are not. Mechanism is a way of thinking that views the world as a machine, governed by unchangeable laws that can be understood by science and translated into mathematics. The machine includes humans as well. In this arrangement, things and people can be fixed or not fixed according to the diagnosis. This kind of thinking has encouraged the endless stream of "how to" literature to gush out from the publishers. We purchase all kinds of books that tell us how to diagnose and fix everything from business and marriages, to our own spiritual lives. The easier the diagnostic process given and the easier the fix, the more books that are sold. The problem is, people are not machines needing a fix. Machines do not have wounded memories, feelings, and the instinct to survive. People do. Instead, we need to go through a deep process of healing which is an organic, complex, and takes time. There is no easy recipe or quick fix for true healing. It is a lifetime commitment.
Reductionism means that we reduce the machine to its simplest elements in order to understand the inner workings of the whole. That which is alive must be killed and reduced to non-reducible parts so as to understand how the whole functions as a machine. We see this kind of thinking going on in our practice of medicine, which reduces the human body into parts (such as the heart, the mind, the gastrointestinal system, the bones and muscles, etc,) and then assigns a specialist to oversee a particular organ in a person's body. Unfortunately, multiple doctors often miss “the whole person,” thus placing one’s health care in jeopardy. Some teachers in our universities are often so specialized and narrowly focused, that they lack the breath and depth that is necessary to understand the complexities of our world.
The same goes for theology. During the 19th and 20th centuries, the Scriptures, doctrines, and ethic of Christianity were reduced to their essential elements in order to diagnose and understand them and Christianity itself. This was done both by the liberal Protestants as well as the conservatives who came up with the "fundamentals of Christianity." From this reduced understanding of faith, Fundamentalist Christianity as well as Liberal Christianity arose. Neither of these perspectives fully encompasses the richness, the truth, and the grace of our religious heritage. These approaches to Christianity often lure us into a simplistic or sanitized version of the faith and the human condition.
Christianity is not a quick fix for anything or anyone, so don’t be fooled. Christianity aims to transform the human condition from a place of fear to a place of love. It involves the healing of wounded hearts, wounded memories, and distorted thinking. It is not a linear process, but a spiral process of light and darkness, joy and suffering. This process of transformation of the human condition will take centuries to accomplish. The forces that assist this process as well as oppose it are complex and inter-related. Those who are truly committed to this path need to be in it for the long haul. For our hope is not dependant on the day to day successes, but rather our hope is dependent on God’s will for creation triumphing in the end. So as you seek and teach truth and righteousness, be as “wise as serpents and gentle as doves. And do not fear those who kill the body. Rather fear him who can destroy both the body and soul.”
| Updated 6/23/02 |
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