In recent years I've developed
a nostalgic affection for what we sometimes call the old "battle hymns" -
"Onward, Christian soldiers, marching as to war...." "Stand up, stand up, for
Jesus, ye soldiers of the cross..." "Lead on, 0 King eternal, the day of march
has come..." "Fight the good fight with all thy might….” and "Go
forward, Christian soldier, beneath his banner true..." I'm drawn to these
hymns, not mindful of global conflicts, but in my car on the way to work. I
teach in colleges and universities, public and private.
In my home institution, a state
college, we have meetings, too many meetings. Within the Division of a dozen
and a half professors with whom I served until this year, gatherings were often
explosive with normally congenial faculty members storming furiously from the
room; just about half of us became that enraged within the past two or so
years. Elsewhere, some time ago, while a distinguished senior professor was on
a sabbatical leave, a curriculum committee of envious colleagues voted to
discontinue his highly respected doctoral program; they were concerned about
their own relative importance. At the same Ivy League institution a
mean-spirited, senior professor was quoted on the front page of the New York
Times labeling another distinguished professor in her own department as an
outmoded fraud. Currently in New York "higher education" a Jewish professor has
publicly made derogatory remarks about people of color; and, a black professor
has earned notoriety for his racist views on Jews and others. Here and there
college students accuse professors of inappropriate, personal behavior; such
charges are sometimes true and sometimes false, in all instances adversarial.
Among staff members summoned from their offices and loaded into a van at a
fashionable Vermont college last spring were professors and other staff members
with decades of fine service; driven to a nearby barn, they were all fired and
given a few evening hours to clear out their offices and leave the campus -
never to return; this was the college's method to reduce the payroll.
I am privileged to teach a
business ethics course to working adults striving to complete their bachelor's
decrees. In recent years a common theme is emerging among them: the workplace
has become embattled. Malevolence, high anxiety, jealousy, selfish ambition,
injustice, and aggression permeate much public and private employment. Manager
against subordinate, manager against manager, and worker against worker are
commonplace. To protect ourselves from undue loyalty to our employers, viewed
now as potential betrayers, a business commentator suggests that we should no
longer say "I work for a particular establishment;" instead, say "I work for
myself at the establishment." With such detachment one can better cope with and
survive contemporary occupational battlefields.
Demonic traits are not new to
human associations. The two thousand year old reading from Wisdom portrays
malevolent schemes against a just man by opponents who find his righteousness
offensive and obnoxious. The almost as ancient reading from James tells it as
it was and is: the anxious, disordered, and quarrelsome way of the world is the
passionate desire for things, for feeling good, for being important -- by
whatever means it takes. And, the Reading from the Gospel recalls powerfully
the execution of the most just of individuals, Jesus the Christ. That
his followers should embrace the innocent (the child) and seek to care for
(rather than dominate) others is an explosive, radical teaching for every era.
Christ calls into question the assumptions on which human associations are
structured; he claims that in the sight of God it is not social status, wealth,
reputation, or power that count. His true disciples embrace the innocent and
seek to enable others.
How curious it is! The messages
of today's Readings are common to Jews and Christians alike; secular humanists
affirm similar principles and values: respect for persons, honesty, justice,
peacefulness, rationality, sincerity, mercy, straightforwardness, preventing
harm, and doing good. It is startling to realize that our workplaces are filled
primarily with Jews, Christians and humanists! That being the case, we should
find noble qualities pervading our occupations; in reality we discover their
opposites. Unsatisfied petty desires and ambitions have led to cynicism, low
productivity, and interpersonal discord.
It is particularly horrifying
to find some or all of these traits in some Christian congregations. Within the
past few years a Florida congregation of the Episcopal Church became so divided
among clergy and laypeople aggressively seeking power that on one occasion
during the rector's sermon a layperson walked from her pew, took the microphone
from the pulpit, and interrupted the homily with her own message. Clearly the
inevitability of honest differences that exist in any group was out of hand;
the battle raged on, and the rector resigned. It will take his successor alt
least a decade to restore civility, and more importantly, affection, to a
combative parish. In other places we hear of clergy and congregations seeking
regional prominence intent on being the “greatest.”
Emerging from our July General
Convention is an Episcopal Church with underlying unity, despite significant
disagreements. A few people, including an entire congregation, were
dissatisfied and have withdrawn from the Church: that's all right, isn't it?
The vast majority who remain base our unity - not on agreement about matters of
faith and morals - but in the activity of worshipping together. We disagree; we
search for greater clarity, and we may disagree some more .... in good Faith,
within the context of our Eucharistic fellowship.
I have far more hope for the
Church than I do for many contemporary workplaces with their negative
attributes, often self-perpetuating and ignored by the leadership; apparently
their scriptures are neatly compartmentalized for weekend liturgical events.
The "war hymns" have their
place as we struggle to contribute prudently to our occupations. But, here this
morning - in need of coping power and hope, I prefer our hymns "God himself is
with us..." "Where charity and love prevail, there God is ever found ...." and
"O day of radiant gladness, O day of joy and light..." We affirm here that
God's values are not the traits of most employment settings: what matters most
- and provides us with true freedom - is not wealth and fame, but the
servant’s towel from the Upper Room. True greatness is measured by our
willingness to embrace the innocent and to enable others, virtues that restore,
heal, and strengthen. Isn't it wonderful to have this place to nourish us in
God's enduring ways? Without this experience, many of us would become either
naive victims or the soured, godless people mentioned in the reading from
Wisdom. (A suggestion, if- I may: take this morning's scripture leaflet;
underline the relevant verses, and leave it with a manager or co-worker who
just might get the message, God's Message!)