Every once in a while I have
mixed feelings as to whether I should just enjoy myself or try to improve the
world. Why shouldn't I benefit from the results of years of conscientious work?
Like anyone else, I've had my up's and down's, but right now my life is going
well. Is there anything so wrong with enjoying today? After all, who knows what
tomorrow may bring?
In any case, this notion of
improving the world - well, 30 years ago as a seminarian, I was taught by a
sociologist that as clergy and as the Church, we will never be in a position to
change much of anything, never mind the world! Power for change is elsewhere -
among government officials and those who direct prosperous corporations.
Last weekend, in a social
setting, I was chatting with an anthropology professor from Harvard University.
After I lamented over the Church's painfully slow progress toward a more
elevated understanding about human nature and relationships, he commented
rather intensely, "But, don't you understand, the Church no longer matters in
society; who cares what the Church says about anything - one way or another?
It's irrelevant!"
Did you happen to see the
November 23rd cover of "Newsweek?" The headline was "Doomsday Science: New
Theories About Comets, Asteroids and How the World Might End." I learned that
space is filled with objects that threaten to collide with Earth with
disastrous results. I read about the return of the glaciers, a possible new ice
age beginning within 2,000 years. "Many of the world's great cities will be
crushed to rubble; most of the world's agricultural breadbasket will become
wind-swept tundra; countless species will fall extinct as their habitats are
frozen out of existence. The Earth's equatorial region will remain habitable:
but consider what might happen when northern-latitude peoples, who hold most of
the world's weapons and wealth, attempt to move in with their southern
cousins."
I'm not an influential
government official. I don't direct a powerful corporation, and apparently I
take part in an inconsequential social institution known as the Christian
Church. Moreover, an object from space might obliterate me. And, down the road
a bit, an ice age might encourage Connecticut residents to invade Florida!
Given the hopelessness of it all, I might as well plan my days to be as
enjoyable as possible for me.
Listening to the sociologist,
the anthropologist and the scientist, one doesn't have to go far to experience
a wilderness; their combined message could easily produce a spiritual wasteland
that feels dry, empty, rocky, and silent. If I believed that they had the final
word, I would have no hope, little to look forward to, and few aspirations.
I don't intend to trivialize
their observations. I realized long ago that my vocational roles would not take
me to centers of political and economic power.
I also understand the peculiar
situation in which the Church finds itself today. On the one hand, many men and
women - even those in power - want clergy (who are perceived as "the Church")
available for Sunday worship, inaugurations, declarations of war, dedications
of new buildings, personal rites of passage, and for support during individual
crises. On the other hand, churchpeople are often stereotyped as naive,
narrow-minded, and ill-informed on issues that really matter to society.
Furthermore, I value scientific information, even if it forecasts serious
dangers to this planet.
As an alternative to the doom
and gloom of some social and physical scientists, many people today are in
search of someone, a hero, a guru, who will save them from quiet desperation.
We know of the entertainment idols where both magic and madonnas blunder and
disappoint their devotees. Many individuals on a more spiritual quest pursue
meaning and purpose from other sources, such as Carl Jung with his insightful
yet very fallible words.
Given my apparent ineffective
and vulnerable status on earth, I am nonetheless hopeful, expectant, and
enthusiastic. Amidst all our weaknesses and predicaments, you and I behold the
Word of God that completes and corrects all human messages. In Him, we have
been delivered from the despair of partial messages from sociologists,
anthropologists, psychologists, and scientists. We join John the Baptist in
pointing to God's Messiah as the complete Word about the human journey, and we
live this out in our lives.
Specifically, as citizens, we
contribute to the evolution of a more just society by means of our individual
votes and by writing constructive criticisms and opinions to government
officials and corporate leaders; our combined concerns and suggestions
sometimes make a difference. As Episcopal Christians, we demonstrate
thoughtfulness and minds open to new information; we can exhibit warm, equal
regard for other people of good will. Layfolk and clergy can seize
opportunities to declare that the Church at our best does not encourage
Christians to think that nothing should be done for the first time. [I have no
wisdom with regard to dodging asteroids and glaciers!]
Though fools continue to
stumble, though lions still prowl, although some infirmities go unmended, in
spite of all our treacherous wildernesses, the hardhearted are sometimes
softened, transformations of the human spirit do occur, and genuine
breakthroughs of vigorous love brighten many a day. Here and there a more
glorious future seems almost to have arrived; Now and then the Kingdom of God
seems to be already here. Yet, we are acutely aware that the fullness of that
Kingdom is yet to come.
In the interim, you and I are
called to join John the Baptist as pointers to Jesus, to the Christ whose
birth, ministry, and resurrection is God's decisive Word of hopefulness,
anticipation, and assurance. Freed from the blurred vision of despondent or
partial messages, we Christians can not only enjoy good times and cope with
hardships, but also gracefully improve the world; for, we ordinary folk
participate in the ultimate Power for genuine change, the Spirit who heals the
human heart.
During Advent, we celebrate the
Word we experience now and its fullness drawing near: "Come, thou long expected
Jesus......"