Sunday, January 23, 2000

Resistance

Asbury First United Methodist Church

Text: Matthew 12:29

Introduction

This week you may, suddenly, find that a choice is required of you, through no fault, intention, planning or device of your own. Further,the choice you want to make perhaps could involve refusal and resistance:refusal of a request from an archetypal authority, resistance to a popular mood,resistance to an ingrained habit, refusal of the pleas of a friend. RussellLowell predicts that at least once to every person and group comes such a momentto decide.

With all your heart you may want to refuse, to refuse. Aninvitation, a suggestion, a promotion, a direction, an order. Refusal alwayscosts. Refusal means sacrifice. Refusal hurts. The slings and arrow of fortune'sdiscontent draw blood. Resistance, refusal. Does such principled denial have aplace in Christian living? Dare ask: Does God evoke and use refusal? DoesChrist, God's everlasting Yes--in whom Paul says there is no longer Yea and Nay,but only Yes--Does Christ desire resistance and refusal?

1. Daniel

For Daniel, refusal to give up his family name, his religion,his faith landed him, with the others, in the heart of a furnace. You enjoy thestory, I know. Daniel resists the order to blaspheme, and accepts punishment,even death. Bound in the heart of fire, the prophet of God is protected,strangely, by God who answers prayer.

2. Naboth

For Naboth, refusal came more dear. Old King Ahab had everyvineyard he wanted but one. He asked for the land. Naboth refused. He askedagain, this time presumably in a more kingly voice. Naboth refused. Ahab askedagain, with a hint of threat on his tongue. Naboth refused. And Ahab wentwhimpering to bed. Not so, Jezebel, who simply took Naboth aside, and cut offhis head. Refusal can either cost you a king's friendship, or your head, orboth.

3. John of Patmos

John of Patmos did something to put himself out on the rockyprison isle, a first century Papillon, as he wrote his Revelation, our lastBible book.Refusing to worship Caesar? Names jeeringly attached to Rome--beast,satan, whore? Resistance to the more established synagogue?

*Bonheoeffer—and Hymn (see end)

4. A Tradition of Principled Refusal

What if I were to shout to you this morning that this churchhad received a magnificent bequest, a precious gift left us by an ancestor?Further, were I to announce that this one gift was worth more than all ourbuildings and all our current endowment and all our church program put together?Would you not dance, sing, soar?

You inherit a tradition of principled refusal, a pearl ofgreat price, a treasure hidden in a field, a precious gift. A tradition ofprincipled refusal.

5. Rosa Parks

Several summers ago an older woman was robbed at gunpoint inher own home. The newspaper, perhaps accurately, has quoted her in full asregards to her view of this crime: "We are raising a generation ofhooligans."

Pummelled still, even in old age, even in closetedretirement, the violent spirit of the age pounds at her, lacing her with blowsleft and right. Yet she resists! You may recognize her, now.

This is Rosa Parks. A younger Mrs. Parks found herself,seated midway back in a Montgomery bus, on December 1, 1955, pummeled again bythe hand of aggression, the Strong Man of this world. For some reason, sherefused to move. Bus stopped. Police came. Crowd gathered. Anger, shouting. TheMontgomery bus boycott began. A tradition of principled refusal--this is yournative land, your mother tongue, your home territory.

6. The Prophets

The prophets of old knew this. They spoke about God'sunbending holiness. They spoke about God's own refusal to set his seal on anypresent moment, any present setup, any present arrangement of power. They spokeabout human suffering, about how God sees, hears, knows, remembers, andintervenes for the suffering. They spoke about God's justice, critical of everyestablished power. They refused. Here it is: "Prophetic speech is an act ofrelentless hope that refuses to despair, that refuses to believe that the worldis closed off in patterns of exploitation and oppression." (Brueggeman).

*Amos 5 in sun and snow: Let Justice roll down like watersand righteousness as an ever flowing stream. Or, let Justice roll down like anavalanche, and righteousness as a never ending blizzard.

7. Rope-a-Dope

*My son Ben had only one request for a Christmas Gift. Heshowed me a catalogue that pictured a little grill, for cooking meat, " Alean, mean fat reducing machine, guaranteed to reduce each average hamburger by3 oz of fat--$59.95" Then I noticed the sponsor of this culinary instrument—GeorgeForeman. And I inflicted a story on Ben.

In 1974, one of the greatest boxing matches of the centurypitted Mohammed Ali against the world champion, George Foreman. Kinshasha,Zaire. November 2. Ali predicted: "The most spectacular wonder human eyeshave ever witnessed." 60,000 cheering fans, shouting, "Ali Bu MalYe", which antiseptically translated means, "Go get him".

Scenes: Foreman charging, rounds 1-6. Forman 25, young,strong, powerful. Recently defeated both Frazier and Norton. Ali: 32, guilefitness and will. After 5 rounds, Foreman arm weary and bewildered. 3rd Round,Ali leans to crowd: "He don't hurt me much". 5th round, Foremantantalized by the stationary target, angry, frustrated. Angelo Dundee hadloosened the ropes! Ali, later: "The bull is stronger but the matador issmarter". Then, 8th round: "Ali is leaning back against the ropes,inviting the champion's hardest blows…suddenly in the next instant he springsforward smashing Foreman's face with 2 straight rights and a left hook. Down thechampion went, the first time ever he had been knocked out.

Ali: "I'm the champion but I don't feel any differentfrom that fan over there. I still walk in the ghetto, answer questions, kissbabies. I didn't marry no blond or go nude in the movies. I'll never forget mypeople."

The historic Christian church in this country has been on theropes for a generation, 25 years of blows to the midsection. God's spirit is notin a mode of lightening triumph, for those who would still maintain a realconnection between deep personal faith and active social involvement. Jesus'apocalyptic word: first the strong man must be wearied, bound. First the God ofthis world must be arm weary, frustrated, raging, tired. First the strong manmust be bound, then the kingdom of God may enter.

Those who may need to resist and refuse today are part of thespiritual rope strategy, the wearying of the Strong Man, the binding of evil.It's not pleasant. Hurt, setbacks, delay, confusion. But there is an eighthround coming! There is an eighth round coming! Don't be surprised when theguileful, fit, willing spirit lunges out from the rope a dope crouch to fell theAdversary.

Tired, aging, fat, Ali was taunted by the press and othersfor entering the ring at all. For several rounds of brutal semi-sport, Foremanlanded crushing blows to the head and midsection of the Louisville champ. Itappeared as if Ali was simply beaten. Yet, he refused. He refused to fall. Infact, it was his strategy to lean back against the ring rope, and bind theStrong Man Foreman by tiring him, resisting, refusing to drop, enduring theblows of great force, which permanently crippled him.

Today he is an invalid. (My sister-in law's firm does hislegal work, so I hear of him directly and regularly). My seminary roommate,Morin Bishop, left theological school to write for Sports Illustratedsaying: "Sport opens the world to the observant eye". In this onecase, I believe, he was right. Here is an image of the binding of a Strong Man,Jesus' apocalyptic preachment: God himself subverts the strength of theAdversary, the Devil if you will, by binding, tiring, outlasting the Strong ManSatan. One instrument in God's providence, one way he binds his Adversary, isthrough moments of human refusal, human resistance to the pummeling blows ofthis world's God.

How hungry the church is today to perceive this truth. God isat work! In part, to encourage and give stamina to those on the ropes, usingAli's rope a dope strategy, binding the Strong Man. A tradition of principledrefusal.

8. Two Objections From the Balcony

Well taken, is your perhaps silent objection thus far: somerefusal is Godly, but some is not. Too often those who resist or refuse aresimply petulant, immature, arrogant, slothful, idiotic, selfish. Agreed. Wespeak here not of forms of hypocrisy, so many they are. Rather, we speak ofprincipled resistance, which shows its character by suffering the body blows, byleaning against the rope and aching.

Or, maybe you doubt that refusal takes a part of small stageplay. Perhaps only the civil disobedience of Ghandi or the peaceful resistanceof Martin Luther King or the risky French Resistance of Albert Camus stand out,great historic refusals, great moments of common endurance. But you would bewrong, I suggest, to think so. Most refusal is hidden, unheralded, unknown,unrewarded. Most principled refusal is known only to the one sagging against theropes, the one catching the body blows. Most real principled refusal is veryordinary.

* We have listened recently to presidential candidatesdebating The Ten Commandments—where they be hung, who they do not offend, andso on. Wouldn’t you love it if one of the questioners asked them to recite theten? Do you think they could? Could any one of them? Who is your money on? Bush?McCain? Keyes? Now: How many of us can do so? These are bedrock resistancetools. The first three call us to resist idolatry. The second two call us toresist pride. The last five call us to resist selfishness.

9. Three Examples of Ordinary Refusal

Three examples. Tithing is primarily a form ofspiritual refusal, refusal to accept the world's understanding of success andrefusal to accept the implication that all that we have is ours alone. Worshipis primarily a form of spiritual refusal, refusal to accept the world's timeclock, where all time is meant for work or play. Marriage and loyalfriendship are primarily forms of spiritual refusal, refusal to accept theworld's low estimate of intimacy, refusal to accept the unholy as good. .

10. Conclusion

You are a part of a tradition of principled refusal. ForMatthew, writing us these lines, the view is clear--Jesus who endured the crossboth received and forever illumined a tradition of refusal, in the face ofpummeling authority.

In 350, Philip of Macedon wanted to unite Greece, which hedid except for Sparta. He did everything he could. Finally he sent them a note:If you do not submit at once I will invade your country. If I invade I willpillage and burn everything in sight. If I march into Laconia, I will level yourgreat city to the ground. The Spartans sent back this one word reply;"if". (laconic).

Thomas Moore tells us: "We live in a society thatprimarily starves our soul...we have to really resist the culture to care forthe soul...but...if we choose with care our professions and ways we spend ourtime and our homes in which we live, if we take care of our families and don'tsee them as problems, and if we nurture our relationships and friendships andmarriages then the soul probably will not show its complaints so badly."

On the other hand, you may not need this word today. You maywant to remember it, though, especially if you are young. For one day, one day,you may want to use some of your spiritual bequest, your prophetic endowment.You may need to draw on the tradition of principled refusal.

Good news has it that along the ropes, and upon the cross,Jesus has bound up the Strong Evil, subverting by being subject to, and soempowered us to refuse.

A year before he was executed by the Nazis, languishing in asmall prison cell, Dietrich Bonhoeffer wrote this hymn:

"By gracious powers so wonderfully sheltered

and confidently waiting, come what may,

We know that God is with us night and morning

And never fails to greet us each new day.

And when this cup You give is filled to brimming

With bitter suffering, hard to understand

We take it thankfully and without trembling

Out of so good and so beloved a hand."

These Biblical promises can seem so improbable. They promisean eighth round coming, for which all godly resistance, all principled refusalprepares, by tiring out, binding the strong man of this world. Against theropes, hum the verses


The earth shall be full of the glory of God as the waterscover the sea

Weeping may tarry for the night, but joy comes with themorning

They shall not hurt or destroy any more in all my holymountain

The lion shall lay down with the lamb

And all flesh shall see it together

Or, as RBY Scott put it:

O Day of God Draw Nigh

In beauty and in power

Come with thy timeless judgment now

To match our present hour

Bring to our troubled minds

Uncertain and afraid

The quiet of a steadfast faith

Calm of a call obeyed.


Sunday, January 09, 2000

Have You Found Your Voice?

Asbury First United Methodist Church
Connectional Sunday

Text: Genesis 1:1-5, Psalm 29, Acts 19:1-7, Mark 1: 4-11

Opening Gesture

A: I see what you mean.
B: What's that?
A: About Sunday morning, about the sermon.
B: Oh, about the sermon being finished.
A: Yes, that no matter what, at 11:00 A.M. Sunday the sermon is done, whether or not it's done. It's done.
B: You run out of week about now.
A: So we have to stop reading Genesis and Acts. We have to stop thinking and talking. We have to come alive to the moment, this moment and lift our voices.
B: That's what I've been saying…I'm glad to see that you can admit that I'm right about something. I mean I am, well, you know…younger than you…by some years.
A: Ah, but you have the advantage of looking older.
B: You sweet talker, you must have grown up at IBM…can you do this without a flip chart?
A: Why do without one?…We'll just do what we do At 'Big Blue' when we run short of resources. We'll imagine we have one…see it?
B: No.
A: We'll put three marks on the chart, one for Psalm 29, one for Genesis, one for Acts.
B: All right, have it your way…I can imagine. A flip chart with three marks on it. But, remember, my voice is not your voice. We have unique voices, all of us…

A Personal, Active Voice: Psalm 29

(Al adjusts invisible chart, uncaps invisible pen and writes invisible words)

A: That's what I still come back to, right at the start of it all…like in the Psalm in our Call to Worship…the divine voice is ringing out all over the place.In booming personal ways…in nature…
B: Not in nature. Through nature.
A: Oh, I see, yes "over" the waters… "breaks" the cedars… "strips" the forest…It's almost as if the divine voice is remaking nature, from a creation to a newcreation…
B: The divine voice is personal, resounding over and throughout all nature…It is the Lord's voice, the voice of YHWH, the One Holy God.
A: I'm glad to hear that, because, while I am a nature lover. I don't worship nature. I mean, it's like the man said, when he jumped out of his airplane and theparachute didn't open, as he was falling, "This gives me a whole new view of gravity." You probably felt that way when the boat fell and broke your arm.
B: Thanks for that personal reminder. I do get your point—the divine voice rings out through nature, even in spite of nature's dark side, and there is a dark sideto nature…Like that story you tell about the scorpion and the frog…How does that go?
A: A scorpion needs to cross a river. He sees a frog nearby and says, 'Hey, Frog! Let me ride on your back across the river!' The frog, no fool, says 'not achance…we'll get halfway across and you'll sting me to death!' The scorpion says, 'don't be silly! If I did that you'd sink and we'd both drown'. The frog, seeingthe logic in this, finally agrees to take the scorpion over. Halfway across, the scorpion stings the frog. As they are both sinking, the frog cries out to the scorpion:'So what did you do that for?' The scorpion shrugs and replies, 'Ah, it's my nature.'
B: Right. By our nature we are mortal, we are subject to accident, we are prone to harm others. It's our nature. Still, the voice of YHWH rings through thetrees—GLORY! Now that magic IBM ink is beginning to shine out. I see what you wrote, that the divine voice is personal, even when nature is impersonal…doesthat mean our voices can be personal too?
A: Carl Rogers said, back in the sixties, "that which is most personal is most universal."

Interlude

B: Ah, the sixties, when you were in college and I was in diapers.
A: Well, what goes around comes around.
B: Never trust anyone over 30.
A: Make that 47.
B: Well, I just stopped in to see what condition my condition was in…
A: Like, ban the bomb, make love not war.
B: Cool, groovy.
A: All you need is love.
B: Well, women need men like fish need bicycles.
A: You are a male chauvinist pig!
B: Talk about the pot calling the kettle politically incorrect! 'You talkin to me?'
A: Where have all the flowers gone?
B: It's like Flip Wilson's "Geraldine" said to her boyfriend, Killer, "Honey, what you see is what you get." What do we see next?

A Potent, Creative Voice: Genesis 1

A: See what I have written on the flip chart?
B: No.
A: Look again. It is about Genesis, and the divine voice resounding over the waters, creating, creating, creating…
B: The divine voice is continually creating---as a mother teaches a baby to speak, and the baby lisps in response—as a preacher calls a congregation to lift theirvoices into the new millenium, and the people respond daily with words and acts of love---as every dawn erupts, with orange fire, and another daystarts—Everything starts with a voice… In the beginning God SAID—"Bereshith barach elohim…"
A: (Genesis)
B: We are trying to keep a balance between Bible and Theology, between the Word of God and the Word of Life, between what we hear and what we say.
A: You mean, we have the Bible in one hand and the newspaper in the other?
B: Thank you Karl Barth.
A: We at IBM try to do our homework.
B: Yes, and it's a matter of careful translation, the Word of God into the idiom of life…first by listening, the dog in front of the Victrola…for faith comes by hearingand hearing by the Word of God…I wonder, can our voices be potent too?
A: That reminds me of a story, a funny one.
B: We'll be the judges of that…how does it go?

Interlude

A: Joke: The Translating Barber
A man robs a bank near a foreign border. The sheriff chases him over the border into a small town where he finds the bandit lounging outside the localbarbershop. The sheriff, finding that the bandit doesn't speak English, enlists the help of the local barber when he finds out the barber can translate. Severalbarber-facilitated exchanges ensue as the sheriff attempts to find out where the bandit has hidden the money: "Where is the money?"…The barber translates."The sheriff wants to know where the money is." The bandit says: "I don't have the money." The barber translates. "He doesn't have the money." Finally, afterseveral attempts, the frustrated sheriff pulls out his gun and "You tell me where the money is or I'll shoot you." This finally gets the bandit's attention and he tells thebarber: "OK, OK…you tell the sheriff I hid the money under rock by the big tree just outside of town!" Without missing a beat, the soon to be rich barber turns tothe sheriff and says: "This is a very brave man…he says he's not afraid to die!" Translation can be tricky work.


A Powerful, Spiritual Voice: Acts 19

B: Now that I understand the frugal IBM invisible flip chart system, let me write up this third line…Let's see, you wrote first that as in Psalm 29, the divine voiceis personal and second that as in Genesis, the divine voice is potent…see if you can make out this third line.
A: Your handwriting is never good, but it's usually a little easier to follow than this…
B: In Acts, when the people finally are baptized and receive the Holy Spirit, something very powerful, very spiritual happens…
A: You mean, how the Bible says the Holy Spirit came upon them and they SPOKE and PREACHED…
B: That's what I mean…
A: I get it, it's almost as if the whole consequence of baptism and faith and spirit is finding your own voice!
B: The more personal the voice, the more potent the voice, the more powerful the voice—is that what you mean?
A: Yes, and every one of us has a voice, too.
B: A voice with which to share faith.
A: But let's be specific, how can I lift my voice?…


A Responsive Litany of Voice, with a Personal Conclusion

B: In prayer.
A: In acts of kindness.
B: In writing a letter.
A: Writing a letter to the editor.
B: Keeping a journal.
A: Copying an e-mail.
B: Writing a poem.
A: Teaching a class.
B: Reading and listening.
A: Leading devotions.
B: Memorizing Scripture.
A: Volunteering with Laubach Literacy.
B: Writing a song.
A: Singing a song—that gives me an idea.
B: You know, old fellow, each one of us has a unique history, unique face, unique voice—I feel so lucky to have found or been found by a vocal form which Idearly love, the 22 minute sermon—but there are many others—and asking a personal, potent and powerful question—Where do you find your voice, Al?
A: I'm not sure where I find my voice. It may be when I facilitate discussions at church or among my colleagues; it may be when I make tapes or CD's for otherpeople; it's often though through music…playing the piano in our living room late at night or singing with the Asbury Singers on Sunday morning or playing Noah ina church production or playing bass with Daniel on drums here at church…Say Bob, speaking of music..you got me to preach this morning, so how about if I getyou to sing?
B: I thought I was Tom Sawyer and you were Huck Finn—you mean I have to paint the fence too?
A: If you want to practice what you preach…And let me just ask, looking at these three words—personal, potent, powerful—what is it we want folks to takeaway from this sermon?
B: OK, here it is…Today at 2:00, after 90 minutes of Charge Conference fire and heaven, John and Mary Asbury will stop on the way home at Starbucks. Marywill order a double tall vanilla non-fat extra-foamy latte, and ask, "What did you think of the sermon?" John will say, I hope, "I think the point was that each oneof us has our own voice to find, personal and potent and powerful"—lay and clergy, young and old, male and female—lift every voice and sing!

Go Tell it on the Mountain

Addenda

Frost: Yield who will to their separation, my object in living is to unite my vocation with my avocation, as my two eyes make one in sight. Only where love andneed are one, and the work is play for mortal stakes, is the deed ever really done, for heaven and the future's sakes.
Maslow: basic needs…self-actualization.

Have you heard a voice that caused…made think…invited…prompted…influenced…

We receive information: hearing, seeing, and touching.

Night on Bradley Brook, stars "Signifying".

Speech 101—fear of death and public speaking.