- Religious Liberty Sunday - July 4, 2010

“Sacraments of Hope for a Dark Time” (Jeremiah 31:31-34)

Dr. Dan Ivins, pastor

Religious Liberty Sunday is a time to appreciate the freedoms we enjoy and what it took to get them; and to keep them. In this church, July 4th holds special significance. This congregation has seen a whole lot of stuff go down in her 372 years. And somehow we survived ‘em all! Our resilience is astounding. When times are good, it’s easy to take pride in our country and stand tall. There’s a lot that’s right about the USA, in spite of all the bad we see today. When times are lean, we struggle to find very much good going on.

We hear the word “exceptionalism” being bandied about today. It was originally coined as a compliment by the classic French liberal Tocqueville in 1832. But today’s elite resist the idea, claiming it’s self-serving and jingoistic. So America is “just another country,” among the world’s nations and not all that exceptional. Well I disagree with that. This country is exceptional in a lot of ways. Militarily, the best in the world. Have you ever noticed when this country wins a war, they don’t keep the land? Instead the rebuild the land of their enemies! That’s exceptional.

Educationally, American education is one of the best. People come from all over the world to study in our schools. American citizens are the most compassionate people on earth. We give more aid to others than any other nation. Twice as much as Canadians; ten times more than France. Exceptional? Our people take in more needy orphans than the rest of the world combined. Heck we even give more to Mexico than our own state of Arizona, where our borders are in dire disorder. That is unbelievable! But everybody knows there’s a lot that’s unexceptional in America today. Mostly stemming from not being able to get ourselves off our hands. Last week, we saw the consequences of Samson’s inability to get himself off his hands. This applies corporately as well as individually.

Our text from Jeremiah is one of the low-water-marks of the Bible. God has “had it” with the people’s sins; the leaders are more interested in politics than justice. That’s the context where Jeremiah the “weeping prophet,” served the Lord most of his life. There is hope in the book, barely. And only after the hard work of recognizing the awful depths into which Israel had fallen. He must’ve been the one Jesus had in mind when he said, “A prophet is not without honor, except in his own country.” Because Jeremiah was severely persecuted by his people. Tradition says they stoned him to death. But he had good reason to weep. But God needed somebody to speak of hope, without denying reality or pretending circumstances are better than they are.

Jeremiah was called to tell the truth about what he saw. Like Jesus said, “You shall know the truth and the truth will set you free.” Sometimes the truth will make you mad! The truth as we see it may be only an insistent intuition, which means it’s subjective. So we can only hope it doesn’t suffer too much as it translates from feeling into speech. Jeremiah’s description of Israel in the 8^th century BC sounds similar to our own nation today. Bob Herbert wrote in the NY Times last week: “It’s getting harder to look at America today and see the glass half full.” Much unrest in our society, comes from the frustration of mis-managing a hopelessly sclerotic government. Voting on controversial legislation without even reading it doesn’t help. Nor is making wrong-headed decisions for us that the majority oppose. Elections have consequences, the winners remind us. But so does arrogance! And voters have “axes to grind” because they don’t feel listened to. The electorate is tired of trying to spend our way out of debt.

Some among us are offended, and clamor for reparations to right past wrongs. Well exactly how do we do that? Who gets repaid and how much and from whom? There is a widespread feeling that only the privileged can count on Washington’s help; and that toxic sentiment is spreading like the awful oil stain in the gulf. Wars rage; terrorism threatens; unemployment abounds. There’s a deep mistrust of and lack of respect for the media. Belligerence is the prevailing mood. Boycotts, law suits, racism under every rock creates more resentment. Immigration? I’ve heard enough about “diversity.” I’m ready to hear about “unity.” If we don’t and soon, we’re going to be “Balkanized” for good, like eastern Europe. Our institutions that were meant to serve us are fossilized. Natural and man-made disasters seem irreparable. Our tepid efforts to clean them up has exposed our incompetence. All the remedies being proposed have one thing in common: They ignore the moral factor. But the Bible doesn’t.

The scriptures allow-as-how there’s another explanation for what’s happening to us. It doesn’t assuage the proffered solutions, but it’s more to the point, because it gets at the root, not just the symptoms. The prophets believed nations totter, not just because they can’t get themselves off their hands, but because they’re suffering for their sins. The biblical texts frame national and individual decline not in terms of money and votes, but judgment and grace.

I realize where I am; surrounded by institutions of higher learning, in the heart of a city that loves to party; with the drugs, sex and crime that goes with that. The rationalistic mind and thrill-seekers would scoff at what a preacher has to say. It’s not that the horizontal issues should be whitewashed. They’re there and they’re real. But those are not the only forces at work in history. Sin has built-in consequences. Within history as well as beyond. Scoff at that to your detriment. St. Paul states a common sense principle of how God ordered this world: "we reap what we sow.” We have a choice of sowing in one of two fields. The options are clear and unequivocal. If we sow in the field of self‑indulgence, we reap a harvest of depravity, pursuing a path that turns-in on itself. But if we sow in the field of the Spirit, our reward is life eternal, because we answered the call to transcend ourselves. That's what it means to get ourselves off our hands. In the ancient story of God, there’s always been tension between God and his creation. Stretching the tension too far has left us with a lot of debauchery, avarice, lies, and vengeance. Do we think those things mean nothing to God? Or that we can keep getting away with it?

The sophisticated would substitute “evil” for “sin.” Or trace our anguish to abstract structures and systemic deterioration, rather than the individual human heart. And that allows us to dispense with biblical judgment. But it won’t relieve us from the effects of our behavior. In my 43 years of preaching, I’ve focused on recognizing grace and forgiveness. But I’ve never taught myself or my people how to recognize or respond to judgment. What does it look like when it comes? Katrina? Ponzi schemes? Terrorism? Bloated bureaucracy? Drug cartels?

Biblical judgment is visited upon us in several ways. Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by fire and brimstone. In Noah’s day, it was by a flood. In Jeremiah’s time, it meant deportation into exile. Rome’s judgment came in the form of barbaric hordes from the north. The model that fits our day is the story of the Tower of Babel. The people were determined to build a structure that would “touch the sky and make a name for themselves.” But the Book of Genesis mentions no outside invaders; no physical destruction; no volcanic eruptions, hurricanes, oil leaks; and nobody was punished by being taken away captive into exile. What did happen was the people were brought down by their narcissism. They were incapable of building a skyscraper. Their judgment was being confounded. Their illicit desires led to bewilderment that separated them permanently and destroyed their ability to communicate.

Today’s massive unrest testifies to the instability of a God-flouting, post-modern culture. It’s not a pleasant time to serve the Lord, when a nation is “terminally ill.” Doing God’s work won’t be very affirming. In hard-times it’s easier to attack the bearers of bad news rather than the causes. Like when Jesus’ branded “the holy city” as, “...stoners of the prophets, wasting those God sent to save it!” He harkened to Jeremiah’s day when the chosen people quit “doing justly, loving mercy, or walking humbly with God.” The injustices of court and marketplace polarized them like in the days of Babel and our own. Finally the Almighty said enough’s enough! “Shall I not punish them for these things? How can I continue to tolerate a nation such as this?” Whew!

Yeah I know, America is not Israel. But doesn’t the principle hold for any nation that can’t get itself off its hands, can predictably expect the eventual exhaustion of divine patience and be left to the effects of their sins. Biblical judgment means it matters to God how we live and treat others and creation. Maybe if we kept in mind that national guilt is collective guilt; we’re all in this together, we’d be a little easier on each other; instead of going around short-fused and irritable. The best thing we can do is remember it’s not just “punishment,” but “Divine” punishment! This is our hope. For the judgment of God is not vindictive, but restorative and redemptive. It looks like reconciliation.

And that’s why Jeremiah performed three sacraments of hope for his people during Israel’s apostasy. First, he took them on a field-trip to a Potter’s house, to observe how craftsmen patiently shaped the clay. Jeremiah said God is like that potter, re-shaping us when we’re too far out of shape. As you spin around in circles on the wheel of life, I hope you allow the hands of the Heavenly Potter to lovingly mold you into his image.

Another hopeful ritual was to buy a field at Anathoth, just as the Babylonians were poised to overrun the country and it looked like there was no future for the people of God. But the prophet saw beyond the deportation, declaring that Israel’s sickness was serious, but not fatal: “houses and fields and vineyards will one day again be bought in this land”

The final act of hope was to record his vision of a “new covenant.” Not like the previous covenant that they didn’t keep anyhow. This covenant will be written on their hearts not tablets of stone. This is the high water mark of Jeremiah: God will “forgive their iniquity and remember their sins no more” (31:31-34).

The story of Pinochio is a children’s fable of a wooden marionette, who came to life, but had no conscience. Jiminy Cricket, tried to advise him what to do, and what not to do. But when Jiminy was away from him, Pinochio got into trouble and his nose would grow! Mr. Cricket said, “If I could just get inside of him, and be with him all the time, then he’d know right from wrong.” That is the ultimate goal of biblical faith, envisioned in Jeremiah’s “new covenant” -- to internalize the will of God so innately, which we later came to see in Jesus.

So on this 234th national holiday, let us celebrate the blessings of freedom and the hope of new beginnings, not because we’re exceptional; but because we’re faithful! And our faith is never more apparent than when we gather around the table of God, because Jesus instituted an even newer covenant: signified by his body and blood. Thanks be to God that we live in a nation founded on religious liberty. At least on this day, we should be proud to be American, and Christian, and members of this historic Baptist church, that is exceptional, because it stands for the best things that make our country great. God Bless America!

Providence Prayers: (July 4, 2010)

God of our forebears, by whose hand we were created and by whose love we are nurtured, we pause on this day of national celebration to offer thanks for the nation where we live. For all who labored on behalf of the freedoms we enjoy, we give Thee thanks. Keep us ever mindful of the shoulders on which our present liberties were carried, and give us the courage to offer our own backs for new burdens that arise daily. Remind us in this worship that Thy standard for nations is not wealth or power but the quality of mercy and generosity and fairness found among its people. May our worship help us to appreciate our roots and motivate us to help bring to pass the vision of liberty and justice for all.

Jesus said Thy temple was meant to be “a house of prayer for all nations.” In this Meeting House, no nation is either favored or foreign. But we are grateful for our country -- and the ideals upon which it was founded. Especially are we grateful for what the Baptists gave us: religious liberty, and the separation of church and state, to keep the church vital and the state just.

We praise Thee for all our churches and remember our national leaders. Grant them a vision larger than partisanship, and be able to negotiate the fine line between “rendering to Caesar what is Caesar’s and to God what is God’s.” Look kindly upon on those in this country who are jobless, homeless and despondent. All who are lonely or grieving their losses. Impress upon us through the symbols of our faith how to be re-shaped, and re-directed. May Thy benediction rest upon us all for what is good in our country and inspire us to change what is bad. Through Christ our Lord...