The Price of Calling Oneself a Follower John 6:56-69

I remember my first few months of college. I had become active in a Christian fellowship group, and we had neat buttons and slogans and such. It was the tail-end of the so-called "Jesus Movement" of the early 1970's. I recall going with a buddy of mine to the "Jesus Barn" to a prayer meeting. There were bales of hay, and people playing guitars and everyone was singing. It was just about perfect, especially when, during prayer requests, I raised my hand quite innocently, and then, during prayer, a pretty girl behind me laid her hand on my shoulder. There lots of pretty girls in the movement, though they seemed not to notice me at all.I remember returning to school the next fall and our little Christian fellowship group was at odds with itself. Some of the more spiritually "mature" members of the group were dictating what proper belief should be, and it fell to the group to figure out how these new dictum's applied to each member. For my part, I was not comfortable with some of things being required, especially when it came to an insistence that those who were truly saved should evidence the gift of speaking in tongues. It never came easily to me, and I never felt that it was something essential for my personal faith's journey. The breaking point for me came when two friends were intent on casting a demon out of a cassette tape, while I was trying to study for an Old Testament exam. They raised the window, anointed everything that didn't move with oil, and went into a fit of glossolalia that would have made the folks at the Tower of Babel marvel. After all of that, the cassette still would not work. Then one of them stuck a pencil eraser into one of the cogs, and it freed up the tape. A miracle! Never mind that I had suggested doing just that before the evening's activities began. My experience was not unlike many young people during that time of transition in our lives, and in the life of America. The pain and protest of the 60's had given way to the ennui of the 70's. Christian faith, at least in my circle, became a very private, and very self-centered affair. All I knew for certain was that what others told me must be the standard for my faith did not feel right to me. The next year I befriended our new college chaplain who insisted that Christian faith could not be separated from hard choices and social justice. This was very new for many of us, and he did not attract everyone in the Christian fellowship, but many of us saw something deep and rich that we had not found before his arrival. For us, he combined the energy of a lively spirituality with a tried and tested pragmatic faith. He influences me still, and my appreciation of God's justice springs from the things that he taught me. But I still do not perceive that the majority of Americans who identify loudly with the Christian faith embrace the difficult parts of the faith that Jesus talked about. Some of those things are not popular because they demand sacrifice and thinking in new ways about who God's people are. In John's gospel, a hoard of disciples abandoned Jesus until just twelve remained, and one of those would eventually leave to betray him. The Jesus Movement was a wonderful time in my life, even though it was a spiritually shallow one. At its best, it made me feel that my faith was alive and I was excited to be with others who shared the faith. At its worst, it made the faith all about me, and how superior I could be to others who did not agree with me. Now, Jesus felt that he was right, also had many who did not agree with him. So, what, you ask, is the difference? Well, Jesus pointed beyond himself to another and a totally different way of thinking about God and the world. It seems that, in some quarters of American Christianity, at least, those who witness to Christ cannot help but point to themselves and their accomplishments, and they are very happy with some of the injustices in the world that do not cause them to move out of their comfort zones. All that's missing is the hay bales.

Wisdom Builds Her House. If Only Our Leaders Would Follow!

This coming Sunday will mark my first chapel service at Bucknell University, where I began serving just two weeks ago. As it so happens, the lectionary gives us a choice of Hebrew Bible readings for that day, and I have chosen the Proverbs 9:1-6 passage. Since I will be addressing mostly first-year students on that day, I think it is appropriate to talk about what it means to be wise. According to the biblical understanding of the term, wisdom is knowledge coupled with insight. One cannot be thought of as wise unless one possesses both of these elements. I suppose that is what a philosophy professor from my first year in college meant when he used to remark that "there is no one more stupid than a young PhD!" Many times we mistake the accumulation of intellectual prowess for being wise. But wisdom can only come through life experiences. I don't claim to know much about most things, but I know so much more than I did when I was a young man, just out of divinity school. I am glad that I did not keep my sermons from those days, because I would probably accuse myself of malpractice! When I think about wisdom,I tend to think of people I have known who were, and are, what I consider to be wise. My neighbor when I was a little boy was an older woman who had little formal education, but who knew much about farming, canning vegetables and treating people as she herself wished to be treated. She created a safe space for me in her home, where I was always welcome, even when it may have been inconvenient for her. She had a tremendous impact on my spiritual development, even though we seldom discussed faith, even though she was a devout Christian. There have been others, but all of us can tell stories about people who have influenced our lives for the better. So why is it, then, that our political leaders cannot seem to figure out what wisdom is all about? I support one of the presidential candidates, but not the other. But I get angry when both of them behave badly and in an uncivil manner when they talk about the opposing candidate. Then again, they are giving the electorate exactly what it wants. We have no debates anymore, we have shouting matches. The presidential and vice-presidential televised debates will be nothing more than carefully scripted and pre-approved recitations of the party line. There is no wisdom in the political process, because wisdom builds up, it does not tear down. So that is why I am anxious to address the first-year students, so that I can ask them to pay attention to what they see and hear, and to seek out the wise, not merely the loudest. What if our political candidates took the spotlight off themselves and paid tribute to individuals who taught them well, even if they disagreed with them? Who were their mentors, and who provided them with safe places to grow and learn? And how would those mentors view the rancor with which they talk about one another? Wisdom has built her house, she has hewn her seven pillars. She has slaughtered her animals, she has mixed her wine, she has also set her table. She has sent out her servant-girls, she calls from the highest places in the town, “You that are simple, turn in here!” To those without sense she says, “Come, eat of my bread and drink of the wine I have mixed. Lay aside immaturity, and live, and walk in the way of insight.” Proverbs 9:1-6