Hilton Head Island, SC – September 2, 2012
The Chapel Without Walls
Joel 2:23-29; Matthew 15:10-20
A Sermon by John M. Miller
Text – Where there is no vision, the people perish. – Proverbs 29:18 (KJV)
It is election season again. It seems like this election has been going on continuously since the last election. And by that I don’t mean the federal election of 2010; I mean the federal election of 2008. Somehow the longer time goes on, the longer it seems to take to complete a full election cycle. Would that we had the British or Canadian way of conducting elections. But that may also mean we would have a parliamentary system of government rather than the three-branch, very complex, very vexing way we have of doing government business in the USA.
Have Americans lost their vision? Obviously I am not talking about eyes: 20-20, or glaucoma, or macular degeneration. The vision to which I refer is something far more important than that, as important individually as personal vision is to each of us.
There is a major difference of nuance in the translation between the Revised Standard Version and the King James Version for Proverbs, Chapter 29, Verse 18. In the RSV it says, “Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint, but blessed is he who keeps the law.” As you just heard, the KJV says, “Where there is no vision, the people perish: but he that keepeth the law, happy is he.” The two statements obviously don’t mean the same thing, except in the last part. In keeping God’s law, the Bible insists there is blessing and happiness. I am certainly no Hebrew scholar, so I am not able to declare which of the two is preferable for translating the original verse, but I want to comment briefly on the RSV, and then concentrate on the KJV.
“Where there is no prophecy the people cast off restraint.” Prophecy does not mean “to predict the future.” Occasionally the biblical prophets, including Jesus, did that, and often, but not always, they were correct in what they predicted. But “to prophesy” means literally (from the Greek prophetes) “to speak bubbling over,” to be very excited and animated in what one says. And why did the prophets speak that way? Because they were speaking on behalf of God. “Thus says the Lord,” they said God said, even though it wasn’t God, but they, who said it.
Well, the RSV is correct; where no one speaks for God about social and political events, the people cast off restraint. Forty or fifty or sixty years ago there were a host of great prophetic preachers in this country --- Harry Emerson Fosdick, Robert MacCracken, George Buttrick, Ralph Sockman, Bryant Kirkland, William Sloane Coffin. They, like all prophetic spokesmen, addressed all the issues of their day: religious, economic, social, and political. In those days, in the Forties, Fifties, and Sixties, Americans were much more unified, or so it seemed to me. Now very few preachers even attempt to be prophetic. They want to be pastoral or popular or psychological or purveyors of the Gospel of Wealth. And when prophets are few, people kick off all restraints, and do whatever they please, which means they usually please themselves.
But “Where there is no vision the people perish”: that’s connotes something quite different. Both statements are true, but I want to preach mainly from the KJV version.
Are you as tired of attack ads as I am? In the immortal words of Al Jolson, you ain’t seen nuthin’ yet. From now until Nov. 6 we will be inundated by negative political commercials from both parties, but especially from that one which shall have the most cash to spend the closer we get to Nov. 6. And these attacks will universally proclaim that the other guys have no vision, because of the nature of the attacks, but it will claimed their party is entirely dandy.
When I was in high school and college, I used to watch national political conventions with great interest. Back then, candidates had not already been selected by a primary process. It was on the floor of the convention where the actual nominations took place. Therefore as each state delegation announced their votes, the tension mounted until a candidate was finally chosen. Smoke-filled rooms mattered, and arms could successfully be twisted. Presidential primaries make the process far more democratic but far less interesting. In fact, primaries may contribute to the growing disdain Americans feel about politics in general.
A national vision derives from many sources: politics, to be sure, but also religion, philosophy, literature, education, commerce, and community ties. It would be incorrect to say that currently we have no vision, but we have very diffuse and conflicting visions. There is no unanimity in who we are and what we stand for. The almost exact 50-50 split we have politically is perhaps the best index of that sad fact. Collectively we don’t know where we want to go, nor do we nor do our leaders truly seem to know how to get us there.
This is not a new problem. This is an age-old problem. Community or regional or national or international visions come and go. They never last forever. They must be revisited and renewed and restored on a periodic basis. It isn’t that God fails us; rather it is that we fail God. We imagine we can make it on our own, that we have the right stuff to proceed. But proper national vision proceeds only with God as a major factor in the vision.
We heard an example on the need for God to be in the vision equation in our reading from the prophet Joel. Joel is not exactly a household name, nor likely was he ever. But in the second of his three chapters, God is quoted by Joel as saying, “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my spirit on all flesh; your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.” A nation’s vision, if it is valid, comes ultimately from God, whether the nation knows it or not, or proclaims it or not.
Recently we drove to the Upper Midwest. In eleven days we went nearly four thousand miles, visiting friends and relatives along the way. I was astonished to see how many states now have “In God We Trust” license plates, and especially how many residents of those states chose to get “In God We Trust” license plates. Is it only the drivers of those cars and their families who trust in God? And if so, what does that say about the rest of us? Do we also trust in God, or not?
Jesus thought the religious leaders of his day lacked vision. He said so with frequency and an unmistakably piercing tone in his voice. Our reading from Matthew 15 is one of many illustrations. He said something the disciples knew would anger the Pharisees. Jesus said, “Let them alone; they are blind guides. And if a blind man leads a blind man, both will fall into a pit.”
Do we have leaders with clear vision? And if their vision is clear, have they convinced the people of its clarity? Or are we all like blind people, staggering our way from pit to pit?
We are hearing far too many statements from our candidates and their supporters that appeal almost solely to emotion, hype, and mindless affirmation. By their very nature, these statements deliberately discourage careful thought, calm reasoning, and measured reflection. And when, at political rallies, the crowd begins to cry out in unison, “USA! USA! USA!”, it is alarmingly reminiscent of gleeful Third-Reich chants, at least to me.
Our electoral process has become so broken and so toxic that it prevents people who do have vision from presenting their vision so that everyone can see and understand it. The way we operate politically guarantees failure to everyone who attempts to elucidate what George H.W. Bush somewhat ruefully called “the vision thing.” Who from either party, from any party, can successfully present a vision without its being torn to bits before it is even part-way sketched out?
It is very discouraging. We don’t give anyone a chance to shine, because ideas are shredded before they are even out of the box. You and I as voters are guilty of that, but the talking heads of the media are perhaps the most guilty of it. Almost no one under fifty in the news media seems to try to be objective anymore, and many of the geezer media people are also as subjective as the media whippersnappers.
This is not to say that all ideas are equally worthy; they aren’t. But at least they deserve to be heard, so that those of us out there in Medialand can decide for ourselves what we think. Too many of the talking heads all talk at the same time, and especially older heads, particularly those with hearing aids projecting into or out of their ears, can’t hear what anybody is saying.
Let us now concentrate on three types of vision for our people. They are a vision for America, a vision for the world, and a vision for Christianity.
What is our vision for America? Are we striving for a nation which supports the welfare of all its citizens, or only the welfare of certain ones? In particular, do we attempt to better the lives of the least, the last, and the lost, or do we ignore them, either deliberately or unintentionally? Are we sufficiently concerned about corruption, or do we allow certain powerful people to get away with things for which the less powerful would be prosecuted? Or is our vision simply that the USA is the greatest, and that all our citizens should affirm and applaud that?
The Great Recession of 2008-2010 has eroded much of our confidence, and many of our former values. We now are contemplating proposed solutions to obvious fiscal problems which never would have been given a second thought prior to the recession. The Affordable Health Care Act was at best a half-a-loaf means, but better than none, for dealing with rapidly inflating health costs. Unless we have a single-payer system, like every other advanced country, we will have health care costs which are at least double those of every other advanced country. Serious thought is being given to cutting various kinds of assistance to the poorest among us in order to benefit the rest of us. And an inflexible ideology refuses even to discuss raising taxes on anyone, especially those most able to afford higher taxes. Whatever happened to compassionate conservatism, or even to altruistic liberalism? They have both disappeared in a sea of red ink.
We hear much talk about being a God-fearing people, but are we truly? Do our values mesh with God’s values? And if they don’t, isn’t our God-talk simply political pandering?
Secondly, what is our vision for the world? Do we still see ourselves as The world leader, the nation best equipped and trained to call most of the shots, or are we now one of many world leaders, a partner among partners rather than a CEO among many senior and junior vice presidents whom we choose to enlist when it suits our fancy?
What, for example, should the USA do with respect to Syria? We hear many sound bites, but is anyone within or outside the federal government giving careful thought regarding our very few and very difficult options? Is it right to intervene, or not? If we do, what is likely to happen? And if don’t, what are the likely results of that decision?
Where does the USA stand with respect to the United Nations? Has it become an outdated international organization which no longer deserves our support, and have we and other strong nations emasculated it to suit our own myopic vision of international affairs? Are we trying to promote one world, or do we imagine it is better to have an ever more fragmented world? Does it matter to us if the European Union or NATO or NAFTA or the Arab Spring disintegrate into oblivion?
And what, for those of us who consider ourselves Christians, is our vision for Christianity? Which is more important, a particular version of Christianity, or all versions working together, or at least co-existing together? Is Roman Catholicism or Mainline Protestantism or Evangelicalism the only way to go, or might these and other ecclesiastical entities be able to co-exist, each doing its own thing, while also allowing the others to do theirs?
Around the world but in the USA as well, too many churches are too concerned with their own fiscal and numerical survival, and too little concerned with the proper prospering of Christianity in all its branches and denominational expressions. If this denomination or that denomination does not make it, The Church of Jesus Christ can still thrive, but if The Church begins to focus too much on itself and too little on the collective mission of the Church, then The Church is in serious trouble.
And what is our mission as The Church? It is to preach what the Gospel of Mark calls “the Gospel of God,” not exclusively the Gospel of Jesus Christ, per se, but the Gospel of God, the kingdom of God. Further, we are to promote universal justice and to reach out to the poor and forgotten in society and to educate the uneducated and to inform the uninformed. The purpose of The Church is not to promote the Church; the purpose of The Church is to promote the Good News of God and His kingdom.
Religious people sometimes get too wound up with trivia, while ignoring the essentials. As Jesus said, “Do you not see that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach, and so passes on?” (That is a very provocative statement, ladies and gentlemen. For what ultimately becomes of that which passes through the stomach? Think about it! Jesus was a prophetic pistol in his use of language; he really was.) Then he completed his thought, “But what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a man. For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, fornication, theft, false witness, slander. These are what defile a man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile a man” (Mt. 15:17-20).
Dietary laws and rituals and sexual or behavioral prohibitions do not a religion make. Justice, truth, and faith: these are what constitute a true religion. For too long The Church has majored in minors and minored in majors. It fiddles and piddles, while Rome burns.
Where there is no vision the people perish. We have many visions. It behooves us to agree on one or a few widely shared genuine visions nationally, internationally, and ecclesiastically, and then to stick with them. No people want to perish. Therefore let us as people rediscover our vision, and then live it. When we do that, we do it mainly for God, but also for ourselves. So for heaven’s sake, let’s do it, especially when we go into the voting booth.