MESSAGE – FOR THE SAKE OF GENERATIONS YET UNBORN – Sunday November 8, 2020
TWENTY-THIRD SUNDAY AFTER PENTECOST
Lord let my prayer come before you;
incline your ear to hear my cry.
Psalm 88:2
SCRIPTURE READING Psalm 78:1-7
A couple of weeks ago, on Reformation Sunday I reminded us of the old phrase in the tradition of the reformed churches (and whether we remember it or not, that branch of the reformation is an important part of our heritage – the UCC is made of congregations descended from the Evangelical and Reformed Church, which was itself a conglomeration of German Lutherans who, on settling in the United States, created the Evangelical Synod of America, and the German Reformed Church.)
Meanwhile on the Congregational side, we are descended from Pilgrims and Puritans who rejected both the episcopal and Presbyterian forms of church government but were deeply shaped by Reformed theology.
Anyway, that phrase, Ecclesia reformata semper ecclesia reformanda: A church reformed must always be a church reforming. Which plays right into the UCC slogan of the past few years: God is still speaking!
And that lands us in the midst of a dilemma. Because on the one hand, we have the Word of God, who is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow, as our guide. And there are certain constants about God’s teaching which never change.
Love the Lord your God with all your heart and mind and strength.
Love your neighbor as yourself.
Love kindness, do justice, walk humbly with your God.
And there are the forms by which we live those out which are changing all the time. Sometimes simply because times and circumstances change, and sometimes to correct the ways in which we have gotten it wrong in the past.
121 years ago, when this congregation had its birth, there were two big arguments about which many Christians were deeply divided.
One was the abolition of slavery. I am proud that we were on the right side of that one, although the repercussions of what some have called America’s original sin are still with us today.
Many of the conflicts in which we are embroiled right now are rooted in our disagreements about how to atone for that past, and the extent to which racism and discrimination still color our present.
The other issue of the day was the right of women to vote, and by extension, to hold property, and to determine for themselves the choices they might be allowed to make for themselves.
And there, too, I am for the most part proud of this congregation’s heritage. And concerned about the tendency of many in our society today to want to go backwards.
And to me, the Psalm we just heard read is an important reminder of how important it is that we remember our heritage. To study where we have come from, and how we got to where we are today, is a vital part of determining where we ought to go from here.
The part we have heard today stresses the theme of teach your children the decree and law and commandment which God gave to those who came before, so that they in turn will pass that teaching on to the generations yet to come, to children yet unborn.
But the reading stops short of verse 8, Why teach them?
“so that they should not be like their ancestors,
a stubborn and rebellious generation,
a generation whose heart was not steadfast,
whose spirit was not faithful to God.”
The next 64 verses rehearse the history of Israel’s ups and downs, salvation from bondage in Egypt, rebellion in the wilderness, God’s provision anyway.
v. 21ff “Therefore when God heard of it,
God was full of rage;
a fire was kindled against Jacob,
God’s anger mounted against Israel,
because they had no faith in God,
and did not trust God’s saving power.
Yet God commanded the skies above,
and opened the doors of heaven;
God rained down on them manna to eat,
gave them the grain of heaven.
Mortals ate of the bread of angels…”
And so it goes. God’s people rebel, God blesses them anyway.
They continue to rebel, God chastens them. They still do not listen. The chastening continues, until finally they get it, And repent.
And the cycle of blessings and disobedience, and more blessings and more disobedience, and more chastisement, and repentance and blessings again.
And so on.
For decades and centuries. the publishers put a descriptive heading at the beginning of the Psalm: God’s Goodness and Israel’s Ingratitude.
And that is one way to read the whole sweep of the history of the Bible.
The prophets of a later age complain, again and again, about Israel’s faithlessness and idolatry. And many Christian folks today take up that same lament. “Oh, we’ve forsaken that old-time religion… We’ve got to put those uppity women back in their place, and stigmatize the poor for their lack of ambition.”
What they often forget is that the idolatry the prophets complain about most loudly is the chasing after power and money at all costs, and the disregard for the welfare of those who remain poor and marginalized as a result.
Now sometimes it is easy for us as Christians to sound like we are making all this ancient Israel’s problem. But I think all of this is an examination of more universal issues. And a look at human nature, yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
Kind of reminds me of a song I loved in my younger days, profound in its ambiguity:
You, who are on the road, Must have a code Thatchya can live by.
And so become yourself Because the past is just a goodbye.
Teach your children well. Their father’s hell Did slowly go by.
And feed them on your dreams. The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them, “Why?” If they told you, you would cry.
So, just look at them and sigh, And know they love you.
And you, of tender years, Can’t know the fears That your elders grew by.
And so please help them with your youth. They seek the truth Before they can die.
Teach your parents well. Their children’s hell Will slowly go by.
And feed them on your dreams. The one they pick’s the one you’ll know by.
Don’t you ever ask them, “Why?” If they told you, you would cry.
So, just look at them and sigh And know they love you.
(Written by Graham Nash, recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, 1970)
The details of the story change. But the plot is the same, over and over again.
The only reason to talk about ancient Israel, and Babylon, and Egypt, and all of that stuff, which frankly fascinates me, is not for the sake of antiquarian pedantry, but to find out what it teaches us about the human condition.
It is a story of the conflict between love and hate in the human heart. Although, actually, I think it is more accurate to say the opposite of love is not hate, it is indifference.
It is the story of the conflict in our hearts between the love of money and power, or maybe the psychological need for attention that we think those things can fill, and our understanding of our place in a community where all are valued, and to which we can contribute to the welfare of all.
For the sake of generations yet unborn, I hope we come a little closer to getting it right. Because that might give them a little bit of a head start at figuring it out for themselves.
That is the challenge ahead of us all, not to make things great again, or keep them great, or whatever, but to come a little closer to getting it right, this time.
In the name of God,
our Creator, Redeemer and Sustainer.