First Church in Cambridge, Congregational UCC
5 December 2004
I Wonder
As many of you know, about two years ago, First Church adopted a new curriculum in our church school called "Godly Play." I'm still getting to know the curriculum myself but at a training that Susie Longfield led a few weeks ago, I learned that one of the core components of the pedagogy is to invite children to wonder. After teachers recite the biblical story or passage for the day, they are encouraged to model a few "I wonder" statements. "I wonder what part of this story is most important. I wonder where God is in this story. I wonder where you are in the story or what part of the story is about you. What do you wonder about this story?" It's a beautiful way of welcoming people of any age to consider that more than just a book, the Bible is a living tradition. The Bible is a standing invitation to imagine our lives and our stories as part of a larger story of God's relationship with humanity and with all of creation. When we wonder where we are in a biblical story, we ground ourselves in a particular narrative tradition with a past, present and a future. More deeply, we ground ourselves in a way of being in the world that acknowledges that God is a living presence in our own lives and in history.
Some of us have had cause to wonder this past week. We have wondered not so much about our how we ground our own stories within the biblical story. We have wondered instead about how we ground our own stories within the larger story of the United Church of Christ, the denomination of which First Church in Cambridge is a part. In case you haven't heard, our denomination received national media attention this week when CBS and NBC refused to air a UCC television ad that was deemed "too controversial". Before we go there, I'd like to start us off with a little wondering about our biblical passage from the prophet Isaiah. The writer proclaims a vision of the coming of an ideal messianic ruler and of an ideal messianic age where humanity will know God's justice fully and all of creation will live "in peace and unafraid", indeed where wolves and lambs and calves and goat-kids and lions will all lie down together. It's a gorgeous tribute to the religious imagination, one that looks forward to a time when the earth will be full of knowledge and obedience to God's will, 'as the waters cover the sea'.
In his book, The Inner Voice of Love, Henri Nouwen offers us at least one way to wonder ourselves into this passage. He writes:
There is within you a lamb and a lion. Spiritual maturity is the ability to let lamb and lion lie down together. Your lion is your adult, aggressive self. It is your initiative taking and decision making self. But there is also a fearful, vulnerable lamb, the part of you that needs affection, support, affirmation and nurturing. When you heed only your lion, you will find yourself overextended and exhausted. When you take notice only of your lamb, you will easily become a victim of your need for other people's attention. The art of spiritual living is to fully claim both your lion and your lamb."1
Apparently, Nouwen takes to heart Jesus words that "the Kingdom of God is within you." I wonder . . . do you recognize these 'selves of your self' in Nouwen's reflection, and so perhaps even in our passage from Isaiah? I wonder how lions and lambs might lie together in our own hearts and in the heart of this congregation as we consider our various responses to the news of this past week.
First, some background to make sure we are all on the same page. The UCC launched a nationwide identity campaign this week that centers on the UCC's commitment to Jesus' extravagant welcome to all. The campaign includes a 30-second commercial that will be running on FOX and other cable networks through December 26th. According to the UCC, the target audience of the campaign is the increasing number of Americans who studies show feel alienated from church and/or established religion.
Show of hands: how many of you have seen the ad either via the internet or on TV? You can go to www.ucc.org to check it out. If you haven't seen it, the ad opens with an intentionally absurd scene of two "bouncers" standing behind a velvet rope and outside of some unnamed and fictional church. Different people approach them. Some get through; others do not. We see a split second image of two men who are holding hands coming to the rope along with several people of color, all of whom are turned away. The bouncers say to them: "No. Step aside please." "No way. Not you." "I don't think so." Written text comes on the screen: "Jesus didn't turn people away. Neither do we." A camera then pans a diverse group of people standing on church steps. In closing, a narrator remarks: The United Church Christ: No matter who you are or where you are life's journey, you're welcome here!" That's it! That's the ad!
So, First Church in Cambridge, whether you've seen it for yourselves or heard it here, what do you make of it? On the one hand, our more cautious and vulnerable lambs within and among us may be saying, "Hold on! Is this really the message we want to communicate to the public? Aren't we being a little self-righteous? Surely there is a better of way of advertising who we are without invoking a caricature of those churches that exclude people because of their sexual orientation? More importantly, is the UCC really so welcoming after all? When only 10% of our churches have adopted Open and Affirming statements, aren't we overextending our self-image just a bit?"
On the other hand, our aggressive, initiative taking, decision-making lions may say, "It's about time! Finally, our church is beginning to harness the power of the national media. Finally we are letting a wider audience in on the fact that progressive Christian churches do exist and are trying, with the help of the still-speaking God, to live up to Christ's message of extravagant welcome to everyone! Amen! Keep it coming! And shame on CBS and NBC for refusing to air these ads for being "too controversial". What is controversial about a church that proclaims Jesus welcome to all? And what, we all should wonder, was CBS thinking when they issued this statement:
Because the commercial touches on the exclusion of gay couples and other minority groups by other individuals and organizations, and the fact the Executive Branch has recently proposed a Constitutional amendment to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman, this spot is unacceptable for broadcast on the (CBS and UPN) networks.
Wimps, our lions cry! They air programs all the time that touch on the exclusion of gay couples! Why draw the line here? Are they caving to the interests of the more powerful religious right, to saying nothing of the "Executive Branch"?"
Lambs, lions, some of both perhaps? Do you recognize yourselves in my sketch of these various responses to the ad? Rest assured, in God's peaceable realm, in the very "kingdom that within you" and within us as a church, there will be plenty room for all sides to lie down together. In a congregation like this, where my guess is that many have a tendency toward the lion, you may find Woody Allen's comment about this passage amusing. He said, "Lions will lie down with lambs, but the lambs won't get much sleep."
On that note, let's set aside the UCC's vision and turn again Isaiah's vision. Indeed, Isaiah had far more in mind than proclaiming a denominational identity, and so should we. When and if more folks do experience God's welcome in a UCC church, our work will not be done. When and if the religious left claims more of a presence in our public discourse, our work will still not be done. Proclaiming God's hospitality is just a beginning, but surely God is calling us to greater heights than that! The prophets help to point us to that high and holy mountain! It is in their very job description to do so.
The prophets, you see, dream impossible dreams. They imagine a radically different reality into which God is calling us and indeed welcoming every ounce of our being. What does the new reality look like? Where, besides a community of real nice people, are we welcoming people? The prophets know! And so they, with the help of God, imagine these poetic images of ideal rulers and an ideal age. In so doing, they energize and inspire us to develop an alternative culture and consciousness to the dominant culture and consciousness of the day. God wants nothing less than the utter transformation of our lives and along with it of history itself. Knowing this better than most, Isaiah introduces a mind-blowingly beautiful vision of hope for a community that was being ruled by a violent and oppressive Assyrian regime. He introduces a new public presence, indeed a spiritual presence that will reside among us and that will judge us not by the eyes see or by what ears hear! This righteous presence will judge the poor and decide with equity for the meek of the earth. How would that look for many of us? How does this presence confront us to change our own lives? As one commentator puts it:
This presence among us inspires righteousness—against every propensity for huge surpluses, against self-sufficiency, against destructive self-interest, against all greedy leverage that destroys the neighbor. We find a spirit-filled presence leaning against our festering anxieties, making us safe enough not to need so many layers of security. The one upon whom the spirit rests makes way so the poor, the weak and the marginalized may come to a fair share of political access and a fair share of economic wherewithal, not capitalist, not socialist but right-wising—turning right wise—the human requirements of healthcare, housing and dignity. . . Creation is not geared to poverty, homelessness and oppression. This deepest Divine imperative coming from God's own heart, is for righteousness and equity."2
The word-images of this passage—about all the animals lying down together, about children feeling free to play with poisonous snakes—only further calls us to reconciliation and peace across every barrier. It is a vision of reconciliation for all of Creation, even reconciliation amongst red states and blue states! Imagine that! Isaiah envisions us living our lives so inspired by this messianic presence that we will have finally, truly and deeply surrendered to God's will for our lives. It will be a time when strangers will trust each other and be able to be vulnerable with one another. It will be a time where we will have nothing to prove to one another or the world for all will know that God is our only richness, and therein our souls will find their glory and our egos will find rest! It will be a time when our culture of rampant individualism, greed and cynicism, of taking care of our own first, of protecting OUR security at all costs will no longer be the dominant culture.
Do you believe it's possible? Or have you lost your capacity to wonder, as a child wonders, that such a dream may one day, with God's help, come true? Have we grown too weary and captive to the way thing are to imagine the world as the prophets do, the world as it should be, the world as it was created by God to be, the world which God is ever trying to restore both with and for us.
Abraham Joshua Heschel reminds us that "among the many things that religious traditions hold in store for us is a legacy to wonder." And, "the surest way to suppress our ability to understand the meaning of God is to take things for granted".3 We must wonder at the mystery of God's sublime presence in our lives and in our history! Without it, how can we imagine a different reality than the one which so many of us take for granted, the one where our eyes see and our ears hear such despairing amounts of human depravity, suffering and violence. How often do we take things for granted and get stuck in the world as it is. How sad is it when we eschew wonder and forget about the world as it should be and as God created it to be? As people of God, who are committed to striving toward that peaceable realm and to recognizing the realm within ourselves, we must be engaged in nothing less than a massive re-ignition of our collective prophetic imagination! Isaiah writes that the fear of the Lord will rest upon this idea ruler that paves the way for us. Do you know that the word for fear there can also be translated as "wonder" or "awe"? His delight shall be in the awe and wonder of the Lord? And so shall ours.
Friends, it is the season of Advent. What better a season to practice wonder and delight in the awe of God! This time call us not merely to write letters to CBS and NBC but also to let our lives be ensconced in the wonder that God IS still speaking to us! Through prophets, and Jesus and the apostles and maybe even through the UCC on national television, God is still trying to break into our world as it is and show us a better way. Let us not be dismissive of Isaiah's vision as impractical or unreal. We need such vision to elevate our souls and to call us to new and counter cultural ways of living and being.
When we come to the table this morning, let us do with confidence that here, at this moment, all the barriers between and among us have fallen away! Let us make real the prophetic imagination in the here and now, and let us be transformed in our every ounce of our being. Let us never stop wondering about the ways God is working in us to bring peace and justice and reconciliation to all creation, that one days all of our lions and all of our lambs may lie down together, and a little child may lead even us! Amen.
1 Henri J. M. Nouwen, The Inner Voice of Love: A Journey through Anguish to Freedom (New York: Image Books/Doubleday, 1998) p. 78.
2 Quoted by James W. Crawford in his sermon "Is There Hope on the Horizon" on 12/6/98, found at http://www.oldsouth.org/JWC_Sermons_by_date/120698/120698.html. Original source not footnoted.
3 Abraham Joshua Heschel, God in Search of Man: A Philosophy of Judaism. (New York: Noonday Press, 1955) p. 43.
© 2004, Daniel Smith