December 14, 2008
Isaiah 61:1-4, 8-11
Luke 1:47-55
I Thess. 5:16-24
John 1:6-8, 19-28
When I was seven years old, my family attended the Calvary Baptist Church in Oswego, Indiana. I don’t clearly remember why, but during that time I attended youth group before the Sunday evening service with my sister who is five years older than me. For a period of a few months that year this group memorized the first ten verses of John 1, from the passage I just read. I clearly recall feeling my youth, because I was at a complete loss about what the first five verses of this passage meant. Since we didn’t read the first verses of this chapter, I will recite them for you:
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The same was in the beginning with God. All things were made by Him, and without Him was not anything made that was made. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shineth in darkness and the darkness comprehendth it not."
And neither did I comprehend it. As a seven year old, I was not yet able to think abstractly, and these metaphors of Jesus as the Word and the Light didn’t make much sense to me. I couldn’t picture these concepts in my mind, and I remember just striving with all my might to get all the words in the right order in the unique cadence of King James English.
In contrast, when we got to verse 6 and to the much more concrete part: “There was a man sent from God whose name was John. The same came for a witness, to bear witness of the Light, that all through him might believe.” – this I could understand. I could picture a regular man, of course he wasn’t a shining light or a walking word, but he could tell people about Jesus, so that everyone could be saved.
Similar to my experience as a child, our Scriptures today help us to gain a sense of our timeless and transcendent God, who is so abstract that it’s challenging for us to even comprehend who He is. Yet, our God enters the world both literally and figuratively through ordinary people through whom He works His eternal purposes. Recognizing God’s transcendence within these passages isn’t enough, though. Rather, I believe God challenges us through these Scriptures to also transcend ourselves, to become someone bigger through His Spirit than who we think we are. Further, God demonstrates through these passages how we can do this holistically – how our whole selves (body, mind and spirit) when devoted to God can become something more than what we could ever imagine.
No better example exists of an individual becoming so much more than they had ever thought they could be than in the person of Mary, the mother of Jesus. In Luke, we see Mary, who was probably between 12 and 16 years old, recognizing the degree to which God has brought something incredible to pass – He has honored her, a young lady of humble station, who was otherwise just fulfilling the customary role for girls her age. Marrying young was expected of girls, as their primary roles in Jewish society were maternal and domestic.
Mary’s Song (as it is commonly called) reminds me of the words of Anna Julia Cooper in the nineteenth century. Cooper, who was born an American slave, achieved the highest level of education of any in her generation. Prevented because of her gender from studying for the doctorate in America, she achieved this distinction entirely in French at the Sorbonne. Still, in Jim Crow America she was painfully aware of her degradation as a black woman in American society, but she carried this mantle with pride, saying “When and where I enter, the entire race enters with me.” Thus, as a woman, she recognized she carried the potential of all future generations. Similarly, Mary recognizes she is not only, mysteriously, carrying the Son of God; she is carrying the promise for all generations to come. It is a privileged position for an ordinary woman. We don’t know why she received this honor, but we do know that she seems to have been equal to the unique set of joys and sorrows it presented. She seems to have handled difficult situations with poise; even while despair must have been so close. She was the woman for that moment, and in her is revealed a truth of our relationship with God, and that is – sometimes, He simply wants us to be ourselves. By us each just being His child with the unique set of strengths and abilities He has given us, God can make us more than we could ever imagine.
What happens to Mary in a physical sense parallels what happens to Isaiah in an intellectual way in Isaiah 61. Isaiah 61 opens with these words: “The Spirit of the Sovereign LORD is on me because the Lord has anointed me . . .” This terminology is very close to the words the angel Gabriel used to explain to Mary the conception of Jesus. There Gabriel said, “The Holy Spirit will come upon you, and the power of the Most High will overshadow you.” Commentator Dennis Bratcher suggests this phenomenon of having the Holy Spirit come upon someone happens through that person’s openness to taking action that will accomplish God’s purpose in the world. In Isaiah the prophet is called to consider transcendent ideas that make the normal person step outside their usual contexts and consider his or her place in a larger world. Isaiah says the results of receiving God’s anointing are specific transcendent things: the poor will receive a good word, hearts of the brokenhearted will be mended, captives will find freedom and those who are in dark prisons will be released.
Most often I have heard this passage applied in a spiritual way to the ministry of Jesus, as if Jesus’s ministry totally fulfilled this prophecy. However, as followers of Jesus, we are all called to follow in His steps. Thus, we have to intellectually consider what it meant for Jesus to serve the poor, the brokenhearted, the captives and the prisoners, and what it means for us. What does this mean in a practical sense? A clue to its meaning is available further in the passage. In verse 8, God through the prophet offers an explanation for why these actions are important to Him. He says, “For [or because] I, the LORD, love justice.” God’s love of justice actively propelled Jesus to pursue just actions, and it must propel us to do the same. What is justice? It is fairness – in a social sense it means that every person receives a fair amount of the world’s resources, receives fair treatment by authorities, fair consideration in decision-making. Fairness requires us to step outside of what is optimal for us and think about what is fair for all. For all to enjoy justice, it must be our active, relentless pursuit.
History provides so many examples of those who became so much bigger than themselves through their pursuit of justice. Many of these were ordinary people whose names none of us know, people who participated in the American Civil Rights movement and similar movements around the globe. There are so many, but I would like to use a contemporary example, that of Wangari Maathai., a Kenyan woman, who in 2004 was the first woman from the African continent to win the Nobel Peace Prize. Maathai founded the Green Belt Movement, a movement that has provided rural Kenyan women who are economically disadvantaged with employment. These women plant trees. Through their reforestation efforts they earn much-needed income for their families, and at the same time they sustain their own community’s resources. Maathai’s work is grounded in her unfailing sense of each Christian’s responsibility to practice justice. In an interview with Beliefnet’s Mia McDonald, Maathai said, “Christianity has sometimes been marred by people who proclaimed they were Christians but did not practice justice. Nevertheless, my teachers [at her Catholic school] gave me a deep sense of justice and fairness that influenced me to work for human rights, and to desire human rights not only for myself but also for other people.” In the early 1960’s when Maathai was getting her degree in Biology from Mount St. Scholastica College in Atchison, Kansas, she simply was working to develop her gifts and interests. It has been her attention to living a life that actively pursued justice from a Christian impulse that has allowed her to become someone so much bigger than a Kenyan biologist.
When asked how she sustains her passion and energy for her work, Maathi replied, “I’m a very optimistic person. I believe that, ‘Well, you’re here and if you feel overwhelmed, of course you give up. But if you are hopeful you can do something.:” Maathai’s emphasis on optimism brings us to our final passage in I Thessalonians 5 where we are challenged to transcend ourselves psychologically as an act of faith and faithfulness. Sometimes we become our own biggest obstacle to doing great things. Paul tells the Thessalonians here to: “Be joyful always; pray continually; give thanks in all circumstances, for this is God's will for you in Christ Jesus.” Later in the passage we are told how in the world it is possible for us to do this, and it is through faith. Paul says in verse 24:”The one who calls you is faithful and he will do it.” Thus, our joy and thankfulness are a result of our absolute faith in God to do what He has promised. Through our faith we are able to practice good mental disciplines that allow us to rise above our humanness and engage in God’s sacred purposes for us.
These imperatives in I Thessalonians 5 about how we are to live come at the end of a chapter that begins by talking about the second coming of Christ. If you’ve been following the lectionary over the past several weeks, you may have noticed that coupled with Scriptures that lead us to remember Christ’s birth have been Scriptures that remind us of Christ’s Second Coming. This juxtaposition between the conception and the culmination of Christ’s purpose is present here again. Similar to other places in the New Testament, here Paul reminds us to simply carry on faithfully because God’s times and seasons are unknowable. Within the context of the rest of today’s passages, it seems that perhaps God’s message to us is that as we become more fully who He wants us to be, not only do we surpass our own imaginations for our potential, we also step into His eternal purposes.
When I was child, I believed that heaven was a place like Disneyland where everyone had a swimming pool. When I was 25, I moved to southern California, and after I had lived there for awhile, I learned that kind of place was pretty good, but it wasn’t probably what heaven would be like. In my more mature years, I’ve come to believe that what we’re doing now is like a warm-up for heaven. In other words, these same concepts of justice and love will prevail; these challenges to know more of God’s purposes and to become more fully in line with His transcendent vision will be what we’re all doing. We enter into that now by practicing the disciplines of our faith, including having a disciplined mind that works against negativity and doubt.
Living with a house full of sprinters, I have learned just how essential the practice of warming up is. It’s truly everything because sprinting is such a strenuous sport that not warming up leads to breakdowns and injuries. Sometimes the warm-up is sort of a drag; but it’s precisely when the sprinter forgets the purpose and becomes lax that injuries occur. Conversely, the best performances occur when the sprinter is warmed up, relaxed and ready to go. In the same way we must always know that as we practice the disciplines of our faith in this temporal world, we are becoming ready not only to transcend ourselves, but also to step into God’s eternal purposes.
I have a hard time getting my head around this idea. Like when I was a child, I can’t picture what it means to be fulfilling God’s eternal purposes. I do know that it’s a fantastic feeling to recognize that in some small way one’s efforts are helping someone and bringing about greater justice in the world. Maybe that is the only way we can now comprehend what it means to be a part of God’s purpose, and to that degree we can say with Mary, “My soul glorifies the Lord and my spirit rejoices in God my Savior for he has been mindful of the humble state of his servant.”
Praise be to God!
04 July 2009
“That’s Us” and “Strike the Rock”
February 23/24, 2008
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
Today’s Scriptures are rich with drama. The Old Testament reading from Exodus and the Gospel story from John, each have to do with belief, the lack of belief, and a human relationship that provides a bridge between these two conditions. In both of these stories, water is the metaphor that reveals an inward condition. In both stories we are challenged to identify (or put ourselves in) the position of those in doubt, or disbelief or the position of the faithful one, be it Moses or Jesus. I have two names for this sermon based upon the different perspectives we can take of each story. The first name suggests the condition of tension that we all experience daily between faith and doubt. Despite how pitiful the Israelites seem in the Exodus passage; nevertheless, truth be told, we, too, thirst for earthly water, and we can easily say: “That’s us.” We can identify with them. So that’s title number one: “That’s us.” On the other hand, because we are not completely lacking in faith, and because we are, at times, able to achieve transcendence (so we are able to rise above circumstances in our stance of faith) we can identify with the position of Moses, whom God tells to: “Strike the Rock,” (which is the second name for this sermon – “Strike the Rock.”) Thus, we understand both positions, and each allows us new perspectives of God and his grace in our lives.
So, we have, first of all, the children of Israel, a group that had struggled under bondage in Egypt, yet who found deliverance out of their condition of slavery through their relationship with someone God brought to lead them, Moses. At the point where we catch up with them, they are thirsty; very, very thirsty; so thirsty that they can’t think straight. They are unable to remember all of the miracles God has done for them – how they were untouched by the plagues that afflicted the Egyptians, how they were delivered through the middle of the Red Sea (undoubtedly this was in real life an even more impressive scene than the Cecile B. DeMille version that apparently was accomplished with the aid of Jello). They weren’t able to remember how when they were hungry, they were fed manna from heaven. In their state of extreme thirst, none of this came back to their remembrance as they harassed Moses for water. From my perspective (and to Moses), their lack of faith seems quite pitiful.
But, “that’s us.” Certainly, as situations in our lives shift and change, we sometimes find it difficult to believe that God will be faithful to us, as He has been before. Somehow, it seems like our current situation (maybe difficulty with a teacher, or a student or in a relationship, difficulties with school or money, maybe a chronic illness or a struggle with self-doubt) maybe those current situations don’t matter to God the way other things have in the past. Or it seems that maybe our current situation is impossible, even for God.
In their unbelief, the Israelites lashed out at their leader, Moses, who exemplifies for us the role that people, you and I, play in the faith development of communities. For the children of Israel, Moses was the bridge of faith to God. And while his relationship with the Israelites is an important part of this story, just as important is Moses’ relationship with God. Clearly, the familiarity with which Moses addressed God suggests the level of intimacy he enjoyed with God. While the Israelites are unable to believe that God’s providence will come through for them this time, Moses listens to God, and strikes the rock. This physical action provides the life-giving water the Israelites so desperately need, but, more importantly, Moses’ actions maintain the relationship the community has with God. Sometimes, one person has to stand in the gap for others.
That brings us to our second story, in which we find the roles reversed. The person who is thirsty and tired in a strange land is the faithful one, Jesus. He has ended up in an area that Jews avoided as much as they could, Samaria, a land inhabited by people whom the Jews considered to be completely other than them. Samaria divided Judea and Galilee. On the eastern border of all three ran the Jordan River. Because Jews believed that they would become contaminated if they passed through Samaria, they would usually cross the Jordan River and travel parallel to the Samaritan border to get to either place, and then recross the Jordan River when they reached their destination. We see that the way in which John talks about Jesus’ route to Galilee suggests that traveling through Samaria was a big problem. In verse 4, he says that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.”
Jesus settles himself beside Jacob’s Well, and requests a drink from a Samaritan woman. She identifies herself to him as a Samaritan and a woman (as if he didn’t notice), and she expressed great surprise that Jesus would ever ask for water from her. Most Jews would assume that water from her cup or pot or whatever she had would automatically be contaminated. Further, she knew she was considered the lowest of the low to a Jewish man, because even Jewish women were of lower social status than men, so why would Jesus even bother to speak to her?
Their interchange is complicated. Water takes on greater meaning than an element that sustains physical life. Jesus begins to talk about water that fulfills a spiritual longing, and He gets into territory that she never expected when He reveals His knowledge that, in fact, she has been married five times and is currently living with a man who is not her husband. Wow, that is a revelation that she never expected him to bring to light. Through revealing this truth, Jesus “strikes the rock.” He literally hits upon something that is so elemental to her life that this interchange they’ve been having suddenly takes on the personal tone of a relationship. She realizes that “the water” He has been telling her about was really something that she and her whole community needed, and she brings all of her Samaritan friends and acquaintances, in fact her whole village, out to see him.
In the midst of all of this excitement, the disciples catch up with Jesus. From John we can sort of detect their nervousness about the situation. They try to draw Jesus away by telling him He must eat, and as He talks to them about reaping a harvest of souls, they seem confused. Then Jesus teaches them (and us) a most important lesson as He indicates to them about the Samaritans – “That’s us. These supposedly contaminated people – they’re a part of us. And further, not only am I going to drink their water, but I’m going to eat their food, because I’m going to stay here for a little while.” John tells us that Jesus stays with the Samaritans for a couple of days; he completes his total identification with them by not just eating and drinking, but also by waking up in their homes and interacting with their children.
These Scriptures acknowledge the deep tension we face daily between doubt and faith, and they also show us that the bridge from doubt to faith can be found through relationships, through community. Relationships can provide a laboratory through which we work out our faith. This is a strong ethic at St. Paul’s – the ethic of sharing meals in community and of reaching across boundaries to those who are considered “other.” Otherness can take on all different meanings – it can mean anyone who is forgotten or powerless or people who seem to be caught in hopeless situations. At times these are people with whom no one wants to associate. Members of our church venture to Africa, India, Guatemala, and China (and many places I don’t know about) to reach out to “the other.” Some stay in the states and minister to youth at the Simple Room, the elderly, the profoundly disabled, or victims of Hurricane Katrina. I suggest that through these actions we “strike the rock;” we physically and visibly demonstrate our faith. What most of us find, when we become involved in these kinds of outreach, is that these actions bring forth a spirit of deep humility within us. As we authentically engage in relationships that may initially seem very awkward, this reveals our own human inadequacies and weaknesses, and how much work God has to do on us. We also learn that no matter how “other,” someone or group of people may seem – they are us and we are them. Further, while so often we see ourselves coming from the position of faith, these relationships often minister to us in ways we never expected. Those “others” truly teach us about what it means to have faith in Jesus, often because the purity of their experience touches us.
Romans 5 explains why all of this happens, and that is because while cultures construct (or make up) differences between people, we in the human race all share the condition of being sinners. On our behalf God has both “struck the rock,” and adopted us as His. Romans 5: 6 – 8 says: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Further, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He is our ultimate example of One who through his actions struck the rock and made complete identification with us. May God embolden us to do the same: strike the rock, engage with “the other,” and grow in faith as a community.
Exodus 17:1-7
Psalm 95
Romans 5:1-11
John 4:5-42
Today’s Scriptures are rich with drama. The Old Testament reading from Exodus and the Gospel story from John, each have to do with belief, the lack of belief, and a human relationship that provides a bridge between these two conditions. In both of these stories, water is the metaphor that reveals an inward condition. In both stories we are challenged to identify (or put ourselves in) the position of those in doubt, or disbelief or the position of the faithful one, be it Moses or Jesus. I have two names for this sermon based upon the different perspectives we can take of each story. The first name suggests the condition of tension that we all experience daily between faith and doubt. Despite how pitiful the Israelites seem in the Exodus passage; nevertheless, truth be told, we, too, thirst for earthly water, and we can easily say: “That’s us.” We can identify with them. So that’s title number one: “That’s us.” On the other hand, because we are not completely lacking in faith, and because we are, at times, able to achieve transcendence (so we are able to rise above circumstances in our stance of faith) we can identify with the position of Moses, whom God tells to: “Strike the Rock,” (which is the second name for this sermon – “Strike the Rock.”) Thus, we understand both positions, and each allows us new perspectives of God and his grace in our lives.
So, we have, first of all, the children of Israel, a group that had struggled under bondage in Egypt, yet who found deliverance out of their condition of slavery through their relationship with someone God brought to lead them, Moses. At the point where we catch up with them, they are thirsty; very, very thirsty; so thirsty that they can’t think straight. They are unable to remember all of the miracles God has done for them – how they were untouched by the plagues that afflicted the Egyptians, how they were delivered through the middle of the Red Sea (undoubtedly this was in real life an even more impressive scene than the Cecile B. DeMille version that apparently was accomplished with the aid of Jello). They weren’t able to remember how when they were hungry, they were fed manna from heaven. In their state of extreme thirst, none of this came back to their remembrance as they harassed Moses for water. From my perspective (and to Moses), their lack of faith seems quite pitiful.
But, “that’s us.” Certainly, as situations in our lives shift and change, we sometimes find it difficult to believe that God will be faithful to us, as He has been before. Somehow, it seems like our current situation (maybe difficulty with a teacher, or a student or in a relationship, difficulties with school or money, maybe a chronic illness or a struggle with self-doubt) maybe those current situations don’t matter to God the way other things have in the past. Or it seems that maybe our current situation is impossible, even for God.
In their unbelief, the Israelites lashed out at their leader, Moses, who exemplifies for us the role that people, you and I, play in the faith development of communities. For the children of Israel, Moses was the bridge of faith to God. And while his relationship with the Israelites is an important part of this story, just as important is Moses’ relationship with God. Clearly, the familiarity with which Moses addressed God suggests the level of intimacy he enjoyed with God. While the Israelites are unable to believe that God’s providence will come through for them this time, Moses listens to God, and strikes the rock. This physical action provides the life-giving water the Israelites so desperately need, but, more importantly, Moses’ actions maintain the relationship the community has with God. Sometimes, one person has to stand in the gap for others.
That brings us to our second story, in which we find the roles reversed. The person who is thirsty and tired in a strange land is the faithful one, Jesus. He has ended up in an area that Jews avoided as much as they could, Samaria, a land inhabited by people whom the Jews considered to be completely other than them. Samaria divided Judea and Galilee. On the eastern border of all three ran the Jordan River. Because Jews believed that they would become contaminated if they passed through Samaria, they would usually cross the Jordan River and travel parallel to the Samaritan border to get to either place, and then recross the Jordan River when they reached their destination. We see that the way in which John talks about Jesus’ route to Galilee suggests that traveling through Samaria was a big problem. In verse 4, he says that Jesus “had to pass through Samaria.”
Jesus settles himself beside Jacob’s Well, and requests a drink from a Samaritan woman. She identifies herself to him as a Samaritan and a woman (as if he didn’t notice), and she expressed great surprise that Jesus would ever ask for water from her. Most Jews would assume that water from her cup or pot or whatever she had would automatically be contaminated. Further, she knew she was considered the lowest of the low to a Jewish man, because even Jewish women were of lower social status than men, so why would Jesus even bother to speak to her?
Their interchange is complicated. Water takes on greater meaning than an element that sustains physical life. Jesus begins to talk about water that fulfills a spiritual longing, and He gets into territory that she never expected when He reveals His knowledge that, in fact, she has been married five times and is currently living with a man who is not her husband. Wow, that is a revelation that she never expected him to bring to light. Through revealing this truth, Jesus “strikes the rock.” He literally hits upon something that is so elemental to her life that this interchange they’ve been having suddenly takes on the personal tone of a relationship. She realizes that “the water” He has been telling her about was really something that she and her whole community needed, and she brings all of her Samaritan friends and acquaintances, in fact her whole village, out to see him.
In the midst of all of this excitement, the disciples catch up with Jesus. From John we can sort of detect their nervousness about the situation. They try to draw Jesus away by telling him He must eat, and as He talks to them about reaping a harvest of souls, they seem confused. Then Jesus teaches them (and us) a most important lesson as He indicates to them about the Samaritans – “That’s us. These supposedly contaminated people – they’re a part of us. And further, not only am I going to drink their water, but I’m going to eat their food, because I’m going to stay here for a little while.” John tells us that Jesus stays with the Samaritans for a couple of days; he completes his total identification with them by not just eating and drinking, but also by waking up in their homes and interacting with their children.
These Scriptures acknowledge the deep tension we face daily between doubt and faith, and they also show us that the bridge from doubt to faith can be found through relationships, through community. Relationships can provide a laboratory through which we work out our faith. This is a strong ethic at St. Paul’s – the ethic of sharing meals in community and of reaching across boundaries to those who are considered “other.” Otherness can take on all different meanings – it can mean anyone who is forgotten or powerless or people who seem to be caught in hopeless situations. At times these are people with whom no one wants to associate. Members of our church venture to Africa, India, Guatemala, and China (and many places I don’t know about) to reach out to “the other.” Some stay in the states and minister to youth at the Simple Room, the elderly, the profoundly disabled, or victims of Hurricane Katrina. I suggest that through these actions we “strike the rock;” we physically and visibly demonstrate our faith. What most of us find, when we become involved in these kinds of outreach, is that these actions bring forth a spirit of deep humility within us. As we authentically engage in relationships that may initially seem very awkward, this reveals our own human inadequacies and weaknesses, and how much work God has to do on us. We also learn that no matter how “other,” someone or group of people may seem – they are us and we are them. Further, while so often we see ourselves coming from the position of faith, these relationships often minister to us in ways we never expected. Those “others” truly teach us about what it means to have faith in Jesus, often because the purity of their experience touches us.
Romans 5 explains why all of this happens, and that is because while cultures construct (or make up) differences between people, we in the human race all share the condition of being sinners. On our behalf God has both “struck the rock,” and adopted us as His. Romans 5: 6 – 8 says: “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly.” Further, “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.” He is our ultimate example of One who through his actions struck the rock and made complete identification with us. May God embolden us to do the same: strike the rock, engage with “the other,” and grow in faith as a community.
Posting my public addresses
Since 2007, I have been making public addresses, mostly at my church, St. Paul's Free Methodist Church in Greenville, Illinois, but also at the college where I teach, Greenville College. I am going to post these here. Certainly, feel free to comment. Thanks, in advance for reading!
Greenville College Academic Chapel - December 5, 2007
Matthew 5:16 “Let your light so shine before others, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father, who is in heaven.
Ideas are Power
I was asked to speak in this chapel service at the beginning of October, and as I thought about this date, I realized what I was up against: Students who are ready to be done with the semester, who still have to fulfill their chapel requirement, yet are anxiously longing for December 18 to come so they can be home doing something more interesting than listening to someone like me. In spite of those strong desires that I’m sure you have, I want to guide you toward taking a moment to reflect upon what you’re doing here at Greenville College, what you’ve been doing here all semester or however long you’ve been here as a student. What I mean by thinking about what you’re doing here is that I want you to reflect upon how the ideas you have gained as a student have changed your life, and thus, the topic I want to talk with you about is the power of ideas. Ideas (what you pick up in class lectures and read in textbooks) can be so powerful that they can completely alter an individual’s path and lead to remarkable social change within communities and nations.
I’m well acquainted with this subject for two reasons: First, personal experience: the direction of my life has been remarkably altered on a number of occasions sheerly through the power of an idea, and I’m going to share a couple of those instances with you. Secondly, my academic discipline (which is American Studies) is quite fascinated with the whole concept of power (whether it be intellectual, political, social or any other type of power). However, in my discipline, power is most often considered in its most negative terms. You’ve probably heard of this perspective on power through axioms like “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Throughout history, we can certainly site many examples of instances in which power of all sorts has been exerted in ways that have been selfish and even evil. In fact, some forms of power have for decades and even centuries brought harm to others. (An example would be power that reinforced for 400years on the North American continent the continuation of slavery and then for another 100 years [into my lifetime] perpetuated racist beliefs and practices that still linger today.)
While we can’t deny that power can be exerted in overwhelmingly harmful and negative ways, I want us to consider power from a Christian perspective, one that is available to us through our faith in a God who is omnipotent. What does omnipotent mean? (all powerful) In fact, we serve a God who is all – everything – all powerful, all knowing and all loving. He is perfect in all of these areas, and thus He is our perfect model for possessing power. Power that comes from God contains certain characteristics. It is redemptive, full of grace and compassionate understanding. And I would like to emphasize that power, as it is manifested by God, empowers others, and allows them to be more fully the person God intended for them to be.
Placed in this context, I would like to consider with you how ideas, what you gain at Greenville College, are powerful, in the best, most Divine sense of the word. This statement “ideas or knowledge is power” can sound quite cliché, but one of the most vivid examples that helps us to understand the implications of this claim is found in a book my African-American History students read this semester: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Until he escaped from slavery in 1838, Frederick Douglass was enslaved in Maryland. While he witnessed and experienced the horrible oppression and subjugation of plantation slavery as a very young child, a great deal of his childhood was spent in slavery with a family who lived in Baltimore. There, he received more humane treatment, and the mistress of the house even took it upon herself to teach him to read. When her husband learned of this, he became very angry with her and told her (here I quote Douglass – but I will edit pejorative language): “’that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.’ To use his own words, further, he said, ‘A (slave) should know nothing but to obey his master--to do as he is told to do. Learning would ~spoil~ the best (slave) in the world. Now,’ said he, ‘if you teach that (slave) (speaking of Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.'" (Douglass continues:) "These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master.” So, from this incident, Douglass took hold of an idea – that for him and for all who were enslaved, knowledge is power, and it changed his life forever and propelled him into seeking freedom for himself and the hundreds of thousands others who were held in bondage.
Similarly to Douglass, I have found ideas to be empowering and liberating. I remember vividly my first real encounter with this concept. I was in Freshman Composition at Asbury College, a 21 year old, non-traditional student who was a freshman. I had sat out of school a couple of years, in part, because it was not an automatic for me to go to college. No other women in my family had gone to college, and so, I floundered for a couple of years. But sitting in Mrs. Moulton’s Freshman Comp class, I grabbed hold of an idea that changed my life. It was from Arthur Holmes book, The Idea of a Christian College. The idea was that “all truth is God’s truth.” This concept gave me permission to consider all sorts of radical possibilities simply because I knew that if these possibilities were truth they would never lead me away from my foundation, from God. It was quite liberating.
In my PhD program at St. Louis University I again encountered an idea that has changed my life forever. This came about through my study of nineteenth century women who were abolitionists (they fought against slavery) and suffragists (so they sought the right of women to vote). I saw two things in their actions and words. One was that to them ideas were so powerful that they were able to overcome barriers of region, class and what we call race. Secondly, I learned from these women (who contributed to bringing about significant and lasting social change in our nation – the end of slavery, voting and property rights for women, to name just a few of the things they achieved) – I learned from them that it is never enough to sit in the privacy of my home and talk about injustices that I disagree with. Rather it is imperative that in a public space, I actively articulate my beliefs. This single idea has transformed my world and propelled me in directions I never foresaw in Mrs. Moulton’s Freshman Comp class.
And so, I ask of you – what are the ideas that God is putting in front of you? How are you allowing them to change your life? I pray that they will empower you and make you a bold light to the world that can never be snuffed out by the darkness around you.
Ideas are Power
I was asked to speak in this chapel service at the beginning of October, and as I thought about this date, I realized what I was up against: Students who are ready to be done with the semester, who still have to fulfill their chapel requirement, yet are anxiously longing for December 18 to come so they can be home doing something more interesting than listening to someone like me. In spite of those strong desires that I’m sure you have, I want to guide you toward taking a moment to reflect upon what you’re doing here at Greenville College, what you’ve been doing here all semester or however long you’ve been here as a student. What I mean by thinking about what you’re doing here is that I want you to reflect upon how the ideas you have gained as a student have changed your life, and thus, the topic I want to talk with you about is the power of ideas. Ideas (what you pick up in class lectures and read in textbooks) can be so powerful that they can completely alter an individual’s path and lead to remarkable social change within communities and nations.
I’m well acquainted with this subject for two reasons: First, personal experience: the direction of my life has been remarkably altered on a number of occasions sheerly through the power of an idea, and I’m going to share a couple of those instances with you. Secondly, my academic discipline (which is American Studies) is quite fascinated with the whole concept of power (whether it be intellectual, political, social or any other type of power). However, in my discipline, power is most often considered in its most negative terms. You’ve probably heard of this perspective on power through axioms like “power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.” Throughout history, we can certainly site many examples of instances in which power of all sorts has been exerted in ways that have been selfish and even evil. In fact, some forms of power have for decades and even centuries brought harm to others. (An example would be power that reinforced for 400years on the North American continent the continuation of slavery and then for another 100 years [into my lifetime] perpetuated racist beliefs and practices that still linger today.)
While we can’t deny that power can be exerted in overwhelmingly harmful and negative ways, I want us to consider power from a Christian perspective, one that is available to us through our faith in a God who is omnipotent. What does omnipotent mean? (all powerful) In fact, we serve a God who is all – everything – all powerful, all knowing and all loving. He is perfect in all of these areas, and thus He is our perfect model for possessing power. Power that comes from God contains certain characteristics. It is redemptive, full of grace and compassionate understanding. And I would like to emphasize that power, as it is manifested by God, empowers others, and allows them to be more fully the person God intended for them to be.
Placed in this context, I would like to consider with you how ideas, what you gain at Greenville College, are powerful, in the best, most Divine sense of the word. This statement “ideas or knowledge is power” can sound quite cliché, but one of the most vivid examples that helps us to understand the implications of this claim is found in a book my African-American History students read this semester: Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass. Until he escaped from slavery in 1838, Frederick Douglass was enslaved in Maryland. While he witnessed and experienced the horrible oppression and subjugation of plantation slavery as a very young child, a great deal of his childhood was spent in slavery with a family who lived in Baltimore. There, he received more humane treatment, and the mistress of the house even took it upon herself to teach him to read. When her husband learned of this, he became very angry with her and told her (here I quote Douglass – but I will edit pejorative language): “’that it was unlawful, as well as unsafe, to teach a slave to read.’ To use his own words, further, he said, ‘A (slave) should know nothing but to obey his master--to do as he is told to do. Learning would ~spoil~ the best (slave) in the world. Now,’ said he, ‘if you teach that (slave) (speaking of Douglass) how to read, there would be no keeping him. It would forever unfit him to be a slave. He would at once become unmanageable, and of no value to his master.'" (Douglass continues:) "These words sank deep into my heart, stirred up sentiments within that lay slumbering, and called into existence an entirely new train of thought. It was a new and special revelation, explaining dark and mysterious things, with which my youthful understanding had struggled, but struggled in vain. I now understood what had been to me a most perplexing difficulty--the white man's power to enslave the black man. It was a grand achievement, and I prized it highly. From that moment, I understood the pathway from slavery to freedom. It was just what I wanted, and I got it at a time when I least expected it. Whilst I was saddened by the thought of losing the aid of my kind mistress, I was gladdened by the invaluable instruction which, by the merest accident, I had gained from my master.” So, from this incident, Douglass took hold of an idea – that for him and for all who were enslaved, knowledge is power, and it changed his life forever and propelled him into seeking freedom for himself and the hundreds of thousands others who were held in bondage.
Similarly to Douglass, I have found ideas to be empowering and liberating. I remember vividly my first real encounter with this concept. I was in Freshman Composition at Asbury College, a 21 year old, non-traditional student who was a freshman. I had sat out of school a couple of years, in part, because it was not an automatic for me to go to college. No other women in my family had gone to college, and so, I floundered for a couple of years. But sitting in Mrs. Moulton’s Freshman Comp class, I grabbed hold of an idea that changed my life. It was from Arthur Holmes book, The Idea of a Christian College. The idea was that “all truth is God’s truth.” This concept gave me permission to consider all sorts of radical possibilities simply because I knew that if these possibilities were truth they would never lead me away from my foundation, from God. It was quite liberating.
In my PhD program at St. Louis University I again encountered an idea that has changed my life forever. This came about through my study of nineteenth century women who were abolitionists (they fought against slavery) and suffragists (so they sought the right of women to vote). I saw two things in their actions and words. One was that to them ideas were so powerful that they were able to overcome barriers of region, class and what we call race. Secondly, I learned from these women (who contributed to bringing about significant and lasting social change in our nation – the end of slavery, voting and property rights for women, to name just a few of the things they achieved) – I learned from them that it is never enough to sit in the privacy of my home and talk about injustices that I disagree with. Rather it is imperative that in a public space, I actively articulate my beliefs. This single idea has transformed my world and propelled me in directions I never foresaw in Mrs. Moulton’s Freshman Comp class.
And so, I ask of you – what are the ideas that God is putting in front of you? How are you allowing them to change your life? I pray that they will empower you and make you a bold light to the world that can never be snuffed out by the darkness around you.
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