Walking into Trees
A sermon by Ted Virts
December 1, 2013
Sonoma CA
Theme:
Being But Men by Dylan Thomas
Being but men, we walked into the trees
Afraid, letting our syllables be soft
For fear of waking the rooks,
For fear of coming
Noiselessly into a world of wings and cries.
If we were children we might climb,
Catch the rooks sleeping, and break no twig,
And, after the soft ascent,
Thrust out our heads above the branches
To wonder at the unfailing stars.
Out of confusion, as the way is,
And the wonder, that man knows,
Out of the chaos would come bliss.
That, then, is loveliness, we said,
Children in wonder watching the stars,
Is the aim and the end.
Being but men, we walked into the trees.
(note, a rook is a kind of crow)
Scripture: Isaiah 64: 1-5, 8-9
“O that you would tear the heavens open and come down!” Isaiah 64
The question is “why?”
What is the state of the world that we would plea for God to tear the heavens open and come down?
It is an old human story.
The adult class this morning heard John Crossan describe the world in Jesus’ day. It was a world with scarcity for most and wealth for a few. It was a world rife with rebellion agains the power of Rome. It was a world ruled by the complete power of Imperial Rome:
Military Power
Economic Power
Ideological Power
and Political Power
And Crossan does not conclude that Rome was uniquely evil or oppressive. He was just describing the fact that the normalcy of civilization is always imperial. Note he makes a special effort to emphasize that this is not human nature, it is historical description. Crossan asks if we can unlearn this pattern.
Does this sound familiar?
Our military surrounds the world.
Our economy effects the world.
Our ideology of democracy effects the world.
And our politics are based on the assumption that we have the right to effect the world.
This is advent. We begin the church year by looking toward the Christmas story. We are in danger here.
If we are looking forward to the Christmas experience in most of our lives: trees, shopping, families, friends, singing and Joy to the World, we are missing the story.
Advent is waiting and longing, but it is a quite somber longing.
Our songs this morning point toward the trouble.
All creation is groaning for the dawining of your might, we sing.
Still the nations curse the darkness, still the rich oppress the poor, we sing.
We shall over come some day, the great Civil Rights song. Have we over come?
Is the state of the world something we can overcome?
What is the state of the world we live in?
Is it a world where we would plea that God would tear the heavens open and come down?
It is a question of perspective. From what viewpoint do you see the world?
Suzanne Collins has written the Hunger Games trilogy, now making its way through a movie series. This is not a kids book series. These novels see the world from the outcast point of view. These are intense and sobering novels of reluctant resistance. The books lift up the split of the comfort and over indulgence of the few, and the hardship of the many. The books reflect the difficulty of those who are in comfort, to see or connect with the plight of what is truly happening in their society. The Capitol in the Hunger Games is gaudy and entertained, just a slight exaggeration of our society.
Not everyone gets the point:
By Andrew Slack (LA Times)
November 25, 2013
Last spring, CoverGirl announced a makeup line called the Capitol Collection, a marketing tie-in with the "Hunger Games" film franchise, based on the novels by Suzanne Collins…
At its core, "The Hunger Games" is about economic inequality. In the books, the country of Panem is a future version of the United States, after nuclear disaster wipes out most of the population. In Panem, the fraction of people living in the Capitol controls almost all of the wealth. In 12 outlying Districts, people work long hours in Capitol-approved industries at dangerous jobs with low pay. Starvation is a daily reality.
If the books are supposed to function as a cautionary tale against the real class divide in the U.S., we need not look far for evidence. The future of Panem is upon us: More than 20 million Americans can't find full-time jobs, 22% of children live in poverty and middle-class wages have been largely stagnant since 1974. Meanwhile, corporate profits are at an all-time high.
If the greatest trick the devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist, the same can be said of systemic economic inequality. The pull of the American dream is still so strong that many believe the only reasonable explanation for poverty is that it's poor people's fault. We don't blame the system — and in Panem, you don't blame the Capitol.
O that you would tear the heavens open and come down…
What is the state of the world we live in?
Here is another description:
(53.) Just as the commandment “Thou shalt not kill” sets a clear limit in order to safeguard the value of human life, today we also have to say “thou shalt not” to an economy of exclusion and inequality. Such an economy kills. How can it be that it is not a news item when an elderly home- less person dies of exposure, but it is news when the stock market loses two points? This is a case of exclusion. Can we continue to stand by when food is thrown away while people are starving? This is a case of inequality. Today everything comes under the laws of competition and the survival of the fittest, where the powerful feed upon the powerless. As a consequence, masses of people find themselves excluded and marginalized: without work, without possibilities, without any means of escape…
(54.) the excluded are still waiting. To sustain a lifestyle which excludes others, or to sustain enthusiasm for that selfish ideal, a globalization of indifference has developed. Almost without being aware of it, we end up being incapable of feeling compassion at the outcry of the poor, weeping for other people’s pain, and feeling a need to help them, as though all this were someone else’s responsibility and not our own. The culture of prosperity deadens us; we are thrilled if the market offers us some- thing new to purchase. In the meantime all those lives stunted for lack of opportunity seem a mere spectacle; they fail to move us...
(55.) One cause of this situation is found in our relationship with money, since we calmly accept its dominion over ourselves and our societies. …man is reduced to one of his needs alone: consumption.
That is Pope Francis in his exhortation The Joy of the Gospel. (By the way Dave Chambers is bringing more of this exhortation to the Spiritual Action group that meets following worship today)
This is Advent. This is Sonoma. Few, if any, in this room go hungry. What do we hear in the ancient story that relates to us? For what do we wait? For what do we long.
The Choir reminds us of the plea: O Come Emmanuel - God with us – we are captured.
Are we? Is this captured status really so bad?
Or iss it that the way our world is troublesome, yes, but it is something we can fix -- If only our politicians were wiser. If only the programs were better. If only they would do their share. If only they would do their job.
The cry of advent has at its core what Dylan Thomas describes in the worship theme and what John Crossan describes as the historical truth of human behavior.
We have a vision of children ascending to the stars, but we are afraid to go there, lest we awaken noise and controversy. We live on the edge of Panem - how much are we part of the glitz, even unconsciously? How much are we afraid that we might lose “our share”
We are beneficiaries and perpetrators. We are victims and participants.
And we behave as though we are trapped.
Can we hear, can we see, can we know this precarious position we hold?
Do we need God to tear the heavens open and come down? What if we are enmeshed in the cause of the problem, as well as being victims of the problem?
Advent is not the happy time of waiting for family and presents.
It is the deep longing for God – for God among us – not for better leaders or better opportunities. It is seeing the state of the world and the state of our souls. Can we be freed from the delusion that everything is “just fine”? and can we see that there is within us something that needs to be overcome?Might we admit that we are much too comfortable to be the sole agents for change? Might we cry out for our sake, as well as for the world’s sake that it is God who must tear the heavens open and come down.
We are captives when we think that change is needed for them, the rich. We are captives when we think that change is needed for them, the lazy – and not for us. Are we as compassionate as we expect God to make them? Are we as generous as we want God to make them?
O that you would tear the heavens open and come down
O come, O come Emmanuel, and ransom your captive people.
Set us free, especially when we are so at ease, and not so sure we want to be freed from how we are
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