Siesmic Shifts: Leading in Times of Change
(A title borrowed from a recent book by Christopher White)
Mark 12: 18-27
Mark 12: 28-34
Read back to back, but by two different lay readers: so that we invite comparison between the two conversations that the readings convey…
For all that we have a tendency to imagine the life and times of Jesus in poetic and pastoral images, the historical reality is that, in Jesus’ day, life was anything but placid, safe, predictable, or reassuring…. We may moan and groan about the pace and scope of change that assails us in OUR day to day living. We may go and on about the woes of our contemporary world: but, let me tell you, the sleepiest Jew, with eyes half open, in Jesus’ day, could go head to head with all our complaining.
Our list of disturbing challenges and realities would include:
- wars and the rumours of war,
- the threat of terrorism,
- concerns about dictatorships,
- changes in the economy,
- questions about immigration and the sustainability of multiculturalism,
- grumblings about increasing tax burdens,
- concerns about the crumbling of our social safety net,
- dismay over changes in family life and lifestyles..
The list could go on and on, couldn’t it: and, we haven’t even started to name changes, worries and concerns that derive from awareness in any kind of global context, in which we are becoming increasingly alarmed about things like:
· the implications of transnational corporations that operate above and beyond any kind of national or international governance,
· global warming,
· the transnational, intercontinental spread of epidemic and diseases,
· economic imperialism
· a shift in the Axis of World Power defying the control of the U.N. and rapidly slipping out of “western” hands as more and more of what we might derisively call “Rogue States” are becoming states, and powers, to be reckoned with…
Many of the things that threaten, challenge and trouble us find their parallels and close cousins in the events and realities of Jesus’ day. People then knew what foreign domination was all about. They faced the threat of coercion and terror. Their economy was twisted to serve the purposes of their Roman masters. Multiculturalism was becoming increasingly the reality, in their world- as in ours. And it must, surely, have seemed to many in that age, as much then as now, that the whole world was going to “hell in a hand basket.”
“Stop the train, I want to get off!” It’s an uncomfortable thing being caught up in such mighty swirl of change -most of which seems so beyond our control as to leave us feeling hapless victims as we struggle to accommodate, hoping to survive, never mind thrive, in the midst of it all.
Where, O God, is the Rock that is Higher? …Our sure foundation… The one who “changest not?” …Where is the “anchor that keeps our soul, steadfast and sure while such billows blow?” …In times of turmoil, trouble and terror, we turn to the church and seek God’s refuge. We come, wanting to find islands of certainty in the tossing sea of chaos, challenge and change: and, how does the church respond?
In our extended reading, this morning, we encounter, juxtaposed, illustration of two very different ways that churches, whether in Jesus’ day or now, can try to meet and solace troubled hearts.
Before we look at the first possibility, let me share with you, an insight that was offered by a man named Hugh MacKay- an Australian Psychologist and social researcher, who did a radio program a few years ago addressing the very issues that are before us this morning- the question of how people react to a prevailing sense of doom and gloom in a world that they may perceive as spinning out of control….Hugh says, “It seems to be a law of nature that when any society goes through a period of upheaval and transformation, simplistic world views increase their appeal”[1] and, he continues, a bit later in his talk to suggest that, in times of upheaval and transformation, fundamentalism rears its ugly head- judgmental, dogmatic, legalistic, exclusivistic, nostalgic fundamentalism.
We can see this happening in the first bit of our reading today as Jesus stands head to head with a group of traditionalists deeply invested in the status quo- “some Sadducees.” Earlier in chapter twelve, Mark introduces these characters as coming to Jesus in the company of some Pharisees and Herodians with the intent of trapping Jesus- making him lose face in the eyes of the crowd. As we listen to these guys, and the counter appeal that they hold out before the crowds, we can see one version of the church reacting in troubled times. These guys are, big time, into quoting ancient scriptures and laws, using them as traps and proof texts for the cases that they wish to argue: and, they are, ostensibly, very concerned for the minutiae of faith and faithful living, presenting themselves as wanting to clarify divine polices regarding such things as relations with secular government, taxation and ageless hot button issues concerning marriage and sexuality…. Does all this have any kind of contemporary ring to it? Aren’t these among the BIG issues that the so-called “Moral Majority”, the right-wing conservative fundamentalists of today play on?
Anyway, these guys begin and Jesus stands head to head, answering them, blow for blow, doing his best, in each case, to lead the discussion into consideration of bigger, broader brush strokes by which one might see and respond to the reality of God.
Fortunately, for I imagine Jesus was quickly getting tired of playing such games, another man- in this case a Scribe, moves to centre stage. Chances are he came along with the others sharing their intent to discredit Jesus and been seen a bastions of orthodoxy- true representatives of the right and true and only faith, but, as he listened to the arguments playing out, it suddenly dawned on him that Jesus “answered them very well...” I think we can read a bit of respect happening here. I think, this particular Scribe, was so impressed by what Jesus was saying, that, when he gets to asking his question of Jesus, it is a sincere and honest question asked with an attitude of readiness to hear an answer….What’s the question he comes up with? …He asks- “Which commandment is the first of all?”
Now, you might think this is but yet another of the kind of “trick” questions that all the other Scribes and Pharisees were positing, but it definitely wasn’t! The question of which commandment was the first commandment was a matter of a lot of, on-going, theological debate, in that era: a debate that bantered back and forth among scholars each seeking to summarize the whole of God’s law and commandments into some kind of, what we might think of as, a sloganistic catchy little phrasing or a re-wording in contemporary language that could serve as a teaching tool and “Statement of Faith.” …Some of us, in this congregation, were part of the United Church’s last go at “updating” our statement of faith…that’s the kind of exercise that this question to Jesus comes out of. Unlike all the trick questions that the other Scribes and Pharisees had asked, this question, unless Jesus had a complete melt down and was “way out to lunch,” was, for him, if not an easy, a safe question- a question that had no pre-defined “right” answer: that is, therefore, a question that Jesus couldn’t get wrong. It was simply a matter of this Scribe inviting Jesus to throw into the mix of formulations a version that he would consider a good summary of the law- almost a scholar to scholar, buddy to buddy, what do you think, kind of dialogue going on here.
Jesus gives his response and the two of them, in a very friendly tone, start working through and thinking about it… The dialogue continues with the Scribe being very complimentary- “You’re right teacher.” And, then, the two of them get into a bit of what we might call an academic discussion of systematic theology. As that dialogue continues, our Scribe friend finds himself having a new and what would have been a very scandalous thought in his day- the idea that loving God and neighbour, in very real and tangible “love in action” kinds of ways, might even be more important than all the fuss and bother and busyness of the church about burnt offerings and doing sacrifices just right- the way we’ve always done them… I’m sure this guy’s friends, standing by, quickly realized where that kind of thinking would lead- away from legalistic enforcement of the rules of church (which was their specialty), potentially away from the old way of financing church through the sacrifice and burnt offering system: and, most scary of all, away from reliance on them as being the absolute, autocratic, almost dictatorial hierarchy on which everyone depended for spiritual direction!
I framed our discussion of these two, very different, biblical conversations, this morning, around the idea of them being illustrative of two very different responses to people in chaos looking for answers: and, let there be no doubt, as is the case today, people were looking for answers and they were taking charge of that exercise -even to the point of looking beyond the walls of the church….Don’t lose sight of the reality that we meet “the crowd” out in whatever field, or venue, Jesus was using that day. The crowd had come to hear and weigh the kind of answers and spiritual direction Jesus might offer against the orthodoxy they could find at the temple. And, before the day was out, they had a chance to see both in action and expression….
On the one hand, the Scribes and Pharisees showed these folks the option of entrenchment in the unchanging church of their day, a church dedicated to doing things the way they’d always been done, upholding ancient laws to the letter, a church intolerant of variant thinking, a church armed with old answers to new problems and realities. This old church presented people with the simplistic option that Hugh MacKay suggested some people will find to be the very attractive option when they feel themselves virtually overwhelmed by change and troubles and turmoil…. This is the option that some people in our day are finding very attractive: and, such folk are flocking to fundamentalist, right wing churches that often seem to be the “growingest” churches in North America- although most recent statistics suggest that such churches are, now, approaching the end of their wave of populist growth.
Jesus could have gone down that road with them! He could have enjoyed enormous success as some kind of revival preacher calling people “home,” buoying up their faith and enthusiasm, rallying the troops to mighty clamor against the tides of time and circumstance. By the power of his rhetoric and parables, Jesus could have earned the admiration of the Scribes and Pharisees telling afresh the old, old story... He could have chosen allegiance with them that wouldn’t have cost him his life in the end: but, he didn’t.
Instead, Jesus chose, and walked to the end, another path: a path which, as we saw in our second story today, invited dialogue and mutuality of faith exploration, a path that was not satisfied with things as they were or had always been, a path that broke ancient taboos, that offered direct and indirect scathing social and political commentary, a path that grappled with emerging realities and met people in the real world where they lived and worked and struggled to live with integrity and faith.
In his latest book, titled- Seismic Shifts: Leading in Times of Change, the United Church minister, Christopher White, talks about leading with “ambiguity” through the muddle of emerging days: knowing that yesterday’s answers won’t do and sharing the struggle to do the best that we might do, in every new today: sometimes making do with what can be done today and for now, but always knowing the best is yet to be….. Living with Ambiguity: with a humility that honours both the shifting sands -that can make a yoke of yesterday’s answers if we try and uphold them today, and living with faithful expectation that, as different as any tomorrow ever may be, God will lead through uncharted waters toward the fullness of his dream’s actualization…. Living with Ambiguity- what a fitting phrase to describe the life of Jesus who had the grandest dreams, but knew that, in practical terms, the best he often could accomplish was to nudge his people one step closer…. Jesus living with the not-yetness, the incompleteness, of what could happen while he was here.
- A Jesus who dreamed of an inclusive community: but had to settle for taking a child on his knee one day,
- A Jesus who dreamed the equality of men and women but knew that if he’d chosen 12 ladies to be his apostles, the whole thing would have been laughed out existence,
- a Jesus who, I don’t think was sure how God’s agenda would be played out over the centuries, but who trusted God to lead and teach and change and reform and nudge and push his people along the right way, step by step, sometimes ever so gently and slowly, pleading with people to “keep me walking along with you.”
- Jesus, who as his own life ended, didn’t foresee the process of faith’s evolution or expression stopping to perpetuate just what he’d been able to do, who said, with hope and eager expectation, to the Apostles, that they should anticipate that “greater things than I’ve been able to do, you will do” – as God continues to lead you, and all his people, through the next and every successive leg of the journey.
With this Jesus, like the one Scribe of the second story today, who was ready to learn and grow and change and adapt, who didn’t balk at new ideas- even though they had the potential to radically change his good old church, we are called to the quest, the journey, the questioning, the sometimes tentative taking a new stab at doing things in ways that might or might not work out. We are called to learn and laugh at our mistakes honouring best intentions and holy impulse. We are called to live big dreams, to share mighty hopes and divine visions and the empowerment that Jesus knew as he, in his day, worked to make them real.
When the one Scribe courageously took his first steps away from yesterday’s fleeting security and toward God’s new tomorrow, Jesus, cheered him on saying to him that, even as he began the journey, he was suddenly nearer to the
We would do well to remember, as we close off our thinking today, that once upon a time, the people of
So may God guide us on our journey through troubling times, difficult days, uncertainty, confusion and ambiguity, that we, like the people of
Come what may, we have an anchor… (Sing hymn)
Amen
Charlie Love
St. Andrew’s
Oct 29 2006
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