THE UNKNOWN GOD
May 1, 2005
Texts – I Peter 3: 13-22
Acts 17: 22-31
It’s coming soon to a theatre near you. “Star Wars: Episode III — Revenge of the Sith” is due out in just two and half weeks. I know because my twenty nine year old son told me; he was barely three years old when I took him to the first one! “Train up a child in the way he should go,” the Bible says, “and when he is old he will not depart from it.” (Proverbs 22: 6) Lord have mercy.
I’ll probably go see it, and chances are I’ll go alone – it’s not exactly Donna’s “cup of tea.” Too much violence . . . too much testosterone! I’ll go, nevertheless, to be entertained and because I’m sure there’s gonna be a sermon in there somewhere! (I get to go to all the good movies for that reason . . . at least that’s what I tell Donna!) In this case, however, I know I’m right.
In the original Star Wars movie, Obi-Wan Kenobi sternly tells Luke Skywalker, “Stretch out with your feelings . . . Let go your conscious self and act on instinct.” This last piece of advice comes when Skywalker is foolishly trying to destroy the evil Death Star by using a computer instead of his feelings to hit a target the size of a grapefruit while flying 300 miles per hour at an altitude of 20 feet.
The same sort of keen advice about the power of feeling is dispensed in the second Star Wars movie. Nine-year-old Anakin Skywalker is about to risk his life in a 300-mile-per-hour race of pods, or space chariots. So the Jedi knight naturally thinks this is a good time to offer the child useful advice about feelings. “Feel, don't think,” barks the master.
Say what you will about the plot or the depth of character development implicit in such scenes, they do illustrate a primary reality in our current culture, which is a switch to a feelings-centered morality and way of living. Values created by feelings have taken precedence over traditional values. The late well-known psychologist, Carl Rogers, summed it up when he said, “Doing what feels right proves to be a competent and trustworthy guide to behavior which is truly satisfying.”
Now the question we all ought to ask is – Is this really how the world works? Should we all “follow our bliss,” as Joseph Campbell says? I dare you to say “No.” Inconceivable, isn’t it! This has become so much a part of our way of thinking . . . so much a part of our way of acting, that to actually deny its validity is to risk ridicule. And yet, what we do here Sunday after Sunday flies in the face of it, which may be one reason why enterprises such as this are increasingly an endangered species in our day and age.
When Paul walked the streets of Athens two thousand years ago, he could rightly say “I perceive that in every way you are very religious.” (Acts 17: 22) You’d be hard-pressed to say the same thing today. The altars and temples . . . and yes the churches and synagogues . . . of yesteryear have been replaced by shopping malls, boutiques, and coffee shops . . . all of which cater to our
feelings and our moods. The faith communities which have not just survived but which are thriving in this free market consumer-oriented society are in the main those which have adopted a “consumer-friendly” approach, complete with discount theatre coupons and fast-food snacks. “For Christianity to prosper in the free market,” Ted Haggard, the president of the National Association of Evangelicals, says, “it needs more than ‘moral values’ – it needs customer value . . . . I want the church,” he says, “to help me live life well, not exhaust me with endless ‘worthwhile’ projects.” (By “worthwhile projects” he means building funds and soup kitchens alike.)[1]
“Trust your feelings, Luke!” Obi-Wan Kenobi tells Luke Skywalker. “Follow your bliss,” Joseph Campbell says. This is a feelings-centered way of living, one which runs directly counter to what you and I stand for and practice week in and week out.
Real, healthy, productive, loving lives have their foundations not in contemporary sentiments or feelings but in ancient traditions, and in truths unveiled and passed on from the beginning of time. That’s what we stand for. For better or worse, it is who we are. It is why we gather Sunday after Sunday to read and hear and reflect upon the words contained in Holy Scripture. It is not my wisdom nor Adrianne’s eloquence we come to focus on. It is not beautiful music nor inspiring architecture that brings us together. It is the Word of God read, proclaimed, and interpreted by reason, faith, and conscience. That is our heart, and it puts us at odds with George Lucas and many, many others who have risen to the forefront as interpreters of truth in our culture.
At the risk of being considered hopelessly old-fashioned, let me put it this way – there is a truth, a perspective, a wisdom that is not abstract nor theoretical, but that is essential to real life. If you don’t take the trouble to learn it, your life will sooner or later approach disaster. Only as you know it, will you truly live. You can’t just improvise your way through challenges, relationships, struggles, setbacks from day to day, guided by your gut feelings, and make a success of living, any more than you can run a business or do surgery by instinct.
I like the story about Thomas Watson, back when he was CEO of IBM. He asked his executive assistant one day, “On just what basis did you reach that decision?” The assistant replied, “Well, in the final analysis, I guess it was a visceral decision.” Watson replied, “Well, if there are going to be any more visceral decisions around here, I‘d like to use my own viscera.”
No less than in the management of finances or organizations, there is a truth we must learn, must trust, must know if we want to live wisely, healthy, well. Why? Because it is, finally, the ideas in our heads – our understandings of reality, our perspectives on life – that make life go or which get us in trouble.
Do you remember the story of three people who were visiting and viewing the Grand Canyon for the first time? One was an artist; one was a theologian, and one was a cowboy. As they stood on the edge of that massive abyss, each responded with a cry of exclamation. The artist said, “Ah, what a beautiful scene to paint.” The theologian said, “Ah, what a wonderful example of the handiwork of God.” The cowboy said, “Aw, what a terrible place to lose a cow.”
There is a truth about life, a perspective on life, you must know in order to live well. And you do not learn it by experience or experiment. It is not the product of modern research or therapeutic insight. It is not new at all. It is not progressive truth; it is perennial truth. It is not the truth of discovery; it is the truth of receptivity. It is the truth of Moses and of Jesus. It is the eternal wisdom, the word of God. You see, to be a Christian, if it means anything at all, means at least this. It means the judgment that the final truth about life and how to live it happened already a long time ago. It means the humble judgment that an old story and a venerable teacher know more about how to live than I do. And only as I place myself under their tutelage will I get it even half right. Only as you become a student of this ancient book and leader, will you develop a perspective on reality that will enable you to live a truly fulfilling and happy life.
But of course, all of that is passe now, and the result is a population of people running around with a lot of crazy ideas in their heads. Ideas like: I must be in this mess because I did something bad. Or, I can't be happy if I am rejected or lonely. Or, if I am not a success, life is not worth living. Or, God will punish me if I defy my mother. Or, I've got a right to go for what I want. Or . . . I could go on and on. Most of the people I meet who are in real trouble, who are stuck in life, are people who are the way they are because of crazy beliefs and who desperately need to discover and appreciate an old wisdom which is the gift of God, the truth which is life.
That’s what we try to give you week by week. Nothing we say is new, nothing. If we repeat the name, Jesus, a lot, it is because we are trying to say what he says a lot. If the words sound new, it is because we are trying to win your respect for the old by changing the angle a bit. If we say it eight different ways, it is so you will get beyond the cliches to the content. But we struggle to give you nothing but the truth once for all delivered in ways that are inviting and thought provoking. Because the quality of our lives depends upon it.
“God is not far from any one of us,” Paul said so long ago. Known or Unknown, God is the source and ground of our being. “In God we live and move and have our being.” [Acts 17: 27-28] By God’s grace, we are each of inestimable value, and we are completely and everlastingly safe. Thanks be to God.
[1] “Soldiers of Christ: Inside America’s most powerful megachurch” by Jeff Sharlet, Harper’s Magazine (May 2005), P.47.