A Long Obedience In The Same Direction
Sermon
God in Flesh Made Manifest
Cycle A Gospel Lesson Sermons For Advent, Christmas, And Epiphany
We live in a microwave world. A hurry-up, get-to-the-point, move-it, move-it, move-it, world!
We want what we want and we want it now! We want freezer-to-table meals in 15 minutes at the outside; we want 0 to 60 acceleration in 8.5 seconds; we want the phone answered in 3 rings or we're hanging up; we want that personal pan pizza in 5 minutes or we're outta here.
No one reads classical literature any more. Why bother when you've got Barnes and Noble, Monarch Notes and Klassic Komix? Or, if you really must, there's always the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course. (I'm reminded of Woody Allen's comment about that course. The comedian said, "I took the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course. I read War and Peace in an hour and a half. It's about Russia.")
The accelerated pace of life has spawned new attitudes and new behaviors. I'll mention only three.
(1) Child psychologists now talk and write about "The Hurried Child": the accelerated offspring who is prodded by well-meaning, well-intending parents to hurry up, grow up, move on to the next stage of development and excel all the while (and anything less than the 90th percentile is an embarrassment).
The consequence: children are robbed of one of God's most precious gifts -- the unique and irreplaceable gift of their own childhood.
The message the child receives: "What I am is no good. They'll love me when I make them proud."
(2) The idea of a life-long commitment has become almost unfathomable. The "now" -- the present moment -- is all that counts, and instant gratification is the name of the game.
Two months from now is the distant future, so how can anyone seriously promise, "till death us do part" or "forsaking all others, keep me only unto thee"?
(3) This quote from the book Time Wars by Jeremy Rifkin:
Many people have so accommodated themselves to the new sped-up time frame of the computer that they have become impatient with the slower durations they must contend with in the everyday clock culture. In clinical case studies, psychologists have observed that computer compulsives are much more intolerant of behavior that is ambiguous, digressive or tangential. In their interaction with spouses, family and acquaintances, they are often terse, preferring simple yes-no responses. They are impatient with individuals who are reflective or meditative.
(Try preaching to a roomful of them!)
Now not all of the consequences of living in the microwave society are bad.
Rescue squads and trauma teams know the value of a few precious moments. They respond to emergencies with speed, efficiency and an impressive array of life-saving technology.
The microchip has made the laborious processing and retrieval of information quick and efficient. Once-lengthy calculations are now completed in a fraction of a second.
A few months ago I had occasion to telephone the United States Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, to check on the status of a refugee family we've been trying to reunite with a family here for 2 1/2 years.
The call from Roanoke to communications satellite to Bangkok was completed within five seconds of the time I dialed the last number, and no operator assistance was required. (Those with three-year-olds in the house who like to play with the phone when mommy and daddy aren't looking are in no way cheered by this last piece of information.)
It's a microwave world. Perhaps as the baby-boom generation hits mid-life and slows down a bit, so will our society. But I doubt that the pace of life is likely to return to the comparatively leisurely rhythms of life only a few generations ago.
The question for Christians, then, becomes: Given the pace and direction of modern life, how are we to lead our lives as followers of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ?
There are, as you might well imagine, a number of answers to that question.
One group of Christians answers the question by withdrawing from what they view as the evils of modernity. They cling to an older and simpler style of life and shun the way of the world. While we may admire their discipline and their commitment, most of us do not embrace this vision as the only one for twentieth century Christians.
Other Christians take the exact opposite approach. They uncritically embrace the values and ways of the world. To them, it is God and the church who must adapt to this brave new world humankind has created, if God and the church have any intention of remaining relevant.
This group sees religion as something like insurance or Social Security: a good thing to have, but nothing to go overboard about.
While we may admire the openness, tolerance and adaptability of this group, few of us are ready to be so uncritically accepting of what many of us see as at least highly debatable developments in medical technology, sexual ethics, biogenetic engineering, and foreign and domestic policy, to name but a few arenas.
There is yet a third way to be a Christian in the microwave world -- a way suggested by the title of a book by Eugene H. Petersen. It is titled A Long Obedience In The Same Direction -- Discipleship In An Instant Society.
The title is from a quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and is worth reflecting on: a long obedience in the same direction. What shape might a long obedience in the same direction take?
For one United Methodist pastor in Roanoke, Virginia, it took the shape of a 2200-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail, from its beginning in rural Georgia to its terminus in northern Maine. Pastor Ken Patrick began his hike -- a spiritual pilgrimage, really -- one April, immediately after Easter Day. He concluded the journey in late September. Once en route, he was struck by lightning. By August he was so severely physically wasted from malnutrition that he was hospitalized and returned home for a few weeks of rest and recuperation. With strength renewed, he returned to the point at which he was forced off the trail, and concluded his trek.
The journey was undertaken in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi and was appropriately designated "a hike for the homeless." Some folks sponsored Pastor Patrick so many cents or dollars per mile. The proceeds helped open a new day facility for Roanoke's homeless -- a place of hospitality and refuge for those who daily hike the asphalt trail.
That's one shape that a long obedience in the same direction has taken for one Christian.
For us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, our calling and our power to lead lives marked by a long obedience in the same direction comes in our baptism. For it is by water and the Spirit that God drowns the old Adam and the old Eve in each of us and makes of us new beings in Christ.
No one said it better than Paul who wrote in his letter to the Romans, "When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."
Today, the Christian Church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord, that occasion, according to the Gospels, when God announced Jesus' divine identity to his Son and entrusted to him his eternal mission: to lay down his life for the sins of a wayward world.
Remember that immediately following his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Evil One. Immediately, in other words, Jesus was tempted to abandon his long obedience in the same direction. He resisted that diabolical temptation, and in his preaching, teaching, healing, reconciling, restoring, liberating ministry, Jesus continued that long obedience in the same direction. On the cross of Calvary, he pursued it to its inevitable end.
This Jesus God raised from the dead. His long and perfect obedience in the same direction is the salvation of us all, through no merit of our own.
Indeed, in spite of our miserable record, in spite of the fact that our lives are littered with broken commitments, abandoned resolutions and half-hearted devotion, God is ever faithful. Jesus, God's Son, is the fulfillment of God's word through Isaiah the prophet:
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;...
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not fail or be discouraged
Till he has established justice in the earth;...
By working in us the miracle of faith, by making of us new beings in Christ, Jesus is indeed establishing justice and righteousness in the earth.
For what is just and what is right in God's eyes is a long obedience in the same direction, and a long obedience in the same direction is precisely the sort of life the risen Christ empowers us to lead. The baptismal font or baptistery is the debarkation point for this spiritual pilgrimage.
Our world is and likely will remain a microwave world, instant, impatient, petulant, confusing.
A long baptismal obedience in the same direction is God's gift to us, enabling us to face the inconstancy, the instability, the inconsistency, and the vacillation of such a world while maintaining our identity, our commitment, and our sense of purpose, meaning, value and worth. Jesus' long obedience is not just a wandering, a meandering, in any old direction, but a purposeful march in the direction of Golgotha and the empty tomb, in the direction of faithfulness, steadfastness, loyalty, integrity, commitment and suffering love finally vindicated and validated by eternal victory!
Think of your life as a piece of music. Life in the microwave world provides you the staccato notes, the quick and sometimes dissonant voice. By itself, it is confusing and lacking in substance or form. It may even seem chaotic and annoying.
A long baptismal obedience in the same direction provides the sustenuto, the sustained voice, the continuo line. It gives body and substance to the piece. By itself, it could become tedious or dull.
But when the sustained voice undergirds and supports the staccato notes -- when life in the microwave world is sustained and supported by God's gift of a long baptismal obedience in the same direction -- then life is a magnificent fugue -- beautiful, rich, multi-textured, varied; surprising yet graceful and grace-filled.
Such a life is beautiful music; played and sung to the glory of the composer God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, into whose eternal name we are baptized!
We want what we want and we want it now! We want freezer-to-table meals in 15 minutes at the outside; we want 0 to 60 acceleration in 8.5 seconds; we want the phone answered in 3 rings or we're hanging up; we want that personal pan pizza in 5 minutes or we're outta here.
No one reads classical literature any more. Why bother when you've got Barnes and Noble, Monarch Notes and Klassic Komix? Or, if you really must, there's always the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course. (I'm reminded of Woody Allen's comment about that course. The comedian said, "I took the Evelyn Wood Speed Reading Course. I read War and Peace in an hour and a half. It's about Russia.")
The accelerated pace of life has spawned new attitudes and new behaviors. I'll mention only three.
(1) Child psychologists now talk and write about "The Hurried Child": the accelerated offspring who is prodded by well-meaning, well-intending parents to hurry up, grow up, move on to the next stage of development and excel all the while (and anything less than the 90th percentile is an embarrassment).
The consequence: children are robbed of one of God's most precious gifts -- the unique and irreplaceable gift of their own childhood.
The message the child receives: "What I am is no good. They'll love me when I make them proud."
(2) The idea of a life-long commitment has become almost unfathomable. The "now" -- the present moment -- is all that counts, and instant gratification is the name of the game.
Two months from now is the distant future, so how can anyone seriously promise, "till death us do part" or "forsaking all others, keep me only unto thee"?
(3) This quote from the book Time Wars by Jeremy Rifkin:
Many people have so accommodated themselves to the new sped-up time frame of the computer that they have become impatient with the slower durations they must contend with in the everyday clock culture. In clinical case studies, psychologists have observed that computer compulsives are much more intolerant of behavior that is ambiguous, digressive or tangential. In their interaction with spouses, family and acquaintances, they are often terse, preferring simple yes-no responses. They are impatient with individuals who are reflective or meditative.
(Try preaching to a roomful of them!)
Now not all of the consequences of living in the microwave society are bad.
Rescue squads and trauma teams know the value of a few precious moments. They respond to emergencies with speed, efficiency and an impressive array of life-saving technology.
The microchip has made the laborious processing and retrieval of information quick and efficient. Once-lengthy calculations are now completed in a fraction of a second.
A few months ago I had occasion to telephone the United States Embassy in Bangkok, Thailand, to check on the status of a refugee family we've been trying to reunite with a family here for 2 1/2 years.
The call from Roanoke to communications satellite to Bangkok was completed within five seconds of the time I dialed the last number, and no operator assistance was required. (Those with three-year-olds in the house who like to play with the phone when mommy and daddy aren't looking are in no way cheered by this last piece of information.)
It's a microwave world. Perhaps as the baby-boom generation hits mid-life and slows down a bit, so will our society. But I doubt that the pace of life is likely to return to the comparatively leisurely rhythms of life only a few generations ago.
The question for Christians, then, becomes: Given the pace and direction of modern life, how are we to lead our lives as followers of the crucified and risen Lord, Jesus Christ?
There are, as you might well imagine, a number of answers to that question.
One group of Christians answers the question by withdrawing from what they view as the evils of modernity. They cling to an older and simpler style of life and shun the way of the world. While we may admire their discipline and their commitment, most of us do not embrace this vision as the only one for twentieth century Christians.
Other Christians take the exact opposite approach. They uncritically embrace the values and ways of the world. To them, it is God and the church who must adapt to this brave new world humankind has created, if God and the church have any intention of remaining relevant.
This group sees religion as something like insurance or Social Security: a good thing to have, but nothing to go overboard about.
While we may admire the openness, tolerance and adaptability of this group, few of us are ready to be so uncritically accepting of what many of us see as at least highly debatable developments in medical technology, sexual ethics, biogenetic engineering, and foreign and domestic policy, to name but a few arenas.
There is yet a third way to be a Christian in the microwave world -- a way suggested by the title of a book by Eugene H. Petersen. It is titled A Long Obedience In The Same Direction -- Discipleship In An Instant Society.
The title is from a quote by German philosopher Friedrich Nietzsche, and is worth reflecting on: a long obedience in the same direction. What shape might a long obedience in the same direction take?
For one United Methodist pastor in Roanoke, Virginia, it took the shape of a 2200-mile hike on the Appalachian Trail, from its beginning in rural Georgia to its terminus in northern Maine. Pastor Ken Patrick began his hike -- a spiritual pilgrimage, really -- one April, immediately after Easter Day. He concluded the journey in late September. Once en route, he was struck by lightning. By August he was so severely physically wasted from malnutrition that he was hospitalized and returned home for a few weeks of rest and recuperation. With strength renewed, he returned to the point at which he was forced off the trail, and concluded his trek.
The journey was undertaken in the spirit of Saint Francis of Assisi and was appropriately designated "a hike for the homeless." Some folks sponsored Pastor Patrick so many cents or dollars per mile. The proceeds helped open a new day facility for Roanoke's homeless -- a place of hospitality and refuge for those who daily hike the asphalt trail.
That's one shape that a long obedience in the same direction has taken for one Christian.
For us as disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, our calling and our power to lead lives marked by a long obedience in the same direction comes in our baptism. For it is by water and the Spirit that God drowns the old Adam and the old Eve in each of us and makes of us new beings in Christ.
No one said it better than Paul who wrote in his letter to the Romans, "When we were baptized in Christ Jesus, we were baptized into his death. We were buried therefore with him by baptism into death, so that as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live a new life. For if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his."
Today, the Christian Church celebrates the Baptism of our Lord, that occasion, according to the Gospels, when God announced Jesus' divine identity to his Son and entrusted to him his eternal mission: to lay down his life for the sins of a wayward world.
Remember that immediately following his baptism, Jesus was led by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the Evil One. Immediately, in other words, Jesus was tempted to abandon his long obedience in the same direction. He resisted that diabolical temptation, and in his preaching, teaching, healing, reconciling, restoring, liberating ministry, Jesus continued that long obedience in the same direction. On the cross of Calvary, he pursued it to its inevitable end.
This Jesus God raised from the dead. His long and perfect obedience in the same direction is the salvation of us all, through no merit of our own.
Indeed, in spite of our miserable record, in spite of the fact that our lives are littered with broken commitments, abandoned resolutions and half-hearted devotion, God is ever faithful. Jesus, God's Son, is the fulfillment of God's word through Isaiah the prophet:
Behold my servant, whom I uphold,
my chosen, in whom my soul delights;...
He will faithfully bring forth justice.
He will not fail or be discouraged
Till he has established justice in the earth;...
By working in us the miracle of faith, by making of us new beings in Christ, Jesus is indeed establishing justice and righteousness in the earth.
For what is just and what is right in God's eyes is a long obedience in the same direction, and a long obedience in the same direction is precisely the sort of life the risen Christ empowers us to lead. The baptismal font or baptistery is the debarkation point for this spiritual pilgrimage.
Our world is and likely will remain a microwave world, instant, impatient, petulant, confusing.
A long baptismal obedience in the same direction is God's gift to us, enabling us to face the inconstancy, the instability, the inconsistency, and the vacillation of such a world while maintaining our identity, our commitment, and our sense of purpose, meaning, value and worth. Jesus' long obedience is not just a wandering, a meandering, in any old direction, but a purposeful march in the direction of Golgotha and the empty tomb, in the direction of faithfulness, steadfastness, loyalty, integrity, commitment and suffering love finally vindicated and validated by eternal victory!
Think of your life as a piece of music. Life in the microwave world provides you the staccato notes, the quick and sometimes dissonant voice. By itself, it is confusing and lacking in substance or form. It may even seem chaotic and annoying.
A long baptismal obedience in the same direction provides the sustenuto, the sustained voice, the continuo line. It gives body and substance to the piece. By itself, it could become tedious or dull.
But when the sustained voice undergirds and supports the staccato notes -- when life in the microwave world is sustained and supported by God's gift of a long baptismal obedience in the same direction -- then life is a magnificent fugue -- beautiful, rich, multi-textured, varied; surprising yet graceful and grace-filled.
Such a life is beautiful music; played and sung to the glory of the composer God: Father, Son and Holy Spirit, into whose eternal name we are baptized!
