So What?!

There are times when my words feel impotent.  As a pastor/preacher I seek the welfare of the people I love and serve.  I want to inspire the best in all of us.  In the words of Reinhold Niebuhr, I hope to offer “comfort to the afflicted and to afflict the comfortable”.  But it doesn't always work out that way.

One day I whined to my colleague:

"So what if my words are articulate and reasonable?!  So what if they are based on tradition and spiritual truth?!  It doesn't make the suffering they go through any easier.  Do my words really make any difference?  Are people even paying attention anymore? So what?!"

She was gracious and patient with my self-indulgence and simply answered, "The 'so what' doesn't belong to you, Pastor.  The 'so what' belongs between them and God."

Once again in my relationship with this wise pastor she stopped me cold.

I was taught long ago by one of the most outstanding preachers of the twentieth century to begin the work of each sermon by writing at the top of my page “So what?”   Rev. Dr. Fred Craddock argued that it wasn’t enough to dazzle people with your eloquence.  Neither was a sermon the opportunity to teach the “unlearned” of one’s vast biblical and theological wisdom; which for me would take about five minutes!

To respect the intelligence of the people with whom we are privileged to share our thoughts and faith, the exercise of a sermon has got to matter.  It has got to address a real hurt or hope in our lives and the world.  Worshippers need to leave the service with a thought, assurance or dream that has made a difference for their hour or so in the sanctuary.  A sermon points to a "so what".  It has to matter.

Now 36 years into this preaching business there are moments when I really wonder if, for all my craft, any of it really matters.  Such doubts are few and far between....thanks be to God.... but they are there.  Which is why, in part, my colleague's response was so profound.

We call the Bible the "inspired Word of God", which it is.  But that inspiration, that spirit available, isn't locked into the ink on the page or papyrus.  Rather it exists in the relationship between the reader/listener and God.

We love to hurl Bible verses at each other as if gauntlets in our debates but in that vast source of literature just about any notion, however misconstrued, can be referenced to a Bible verse.  Even the Devil can quote the Bible (Luke 4:10-11).

Members of White Supremacist groups or the Ku Klux Klan can read the words of scripture to justify their hate.  Well-meaning people can read the same verses and come to the opposite conclusions as to their application; note the church's history with slavery, women's rights or sexual orientation.

The "so what" of the Bible isn't a static fixture of the printed words.  Rather those words lead into a dynamic relationship to which the reader/listener brings all sorts of input and expectations that frames one's experience of those words.  Grace and love can be found there.  And if one is looking for violence and bigotry they can find it there too.  The "so what" doesn't belong to the words alone, nor the history and traditions out of which they have been passed down.  The "so what" of scripture belongs to the relationship between us and God in the here and now.  A wise lay man once reminded me that's why we call it "the living Word of God."

My colleague was suggesting that the same is true of a sermon.  With the best of intentions, preparations and skill, a preacher offers his or her best attempt to plant a seed of illumination and inspiration.  This calling is a privilege indeed and an enormous responsibility.  Yet where the seed may fall, how it will grow and whether it will bear fruit is not up to the preacher.  Rather the "so what" depends on who receives it and how it is received, interacting with the reality of the Spirit to which the sermon points.  Jesus knew that to be true as well (Matthew 13:1-23).

My colleague was reminding me of Who was actually at work in my modest efforts to preach.  And the reminder was a "so what" I needed to hear.  Indeed!

PDP: Public Displays of Piety

In India one can more often than not identify another's religion by their dress.  Sikh males wear turbans, well-kept beards and silver bracelets.  Muslim women wear head coverings for varying degrees of modesty, depending on local traditions of orthodoxy, from simple scarves to full body "burkas" with only a slit out of which to see.  Hindus, male and female, will often wear makeup on the forehead to identify their sect.  Certain members of the Jain religion and some Hindu hermits called "Sadhus" will wear nothing at all.

In North American Jewish communities Hassidic males can identify their degree of orthodoxy by the manner in which they manage their haircut and beard and by the type of hat they wear.  Amish communities wear distinctive handmade clothing.  Black Muslim members of the Nation of Islam can be identified by their bow ties for men or a sash worn by women.

Public displays of piety are more common place than we might think.  Consider the crucifix or Star of David necklace, the singing of God Bless America at the seventh inning stretch of a professional baseball game, our currency's "In God We Trust" or the Pledge of Allegiance phrase "...one nation under God..." added in the 1950's. 

Yet the media is having a field day with Tim Tebow's public displays of piety.

The Denver Broncos’ young quarterback has made national news with his amazing, 'last minute' football miracles; winning 6 games in a row during the regular season after the team got off to a terrible start; beating the Pittsburgh Steelers in overtime in the Broncos’ first playoff win since 2005.  Denver's loss against the heavily favored New England Patriots will only dim "Tebowmania" for a while.

Tim Tebow's public displays of piety have been a major interest in the media since he was a successful football player at the University of Florida.  Throughout games, especially after a touchdown, he unashamedly bends down on one knee, places his forehead on his fist and thanks Jesus.  At press conferences he is quite natural and sincere about the role of faith in his life.  He doesn't appear to be a phony which is driving the mass media wild with speculation, parody and criticism.

Tim Tebow

The cynical are using Tebowmania to recite the litany of the all-too-many religious hypocrites whose public displays of piety did not match their immoral and/or criminal behavior as if the pundits are just waiting for this young man to stumble and fall.

In an increasingly secular North America Tebow's public display of piety is perceived as an irritant by some and offensive to others.   Reminiscent of the French controversy banning the Muslim head-covering "hijab" or scarf for girls in public school, a secular majority wants religious minorities to keep their religion to themselves. 

When was the last time we heard a word in the Mass Media about the faith communities' response to Hurricane Katrina?  Millions of donated dollars and volunteer hours have been spent by communities of faith to aid in the rebuilding of the Gulf Coast in the last 6 years.  Such compassionate service continues in Haiti in response to the 2010 earthquake.  It happens in North America's urban core each and every day, where churches, synagogues and mosques feed, house and clothe the poor.

We might find a human interest story every now and then; the usual holiday articles around Thanksgiving and Christmas.  But no headlines, no in-depth analysis.  We won't find Saturday Night Live parodies of volunteers digging houses out of muck on YouTube.

Are such public displays of piety invisible to the editors of our society's media outlets?  But let a young football player bend to his knee in prayer and few can talk about anything else.

Religious identification by dress, custom, posture or slogan is superficial of course.  In the end the only real way we identify our core beliefs is by how we live our lives, which suggests that how we judge celebrity athletes' faith may say a lot more about us than it does about them.