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Sermon
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CONTINUING TO SING THE LORD'S SONG Well, that's how the Jewish exiles in Babylon felt when their captors asked to be entertained by these exiles with songs from their homeland. These Jews didn't feel like singing; they didn't feel like entertaining their guards. It wasn't that they just weren't in the mood for singing. It wasn't just that they were homesick. It wasn't even that they were prisoners in a strange and threatening land who could see no prospect of ever being able to return home. It went much deeper than feelings. “How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” You see, the songs these exiles were being asked to sing were songs of faith - songs that reflected the faith in which they had been raised and the faith by which, however imperfectly, they had lived. They could not bring themselves to sing those songs in this foreign land. They were not only far from home, with little prospect of ever being able to return to their homeland; they also felt cut off from their God. “How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” How could we sing the songs of faith and hope when we felt cut off from God, even abandoned by God? I wonder if we sometimes feel much the same in these days of falling church attendance, tiny Sunday Schools, little evidence of youth in our churches. When we faithfully come to church Sunday by Sunday, when we work at keeping the institutional church going, do we sometimes wonder whether it is all worthwhile? Are we waging a losing battle? Are we abandoned, or at least forgotten, by God? It would be quite understandable if we did feel that way. How can we sing the Lord's song in an alien land? How can we continue to worship joyfully and promote our Christian faith enthusiastically when the society in which we live seems less and less Christian or even sympathetic to the Christian church and the faith it proclaims? Three months ago, when I was on holiday in North Queensland, I bought 'The Australian' newspaper one day - not being able to get 'The Age'. There was an article in the paper that day, by a Barnard Salt, entitled “Godlessness is a growth market and mainly among our youth.” In this article he pointed out that, according to the 1981 census, 88% of Australians held some form of religious belief, and 25 years later, in the 2006 census, that figure had fallen to 79%, and that nowhere is the shift away from belief stronger than among Australia's youth and those in the 20-30 age bracket. Those facts and figures are fairly alarming. But much more disturbing, especially for the church and those who still believe, is Salt's diagnosis of this loss of faith. He attributes it to a growing scepticism about the concept of life after death. He says, and this is really the nub of his argument: Today - and especially among Generation Y, who have only ever experienced peace and prosperity - the prevailing belief system is far more likely to focus on the here and now because, well, the hereafter cannot be that much better, can it?I find the assumption that religion - and he's really talking about the Christian religion - is concerned predominantly with the question of life after death, deeply disturbing. Is that really what we're on about? I don't know whether Bernard Salt classes himself among the religious or the non-religious. But somewhere along the way he has come to the conclusion that Christianity is first and foremost concerned with the question of life after death. I can only assume that his contact with the church and with those professing the Christian faith has led him to this conclusion. But is he right? Is the Christian faith concerned first and foremost with life after death? If it is, and one could certainly gain that impression by some of the things Christians say at times and from some of the hymns we sing - or, I would prefer to say and think, used to sing - then we have strayed a very long way from the foundation of the Christian faith, which I take to be the teaching of Jesus. As I read the Gospels I find that the major thrust of Jesus' teaching was about the kingdom of God and being prepared to enter it. And that kingdom is not an other-worldly kingdom - it is a kingdom for and of this world. Unfortunately, the Gospel of Matthew uses the term “kingdom of heaven” for what the Gospels of Mark and Luke call the “kingdom of God”. And that can be a bit confusing for some people they imagine heaven to be some place beyond this world - but Matthew, in his Jewishness, is simply trying to avoid using the name of God. The kingdom of God that Jesus proclaimed is a visionary kingdom - a kingdom or realm where God's will and purposes are fulfilled in human society. The concept of life after death has little or no appeal to many people and if it is seen to be the major concern of Christianity, then it is a real turn-off for them. The other real turn-off, which Bernard Salt doesn't mention, but which I am convinced about, is that Christianity is too often identified with believing certain propositions - giving intellectual assent to a series of doctrinal statements and to a literal understanding of every story and statement in the Bible. Many people in Australia are turned off by Christianity today because they see it primarily as a matter of believing rather than living - a set of things to be believed rather than a way to be lived. In a world that is facing some of the greatest challenges in human history, people want to be pointed to a way of life which makes sense to them in an increasingly threatening world. “How could we sing the Lord's song in a foreign land?” Well, one reason those Jewish exiles felt unable to sing their songs of faith in Babylon was their bad theology. They believed they had left God behind in the land of Israel. Their God was the God of Israel, not the God of the whole earth. That was something they had yet to learn; but learn it they did, in time. As we live through this time of loss of religious faith - in particular, the loss of Christian faith - we must ourselves wrestle with what it really means to be Christian - what is it that is essential to being followers of Jesus and what is baggage that we have accumulated along the way and that can be safely discarded? We must continue to sing the Lord's song in a less than welcoming environment - but we must be certain of what the Lord's song is. Is it a series of beliefs, a set of doctrines? I think not. It is surely a commitment to living the way of Jesus in our world today. It is a taking seriously the great challenges facing the human race today and addressing them in the spirit of Jesus. It is keeping before us a vision of the kingdom that Jesus proclaimed - a kingdom or realm of life, good life, for all; a world of peace, justice and compassion; a world of caring for the creation and for all its creatures, including generations yet to come. I believe that we, that is the Christian church, shall emerge in time from this period of decline if only we remain faithful and demonstrate to the doubters, the questioners, the searchers and the unbelievers that Christianity is, above all, a way of life - a life-affirming following of Jesus that takes much more seriously life in this world for all its people. Living the way of Jesus is life transforming for individuals and for society. Are we up to the challenge before us? Perhaps we feel like the disciples in our Gospel reading this morning. To some very demanding instructions from Jesus, the disciples respond: “Increase our faith.” I take that to be both a confession and a plea: the disciples want to be able to do as Jesus challenges them, but they're not at all sure that their faith is up to complying with the challenge. And so they ask for greater faith. And Jesus replies: “If you had faith the size of a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘Be uprooted and planted in the sea’, and it would obey you.” I think Jesus is saying to those disciples something like this: You don't need more faith. Faith is not something that can be quantified - you either have it or you don't. You already have faith, and that faith will enable you to live by my teaching as true disciples. Jesus' words are an invitation to the disciples, and to us, to live out the possibilities of our faith in him; and when we do, miracles can happen. ___________________________________________________
A sermon presented by the
Rev Graeme McAnalley at St Aidan's
Uniting Church North Balwyn, on 7th October, 2007 IT MAY BE
REPRODUCED WITH ACKNOWLEDGMENT OF AUTHORSHIP. |
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Page updated 12/10/07