Saying Yes to Know

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

May 30, 2010

Saying Yes to Know

John 16:12-15

Paul had it right when he said in his letter to the Corinthians,

“for now we see in the mirror dimly.”

(1 Corinthians 13:12).

There are so many things we don’t understand.

so many things we just don’t get.

Why do people starve in one nation,

while in another nation obesity is a serious health concern?

Why do children in one country die of diseases

another country eradicated more than 50 years earlier?

Why is there suffering?

Why is there war?

We see through a glass dimly.

We may think we understand,

but the reality is that more often than not,

we simply don’t understand.

One of the few things I know with absolute certainty,

no misunderstanding and no doubt,

is how much I don’t know,

how many things I don’t understand.

And yet we bristle at this.

We don’t like uncertainty.

We want answers.

We don’t like living in a world filled with

shades of gray, nuances.

We want clarity,

we want things settled in black and white.

And we want this in all parts of our lives:

at work, at home, and even in our faith lives.

The irony of wanting certainty in our faith lives

is that very essence of faith is accepting something

without concrete certainty,

to believe in something we cannot prove

the way we can prove the angle of an isosceles triangle.

Still, when we read the Bible,

we look for answers;

we don’t like it when things are left murky.

                 

And the last thing we want is for someone to say to us,

we’ll just have to wait for answers,

that in his opinion we’re not ready for them,

that for now we’ll just have to keep

looking through a dim, indistinct glass,

until the Spirit decides to reveal answers

and lead us to understanding.

But that’s just what Jesus tells his disciples, and us:

whether we like it or not,

we see through the glass dimly,

and will continue to see through the glass dimly.

We won’t have all the answers

and we are not going to get all the answers

with the snap of a finger.

We could not “bear” them, is what Jesus says,

and by that he means

that we simply wouldn’t understand.

Understanding comes with time, energy,

wisdom, … work,

and Jesus knows we are impatient,

and so easily distracted.

What Jesus wants us to do is look to the Spirit to guide us,

to help us as we seek to grow in understanding.

If all we want are black and white answers,

then we don’t need the Spirit’s help.

Lots of folks are certain they have the answers,

all the answers they need.

                                   

What Jesus wants from us,

what the Spirit can help us with

is seeking understanding,

for without understanding,

we’ll never find answers.

Memorial Day provides us with a powerful lesson

in how we struggle to understand.

As we remember and honor those who gave their lives

in service to us and our nation

in wars past and present,

there are questions that we Christians 

probably don’t wrestle with sufficiently,

but ought to:

Questions focusing on how we as Christians

should think about war.

What should we think about war?

Should we as Christians participate in war?

Should we as Christians support war?

Condone war?

Accept war?

Should we as Christians be against war?

All wars?

Some wars? Which ones?

When we as a nation find ourselves on the path to war,

how ought we to respond as Christians?

We are all patriotic Americans,

and every one of us wants to be supportive of our country.

But even before we fly the Stars and Stripes,

we carry the Cross of Christ.

Even before we recite the Pledge of Allegiance,

we affirm our belief in the Triune God.

Let’s look for guidance, let’s explore,

let’s say yes to knowing more.

Of course, we’ll start with our Lord, our Teacher,

and what we find is that Jesus teaches peace,

that’s clear:

“Blessed are the peacemakers,

for they will be called children of God.”

(Matthew 5:9)

Jesus doesn’t say blessed are those who

long for peace.

Jesus praises those who make peace,

seek peace,

work for peace.

And Jesus doesn’t stop there. 
He says, “You have heard that it was said,

‘an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth’,

but I say to you,

do not resist the evildoer.

But if anyone strikes you on the cheek,

turn the other also.”

(Matt. 5:38)

And he keeps going:

“You have heard that it was said,

‘You shall love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’

But I say to you, Love your enemies…”

(Matthew 5:43ff)

We read these passages,

but we still have more questions than answers.

Is Jesus telling us we shouldn’t serve in the Armed Forces?

Is Jesus telling us that we can serve,

but not in a combat role or in any capacity

that might lead to the death or injury of another person?

Is Jesus telling us that we cannot be part of any war effort?

We have wrestled with these questions for 2000 years,

looking for answers, and finding them so elusive.

I’ve wrestled with these questions myself all my life,

but in an especially personal way back in the Vietnam era.

As my 18th birthday approached in 1972,

the draft was still in place,

 and I knew I would get a lottery number for the draft

that might require me to serve.

I wondered what to do.

The war by then was enormously unpopular,

as each year young men were drafted

and sent off to fight.

I was the last group subject to the draft,

and by then every kind of deferment

had been eliminated.

Those who got low numbers in the lottery

were certain to be drafted,

and just as certain to be sent off to combat.

Would I serve?

Could I serve?

Should I serve?

As an American, a patriot, the answer was clear,

but I was trying to determine

what Jesus was teaching me,

what road to take as a disciple of Jesus Christ.

Eventually, a high draft number made the situation moot

but still I agonized for months about what to do.

Reading the Bible served only to confuse and confound me:

Yes, there was Jesus’ teaching,

teaching that seemed so clear.

But the Old Testament often reads like the history of

a great military campaign

with the Lord God as commander-in-chief.

The pages of the oldest books seemed blood-soaked,

at God’s instigation.

And yet, even as God was telling the Israelites,

to kill everyone in the land God gave to them,

God also inscribed on a tablet of rock,

“you shall not kill”.

        

Even as God was telling the Israelites,

“wipe out every person in every town,”

God was also saying,

“When you draw near a town to fight against it,

offer it terms of peace.”

                                                                        

Turning to the New Testament

we find that Paul reinforces Jesus’ teaching,

“If your enemies are hungry, feed them;

if they are thirsty, give them something to drink.”

(Romans 12:20, based on Proverbs 25:21)

We’re back, it seems,

to working for peace in non-violent ways.

But then Paul turns to a military metaphor 
to encourage us in our faith lives:

“Take up the whole armor of God...

put on the breastplate of righteousness, ...

take the shield of faith,

the helmet of salvation,

and the sword of the Spirit.”        

(Eph. 6:13ff)

                   
The “sword of the Spirit”??

Hadn’t Jesus taught us

“all who take the sword will perish by the sword”? 
(Matthew 26:52)

Yet, even as Jesus preached peace,

he never condemned the military.

Indeed, when a Roman soldier approached Jesus,

he didn’t tell the man to quit serving the army

that occupied the Jewish nation,

the army that would soon arrest him,

beat him,

and crucify him.

No, he held the man up as a wonderful example of faith.

John the Baptist had done much the same thing

as he baptized those who came to the bank of the Jordan.

Among those who approached him were two soldiers

who asked him what they should do to find repentance.

John did not reply, “renounce your profession.”

No, he said, “do not extort money from anyone

by threats or false accusation,

and be satisfied with your wages.”

In other words, “carry on in your profession,

but do so honestly and with integrity.”

(Luke 3:14ff)

It was Augustine who tried to help clear the clouded glass a bit

a few hundred years after the resurrection of our Lord

by developing what we now call the “Just War” theory.

What he proposed was that there might be circumstances

so compelling that even disciples of Jesus Christ,

disciples otherwise called to lives of peace-making,

reconciliation, and mercy,

may go to war.

But of course, what is one person’s “Just War”

is another person’s “Unjust War.”

And most who are quick to quote Augustine’s theory of Just War,

stop reading before they get to what are Augustine’s

most compelling words:

“it is a higher glory still to stay war itself with a word,

than to slay men with the sword,

and to procure or maintain peace by peace,

and not by war......”

                 

Augustine himself was most likely reinforcing what Sun Tzu,

the Chinese master of warfare and strategy,

had written more than 500 years before the birth of our Lord

in his book “The Art of War”,

a book that is still used in our military academies.

He wrote that the greatest general is the one

who achieves his objective without warfare.

We do see through a glass dimly.        

What we know is that war has been a part of our human history,

a sad part of our human history.

More than a million Americans have died in wars

since the Revolution,

and we rightly honor their sacrifice.

But we as disciples of Jesus Christ are called to work for peace,

we are called to pray for our enemies;

we are called to look for ways that create peace --

without warfare,

for that is God’s hope for us:

that there will be a day when we all live in peace.

God says not once, but twice, that he looks for the day

when swords will be beaten into plowshares,

and spears into pruning hooks.

God looks to the day,

“when the wolf will lie down with the lamb,

the leopard with the kid,

the calf with the lion…”

You and I as disciples of Jesus Christ

are called to work for that day,

to work actively to bring that day forward.

How? What should we do?

That’s where we need the help of the Spirit

to guide us.

That’s where we need to acknowledge

that we don’t know how to get there,

that we cannot get there without God’s help

through the Holy Spirit.

Can we truly bear the thought 
that we are to turn the other cheek?

As we fight two wars, can we truly bear the thought 
that we are to love our enemy?

That we are to feed him, quench his thirst?

Jesus is right: we are not ready.

We don’t understand.

But if we say yes to the Spirit,

yes to the Spirit’s guidance, 
yes to knowing,

the Spirit will lead us to where God wants us to be,

where Jesus teaches us to be,

and we’ll get there,

get there to that place and time

“when the earth will be full

of the knowledge of the Lord.”

(Isaiah 11:9)

And there will be peace.

AMEN

The Voice

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III

Manassas Presbyterian Church

Manassas, Virginia

May 23, 2010: Pentecost

The Voice

Acts 2:1-13 

What a story!

It starts out so calmly, the disciples gathered in a home,

all together in one room

 together to observe the Festival of Weeks,

 the day we now call Pentecost,

the day that marked fifty days following the Passover.

Ten days earlier the disciples had watched in stunned silence

as the resurrected Jesus ascended,

was “lifted up” into heaven

after having having spent 40 days with them,

40 days “speaking of the kingdom of God”

and just as important,

telling them to wait patiently for what was to happen,

telling them to wait patiently for the time

when they would receive power by the Holy Spirit.

They heard their Lord, but they didn’t understand;

they walked through each day as though it was a dream,

seeing the Risen Lord, hearing him,

sharing food with him,

but yet…

Following his ascension, they were lost,

not sure what to do or where to go.

The days crawled by.

The most they could manage to do was choose Matthias

to replace Judas as the twelfth disciple.

At least when the day came to mark the

Festival of Weeks, they knew they had something to do.

Thank God for festivals and rituals.

And so they gathered once again in Jerusalem,

all of them still exhausted by the events of the past 50 days.

Each of them a jumble of fear, uncertainty,

passion, desire, impatience.

Each of them trying so hard to remain

attentive to Jesus’ teachings,

yet each of them finding it so difficult to focus.

And then suddenly the scene comes alive,

comes alive in such a wild way we have trouble picturing it:

First, down from heaven came a

 “sound like the rush of a violent wind”

the sound filling the house.

Then “divided tongues,

as if of fire,

appeared,

appeared out of nowhere.

Not fire, Luke is careful to say,

but as if springing from fire,

as if created by fire.

And then each tongue came to rest

on each of the disciples as they sat wide-eyed in amazement.

Just when they thought they had seen it all,

this happens!

What did they feel?

What were they thinking?
Did they even have time to react?

We don’t know.

What we do know is that they all began to talk.

From even the least talkative gushed a torrent of words.

And Luke is again very careful, very precise,

to tell us that they were not “speaking in tongues”,

that phrase we have heard that suggests that each person

was speaking some sort of divinely-inspired gibberish,
glossolalia, a Latin word that mean “babbling”.

No, they were speaking very clearly,

very distinctly --

languages: languages from other parts of the world.

These men who probably knew no other language

beyond their native Aramaic,

were suddenly speaking the language of the Parthians,

the language of the Medes,

the Egyptians and the Cappadocians,

languages from countries far distant,

languages of people and cultures unfamiliar

 to a group of men whose world

was an 80-mile stretch between Jerusalem to the south

and the Sea of Galilee to the north. 

Imagine if suddenly from out of our choir

came words spoken in perfect Spanish, French,

German, Russian,

Mandarin, Swahili.

each choir member speaking a different language,

all of them talking together.

We’d be amazed, and completely baffled,

wondering what was happening!

The disciples were speaking languages of the world,

from nations far distant from Jerusalem,

from nations that knew nothing of the Lord God,

or the Messiah Jesus Christ.

The men chattered away

as though they’d spoken the languages all their lives.

To the ears of those around them

who were unfamiliar with the languages,

they were talking so much gibberish,

babbling as though they were drunk.

How long did they go on talking?
How long did the tongues remain atop them?

Were the tongues visible only to the disciples?

We have far more questions than we have answers. 

But here’s what we do know,

here’s what this passage teaches us:

That on that day the Holy Spirit came upon each person,

the Holy Spirit filled each person,
just as Jesus had promised:

“I will not leave you orphaned,” he said to them

as they gathered for their final meal.

“I will ask the Father

and he will give you another Advocate,

the Spirit,

to be with you forever.

And the Spirit will teach you everything

and remind you of all that I have said to you.”

(John 14:16ff)

All those gathered in that room

were filled with the Holy Spirit.

Given the Spirit both to empower and enable them.

Empower them by gracing them with courage,

with strength, with energy,

the Spirit filling them and in the process

driving out every last trace of

fear, hesitancy, and exhaustion.

And enabling them:

giving them the ability, the words,

even the language skills to take the good news

out into the world, every part of the world,

every corner.

In gracing Peter, James, John, Matthias

and the others with language skills,

do you see what God did?         

God removed the disciples’ inability

to speak across the dividing line of language.

He tore down the barriers and boundaries

of nations and cultures.

                                   

If you have ever traveled in another country

without knowing the language,

you know how lost you feel.

Without knowing the language

you can never truly know another people,

their culture, how they live their lives.

We have all seen cartoons of the tourist referred to as

“The Ugly American”, (Lederer & Burdick)

the person from New York or Ohio or Texas or Colorado

barking at a waiter in a café
in Paris, Rome, Rio de Janiero, Tokyo,
“Why don’t you speak American so I can understand?”

When you know the language of another people,

you can listen to them, talk with them,

 learn from them;

 you can appreciate culture, lifestyles,

 their food – everything,

 in a way you cannot hope to without knowing the language.

                 
After my junior year in college

my older sister and I spent the summer

traveling around Europe.

Between the two of us, we were able to manage France and Italy,

with a passable knowledge of those languages,

but we knew no German as we traveled

through Austria and Germany.

Most of the people we encountered in those countries

spoke passable English so we got along fine,

but we felt like we only skimmed the surface

as we traveled through those countries;

we felt like we were never able to get
beyond a glimpse through a tour-bus window.

God has no interest in the lines on maps

we have drawn,

redrawn,

and drawn yet again

throughout history.

God wants us to live in community,

God wants us to be in communal relationship with one another,

without regard to nation or language or culture.

God wants us all to come together

in peace, reconciliation and harmony.

Now we may not find ourselves immersed in

the instant language course

the disciples found themselves in 2000 years ago,

but we too have been empowered and enabled

just as they were

to break through barriers, boundaries and borders

to reach out in love, kindness, mercy and justice

to all God’s children

without regard for where they live,

what they look like,

or what language they speak.

We have been empowered and enabled by God’s Holy Spirit,

just as those disciples were on the first Pentecost.

Everyone of us filled with the Spirit,

Everyone of us a spiritual person.

The Spirit empowers and enables us to do what God calls us to do,
but only if we give the Spirit room to work within us;

only if we are attentive to the Spirit,

only if we are attentive to that voice
that is always talking to us,

leading us, guiding us.

Every one of us is a spiritual person,

all of us spiritual by definition.

Now you may be thinking

“I’m not a spiritual person,

but John Smith/Jean Jones – there’s a spiritual person.”

The only difference between us

and someone we might refer to as “spiritual”

is that that person is purposfully attentive to the Spirit,

listens to the Spirit,

opens himself or herself to the guidance and call of the Spirit.

The difference between us and a “spiritual” person

is that the “spiritual” person has hung up the cellphone,

turned off the television,

unplugged the earbuds,

logged off Facebook,

stopped Tweeting,

and opened his or her ears, eyes,

heart and mind to the voice of God
that speaks constantly to us through the Spirit.

The spiritual person is not someone

with a tongue of flame hovering above,

or a dove descending from the heavens.

He or she is simply someone who is more interested

in listening to God,

than in listening to the noise that fills our lives.

Open yourself to the Spirit,

open yourself to the voice that is calling, speaking

to you, to each of us ,

calling us to build community,

community rich in the diversity that only God could create.

a community alive with the Spirit.

That’s just what the disciples did after that first Pentecost:

Before we finish chapter two, the community of disciples

had grown from a handful to more than 3,000,

adding not just Israelites, but Samaritans,

Romans, Greeks, Parthians, Medes,

Egyptians, Libyans: any and all who came,

any and all who came in response to the voice

that called them, they voice they attended to.

Every one of us is a spiritual person,

every one of us filled with the Holy Spirit,

just as Jesus promised we would be.

The Spirit enabling and empowering us

to do such extraordinary things,

things we couldn’t do without the Spirit.

things like loving, welcoming,

accepting, forgiving.

                                                                       

All we have to do is give the Spirit room

all we have to do is pay attention;

all we have to do is listen…. listen

for even now the voice is speaking.

Can you hear it?
Can you hear it?

Amen

No Other Road

The Rev. Dr. Whitworth Ferguson III
Manassas Presbyterian Church
Manassas, Virginia
May 16, 2010: Confirmation Sunday

No Other Road
1 Kings 18:20-21

The crowds flowed into the arena,
buzzing with excitement.
It was a classic rivalry – the best,
and the people came to cheer their teams.

Ushers directed the fans to their sides of the arena:
Tar Heel fans this way,
Blue Devil fans that way,
seats almost perfectly split between rival fans.

The game began with a tremendous roar,
one side of the arena erupting in cheers for the Tar Heels,
the other side roaring back in support for the Blue Devils.

The competition on the floor was fierce,
the lead changing almost by the minute,
neither team able to get more than a few points ahead.
At the end of the first quarter,
the Tar Heels were ahead by a point.
At the end of the second quarter the Blue Devils led by three.
By the time the buzzer sounded to end the third quarter
the Tar Heels had again pulled ahead, this time by two.

Tension filled the stands from the floor
all the way up to the seats near the rafters,
supporters cheering their teams on,
shouting themselves hoarse.

Only a few fans noticed the small group of people
in the middle of the arena,
a group of eight: four men, four women.
They were well dressed,
and looked to be in their late 30s, perhaps early 40s.
They sat quietly through the first few minutes of the game,
not rooting for either team.
But then, when the Tar Heels pulled ahead for a few minutes
they began to root wildly for them.
Banners and towels and hats seemed to appear from nowhere,
all emblazoned, “Go Tar Heels!”

When the lead changed in favor of the Blue Devils,
the group went quiet.
But then when the Blue Devils held their lead,
suddenly, again as if out of nowhere,
hats, banners, signs all appeared,
all screaming, “Go Blue Devils!”
The 8 men and women
shouting their support now for that team.

Back and forth the group went,
supporting one team then the other,
depending on who was holding the lead.

A Blue Devil fan leaned over to one of the group
as the game drew to a close
and asked who the group really supported.
The reply came back, “Oh we really don’t care.
The only thing that matters to us
is being on the winning side.
We can’t stand losing,
so we cheer for whoever is winning.
We always go home feeling great!”

Sporting events tend to arouse such great passion
in men and women of all ages, of all backgrounds.
Men and women who go about their business
each day seriously, soberly, somberly,
but put them in the stands
when their favorite team starts to play,
and they explode with excitement, even frenzy.
Pick your team: Redskins, Caps,
Yankees, Steelers,
Army, Navy,
Tar Heels, Blue Devils.
How many cars around Northern Virginia sport bumper stickers
that say “Go Hokies!”
There isn’t a team out there
that doesn’t have fierce fans.

If any of us went to a sporting event
and saw a group like those 4 men and 4 women,
we’d wonder what was wrong with them.
Don’t they have any loyalty?
Don’t they have any passion?
Don’t they have any sense of conviction?
Why don’t they pick a team and stick with them?
Why won’t they support one team or the other, win or lose!

And that’s just the point Elijah was getting at
some 2800 years ago as he spoke to the Israelites.
Obviously he wasn’t dealing with sports;
he was dealing with something much greater.
Still, Elijah saw in the Israelites no commitment,
no conviction,
no passion for anything other than their own needs and wants.
Their loyalty began and ended with themselves.
The road they walked was the road that looked best to them
at any given moment on any given day.

Sure, they’d lift up prayers to the Lord God,
but if their prayers weren’t answered just the way they wanted,
they’d turn from the Lord God to the pagan god Baal.
And if Baal was uncooperative,
then back to the Lord God they went.

Is it any wonder that Elijah was disgusted?
Is it any wonder that he came down so hard on them:
“How long will you go limping along with two different opinions?
If the Lord is God, follow him,
but if Baal, then follow him.”

“Make a choice and then stick with it,”
is what Elijah was pleading with them to do.
“Live your choice;
live it with enthusiasm, commitment, conviction,
Live it even with a sense of excitement.
Don’t waffle,
don’t blow with the breezes.”

We’ve all made the choice
each student in our Confirmation Class made today:
choosing to follow Jesus Christ.
We have all done what they did
when we made a public profession of faith:
that’s the essence of joining a church.
It is standing before the gathered assembly and saying:
Yes to following Jesus Christ,
Yes to following Jesus Christ with this particular congregation
Yes to following Jesus Christ
as a part of this unique body of Christ.

If Elijah were to hear our profession,
I am sure he’d say:
“Great! Good for you!
You made a choice;
You made it publicly.
Now live it.
Live your profession,
Live your conviction.
Let everyone know through how you live your life
that for you there is no other road you’re going to walk,
no other road you want to walk.
Let the world know that while you may see
other roads you could take,
you have chosen this one to follow,
you’ve chosen this one to walk.
This one and no other.

“Live your faith with conviction,
Live it with enthusiasm,
boldness,
commitment,
whether the road is easy to walk
or difficult,
      And whatever you do,
don’t waffle, don’t limp along.
Don’t follow Christ on Sunday,
and then put him up on a shelf on Monday.
Live your faith with all your heart,
all your strength,
all your mind, all your soul.
Live it each day
Live it in all places, all times.”

Elijah expects a great deal from us:
It’s a hard task, to live our faith with conviction
in all times and all places.
Life pulls at us in so many ways.
It IS easy to put Jesus on the shelf
when we walk out of here on Sunday,
and retrieve him when we walk back in here the following Sunday.
Sometimes it is almost too easy to do that.

Living a faithful life can get in the way of
so many things we want to do:
how we earn a living,
go about our jobs,
interact with others in the community.
It can even get between us and our friends,
make us seem uncool.
A colleague from the business world
remarked to me right before I left New York to enter seminary,
“Wow, tell someone you’re in seminary training to be a minister;
that’s an express lane to social Siberia.”

And of course we don’t have to walk outside these walls
to learn how difficult it is to live our faith.
We can find plenty of frustration within the church,
this church, any church.
It isn’t easy to be part of a church,
part of organized religion.
This history of the Christian church
is filled with pages that we deserve to be ashamed of.
And all you have to do is pick up a newspaper to see
that we keep adding to those pages.

Still, we have been called,
called to walk one road,
called by Christ.
And we know that as we walk that road,
God will be with us,
Christ walking beside us,
the Holy Spirit gracing us with
energy, determination, courage
to stay on the road.

We know that there is no other road for us
and so we walk it gladly – most of the time.
We know that it is not necessarily a road that leads to wealth,
but we know it does lead to riches.
We know it is not a road that necessarily leads to comfort,
but we know it does lead to peace.
We know it is not a road that is sure to lead us
to popularity and power,
but we know it does lead us to grace and love.

For us, all of us,
we have made our choice;
There is no other road.

And the joyful news we share today
is that we have six new brothers and sisters
who have made their choice
to walk with us.
Amen