Psalm 95:1-2; 98:4-6; 100:1-5; 103:1-2, 5;
Matthew 5:13-16

In the very early days of my ministry, each week I felt challenged--perhaps a better phrase would be "stretched to the limits" - with the need to say something of value the following Sunday. Under those circumstances, Sundays "roll around" very quickly!

I often felt burdened with the responsibility of determining what that "something of value" might be. After all, it is a tremendous challenge to feel responsibility for one hour of time for "X" number of persons each week - time that can be wasted or used well, but can never be replaced. I did not find it easy to come up with something of sufficient interest and value to minimize the danger of folks falling off their seats in a deep sleep during the sermon, thus amplifying the fact that I had wasted one hour of time for them which could never be replaced. On those occasions, however, when some folks did doze, I learned quickly to rationalize the likelihood that I had provided the sedative necessary to provide them with some much needed rest.

At some point, after a few years, my concern changed. The challenge moved from "finding something to talk about," to choosing from among a large number of subjects in need of consideration, and then giving priority to a specific issue on a given Sunday.

The challenge of preaching and teaching in our world today is two-fold. First, there is so much of positive value that needs to be said and heard! God's human children, wonderful as they are, nonetheless are crying out to be saved from themselves. Second, most of us are being so heavily bombarded with messages that come to us unsolicited, many of which are not necessarily helpful, that we may not be inclined to fulfill the dream of every minister that "if we preach and teach, they will come!" I learned quickly that preaching and teaching does not necessarily mean "they will come!" There continues to be for me, however, some mystery involved in whatever it is that motivates persons to subject themselves to listening to sermons. Sometimes I wonder why they do come. I believe it must be that deep inside, each of us is aware that we need to find a way to save ourselves from ourselves and sometimes from each other.

In preparation for the sermon today, I have found myself reverting back to the dilemma of my beginnings in the ministry. What does one say in a final sermon to a congregation with whom one has been in dialogue for thirty-five years? I have decided to follow the practice attributed to an old uneducated minister who described his technique like this: "I tells them what I is gonna tell 'em. Then, I tells 'em. And then I tells 'em what I have done told 'em!"

My goal in this sermon will be to summarize the heart of the message that I have endeavored to communicate with St. Luke, in a variety of ways, over the past thirty-five years.

In some way, directly or indirectly, we have explored a variety of ways to add value and meaning to life. This value may be in the form of a personal sense of purpose and security. It may be in the form of admonitions concerning change, which seems, at a given time, to be of great importance. Never, at St. Luke, have I preached or taught with the intent of pronouncing doom, gloom, and hopelessness. Some kinds of behavior, by their very nature, lead to that end result, but a wonderful potential, which God has given the human family is that of healing, change, growth, improvement, and hope on both personal and corporate levels.

We are part of a creation that is in a process of continual change. Whether we perceive that change to be progress or regression may be dependent upon how it affects us at a given time, or it may be dependent upon our frame of mind, i.e. our attitude or our mood. It may be dependent upon how we have been taught to view life.

There are two very important aspects, which affect us as we relate to this change. The first is that it is essential that we have a fundamental belief that is positive rather than negative. The second is that we recognize ourselves as created children of God who are in partnership with God and can therefore "do something about" whatever it is that needs attention. If change is not possible, then adjustment is a reasonable consideration.

As human beings, we have need for a basic positive assumption about human life and reason to believe that this basic assumption impacts everything we do and say in a manner that will eventually lead to improvement, i.e. good--if not immediately, then later. In other words, we need to live with a sense of hopefulness. We can justifiably live with a sense of hopefulness because we believe God is persistently nudging us in a positive direction. Why does God do this? Because among other important qualities, God expresses God's self in unconditional love.

This is not to say that God manages everything that happens. With the gift of life comes the responsibility of its shared management with God. The ability to learn, and the growth potential for strength to adjust how we express our lives as we learn, gives life an element of challenge as well as a reason for hope. God provides the resources. We provide the choices.

A healthy spiritual faith is therefore always positive. It is positive even when responding to the negative elements of life. It is positive about ourselves. It is positive about the potential of the human family. It is positive about the future. It is hopeful about the future, not because we believe that God is going to work a miracle and destroy all evil. It is positive about the future because of a fundamental belief that God has given us an ability to learn and the necessary resources of strength that can, when working together, enable us to move forward in a process of evolvement, which, over the long "haul," is improvement rather than regression.

It is true that one can point to any number of "happenings" in human life, past and present, which seem to give reason for hopelessness. I need not elaborate with examples of indicators that portray human beings as depraved and therefore hopeless. Media does this for us on a daily basis because it is human baseness and depravity which makes the news as a result of its being the exception of how human beings express their lives, rather than the general rule. It is this negative element of life that causes much religion to be unhealthy in that it nurtures pessimism and hopelessness on the basis of a minority expression of human life, rather than optimism and hope on the basis of a majority expression of human life.

Our own tradition, notwithstanding its general thread of hopefulness, has told us that we are conceived in sin and brought forth to live in iniquity. That is not encouraging! The essence of the religious response found in the sacramental system of both the Old and New Testaments is a response to this basic belief. "Sin" was "covered" in the Old Testament by the sacrifice of humans first, and then animals. In the New Testament, the response to "sin" was the evolvement of a belief that Jesus was offered by God as a sacrifice to "cover" the sins of all who would believe that this was the essence of the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus.

All the doom, gloom, and negative predictions for the future are not indications of a healthy spiritual faith. In other words, religious prophetic utterances of a "Battle of Armageddon," eventual destruction of the earth, and a second return of Jesus, are not healthy. Jesus viewed the negativism of Judaism as unhealthy and challenged it. We ought to do the same with doom and gloom elements of beliefs that are related to Christianity. They should be relegated to the archives of a belief system which made sense at a given point in human history, but which ought to be appreciated for "where we have been" rather than because of "where we are going." Such a belief system, if embraced with a fundamental sincerity that impacts how one expresses life, may contribute unnecessarily to a kind of self-fulfilling prophecy. There is, in fact, plenty of reason to choose an alternate belief system, which encourages the expectation of better things in the future, not worse.

But how does this relate to the Bible? How does this relate to my own sermonic message and basis of belief when Alice and I were evangelizing with music and sermon on the Court House steps of Fort Wayne, Indiana? How does it jibe with the evangelistic fervor of the early days of my career when we were going from church to church in the Midwest, conducting revival meetings? Each of us, in whatever it is that we do or are, ought to have been "someplace" in the past where we are not today. Where we are today ought to be better than where we were in the past. This is a positive process of evolvement and ought to relate to religion and to life.

Let's examine this matter of creation and life as a process. If you aren't "spooked" by the word, let's examine it from the perspective of an "evolutionary" process. Let's view it from a number of different perspectives.

Those of you who come from an agricultural background understand the difference in farming or ranching techniques today as compared to one hundred or even fifty years ago. As the world population has grown from three billion, fifty years ago, to six billion persons today, there has also been an evolution in the means of providing food for this doubled population. Common sense tells us that there needs to be a self-imposed limit on human reproduction because there is plenty of evidence to support the idea that the earth cannot support an unlimited number of human beings.

The fact that there are people in the world who are starving at this very moment is not because of an inability to produce sufficient food. It is a matter of distribution, not production. We can expect that as the world continues to grow toward the idea of our being "one human family," as opposed to the idea that we are many "human families" in a struggle to overcome one another, the matter of distribution will also be solved.

The challenge of producing sufficient food has been solved, to this point, by such things as genetic engineering, artificial insemination, improved nutrition for both plant and animal life, and better disease control.

Similar kinds of examples abound in other areas of fundamental importance to all of us. I refer to such things as health care, education, transportation, communication, recreation, and even matters which relate to the fundamentals of finding meaning in life as it is lived, as well as increasing the expectation for longevity in experiencing the gift of life.

The more we learn, the greater the power, which becomes our responsibility as a result of that learning. The more we discover there is to learn, the more important it becomes that we exercise the power we acquire in a responsible manner.

We are learning, for example, that as human population increases, the more we encroach on the natural world. Many species of plant and animal life are becoming extinct, or are threatened with extinction, because of what we human beings are doing to the environment, which supports all life on this earth.

But we are learning how to not pollute our water and how to permit nature to purify it once it has been polluted. We are learning how not to pollute our air and how to permit nature to purify it once it has been polluted. We are even learning, as per the "horse whisperer," that it is possible for human beings to enjoy much of the animal world and for the animal world to enjoy human beings by the nurturing of a mutual trust rather than by human beings violently breaking the spirit of any given species, including our own.

Isn't it interesting that the greatest threat to "the good life," and to our continuing existence as a human family, comes from our long-standing deficiency in managing ourselves in relation to our environment? This is especially true in relation to one another. We find it difficult not to resort to either psychological or physical violence.

As the human family becomes increasing knowledgeable about and involved in the lives of its individual members, it is important that we reject both psychological and physical violence as means of interaction.

We are currently keenly aware of physical violence. We are repulsed by the violence of war, by the creation of refugees, and by the high cost of creating and sustaining a war machine designed to prevent war by convincing "them" that we can hurt them "faster and worser" than they can hurt us. We are frustrated by the crime on our streets. We are frightened by the violence in our schools. What does it really mean when our children are killing our children?

What it seems to mean is that our children are subjected to, and are subjecting each other to, a kind of psychological violence that diminishes their sense of self-worth and nurtures a chronic anger that "goes underground" where it continues to feed on itself. At some point, in some persons, it is dissipated in mental or physical illness. In some it is dissipated in outbursts of physical violence.

Psychological violence often leads to physical violence. This is especially likely when the weapons for physical violence are readily available. Weapons may include "sticks and stones," fists, knives, and in the case of school shootings and drive-by shootings, guns.

Although the terminology is not important, the problems, which human beings have with one another, which result in either psychological or physical violence, can be answered with a healthy religious response. It is extremely important that the current trend toward a sacramental approach to religious faith be slowed and stopped. Religious faith must be translated into love of God, self, and each other, as a way of life. The danger in a sacramental approach is that religion becomes a "cover up" rather than an agent of positive change.

Love may be a feeling but it doesn't live up to its billing if it does not go much deeper and further than that. While the feelings of love have value, the greatest contribution of love is in its impact on how life is expressed. The fruits of love are helpful, not harmful. The fruits of love are never violent, either psychologically or physically. The fruits of love nurture gentleness, kindness, and security among human beings.

A sacramental approach to religious faith places great emphasis on love of self and a remedial relationship with God. It should be noticed that the only record we have of how Jesus expressed his life placed little emphasis on the sacraments of his religion as impacting his own expression and experience of life. He participated in baptism because he believed John the Baptist was onto something important in his emphasis on a need for radical change in the expression of many lives. Jesus embraced this idea. He participated in the Feast of the Passover because this was a primary social event where he could be in contact with and thus share his views with people while at the same time he was able to symbolize his appreciation for God's involvement in the history of his people.

A sacramental approach to religion emphasizes what religion can do for "me." A sacramental approach to religion emphasizes how much God loves "me." A sacramental approach to religion provides a remedy of faith for the ways in which we fall short. In other words, if it begins and stops with the sacrament, at its worst it is a cover up. It is far too much self-centered. It does little to save either the individual or the world from the individual.

The early church did a wonderful thing to the degree that it emphasized changed and loving lives as the heart of its message. It nurtured and left for us an example in Jesus of how this kind of life can be lived. The early church, and the church from that time to this, did an unfortunate thing to the extent that it has emphasized Jesus as a sacrificial means of "covering our sins" as a means of reconciling us with our Creator. Sometimes our human tendency to find an "easy and quick way" causes us to fall short of our true potential.

United Methodists celebrate two Sacraments. The one is Baptism and the other is Communion. There was a time, and there continues a belief in some quarters, that the baptism of children as soon as reasonably feasible after birth is essential to assure that, if in the event of death, the child will not be rejected by God. An appropriate interpretation of the Sacrament of Baptism in relation to small children views the Sacrament as a public and symbolic means by which the parents pledge themselves to the provision of spiritual nurture for the child in the same spirit to which they are committed to the physical and intellectual nurture of the child. This means work. This means example. This means participation with others in the search for truth about God and life, and the relationship of each to the other.

As a result of the fear generated by children shooting children in schools, much concern is being expressed concerning the quality of parenting in our society. Parenting is a task for which none of us are adequately trained in advance. Learning the task of parenting is an experience of "on the job training." Whatever is learned by one generation is not easily passed on to the next. The challenges of each generation of parents are a bit different than those of the preceding generation. When this reality of life is related to the busyness of most families in today's' society, parenting becomes an easy and reasonable target as a cause for whatever ills befall our children.

There is a biblical story, which illustrates a human tendency to which each of us needs to respond. Jesus and his disciples stopped in Bethany to visit two friends by the name of Mary and Martha. Both were delighted and honored by the presence of their guest. Martha, after a brief greeting, went quickly to the kitchen and busily set about preparing things for the physical comfort of their guest. Mary, on the other hand, sat down with Jesus saying, "Tell me more." She recognized the great value of the spiritual quest as compared to the physical. Jesus was complimentary of Mary. He admonished Martha for her need to re-prioritize the values of the spiritual and the physical in her life. The lesson of this story is clear. We fall short when we fail to be engaged in a continual search for spiritual truth and expression.

With all the wonderful advances knowledge and power have brought to us, the ills of our society clearly indicate that there is a deficiency in the general nurture of the spirit.

A healthy spirit neither creates nor nurtures psychological or physical violence. To the degree that persons and society fail to rise above violence of any kind, there is an indication of falling short in the nurturing of the spirit. Religion has not kept pace with growth in other areas that are important to human beings in the world of today. A sacramental approach to religion will not meet human need. "Covering" is not enough! Growth in a loving expression of life is essential. Jesus understood this, and so should we!

What does this say about the fundamental answers provided by religion for traditional questions? It says that we come from God and that we have the potential to be sustained by resources provided by God. It says that God does not pre-program our lives but that we arrange much that has to do with our destiny by our own choices. It says that life is more likely to be good for everyone when everyone works hard at expressing their lives in a manner that is harmonious with reverence for God and respect for all of creation including the environment and other human beings. It says that there is great need to place an emphasis on the wonderful possibilities of this life and no need to experience concern about a future after death, so long as we give diligent attention to all of the above. Faith does not need to know details. Faith is sufficient when it provides a sense of security based on the idea that we worship the God who gave us this life and who obviously know what he is doing. Religion wastes time, which could be better spent on the responsibilities of this life when it majors on an emphasis on immortality and eternity.

And in conclusion! As I have said so many times in sermons across the years, you have no obligation to "buy" everything or anything that I have said. If there is any good thing you can glean from this sermon, which can nurture and strengthen your own faith in the goodness of God, life, and the future, do it. Be assured that everything I have shared, I believe. But the process is still at work--evolving. Growth is still possible.

The Bible is a wonderful record of a human search. It is a record "to be continued." It is neither complete nor adequate in relation to the spiritual needs of this and future generations.

Jesus did not do for us what needs to be done in each of our lives. He demonstrated the way by word and example. We must each fulfill our own potential through our search, through our experience, and through our own expression of life.

Death, which is just as certain for each of us, as was our birth, need be approached with neither fear nor dread. The same God who gave us life and all necessary resources from which to build a wonderful experience in this life, is related to the future as He is to the present and has been in the past.

Work hard at nurturing your own faith. It is your faith that sustains you, not mine. It is my faith that sustains me, not yours.

Keep on thinking! For that purpose, God gave you a mind. In the way that is best for you, nurture a positive faith.

We are on a journey. Each journey is special to the person experiencing it. In whatever way I may have assisted you in that journey, I am glad. In all the ways you have assisted me, I express gratitude!

Through the efforts of our search, we are the salt of the earth. Through the expression of our lives, we are the light of the world.

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