“A Guiding Star”
Marcus Borg says in his book Reading the Bible Again for the First Time that for many Christians the Bible, which was once a lamp unto the feet of the faithful, has become a stumbling block. We don’t know what to make of it. It doesn’t make sense to take it literally, but even if we take it seriously, as Borg suggests, the Bible is a problematic book. Borg reminds us, without the Bible there is no Christianity. So, if we want to be followers of Jesus, we have to come to terms with the Bible. I think one of my roles is to try and help us make sense of the Bible, or at least share with you how I understand the Bible, and may be in the process help you clarify how you understand it.
My basic approach to the Bible is to say that the whole Bible, or at least most of it, revolves around a single theme or question. And that theme or question is not about God. The Bible never questions the reality of God. But it raises lots of questions about us. The great question of the Bible to my way of thinking about it is this: what does it mean to be a human being? In a world that is dominated by principalities and powers, and kings and now corporations, how should we live? In a world of seemingly endless wars, and now in a new Cold War, how shall we live?
This week I read again the United Nations Report on Human Development. The summary is about 43 pages. It’s online. The report is titled “Uncertain Times, Unsettled Lives: Shaping Our Future, Transforming Our World.” They say in this report that life for many people in the twenty-first century is becoming unmanageable. They say that for many people life has become an unwinnable game of whack-a-mole. It’s like Jesus said, you chase out one demon and seven more move in to take its place. For the first time in history more than 100 million people are displaced–many are refugees in their own homeland, others are in exile. Feelings of distress are everywhere. The problems relentlessly pile up, one on top of another. When uncertainty becomes too great, we look for authoritarian leaders who, we hope, can solve the problems, but we know that they will only bring a new set of different problems.
So, the persistent question of “How then shall we live?” is not an abstract question. In a world like this, what does a healthy human being and a healthy society look like, and how can we help make that happen? I don’t know the circumstances, but I know that when a six year old child takes a gun to school and shoots a teacher, we have problems. And we have problems here in our own community. What guidance does the Bible give us?
In our Adult study group, we are beginning to study the book of Genesis, the book of beginnings. I think the writers of this book give us some clues in chapter four and in chapter two. In chapter four we find the story of Cain and Abel. You remember the story. Cain invites Abel to come into the field with him, and there he kills him. He murders his brother. And, then God comes along and asks to him: “Where is your brother?” and Cain replies: “Am I my brother’s keeper?” In that exchange is the first clue to what it means to be a human being. Our humanity is revealed in our sense of responsibility for one another before God. To whom are we responsible? We are responsible to God. What are we responsible for? The welfare and well-being of our neighbor. It takes a village not only to raise a child, but to make us fully human.
That is one part of the answer to the question of what it means to be human. Human beings are together in a web of mutuality. That web of life includes other people, and it includes the world around us. That’s what we learn in chapter three. In the Garden of Eden, God tells Adam and Eve that they are not to eat off one tree in the garden. What is our relationship to the world around us? That question brings me to the story of the magi that we read in Matthew, chapter two.
Here is the story of the magi and the talking star that guides them first to Jerusalem and then to Bethlehem. This story, like the story in Genesis teaches me that nature has a wisdom of its own that is to be respected. Rachel Carson put it this way. She said: “The more clearly we can focus our attention on the wonders and realities of the universe about us, the less taste we shall have for destruction.”
Now before I finish, I have to share one more important story that I learned just last Thursday. I met Anjanae Bennett for the first time. She is the president of the Millair Neighborhood Association. That neighborhood runs from 21st in the south to 29th in the north and from 135 in the west to Grove in the east. They are our neighbors. When she stood up to introduce herself, she said, “I am an activist. I didn’t used to be, but I am now.” She went on to tell us that beginning in 1994 the Union Pacific Railyard on 29th and Grove began dumping toxic chemicals into the water and now the water and the ground are contaminated. The greatest risk is liver cancer but that’s not the only one. And I am sure the contamination does not know enough to stop at Grove. Anjanae said she is sure the contamination goes at least to Oliver and probably Woodlawn. Well water and fish in this area are toxic. And we are just learning about it now. I asked Anjanae to put me on her mailing list. I told her, we are neighbors. We need change order to know what you know.
Anjanae was on my mind this morning. The biblical story in Matthew says that after their encounter with Christ the magi went home a different way. They did not go back to Herod. They could not do the same old, same old, business as usual, this is the way we have always done things. After their encounter with Jesus, they had to find a new way of being. And so must we. That’s the message that I want to share today.
In this whack-a-mole world we cannot keep on doing what we have always done. The times call us to accept new responsibilities in partnership with our neighbors. We need to learn how to listen to the wisdom of the star, and the earth, and the water. Only by creating new communities and new bridges can we find new solutions. All of this begins as we clarify for ourselves and each other our sense of responsibility and our understanding of our relationships.
New occasions teach new duties and bring new opportunities. The needs are great. The opportunities are many. Welcome to the new year.