Sunday, September 30, 2001
Rev. Dale Ostrander
"DEEP LISTENING"
Psalm 146
Amos 6:1,4-7
1 Timothy 6:6-19
Luke 16:19-31
I don’t know about you, but this past week I have not been thinking well. I’ve been in a kind of fog, unable to concentrate and remember details and events from the past few days, and even the last digit of my phone number when asked the other day. And whatever recollections eventually come to me, they are mixed with other vagaries coming from parts of my dreams lately.
Each week at staff meeting we begin by each sharing what we have been thinking and doing since we last met. This past Wednesday I found myself coming up with a blank. Only gradually did things come to mind. Jim was comforting, sharing with me an insight from Kundera or Tolstoy, I don’t remember which, but it was that as one moves along through the fog, things become less unclear. That helped.
I didn’t really worry that this might be the early onset of some dementia, and I knew that it really had little to do with the plunging stock market and retirement savings, or the Redskins sorry play. In the scheme of things right now these things hardly seem to matter.
I’m sure it had to do with the past three weeks and the broad mix of conflicting feelings that most of us have been aware of: sadness and loss, fear and anger, numbness and uncertainty, as well as information overload and commentary about what we should be doing now. Have you noticed that practically all of it is by males? And then there is the constant sound of surveillance planes overhead. I know this is troubling to some, but frankly I find it rather comforting. And to think that a few weeks ago our fears had to do with sharks in the shallow waters of our beaches!
What I have been aware of these past few weeks is that people seem to be feeling the need to be out and around other people. The Saturday after September 11th the highways were crowded and the shopping centers were jammed. Attendance at church services was up everywhere. As I arrived for the memorial service for Bill Caswell last Sunday, the parking lots here and across the street were full and there were long lines outside the church. I imagine that not all who attended had a direct connection with Bill or the family, but at a time like this wished to be there together with all who did.
And I’ve experienced people being friendlier and more patient and courteous, even in rush hour traffic. People are needing to talk and listen to one another and to find comfort in being together. This and our experience of all the heartbreak and heroism has led us across racial and class lines into the knowledge that we’re all in this together, and into that knowing feeling that this is as it really should be - more acknowledgement of one another and acts of kindness.
At least in the short run this is a transforming experience, re-introducing us to our common humanity as well as to our vulnerability, the fragility of life and to what really matters. Other people matter, and we need one another. We have been led into a deeper recognition of such things, into a deeper listening to ourselves, to each other and into a deeper sense of our connectedness and the preciousness of life.
Now I don’t know exactly what this means in dealing with terrorism in the days ahead. I do believe that we have to defend ourselves, combat evil and pursue justice, although I must confess that I don’t know what form that should take right now. I don’t believe that it means bombing Afghanistan into a parking lot as some have suggested. This poor country has a long and tragic history and a people reduced by endless war into a desperate level of existence. Perhaps as many as a million Afghans are believed to have died in a war against the Soviets. And we spent billions to support the anti-Soviet effort. But I understand that as soon as the Soviets withdrew, our interest declined and the promised help for an Afghan Marshall Plan disappeared. The Taliban filled the vacuum and took control, though they continue to appeal to only a minority of Afghans. Desperate people will reach for whatever help they can get.
So, I believe that we also have to do some deep listening and pay attention to our world neighbors, to the deep-rooted feelings of resentment and even hatred that some feel toward us. We know that isolation or unilateral action doesn’t work in families and in other relationships, and it will not win friends and influence people in the global environment in which we are now living.
In the past couple of weeks our nation’s leadership has moved from a habit of saying "no" to our neighbors and pursuing a largely go-it-alone foreign policy on global warming, in Durbin, South Africa, in missile treaties and defense systems, into a new level of cooperation and coalition building, which has included paying our back dues to the United Nations and acknowledging our need for our world neighbors in dealing with the current crisis. This is encouraging and as it should be. In spite of our power and wealth we cannot go it alone. Deeper listening means that we also need to learn more about Islam and our neighbors in that part of the world, and attempt to move toward a more profound and mutual understanding.
At times like this it seems like people on all sides claim to speak for God, be they fundamentalist Muslims speaking of a holy war, fundamentalist Christians in our country singling out persons and practices they have difficulty with, or even pacifists suggesting radical appeasement, although I’m relieved that growing numbers are urging caution at this time. It’s presumptuous to speak for God at such a time as this, but I must say that the God of my faith is not some supernatural interventionist being out there. That’s bad theology that will take people into some terrible, unloving and self-absorbed places.
Listen to the wise words of a colleague, Barbara Gerlach, at First Church: "We must be suspicious of anyone, any nation or religion, any religious or political faction claiming to have a corner on God’s truth or blessing….we are more likely to find God when we widen and deepen our view and look for the place where justice and mercy meet….We must be willing to feel the hurts of others…, seeking God’s presence and praying for God’s spirit in the midst of the rubble and the suffering and uncertainty on all sides."
And, I must add that what we do know is that how we live our lives has consequences for us individually and for the social order.
So, let us also try to listen deeply for the spirit of God in today’s scripture readings. The prophet Amos speaks of the proud and self-indulgent privileged, and the rich moving out of the city to their homes in the Hamptons (actually, I added that last part). Amos was one of the earlier prophets of Israel to call attention to the issues of social justice.
He is speaking to the ruling elites in ancient Israel, the rich and powerful living in luxury and at the same time indifferent to the misery of the poor in their midst and to the threats from within and without, and feeling secure in their particular conception of God. He is pointing out that injustice has consequences.
The gospel reading from Luke is a story about the rich man and Lazarus, and about the great gulf between them. And while wealth was considered a blessing, it came with responsibility. The question in the parable is whether the rich will see beyond their own comfort to the poor outside their gates. Where great and indifferent wealth stands over against great and debilitating poverty, this is not God’s will or God’s doing. This is a human construct.
This story is said to have changed the life of Albert Schweitzer. He saw Africa as the beggar lying at Europe’s doorstep, and this led him to Africa where he established his hospital and spent his life.
And, in what is said to be a letter of Paul to Timothy, Paul calls Timothy away from longings for wealth to a life of service. And it’s a word to wealthy Christians, not against wealth per se, but suggesting that a relationship to God has consequences for how we use our resources. He says that living good and generous lives offers hope and will take us further into God’s future. We are called as Christians to see life as precious and to seek life that is really life, pursuing righteousness, faith, love, endurance and gentleness. This, he says, is what it means to take hold of life as it is meant to be, a quality of life that is eternal.
There’s a consistent theme running through these scriptures, and I think a message for us here. We need to listen deeply as affluent Christians, as citizens of our rich and powerful nation, and as global neighbors in a world where the focus on wealth and individualism are creating increasingly sharp social boundaries and gaps between rich and poor. We need to press on for a politics of compassion and justice, or in the words of the Psalmist today, keeping faith by seeking justice for the oppressed, feeding the hungry and reaching out to those in need.
We have been through a terrible time. But it has brought together the American family, and there has been an outpouring of shared grief, compassion and generosity from throughout the land. In spite of our differences, our complacency and our preoccupations, we have shown that we can be brave, resilient and loving. Nobody wishes for such times, and they come at a terrible price, including the loss of the lives and livelihoods of thousands. But our wounding can also open the doors of our sensibility to a larger reality, recognizing our common humanity, and being more attentive to those things that contribute to community and mutuality.
Let us continue to listen more deeply to one another and to our neighbors near and far. And let us listen to the voices of those who died, and keep reminding ourselves that as they faced death their final words were words of love. Amen
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