Signs, Stories, Symbols, Covenant
Verse 5 of Genesis 15 says this: “Then God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can! As many as that so shall your descendants be’” (Genesis 15:18). And verse 18 says this (quote): “On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,...” (Genesis 15:18).
I recently read an article which spoke about Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell during his days as mayor of Philadelphia. [1] He told a story of a time when the city had a cold snap, a month of freezing temperatures or below. Then, abruptly, the mercury rose to the 60s, as it can in Philly, even in mid-winter.
58 water mains broke. The pipes were old, some dating from the 19th century, and many were not buried too deep in the ground. They had no protection. The only surprise was that they lasted as long as they did.
The same article also said just two years ago a bridge inspector stopped for lunch in a Philadelphia neighborhood, glanced up at a viaduct that carries Interstate 95 and saw a 6-foot crack in a 15-foot column. The highway closed for three days of repairs.
Pennsylvania is not alone in these problems. The disaster in New Orleans happened, essentially, for want of an adequate system of levees and flood-walls. And across the nation some 75 % of all public schools have structural deficiencies— structural deficiencies.
In that same article, Rendell said when he became governor he tripled the Pennsylvania budget for bridge repair. The good news? A lot of bridges got fixed. The bad news? After six years the number of deficient bridges went from 5,600 to more than 6,000.
Why? A majority of bridges were and are more than 75 years old. The recommended life-span for a bridge is 40 years. (Slight pause.)
It has been argued ignoring infrastructure imperils public safety, diminishes economic competitiveness and is a penny-wise and pound-foolish stand. It can also result in missed opportunities to create jobs.
As you probably know, however, there is yet another side to this coin. Competitors seem to be leaving us behind when it comes to new infrastructure investment. China is building a network of 42 high-speed rail lines. The U.S. has yet to build its first. (Slight pause.)
This is clear: with any infrastructure— any building, road, bridge, rail system— there are two basic problems. First, it needs to be built. Initial costs are not small.
Once built, once that initial investment is made, everything has a natural, finite life span. So, second, once something is built, if it is to have any kind of longevity beyond projected limits, additional investments over a long period of time are necessary in order to maintain it. Seems evident, doesn’t it? (Slight pause.)
And verse 5 of Genesis 15 says this (quote): “Then God took Abram outside and said, ‘Look up at the sky and count the stars, if you can! As many as that so shall your descendants be,’” while verse 18 says this: “On that day Yahweh made a covenant with Abram, saying, “To your descendants I give this land, from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates,...” (Slight pause.)
Many, many fairy tales and folk stories start with these words: “Once upon a time...” All the famous Star Wars films start with these words: “A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away...” The Book of Genesis starts with these words: “At the beginning of God’s creating of the heaven and the earth...”
After we hear these introductions— introductions which all really say the same thing— they are an instruction to us to remember— we then hear a story. We hear about who is involved in the story, what happened in the story. But what we do not hear in any of these stories is a mere recitation of fact.
The reality is, the details of what happened once upon a time or the details of what happened a long, long ago in a galaxy far, far away or the details of what happened at the beginning of God’s creating of the heaven and the earth is not the reason for telling the story. These stories are not instruction manuals.
And this much is evident: the real reason, the only reason for telling a story is to let us in on deeper truths, a reality beyond what lies simply on the surface. This is not to say surface reality and deeper reality, seen and unseen reality can really be separated.
It is to say story carries a dimension, a plane which speaks to our emotions, our fears, our hopes, our dreams. Stories also speak to our memory, which is why these stories open with “Once upon a time...” or those other enjoinders. We are invited to make these memories a part of our inner most being.
It is also to say to take stories literally is to deny that both a level of understanding and a level of emotional possibilities exists within these stories. And our instruction is to remember the story so we can remember and understand the emotions.
Many people make the claim the Bible is about rules, about law. Nothing could be further from the truth. The Bible is about relationship. Specifically, the Bible is about the relationship of God and humanity.
But just like any relationship, there is no way to talk about what happens in a relationship or explain a relationship simply with factual data. The only way to even begin to talk about relationship is to tell a story.
And, as is true of any story, especially stories about relationship, the images used in the story are not meant to describe facts. The images are meant to describe relationship. So, what are these images in Genesis telling us? (Slight pause.)
I want to suggest the words “count the stars, if you can...” are about a vision for relationship, the imagination necessary for relationship to prosper. I also want to suggest the words “I give this land...” are about the ongoing hard work of relationship, the nuts and bolts kinds of things that make relationship work, daily.
Let me compare this description to the relationship called human marriage. “Count the stars, if you can...” is about the vision for the relationship. It’s where the partners say to each other: ‘I will love you forever.’
On the other hand, the words: “I give this land...” is about ‘how are we going to pay the bills now that the children are headed to college and we also have car payments and a mortgage?’ And I am sure you recognize this truth: it’s pretty hard to have one part of the relationship without the other part. You need to both build and initiate the relationship and you need to maintain the relationship. Both are necessary elements.
That brings me back to the esteemed Governor of Pennsylvania and infrastructure and all the attendant issues of infrastructure. This Meeting House— please note: this building is not a church; this building is a Meeting House— this Meeting House, like any structure, took time and effort and where-with-all to build. Not surprisingly, like any physical structure, it takes time and effort and where-with-all to maintain.
But this Meeting House is not the church. The people are the church. On the other hand, we, who are the church, are not that different than a building or a road or a rail system in one specific sense. We, the church, we the people were initiated and need to be maintained.
Except we, the church, are not about initiating and maintaining physical structures. We, the church, are about initiating and maintaining relationships.
Interestingly, in order to construct the relationships which make us church, it did take capital but not capital as in money. It took a different kind of capital— social capital. Within this church, within this group of people, together, it took the social capital of time and effort and vision, the where-with-all of social capital, to build the relationships, the infrastructure called church.
And just like physical infrastructure, in order to keep the church, these relationships, this group of people, maintained in a stable way, it has in the past and it does, right now, and it will in the future take the time and the effort and the vision and the where-with-all of social capital to maintain these relationships called church. (Slight pause.)
The signs, stories, symbols we find in Scripture are about one thing and one thing only. They are about relationships. The theological term for that is covenant. Our ancestors in the faith gave us the signs, stories, symbols. God gave us the covenant.
And, indeed, in the story of the Transfiguration which we heard today we see, yet again, a sign of the covenant with God. We see the covenant as completed in the Christ. This is why one of the things we Christians say about ourselves is that we are one in Christ.
Hence, our infrastructure is in place. Since we are one in Christ, the way forward for us in relationship is ready for us to simply use. And perhaps the question for every generation of Christians and for us, now, today is simple: are we willing to expend the social capital necessary to be church, to expend the social capital necessary to be one in Christ? Amen.
02/28/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, NY
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Benediction. This, then, is an précis of what the pastor said before the blessing: “The term commonly used by Christians over the centuries to describe those who pay attention to the interactive, personal infrastructure known as church is discipleship. We are called to be disciples in Christ. Why? What sign, what story, what symbol are we being given in the Transfiguration? It is a call to discipleship.”
[1] NY Times ~ 02/16/2010 ~ Op-Ed Columnist ~ What’s Wrong With Us? ~ by Bob Herbert
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/16/opinion/16herbert.html
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