Freedom and Responsibility
[Jesus said]: “...therefore ask the overseer of the harvest to send out the laborers, the workers to the harvest.” — Luke 10:2.
I do not remember the exact date the letter arrived. I do know it was the first week of November, 1967. I was 19.
Those of a certain age will be familiar with the first words in the letter and recognize exactly what they meant. (Slight pause.) “Greetings from the President of the United States.”
For those a little younger, this letter informed me I had been drafted into the Armed Forces of these United States. It was my draft notice. The President who sent those greetings was Lyndon Baines Johnson.
I remember watching television more than three years earlier when that very same President interrupted the regular broadcast. United States Navy vessels had been attacked off Vietnam in the Gulf of Tonkin, he said. It later turned out the facts were not quite in line with what was reported. No U. S. vessel had been attacked.
Though still in High School when I heard Johnson, I was sharp enough to recognize the war was about to escalate and the numbers of those drafted would increase. I was also sharp enough to recognize people of my age would carry the brunt of that.
All of which is to say I was neither innocent nor in denial about what would happen once drafted. Vietnam was my likely destination.
That draft letter had one other piece of news. The date set for induction was December the 5th, my mother’s 44th birthday. Happy birthday, Mom. (Slight pause.)
At the time I was a computer operator working at Bloomingdale’s Department Store in New York City. The next day I gave two weeks notice.
That afternoon the boss called me into the office of a senior vice-president and, much to my surprise, told me the company was acting on my behalf to get the draft notice postponed. That would allow the company to assign me someone to train to do my job.
Mind you, they had not asked my permission to intervene. They just did it. I went along, in part because I did not want to be inducted on my Mom’s birthday.
Within days I got a second notice. The induction date was set as January 20th, 1968. In short, the large, well known company for which I worked, could and did get my draft postponed. It was a life lesson in real world power. (Slight pause.)
And on January 20th, 1968 I was off to Fort Jackson, South Carolina, for Basic Training. Late March landed me in Fort Lee, Virginia, for Advanced Training.
The next significant date in this sequence is hard to forget. 42 years ago today— July 4th, 1968— I arrived in Vietnam. Happy Independence Day. (Slight pause.)
I’ve always said my brother is the one who got the smart genes in our family. First, whereas I dropped out of college, he did not. Second, because of that, by the time he was eligible to be drafted the system had changed. Draft numbers were assigned by date of birth.
Before that, individuals were chosen completely at random. The draft is, you see, the only time I ever have won a lottery.
Realizing he had a very low draft number, Jim applied for conscientious objector status. And he got it.
Now, I could have done that. I knew all the same priests who signed letters in support of his stand.
And, in fact, even before I graduated from High School, I knew enough about the South East Asian conflict to be totally aware it was an ineffective foreign policy and a military strategy poorly thought out and poorly executed. Last, it seemed, even then, to stand on questionable moral grounds. So, why did I go? (Slight pause.)
Rumor to the contrary, the system of government under which we live in American is not a democracy. Rumor to the contrary, the system of government under which we live in American is not a republic.
The system under which we live is a democratic republic. Democratic republic— this is not a particularly high falutin, intellectual term. You can look it up in any competent high school civics text book. We just don’t pay much attention to it in our country. Political commerce seems to prefer the mindless rhetoric which confines us to the terms democracy or republic, neither of which is accurate.
So, what does it mean to be a democratic republic? So, what does it mean to live in a democratic republic?
Perhaps this will help: in the initial draft of the Declaration of Independence, again and again, the inhabitants of the 13 colonies are referred to as (quote) “subjects.” But then something amazing happened. Jefferson methodically wiped the word “subjects” out of the text and, each time that word appeared, he changed the word from “subjects” to the word “citizens.”
“Citizens”— no longer subjects, we Americans became and are a people whose allegiance was not to a monarch but to one another. [1] As far as I am concerned, from that point forward as a nation, we have been bound to hold one another in mutual covenant— citizens not subjects. (Slight pause.)
So, why did I acquiesce and allow my self to be drafted? After all, I was fully aware it placed me in harms way, the policy of the government went beyond being flawed to being incompetent and I clearly had avenues I could exercise which might have led to deferment.
Further, I had no sense of ‘gung-ho!— now it’s off to war I go’ to which some in their teen years might have been readily susceptible. And, yes, I was against the war on many levels, including the moral. So, why? (Pause.)
I realized that, as a citizen of a democratic republic, as a citizen of this democratic republic, as one designated by chance, by tradition, by law, by age to serve in the armed forces, I had a responsibility to others.
Now, you may agree or disagree with that decision. But maintaining that I needed to be responsible is where I came down.
For me, the responsibility found in mutual covenant was key. Put another way it’s this simple: real freedom can be found only in the collective. Therefore and paradoxically, real freedom depends on the responsibility assumed by each individual. (Pause.)
And these words are from the work known as Luke: [Jesus said]: “...therefore ask the overseer of the harvest to send out the laborers, the workers to the harvest.” (Slight pause.)
You may have noticed the themes of the Epistle and Gospel readings intertwine this week. In Galatians self indulgence is taken to task.
Luke comes at the same topic from a different angle by addressing how the Good News spreads. When I say ‘how the Good News spreads,’ we need to pay heed not to details but to principles. In this case the principles include mutual responsibility.
The disciples are sent out. What is it which binds them in covenant? This message (quote): “...the reign of God has drawn near.” Once we are clear as to what the disciples are commissioned to do, to spread the Word about the reign of God, only then can we ask ‘how do they go about it?’
And how do they go about it? First, Jesus tells them to pray. So, in prayer, they embrace the humility and repentance found in accepting communal responsibility.
Second, they are commissioned by God. God is in charge. This is not a place for individualistic, self-appointed entrepreneurs.
Indeed, they go out two by two physically, therefore, embracing the humility and repentance found in accepting communal responsibility. And embracing humility and repentance can and does, you see, form living community. (Slight pause.)
So, what is this (quote): “reign of God” which has drawn near? Can it be it has something to do with the freedom granted by God? And can it be that it has something to do with the humility and repentance found in accepting communal responsibility? (Slight pause.)
The closing words of the American Declaration of Independence say this (quote): “...for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.” (Slight pause.) The signers of the Declaration embraced humility, repentance and accepted communal responsibility. (Slight pause.)
It is often said freedom is not free. And our human experience says in order to achieve freedom we need to be vigilant about preserving freedom.
But none of us are up to that task alone. Being a lone ranger works only in the movies. We need to be in covenant with one another. We need to rely on one another to see the full reality of freedom and its gifts. (Slight pause.)
As Christians who wish to seek the freedom promised by the reign of God, we must work toward community and in community. So, perhaps the way we need to think about our freedom on this Independence Day is that it is really “Interdependence Day,” a day on which mutual respect and mutual responsibility is held sacred. (Slight pause.)
Yes, freedom is not free. The freedom promised by the reign of God is empowered when we form living community, when we are responsible to one another.
So, let us remember these words of the Gospel: “...therefore ask the overseer of the harvest to send out the laborers, the workers to the harvest.” You see, when the Word is spread, is when we accept responsibility for spreading the Word. And then living community is formed. Amen.
07/04/2010
United Church of Christ, First Congregational
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:
“I’ve said this before: most people believe the idea of church is to bring people into church. The idea Jesus seems to have, indeed the idea which seems to define church, is this: let us send people out from the church to be disciples who spread the word about the Dominion of God drawing near. Two paradoxes there— that is the way community gets formed. And it is formed out of the humble willingness to be a living community.”
[1] The Washington Post; Jefferson Changed ‘Subjects’ to ‘Citizens’ in Declaration of Independence; By Marc Kaufman; 07/03/2010
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/02/AR2010070205525.html?nav=rss_email/components
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