This Is the Day
“This woman, this daughter of Abraham and Sarah, has been in bondage for eighteen long years. Should she not be set free, released from these shackles on the Sabbath?” — Luke 13:16.
Well, I am quite sure the world is on its last legs— going to you know where. I probably shouldn’t say that word from the pulpit. I know a colleague who says it this way: “H-E double hockey sticks!” I know this to be true, I know the world is on its last legs because of all the drivel I see or hear about on television, on this thing generally called reality TV.
Of course, reality TV is not about reality. Reality shows are the most scripted and edited things you’ll ever see— not at all real. Somehow a reality program called Jersey Shore has managed to get to a second season. But the second season does not happen in New Jersey, that state apparently being too bland. The second season is in Miami.
Even so, it’s still called Jersey Shore. This year the program, much to everyone’s surprise, is being watched by more people than watched the first time around.
And the show called American Idol doesn’t yet know who will be empaneled as judges for its next season, so breathless reports concerning this dilemma say the show is on its last legs. However, in the previous season, last year, of all the programs with regular schedules, American Idol was the most watched.
And three young women from one family, the Kardashians, are now into their fifth season of this unreality called reality. As far as anyone can tell, none of them has any talent except the talent commonly known as being famous for being famous. Indeed, somehow, not only is their program in its fifth season, it has managed to breed a spinoff, aptly called The Spin Crowd.
If all this makes no sense to you, join the club. But perhaps the bigger problem concerning this collection of drivel is that it offers proof positive there is nothing new under the sun. A New York Times article pointed that out this week.
The truth is reality shows that exalt indolent, loud-mouthed exhibitionists in our seemingly materialistic, celebrity-obsessed age are simply an extension of a time-honored form of entertainment. These kinds of shenanigans reach back at least to the turn of the Twentieth Century.
That era, around 1900, was a time of landed gentry, debutantes and grandiose social seasons in places like Newport, R.I., London and the French Riviera. (If truth be told, these kinds of things date back much further than the early Twentieth Century but I needed only go back that far to make the point.)
And, indeed, a little more than a century ago ordinary people in small towns all across America avidly followed the follies of the idle rich in the society pages of newspapers. A listing of First Class passengers on ocean liners was regularly published. The maiden voyage of the Titanic was a story in the equivalent of the style section in newspapers— that is until it hit an iceberg.
There were celebrities back then too and their claims to fame were not much nobler than those of the Kardashians or even Mike, A.K.A. ‘the Situation,’ of Jersey Shore infamy. Women and men made news by spending money frivolously or by having grand weddings with millionaires or titled Europeans.
They had their own notorious, lurid scandals— even murder cases. One Harry K. Thaw killed the well known architect Stanford White in 1906 over the fact that White had an affair with his wife— a model and actress, Evelyn Nesbit. “Model and actress”— those words sound like they come from today’s headlines.
News judgments back then skewed toward entertainment just as now. The New York Herald was the first American newspaper to use the wireless telegraph in 1899. This was a new fangled thing we know now as the radio but then carried only Morse Code instead of voice transmission. Marconi, inventor of it was invited by the Herald not to facilitate the transmission of important news, like reports about the Second Boer War, which broke out at that point. He was asked to communicate the results of the high-society sailing regatta called the America’s Cup. (Slight pause.)
Celebrities of yore might have worn more clothes. But that was fashionable then. Did they have better manners? Perhaps but probably not.
Then as now, the famous went to a lot of parties (it seemed to be their job in that era also) and were often simply famous for being famous. Television merely invaded the process that was already there and perhaps broadened the social pool. This has all happened before. [1] (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the Gospel commonly referred to as Luke: “This woman, this daughter of Abraham and Sarah, has been in bondage for eighteen long years. Should she not be set free, released from these shackles on the Sabbath?” (Slight pause.)
One of the dangers of reading sections of Scripture, as we do in Sunday Worship, is it fosters understandings about who Jesus is, about who God is, that are episodic in nature, makes the readings appear to be locked in a specific time. We read the call of Jeremiah and we begin to think in terms of being called to one specific thing and that’s it. It’s over. And we apply that sense to us.
We listen to a story about a healing and then try to read some specific message about the efficacy, the effectiveness of what has been done, into the incident (and then apply it to us). Or we listen to a story about the sacred nature of the Sabbath and fail to understand that the point being made is not about worship or even rest, per se. We take ‘Keep Holy the Sabbath,’ as if it was restricted to the Sabbath.
The setting aside the Sabbath was originally understood as a radical act which said all people are equal when standing before God. No one had the right to subjugate others for any reason or any cause. And if you did not remember that on the other six days, at least one day was set aside for this imperative. (Slight pause.)
So, do we believe in an episodic God, a God who is with us on occasion? Do we believe in a God whose presence is periodic? Or do we believe in a God who is with us... always?
Do we believe in the God who spoke to Jeremiah and said (quote): “...I am with you...”? Do we believe in a God who resists discrimination, exploitation and oppression and who wants people to be released from (quote): “shackles”? (Slight pause.)
When we pay attention to the episodic, to things like reality television or the America’s Cup, when we place an overemphasis on the next sporting event, the next election and treat them as if they were signs of an apocalypse, when we, thereby, make celebrities of not just the individuals but the episodic we have made a mistake. Why? God is with us... always. (Slight pause.)
In several minutes we shall have a ceremony of Shalom in which we will honor the participation of Richie Bonney, Josh Borfitz and Skye Ingraham in this community of faith. Now, given what I have just said, some of you might think that this is a paradox. After all, are we not then over emphasizing the episodic with this recognition?
No. While we are marking a significant milestone in the lives of these young people and of this community, we do so fully aware of one truth: every day belongs to God in its totality. But all days also belong to God. And so too, God will always be with them, these young people, and with us— all of us, each of us. And that’s why we celebrate.
You see, in our worship, we strive not just to set this day apart. We strive to know and to more fully understand that every day we need to recognize and honor the idea that we trust God and that we are empowered by God.
This is also true: we are, all of us, each of us, called by God. And that call is not just on a Sunday. That call is each day and every day. So, that call is episodic only in the sense that we experience time.
How so? You see, the call of God to us is a call to a relationship which is to last forever. (Slight pause.) Today, at this Service of Worship, we will close with the hymn This Is the Day. (Quote): “This is the day our God has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”
That, my friends, is true every day and forever. If we truly believe the promise of God, that we will be with God throughout eternity, then we will all be singing this hymn throughout eternity, not just today, not just on the Sabbath.
So, perhaps the real challenge the words of Jeremiah and the words of Jesus pose to us, perhaps the challenge is very basic. Do we believe God is with us, not just in the episodic, not just in what we do daily? Do we believe in the eternal promises of God? Do we believe God stands with us always and forever? Amen.
08/22/2010
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: “I have used this quote before. It bears repeating today. The theologian Reinhold Niebuhr said ‘Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime;...’ When we forget we are a part of a continuum, when we forget those who came before us and those who will come after us, we wallow in the egocentricity of celebrity. When we have the humility to see and to appreciate those who have come before and those who will come after us we allow ourselves to hope. Indeed, Niebuhr’s full quote reads: ‘Nothing that is worth doing can be achieved in a lifetime; therefore we must be saved by hope.’”
[1] NY Times ~ 08/20/2010 ~ The TV Watch ~ Yes, They’re Sleazy, but Not Originals ~ by Alessandra Stanley.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/08/20/arts/television/20reality.html?scp=2&sq=titanic&st=cse
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