Heart and Soul
“...this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my Law within them, in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” — Jeremiah 31:33
The late Rollo May was psychologist who was and is known for being the author of several influential books in that field. But he also had a background in theology and was a close friend of the great Twentieth Century theologian Paul Tillich.
Indeed, after attaining a Bachelor’s Degree at Oberlin College— and by the way Oberlin College is a college associated with the United Church of Christ— he went to Union Theological Seminary— by the way, a Seminary associated with the United Church of Christ— for a Divinity Degree. Only after that did he go to Columbia University for a Ph.D. in clinical psychology.
In one of May’s books, Freedom and Destiny, he looked at issues of freedom. In that writing he took note of one example of predictable behavior in a large group. When the temperature reaches 90 degrees on a Summer day in a major costal city, we have the ability to forecast, he wrote, with great accuracy, what percentage of the population, will go to the beach.
Then he stated the potential obvious problem with that kind of projection. When we get to the point where we can determine not just how many will go to the beach but who will go to the beach, we will have lost our freedom. (Slight pause.)
Just eight years ago (it seems like eight light years), as the campaign for the presidential election of 2004 was in full progress— to be clear this was the George W. Bush/John Kerry election— weeks before any votes were actually cast or counted, I read a New York Times article about statistics and the upcoming election. The article made two things plain.
First, strictly from the standpoint of numbers, from the standpoint of looking at an election as a horse race, why someone voted for a particular candidate did not much matter. But exactly who voted did matter.
As to precisely who would vote for whom, as to which individual voted for Bush and which individual voted for Kerry— that could not be determined. On the other hand, what could be determined is, given a specific population, how many votes would be likely to go to one candidate or the other. And early on the data showed that the race was very, very close.
Indeed, the article actually said the election probably came down to just a few voters. Who would win that election came down to this: ‘for which candidate would some 10,000 swing voters in Ohio cast a ballot?’
As has been well documented, who voted for whom in the rest of the country did not matter. After all the votes in the rest of the country had been counted, the election was a dead heat. Now, the article had only one thing wrong in what it presented, those weeks in advance of the election.
You see, the election did not come down to which candidate some 10,000 specific swing voters in Ohio might cast a ballot. The election came down to which candidate some 50,000 specific swing voters in Ohio did cast a ballot. (Slight pause.)
Over 121 million votes were cast and weeks before the election it was known that swing voters in Ohio would decide the national result. I think 10,000 or 50,000 is, in this case, a negligible difference. (Slight pause.)
When we know not just how many but who, we will lose our freedom. That statistic makes it seem like some bean counters were painfully close to knowing not just how many but who, does it not? (Slight pause.)
I don’t know about you, but habits are my friends. When, for instance, my morning routine is somewhat changed— somehow changed, altered or upset, it’s not just that my coffee gets too cold. The whole day seems to go awry.
In fact, there is a lot of research which says habits are good. Why? We get into a routine and we can do that routine without giving it serious thought.
I recently read that when people back out of driveways they do so based on developed habit. In short, people often back out of driveways without thinking. Sounds dangerous, doesn’t it?
In fact, the danger of habit and nearly the definition of habit, is doing something by repetition, doing something so often that it allows for an absence of thinking. Habit can be thought of as things we do on automatic pilot.
Question: does the fact that our votes can be easily and closely tracked mean people vote on automatic pilot? Does the fact that our votes can be easily and closely tracked mean people are voting by habit, voting without thinking or does it simply mean people are following some kind of herd instinct? And even if it is a herd instinct, is that not a habit? (Pause.)
And these words are from the work known as Jeremiah: “...this is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says Yahweh: I will put my Law within them, in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” (Slight pause.)
As I have said here before, I did not learn to drive a car until I moved to Maine, relatively late in life as those things go. After I had been driving a couple of years, a friend at work said he occasionally saw me drive in and drive out of the parking lot and he could see how careful I was as I drove.
He then said people who learned to drive as he had, when they are in their teens, didn’t pay attention at all while they were driving. They drove by habit. I told him I found that really, really, really frightening— driving by habit. (Slight pause.)
Is our relationship with God simply or only a habit? Is our attendance at church to worship God as a community of faith simply or only a habit? Is there such a thing as a habit of the heart or does real relationship, real love, real heart, require more of us than a habit, more than an unthinking response to a repetitive situation? (Slight pause.)
There are, unquestionably, parts of relationships which fall under the realm of habit and even demand some form of habitual interaction. On the other hand, when relationship is simply habit— ritual— if it does not consist of something deeper, richer, wider than habit can it be called relationship? (Slight pause.)
Put another way: is God real for us? Or is God simply a matter of practice, ritual? Or is God someone with Whom we actually interact? (Slight pause.)
You’ve heard me say this many times: it all comes down to this— love neighbor, love God. I said it so often Tom Rasely wrote a song about it and credited me with the lyric. After all, I said it.
But, let me posit this: loving God and loving neighbor is about living life fully. And if we are to live life fully we need to be aware that the world around us is constantly changing. Hence, we need to be ready for change, ready to change.
So, if we are to be ready for change, loving God and loving neighbor cannot simply or only be about habit, can it? Unquestionably, when it comes to relationships, relying simply on habit can be dangerous— a little like backing out of a driveway without thinking. (Slight pause. Referring to his spouse, the pastor says:) Oh, I’m sorry Bonnie, I just backed into you. (Slight pause.)
Let me put that in yet a different way. We need to engage our whole being, both our body and soul, our mind and spirit, in relationship— in a relationship with God. Said differently yet again, we need to free our emotions from habitual responses so they may be open to new life. Indeed, it is only when our emotions are free from the trap of habit that they can become fully engaged, fully involved in relationship. (Slight pause.)
My good friend, the Rev. Dr. Susan Polizzi, formerly of the First Baptist Church of Norwich across the street, put a portion of a poem by John Ronald Reuel Tolkien, J. R. R. Tolkien, I Sit And Think, on her Facebook page this week. It seemed to me that, in a quiet way, the poem something about engaging in relationship over time. So, I’d like to end with that poem.
I sit beside the fire and think
of all that I have seen,
of meadow-flowers and butterflies
in summers that have been;
Of yellow leaves and gossamer
in autumns that were there,
with morning mist and silver sun
and wind upon my hair.
I sit beside the fire and think
of how the world will be
when winter comes without a spring
that I shall never see.
For still there are so many things
that I have never seen:
in every wood, in every spring,
there is a different green.
I sit beside the fire and think
of people long ago,
and people who will see a world
that I shall never know.
But all the while I sit and think
of times there were before,
I listen for returning feet
and voices at the door.
(Slight pause.) Relationship— love, body, soul, wholeness. Or as it says in Jeremiah: “...I will put my Law within them, in their minds, and I will write it on their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.” Amen.
03/25/2012
United Church of Christ, First Congregational, Norwich, New York
ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “It probably would not surprise any of you to know I am a fan of the plays of William Shakespeare. But I have seen more Shakespeare preformed poorly than I care to mention. Why? The actors did not understand what they were saying. They were saying it by rote. By rote is not the way we should be engaging in a relationship with God. We need to engage with God fully, with our whole self, body and soul.”
BENEDICTION: God has written the law of love within us. We are empowered to live according to that law, through the Redeemer, Jesus. In Christ, we experience God’s presence together. Where Christ leads, let us follow. Where God calls us to service, let us go. And may the peace of God which surpasses all understanding keep our hearts and minds in the knowledge of God, the love of Jesus, the Christ and the companionship of the Holy Spirit, this day and forevermore. Amen.
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