The Shema and the Reality of God
“Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, your God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.” — Deuteronomy 6:4-5.
What is chaos? What does it look like? What does it feel like? (Slight pause.)
My late uncle, after being drafted, became something of a beach bum, someone who chases the sun whenever he can. In part that was because he spent his entire time in the Army during World War II at Hickham Field in Hawaii, a place which may have the most beautiful beaches in the world.
I was not yet a teen when my family moved to the Woodhaven section of Queens in New York City. So, my uncle would, in the summer, drive his two nephews and his nice— myself, my brother and my sister— down to Rockaway Beach just eight miles south of where we lived, down Woodhaven Boulevard. It was his way of being good to us.
We would spend the day soaking up the sun and swimming. Later, still in our teens, my brother and I would, occasionally, ride our bikes the three plus miles South on Woodhaven Boulevard, through the community known as Howard Beach.
On the South side of Howard Beach we would visit a vast marshy area, what is now called Jamaica Bay Reserve. Then and now, it offered and offers a prime habitat for migratory birds and other wildlife.
Back then there was an ongoing fight about ownership of this natural wonder. Now it is part of the Gateway National Recreation Area. The majority of it is owned by the Federal Government and the City of New York.
This was the area, the place, at which and in which my Brother, Jim, first became interested in the environment. He now has a Master’s Degree in Environmental Science and works for the Adirondack Park Agency.
So, that community— Howard Beach— is one we visited and went through it all the time. A pastor friend of mine in New York City posted pictures on Facebook taken this week in Howard Beach. They were pictures of boats, large boats, sitting in people’s front yards and pictures of boats having breached the walls of houses— a stunning sight. [1] (Slight pause.)
What is chaos? What does it look like? What does it feel like? (Slight pause.)
The Upper West Side in New York City is and has been a haven of struggling artists. I counted myself among those in my early twenties. The Upper West Side is where I hung out.
Another picture I saw this week was of the West 86th Street Subway Station where I would get the Number One train, having left the apartment of David Schaefer, with whom I wrote a couple of hundred songs back then. In the picture water fills the Subway tracks to a level just below the platform— at best a frightening sight. (Slight pause.)
What is chaos? What does it look like? What does it feel like? (Slight pause.)
When I worked on Wall Street, I worked in the World Trade Center. Each year 9/11 is hard for me. Now, not only have I seen those buildings collapse. I have seen pictures of water from New York Harbor pouring into the construction site, into a part of the pit where those buildings stood. These images give me yet a heavier heart. (Slight pause.)
What is chaos? What does it look like? What does it feel like? (Slight pause.)
Halloween was celebrated this week. I’ve got nothing against Halloween. It’s fun. But it is made up. It means nothing. So it is well to remember nothing, in particular, is being celebrated other than eating too much candy and dressing up in things people would not otherwise wear, things which are sometimes even embarrassing.
You see, when Halloween rolls around each year I can’t help but think of this: my late mother was born in 1924, the daughter of a single mother. She grew up in poverty in Brooklyn, raised in the teeth of the Great Depression.
The children in her neighborhood went house to house to house for “Trick or Treat” not on Halloween but on Thanksgiving Day. At each door they would say “Trick or Treat— do you have anything for the ragamuffins?” Do you have anything for the ragamuffins? It might help to feed our family. (Slight pause.)
What is chaos? What does it look like? What does it feel like? (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the Tanakh in the section known as the Torah in the work we call Deuteronomy: “Hear, O Israel: / Yahweh, our God, Yahweh alone, is one. / You are to love Yahweh, your God / with all your heart, / and with all your soul, / and with all your strength.” (Slight pause.)
Most scholars agree: these words, known in Hebrew as the Shema or the great commandment, are the most important in all Scripture, the central point made in all Scripture, the place from which everything else flows. Why? These words are a concise explanation of who God is.
Indeed, these words are not just a proclamation but an explanation of God. God is the One to be loved with heart, mind and soul. And these words are not just a proclamation and an explanation, these words are actually in the form of an oath, an oath which attests to the reality of God.
The Hebrew Scriptures constantly attest to who God is, to what God does, to the reality of God. The second verse in Genesis says this about God creating the universe (quote): “...when the earth was unformed and void, wild and waste, filled with chaos and emptiness— chaos and emptiness— as night reigned over the surface of the deep, a wind from God, the rushing Spirit of God swept over the face of the waters.” (Slight pause.)
God, you see, is the One who brings order to chaos— order to chaos. But why— why with an oath— attest to this God who brings order to chaos? (Slight pause.)
I have some news for you. I believe God exists. I cannot prove God exists. Nor can anyone else prove God exists.
No prophet, priest, prelate, politician, pastor, primate, presbyter— none of them can prove God exists. Only one thing can insist God exists: faith. And for you— each of you— it is not my faith which can insist God exists. It is only your faith which can insist God exists.
Now, clearly some people will not be and are not comfortable with a fath that insists God exists. As for me, however, despite all the reality with which chaos presents itself, in the end I refuse to allow chaos to triumph.
Why? I believe in freedom. I believe in peace. I believe in joy. I believe in love. I believe in hope. I can see none of these. But they are real. And I believe each of these— freedom, peace, joy, love, hope— triumphs over chaos. (Slight pause.)
And oh, yes. I believe in God. I believe in God who insists on the reality of love, freedom, peace, joy, hope.
And I believe in God who loves me. (Here the pastor points in the direction of different people in the congregation.) I believe in God who loves you and you and you and you and you. And I believe in God who triumphs over chaos.
And I believe, therefore, in God who is on the side of the helpless and the outcast. I believe in God who abhors racism, homophobia, economic oppression. I believe in God who stands in solidarity with all. Amen.
11/04/2012
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 Congregational Response and Benediction. This is an précis of what was said: “Earlier I said scholars agree the Shema, the great commandment is the place from which everything else flows. That includes the reality of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, the Christ. Indeed, the story of Jesus, who is the Christ, is the ultimate statement about the reality of God made in Scripture. If you do not trust the reality of God, there is no reason to consider Jesus.”
BLESSING: Go now, go in safety, for you cannot go where God is not. Go in love, for love alone endures. Go with purpose and God will honor your dedication. And go in peace for it is a gift of God and the Spirit of God to those whose hearts and minds are in Christ, Jesus. Amen.
[1] It should be noted that Hurricane Sandy hit New York City this week but it should also be noted that among many U.C.C. churches which suffered damage in the storm, the church in Rockaway Beach suffered significant damage.
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