Learning and Understanding
“So Philip ran up to {the chariot} and heard the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get into the chariot and sit.” — Acts 8:30-31.
In the book The Power of Habit Charles Duhigg tells this story. In the fall of 1987 Wall Street analysts and investors gathered in a hotel ballroom in New York City to hear the new Chief Executive Officer of the Aluminum Company of America. A very large company, ALCOA had fallen on hard times. Management had made many missteps, misstep after misstep. Profits and return had plummeted.
The person the ALCOA board chose to be the CEO was one Paul O’Neill. Eventually, O’Neill would become the first Secretary of the Treasury for George W. Bush. More important for this story, however, is the fact that O’Neill would turn the fortunes of ALCOA around with amazing speed. But anyone gathered in that room on that morning would have thought a turn around quite unlikely.
Now, O’Neill looked every inch the CEO. Though only fifty-one, he already had a shock of white hair. He also had a ramrod posture and a warm smile. He looked confident, dignified, solid. Then he opened his mouth.
“I want to talk to you about worker safety,” he started. “Many of our employees work with metals processed at 1500 degrees and with machines that can kill the operator when not used according to strict standards. And despite dangerous working conditions, our safety record is good compared to most companies, even ones without dangerous working conditions. However, every year ALCOA workers do miss work because of injuries.”
The audience of analysts and investors was, at best, confused. At these kinds of meetings where new CEO types are introduced, it is usual to follow a predictable protocol, a script. A new CEO would start with a self-deprecating joke, admit to sleeping through class work at Harvard and then make a promise to boost profits and lower costs.
O’Neill never went near this formula. Instead, this is what O’Neill said and promised: “I intend to make ALCOA the safest company in America. I intend to go for zero injuries.”
Even before O’Neill had finished some of the analysts and investors in the audience ran for the doors, found pay phones— this was 1987 when pay phones were all they had— they ran for the doors, found pay phones and called their brokers. “Sell” was the order they gave. “Sell any ALCOA in my portfolio.”
As I’ve already indicated, since O’Neill went on to make ALCOA one of the most profitable companies on the planet, selling the stock at that point was not a particularly wise choice. How did O’Neill make ALCOA profitable? He got everyone in the company to do one key thing right.
And, in fact, it turns out there are some habits that are or can be keystone habits. These keystone habits matter more than others. In the case of ALCOA it turned out to be safety— the safest company in America.
These keystone habits are different from situation to situation and sometimes even from person to person. But when you figure out what keystone habit is necessary, these can influence how a person thinks, works, feels, spends time and communicates. (Slight pause.)
And these words are from the work known as Luke / Acts in the section called Acts: “So Philip ran up to {the chariot} and heard the Ethiopian reading the prophet Isaiah and asked, ‘Do you understand what you are reading?’ The Ethiopian replied, ‘How can I, unless someone guides me?’ and invited Philip to get into the chariot and sit.” (Slight pause.)
I occasionally mention one of my mentors in ministry, the Rev. Carol Anderson. Carol was among the first officially ordained women in the Episcopal Church. Once, I was among a group of friends she had to her tiny Upper West Side apartment. The rooms were literally lined with bookcases.
One person pointed at the shelves and said, “Carol, you can’t tell me you’ve read all these books, can you?”
“No,” she responded. “But I know exactly what’s in each of them.”
Now that I, myself, have gone through the process of hazing we Christians call getting a Master of Divinity Degree, I can attest to that concept. No, I have not read all the books in my possession. But I know what’s in them. More importantly, I know where to look in the library.
Indeed, when I was still in the early stages of Elementary School, perhaps the third grade at least that’s my memory of it, my mother took me to a public library and taught me how to use the card catalogue. And I don’t mean the card catalogue in the children’s section. She taught me how to use the adult card catalogue. As any librarian knows, knowing where to look and what to look for is vital. (Slight pause.)
This (the pastor holds up a Bible) is a library. It is not one book. It is a series of books— a library with all kinds of different literature. One needs to know how to interpret what one reads. It is a vital skill when it comes to the Bible.
And knowing where to look and what to look for is vital. Further, having someone you trust, someone who can act like a reference librarian, to point you toward where to look and what to look for can be key also. (Slight pause.)
The Ethiopian in this reading is looking at the prophet Isaiah, is looking at that scroll. But that court official is lost. Why? Have you ever read Isaiah? There are plenty of places to get lost. You need to know where to look and what to look for.
To be clear: God provides guidance and God sometimes even provides a reference librarian. In this case, Philip is empowered by God to be a reference librarian and, thereby, an instrument of God.
And we also need to remember that the prime command of God to the Jewish people as it is laid out in the Shema is hear. That’s hear, not listen— hear— to actively seek the voice of God.
Therefore, it is a safe assumption that the voice of God will not be static, that the voice of God will speak and is still speaking. Further, if we are a people of the Book— and as I just indicated what that means is we are really a people of the library— if we are a people of the Book there will be a lot to hear from our still speaking God in the Book and, therefore, much to discern. (Slight pause.)
That brings me back to that little story about Paul O’Neill. If there is anything to be learned from that story, it’s that we need to form productive habits, keystone habits. I want to suggest that, for we Christians, people of the library, the productive habit we need to form is one of learning. We need to form the habit of learning from Scripture— from the library.
In order for that to be a really productive habit, we need to know where to look in Scripture. We need to know how to read what we find in Scripture. Just based on the experience of that court official, we can be staring at a passage all day and still not quite get it.
Indeed, reading Scripture is not just a matter of learning where to look. After all, memorizing where to look, memorizing what Scripture says— and I am sure we all know people who can recite Scripture chapter and verse— memorizing what Scripture says borders on a party game. It begins to sound like an old Irving Berlin song (the pastor intones some notes here from the Irving Berlin song Anything You Can Do from the Musical Annie Get Your Gun): “Any verse you can quote I can quote quicker. I can quote Scripture much slicker than you.”
My point is it is not just a matter of knowing where to look. It’s a matter of understanding what it says.
All of which is to say, we should never read Scripture thinking it will be readily transparent. What the story of Philip and the court official tells us is that was not the case in New Testament times. Why should Scripture be immediately understandable to us now, except if we bring our own egocentricity to it?
And I guess this is also to say Scripture is something with which we need to grapple and study. It is then and only then, when study and learning become habit, that we will also form helpful habits for life.
In short, the reading and the study of Scripture needs to be a keystone habit for Christians— people of the library. Believe it or not, when the reading and study of Scripture becomes a keystone habit, a lot of other things will fall into place for us. Like what? Well, like that old— you know— ‘love neighbor; love God’ stuff. Amen.
05/06/2012
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: “Why do I keep saying ‘Love neighbor; love God’ is the central theme in all of Scripture? Because I am in the habit of reading and studying Scripture and, for me, that message is what leaps out of nearly every page of the library.”
BENEDICTION: Live for God in every moment of the day. Seek to know the places to which God calls us. Because we are loved we may dare to love others. God first loved us, so we must not hesitate to show the fruits of abiding in Christ. 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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