How Long?
[audio http://www.opcbrookhaven.org/worship/audio/sermons/04-03-10.MP3]Genesis 1:1-2:4 Exodus 14:10-31;15:2-21 Isaiah 55:1-11 Ezekiel 37:1-14 Romans 6:1-11 Matthew 28:1-10
The U2Charist, as I understand it, began as a practice in several Episcopalian churches. Recognizing that the band U2 often used images of Scripture in their lyrics and a public engagement to making the world a better place, they put together creative worship services. Apparently, the band is fine with that happening and doesn't worry about their copyrighted lyrics as long as any collection taken up goes to support the United Nation's Millennium Development Goals and that awareness be brought to those same goals.
So: what are the Millennium Development Goals and why should we care? In 2001, these were targets set to be reached by 2015. 192 nations, including our own, are signatories to the goals, which are:
Eradicate extreme poverty and hunger
Achieve universal primary education
Promote gender equality and empower women
Reduce child mortality
Improve maternal health
Combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases
Ensure environmental sustainability
Develop a global partnership for development
So...how are we doing? Well, there is some good news, but not much. "Extreme poverty" is defined as those living on less than a $1 a day. And while that's down to 15%, that's still over a billion people. Meanwhile, some of the progress that has been made has been set back by severe natural disasters, including the Tsunami in Indonesia and the earthquake in Haiti. And then with the worldwide economic collapse of the last few years on top of that, it seems unlikely that these goals will be met in time, which makes me wonder if they will ever be met.
This isn't the way it was supposed to be. Aren't things supposed to get better? Isn't life supposed to be an upward progression? We're living in the 21st century! We're way past 1984 and 2001. We've had a man on the moon and we've built the internet. Aren't we supposed to be moving forward constantly on the horizon to new and improved?
Remember jetpacks? Where are the jetpacks? We were promised jetpacks!
The future was supposed to be full of this stuff. Flying cars, robot housekeepers, and a jetpack in ever garage. What happened to bigger, better, faster, stronger? Each generation was supposed to do better than the previous one. A bigger house, a better salary, an earlier retirement, a life made easier by technology.
I think the heart of the problem is one of faith. To put it more clearly, we have confused optimism with hope. So when a crisis hits, we lose our trust in optimism. But because of our confusion, we think that we have actually lost faith. But if it was in optimism, then maybe we never had it to begin with...
How long will we have to talk about these things? How long will we have to push ideas like the Millennium Development Goals because the world simply isn't getting better? And what about those who truly suffer? How long, they must be asking, is life going to be more like death? How many of them are living their own Good Fridays, nailed to their own crosses, wondering where God is and why God has forsaken them?
There's a reason, I think, that so many of U2's songs have these themes of yearning. "I still haven't found what I'm looking for"..."How long must we sing this song?" How long, indeed?
And yet, there remains throughout this thread of hope in their songs as well. Optimism assumes things will always get better. Pessimism assumes they'll get worse. Hope believes that God has not abandoned creation; that Christ is there suffering with those who suffer and offering another way to those who cause that suffering. There is hope.
Bono, talking about their lyrics, had this to say about faith:
"We've found different ways of expressing [faith], and recognized the power of the media to manipulate such signs. Maybe we just have to sort of draw our fish in the sand. It's there for people who are interested. It shouldn't be there for people who aren't." U2 at the End of the World
He's referencing the practice of the early Christian community who latched onto the fish as their symbol. There were so many stories of Jesus and fish on which to draw: the multiplication miracles, the fishing scenes on the Sea of Galilee. It was less obvious than the cross as a sign of Christian faith at a time when Christians were being persecuted. And the Greek word for fish was an acronym for "Jesus Christ, son of God, savior."
Early Christians, not knowing if the person they were meeting was a Christian, could draw an arc in the sand. If the second person made it into a fish, then they both knew that they were safe.
The evidence of U2's faith is there in their music. You might have to look carefully at times, but it's there. The same is true of optimism vs. hope. If we're looking for optimism, we are certain to be disappointed. But if we're looking for that arc drawn in the sand, we'll see it and know that there is hope all around us.
Tonight we have followed in the footsteps of millennia of Christians who have moved from the despair of crucifixion to the hope of resurrection. Our Scriptures are reasons for hope, songs that have been sung far too long, perhaps, but glimpses of hope if our eyes are open to them. And above all, we are on this side of the resurrection. Optimism was buried in that tomb. And when the stone was rolled away, optimism imagined that it had all been a dream, like the Wizard of Oz. Hope knows that Jesus suffered horribly and yet is still able to recognize the angel when it comes.
If we are followers of hope, we should run to show the others, not just tell them, but show them, what we saw. We should make the resurrection as real as possible so that there is no question about hope. We should live it in our lives.
How? Well, the plug might be an obvious one, but the Presbyterian Hunger Program, for whom we took up an offering at our service, is one way. They have an impressive resource you can download for free called Just Eating. It's a curriculum and study guide on food. I highly recommend it. I promise you that you won't like or agree with everything in it, but if that was our goal, would we ever open the Bible?
One story in particular leapt out at me. It is of Belo Horizonte, Brazil, a city of 2.5 million people. In 1993, they decided to make food a right of every citizen. The best parallel in the U.S. would be public education - it's available to all. They decided to do that with food. And they have done just that through a variety of programs, including more farmer's markets (which means better food in more places), competitive open markets in poorer neighborhoods, creative restaurants which are cheap and draw clientele from all economic levels, three free meals a day to Preschoolers, and so on. My assumption would be that this would simply mean more free handouts, but here's the stunning truth: it costs the city exactly 1% of their budget.
What will you do? How will you feed the world? OPC has its own commitments to making the world a better place, to building the kingdom of God, including our support for Habitat for Humanity, Interfaith Outreach Home, and the Druid Hills Night Shelter. And now, in the coming months, our Food Pantry, after 40 years, will be joining forces with other churches in the area through the Suthers Center in Chamblee. What would it mean, for example, if we worked to commit ourselves to food access in all of our communities? Could we do that for 1% of our budgets?
Ultimately, it's a question you've got to answer for yourself. It takes prayer, of course, and listening - the two go hand in hand. And it also means keeping your eyes open for those arcs in the sand, wondering where exactly it is that they are pointing. And when you see them, go. And don't walk. Run. Run!
Amen.