The Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson, Easter Sunday 2012
There was a wonderful preacher of the previous generation by the name of George Buttrick. He was for many years pastor of the Madison Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. One week he had been off on a speaking engagement and was flying back to New York City. On the plane he had a pad and a pencil, and he was making some notes for next Sunday’s sermon.
The man seated next to him was eyeing him with curiosity. Finally the curiosity got the best of him, and so he said to Buttrick, “I hate to disturb you – you’re obviously working hard on something – but what in the world are you working on?”
“Oh, I’m a Presbyterian minister,” said Buttrick. “I’m working on my sermon for Sunday.”
“Oh, religion,” said the man. “I don’t like to get all caught up in the ins and outs and complexities of religion. I like to keep it simple. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The Golden Rule, that’s my religion.”
“I see,” said Buttrick. “And what do you do?”
“I’m an astronomer. I teach at the University.”
“Oh, yes,” said Buttrick. “Astronomy – I don’t like to get all caught up in the ins and outs and complexities of astronomy. Twinkle, twinkle little star, that’s my astronomy.”
Belief matters. Some beliefs are true but not always helpful. I believe that energy equals mass times the speed of light squared, but that belief does not affect how I live in any way. Energy equals mass times the speed of light squared doesn’t help me in rearing my children in the right way. It doesn’t comfort me in the death of my mother. It doesn’t help me with my terminal illness.
Our Christian faith is about belief – not just any kind of belief, but the kind of belief that reaches down into the depths of our being, seeking to determine how we respond to life. In the Western world, religious belief has been in serious decline for many years. What that means is that people are increasingly living their lives according to some other beliefs, but beliefs that have little to do with Christian teaching.
Jonathan Sacks, in an article in the Wall Street Journal in October, said that “science, technology, the free market, and the liberal democratic state have enabled us to reach unprecedented achievements in knowledge, freedom, life expectancy, and affluence. They are among the greatest achievements of human civilization and are to be defended and cherished.
“But they do not answer the three questions that every reflective individual will ask at some time in his or her life: Who am I? Why am I here? How then shall I live? The result is that the 21st-century has left us with a maximum of choice and a minimum of meaning.”
He then goes on to say that this void of religious belief is being filled with a far more aggressive and adversarial form of religious belief, and that is Islamic terrorism. He says, “It is the face of what I call altruistic evil in our time: evil committed in a sacred cause, in the name of high ideals.”
Sacks’s point is that “Today Jews, Christians, and Muslims must stand together, in defense of humanity, the sanctity of life, religious freedom, and the honor of God himself. The real clash of the 21st-century will not be between civilizations or religions but within them. It will be between those who accept and those who reject the separation of religion and power…He says that “Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all contain interpretive traditions that in the past have read them in the larger context of coexistence, respect for difference, and the pursuit of peace, and can do so today.”
Belief matters. Ralph Waldo Emerson said “That which dominates our imagination and our thoughts will determine our life and character. Therefore it behooves us to be careful what we are worshiping, for what we are worshiping we are becoming.”
Belief certainly mattered to the Blessed Virgin Mary. In today’s Gospel, Elizabeth says to Mary, “Blessed is she who believed that there would be a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.” That belief led Mary to respond in such a way that the Savior of the world could take flesh and become a human being. Belief matters!
Blessed are we who believe, and how important it is that we believe.
In The Happy Hypocrite, Max Beerbohm tells about a scoundrel named George Hell, an immoral and riotous man, who falls in love with a saintly girl; and in order to win her love, covers his bloated features with the mask of a saint. The girl is deceived and becomes his bride, and they live together happily until a wicked lady from Lord George Hell’s wicked past turns up to expose him for the scoundrel she knows him to be and challenges him to take off his mask. So sadly, having no choice, he takes it off, and lo and behold beneath the saint’s mask is the face of the saint he has become by wearing it in love.
This is the purpose of the Christian life. Our natural tendency is to act according to the belief system of human society – that happiness is gained from striving to acquire and control. Through our life in Christ we gradually learn another belief system, and we learn it through doing the things of faith – prayer, confession, study of the Scriptures, frequent reception of the Sacrament, and helping the needy. And eventually we find that we have really been changed; that we have that happiness, peace, and fulfillment that only comes from knowing God through our Lord Jesus Christ. And yet our belief is not just important for our own lives, but also for the society in which we live, that through us more and more can experience that belief that is the only belief that can transform society. Belief matters!
Sermon preached by the Very Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
The Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota FL
4th Sunday of Advent
20 December 2015