Date: October 9, 2011
Scripture Lesson: Exodus 32:1-14
Sermon: Occupation
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells
They were fed up. How long were they supposed to wait? Really! It was time to take matters into their own hands. And so they did: With their leader a willing accomplice. Feeling deserted and abandoned by Moses, who was back up on the mountain to pray, the Israelites want a tangible deity to worship, not this remote, mysterious, mountaintop God. And they have no trouble getting Aaron to respond to their desires. Glorying in his new power with Moses gone and eager to be popular, he gives them what they clamor for – a golden calf. After all, you can do anything with enough gold, right?
God has given the Israelites everything! Creation, liberation from Egypt, libation, the water from the rock. God has given them food; manna and quail. God has given them values to live by that ensure the well being of the community. God has given them an alternative to oppression and empire which they have escaped from in Egypt . God has given them a social system in which everyone is taken care of and no one is exploited: A system of equitable justice. God has been faithful responding to the needs and desires of the Israelites. God has guided the people with the cloud and firey pillar and guided the leaders, Moses, Aaron, and Miriam. They have a promising future, thanks to God. And God, even when angry, is loyal and devoted. God cannot be unfaithful.
Still, in the face of all of this, the golden calf! How does it happen? How do the people turn away from God who has done nothing but good for them and then put their trust in a lump of metal? People are weak. They are impatient. They feel insecure. People want immediate gratification. People like control. Leaders can be opportunists, seeking popularity, favor, re-election. And so, the golden calf.
We know this story. We live it: We are given God’s way for our highest good. We see it in the life, ministry, and teachings of Jesus. Care for the earth. Care for widows, orphans, the most vulnerable, the least of these. A conception of economic justice – no exploitation, no greed, no usury, no slavery. Social values of dignity and respect for all even those we find despicable or call enemy. The dictate to do no harm. Forgive. Be at peace. Avoid violence. Serve and help one another. Be kind. We know all of this. As Imam Sadiki reminded us on September 11, these values are part of most world religions. Religion should be about helping us be who we are meant to be.
God gives us the values, the morals, the principles; we are to work out the details. We are not given a specific economic system. God doesn’t promote capitalism, or communism, or free enterprise, or monopoly, or state controlled economics. God promotes fairness, everyone having enough, devotion to the group well-being, generosity, honesty. What system we use is our human side of implementing the vision and values of God.
The same is true for governance. We aren’t told to fashion a democracy, a monarchy, a representational government, a dictatorship. We are called to have our societal life be peaceful, fair, everyone cared for, no one exploited, with leaders who are devoted to the well-being of society not self. Leaders who are loyal to this vision and these values, over re-election or party affiliation.
Our religious tradition teaches not about the rightness of one certain religion or culture or political system. It’s about creating a caring, just society, and religion that promotes the values that contribute to God’s dreams for the human community.
Yet we still get diverted, distracted, wooed, and drawn in by the golden calf. What lures us away from the divine will? Status, wealth, romance, greed, a quick fix, self interest, success, control, laziness, apathy, beauty, youth perfectionism, drugs or alcohol. We may get lured away by a particular cause, candidate, or party. Even religion can become an idol when it is about promoting a theological agenda over God’s goodness, compassion, and mystery. Idols beckon. Just a small disappointment, a bump in the road, a glance away, and we, too, may find ourselves bowing down to a golden calf, an idol of our own making. How do we find our way back?
For several weeks, I have been getting regular reports on the Occupy Wall Street movement from our son, Sterling, who lives in New York. He has two friends who have been part of the occupation and he has attended several events. Sterling’s first call after attending the occupation surprised me. He’s usually cynical, morose, negative, and brooding about any prospects for positive change – personal or social. Yet when he called after visiting the Wall Street occupation, he was energized, excited, and impressed with what he had experienced. People, predominantly young, were challenging the status quo and working for a new consensus of communitarian, just values, and calling for institutions to reflect those values.
So, when the occupation movement emerged in Tampa this past week, I wanted to go and see what it was like. On Thursday, I joined Dwight Lawton, of our congregation, for the demonstration against the war in Afghanistan. The Occupy Tampa people were coming to be part of the anti-war protest. And, eventually, they came around the corner, with home made signs, chanting, “We are the 99%.” People of varying age, ethnicity, and station in life. A rare and beautiful bouquet of diversity. One wave of people, then another, and another, and another. With signs saying:
War is not healthy for children and other living things
Corporations are not people
Don’t let them run our government
War creates enemies
America wake up
Power to the peaceful
To consider your neighbor an enemy is foolish
RIP Steve Jobs
RIP American jobs
They’ve both changed our lives
People over Profits
Land of the fees
Home of the slaves
Surge them home
You’ve stopped the economy, now stop the war
High times on Wall Street
Hard times on Main Street
Hard work is for those who can’t exploit the less fortunate
Trillions for war
Cutbacks for kids
I can’t afford a lobbyist
And from our own Dwight Lawton: How is the war economy working for you?
One Occupy Tampa participant started a wish list; a long piece of canvas on which people had expressed their hopes and dreams with rainbow colored magic markers. The list covered both sides of the canvas. I was invited to add my wish. I read the list, all of it, the expressions of at least 40 people. And I could think of nothing to add. Everything I care about, everything that really matters to me, was already there.
My experience at the demonstration filled me. At one point, I was on the verge of tears. I asked myself why I felt to moved? What was so compelling? Why did this touch my heart so? While the protest involved some government bashing and some politicking, for the most part, it was a kaleidoscope of visions and values that I feel are consistent with God’s vision for the human community that we spoke of earlier: A society that is just and fair, that cares for the weak and vulnerable, an alternative to exploitation, oppression, greed, and power abuse. These are the vision and values that form the ideal in the Hebrew Bible and are re-imagined by Jesus as the commonwealth of God. This is what I experienced in the anti-war/Occupy Tampa demonstration. I was moved by this theophany, this disclosure, of the Divine, this burning bush.
However, at the demonstration, I noted there were no outward, visible signs of church participation or religious support. Here was this beautiful manifestation of the Divine dream, but where were the faith communities? Maybe some of the people there go to church, or synagogue, or mosque. But, sadly, there was no clear expression of that. The church of Jesus Christ SHOULD care about these things.
America is a national Catholic weekly magazine published in the US that includes articles like, “Biography of Artist Stanislaw Wyspianski,” “Save the Altar Girls,” and “Just Parenting.” A recent editorial cautioned Catholics not to buy into “American conceits” such as, “the primacy of the individual, and the free market and the inherent inefficiency of government.” The editorial then offered a strong statement of the commitment of the church:
Counter to mainstream American culture, the church teaches that a society should be judged by how well it addresses the needs of its poor and vulnerable members. It demands a preferential option for the poor, not the Pentagon, when moral documents like the federal budget are prepared.” [Quoted from The Christian Century, 8/23/11, p. 9]
That’s a clear statement of Christian values. The things Jesus cared about. Yet where was the church at the demonstration in Tampa? It’s no wonder many people consider Christianity irrelevant and hypocritical. As I circulated among the people at the demonstration, I introduced myself and mentioned that I was pastor from St. Petersburg. I asked people if I could take pictures of their signs to post on our church website. I tried to let people know that there was one church, at least, that shared their passion, their vision, and their values.
The golden calves we create can be so dazzling, so consuming, so deceptive, so insidious. We may simply be blinded by their light to the reality around us, to the dreams of God, to our complicity, to their seduction. It’s no wonder God becomes angry in the story of the golden calf. After all God has done, the people still turn away, to their own peril, for such human idols and institutions will not ultimately be in their own best interest. Those who are supposed to be faithful, a light to the nations, run away. But God cannot abandon them or us. God is loyal and trustworthy.
The vision I saw in Tampa this past week was dazzling, bright, and glorious. It was a confirmation of God’s faithfulness. It restored my trust in God’s promises. With or without the church and the religious community, the Divine dream will come true. Amen.
A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.
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