Obstacles to the Faith

6/7/98

Y OT Rdg – Dt 6:4-9 – The Shema

1.   Hear, O Israel:  The Lord our God, is one Lord; and you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and with all your might.

2.   And these words which I command you this day shall be upon your heart;

3.   and you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall talk of them when you sit in your house, and when you walk by the way, and when you lie down, and when you rise.

4.   And you shall bind them as a sign upon your hand, and they shall be as frontlets between your eyes.

5.   And you shall write them upon the doorposts of your house and on your gates.

U NT Rdg – Col 3: Selections

6.   1.  If then you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. 

7.   2. Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.

8.   5.  Destroy all that is earthly in you; put away anger, bitterness, criticism, and foul lan­guage. 

9.   9. Put off your old nature, and put on the new nature.

10. 12.  Put on then, as God's chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassion, kindness, humility, patience, accepting one another (warts and all), and forgiving one another as the Lord has forgiven you.

11. 14.  And above all this put on love, which binds every­thing together in perfect harmony.

12. 15.  Let the peace of Christ rule in your hearts.  And be thankful. 

13. 16.  Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly.

Abbot and Costello

Some of you old-timers may remember this Abbot and Costello routine:

A.  Where are you?

C.  I'm right here.

A.  No, you're not.  I'll prove it to you.

C.  I'm right here.

A.  You're not in Cincinnati are you?

C.  No, I'm right here.

A.  You're not in Boston are you?

C.  No, I'm right here.

A.  If you're not in Cincinnati, and you're not in Boston, then you must be somewhere else.

C.  Right!

A.  If you are somewhere else, then you are not here.

Costello reacts to this logic as only Costello could do.

Where Is Christ?

By some kind of similar logic, this story leads me into this thought:  Where is Christ?  In NT times no one doubted that Christ was some­where ‘above, seated at the right hand of God.'

Today, the elementary-school student knows more about the cosmos and space than the wisest of the NT wise men.

Science has not found a place where heaven could exist.  Even so, this does not mean that it does not exist.

What it does mean is that most of the elements of our faith exist in another world – another consciousness.  Furthermore, it means that we, the believers, must put forth a great deal of effort in order to experience and participate in this other world.

The human is blessed with at least two brains:  A rational brain, and a feeling brain.  The rational brain functions in, and understands the physical world.  In the physical world we find such solid objects as this pulpit and this church – what the average person thinks of as ‘real’.

The Black Hole

But the growing frontiers of science tell us that these things are no more ‘real’ than the music you just created.  If this pulpit – if this whole church – were to fall into a black hole, of which there are many out there – the whole of its substance would be ‘compressed’ (not destroyed – all of its substance would still be there) into a tiny speck of dust.

In fact, if this whole earth fell into that black hole it would become no larger than a speck of dust.  This tells the scientists that nothing in this physical world is really ‘real’.

And yet, to the rational brain, the physical world continues to be the only world that exists. 

The Feeling Brain                           

The human also has a feeling brain – a brain that perceives a whole other cosmos.  It has other functions, but two major areas are art in general and music in particular, and the spiritual world.

We can still work with the physical world – nothing that science has discovered affects our day-to-day understanding of it.  And most important – we can accept the spiritual world as just as ‘real’ as the physical world – and just as important to us. 

Music

As far as I know, we do not inherit a love of music.  This is a human experience that must be acquired and developed.  So also, we do not inherit a concern for spiritual things.  We acquire and develop this facet of our lives.  It is a major function of the Church to encourage us and guide us in this development.

Another major function of the Church is ‘to promote the Christian Faith’.  This is not easy.  Because of the so-called ‘Science vs Religion  Conflict’ there are people out there who find the Christian Faith hard to accept.

Stumbling Blocks

A major concept in the bible is that there are many ‘stumbling blocks’ to accepting the faith.  One is that our rational brains keep telling us that our faith is not ‘rational’.  Another is that we want to eat our cake and have it too.  We want the best of both worlds.  We want both the material blessings and we want the spiritual blessings.  “Truly,” Jesus said, “It will be hard for a rich man to enter the kingdom of heaven.” (Mt 19:23) Not that wealth is evil in itself – it is the ‘Love of money that is the root of all evil’. 

So!  Here are two stumbling blocks:  Rationalism – to coin a phrase – and materialism.

There are other stumbling blocks, but these are two important ones.

Enter The Christian Faith

In order to promote the Christian Faith, we have to believe it ourselves.  We have to believe it, and we have to believe that it is worth whatever it costs.  It has to have shown us that it is worth as much as that pearl of great value.  We have to be able to promise our new prospect, “We call our faith ‘the Good News’, because it will give you a whole new outlook on life.  It will turn your life around.”

Most of us have experienced this ourselves.  Some of us have been on both sides of the fence, and like Paul, we consider what we have given up as so much trash compared to what we have gained.

Nobody wants to buy a pig in a poke – anybody wants to know that there is something to be gained in taking this step – “What’s in it for me?” they ask.

The Pursuit of Happiness

The average person spends most of his energies and much of his income in the pursuit of happiness – a pursuit that Christians are not concerned with.  What we seek is spirituality, and when we achieve it we have something that is far better than the dubious benefits of ‘happiness’.  There are spiritual benefits and there are tangible benefits – you might say ‘fringe benefits’ that far exceed anything we had hoped for – and these are benefits that cannot be found in the material world.

The Spiritual Life

What I want to stress this morning is that attaining the spiritual life is worth the effort – whatever it takes, it is worth it.

It’s hard to describe the spiritual life in a few words.  ‘Inner peace’ comes close – but it doesn’t bring out the feeling of ‘wholeness’ – of ‘belonging’ – of being a part of the ‘Family of God’. 

Paul begins by telling us what it isn’t.  The specific things he brings up are those things he has found that will that hurt our spiritual life – anger, bitterness, criticism, foul language. 

But the spiritual life is even more than this – it wouldn't be easy, but one could be a good person, and still not be a spiritual person.

Paul wants Christians to be completely transformed as God's chosen ones.  'Put off the old nature, and put on the new nature.'  Recall that he said else­where, 'When a person is in Christ, he becomes a new person altogether, behold the old person is gone.'

The Religious Experience                        

This transformation is what Jesus called 'being born again'.  For some people, this experi­ence just comes, behold, there it is, they have be­come a new person altogether.  For others it isn't that simple.  But it isn't that difficult either.

A religious experience is an emotional experience – highly emotional.  The feeling brain is the seat of our emotions – our feelings.  Wm James said ca 1890, “The most important discovery of my generation was that we can change our lives by changing our attitudes.”   How do we do that?  By moving from the rational brain to the feeling brain. It is as easy as moving from one room to another.  Or even as easy as  moving from one world to another.

Being In the World

Being a spiritual person doesn’t mean being out on cloud nine all the time.  We go about our daily affairs as usual.  The big difference is:  we do it with serenity. 

As a person who was angry most of his life, I can attest that this small difference is all the difference in the world.

It requires a special effort to become a spiritual person, but the brain can be encouraged to focus both far outside ourselves, and deep within ourselves.  It won’t do it ordinarily, but it can do it.

“How do we do that?”, one asks.

“Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.”  To me, this means, “Let us get our priorities straight.”  Let us resist the temptation to build ever-bigger barns to hold ever-bigger harvests.  I doubt that Jesus had any objection to barn-building as such.  What I suspect is that he observed that barn-building was not satisfying – that it did not lead to ‘the peace of God’ which is what our goals should be – what the new person will be like.

For Paul’s ‘old nature’, the physical world is everything.  I was angry because I wasn’t satisfied with the physical world the way it was.  It should have been better.  People should be better.  It never entered my mind that there was another world where things were perfect.

Keep in mind that daily cares will sabotage all our efforts if we are not careful.  We need to get back to our scripture reading every day.  Perhaps we should put them in a conspicuous place where we see them regularly.  This is the idea of the Shema.  We need to be constantly reminded of our goals.  Put on the new person.  I put on my sun-screen every morning. Can I also put on my new person at the same time?

Needs

‘Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth.’  Where are our minds?  I recall a Bro in a monastery, a full professor with a PhD, telling us that he thought he needed a certain reference book on his desk in his ‘cell’ (room).

The Abbot had refused his request, “You don’t ‘need’ this book.  There is a copy in the library not far from your cell.  If you get this book, then you will want another.  There will be no end to your wants.”

So also, with me; I ‘need’ a camcorder.  I ‘need’ a table saw.  I ‘need’ binoculars.  There is no end to the material things I ‘need’.  Where is my mind then?

If we can put these material wants out of our minds, and seek serenity in the world as it exists – the world with no camcorder – no table saw – no binoculars – we should be able to see, dimly, that world where Christ is.  We should begin to get a new perspective on what is important in this life.

The Key Words                                                       

What are the key words in this process?  Serenity (put away anger). Acceptance (of what exists) – Young people will continue to try to build a better world, but they will accept what they cannot change.  Pride and Greed (personal appearance – personal possessions).  Both center on the Big Ego – The spiritual person focuses on his relationship with God.  Put away bitterness, criticism, and foul language.  The movies call this ‘Adult Language’.  They seek to give foul language an acceptability that it does not have and never will have. We try to rise above these hindrances to the spiritual life.

Holy

Paul calls us ‘God’s Chosen Ones – holy and beloved’   ‘Holy’ means ‘set apart for God’.  Let us try to think of ourselves as ‘set apart for God’ – something special.  As such, we may find ourselves being:  Compassionate, Kind, Humble, Patient, Tolerant, Accepting the other person as he is.  And above all else we may find ourselves being loving persons – with the love that binds everything together in perfect harmony.

Let us pray.

Pastoral Prayer

Our Heavenly Father,

Draw near to us, we pray, as we seek your presence today – and every day.  Support us in our efforts to become your people – seeking your will and your pure unbounded love.

Draw us near to you so that we can become a truly spiritual people – enable us to become new persons altogether – enable us to be born again.  Give us strength to escape the concerns of this world – to become less petty – less occupied with the trivial.  We want to be above these minor cares – we want to be at one with all of creation.

Show us how to become spiritual people – how to avoid the pitfalls of the material world – how to survive and thrive in a world that seeks to sabotage all our good intentions.

When we pray, “Lead us not into temptation.”  We mean, “Let us not be led into temptation.”  This material world offers us many glittering superficial pleasures in exchange for our souls.  Let us not be tempted by these offers.  Help us to keep ourselves holy and acceptable – a credit to the faith and a servant of our Lord.

Help us to keep our minds on things that are above, where Christ is, for it is in his name that we pray. 

                   Amen

This is the version that was presented – 6/7/98

Comments:   Wednesday, May 06, 1998

This may be the last sermon that I will write.  I can still write a sentence, but I have trouble with the paragraphs.  There are several reasons for my problems with this sermon:  First, I had it about half done as an inspirational message.  As such I was pretty well satisfied with it.  But – the lead – the opening – was not appropriate for a simple inspirational message.  It was appropriate for a rational study of the problems of faith today.  Second, in our SS Class, we were studying the problems associated with non-believers – How do we approach them?  I then tried to incorporate a message to answer that question.  Third, I had incorporated some excerpts from the Journal that seemed appropriate as examples of obstacles to becoming a spiritual person.

It would have to be drastically re-organized to produce something that had a single thrust to it.  I hate to lose something that I have created, even though it is not appropriate for the point to be made.  This problem (I think it is an emotional problem) has been with me for a long time. 

Comment – Sunday, May 10, 1998

I will try to use this sermon on Sun Jun 7 – What I have decided to do is to Build on the theme Obstacles to the Faith – and the blessings of the faith when the obstacles are overcome.  So!  The first section will be called Obstacles to the Faith – Stumbling Blocks.

Lets go!

Comments – 5/15/98

Just so you can see what I left out – and I hope better understand my thinking as I sought to pull this sucker together – I will leave the stuff I cut here.

Sermon Fragments

Wisdom

Thomas Merton, a leading authority on the spiritual life, says, in The Last of the Fathers (a study of St Bernard), Harcourt, Brace – NYC – 1954, “The doctrine of the Fathers is something more than a science.  It is wisdom, which rises to a knowledge of God and of the things of God in the infinite riches of the love of Christ. … Theological wisdom is the repose of the soul in an embrace of love that attains to God beyond all understanding.”

What is theological wisdom?  As non-Catholics, we do not have the background that Merton has, but we have some clues.

We see that central to it is God’s love.  “Pure unbounded love thou art.”  This theme carries us far and beyond my understanding of Biblical Wisdom as The Art of Being Satisfied with Life.

As we study biblical wisdom, we, like Eccl, are not impressed with its ‘truth’ or its practicality.  On the surface, it appears to be ‘foolishness’, but on further reflection we come to see that it has a very practical purpose.  Remember that religious feeling is in the feeling brain, and that logic can get in the way of our feeling experience.  We must be very cautious in being too ‘logical’ in our study.  The feeling of being satisfied with life is obviously in the feeling brain.

Human Nature

The human seems to be dissatisfied by nature.  He is restless, ill-at-ease, prone to wander, to explore.  He is discontented.  Even though much progress in human culture has been made by discontented individuals, we realize that also much harm has been done.

Merton shows that a spiritual person can still be a constructive person.

Nothing Paul says would keep us from being constructive workers.  It has been said that that Christian living won’t work.  How do we know until we try it?

We do know that if we were to try it, we would have much less waste, much less frustration, much less strife, much more contentment.

[Monday, May 25, 1998 - They asked the sculptor how he had been able to carve such a beautiful statue of an elephant from a block of stone.  He replied, “I looked at the stone, and cut away everything that didn’t look like an elephant.”

So also, in preparing this sermon, or any sermon, I select a topic, put down everything I can think of, and then cut away everything that doesn’t look like the topic.

I will now resume cutting.]

Our brain is a complex mechanism.  We learn more about it every day.  We know now that the right hemisphere is the seat of our emotions, our esthetic sensibilities, and our religious experiences.

We also know that every part of our bodies must be used regularly in order for it to function properly.  The right hemisphere, as the spiritual brain, must be used, preferably every day, just as the rational brain must be used every day.

 Now, one might ask, “Why should we promote the Christian Faith?”  And this is the crux of the matter – “Because”, we must say, “We have good news for you.  News that will turn your life around!”

An Example

While I was working on Luke’s eulogy.  I could keep using my rational brain as I recited the ‘facts’ of his life with no particularly emotional sensations, but almost instantly, when I began to write about, or think about meeting Luke ‘on the other shore’ I became highly emotional.  I completely lost my composure.  I wanted to elaborate on this facet of life in the eulogy, but it was impossible for me to do so.  It was all I could do to add, “So long Luke, I’ll see you on the other shore.”

JRNL  9/20/96

Yesterday in Walgreen’s I note the magazines on display:  The body is central.  Personal appearance, body shaping, style, makeup.  No magazines on developing the spiritual life.  I am critical of the situation, because I am not yet a spiritual person.

My goal:  to be able to look at the magazine rack with serenity – without being judgmental.  A spiritual person is not concerned with the other person’s concerns.  He/she is concerned with his relationship with the infinite.

I visit Donnelly Library.  I am critical of the way it is being managed.  How do I get out of that situation? 

What is wrong with my desire for material things?  Would these things make my life fuller?  I already have material things that I am not using.  Do I have any clues as to what the spiritual life is like?  I think so.

Eventually, we should become able to make rational decisions about what we really ‘need’.  ‘Needs’ will no longer rule our lives.  At my age, we begin to prepare ourselves for that final journey from whose bourne no traveler returns.  And we will have to travel light – not a whole lot of baggage – in fact, none.  As we contemplate that situation, we begin to see a new perspective – one in which material things fade away in importance.  Gradually, those magazines in Walgreen’s become of no interest to us.  Willy-nilly we become spiritual persons.

We don’t want to frighten away our prospects by stressing the major change that will occur in their lives, but that may be exactly what they want.  So risk it.

The human brain has developed in such a way that most of the time it is focused on handling the routine problems of life – survival, reproduction, and inter-personal contacts.  All other concerns are put aside, in fact it is very difficult to get our brains concerned about anything else.