Perspective A sermon preached on Sunday, October 26, 2014, the Twentieth Sunday after Pentecost, Proper 25, Year A, at St. Matthews Episcopal Church in Bedford, New York, by the Rector, The Reverend Terence L. Elsberry. I If I were asked to name one thing our culture needs today, Id say we need perspective. As a people, we have a desperate need for perspective. When I say perspective, what exactly do I mean? Perspective, as Im using it, means the faculty of seeing all relevant data. In other words, to see a situation clearly, broadly, from as many different angles as we can. That doesnt seem so difficult, you may say, yet when I look around me I see and hear a lot of people out there in the greater world who could use a whole lot more of this precious tool for living, this perspective. David Brooks, in a recent New York Times editorial, hit the problem dead on. First, he titled his essay Snap Out of It. Then he proceeded to explain his reason for writing. He said hes been noting attitudes like despondency, passivity, talk of the world unraveling; noting a general mood of pessimism and fatalism evident in the polls and in conversations. (David Brooks; The New York Times, September 22, 2014) But he goes on to say, the facts indicate something very different: There hasnt been a time in American history when so many global cultures percolated in the mainstream, when there was so much tolerance for diverse ethnicities, lifestyles and the complex directions of the heart, when there was so little tolerance for disorder, domestic violence and prejudice. Widening the lens,” Brooks goes on to say, were living in an era with the greatest reduction in global poverty ever – across Asia and Africa. Were seeing a decline in civil wars and warfare generally. The scope of the problems we face are way below historic averages. I agree, and when I look around I see at least two reasons for these attitudes that have become all too prevalent. One is our style of presenting the news. From the medias perspective (which is not the perspective Im advocating) the world does indeed seem to be unraveling; seems to be given over almost entirely to evil, chaos and despair; lurching from crisis to crisis, from catastrophe to catastrophe. The minute the news comes on, I start breathing faster, I feel myself tensing up. If youd check me out, youd probably find my blood pressure goes up. Im the last one to deny the awfulness of starvation, terrorism, ISIS, Ebola and these ghastly random shootings. My heart breaks for the innocent lives taken and the people of all ages who are suffering from all kinds of privation which I can barely imagine. I pray for an end to all of this senseless suffering. Yet there are also countless numbers of people who are living fairly normal lives, happily humdrum we might say, without radical extremes of any kind. One minor example of how the media tries to keep us hyped up is one local station dramatically titling its weather bureau The Storm Team. Storms are actually fairly rare – thankfully – yet every day were submitted to weather updates from the Storm Team. It can be 80 degrees and sunny, with wind blowing three miles an hour; we still get this information from The Storm Team. The media approach to the world: one reason why it can be hard to maintain perspective. Heres another. Call it the tyranny of the immediate. Im enjoying all kinds of things about the technological revolution. Ive made up my mind Im going to be able to communicate with my grandchildren by at least some of the methods they use. On the other hand, todays instant, persistent, non-stop communication can keep us so obsessed with the immediate, theres no time or space in our lives left to gain perspective. Hard to get the long-range view when youre glued to a screen. David Brooks says in times like these we need to step back and get clarity. Thats why one of my all-time favorite prayers, an ancient Anglican entreaty by an unknown author, means so much to me: Lift us up, O Lord, that we may see further. Cleanse our eyes that we may see more clearly. These days, that old prayer is my prayer, the cry of my heart. Though I might add a few words of my own, something like, And, Lord, please help me, please help our nation, please help our world, get a grip! II Which brings us to todays story of Moses. If there was ever a man who had a grip, its Moses. Heres a man with perspective. Todays vignette is both inspiring and sad. Sad, because Moses is about to die. Hes not sick. Theres nothing wrong with him physically. Hes 120 years old and, we are told, his vigor is unabated. But the Lord has decided Moses has accomplished his work on earth. Hes brought the people out of bondage and to the entrance of the Promised Land. Now Moses successor, Joshua, will take them in to take the land. In order to get a good view of the Promised Land, Moses has climbed to the top of a high hill. Hes 120, and hes climbing hills! And his eyes are undimmed. No cataracts for Moses. The term undimmed vision has a double meaning here. This great old liberator of the Chosen People, this powerhouse of a man God selected to go single-handedly against an entire nation, this spiritual giant God talks to face-to-face as a man talks to his friend, this forerunner of Jesus (the once and future and ultimate Liberator), this magnificent old lion of a man, has vision. Clarity of vision. Moses knows the past. He has inklings of the future. He knows the things that are worth getting excited over and the things that arent. Moses knows what matters in life and what doesnt. Hes spent 120 years figuring it out. Moses doesnt sweat the small stuff. Hes been through too much. He doesnt get bent out of shape over little things. He knows this world is passing away; he knows its the next world that lasts forever. Moses doesnt major in the minors. No, he majors in the majors. Hes spent too much time connected to the Lord to waste time and emotional and psychic energy on the petty, the unimportant, the insignificant. Moses is our role model for perspective. Why? Because God has given him the greatest gift a person can have, greater than wealth or health or long life – all of which Moses also has. God has given Moses the gift of wisdom. Thats what we need, what we need as a country, what the world needs, what you and I need as individuals. We all need wisdom. And the only place were going to get the wisdom that is going to bring us through lifes ups and downs and sometime confusion in the best possible way; the only way you and I are going to get the wisdom that in the final analysis really matters and that will carry us through to victory; is the wisdom that comes from the source of all wisdom. And thats the Lord. It all has to do with our being connected to Him. From connection to God we derive His wisdom and from His wisdom comes the perspective we need to live our best lives. How we need that perspective today. How we need the wisdom of God. How we need the balance that can come only from living our lives grounded in Him. How we need the clarity to know what really matters, of discerning those things, those actions, those time commitments that deserve our best efforts. How we need the wits to live our best lives, be our best selves, be the best role models we can be for our friends, our children, our grandchildren. If you know me, you know Im an optimist. Sometimes I think Im the happiest man I know. Having said that, I see our culture at a crossroads. We stand at a crossroads. We have choices to make. Will we give way to the tyranny, the lure of the fleeting? Or will we climb, with Moses, to that upland place in God where we can see clearly and live our lives with wisdom? III We all know were a youth obsessed society. And why not? Who doesnt love the energy, the dynamism, the resourcefulness, the strength, the beauty of youth? No cosmetic company is coming up with a face cream to make anybody look older. But I also value and cherish and treasure the wisdom that only comes from years of living, the kind of wisdom we ignore at our peril. When somebody I know who has lived a lot, survived a lot, learned a lot, tells me something, I listen. As I listen to Moses, when in a few chapters before todays lesson from Deuteronomy, we are privileged to hear his final speech to his people, the people he has led for the past 40 years, led through many frustrations and difficulties in the wilderness, but also led – day by day – by the miraculous, loving care and wisdom of God. Hear, then, Moses final words to these people he has loved and led and cared for as a loving father cares for his children. Moses says, I set before you this day, life or death. Oh, that you would choose life! And what is life? That you choose to love the Lord your God. That you obey Him. That you cling to Him. For He is your life. And so He is. The Lord created us. He sustains us. In Him we find our strength. In Him we find the wisdom that can make all the difference – not only in how our lives go, day by day – but how our lives will ultimately turn out. In Him we find perspective.
Posted on: Wed, 29 Oct 2014 21:28:20 +0000
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