Sunday, September 20, 2009, A Sermon by Reverend Lillie Mae Henley
If you have seen any news coverage this week, glanced at the editorial pages of The Washington Post, listened to any talk radio, surfed videos on the internet, then you are certainly aware of the public discussion around Kenya West, Serena Williams, and Rep. Joe Wilson, in alphabetical order. While these three “public figures,” were the catalysts for the most recent rounds of comments, it is a discussion that has been taking place in editorial pages and magazines, for a decade or more.
It IS a discussion on “civility.”
Civility, or lack of civility, has been on our minds for awhile. There has been talk about how we arrived at this cultural place.
Children are being reared without any manners
Everything from parents who don’t even have their children stop their video games to greet guests in their homes, to the parents who want everyone to have a trophy—even when their children lose a game—to the parents who don’t want their children to hear the word “no”
We have become so individualistic and consumed with our own lives that we don’t even recognize others’ existence
The drivers who refuse to let in another car when lanes merge, those who steal another’s identity because they don’t want to work for a living, those who treat retail sales workers or customer service with disdain or invisibility
Many people have this attitude of “entitlement”
This covers a lot, “I spend eight hours of my day here; you owe me ‘something.’”
“You give me a company car, and I HAVE TO PAY to wash it!?!?”
Child rearing, individualism, and entitlement are some of the reasons we’ve heard, among many, for the present state of incivility. The blame has also been on feminism, political correctness, and even racism.
It is one thing to see incivility or rudeness in our fellow citizens, but another to see it in people who are leaders or role models. And in the last week we have seen it in music, politics, and sports—in alphabetical order. Is there some kind of pill that we have all taken some, a cultural “rude pill?” And, it seems that over-exaggeration and failure to be truthful and unbiased in our public discourse is part, is part, of our incivility.
Both our readings this morning have to do with leadership and relationship.
In second Samuel, we hear King David’s last words. These last words are called an oracle or “prophetic utterance” [Bruce C. Birch, The New Interpreter’s Bible]. Now, we know King David was not a perfect man; nor were his three hundred or so wives and several hundred concubines or his children. Yet, he was the covenantal king of his people and he, like us, knew what was affirming and JUST in God’s eyes, even when he couldn’t or wouldn’t live as he needed to live. Often, in the Scriptures, justice, compassion, and mercy are associated with wisdom. And we know, that there is a difference between worldly wisdom and God’s wisdom.
The poets sang of a King David who knew that justice, compassion, and mercy had to be the foundation upon which a ruler stood.
“One who rules over people justly…”
The scribes chose to end the story with hope rather than defeat mired in a family existence that was all too human. They chose to end the story of King David as a vision of justice. It is not hypocritical, it is a matter of lifting up the responsibilities of what could be, instead of what is.
The same is true of the author of James. Who, according to theologian Luke T. Johnson [The New Interpreter’s Bible, 1998], was an “egalitarian” and “communitarian.” The scribe of James, Johnson tells us, writes a wisdom literature to “brothers and sisters,” who are equal, there are no hierarchal images in James. She or he also writes to the community. Johnson wrote, “[James is] against every form of self-assertion that seeks advantage at the expense of another, James calls for attitudes of solidarity, mercy, and compassion. In contrast to the logic of envy that leads to oppression and ‘killing the righteous one’ … James calls for a community that rallies around the sick and sinful in order to heal/save them.”
James asks, “Who is wise and understanding among you?”
“Show by your good life that your works are done with gentleness born of wisdom.”
James asks this community to look into their hearts. If they have envy and selfish ambition, chaos will be the result. If they have “… cravings that are at war within …” “… if they covet something and cannot obtain it…” they will engage in conflicts and commit murder.
Just this past week, two high school students argued with a Subway employee because they brought into the restaurant food from another restaurant. One stole a bag of chips as they were leaving, and when the employee followed them, one of the students stabbed the employee. Another seventeen-year-old killed his girlfriend’s mother.
In the Washington Post, one can find stories on every page, opinions in the editorials, that reflect a culture of envy, selfish ambition, and the chaos that results. Stories and opinions that reflect incivility
King David said in his last words, a wise ruler rules justly with the thought of God always in mind.
James writes, that wisdom from above is “first pure, then peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy …” and that kind of wisdom leads to peace.
Peacefulness is the opposite of incivility.
No, I am not saying that everyone in our culture is uncivil. That there are no stories or opinions that are affirming. That we have no justice in our society. There is.
Nevertheless, we have to recognize that the press, and we all have our opinions about the press, is immediate, up close and personal. The cameras are there, in the moment, to see and to show us those in the public eye who are uncivil. Whatever the reason, and we all have our reasons for being uncivil, it is absolutely and positively unnecessary to be uncivil.
How did we get to this cultural place of incivility?
This is about leadership and relationship.
We are all leaders and role models for someone. We all have a relationship with our God. Our public conversation can be more peaceful, compassionate, and just. Whatever in our humanity which gets in the way of our living the kind of life that God would have us live, we need to face it, confront it. Whatever interferes with God’s wisdom informing our lives, we need to deal with it personally.
And culturally?
Is it child rearing?
Is it individualism?
Entitlement?
Feminism, political correctness, and even racism.
We have to look at all of it; honestly candidly, just as we look within and without.
As an economist would say, we have to look at the macro and the micro.
Whether it is West, Williams, or Wilson. Whether it is the teacher, preacher, or accountant. Whether it is doctor, lawyer, or taxi cab driver. Whoever we are, we need to show more compassion, mercy, and justice in our public and private relationships. We need more of God’s wisdom in our leadership and in our relationships.