A Poem and Reflection for XII Pentecost, C, Proper 17 September 1, 2019
St. Andrew's Church, Nags Head, NC Thomas E. Wilson, Supply Clergy
Chasing After Worthless Things: Inaugural Sermon at St. Andrew's
In 1971, a folksinger/ songwriter/actor, named Hoyt
Axton. wrote a song which he was trying to sell to a group, Three Dog
Night. The first verse and chorus went:
Jeremiah was a prophet
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine
Was a good friend of mine
I never understood a single word he said
But I helped him a-drink his wine
And he always had some mighty fine wine
Singin'...
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
Joy to the world
All the boys and girls now
Joy to the fishes in the deep blue sea
Joy to you and me
Three Dog Night didn't like the “prophet” imagery for
they were in the market for what they called “a silly song”, so Acton
rewrote the song to be silly and “Prophet” became “Bullfrog”, and they
sold a lot of records with it.
The first lesson for today is from Jeremiah, the Prophet not the Bullfrog, from the 6th
Century BC who had his ministry in the final years of the crumbling
southern Kingdom of Judah based in Jerusalem. The rulers of the Kingdom
and the religious establishment did understand every word that Jeremiah
said when he condemned them for decades of corruption, cronyism,
exploitation of the poor and vulnerable, mistreatment
of aliens and following disastrous foreign and domestic policies based
on greed and fear. They really did understand and they ignored his
message and threw him in a pit for telling the truth. Jeremiah is called
a “weeping Prophet” because he wept when the
people wouldn't accept joy for the world or drink his wine, even if it
was a mighty fine wine. Jeremiah's wine was not a liquid drink but a
different kind of Spirit, the intoxicating Spirit of God which offered
Joy to the World. Jeremiah sings God's weeping
question: “What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far
from me,
and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?”
Jeremiah recounts the history where God has given them
everything they needed, all they had to do was follow what God gave them
the opportunity to do; as the prophet Micah had sung a couple centuries
before “What does the LORD require of you,
but to do Justice, love mercy and walk humbly with your God.” But they
refused and went after all sorts of things for which they were willing
to pay a tremendous price in time and energy, sacrificing their honor,
community and neighbor to get all sorts of
advantages for themselves but which had no real worth: “going after
worthless things, and became worthless themselves.” They knew the cost
of everything but the true value of none.
Jeremiah, the Prophet not the Bullfrog reminds me of my
grandmother, although she did have a streak of Bulldog in her. When my
parents would take a vacation from their children, Nana would take the
train across state lines to do due diligence
over us four children. There would be occasions when she would see that
I would be going out and might be tempted to do things that violated
what it meant to be a Wilson. Being a Wilson was important, there was an
unwritten code about being a Wilson, passed
on from generation to generation, about what was expected. The world
may not care about what it meant to be a Wilson, but I was instructed to
never forget. She would say to me: “Mister Tom, Remember who you are.”
That is what Jeremiah is saying to the country he lived
in. “You have a heritage of being the beloved children of God. You are
children of the dream to create a community of compassion not cliques of
croneyism, of care of neighbor not exploitation
of the vulnerable, of God's Shalom, peace, not swaggering aggression.
You are better than that. Remember who you are.”
Centuries later, Jesus, the prophet continuing in that
tradition, is attending the dinner of some Pharisees. The Pharisees
strived to be the best of the best, they knew scripture backwards and
forwards, they followed the religious practices and
law scrupulously, they majored in the minors of what the Lord required
of them, never quite getting around to doing justice, loving mercy or
walking humbly, because their central God was their own ego. Jesus sees
them creating cliques of influence and power,
battling to meet their own ego needs to occupy places by the seat of
honor. Jesus looks at them with sadness as they are “chasing after
worthless things and becoming worthless themselves” Jesus will turn to
his disciples to remind them who they are; servants
not masters. They are not to parade their own blessedness but to empty
themselves out so that God's blessings might pass on to others.
This is my first Sunday with you as part of my extended
Supply for St. Andrew's until you are able to find the person God wants
for you to have as your Rector. I am therefore, temporarily, to fill in
at the seat of honor. Imagine my unease when
the Gospel lesson for my first Sunday has Jesus warn those who follow
him that if they have aspirations of taking the seat of honor, in my
case the Rector's chair, that it will be just a matter of time until
someone comes up, as in the story, and says: “Give
this person your place.” I am to be here as God's servant not as this
church's ruler. I come to be a servant of the heritage of St. Andrew's
Church which has a history of being in the forefront to do justice, love
mercy and walking humbly with our God.
When I write a reflection for Sundays it has been a
practice of mine to write a poem to try to figure out how the lessons
speak to me. As I reflected about coming here ,I became aware of my own
ego and how I wanted to be impressive on my first
Sunday here. A line came to me from a play I was in 54 years ago, Murder In the Cathedral by T.S. Eliot: “The last temptation is the greatest treason; to do the right deed for the wrong reason.”
I am going to ask a favor of you. During my time here, I
am not your Rector, I am not even your Interim, that work has already
begun and it is now up to you and the search committee to continue on
the path instead of my taking it over. I am your
extended supply, here to serve God, this church and you. It will be my
job for me to say things like: “St. Andrew's: remember who you are!”
Your job, when needed, is to say “Mr. Tom; remember who you are!”
Inaugural Sermon: Chasing After Worthless Things
Let me get up there and show'em how its done
with a resounding voice and perfect diction,
impress them all, like in a movie or fiction:
they'll be in awe of my power under the sun.
Weeping at my stories, gasping at insights,
breathless at my flights of fancy schemes,
taking them to places beyond their dreams,
the glory will be mine; for I've got the rights!
Walking to the pulpit, check with ego to say
if I am merely posturing as a roadshow savant
or if I was baptized as a faithful God's servant,
to empty myself, to truly live as I would pray?
I hear seer's warning how chasing worthless things
ends up with worthless meaning to a life brings.
