Musings: Gun Control and Moral Hypocrisy

The NRA's response to the gun control debate has exposed a deep hypocrisy in our moral discourse from both sides. In their statement, The NRA blamed violence in the media and in video games for events like the shooting in Newtown, CT. This is the same group that has used the argument over and over again that you cannot punish the majority for the acts of a few "crazy" people. They have argued that the government cannot take away or limit guns because the violence is not the fault of the guns but the fault of the individuals. This same group is now attacking the media for its portrayal of violence, taking the responsibility out of the hands of the individual and placing it on movies, TV. and videos games. Is the slogan now guns don't kill people, the media does? Am I the only one who sees the hypocrisy in this?

Before this come across as a pure attack on the NRA, let me point out that the hypocrisy also exists on the other side. Those who know me know that I am fairly liberal. I support gun control and that I am also against the censorship of media and video games etc... My argument, like most people’s, has always been that violence in the media does not cause someone to commit violence, that violent people will already have had some sort of disposition to violence or will have had some stressor in their life to push them over the edge. It is people like me, who hold this view about censorship that so often cry for gun control, and now I see the hypocrisy in this as well. How can we take a hands off approach on one of the issues, and a position of censorship and control on the other. Hypocrisy rests on both sides. I know that both issues are far more complex than this portrayal, and yet we must recognize that there is some hypocrisy there. I do not have the answers on how to respond, I don't even know if the hypocrisy changes my stances, but I feel as though it is something that must be acknowledged before we move forward in discussions on both issues.

Be Prepared

Sermon as Preached 12/9/12 @ Lambs and Evington UMC


Scripture: Luke 3:1-6

 

 

 

Something you may not know about me is that when I was younger I was a boy scout. I remember that as you try to advance through the ranks in boy scouts, one of the first things you had to do was memorize a bunch of different sayings. There was the scout oath, “On my honor, I will do my best  To do my duty to God and my country and to obey the Scout Law; To help other people at all times; To keep myself physically strong, mentally awake and morally straight.” Then there was there was the scout law, “A Scout is: Trustworthy, Loyal, Helpful, Friendly, Courteous, Kind, Obedient, Cheerful, Thrifty, Brave, Clean, and Reverent. There was also the boy scout slogan, “Do a good turn daily” Out of all of them, the easiest one to remember, and yet the most helpful saying was a short two word saying, the scout motto, “Be prepared” This saying taught us a lot. It  taught us if you were going to go before the scoutmaster to try to meet one of your requirements, that you better be prepared, you had better have put the work into learning everything that you needed to know. Most of all it taught us that when there is something happening in the future, whether it was a trip, or a service project, or just a regular meeting, that you need to truly think of everything that you need to do before the event, and also everything that you might need for the event. If the boy scouts taught me anything it taught me to be prepared.

            Our scripture this morning is all about this idea of preparation. In it, we find John the Baptist in the wilderness and in all regions around the Jordan. His message was simple,  Christ is coming, be prepared. He  says, “The voice of the one crying out in the wilderness,  Prepare the way of the Lord, make his paths straight. Every valley shall be filled, and every mountain and high shall be made low, and the crooked shall be made straight, and the rough ways made smooth; and all flesh shall see the salvation of God.” While many times when we read this we think of John the Baptist as some crazy man out shouting something new and radical that the Israelites had never heard before, this is not entirely the case. Now I’m not going to question whether John the Baptist looked crazy, because wild hair and eating bugs sure does give that appearance, but what he was saying was nothing new. John was quoting scripture, Isaiah, something that the Jews had heard so many times before.  John however was taking the message to heart, Christ is coming, and we need to be prepared.

            We are not that much different in our times now. We know the Christmas story, we know that Christ came as a baby in Bethlehem,  we know that Christ died and rose again, and we know that Christ will come again. When we hear it we are either like scrooges, we turn our hearts away from the news, we don’t want to hear it or we just simply don’t care; or we get Christmas fever, we want to sing all of our favorite Christmas tunes, decorate our houses in special ways, and yet how often do we do this and when Christmas passes our lives are not changed at all from the way they were before we celebrated the Christ child? In our  eagerness to celebrate Christmas, we forget to get ready for it. We aren’t prepared, and because of that lack of preparation, Christmas flies by, the joy is short lived, and life continues once again how it has always been. Do we truly take time to prepare for Christmas?

            When people hear the phrase “be prepared” there are usually two different ways of interpreting the statement.  The first is what I will call the bomb shelter mentality. Some will hear the message of be prepared and think that it means brace for impact. It the idea that something devastating is coming and you have to be prepared for all the bad things that might happen.  I call it the bomb shelter mentality, but we see the same reaction to natural disasters. The meteorologist forecasts a huge storm or forecasts tons of snow, and everyone stocks up on the essentials like water and non-perishable food items so that when that storm does come, they are prepared. When many people hear the term be prepared, this is what they think of. Even when applied to the coming of Christ, this is often how we act.  We recognize our sin, accept Christ into our lives, and do nothing about it. We use the church as a bomb shelter to hide in, waiting until it is safe to go back out into the world. But this is not the type of preparation that John the Baptist is calling us to. He says, “Prepare the way for the Lord, make straight his paths.” This is not an invitation to hide in our bomb shelters away from all that scares us in the world, but instead it is a call for us to go out into the world, a prepare the world for the coming of Christ.

            This type of preparation I like to call the special guest, or with my particular situation, the wedding preparation.  As most of you know Heather and I are getting married next October. While that seems like so far away, it is unbelievable the amount of preparation that goes into that day.  First we picked a location, we wanted somewhere that had been special to both of us, and so we decided to pick the church at Randolph-Macon since after all that is where we met. Then we had to pick a date, which seems simple enough until we found there were a lot more factors to consider than we thought. We knew we wanted a fall wedding, but since our wedding was on campus we had to plan the wedding around Parent’s Weekend and Homecoming. Columbus day is also one of the best days for business at my dad’s work, and since he works off of commission we didn’t want to do it on that day either. We found that something so simple as picking was actually quite difficult.  Next we have to make invitations, get bridesmaids dresses, rent tuxedos, find decorations, figure who is participating in what parts of the ceremony, including who is going to officiate. We have to find somewhere to go for premarital counseling, decide where we are going for the honeymoon, and whether or not we can afford it,  find a photographer, find a caterer or someone in our families who will cook for the reception, and it seems as though the list for preparation goes on and on and on. All of this leading to a wonderful day in which we can finally celebrate together in the joy of marriage.

            This is more of the preparation that John is calling us towards, this is more of the preparation that Advent calls us to partake in. Now the keen observer may start to wonder, “wait a minute, I thought Advent was a time of waiting, anticipating, not rushing, I thought Advent taught patience. How can all of this work be part of patience? That is an excellent question to ask, how does all of this preparation fit into the purpose of Advent? It is for this reason that I chose the example of a wedding, I didn’t just choose it because it is on my mind, though that is true as well.

            In my example I described a special day, a day of celebration, and that will forever change the lives of not only Heather and me, but our family and close friends as well. With a day like this, the first instinct is to go ahead already and do it. Certainly we could have, we could have gone to the courthouse and eloped so that we could be married today, we could have had a quick, small wedding, and trust me it has been tempting, both of us want that day to be here already, but we know that in order for us to make the wedding as meaningful of possible we have to be patient. In order for us to truly be ready for marriage, there needs to be a time of engagement. But as I said earlier this engagement period has not been a time in which we just sit on our hands waiting for the day in which we are married, it is a time that helps us truly understand and prepare for that special ceremony and what it means for the rest of our lives.

            Christmas and Advent are very similar. Christmas is that wonderful celebration that we all look forward to, it is that feast that will forever change the lives of those who celebrate it. Christmas is like the wedding, but like the wedding there needs to be a time to prepare, and wait, to anticipate what Christmas really means for our lives and to get ready for  that transformation. This time, this engagement period is why we celebrate Advent.  Just as Heather and I are taking time to prepare for marriage, just as we will take premarital classes to help strengthen our relationship, so too during Advent we need to take time to strengthen our relationships not only with each other, but also with God. Advent is a time for us to prepare our hearts and our souls for the gift of Jesus Christ, sometimes that includes confessing our sins and repenting, sometimes that means bringing our burdens before his feet. That may mean that we need to truly reflect on what our relationship with Christ is like. Do we pray, if we do, do we pray enough? Do we pray earnestly and truthfully?  Are following the call that God has put on our lives, or do we keep ignoring it, or putting it off until later?

            Advent is not only a personal preparation, but it is a time in which we are called to prepare others for the good news of Christ’s redeeming love, of Christ’s arrival on Earth. Just as Heather and I prepare to share the joy of our wedding with others, Are we preparing others for Christmas. Are we telling people about the good news? Are we inviting others to church, or to our Christmas programs?  Are we feeding the hungry, healing the sick, visiting those in prison, advocating for the end of oppressive systems in our nation and around the world? When Christmas day comes will we be ready? Will we have done our part? Will people truly believe that Christ has come to Earth  to bring love and justice to all, because they have experienced it through us? When a child opens up their gift on Christmas morning and gives their parents a hug and tells them thank you, will that parent be able to give thanks to God because that gift was only possible through Christians who believe that all should be able to experience the joy of Christmas. Maybe the biggest question is when Christmas passes, when it is time to take down our trees and our lights, when the shops and malls are no longer decorated with the seasonal cheer, when the novelty of whatever gifts we received that year has worn off, will our lives have been transformed, and will we have helped to change the life of someone else. Will Christmas mean anything to us? If in your heart the answer is no, then maybe we need to take this time that we have now, this time of Advent to truly prepare for Christmas. Not hurry or rush the coming of Christmas, but take time to prepare for it. Take time make straight the paths for the Lord, so that when it comes, and rest assured it will come, we will be prepared for Christmas, that the joy of the season will forever transform our hearts, our souls, and our minds.

Long Dark Winter of the Soul

Sermon as Preached 12/2/12 at Lambs and Evington UMC


Scripture- Jeremiah 33:14-16

Last week, we talked a little about the liturgical calendar as we celebrated Christ the King Sunday; the last Sunday of the liturgical year. And so today we turn back to the beginning of the calendar, a time that many of us have loved ever since we were kids, and that is of course the time of Advent, a time where we eagerly anticipate and celebrate the arrival of Christ on Earth. It is a time in the calendar full of joy and hope, the sanctuaries are decorated in anticipation, we light the Advent candles and read the meaning behind each candle, all leading until the time in which we can light the Christ candle, signifying God’s arrival on Earth in the form of a small baby, born in a manger. It is a time of the year that Christians have come to love as the famous song says, “The Most Wonderful Time of the Year.” While there is so much talk about the liturgical season of Advent,  it is rarely mentioned how fitting it is that Advent occurs during this season of the Earth. During Easter the link is almost always made between Spring and Easter, between the new life of plants and trees, and the resurrection. (This does show the Northern hemisphere bias of the liturgical calendar because for those south of the  Equator, Easter is during either fall or winter.) But for us here, there is a clear link between spring and Easter. We should also make a connection between our season now and Advent. Sure it isn’t technically winter yet, but the weather sure is starting to feel like it. The leaves have fallen and trees are now barren. Frost has begun killing our grass and our plants. The temperature has dropped and now with every wind, our bones are chilled and we find places to huddle for warmth. The days have grown shorter, there is more darkness, and even in times of daylight, there is often a hazy overcast that can at times be outright depressing. And this, this is the season in which we begin to anticipate Emmanuel, God with us.

            And yet it is so fitting. Our scripture from today is from Jeremiah, who like many of the prophets, has seen the sad and dark days of Israel. The Babylonians have conquered and destroyed Israel, and the people have been kept in captivity.  It is a time of darkness for the Israelites. It is a time of despair, a time of depression, it truly is a long dark winter of the soul. Even Jeremiah creates the imagery of the  death of vegetation, he paints a picture of a dark, cold, barren wasteland.

And yet he depicts this imagery while presenting an image of hope. Jeremiah says, “In those days and at that time I will cause a righteous Branch to spring up for David; and he shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.”  A righteous branch to spring up for David. God gives the Israelites a promise, a hope, that in the middle of all they are going through, in the midst of the despair, the darkness, the cold, a branch is going to up and to bring justice and righteousness to the land. God gives them hope that from the cold and darkness of winter, when everything else has died, there will be new life; life that will restore the land, life from the branch of David.  As Christians we know where and when this hope would come, as Christians we hear the story of the story of Christ’s arrival on a yearly basis, we know the story by heart, we love it and cherish it, but for the Israelites, they did not yet know this good news. All they had was a promise from God, that there would be a Messiah to come and save the people. The Israelites did not know when this would happen, they did not know who the Messiah would be, for the most part their lives were very much the same, they were still in exile, they had still lost their land, their homes, their Temple, and yet now the Israelites had something else; they had hope. Hope that one day, they would be saved, and not by just anyone, but the Messiah would come from the root of David.

            We cannot underestimate the power of this hope. In fact, Matthew even starts his gospel around this hope. The first chapter of Matthew traces the genealogy of Jesus. While many of us today find it to be one of the most boring parts of the Gospel, or it is the one that we pray that the pastor doesn’t ask us to read, (you know how it goes, so and so begat so and so, and difficult to pronounce name begat even stranger name and so on.) but for the Jews who read this genealogy, it was a passage of great hope. Because the gospel traces Jesus’ genealogy back to David, Jews could now see that this truly was the Messiah. This is the one that God has been promising us, and best of all, he is one of us, he knows our hurt and our pain. And he shall be called Emmanuel, God with us. Emmanuel, we use this word a lot around this time of year, but how often do we really stop to think about what it means. God is not only with us in spirit, God is not only with us through prayer, God, Emmanuel, was one of us. Someone who knows our pain, or fears, or hurt, God became human. Out of the darkness, out of the cold, out of our brokenness and despair, sprouted a new branch, a little baby child, who would forever change the world, God with us.

            This Sunday, as we begin Advent we are usually so quick, so eager to for the arrival of Christmas, we don’t want to wait to tell that Christmas story, we want it now, but let us stop and learn from our season. This time of year is a great reminder of the purpose of Advent. That from the cold, the frost, the darkness of the shorter days, that in the midst of a season that in all honesty would normally cause depression and despair, we have hope. We must take time to recognize the beauty of this hope.  We have become so accustomed to hearing the good news, that we tend to forget why we need to hear it in the first place. The Israelites did not know when Christ would come, they did not know where, or in what manner he would come, the Israelites did not know the same Gospel story that we know today. What the Israelites had was hope, a hope that God would save his people. This morning let us learn from Israelites, let us not take the good news for granted. Let’s us truly think about the areas in our lives that feel hopeless. If there there are no such areas in your lives, the let us thank the Lord, but then let us be reminded of those whose still today live life with very little hope. Even in our community there are those who feel hopeless. Those who do not see this season as a time of joy, but rather see it as a time of pain. There are those who have lost loved ones, there are those who struggle to even put food on the table let alone a Christmas feast. There are many who see the changing weather not as a sign of cheer, but an obstacle to overcome, of simply staying warm through the winter. And yet, this morning we have lit the first candle of the Advent wreath, the hope candle, a light that signifies that even through the cold and the dark, hope is coming. If you are one who is feeling hopeless today, know that there is hope. If you aren’t, then let this candle remind you to be a bearer of hope to those who are hopeless. Christ is coming to bring life to this dead world… .  there is hope.