Tales Of The Spiritually Stupid
Sermon
Sermons on the First Readings
Series II, Cycle C
Object:
"Stupid is as stupid does." So says the now-famous quote from the movie, Forrest Gump. Nowadays, it would seem stupidity is an epidemic. Just type the words "stupid people dot com" into your internet search engine and you can find loads of websites where people share their tales, like the man who wrote: "My ex-wife once called me at a bar and asked, 'Where are you?'"
Another favorite story is told about a high school teacher who assigned her class a paper on World War Two. On the date it was due, one boy came in empty handed. "I went to every library I could find, but I found NOTHING on World War Two. I found a lot of books on World War 11, though."
Makes you wonder.
Most laughable are stories of the criminally dumb. Nearly any law officer could write a book on these. The following one came through the grapevine from a patrolman in Ohio in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was assigned to security detail at a New Orleans Wal-Mart that had been looted. Several days after the flooding ceased, a man brought a plasma television back to the store's customer service department. He'd "picked it up a few days earlier" (those were his words). But when he took it home and plugged it in the television didn't work, so he was bringing it back for replacement. It was obvious to all that the television had been stolen. The officer had a tough time keeping a straight face as the store rep explained that this problem was to be expected since that part of the city still had no electricity.
An Ann Arbor newspaper crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man became so frustrated he walked away.
Dumber still is the guy who walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount he got from the drawer? -- $15.
Stupid behavior even has its own competition these days. In recent years, the Annual Darwin Awards have honored "the least evolved among us." Sometimes the competition is deadly -- as in the 2005 winner. "When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, a would-be robber did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked."
You have to laugh; but it makes you want to cry. These are somebody's children here.
Criminally stupid is one thing, but the spiritually foolish are another matter entirely, and with equally devastating consequences. Just ask the prophet Jeremiah. Year after year, he watched and warned his nation about the consequences of idolatry and religious corruption, of economic injustice and ecological abuse. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
In an earlier time, when Assyria had assailed Jerusalem, the walls had held, the supplies lasted, and the political winds had shifted before full power could be brought to bear. When the enemy departed many rejoiced that Yahweh had come to the rescue the chosen people, sparing the throne of David. Yet even as they gloried in God's power, they neglected God's covenant and its moral demands. The people continued their pagan worship ceremonies, and their leaders continued their flirtatious courtship with neighboring nations. Kings pledged their allegiance and a hefty tribute to whoever could offer the best protection; citizens offered their sacrifices to whichever god they deemed most expedient to meet their needs. Pagan worship thrived while the widows and orphans wasted away for lack of public compassion. Many fell into a false sense of security, believing that because God had spared Jerusalem and its people in the past, the city and its citizens remained inviolate forever. Not funny at all -- but extremely foolish.
God declares, "For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good" (Jeremiah 4:22).
Such foolishness can only lead to tragedy and suffering. As Jeremiah looked toward his nation's future, he saw only death and destruction: the earth "waste and void," the heavens "had no light," the foundations of the earth shaken to the core. The fruitful land lay deserted and the cities were in ruin. From the depths of his soul, Jeremiah knew these desolations were not the victory of deities superior to Yahweh -- a sign of God's weakness in protecting the nation -- as some would later claim. This devastation was, instead, the ordained fate of the spiritually stupid. And Jeremiah wept, even as God wept. "Stupid children" they may have been, yet still they belonged to God.
Sadly enough, such foolishness is with us yet. Only a generation ago, Jeremiah's graphic images of quaking mountains and hills moving to and fro became a literal reality as men split the atom and its power was released in a mushroom cloud in America's southwest desert. Not long afterward, Hiroshima and Nagasaki became "cities laid in ruins." Images of the planet plunged into darkness with no light from the heavens have shifted from poetic language to an all-too-real possibility in our own world.
In the days since then, humans have not only split the atom but we have spliced the genetic code and trod on other divine mysteries, as well. Designer babies may soon be an option for those who can pay. Gene-specific germ warfare (killer viruses which can target a specific ethnic or racial group) may well be added to future war arsenals. Jet travel in the modern age means a deadly virus can be passed around the globe in a matter of hours.
"Miracles" have become human terrain while God is increasingly pushed from the public arena. While much good has been accomplished by the human pursuit of knowledge and control, we have also placed our own survival in jeopardy. Global warming, ozone depletion, worldwide pandemics are very real consequences of spiritual foolishness. We have usurped God's authority while failing to attain God's wisdom and in so doing invited judgment upon ourselves.
Yet spiritual foolishness need not be as large-scale as all that. Examples are evident in our own churchyard. Spiritual stupidity, like any other kind, happens when we don't stop to think about the long-term consequences of our actions, or when we refuse to listen to the warnings of others when the truth is right in front us. And believe this: We can be as obstinate and dense in our church relationships as any Darwin Award champion. Call it a "failure to evolve."
Pause for a moment to consider what we might call "stupid church behaviors" and most of us could fill a page or even two. To give a few examples:
• Those acrimonious theological arguments at ecclesiastical conferences when some people quote the Bible without having actually read it.
• Those "hissy-fits" made in the pew regarding noisy children or stains on the carpet of the youth room by people who then ask the pastor why the church has so few children. Duh!
• Church members who oppose making their building accessible to persons with handicapping conditions because, "We don't have anybody like that who comes here." Of course not -- they can't get in the building!
When one church council adopted a goal to increase participation by children and youth, the pastor suggested the congregation start an after-school program. "Many of these kids get off the bus in our parking lot," the pastor observed. "Some of them stick around and play at our basketball hoop."
"But those kids don't belong to our church," came one member's objection.
Okay -- that was sort of the point!
Then there's the pastor in Illinois who, like many others, scheduled her mornings in the office and afternoons doing hospital calls and home visitation. At her annual evaluation, part of the congregation complained they could never reach her because she was always out and about while others said she spent too much time stuck in the office.
RIGHT!
Makes you wonder.
If you want to talk about a "failure to evolve" consider the story of one church member who, while visiting friends, had been invited to attend a thriving United Methodist church in Los Angeles. She returned to Ohio rather indignant because the church was packed on their arrival and they were seated in the very back while the local street people, prostitutes, and addicts were given room in the front. Some of "those people" even participated in the service. She handed her pastor a newspaper article on the congregation and its pastor, inquiring whether this church received any of her church's apportionment dollars. If so, she was solidly against paying such mission askings. She did not want her dollars going to support such a thing.
Hello! Wonder where this church got such a notion? Could it be from someone who ate with tax-collectors and healed lepers with his touch?
Tales of the spiritually stupid: We've all heard them, even witnessed them. Rest assured these stories are not fiction. We have experienced such things in our own congregation. Could be we've been the source of a few "stupid church behaviors" ourselves -- like when we invest our life's time and energy in the things of earth rather than the people of God, or when we care more about the church building than the ministry that happens there, or when we stop focusing on our relationship with Jesus only to be sidetracked by our doubts or fears or personal agendas.
"My people are foolish," we could well hear God say about us today. "They have no understanding." How sad it is -- the pain and the heartache caused by our own stubborn pride and wayward actions. Makes you wonder how the church has survived all these years. Yet, miraculously we are here.
Stupid children we might be, but we belong to God. Suffer the consequences of our foolishness we shall, but God has a plan to save us, and all creation as well. And God does not relent either in judgment or in salvation. "I have not relented, nor will I turn back" (Jeremiah 4:28). In this, we have hope.
In later years, after terrors foreseen by Jeremiah had come to pass, a devastated people looked back through pain and sorrow. It was Jeremiah who helped them make sense of it all and it was his words, which inspired hope in Yahweh's redemptive power.
This we profess above all else: Redemption is God's specialty. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son," the Bible says. When all the hatred and fear and corruption in the human arsenal had been inflicted upon the Son of God in a place called Calvary, he bore it upon himself and took it to the grave. Scripture tells us the mountains quaked and the heavens grew dim, and the community of disciples sank into despair, much like the experience of Jeremiah. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, and all that hatred and corruption came to nothing. As the Apostle Paul would later write, "God's foolishness is greater than human wisdom." In this we have confidence.
When times are at their worst, when all we see in our church or community or in the mirror brings us to the brink of despair, we do not lose hope because God did not lose hope for the world. Because Christ does not give up on us in our foolishness, neither shall we give up on ourselves or others. Releasing our folly and clinging to Jesus we find forgiveness and hope for new life, not for ourselves alone but for the entire world. In this we have joy.
Another favorite story is told about a high school teacher who assigned her class a paper on World War Two. On the date it was due, one boy came in empty handed. "I went to every library I could find, but I found NOTHING on World War Two. I found a lot of books on World War 11, though."
Makes you wonder.
Most laughable are stories of the criminally dumb. Nearly any law officer could write a book on these. The following one came through the grapevine from a patrolman in Ohio in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. He was assigned to security detail at a New Orleans Wal-Mart that had been looted. Several days after the flooding ceased, a man brought a plasma television back to the store's customer service department. He'd "picked it up a few days earlier" (those were his words). But when he took it home and plugged it in the television didn't work, so he was bringing it back for replacement. It was obvious to all that the television had been stolen. The officer had a tough time keeping a straight face as the store rep explained that this problem was to be expected since that part of the city still had no electricity.
An Ann Arbor newspaper crime column reported that a man walked into a Burger King in Ypsilanti, Michigan, at 5 a.m., flashed a gun, and demanded cash. The clerk turned him down because he said he couldn't open the cash register without a food order. When the man ordered onion rings, the clerk said they weren't available for breakfast. The man became so frustrated he walked away.
Dumber still is the guy who walked into a Louisiana Circle-K, put a $20 bill on the counter, and asked for change. When the clerk opened the cash drawer, the man pulled a gun and asked for all the cash in the register, which the clerk promptly provided. The man took the cash from the clerk and fled, leaving the $20 bill on the counter. The total amount he got from the drawer? -- $15.
Stupid behavior even has its own competition these days. In recent years, the Annual Darwin Awards have honored "the least evolved among us." Sometimes the competition is deadly -- as in the 2005 winner. "When his 38-caliber revolver failed to fire at his intended victim during a hold-up in Long Beach, California, a would-be robber did something that can only inspire wonder. He peered down the barrel and tried the trigger again. This time it worked."
You have to laugh; but it makes you want to cry. These are somebody's children here.
Criminally stupid is one thing, but the spiritually foolish are another matter entirely, and with equally devastating consequences. Just ask the prophet Jeremiah. Year after year, he watched and warned his nation about the consequences of idolatry and religious corruption, of economic injustice and ecological abuse. His pleas fell on deaf ears.
In an earlier time, when Assyria had assailed Jerusalem, the walls had held, the supplies lasted, and the political winds had shifted before full power could be brought to bear. When the enemy departed many rejoiced that Yahweh had come to the rescue the chosen people, sparing the throne of David. Yet even as they gloried in God's power, they neglected God's covenant and its moral demands. The people continued their pagan worship ceremonies, and their leaders continued their flirtatious courtship with neighboring nations. Kings pledged their allegiance and a hefty tribute to whoever could offer the best protection; citizens offered their sacrifices to whichever god they deemed most expedient to meet their needs. Pagan worship thrived while the widows and orphans wasted away for lack of public compassion. Many fell into a false sense of security, believing that because God had spared Jerusalem and its people in the past, the city and its citizens remained inviolate forever. Not funny at all -- but extremely foolish.
God declares, "For my people are foolish, they do not know me; they are stupid children, they have no understanding. They are skilled in doing evil, but do not know how to do good" (Jeremiah 4:22).
Such foolishness can only lead to tragedy and suffering. As Jeremiah looked toward his nation's future, he saw only death and destruction: the earth "waste and void," the heavens "had no light," the foundations of the earth shaken to the core. The fruitful land lay deserted and the cities were in ruin. From the depths of his soul, Jeremiah knew these desolations were not the victory of deities superior to Yahweh -- a sign of God's weakness in protecting the nation -- as some would later claim. This devastation was, instead, the ordained fate of the spiritually stupid. And Jeremiah wept, even as God wept. "Stupid children" they may have been, yet still they belonged to God.
Sadly enough, such foolishness is with us yet. Only a generation ago, Jeremiah's graphic images of quaking mountains and hills moving to and fro became a literal reality as men split the atom and its power was released in a mushroom cloud in America's southwest desert. Not long afterward, Hiroshima and Nagasaki became "cities laid in ruins." Images of the planet plunged into darkness with no light from the heavens have shifted from poetic language to an all-too-real possibility in our own world.
In the days since then, humans have not only split the atom but we have spliced the genetic code and trod on other divine mysteries, as well. Designer babies may soon be an option for those who can pay. Gene-specific germ warfare (killer viruses which can target a specific ethnic or racial group) may well be added to future war arsenals. Jet travel in the modern age means a deadly virus can be passed around the globe in a matter of hours.
"Miracles" have become human terrain while God is increasingly pushed from the public arena. While much good has been accomplished by the human pursuit of knowledge and control, we have also placed our own survival in jeopardy. Global warming, ozone depletion, worldwide pandemics are very real consequences of spiritual foolishness. We have usurped God's authority while failing to attain God's wisdom and in so doing invited judgment upon ourselves.
Yet spiritual foolishness need not be as large-scale as all that. Examples are evident in our own churchyard. Spiritual stupidity, like any other kind, happens when we don't stop to think about the long-term consequences of our actions, or when we refuse to listen to the warnings of others when the truth is right in front us. And believe this: We can be as obstinate and dense in our church relationships as any Darwin Award champion. Call it a "failure to evolve."
Pause for a moment to consider what we might call "stupid church behaviors" and most of us could fill a page or even two. To give a few examples:
• Those acrimonious theological arguments at ecclesiastical conferences when some people quote the Bible without having actually read it.
• Those "hissy-fits" made in the pew regarding noisy children or stains on the carpet of the youth room by people who then ask the pastor why the church has so few children. Duh!
• Church members who oppose making their building accessible to persons with handicapping conditions because, "We don't have anybody like that who comes here." Of course not -- they can't get in the building!
When one church council adopted a goal to increase participation by children and youth, the pastor suggested the congregation start an after-school program. "Many of these kids get off the bus in our parking lot," the pastor observed. "Some of them stick around and play at our basketball hoop."
"But those kids don't belong to our church," came one member's objection.
Okay -- that was sort of the point!
Then there's the pastor in Illinois who, like many others, scheduled her mornings in the office and afternoons doing hospital calls and home visitation. At her annual evaluation, part of the congregation complained they could never reach her because she was always out and about while others said she spent too much time stuck in the office.
RIGHT!
Makes you wonder.
If you want to talk about a "failure to evolve" consider the story of one church member who, while visiting friends, had been invited to attend a thriving United Methodist church in Los Angeles. She returned to Ohio rather indignant because the church was packed on their arrival and they were seated in the very back while the local street people, prostitutes, and addicts were given room in the front. Some of "those people" even participated in the service. She handed her pastor a newspaper article on the congregation and its pastor, inquiring whether this church received any of her church's apportionment dollars. If so, she was solidly against paying such mission askings. She did not want her dollars going to support such a thing.
Hello! Wonder where this church got such a notion? Could it be from someone who ate with tax-collectors and healed lepers with his touch?
Tales of the spiritually stupid: We've all heard them, even witnessed them. Rest assured these stories are not fiction. We have experienced such things in our own congregation. Could be we've been the source of a few "stupid church behaviors" ourselves -- like when we invest our life's time and energy in the things of earth rather than the people of God, or when we care more about the church building than the ministry that happens there, or when we stop focusing on our relationship with Jesus only to be sidetracked by our doubts or fears or personal agendas.
"My people are foolish," we could well hear God say about us today. "They have no understanding." How sad it is -- the pain and the heartache caused by our own stubborn pride and wayward actions. Makes you wonder how the church has survived all these years. Yet, miraculously we are here.
Stupid children we might be, but we belong to God. Suffer the consequences of our foolishness we shall, but God has a plan to save us, and all creation as well. And God does not relent either in judgment or in salvation. "I have not relented, nor will I turn back" (Jeremiah 4:28). In this, we have hope.
In later years, after terrors foreseen by Jeremiah had come to pass, a devastated people looked back through pain and sorrow. It was Jeremiah who helped them make sense of it all and it was his words, which inspired hope in Yahweh's redemptive power.
This we profess above all else: Redemption is God's specialty. "For God so loved the world, he gave his only Son," the Bible says. When all the hatred and fear and corruption in the human arsenal had been inflicted upon the Son of God in a place called Calvary, he bore it upon himself and took it to the grave. Scripture tells us the mountains quaked and the heavens grew dim, and the community of disciples sank into despair, much like the experience of Jeremiah. Then God raised Jesus from the dead, and all that hatred and corruption came to nothing. As the Apostle Paul would later write, "God's foolishness is greater than human wisdom." In this we have confidence.
When times are at their worst, when all we see in our church or community or in the mirror brings us to the brink of despair, we do not lose hope because God did not lose hope for the world. Because Christ does not give up on us in our foolishness, neither shall we give up on ourselves or others. Releasing our folly and clinging to Jesus we find forgiveness and hope for new life, not for ourselves alone but for the entire world. In this we have joy.
