Paradox Of America
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Contents
"Paradox Of America" by John Fitzgerald
"The Highway of the Heart" by Frank Ramirez
Paradox Of America
by John Fitzgerald
1 Kings 8: (1,6, 10-11,22-30,41-43)
The late comedian, George Carlin, wrote a serious commentary upon America before his death. Carlin said, “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings and shorter tempers; we have wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but we have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less common sense. We have more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, we laugh too little, and drive too angry. . . We have been all the way to the moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. . . These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion. These are the times of big men and small characters. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce. These are the days of throwaway morality, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything form cheer, to make quiet, and kill”
Carlin offers a very insightful piece upon the problems of 21st Century America. Our society is plagued on many levels with the predicaments mentioned by Mr. Carlin. The scripture reading which serves as a sermon text for this morning suggests some possible ways of addressing these pressing challenges.
The Bible lesson from I Kings 8 begins with the ark of God’s covenant having a triumphant return to Jerusalem. A large crowd is assembled to honor the Lord’s ark reestablished in God’s Temple. It is little wonder this event garnered such attention because the ark represented divine presence. Once again the people of Israel could have a confidence that God would be with them in all activities of national importance.
Somehow we have lost the feeling that God’s presence hovers over all things relating to America. Our nation is increasingly becoming a secular country without any regard to the notion that God is watching over us. It is sad to say that we now worship at the altar of rude and crude. The more vulgar and uglier a person can be it only goes to enhance their cultural influence. Certainly any reference to something like an ark of God’s covenant would be ridiculed as hopelessly outdated in these United States.
Verses 10-11 capture a sense of God’s holiness as related to the ark and temple: “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.” It is a a shame we have lost this aspect of a holy God in America this day. The contradictions listed by Carlin may disappear when surrounded by divine glory.
Another helpful lesson drawn from our scripture is discovered in King Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication for the Temple which starts in verse 23. In his prayer, Solomon requests of God to fulfill pledges made with King David: “You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it?as it is today. . . And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.” verses 24,26
It is a good idea to be rooted in strong traditions of our forefathers as Solomon has done with King David. Having an awareness of the moral imperatives which our ancestors lived under can only be a foundation for living as God’s people. Unfortunately, our tendency is to delete anything which hearkens to the past and live only in a present moment. Modernity is fine, but we are a weak people when we cut off all reference to church tradition and biblical record.
The third and final lesson gained from our scripture is discovered in verses 41-43. King Solomon prays that nations and peoples can be drawn together with a common vision of prayer. “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name-- for they will hear of your great name and your outstretched arm?when they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place.” Solomon has the desire that both Jew and Gentile might be united in devotion to God. This very same prayer is needed desperately in our world today. This tiny little planet is rocked with violent conflicts motivated by differing religious views. The bloodshed will abate only when God’s people in every land find unity in prayer.
Returning to George Carlin’s comments, he also gives some remedies for America. I share them in closing: “A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember, to hold hands and cherish the moment, some day that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak; give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. And always remember: life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
* * * * * * *
The Highway of the Heart
by Frank Ramirez
Psalm 84
Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion (Psalm 84:5)
It all began with a fifty dollar wager, made during a time when fifty bucks was a good deal of cash. An idle discussion about whether the newfangled automobile had a future or would always be just a rich man’s toy turned into a wager about whether it was possible to cross the United States from the west to the east when there were only one hundred and fifty miles of paved road in the entire country.
And to top it all off, the man who bet there was a future to the automobile didn’t own a car and had never driven one at the time he shook hands on the deal.
As the 19th turned into the 20th Century the Iron Horse and the flesh and blood horse reigned when it came to transportation in America. Railroads carried passengers swiftly from one part of the country to the other with a speed that would have amazed earlier eras. But you could only go where the tracks were laid.
For everywhere else you depended on the horse. You rode the horse or the horse pulled your cart or carriage. Many times this was across dirt tracks that could be flooded and muddied over and made impassable by the weather.
Then one day in the spring of 1903 a man named Horatio Nelson Jackson (1872-1955) from Vermont, was sitting in a club in San Francisco when the conversation turned to the poor quality of roads and the impracticality of cars. The argument was made that cars would forever remain a curiosity. They were expensive, unreliable, and even if you could get the dratted things to work there were only almost no paved highways outside of a few big cities.
So even though Horatio didn’t own a car he stood up for the automobile and the next thing you knew he had accepted a fifty dollar bet he could drive from San Francisco back home to his native Vermont. The deal was done, and the trip was on.
Horatio was a minister’s son who made a living as a doctor until he married Bertha Richardson Wells, the daughter of one of the richest men in Vermont. They were in San Francisco on the way home from their world travels. After making the bet Horatio returned to their hotel and informed his wife she’d be taking the train back home by herself while he bought a car and learned how to drive the thing.
It proved harder than he expected to find a car but at last he bought a used 1903 Winton with a thousand miles under its belt, and for that he had to pay $3000 for a car that sold for $2500 new. He also hired a mechanic, Sewall K. Crocker.
The car had a bad set of tires that blew out constantly. It ended up in ditches, got stuck in mud, and floundered in waterways. Horatio and his mechanic made use of a winch to rescue themselves, often several times a day. There were constant tire repairs. There were no gas stations at that time and even in the best of conditions they could travel only around 150 miles on a tank of gas. The pair relied on general stores, many of which sold fuel for farm equipment.
Having heard of drivers whose attempts had come to nothing in the great deserts east of California, Horatio headed north, aiming for Idaho, before heading in a more easterly direction. Along the way he picked up a mascot, a bulldog named Bud. The intrepid trio began to collect headlines as they made progress, and Bud often stole the show when the Winton, by then nicknamed The Vermont, rolled into a town.
Many folks in small towns had never seen a car. Students would be let out of school. Others were eager to help as they could. Sometimes they would trade rides for meals.
Along the way Horatio found himself stranded for days while they waited for supplies for repairs to be shipped. Many times they slept out in the open, wherever they could find a space. At one point he found himself with no money and no food, as they waited for more cash to be wired by Horatio’s ever patient wife. A nameless shepherd took pity and fed them.
Then the trip was transformed into a race to be the first to drive a car across the country. Oldsmobile and Packard sent out well-financed teams that were met at various prearranged points with shipments of supplies, with the aim of catching and passing Horatio’s intrepid trio. The Winton company offered to finance Horatio as well, but he decided it would be more sporting to honor the original terms of the bet.
Sixty-three and a half days after setting out, Horatio Nelson Jackson, his mechanic Sewall K. Crocker, and Bud the Bulldog arrived in New York City, claiming the prize of being first to travel across the nation in a car. Jackson went on to be a successful businessman, newspaper publisher, and radio pioneer. He donated his car to the Smithsonian, along with other mementos and enjoyed telling others about his adventure, when he traveled along a highway that didn’t exist yet.
Oh. And as far as anyone knows, Horatio never tried to collect the fifty dollars he was owed.
(For more information watch the Ken Burns documentary Horatio’s Ride.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 23, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
"Paradox Of America" by John Fitzgerald
"The Highway of the Heart" by Frank Ramirez
Paradox Of America
by John Fitzgerald
1 Kings 8: (1,6, 10-11,22-30,41-43)
The late comedian, George Carlin, wrote a serious commentary upon America before his death. Carlin said, “The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings and shorter tempers; we have wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but we have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees, but less common sense. We have more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness. We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, we laugh too little, and drive too angry. . . We have been all the way to the moon and back but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. . . These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion. These are the times of big men and small characters. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce. These are the days of throwaway morality, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything form cheer, to make quiet, and kill”
Carlin offers a very insightful piece upon the problems of 21st Century America. Our society is plagued on many levels with the predicaments mentioned by Mr. Carlin. The scripture reading which serves as a sermon text for this morning suggests some possible ways of addressing these pressing challenges.
The Bible lesson from I Kings 8 begins with the ark of God’s covenant having a triumphant return to Jerusalem. A large crowd is assembled to honor the Lord’s ark reestablished in God’s Temple. It is little wonder this event garnered such attention because the ark represented divine presence. Once again the people of Israel could have a confidence that God would be with them in all activities of national importance.
Somehow we have lost the feeling that God’s presence hovers over all things relating to America. Our nation is increasingly becoming a secular country without any regard to the notion that God is watching over us. It is sad to say that we now worship at the altar of rude and crude. The more vulgar and uglier a person can be it only goes to enhance their cultural influence. Certainly any reference to something like an ark of God’s covenant would be ridiculed as hopelessly outdated in these United States.
Verses 10-11 capture a sense of God’s holiness as related to the ark and temple: “When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the Lord. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.” It is a a shame we have lost this aspect of a holy God in America this day. The contradictions listed by Carlin may disappear when surrounded by divine glory.
Another helpful lesson drawn from our scripture is discovered in King Solomon’s Prayer of Dedication for the Temple which starts in verse 23. In his prayer, Solomon requests of God to fulfill pledges made with King David: “You have kept your promise to your servant David my father; with your mouth you have promised and with your hand you have fulfilled it?as it is today. . . And now, God of Israel, let your word that you promised your servant David my father come true.” verses 24,26
It is a good idea to be rooted in strong traditions of our forefathers as Solomon has done with King David. Having an awareness of the moral imperatives which our ancestors lived under can only be a foundation for living as God’s people. Unfortunately, our tendency is to delete anything which hearkens to the past and live only in a present moment. Modernity is fine, but we are a weak people when we cut off all reference to church tradition and biblical record.
The third and final lesson gained from our scripture is discovered in verses 41-43. King Solomon prays that nations and peoples can be drawn together with a common vision of prayer. “As for the foreigner who does not belong to your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name-- for they will hear of your great name and your outstretched arm?when they come and pray toward this temple, then hear from heaven, your dwelling place.” Solomon has the desire that both Jew and Gentile might be united in devotion to God. This very same prayer is needed desperately in our world today. This tiny little planet is rocked with violent conflicts motivated by differing religious views. The bloodshed will abate only when God’s people in every land find unity in prayer.
Returning to George Carlin’s comments, he also gives some remedies for America. I share them in closing: “A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you. Remember, to hold hands and cherish the moment, some day that person will not be there again. Give time to love, give time to speak; give time to share the precious thoughts in your mind. And always remember: life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away.”
John Fitzgerald lives in Leesburg, Ohio, with his wife Carolyn and has served as pastor at the Leesburg Friends Meeting for the past 27 years. Cornfield Cathedral (Fairway Press, 2013) is the second book authored by Pastor Fitzgerald. John has earned a Master's of Ministry Degree from the Earlham School of Religion in Richmond, Indiana.
* * * * * * *
The Highway of the Heart
by Frank Ramirez
Psalm 84
Happy are those whose strength is in you, in whose heart are the highways to Zion (Psalm 84:5)
It all began with a fifty dollar wager, made during a time when fifty bucks was a good deal of cash. An idle discussion about whether the newfangled automobile had a future or would always be just a rich man’s toy turned into a wager about whether it was possible to cross the United States from the west to the east when there were only one hundred and fifty miles of paved road in the entire country.
And to top it all off, the man who bet there was a future to the automobile didn’t own a car and had never driven one at the time he shook hands on the deal.
As the 19th turned into the 20th Century the Iron Horse and the flesh and blood horse reigned when it came to transportation in America. Railroads carried passengers swiftly from one part of the country to the other with a speed that would have amazed earlier eras. But you could only go where the tracks were laid.
For everywhere else you depended on the horse. You rode the horse or the horse pulled your cart or carriage. Many times this was across dirt tracks that could be flooded and muddied over and made impassable by the weather.
Then one day in the spring of 1903 a man named Horatio Nelson Jackson (1872-1955) from Vermont, was sitting in a club in San Francisco when the conversation turned to the poor quality of roads and the impracticality of cars. The argument was made that cars would forever remain a curiosity. They were expensive, unreliable, and even if you could get the dratted things to work there were only almost no paved highways outside of a few big cities.
So even though Horatio didn’t own a car he stood up for the automobile and the next thing you knew he had accepted a fifty dollar bet he could drive from San Francisco back home to his native Vermont. The deal was done, and the trip was on.
Horatio was a minister’s son who made a living as a doctor until he married Bertha Richardson Wells, the daughter of one of the richest men in Vermont. They were in San Francisco on the way home from their world travels. After making the bet Horatio returned to their hotel and informed his wife she’d be taking the train back home by herself while he bought a car and learned how to drive the thing.
It proved harder than he expected to find a car but at last he bought a used 1903 Winton with a thousand miles under its belt, and for that he had to pay $3000 for a car that sold for $2500 new. He also hired a mechanic, Sewall K. Crocker.
The car had a bad set of tires that blew out constantly. It ended up in ditches, got stuck in mud, and floundered in waterways. Horatio and his mechanic made use of a winch to rescue themselves, often several times a day. There were constant tire repairs. There were no gas stations at that time and even in the best of conditions they could travel only around 150 miles on a tank of gas. The pair relied on general stores, many of which sold fuel for farm equipment.
Having heard of drivers whose attempts had come to nothing in the great deserts east of California, Horatio headed north, aiming for Idaho, before heading in a more easterly direction. Along the way he picked up a mascot, a bulldog named Bud. The intrepid trio began to collect headlines as they made progress, and Bud often stole the show when the Winton, by then nicknamed The Vermont, rolled into a town.
Many folks in small towns had never seen a car. Students would be let out of school. Others were eager to help as they could. Sometimes they would trade rides for meals.
Along the way Horatio found himself stranded for days while they waited for supplies for repairs to be shipped. Many times they slept out in the open, wherever they could find a space. At one point he found himself with no money and no food, as they waited for more cash to be wired by Horatio’s ever patient wife. A nameless shepherd took pity and fed them.
Then the trip was transformed into a race to be the first to drive a car across the country. Oldsmobile and Packard sent out well-financed teams that were met at various prearranged points with shipments of supplies, with the aim of catching and passing Horatio’s intrepid trio. The Winton company offered to finance Horatio as well, but he decided it would be more sporting to honor the original terms of the bet.
Sixty-three and a half days after setting out, Horatio Nelson Jackson, his mechanic Sewall K. Crocker, and Bud the Bulldog arrived in New York City, claiming the prize of being first to travel across the nation in a car. Jackson went on to be a successful businessman, newspaper publisher, and radio pioneer. He donated his car to the Smithsonian, along with other mementos and enjoyed telling others about his adventure, when he traveled along a highway that didn’t exist yet.
Oh. And as far as anyone knows, Horatio never tried to collect the fifty dollars he was owed.
(For more information watch the Ken Burns documentary Horatio’s Ride.)
Frank Ramirez is a native of Southern California and is the senior pastor of the Union Center Church of the Brethren near Nappanee, Indiana. Frank has served congregations in Los Angeles, California; Elkhart, Indiana; and Everett, Pennsylvania. He and his wife Jennie share three adult children, all married, and three grandchildren. He enjoys writing, reading, exercise, and theater.
*****************************************
StoryShare, August 23, 2015, issue.
Copyright 2015 by CSS Publishing Company, Inc., Lima, Ohio.
All rights reserved. Subscribers to the StoryShare service may print and use this material as it was intended in sermons, in worship and classroom settings, in brief devotions, in radio spots, and as newsletter fillers. No additional permission is required from the publisher for such use by subscribers only. Inquiries should be addressed to permissions@csspub.com or to Permissions, CSS Publishing Company, Inc., 5450 N. Dixie Highway, Lima, Ohio 45807.
