Sermons

"Yoked to the World"

Delivered from the Pulpit of First Congregational Church by The Reverend Mark E. Long on March 8, 2009 

Lections:  Deut. 22.10

                  Jer. 28.1-4

                  Gal. 4.21-26, 28-5:1

                  Mt. 11.28-30

                  Lk. 12.13-21

Some of the "faces" of fear are easily discernible, situations which put us in peril physically, e.g. trying out a "Black Diamond" run at Alyeska when we belong on the "Bunny" slope or emotionally, e.g. watching the "eggs" in our financial nest disappear leave us groping in our minds with "what if" scenarios.  No one finds our responses to such "faces" of fear to be peculiar or unwarranted.

But other "faces" of fear may rob us of our happiness even before they, if they even do, put us in a discernible place or space of peril.  These "faces" of fear may appear from the outside looking in as blessings rather than poxes on our houses.

This is a tough economic time - markets are at historic lows, money is scarce, debts are high, and the jobless rate is in a precipitous climb; fear is palpable.  But what led us to this - by all accounts - space of fear?  Fear itself.  This fear of who we are not, causes us culturally to define ourselves by a worldly standard as a means to understand who we are.  It is nothing new; it has been this way since ancient times.  We are what we have or have not.  It is not just America, but Americans certainly are among those at the top of the list who express their fear of personal value in this way.

This issue is considered ironically and humorously in the 1989 movie, "Say Anything."  The father of Lloyd Dobler's "hoped to be" new girlfriend asks Lloyd at the dinner table an innocent but (for Lloyd) loaded question:  "So son what is it you would like to do with your life?"  Lloyd doesn't blink as he memorably answers:  "I don't want to sell anything, buy anything, or process anything as a career.  I don't want to sell anything bought or processed, or buy anything sold or processed, or process anything sold, bought, or processed, or repair anything sold, bought, or processed.  You know, as a career, I don't want to do that."  Thus Lloyd reveals himself to the father a clueless and feckless suitor.  But does this reveal more about Lloyd or the culture out of which Lloyd's answer leaves this impression?

The writer seems to beg us to ask, who is more clueless and feckless - Lloyd or those whose cultural values cause them to snicker, or maybe even sneer, at his answer.  Who has the brightest prospects for a fulfilling life?

Spiritual wisdom would seem to side with Lloyd Dobler.  It warns us to be cautious about the "face" of fear which has us grasping for and then clinging to things of this world.  We are warned in spiritual sources again and again about the trouble we make for ourselves when we yoke our fortunes to the world.

Yokes have a long history and show up liberally in the Christian Scriptures.  Ancient writers and storytellers often used earthy, day to day images to write or tell their stories.  The Bible is no exception.

Yokes are heavy, wooden frames or bars that join two animals together for a common purpose - pulling, carrying, etc.  Yokes promote teamwork of the animals as long as they are suitably connected - approximately the same size and weight.  Our Scripture from Deuteronomy suggests this was not always the case.  In a grouping of possibly not miscellaneous "thou shalt nots" about everything from giving your neighbor a helping hand to a warning against "crossdressing," - no, really; there is this short command that "You shall not plow with an ox and a donkey yoked together."

They are apparently, and not surprisingly really, not very good yokefellows - the ox and donkey.  The donkey takes a beating in such a pairing.  The taller ox will bear the weight of the yoke but chokes out the donkey as it does so.  Also the longer striding ox may drag the smaller animal around.  In any case, there is not much work that gets done.  It takes suitably paired animals to get a day's work done in a day.

The subtext to this has little to do with animals.  A number of these "thou shalt nots," including the "crossdressing," have to do with getting mixed up with those who are not suitable.  The clear warning to the Israelites is don't get mixed up with the other people's cultures, religions, etc. around you.  Oxen and donkeys don't work well together, neither do the people of YHWH and those of some other god.

This idea of "unequal yoking" usually is interpreted in times since as avoid marrying or spending too much time with those who are not Christians less they influence our spiritual progress.  This entails getting caught up in a whole lot more "thou shalt nots."

As hard as I try to rein in the Southern Baptist sneer of my upbringing, I gotta admit there is some truth in the peril of yoking the spiritual to the unspiritual; of course one need not be Christian to be spiritual.  The world or those who follow its voice can get us amazingly turned around or confused about priorities, and what helps us live healthy and satisfying lives.

As Christians, we are supposedly those who realize that we are not created to be yoked to the world's values and that they will surely choke us out or drag us through life without much joy, peace, and satisfaction.  But yet, honestly, how many of us are among those who snicker or sneer at Lloyd Dobler's answer?

Let's face it; it is very hard not to be yoked to the world.  The world is everywhere; its influence is pervasive.  And after all, it does not announce its intention to enslave us.  Instead it offers us goodies - "hard to get" dinner or theater reservations, houses with more space than we need in which to put more stuff that sets around basically to gather dust, cars with more "high tech" bells and whistles to break, and clothes which slap names on our bottoms, chests, or backs which indicate we indeed live in the fear that Lloyd Dobler resists.

Freedom is a hard-won place to stand.  We are people made for freedom, who too often settle for slavery to one thing or another and simply accept our yokes which choke us out or drag us around.  We are born to be free; yoked to something different - something lighter, easier - than the world has in store.  We are born free, but nurtured to be a slave.

There are times when this would be a difficult point to get across, such as the "go, go 80's; I trust this morning that this is not one of those times.  The proof of our folly is all over the news.  But the most unsettling question for me; will we repent (turn from our foolish ways) or simply reload?

Those of you who love Oprah may want to daydream for a bit.  I caught some of Oprah's show recently where the theme was "What could you live without?"  The hubris of Oprah to host such a question from her perch of plenty caught my attention.

But then there was something more troubling to me; she played a clip where Suze Orman, the fairer sex pied piper to financial wealth and prosperity who has made millions (I imagine) offering basic financial information in glossy, overpriced packaging, flipped her promotion to a program of financial restraint:  Don't spend any money for a day, don't use a credit card for a week, don't go out to a restaurant for a month, she said.  I wonder how she is doing with these.

Angry phone calls from restaurant owners to the Oprah show brought some back-sliding from Suze.  Oprah clarified that Suze was marketing her plan only to those in financial disarray.  So if you have the dough, ignore her plan with relish.  She reminds me of earlier "bulls" in the "crude" market who profited as oil sky-rocketed but who are now "short selling" bears of financial stocks.  Whatever the climate, there is a buck to be made; if you have the stomach for it.

Repentance will leave us free; but how hard it is to hear in the din of a world constantly seeking to spin us into its sphere of influence.  Our yokes may be broken and prosperity restored but as some are truly soul-searching others are spinning webs of deceit and empty promises which lure us further and deeper into destructive patterns and lives.

We are made in an image far deeper and our values are far richer than what the world can offer.  We grasp for and cling to what we cannot possess or that which it is folly to possess because we have confused what we have or have not for who we are or are not.

This is how I see it with the hope to shed light on one "face" of fear which needs to be called out to confront the light in places such as this for times such as now so that we repent and resist the temptation to reload.               Amen.

Next week, we look fully in the "face" of the fear of who we are or are not.