Proverbs 1.20-33; James 3.1-12
Wisdom cries out in the street … in the squares she raises her voice.
At the busiest corner she cries out … at the entrance of the city gates she speaks:
How long, O simple ones, will you love being simple?
How long will scoffers delight in their scoffing …
And fools hate knowledge?
The ancient writer looks around and sees a troubled world … a world where too many people fail to grasp the reality of the day …
Going about their day-to-day tasks … like the proverbial three monkeys: see no evil, hear no evil, speak no evil …
The ancient writer knows better …
A life lived in a silo hardly qualifies as life …
The ancient writer goes on … when the day of calamity comes, as it surely will, there will be little sympathy … you had your chance to live and grow, but you chose to be small rather than great … you retreated into ignorance rather than taking up the tasks of wisdom.
You closed your eyes to the evil all around you …
You didn’t hear the cry of those in need and pain …
You certainly didn’t speak evil, good for you, but you didn’t speak good, either …
You were silent … when your should have spoken out …
You turned away … when you should have seen what was happening …
You closed your ears when you should have paid attention.
The life and words of the Rev. Martin Niemöller come to mind …
Martin Niemöller was a prominent Lutheran pastor in Germany.
In the 1920s and early 30s, he sympathized with Nazi ideas and supported right-wing political movements.
After Adolf Hitler came to power in 1933, and saw what was happening, Niemöller became a critic of Hitler.
He spent the last eight years of Nazi rule, from 1937 to 1945, in Nazi prisons and concentration camps.
Niemöller is best remembered for his postwar statement:
First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist.
Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me.
As some have said: The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.
In the early 1990s, when the Presbyterian Church was in full out battle with itself on the question of homosexuality …
My associate minister and I were chatting about it … her brother was gay, that I knew … we had welcomed to our building PFLAG - Parents, Families & Friends of Lesbians & Gays … we were doing a lot to support, welcome, educate, and inform … the church had a few gay members, one of whom was a deacon …
Across the denomination, the battle raged … there were those who said, Whoa, stop a minute, go no further … we need more time, to read the Bible, study, and pray … we need more time.
As my associate and I were chatting, I mentioned this to her … she knew that I was an advocate, but when I said, Perhaps more time is needed for more folks to come on board.
She replied, and I’ll never forget: My brother doesn’t have any more time.
She might as well have hit me over the head with 2 x 4 …
I realized - I wasn’t paying attention … I was treating this as an idea, a concept, something to be studied, and that more time was needed to bring about healing in the denomination …
I realized - what I thought to be an idea to be studied, was a life and death reality for others … their lives, their faith, their dreams, their safety, their jobs, and families, were on the line …
The argument for more time may have some value, and we should always remember “haste makes waste.”
But we also need to know - delay can be deadly when life hangs in the balance.
African Americans know the story all too well … throughout the South, during the turmoil of the Civil Rights era, whites frequently said to the African American, Slow down, you’re going to fast … be patient … continue to pray … we need time to change.
When, in fact, there is no intent to change whatsoever … when the powers that be are thoroughly entrenched, and not about to budge, no matter what.
How much more time is needed for justice?
For truth?
For what every heart knows to be right?
There were those who refused to wait any longer.
Voices were raised, marches organized, people joined together … people spoke out, held hands, and marched … people sang together, We shall overcome …
There is evil in this beautiful world, more than enough to go around …
And within our very own heart, we can beat a hasty retreat from the struggle …
I have enough on my plate … I don’t want any more.
I’ve got bills to pay, and a job to do.
My plate is heaped high … I don’t need any more,
Goodbye, good day … I’ve enough to chew.
What would have happened in Nazi Germany if more folks had awakened to the horrors of Hitler … his book, Mine Kampf, written in 1925, laid it all out … but folks were hungry for assurance and pride … Hitler promised to make Germany great again … Deutchland uber alley …
Some saw the truth, but millions closed their ears, their eyes, and said nothing.
Last Sunday, I said:
Learn to be unhappy … in the best sense of that word … to be discontented, to protest, to challenge … to know there’s something better to be had … that our present social malformations are not set in concrete, but can be changed … to weep with those who weep says the Apostle Paul.
Across the world, in every age, there are those who keep the wisdom … they pay attention, they bear the burdens of responsibility … which I think Jesus intended - when he said, Take up your cross and follow me.
I love to follow Jesus, but do I have to take up a cross?
Just how responsible do I have to be? for the welfare of the world, my own behavior?
There’s no clear answer to the questions … questions I need to live with … and you do, too …
To look at Christ and hear his words.
To see him on the cross.
To say within ourselves a quiet little prayer:
To you, O LORD, I give myself, I give my life and care.
I give my eyes to see the world.
I give my ears to hear the cry.
I give my mouth to speak the truth.
For time runs out.
The day is soon gone.
Lives that wait.
Must wait no more.
Amen and Amen
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