CALVARY BAPTIST CHURCH
Rev. Fred Weimert March 22, 2009
“Our Sacred Totems”
You
may not be interested at all…
Or you may have a passing interest…
And after yesterday most may have lost
interest…
But there are some in our
midst
and others in our
larger community…
who are
totally consumed…
by
what is called “March Madness”
College
basketball…
The
NCAA…
the
big dance…
for
the less fortunate…
the
NIT…
We’ll
not go there
because
this year
both
of
the
Men’s and Women’s basketball…
along
with
and
American University.
This
is a heady time for some.
A tense and intense time…
Because in the NCAA…
If you lose you go
home…
you aren’t
dancing any more.
which is
sadly what happened
to
Morgan, American,
and Maryland’s
Men’s team…
Maryland’s women are our only
probably always our best
hope.
But
the athletes on all teams have to prepare themselves,
in practice and viewing tapes of the
upcoming opponents
some whom they may never have
faced before.
There is this
preparation which goes on as a team
and with
their coaches,
But then there is the very private
introspection
that goes on
inside each athlete…
as they go back over the year
an closely consider
again each game
in
which their performance was
particularly
inspired.
Was
it something they ate before the game…
Maybe
something they drank…
Did
they shave?
Some
special practice ritual…
avoided
stepping on the side line…
maybe
you rubbed the mascot’s nose…
Maybe
some trinket pinned inside a jersey…
Maybe
a pair of lucky socks…
or
under garments.
This
is all a part of the team and player’s preparation.
And
fans,
Who truly take the game seriously,
go through just as serious preparations.
You see them in the stands at the
games…
Lucky jerseys on or off…
pom-poms
Styrofoam worms
hats…
glasses
Hair dyed…
faces painted
all in school
colors…
I look at these kids and alumni
and wonder if there is some
guideline
for which side of
your face will be blue
and which
side white…
Are those hatch marks on your
cheeks
carefully
positioned?
Is there a difference between
Duke and
Certainly
in the minds of some
all of these preparations matter…
The
sacred color schemes…
all of these tokens and totem are
significant…
all of these seemingly
trivial objects and actions…
are sacred
crucial in preparation…
They insure that
the outcome will be successful.
I
am not sure about all this madness…
I am not much for face painting…
or loud shouting…
But
when I ran in college
and when I play golf, then and now…
I do have some quirky rituals
that I go through…
The people
I ran with…
or
play golf with…
may be more conscious of these
than
I may be.
But I know many of them are
there
and somewhere
inside me I know their import…
and if one
is missed…
it
could be my undoing.
Because some of these quirky
little things
help me remain
calm…
relax…
focused on
the task which needs to be accomplished.
As hard as it might be to
believe
In a way these
trivial little things…
might not
be so insignificant…
They
might give me
a sense of “home
court advantage…”
even
when I am far from home…
or feeling
fearful
alone…
in danger…
like I
might not make it.
The
children of Israel
in their wilderness wanderings
were far removed from the
familiar…
and sadly what had
been most familiar for them
were the
slave camps of Egypt.
Sometimes when one
finds themselves
in a
hostile environment
even
an inhospitable past
can
appear to be a safe haven.
In their thirst and hunger…
Israel complained
About God and
Moses…
And we are told that
poisonous snakes
were sent as a
punishment…
I don’t
know if God we know in Jesus,
would
be so petty or punitive.
I prefer
to believe that
poisonous
snakes tend to populate
wilderness
places.
and the
fact that people were bitten
was
more a product of chance
than
retribution…
the
punishment factor was just read into it.
Numbers 21: 4 – 9
From
to go around the
but the people
became impatient on the way.
The people spoke
against God
and against Moses,
"Why have you brought us up out of
to die in the
wilderness?
For there is no food and no water,
and we detest
this miserable food."
Then the LORD
sent poisonous serpents among the people,
and they bit the people,
so that many
Israelites died.
The people came
to Moses and said,
"We have
sinned by speaking against the LORD
and against you;
pray to the LORD to take away the serpents from
us."
So Moses
prayed for the people.
And the LORD said to Moses,
"Make a poisonous serpent,
and set it on
a pole;
and everyone who is bitten
shall look at it and live."
So Moses made a serpent of bronze,
and put it upon a pole;
and whenever a serpent bit someone,
that person would look
at the serpent of bronze
and live.
Here ends the reading
There
are lots of things which are interesting about this story.
Like why,
when the people have
confessed their sin
against God and
Moses…
Why
doesn’t God forgive them right away?
And why,
when the people ask for the
serpents to be removed…
since obviously
they came because of the sin…
Why weren’t the serpents just
removed?
Why instead would God have
Moses
make this bronze
serpent?
Was it to
remind the people of their sin?
their
snake bitten past?
With the creation of this totem…
this bronze serpent on a
pole…
Wasn’t God just
setting himself up from
for
potential problems?
Now when people get
bitten by a snake
they don’t
have to go to God any more…
all
they have to do is look up
at
the serpent on the pole…
and
when they do…
they
live…
Isn’t it likely
that these sinful, snake bitten people
will
confuse this serpent on the pole
with the “Giver of
Life?
It would seem that this solution
was fraught with the
potential for failure…
and while it does
work as an antidote to snake bite
it does ultimately
fail,
at least in bringing people closer
to the “Giver of Life…”
for in II
Kings 18:4
we
read of good king Hoshea:
“He removed the high places,
broke down
the pillars,
and cut
down the sacred pole.
He broke in pieces
the bronze
serpent Moses had made,
for until those
days
the people
of Israel had made offerings to it;
it
was called Nehushtan.”
It
is a tragic reality
that we as people
have the potential to pervert
even sacred objects
and turn
them into idols.
We can even take the things
which God has given
us for healing…
and use them to separate us further
from the source of health and
wholeness.
On
Wednesday night we had a young man stay for Bible Study,
and over the course of the evening…
he argued forcefully…
on several of what
were probably his favorite subjects…
and
refused to accept any thoughts…
which were in conflict
with
his favorite passages of scripture.
The problem with such
arguments
is that they fail
to take into consideration
the
infinite nature of God…
and
the finite nature of scripture…
It fails to take
into consideration
Isaiah’s
words:
“Do not remember the former things,
or
consider the things of old.
I
am about to do a new thing;
now
it springs forth, do you not perceive it?”
There will always be new things…
and new understandings of the
things of old…
To refuse to see
the new…
and cling
only to the old…
can
lead to idolatry.
The serpent in the
wilderness
had its
place.
The serpent in the
temple
had no
place.
The Spirit of God,
working thorough
words of scripture
can bring us closer to the “Giver of
Life”
But even scripture
can also be twisted
It is used by the Tempter
with Jesus in the wilderness.
It was the scribes
and teachers of the law…
who argued most vociferously with
Jesus.
It
is possible for us to take the sacred
and turn the gifts of the “Giver of
Life”
into lifeless
idols.
The
physical elements
which God has blessed us with…
to help us remember God is near…
church buildings
calendars of the Church year…
stain glass windows…
hymns…
organ music…
ministers and choirs in
robes…
or ministers in levis
brass crosses…
even the Bible.
can help us find the “Giver of Life,”
but
they also
can
take on a life of their own…
apart
from God…
becoming
gods. Idols.
In finding our way through the
wilderness…
we need these sacred objects,
be careful to
remember who gave them…
the God
who has so much to give…
may
we walk
holding fast
to the symbols of
God in the past…
with
hands ever open
to
God in the future. Amen.