Psalm 81:12; Jeremiah 2:6; Luke 14:10; Hebrews 13:7

Doing the same dumb thing over and over again

We have four texts today, which is more than usual.  Again the Old Testament tells us how things should not be done and the New Testament offers clues about how not to keep doing the same dumb thing over and over again.  In a sense the New Testament passages offer an antidote to the mistakes of the Old.   The Old Testament, although it is made up of many fascinating and troubling stories, has one main narrative running through it:” God loves the people and does anything to help them, but in return the people must trust God and only God. The people invariably fail at this and God expresses the hurt God feels.” The verse in the Psalm highlights God’s disappointment. Hear the old King James’ version:”

So I gave them up unto their own hearts’ lust; and they walked in their own counsels.” “They walked in their own counsels,” it’s an understated way of calling them pigheaded, hard-headed, stubborn and selfish. In Jeremiah God is agonizing over the people forgetting God:”Neither said they, Where is the Lord that brought us up out of the land of Egypt, that led us through the wilderness, through a land of deserts and of pits, through a land of drought, and of the shadow of death, through a land that no (hu)man passed through, and where no (hu)man dwelt?  All those books in the Old Testament, all those pages but that fundamental problem is not solved, despite the commandments.  Luke offers a new which is really old: humility.  Again here hear the King James: “But when thou art bidden, go and sit down in the lowest room; that when he that bade thee cometh, he may say unto thee, Friend, go up higher: then shalt thou have worship in the presence of them that sit at meat with thee.  “Can you the see the guest waving their big leg of lamb?  Lowering oneself is a clue here. “Then there is Hebrews:” Remember them ….who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith you follow… ” The message is becoming clearer:” remember God, be humble and don’t forget the people who taught you the faith.”

Friends, you and I have a fundamental problem.  We want to be blessed by God, but we also want to get as much credit as we can possibly get away with.  In addition, we want to be honored and celebrated by our community, but we don’t want to be beholden to that community.  We want to be seen as capable and confident, for our society requires that of us and in that process we lose our sense of gratitude and the acknowledgment of our flaws. David Brooks in his column this week in the New York Times writes:”the events in our lives are perfectly designed to bare our chronic weaknesses and expose some great whopping new ones.” Brooks as a Jewish person knows the Old Testament well. He goes on:”Sooner or later life teaches you that you are not the center of the universe, not quite as talented and good as you thought. It teaches you to care less what people think, and less self-conscious, to get out of your own way.”  Friends, when we get out of our own way, out of the way of our own ego, we may find doors will open up for us. Be aware of those around you. You are part of a family. You are not separate.  You have had those whose wisdom you have taken advantage of.

We have just been reminded of the concepts of ohana and kokua, aina and kuliana in Hawaiian culture.  But there are also the kupuna.  First, a kupuna is an honored elder who has acquired enough life experience to become a family and community leader. The term has been stated to be the embodiment of natural respect . . . . a practitioner of aloha (love), pono (righteousness), malama (caring), and spirituality. In ancient times, they were teachers and caretakers of grandchildren and that bond was especially strong. Even today, the kupuna is expected to speak out and help make decisions on important issues for both the family and the community.  Friends, Hebrews, in its way tells us about the kupuna.

Friends, we can choose “to walk in our counsel.”  Or we can pretend we are doing so.  But chances our lives are not going to be as deep and meaningful as they could be. We can choose to forget about God’s grace and pretend we did it all ourselves just so that when things aren’t going the way we want we can blurt out our wish list out to God.  We can try to stand out above others, but we will find people turned off by our arrogance.  We can discard the people whose insight we once depended on, but are we okay with the next generation doing the same thing to us?  No, we must learn that we are part of web of grace and a community of people in which we must play our limited role, a role that’s never quite what we wanted it to be, warts and all. Thanks be to God!