"Being Artists In A Perfect World" Sermon Delivered By Reverend Richard E. Stetler
– November 17, 2013 Centenary United
Isaiah 65:17-25; Luke 21:5-19 Our Scripture lesson this morning tends to evoke fear in some religious people. About every ten years or so another guru and his or her followers will attempt to raise the consciousness of people that they had better repent because the end of the world is near.
Last year some of you may recall when a group
of people came to
The origin of these predictions was Harold
Camping, an evangelist that has a
call-in radio program that has attracted thousands of listeners.
Many of his followers quit their jobs, sold their homes and gave
away their possessions.
They sincerely believed that the end of the world was going to happen.
When both dates proved to be ordinary days, a
number of reporters contacted some of Camping’s followers to find out
what they were thinking when his predictions did not materialize.
Their findings have provided an interesting psychological study
of what fear can do when a charismatic leader begins to forecast that
God is about to collect the faithful and take them to
heaven while allow the rest
of us to be destroyed. When I see these things, I wonder what understanding some people have of God. Does it ever dawn on believers that God would be admitting defeat by creating men and women that were seriously flawed? Are we really flawed as we have been taught, or is the issue more humankind’s ignorance about matters of spirit? Are first-graders flawed because they know nothing of Quantum Physics?
God was given credit by the author of Genesis
for having a different understanding of human nature.
“God looked at everything he had
made and it was very good.” (Genesis
1:27-31) A difference of
opinion occurs when a number of religious-minded people do not
understand what our perfect
world was designed to do.
In our lesson today, Jesus is going over the
same familiar litany that the fear-mongers use to excite their
followers. The
end-of-the-world-prophets
have always cited wars, revolutions, earthquakes, famines, plagues and
terrifying things coming from the sky as signs that the end of the world
is near. (Luke 21:9f) The
reality is that these events have been happening for thousands of years
and they are part of the created order.
Jesus only discussed such happenings because
he wanted to teach his disciples how to deal with these matters.
He said, “Detach your minds and spirits from such things.
Make up your minds ahead of time not to worry about how you are
going to respond when these events happen. (Luke 21:14)
Not only could he preach detachment from
natural disasters and the cruel behavior of others, but he could have
said this about everything that makes people afraid.
Fear motivates people to respond unlike anything else,
particularly if a physician tells us that we had better change some of
our habits or we are going to die.
This is also the reason why clergy have used
fear to make people accept Christ as their savior.
Their message was and is, “Get saved before it is too late.”
God has to love the
fact that people feel compelled to seek a relationship with our Creator
because they become terrified by some persuasive pastor that convinced
them that God’s mercy and love have limits.
Jesus had a very different message and this
morning we are going to consider why he would encourage his listeners
not to worry about anything happening in the world.
Our world is absolutely
perfect for what it was
designed to do. Our
world provides a perfect
environment where individuals will come face to face with experiences
which they have to interpret and respond to.
We can refine our attitudes
to be more loving. We can
learn better ways to express what is within us.
While visiting Lois’ sister and her husband
in
Regardless of what else we may think about
ourselves, we are all artists.
Our bodies, minds, spirits and personalities create our
self-portraits. We are the only
artist that puts brush strokes on our canvas.
Not
everyone will like us while others would take us home with them in a
heartbeat. They want to be
our friends.
This is the way our
world is.
It is the
perfect
environment for developing the piece of art that we want to display to
the world. However,
if we pay attention to the critics and listen to the people that do not
like us, we have to remember that artists do not first consult the
public before they begin applying paint to their canvas.
What
true artists create comes
from within them.
Several years ago I was asked by parents to
talk to their daughter that was attending middle-school. She was
depressed a lot but she was and is among the most exciting young ladies
I have ever met. She is
brilliant, funny and insightful.
We were not too far into our conservation when she revealed the
source of her distraction.
Another girl whose friendship she valued indicated that she no longer
wanted to be her friend anymore.
She was devastated. In her very cute style she said something that told me that her parents had little to worry about. She said, “What about me is not to like? I mean really!” She was adjusting to rejection as painful as that can be for a young girl. It was difficult for her to realize that another artist had changed her self-portrait by adding rejection and cruel words to her canvas. There was nothing that my young friend could do about it. Her job was to create what she wanted the world to see and simply accept or reject what others want to reveal to the world. The external world was perfectly created for us to learn many lessons. Some of those lessons may be painful for a while because most of us would prefer that other artists like us.
The world also has artists that create
self-serving images that are void of wholesome values.
For example, a couple of years ago, a female law student
detonated explosives that were strapped to her body in a busy Iraqi
marketplace. Dozens of
people were killed and scores more were injured.
The young woman’s mother was inconsolable.
Her daughter was a kind, considerate and a very compassionate
woman that deeply cared about others. However,
among her daughter’s law books and homework assignments were highly
inflammatory statements about
The young woman was being coached by highly
skilled teachers who had the ability to
brainwash their subjects with
powerful words. These words
painted destructive images suggesting that the only way the world will
be saved for Islam is by
people committed to Allah who are willing to sacrifice themselves.
Her teacher’s definition of faithfulness to
Allah was so profound that the young, naïve student had no idea that
there were no Americans near that marketplace.
She succeeded in killing or injuring her own people.
When the facts about this tragic event became known, it was
evident that her death was rooted in an ancient hatred between Sunnis
and Shiites, two rival factions within Islam.
How can our world be
perfect when this kind of
event happens? The young
law student was innocent.
Her teachers, however,
communicated on their canvases the quality of their spirits.
Their understanding of our Creator had more to do with their use
of paint that tinted their
canvases with hatred, violence and destruction.
Our world is
perfect for all of us
to create whatever we wish.
Jesus taught his listeners how far from his
Father’s loving spirit some
people can become with their self-portraits.
He said: If anyone should cause even one of God’s
children to lose their faith, it would be better for such people to have
a large millstone tied around their necks and be downed in the sea.
How terrible for the world that there are people that cause
others to lose their way. However, such things will always happen.
How terrible for those who cause them.
(Matthew 18:6-7)
We have to realize there are over seven
billion artists responding to how they interpret their experiences in
the world. Many of
these artists, however, do not know what the world was designed to do.
Many of them do not know who they are within themselves or where they
came from. By
teaching his listeners not to worry about anything, Jesus was educating
his followers in the art of detaching from making judgments about their
experiences.
With the typhoon that recently swept across
the
It is interesting how easily we can identify
disciples of Jesus’ teachings.
The other day, Lois, Sue and I went to one of the beekeepers on
the island to buy some
The one brother lost all his hives. Honey
supplies were very limited.
Both men would say, “Having a poor yield some years is the way it is
sometimes.” They know that
remaining unhappy and even angry about their situation will not change
their honey yield. Their
canvases reflect patience and hope for the next season.
It would be wonderful if all artists could learn this lesson from
two very humble beekeepers.
The world is a
perfect place to grow up
spiritually. Because of our choices we will either grow or engage in
delay. Jesus told his
disciples something all of us need to remember. He told them that some
of them were going to die because they were his followers. Then Jesus
said, “But not a single hair on your head will be lost.” (Luke 21:18)
Universally translated,
this means that when our bodies die from whatever means, the artist that
once lived inside those bodies will not be hurt in the least.
We are not our bodies.
He ended our lesson by saying, “No matter
what happens, stand firm and you will save yourselves
from experiencing confusion,
chaos, and becoming like those that never learned anything about the
loving qualities of my Father.” (Luke 21:18)
The world is
perfect for what it was
designed to do.
We are free to learn or not learn.
We are free to use the gifts that God gave us or attempt to
please the passing parade of personalities that will dart in and out of
our lives. Just as we are free
to be whoever we want to be, God is also free to remain the Creative
Artist that designed our perfect
world, the environment where we can create our self-portraits.
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