The Rev. Neale L. Miller

Sermon for May 27, 2007 (Pentecost)

Texts: Genesis 11:1-9/Acts 2:1-11

Title: “Forget Polite”

              Excitement caught me off guard a week ago Saturday. The Preakness was being run, and Street Sense, the Kentucky Derby winner, was given the best chance to win. If you have ever watched one of the Triple Crown races on the television you know that the network commentators do not just report the odds and run the race, after all, the race itself is run in less than two minutes, instead they fill a couple of hours of air time with background on the various horses, the trainers, and the jockeys. 

              As I intermittently turned on the sound to listen to some of that background, I collected enough information to develop a rooting interest.  It is difficult to get excited about a sporting event if you come to an event neutral, not caring who wins or loses.  I, at least, need to have a rooting interest in order to get excited.  A sports fan, I develop a rooting interest quite quickly.

              My rooting interest generally follows the underdog, unless I hold a particular allegiance to a team or an athlete.  But in the case of the Triple Crown my rooting interest generally follows the winner of the Kentucky Derby, for a win by that horse at the Preakness sets the stage for the possibility of a Triple Crown winner.  There hasn’t been one since the seventies.

              I had my eye on Street Sense, the Derby winner, particularly inasmuch as she was ridden by a Louisiana jockey, Calvin Borel.  Learning a bit about the horse and the jockey through the various pre-race interviews, sealed my rooting interest.  Street Sense was my horse. Keep in mind that before I turned on the pre-race coverage I didn’t even know who had won the Kentucky Derby.

              These big races can be very exciting, even for the occasional fan like me.  This race was no exception. Nine horses in the field, they broke from starting gate fast, one horse, Curlin having a slight stumble the jockey, also from Louisiana it turns out, was able to correct. The first half of the race passed with the horses vying for position.  Street Sense, who likes to run on the rail next to the infield, was in the middle of the pack.

              As the second half of the race began the strong horses began to assert themselves.  Hard Spun, a horse thought to be a contender to win went out in front, but even as he did so Street Sense began to make his move from the middle of the pack. With a bare eighth of a mile to go Street Sense took the lead and I was on my feet. But wait.  Curlin was making a charge.  Could Street Sense hold him off?  I’m yelling Street Sense on.  Curlin was charging.  Neck and neck ten yards to go.  Five yards to go.  There’s the wire, Street Sense or Curlin, Curlin or Street Sense.  Curlin by a nose. Wow.

              On my feet cheering excited, and before the race started I couldn’t have identified a single horse in the race. I can manage my emotions as well or better than the average person, but excited, you give yourself permission to let go, even to look foolish. Truth be told I must have looked pretty foolish on my feet yelling for that horse to win. In the moment, I really didn’t care.  I forgot all about appearances. I was that thoroughly absorbed in the experience.

              Excitement is a spontaneous thing.  It overtakes you before you know it. Excitement is motivating.  In today’s vernacular excitement creates buzz, and people are drawn to excitement and buzz.  Excitement and buzz are motivating. Excitement stirs and holds interest. Excitement is something we naturally want to communicate. It gave me pleasure to share with you how that race played out. Exciting content, a football game decided by a last minute field goal, the results of the American Idol competition, the new addition to the family, [exciting content] is content we want to talk about and by that means relive.

              Those present to experience Pentecost were given something to talk about. Pentecost was a major Jewish festival.  It occurred fifty days after Passover when the first fruits of the harvest were presented to God. The festivals of the ancient world generated excitement, and excitement must have been a welcome diversion for people whose daily lives offered very little, if any, variety or diversions.

              The mere fact of being in a crowd would likely have been a cause for excitement among those who lived in the outlying districts of Jerusalem.  Peddlers plying their wares, food vendors, beggars, prostitutes, temple dignitaries, Jews and non-Jews who walking, or on donkey back, they were all drawn to Jerusalem to experience the sights and sounds, all drawn to Jerusalem to savor the excitement. They, of course, were to get much more than they bargained for. 

              Luke, the author of the book of Acts where the events of that ancient Pentecost are recorded, did his best to translate the experience in words.  Divided tongues of fire, and people having no common language each hearing the voice from heaven speaking in their own native languages. Incredible. The excitement quotient was off the charts.  

              The bystanders who happened to stumble upon the scene could only conclude that the people were drunk. How else to explain things?

              Imagine that. The birth of the church mistaken for a drunken brawl. Excitement reigned that day, even if some mistook the source responsible for the excitement.

              Imagine the buzz all of that excitement must have generated.  Don’t suppose for a moment that the Pentecost event went unpublicized.  Dispersed to their homes and villages people had a lot to talk about.  The events in Jerusalem must certainly have gotten wide play.

              When something excites us we seldom keep it to ourselves. Excitement enthuses and motivates us. In its absence, what happens?  Often times monotony and boredom takes over, and when that happens interest wanes and people drift away. Monotony and boredom.

              Clubs, fraternal associations, civic organizations, and churches, many of which have seen their memberships decline over the last decades, have been forced to reckon with that reality. In the days when there existed a societal expectation that Christians affiliate with churches, congregations didn’t have to be terribly attentive to issues like monotony and boredom. Times have changed.  Church has become much more a matter of personal choice than an expectation. Herein lies an obvious problem for churches. Given the choice to affiliate or not, attend or not, the not is occurring more regularly than the attend and affiliate.

              While I am not suggesting that excitement is some sort of magic bullet to address the issues churches are facing, it is difficult, if not impossible, to maintain vitality without excitement. Nor am I suggesting that excitement should be a goal of those who are planning worship, or that excitement will necessarily arouse a congregation to life on Sunday morning, address a budget shortfall, or prompt a steady stream of people to visit the church.            

              Excitement is not a stand alone remedy to cure what ails the slumbering church, but, fact of that matter, it certainly can’t hurt. Now I will admit that the issue of excitement might be a bigger issue for me than most, or even all, of you.  It is an issue for me because the process of creating and delivering what I present from this spot week to week does, at least most of time, generates some level of excitement in me. I hope it shows from time to time. 

              No, I don’t expect you who are the audience for what I prepare to become visibly excited about what your hearing, but fact of the matter I can’t read most of you at all. Perhaps it’s Presbyterian DNA. You are bored, planning your afternoon, or confused. I’m clueless. Be clear, this is not to criticize or request anything, it is merely an observation that goes to the larger point I would like to make concerning excitement.

              What you and I need is a reason to come to a place like this Sunday after Sunday, a motivation to come that goes beyond what duty, obligation, or tradition inspire. I don’t think, frankly, that this church, and many churches like this one, are providing that reason. This is not something newly discovered by me, or other pastors across the church, but it something I, and I would add, session members, are forced to struggle with in these challenging times.  Duty and obligation may fill seats and mobilize effort, but not consistently, and consistency is what the church needs.  But what makes for consistency?

              Fact of the matter is we need some excitement, and I’m not talking about something contrived like clapping or stamping our feet on demand.  The excitement is not something I can stir up as some sort of pulpit ringmaster.  Excitement comes as we invest ourselves in an outcome. What got me out of the chair rooting for Street Sense was that I really cared about the outcome of that race. Your investment and mine in an outcome is the trigger to excitement.

              What I, and the other participants do in this worship service, may or may not prove to be exciting, but this minister, our choir, the liturgist, and the person who delivers the children’s message, are invested in the outcome of the service, and that creates at least some level of excitement within us about what we present.

              Excitement, of course, is largely a byproduct of our openness to experience, and our willingness to invest ourselves in a goal or outcome.  There is in my view one serious inhibitor people like us in churches like ours must content with. We are too polite.

              Here are some examples.  Many are too polite to voice criticism or offer a critique about the conduct of worship or ministry at large, at least to the decision makers in those areas.  Although exceptions definitely do exist.

              We are too polite to ask for clarification. I don’t presume that everyone spends an hour a day, even an hour a week, reading the Bible or theological works. Some of the things I read from here can seem confusing or contradictory, [and they are] but rare in my experience has anyone stepped up to say that what I read, or how I interpreted the Scripture that was read, was confusing.  Personally I am not so divorced from reality to think that every word out of my mouth makes perfect sense.          

              We are too polite. Many of us are too polite to burden a brother or sister with a problem or a prayer concern.  The vast majority of you have never filled out one of those prayer request inserts, even anonymously. I certainly do not presume that the “prayers of the people” I compose each Sunday cover all of the concerns you carry here.

              We are too polite to hold each other accountable.  We in the church are quick to give each other a pass for assignments not carried out, obligations shrugged.  We are too polite to venture to ask why someone isn’t coming to church.  To ask a member why that person is not contributing financially to the church is unthinkable.

              Too polite. Most of us have long ago concluded that religion is a private matter, and that it is somehow impolite to inquire if a friend or co-worker has a church home.    

              Most of us are too polite to candidly express our hunger for answers when some event in life deals us a blow.

              Too polite to assert ourselves, we accept things as they are, and quietly resign ourselves to the fact that things will remain as they are.  Now that, friends, is a recipe for excitement.  

              It has been said that the church is only one generation away from extinction.  If people like us don’t find something within the church to personally invest in, something to get excited about, I believe that that prophesy may be fulfilled in our time.

One generation away. We are not seeing a lot of children or youth in the church these days. Are we, specifically you parents or grandparents, invested enough in what we do here to make provision for the future?  If so, we need to talk. In the shape we’re in here in this gutted community, and gutted city, we must talk about the future.  And we begin by assessing what is happening today. 

              It’s time to forget polite. I challenge you to identify that one thing that happens in our entire program here at Lakeview Presbyterian Church, that one thing you would miss if it were withdrawn. If you can identify one, and I hope you can, let the leadership of the church, this pastor and session know what it is, and then help us find away to promote that to the rest of the congregation and community.

              Forget polite. Polite is waiting behind these doors for something to happen to us, rather than getting up and making it happen through us.

              Pentecost gave birth to the church, Christ’s church, and its life and vitality are dependent upon him. There is one reality, however, we dare not forget.  In baptism Christ calls us to labor with him, and with him and in him, our labor shall never be in vain.    AMEN