05/12/2024 ~ Seventh Sunday of Easter and Last Sunday in the Season of Easter— if Ascension not observed ~ *Acts 1:15-17, 21-26; Psalm 1; 1 John 5:9-13; John 17:6-19 ~ Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar ~ NOTE: 05/09/2024 ~ Ascension of the Christ ~ *Acts 1:1-11; Psalm 47 or Psalm 93; Ephesians 1:15-23; Luke 24:44-53 ~ Mother’s Day on the Secular Calendar ~ VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/946642319

Cultural Myths; Cultural Falsehoods

“Also in their company were some of the women who followed Jesus, Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as some of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. With one mind, together, they devoted themselves to constant prayer.” — Acts 1:14.

O.K.: a confession, I know I said something like this last week and what I will say today might sound like I’m repeating myself. Of course, I am sure there are those who say I repeat myself each and every week. It’s possible I’m guilty on the first count, not the second and I am sure later someone will tell me I should have taken the Fifth.

One more thing: in what I will say some will accuse me of relying on the obscure history of the 1950s and 60s. I will have to plead guilty to that.

Why? As most of you know, I grew up in New York City so my youth was spent there in the 50s and 60s. So this comes with another warning: some of the names I’ll rattle off may be meaningless to many but they were celebrities, some minor some well known, in the 50s and 60s.

In that era an important local radio station in New York City was WOR. It began broadcasting in 1922. It’s so old, it has three call letters not four. In the 50s and 60s the station did something people think was invented in the 90s, what we today call talk radio.

The morning talk program on WOR from 1925 to 2000, was Rambling with Gambling. Three generations, a father, son and grandson John B. Gambling, then John A., then John R. hosted that program.

For the rest of the day WOR filled the airwaves with people who talked. Breakfast with Dorothy and Dick followed Gambling. Dorothy Kilgallen, a well known reporter who specialized in covering notorious crime cases, was also a panelist on the TV show What’s My Line? Her husband, Dick Kollmar, was a Broadway producer.

Supposedly over breakfast at their Upper East side home they chatted about a high society event or a theater or movie opening they attended the previous night or chewed the fat with celebrity friends. You now get this on television— Live with Kelly and Mark, Morning Joe, Good Morning America, The View, etc., etc.— people talk about what’s happening— about events, openings, do interviews with celebrity guests or news-makers.

Back to that radio station— another celerity in the WOR lineup was Arlene Francis, also a panelist on What’s My Line. I once heard her interview an author whose name I do not remember unfortunately.

This person’s parents were in the foreign service and tried to place their son at a local school in whatever the country they were stationed so he could be exposed to the culture of that country. He said when the lessons turned to the history of the place he currently resided, it became evident the same singular message got transmitted in every last classroom in every last country.

The message? In whatever country he sat, that country considered itself the center of the world, the center of the universe, the most important country on the planet.

Even at a very young age it did not take him long to figure out this was a cultural myth, perhaps even a cultural truth, but factually false. After all, each one of these countries could not possibly be the most important country on the planet. Could they? (Slight pause.)

These words are from Luke/Acts in the section commonly called Acts: “Also in their company were some of the women who followed Jesus, Mary the mother of Jesus, as well as some of the brothers and sisters of Jesus. With one mind, together, they devoted themselves to constant prayer.” (Slight pause.)

That each of those countries believed it was the center of the universe is an illustration of ‘confirmation bias.’ Confirmation bias is the tendency to search for, interpret, favor, recall information in a way that confirms one’s own preexisting beliefs.

People display confirmation bias when they gather or remember information selectively or interpret it in a biased way. Here’s the real issue: when confirmation bias sets in, people simply pay no attention to fact, often in an irrational way.

When no attention is paid to fact in an irrational way, bias has taken charge. Thinking the country in which you happen to live is the greatest in the world, the center of the universe, is an example of that.

But how does confirmation bias influence our understandings of the passage from Acts? This is a given: we all have opinions about Scripture. I plead guilty on that count.

It’s also true sometimes those opinions fall prey to confirmation bias, especially cultural bias. It would be foolish of me to not plead guilty on that count also.

However, one of the things I try to do— I’m not always successful but I try— one of the things I try to do is leave any irrational confirmation bias I might bring to the study of Scripture aside. Indeed, I try to do that in the hope my journey into a passage is as free from confirmation bias, cultural bias, as I can possibly make it.

As to our confirmation bias, our cultural bias in how we look at Scripture— tell me how often have you seen a picture depicting Jesus as having blue eyes and blond or light brown hair? Really? I don’t think so.

That brings me to this fact. Today’s passage clearly states Jesus had brothers and sisters. Jesus had brothers and sisters? In fact, other passages clearly state James is a brother of Jesus. I suspect a lot of people simply ignore that. Why? Unless I am mistaken there is a cultural bias which says Jesus was an only child.

Therefore, some people refuse to believe the words about the siblings of Jesus are even in the text. Why? Many have that cultural belief, that confirmation bias that Jesus was an only child. So it’s O.K. to ignore those words, right? (Slight pause.)

This next point should be obvious. The writers of Scripture, themselves, were not immune from cultural bias. Sometimes it’s easy to pick out that cultural bias. For instance, there is a readily identifiable cultural bias in some of the letters attributed to the Apostle Paul.

But the letters not by Paul, only attributed to Paul were written after Paul was dead by disciples of Paul. Much more so than Paul’s writings ever did, those later works written by others clearly enshrine the patriarchal system of Rome as the only appropriate social culture.

However, the true writings of Paul actually name specific women among the leadership of the early church. Women in church leadership just would not have happened in the Roman patriarchal system. But Paul— Paul— approved of women in leadership.

In short, identifiable cultural bias can be found in the texts, themselves. Then we, ourselves, also bring our bias to the texts and impose it. So, given those factors what should our overall take-away from Scripture be? Put another way, can we identify what is said about God and banish any of our own bias and banish the bias of the writers? (Slight pause.)

This has always been what I say in attempting to banish my bias and my answer to the reality of that bias. God loves us. God wants to be in covenant with us.

Put another way, the bias of God is that God love us and wants to covenant with us. God also invites us to walk in ways of faith, strive to share peace, joy, freedom, equity, hope, trust, love with all people. That’s all people, not just the ones in our country, which I hear some see as the center of the universe.

To reiterate, this is the bias of God in Scripture: love all people. And this is what God wants for us: to walk in ways of faith, sharing peace, joy, freedom, equity, hope, trust, love with all people. Amen.

05/12/2024
Elijah Kellogg Church, Harpswell, Maine

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Choral Response and Benediction. This is a précis of what was said: “I need to note today’s reading contained these words: ‘With one mind, together, they,’ that is the disciples, ‘devoted themselves to constant prayer.’ I once had the honor of being with a small group in the presence of Archbishop Desmond Tutu before he won the Nobel Peace Prize. He was asked how much he prayed in a day. He said two to three hours a day unless the authorities imposing apartheid were cracking down on him. Then that prayer time needed to be increased. Praying constantly is an imperative since it is both counter cultural and counters the culture. And here is something else that counters the culture.” (Here the pastor holds up a sign used in the Time for All Ages which lights up with the word ‘LOVE’.)

BENEDICTION: The work and the will of God is placed before us. Further, we are called to be faithful and seek to do God’s will and work. In so doing, may we love God so much, that we love nothing else too much. May we be so in awe of God, that we are in awe of no one else and nothing else. Amen.