05/25/2025 ~ Sixth Sunday of Easter ~ * Acts 16:9-15; Psalm 67; Revelation 21:10, 22-22:5; John 14:23-29 or John 5:1-9 ~ Memorial Day Weekend on the Secular Calendar ~ YOUTUBE VIDEO: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz8NwWwwpKA
VIDEO OF FULL SERVICE: https://vimeo.com/showcase/7960701/video/1088749837

Sociological Realities

“One of the women was named Lydia. She was devout, a worshiper of God. She carefully listened to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and was a dealer in purple cloth.” — Acts 16:14a.

I want to offer an overview, a view from a 30,000 foot level perspective if you would, of what I think was going on in the world since I was born juxtaposed with what was going on my life. Then I’ll add a general view the world has to the way Scripture is treated and the way Scripture is read into that mix.

First, here’s a reality about Scripture [the pastor holds up a Bible]: the Bible is not a book. It’s a collection of works gathered, compiled by people who lived in a multitude of cultures across ten centuries, a millennia. By definition it’s complex.

For about the first three centuries after the Resurrection the followers of Jesus did not even think of what we call the New Testament as Scripture. What we call the Bible, the Old and New Testament, was not thought of as anything close to a singular work for about a century after that.

I suspect this is obvious. In our culture, because of our culture, some people are blissfully unaware or willfully ignorant of those origins, that complexity. In fact, some insist the Bible was assembled in and by a unified culture with no earthly influences. When our culture says that— and it often does— it’s just flat out wrong.

Turning to my life, I was born during President Harry Truman’s first term, a very different world than it is today. And yes, some want to return to those thrilling days of yesteryear, a return to some kind of imaginary greatness. But life cannot be reduced to a slogan, a cartoon or a limited set of rules. It’s too complex.

Indeed I, personally, do not see the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, etc. as any kind of golden era. If it was great back then, that certainly was not my personal experience.

Why? I’ve said this here before. I’m a ghetto kid from New York City. When I was about five from the front window of my home I saw someone being mugged. When I was born WWII— when 60 million people lost their lives— had recently ended. And after that this country was soon enmeshed in Korea, then got mired in Vietnam. By 1968 I was in that country wearing Army green.

In those days of yesteryear there was a plethora of violence, people murdered, lynched, connected with the civil rights movement. Three leaders of the movement were assassinated. In the 60s a President and a Presidential candidate were assassinated.

Another candidate was severely wounded while campaigning. Over time assassination attempts were made on four other Presidents. By the way, did you know the crime rate today is much, much lower than the 1960s? Or is the buzz of the current culture drowning that out? Those thrilling days of yesteryear… were not thrilling.

A reality: no matter what anyone says, earlier times were not the best of times. To insist otherwise is to live in a cartoon fantasy. (Slight pause.)

Having addressed the downside, here’s my personal experience of the other side of the coin. One of my Dad’s friends, Don Kennedy, a well know college basketball coach, owned a Summer camp in East Hampton which catered to very wealthy families.

In the Summers my parents worked at the camp without pay so their children got to go to the camp for free. I was able to see how what we euphemistically call “the other half” lives. Note: “the other half” is a euphemism since we’re talking about the 2%, not a half.

Through the camp my parents became friends with the chief engineer at the U.N. and as a youngster I got a personalized backstage tour of the U.N. Another contact was a producer of stage shows at Radio City Music Hall. I got a backstage tour there.

As an adult, I worked for the Actor’s Fund of America. At a dinner meeting with board member and Academy Award winning actress Beatrice Straight I mentioned I was trying to get a staged reading for a play I’d written. She said, “I’ll arrange it.”

The next day I got a call from the Executive Director of a prestigious non-profit theater who asked what I needed. It got done. All that’s the other side of my life.

And what was the rest of the world like from 30,000 feet? We developed computers to put a human on the moon and then built really small computers— cell phones. We changed how the world works in multiple ways multiple times.

And like it or not, our culture dominates the worlds of art, science, commerce. [A cell phone is heard ringing. Many people laugh.] Proving my point. [There is more laughter.] (Slight pause.)

This is what we hear in Luke/Acts in the section called Acts: “One of the women was named Lydia. She was devout, a worshiper of God. She carefully listened to us; she was from the city of Thyatira and was a dealer in purple cloth.” (Slight pause.)

Perhaps I’ve had a strange life. But our lives, our world is not simple. The world is not a cartoon. Life is not a cartoon, though some might try to convince us of that.

Life cannot be pigeonholed. Life is hard to define or explain and happens on many levels. So to reduce life to repeatable slogans, to cartoons, to limit it to a singular set of rules, is to diminish the reality of life, its hardships, its joys. (Slight pause.)

The tendency of our culture is to reduce the stories and the people in Scripture to slogans, cartoons. Many say the followers of Jesus, followers of the Way, were poor, uneducated and thrived in rural areas. Our culture wants us to believe that.

But that take reduces the reality of the New Testament to a cartoon. The reality: in New Testament times 90% of the population lived in what we would call slavery. An even smaller percentage could read and write. Illiteracy was rampant.

But the New Testament was written and circulated by literate, well educated people. The story we heard says Paul goes to Philippi, a city, to share the Word. Then he goes to Rome to share the word. Rome had a population of about 1.5 million in that era.

And who is this Lydia? She sells purple cloth. Purple cloth is worn only by people of wealth. Another reality: this is a lucrative business so it’s likely she’s wealthy.

Further, in that time this is patriarchal society. But no spouse is mentioned for Lydia. She is the head of the household. Why? How? Probably because she has wealth and stature.

What does all this say about the followers of the Way? It says the cartoon version of Scripture promulgated by our society is at best inaccurate. (Slight pause.)

Why do I bring all this up? I love and respect Scripture. [The pastor holds up a Bible again.] But our society has little time or use for the realities of life we find in Scripture. It much prefers to treat Scripture as a series of slogans, cartoons, a limited set of rules, rules which exclude love.

In that way our society undermines both the reality of Scripture and the reality of our lives. Our lives are not simple. Our world is not simple. Life is not a cartoon.

Life is hard to define, hard to explain. Life happens on many levels with hardships and joys. So to reduce life to easily repeatable slogans, to cartoons, is an effort to diminish the reality of life [the pastor taps on the Bible] and the reality of Scripture. (Slight pause.)

We need to take Scripture seriously. Hence, we need to realize Scripture has two parts— stories and theology. Its stories often describe how complex life really is if we pay attention. Even so, Scripture is not about the stories. To believe that still reduces Scripture to a cartoon.

The stories in Scripture are a vehicle to convey theology. Therefore, Scripture is about theology. That leads me to these questions: since this is a story about Paul’s mission, what is that mission? And what theology is found therein? (Slight pause.)

Paul’s mission is not— repeat, not— to make converts. Paul’s mission is to share the Word. So please note what the story says: Lydia listens. Hence, Paul does not convert Lydia. God invites Lydia to convert because she listens.

A message our society sends is it’s our job to convert others. But I want to suggest that today we, you and I, convert no one. Nor should we try. God invites people to convert through listening. Just as Paul did, our call is to simply share the Word.

This is clear: Paul shared the Word in an environment hostile to the Word. Given what I said about how our world treats Scripture, do you see the parallel? I maintain our environment is hostile to the Word.

So what is the essence of this Word to which we are invited to listen? I can guarantee the theology says this: God loves us and invites us to love one another. God invites us to share as we live through life’s joys, life’s hardships. You see, there is nothing slogan-like or cartoon-ish about the love of God and sharing God’s love.

So my message is this: respect life; take life seriously. Respect Scripture; take Scripture seriously. How can we do that? We can share God’s Word, God’s love. Amen.

05/25/2025
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 an précis of what was said: “Two things: I often say I take Scripture seriously, not literally. And earlier I said Scripture addresses life, real life. This is a quote from the United Church of Christ pastor Lillian Daniel which addresses life, real life. (Quote:) ‘Any fool can find God on a mountaintop. The real challenge is finding God in the company of others as annoying as I am.’— Rev. Lillian Daniel. That also says loving neighbor is hard. Do not pretend living out God’s love is easy. It’s not a cartoon.”

BENEDICTION: We can find the presence of God in unexpected places. God’s light leads us to places we thought not possible just moments ago. God’s love abounds and will live with us throughout eternity. The grace of God is deeper than our imagination. The strength of Christ is stronger than our needs. The communion of the Holy Spirit is richer than our togetherness. May the One Triune God sustain us today and throughout the infinity of what is commonly called tomorrow. Amen.