THE UNION OF LIKENESS
I recently came across a very interesting survey conducted by an outfit called the Pew Research Center. The Pew Research Center calls itself a “nonpartisan think tank that provides information on the issues, attitudes and trends shaping America and the world.” I’d say it’s pretty much like a Gallup Poll. Anyway, the survey I came across seeks to answer the question, “How millennial are you?” How millennial are you?
I’m going to ask you the questions from the survey, even though I don’t know exactly how to score it. I can tell you how I came out, because I found it rather amusing. My children will not be surprised by how millennial I am. Or, perhaps I should say, my children will not be surprised by how millennial I am NOT. In any case, here are the questions.
1. In the past 24 hours, did you watch more than one hour of television programming, or not? The answer is yes or no.
2. In the past 24 hours, did you read a daily newspaper, or not? Again the answer is yes or no.
3. In the past 24 hours, did you play video games, or not? The answer is yes or no.
4. Thinking about your telephone use, do you have (a) only a landline in your home, (b) only a cell phone, or (c) both a landline and a cell phone.
5. In the past 24 hours, about how many text messages – if any – did you send or receive on your cell phone? The answer is (a) no text messages on your cell phone in the last 24 hours, (b) 1 to 9 text messages, (c) 10 to 49 text messages, or (d) 50 or more text messages.
6. How important is being successful in a high-paying career or profession to you personally? The answer is (a) one of the most important things, (b) very important but not the most important, (c) somewhat important, or (d) not important at all.
7. Do you think people of different races marrying each other is (a) a good thing for society, (b) a bad thing for society, or (c) doesn’t make much difference for society.
8. In the past 12 months, have you contacted a government official, or not? This contact could have been in person, by phone, by letter, by sending an e-mail, or by posting a message on their website or social networking page. The answer is (a) yes, I contacted a government official in the past 12 months, or (b) no, I did not contact a government official in the past 12 months.
9. Have you ever created your own profile on any social networking site such as My Space, Facebook or LinkedIn, or haven’t you done this? The answer is (a) yes, I have created a profile, or (b) no, I have not created a profile.
10. How important is living a very religious life to you personally? The answer is (a) one of the most important things, (b) very important but not the most important, (c) some-what important, or (d) not important at all.
11. Were your parents married during most of the time you were growing up, or not? The answer is (a) married, or (b) not married.
12. Do you have a tattoo, or not? The answer is yes or no.
13. Do you have a piercing in a place other than your earlobe, or not? Again the answer is yes or no.
14. In general, would you describe your political views as (a) conservative, (b) moderate, or (c) liberal.
Like I said, I don’t know exactly how to score this test. But the higher your score is, the more you have in common with members of the Millennial generation. The average Millennial, born after 1981, scores a 73 or higher. The average Generation Xer, born between 1965 and 1980, scores between 33 and 72. The average Baby Boomer, born between 1946 and 1964, scores between 11 and 32. And the average, what they call Silent Generation member, born between 1928 and 1945, scores between a 4 and a 10. I scored a 3! Like I said, I’m sure my score does not surprise my children. I guess what that quiz is saying to me is that I am not a Millennial. I am what you might call prehistoric!
Now I’d feel bad about that if I cared about being hip or progressive or modern. Truth be told, I don’t really care about such things. In fact, maybe I’ve actually got reason to feel good about my score. I’ve been reading a book of late entitled Pathways of Spiritual Living by a Duquesne and University of Pittsburgh grad by the name of Dr. Susan Muto. She writes, “Discoveries by the differential sciences in physics, medicine and psychology mark progress, humanly speaking. Yet experience tells us that this same progress may lead to spiritual regression.” In other words, the more hip or progressive or modern we are, the less spiritual we tend to be. Perhaps that’s because we become more self-reliant and less God-dependent. In any case, Dr. Muto seems to believe that the more hip or progressive or modern we are, the less spiritual we tend to be.
Perhaps it’s time I invented my own little survey. I could ask the question, “How spiritual are you?” The survey might consist of questions like the following:
1. How often do you read your Bible? The answer is (a) I read my Bible on a daily basis,
(b) I read my Bible on a monthly basis, (c) I put the Bible on the coffee table when the
minister comes by for a visit, (d) I don’t own a Bible, or (e) what is a Bible?
2. How often do you worship God? The answer is (a) I worship God on a weekly basis, (b) I worship God on a monthly basis, (c) I worship God at Christmas and at Easter, (d) I can worship God just as well in nature as I can in a church, or (e) the golf course is almost never busy on Sunday mornings!
3. How often do you pray? The answer is (a) I begin and end every day with prayer, (b) I pray when I think of it, (c) I pray when I feel I need something from God, (d) I don’t pray, or (e) what’s prayer?
4. What kind of fruit does the tree of your faith produce? The answer is (a) I love God and neighbor and I always put them first, (b) I give of my time and financial resources when asked to do so, (c) I’m a pretty good person but I’m really busy a lot of the time, (d) God owes me, or (e) I don’t even like fruit!
I could go on and on, I suppose, but I think you get the picture. Perhaps Susan Muto is right. The more hip or progressive or modern we are, the less spiritual we tend to be. The more self-reliant we become, the less God-dependent we are. So let’s take a little time to explore that last question from my spirituality quiz. The question was asked, “What kind of fruit does the tree of your faith produce?” We will focus on that question because that’s exactly what Jesus was talking about in the passage we read from the gospel according to Luke.
Jesus said, “A man had a fig tree planted in his vineyard. One day he came looking for fruit on the tree and found none. He said to the gardener, ‘For three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree and I have gotten none. Cut it down! Why should it even waste the soil?’ The gardener replied, ‘Sir, let it alone for one more year until I dig around the tree and fertilize it. If it bears fruit next year, that’s all well and good. If it does not, then you can cut it down.’”
This passage is called “The Parable of the Barren Fig Tree.” Truth be told, however, this story is more of an allegory than it is a parable. A parable has a twist and a central meaning. An allegory tends to have elements of the story that represent something else. That’s what this particular story does. In Jesus’ time, the owner of the vineyard was meant to represent God, the gardener was meant to represent Jesus Christ, and the fig tree was meant to represent the Hebrew nation. God loved and nurtured the Hebrew people, but they produced no fruit. They did not do what God wanted them to do. So God said, “Cut them down! Why should they even live?” Jesus then intervened. He said, “Let me go to them and nurture them myself. Then let’s see what kind of fruit they produce.” Do you see how all the pieces of the story apply to something else? That’s what an allegory does.
Perhaps we could apply this allegory to our time as well. God has loved and nurtured those of us who claim to be Christian. God sent his Son to show us how to live. Have we become so hip, progressive and modern that we have forgotten how to live a God-fearing life? Have we become so “millennial” that we no longer produce the fruits of peace and love and harmony? Have we become so busy in our lives that the church is something we do when we’ve nothing better to do? Is Jesus’ allegory an allegory that speaks to us today?
Consider the Silent Reflection in your bulletins this morning. It, too, comes from Susan Muto’s book, Pathways of Spiritual Living. She writes:
God made us in his likeness, though we in our freedom may draw away from him in gestures of disobedience and prideful self-sufficiency. Through the passion, death, and resurrection of Jesus, the likeness between us is restored. Though salvation is ours, though freedom is ours, the reality of our fallen condition means that the quest for holiness lasts a lifetime.
We have fallen away from God through disobedience and prideful self-sufficiency. Jesus Christ restores our relationship with God, but we have a little work to do in the meantime because we have a tendency to fall away. Thus, our union with God is not in question. We are one with God through the sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross. So because of Jesus Christ, we are united with God. It’s our disobedience and self-sufficiency that keep driving a wedge between us.
St. John of the Cross addresses this phenomenon in his book The Ascent of Mount Carmel.
He writes:
In discussing union with God, we are not discussing the substantial union which is always existing, but the union and transformation of the soul in God. This union is not always existing, but we find it only where there is likeness of love. We call it “the union of likeness,” and the former “the essential” or “substantial union.”
What St. John of the Cross is saying is this. The goal of the spiritual life is to restore – with God’s help – the union of likeness. This union of likeness…is love. As Scripture frequently reminds us, God is love. And when we love, our union of likeness is restored. We become more like God. That, my friends, is the fruit our faith is meant to produce.
Ladies and gentlemen, I think we have just discovered the secret to a thriving church in the 21st century. It’s all about the union of likeness with God. In a nutshell, it’s all about love. Back in the early days of the church, as recorded in the book of Acts, the first century church was thriving. Why? An early Christian apologist named Tertullian is credited with saying, “See how these Christians love one another.” What he actually said was, “’Look,’ they say, ‘how they love one another, and how they are ready to die for one another, for we ourselves are readier to kill one another.’” Tertullian was quoting Pagans in reference to Christians. Even the Pagans noted how the Christians loved one another while they were at each others’ throats. Christianity thrives – the church thrives – when Christians actually love one another. Maybe that’s what we need to learn how to do again. As Susan Muto put it, “…the quest for holiness lasts a lifetime.”
Holiness is never a task that is fully accomplished.
Your church session cares deeply for this church. That’s why our goal in the coming year is to build – or to rebuild – community in our church. We want to conduct an every-member canvas. We want to visit every member in this church to tell them that we care for them and that we want them to be a vital part of our community of faith. Here’s where you come in. We seek to put together a contingent of about 100 people going out as Jesus sent his disciples – you know, two by two – to visit every member of this church. Yet before we can pull that off, we need to put together what we are calling a Church Revitalization Task Force. Who wants to help? Who wants to be a part of our Church Revitalization Task Force? Don’t make me beg. Come see me after church if this interests you at all. I don’t want to twist people’s arms. I want you to feel a sense of call in this. I want you to feel an inner urgency to respond.
Ultimately, I see us becoming a church with the union of likeness with God. I see us becoming a church where people in the community will actually say, “See how those Presbyterians love one another, while we ourselves are ready to kill one another!” I see us becoming a church that is not whole when members of the church are sick, or are suffering, or are absent from worship. Can you envision a church like that? And if you can, are you willing to help to do something about it? After all, what better way to produce the fruits of faith than by God-blessed acts of human love? Amen.
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