This Week's Sermons

Sermons for the Month
"Whatever It Takes "
DATE: November 8, 1998
SERVICE: Pentecost XXIII
TEXT: 2 Thessalonians 2:1-5, 13-17
"To all of you Saints here this morning, grace and peace to you from God our Father, from His Son, Jesus Christ and His Holy Spirit. AMEN

[Note: Place on the front of the bulletin cover Michelangelo's fresco from the Sistine Ceiling (1508-1512), "The Creation of Adam," the fourth picture in the center of the ceiling vault, where God lets life flow into the body of Adam.]
One of the more recent TV-based trends has been the rise in everyday conversation of what we might call "sitcom-shorthand." There is hardly a sitcom on the air that hasn't employed this particularly dismissive, flippant Seinfeld-style language during the course of a conversation. I know you've heard it. You may have even used it yourself. If you have, you probably used it without stopping to consider the "it's of no importance to me" attitude it conveys. Unwilling to go into the details of another's conversation, determinedly uninterested in the particulars of another's viewpoint or input, Jerry, Elaine, Krammer, George would both summarize and summarily dismiss an entire discussion with the short-shrift, shorthand "yada, yada, yada."
By pushing the delete button to emails, conversations, dialogues, debates or arguments, "yada, yada, yada" admits that we often don't really care what others may be going through or what may be involved in producing the end results. How would you feel if:
Your unconcerned boss calls you in to her office, shuffles papers on her desk, looks up and declares, "You know how it is, profits are down, costs are up, business is slow -yada, yada, yada ... you're fired. Thanks for coming in."
Your spouse confronts you over the breakfast cereal with the curt and cutting ultimatum: "Guess what, we've had a few good years, but now the bloom is off the rose, the grass is looking greener elsewhere - yada, yada, yada. Get lost."
Your college-bound child picks the weekend before school starts to announce: "I've been giving it a lot of thought, I'm not ready for prime time yet - yada, yada, yada ... I've canceled college."
With the center cut out of all these revelations, we are left confused, angry, mystified, hurt and hanging.
Not to worry. Those of us on the receiving end of "yada, yada, yada" have resorted to another shorthand, conversational device: The laid-back, laconic, "whatever." Try telling this to someone who really cares?!
Do you want coffee or juice to drink with your breakfast? Whatever! Do you want to go to the 1 o'clock or the 4 o'clock matinee? Whatever! Do you want thick crust, thin crust, stuffed crust, spicy crust or no crust on that pizza? Whatever!
"Whatever!" is a response not just for trivial or inconsequential choices in our lives. Increasingly, a "whatever" attitude is souring the taste of our entire life experience.
Amnesty International has found the conditions of prisoners worse and the incidents of mistreatment on the rise. By and large the world has responded: "Whatever!"
Every night in the United States a million children go to bed homeless and hungry. By and large our nation has responded: "Whatever."
The Chinese government is about to add to its list of crimes against humanity and nature by creating a series of massive dams up and down the mighty Chang River (formerly called Yangtze), destroying villages, local cultures, priceless archaeological sites and fragile, unique wildlife habitats. By and large the world has responded: "Whatever!"
The midterm elections are history. Approximately 80% of the American electorate by not voting has literally said, "Whatever" to the political process.
"Whatever" actually communicates two different attitudes: 1) The first is a demeanor of pure indifference. We don't know, don't care and don't care to know.
2) The second attitude revealed by "whatever" is more subtle. Faced with megabytes of information, an overload of options and a deluge of details, we are unenthused and unimpressed. Instead of growing more engaged and involved with our world, our political system, our schools, our church, our community, a "whatever" attitude shuts down all informational details, ignores complexities, turns off particulars (yada, yada, yada), and opts for and adopts a philosophy of "We can't change things anyway, so why bother?" Why care? Why try?
Newsweek columnist Meg Greenfield has concluded that what we are calling this "whatever" attitude has fostered a new tactic in "scandal management" among high-profile political figures. Instead of trying to hush up every little indiscretion that peppers the lives and works of public figures, their "spin-doctors" and "handlers" have decided to opt for the "befuddlement by saturation" method of defusing potentially scandalous bombshells. Greenfield, looking at the "wall-to-wall scandal stories" filling all of page one of the paper, realized that "in the not so distant past any one of these reports would have been considered a catastrophe by itself." Some political observers on both sides of the aisle have even suggested that the Republican Party by so openly publicizing Clinton's indiscretions so relentlessly may actually have done him a favor in terms of his public support which is still at an all time high. Now, however, for both the accused and the general public "it has pretty much been que sera, sera," which, more or less, is French for "whatever!" (See Newsweek, June 29, 1998, 74).
The apostle Paul was about as far away from a "whatever" attitude as one can get. He calls Christians to get about as far away from the "whatever" attitude as we can get and to embrace a much different "whatever" attitude: "Whatever It Takes!"
Even before he was thrown off his high horse on the Damascus Road, Paul was a "whatever it takes" kind of guy. Before he experienced the presence and power of the risen Christ, Paul was a "whatever-it-takes" zealot about stamping out the Christian "heresy." After his personal encounter and transformation, Paul became a "whatever it takes" zealot to spread the gospel to the world. Paul never ceased to be awed and amazed by the gift God had given to all creation in the person of Jesus Christ. Paul was constantly aware of the wholly unearned gift of God's tremendous love and grace poured out for our salvation.
As Paul sought to preach and teach the gospel in an increasingly hostile and dangerous world, he became keenly aware that there were powerful forces of evil lurking in the background and sometimes in the foreground. Facing hardship and opposition, Paul didn't shrug his shoulders and mumble "Whatever." The stakes were too high, the danger to life, limb, body and soul too serious, to allow Paul to skip over the details of the gospel story with a quick "yada, yada, yada."
The Thessalonian Christians had caught on to the magic of the gospel message. But they became fixated on one part of that "good news." They became obsessed with the details of the drama that would unfold during the prophesied "end times." They were worried about the nature of Jesus' coming again which they equated with the "end of the world." Paul doesn't dismiss their fears and yearnings with a "whatever" attitude. Rather, he addresses them directly, takes their issues seriously, counsels and comforts them.
He tells them, "Don't be "shaken" or "alarmed". But don't be complacent either.
Our problem today is not the Thessalonian one of losing our heads or being alarmed about the coming of the end of the world. Our problem today is indifference and complacency. We are "whatevering" life away.
Our response to the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ: Whatever! Our response to an environment that is crying out in flooding, fires, warming and rising waters from abuse and mistreatment: Whatever! Our response to the needs of the growing number of spiritless persons living all around us: Whatever! Instead of "Whatever!" the Bible calls us to "Whatever It Takes!"
[Note: Direct the attention of the congregation to Michelangelo's painting which is on the cover of the bulletin.]
Look at the picture on the front of the bulletin, one of the most famous images in the history of Christian art, Michelangelo's fresco for the Sistine Ceiling (1508-1512), "The Creation of Adam," the fourth picture in the center of the ceiling vault, where God lets life flow into the body of Adam.
Notice something very different about this picture. Everyone knows that the two hands do not touch. A few have also noted that God has the head of an old man with the body of a youth. But observe how lackadaisical the lounging Adam is! See how nonchalantly, almost limp-wristedly Adam stretches out his hand to God? It's as if Adam were saying, "Whatever!"
Now notice God. See how passionate God is about reaching Adam? See how much energy and force there eis in God's reach? It's as if God were saying, "Whatever it takes!"
Whatever it takes. Next time you hear someone say, "Whatever!" immediately counter with, "Whatever it takes!"
They'll wonder what you mean. Will you tell them? Will you tell them you have heard the call of God to say to your world, "Whatever it takes!"?
Your spouse doesn't want to hear, "whatever"; your spouse wants to hear, "whatever it takes."
Your neighbor, a single parent struggling to find child care and keep a job, doesn't want to hear, "whatever"; your neighbor wants to hear, "whatever it takes."
Your boss doesn't want to hear, "whatever"; your boss wants to hear, "whatever it takes."
Your kids, needing quality time - your time - don't want to hear, "whatever"; your kids want to hear, "whatever it takes."
Your children's schoolteachers, desperately needing your support, don't want to hear, "whatever"; your children's schoolteachers want to hear, "whatever it takes."
The inner city doesn't want to hear us say, "whatever"; the inner city wants to hear us say, "whatever it takes."
The world doesn't want to hear us say, "whatever"; the world wants to hear us say, "whatever it takes."
God doesn't want to hear you say, "whatever"; God wants to hear us say, "whatever it takes."
Henri Dunant, at age 30, was a wealthy Swiss banker and financier. His life would probably have continued much as it had except for one fateful day, June 24, 1859, that changed everything.
Dunant had been sent by his government to talk to Napoleon III. He was to discuss a business deal between the Swiss and the French that would benefit both. But Napoleon was not in Paris; he was on the plain of Solferino about to do battle with the Austrians.
Henri tried to reach the scene before the battle began, but he was too late. His carriage came to a halt on top of a hill that overlooked the battlefield.
Suddenly the trumpets blared, muskets cracked, cannons boomed. The two cavalries charged and the battle was on. Henri Dunant, as if in a box seat at the theater, sat transfixed. He could see the dust rising, hear the screams of the injured, the dying. Dunant sat as if in a trance at the horror below him.
But the real horror was later--when he entered the small town after the battle was over. Every house, every building was filled with the mangled, the injured, the dead. Driven by pity at the suffering he saw all around him, Dunant stayed in the town for three days doing everything he could to help. He was never the same man again.
This was not the way to settle differences between nations. And most of all, there ought to be a worldwide organization to help people in times of suffering and chaos.
Henri Dunant returned to Switzerland, but in the next few years he became a fanatic on the subject of peace and mercy. He began to travel all over Europe preaching his message. Eventually his business suffered in the effort and he was soon broke. But he persisted.
At the fits Geneva Conference, he carried on a one-man assault against war. As a result, the Conference passed the first international law against war--a movement that was to give birth eventually to both the League of Nations and the UN.
In 1901 Dunant was awarded the first Nobel Peace prize. And though he was penniless and living in a poorhouse, he gave the entire prize to the worldwide movement he founded--the International Red Cross. For him it was, "Whatever it takes!"
"Whatever it takes!"
"Whatever it takes!"

AMEN