My God, My God, Why Have You Forsaken Me? - Kurt Nelson

Kurt Nelson 

Rollins Chapel 

11.17.10 

Psalm 22: 1-2 

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? 

 

This is, I think, a different sort of question,

than the others we’ve wondered so far this term.

It's a question not so much about humanity,

or of our relationship to God.

But a question posed toward God.

It’s a question of protest,

asked by the Psalmist,

asked by Job,

asked by Jesus as he faced death,

Asked perhaps by many of us here today.

It takes various forms,

like "Why do bad things happen to good people?"

It’s asked in times of despair.

Asked, I hope, in confirmation classes and bible studies.

A question which essentially comes down to the seemingly incongruous belief

in a good and loving and powerful God,

and the fact of suffering and evil.

A question which no doubt has led some away from faith.

And the ability to ask such a question has, I hope,

drawn still others closer in.

Nearly every sermon I’ve heard or read

on this problem of evil,

turns to offer insight into the author’s own profound experience of suffering.

But I admit that I am largely unqualified to go down such a road.

I've certainly not lived a perfect or pain-free life,

but I have lived a good, and lucky, and blessed one.

I have lost only a few close friends or family,

so far.

I have been blessed by a good and loving family from the start.

and good health, so far.

And yet even I have protested and questioned.

on behalf of myself,

on behalf of suffering people with whom I’ve sat.

on behalf of countries facing war or natural disaster,

and on behalf of history-

why should such evil, such suffering exist in the world?

Such questions are, I think,

essential to the human experience,

even those of us who have lived lives far more full of grace than of trial.

And such questions are,

I think, deeply I important to the life of faith.

And I take solace, this morning, in knowing

that I have but a few minutes to address this question of suffering,

 not because I think I will be able offer a satisfactory answer

but because I’m pretty sure more time wouldn’t help.

But it’s not for lack of trying.

Indeed, so interested in the question of evil I was,

that I devoted my college honors thesis to it.

Are all religions the same? - Richard R. Crocker

Are all religions the same?
Rollins Chapel
Richard R. Crocker
November 10, 2010
Exodus 20:1-4 and Amos 5:21-24

Are all religions the same? While some people might say yes, the correct answer is no. Look around. Some religions believe in one transcendent God. Others believe in many, or none. Some believe in reincarnation. Others do not. Some believe in dietary restrictions, others do not. Obviously, all religions are not the same.

I think everyone knows this. But I think that people who argue that all religions are the same would say that they are all the same in some important way, despite their relatively unimportant differences. I think that is also not true. So why would anyone say that it is true? Because they want it to be true. Many of us are embarrassed by the particularity of our religion, especially if that particularity includes the assertion that other religions are wrong. So we try to minimize the differences and maximize common concerns. As a strategy for civil dialogue, this is good. But, in religions, as in most other areas of life, the differences are often the most interesting things, and the most important things, about us.

Consider the analogy of language. Language is the closest thing to faith. Faith is how we conceive of meaning. Language is how we express it. Language, in fact, may not simply express our deepest perceptions, but shape them. So, let us ask, just for interest, whether all languages are the same. Obviously, they are not. If they were, translation would be easy and a computer could easily do it. But, as anyone who has tried to translate literature knows, translation is very difficult. Some meanings in one language are simply absent in another.

I stand before you as a person who has studied and passed competency tests in Latin, Greek, Hebrew, French, and German. I also stand before you as a person who cannot really use or understand any of those languages. I can only really express myself in the language that has shaped my mind – English. I also stand before you as a person who has had some instruction in Buddhism, Judaism, Islam, as well as various kinds of Christianity. But I am only fluent in Christianity – and then only in one dialect.

I don’t think this analogy is misplaced. All languages are not the same, but they all have a common purpose: they help us to create and express our thoughts, by which we seek to comprehend the world. Religions have a similar nature. They are not all alike, but they do all have a similar purpose, which is to help us create, express, and comprehend the meaning of our existence.

So if all religions have a common purpose, doesn’t that mean they are all the same? Not at all. They are different. Every religion in some way is concerned with helping us conceive and relate to what is ultimate, but they have very different concepts of what is ultimate. That is why I absolutely reject the trite metaphor that religions are all paths up the same mountain. They are different paths up different mountains, I think. Not every religion is, for example, a path up Mount Sinai, where Moses received the ten commandments – the first two of which we read today, and which seem to imply an exclusive view of the ultimate that cannot easily be turned into relativism., Yet when we look at the prophet Amos, who spoke from that tradition, we encounter a person who, speaking in the name of God, declares that God despises rituals and solemn assemblies. What God requires instead is justice.

Well, then, can’t we all agree that while religious rituals might be different, they are all concerned with justice? No. Conceptions of justice, too, are very different – even among people of the same religion. For some, justice demands eternal punishment as well as eternal bliss. For others, justice requires capital punishment for adultery. For others, such ideas are abhorrent. There is no way to bring us all together under the umbrella of justice.

But let us not despair. Even though all religions are not the same, even though there are very different pathways and very different mountains, there is yet an important commonality. All of them are concerned with what is ultimate. And though all of them conceive of and describe the ultimate in different ways, there can still be conversation – conversations in which we learn and grow.

Conversations. So we are back to language. As I told you, I have studied many languages but feel competent only in English. All other languages require a dictionary and a lot of time. But conversations between people of different languages can happen. They require effort and preparation and study, but they can happen. We can learn to appreciate, even if we cannot fully speak, another language, and to find its peculiar concepts interesting and meaningful. Some people may even become so at home in another language that they come to prefer it – one can even say they converted to it. But most of us continue to feel most comfortable with the language we learned as children, even though our vocabularies continue to grow. It is how we make sense of the world.

I know that you are now asking: isn’t he really saying that it doesn’t matter which language you speak? Isn’t he really saying that it doesn’t matter which religion you practice – because it’s a matter of what you learned? To a degree, I am saying that. It’s hard – but not impossible - to truly adopt another language or another religion. But in another sense, I am not saying that. Different religions promote different virtues, different rituals, different understandings. This is another way of saying that they can produce different fruits. If there is any important practical difference in religions, it is known, as Amos said, not in its different rituals, or even in its different theologies, but in the fruits it produces in its followers. That is why it is so sad when people look at Christianity, expecting to find the love and compassion it preaches, and find instead violence and oppression. An honest look at the fruits of our own faith should cause us all to be humble. Humility is the prerequisite of all learning.

What can we do about the world's troubles?

Kurt Nelson, 11/2/10

Rollins Chapel.

John 2: 13-16

Richard has often reminded us this term,

that 10 minutes on a cold Wednesday morning,

is not a lot of time to address such big questions.

Thankfully this morning,

we have no such problem.

I fully expect that we will come to terms,

with what we can do about the world's troubles this morning,

in 9 minutes or less,

and have a plan of action implemented by the end of today's service.

(please plan to come next week with relevant assessment data,

so we can implement necessary changes).

I suspect few of you need convincing,

that the world does indeed have problems.

And here in the land of the phrase,

“the world’s troubles are your troubles”

I suspect you don’t need much convincing,

that said troubles are at least something of our business.

So we’ve come a long way already.

Perhaps for you the phrase "world's troubles" brings to mind issues of global concern

like war, or poverty, or environmental degradation.

Or perhaps it's more local, like family troubles, or academic struggles.

Or perhaps the problem on your mind is more internal,

like illness, depression or even apathy.

The troubles are many,

and the solutions seemingly few.

But the real problem with the world's problems,

it seems to me,

is not simply the problems themselves,

or that there are so many of them,

but also the problem of despair.

I suspect we've all faced,

or will one day face,

the problem of despair.

The feeling that there's nothing that I can do,

or indeed nothing at all to be done.

And that's why I selected this week's passage.

For it's not only a terrific example of righteous and holy anger -

which, in moderation, can be a truly helpful motivator  -

but is a story about taking first steps down a journey

when the outcomes are far from known.

What is truth? - Richard R. Crocker

What is truth?
Rollins Chapel
October 27, 2010
Richard R. Crocker
John 18:37-38 John 14:5-7 1 John 3:18-19 John 8:32

What is truth? It’s a big question to explore, much less answer, in ten minutes, so early in the morning.

But we can make a few observations. The question was posed by Pontius Pilate, to Jesus, during his trial. But note what prompted Pilate’s question. He said it in response to Jesus’ assertion “for this I was born and for this I came into the world, to testify to the truth.”

Now what kind of truth are we talking about? Because there are different kinds. There are truths that we know by definition. Most of these are mathematical. 2 plus 2 is four, by definition. That is not, I think, the kind of truth that Jesus was talking about, nor is it the kind of truth that most interests us. There are other truths that are discovered by investigation, many of them scientific. Such truths are descriptive and always subject to revision. When Newton discovered the law of gravity, he discovered a “truth”. Gravity as a theory doesn’t interest me much either, though I am very much affected by it. But there is another kind of truth that interests me, and I expect all of us, very much – and it is the truth we discover for ourselves, through experience, and through the testimony of others, Jesus says he came to testify to the truth – not to prove it. Testimony is a way of getting to the truth of a complex situation. In a trial, testimony is given to help us determine the truth, and the truth is usually not simple. Pilate’s question, “What is truth?” can be understood as a cynical statement, signifying his conviction that there is no such thing as truth, or perhaps as a sincere statement, signifying his experience that truth is hard to discover. In either case, it is interesting to note that Jesus did not, at his trial, answer the question.

Whom Shall I Send? - Richard Crocker

Whom Shall I Send?
Rollins Chapel
Richard R. Crocker
October 20, 2010
Isaiah 6:1-8

Last week Kurt explored the questions: Who am I, and who shall I become?

This week: “Whom Shall I send?” It is a similar question, and you may notice some overlap in our remarks.

Whom shall I send? The question occurs in this passage from Isaiah, which describes an ecstatic, mystical experience that occurred, apparently, in the temple in Jerusalem, where Isaiah had a vision of the holiness of God and of his own sinfulness, and where he heard the voice of God asking, “Whom shall I send?” One might well ask, send where? To do what? But Isaiah was so caught up in the moment that he did not ask; he simply responded,” send me.” Only afterwards did he find out what he was sent to do.

Would that all of us had such a powerful experience to bring us to a sense of vocation. But most of us settle for a job. A job is an activity for which someone will pay us. It is a way of trading labor for money. It is a way of making a living. We worry about getting jobs, since they are scarce. But a job is different from a vocation. A vocation is a calling. It is something that cries out to us to be done, that engages our energies and emotions and skills and interests, that we will do not simply to make a living, not chiefly to make money, but to make a life.

Almost any job can become a vocation if it somehow has a transcendent dimension – if it feeds your soul. Any work that is done chiefly for the common good, for the glory of God, rather than for private gain, can become a vocation.

The novelist/minister Frederich Buechner, whom Kurt quoted last week, once said that your vocation is where your deep joy and the world’s great need meet. He explained that things that bring us no joy cannot be our vocation, but things that do not meet the world’s need also cannot be a vocation. The two must coincide. Thus, we have many joyless lawyers, even though there may be a need for good lawyers. There may also be joyful investment bankers, but I confess that I can’t see that the world needs any more investment bankers. I may be wrong. But I think Buechner is right. Our vocation must both bring us joy and meet a deep need in the world.

In the case of Isaiah, however, it’s hard to know what joy he got. Being a prophet – really a prophet – is a singularly dangerous and unrewarding job. A prophet, as Jesus said, is very likely to be stoned. The prophet speaks a message that the world needs to hear, but that almost no one wants to hear it. My divinity school at Vanderbilt had an inscription over the door “The school of the Prophets.” Needless to say, enrollment was always low. Prophets are unusual. Almost all of them have the experience that God predicted when Isaiah said, “Send me.” God said: “Go and say to this people: keep listening, but do not comprehend; keep looking, but do not understand. Make the mind of this people dull, and stop their ears, and shut their eyes….” This is a hard task: to speak words to people so offensive that they will shut their eyes and stick fingers in their ears. But, for the love of God, and the love of the world, sometimes this is what must be done. While I would not necessarily call Al Gore a prophet, certainly his message of an inconvenient truth, has met with steadfast resistance. Gandhi’s message of nonviolence and Martin Luther King’s, both, echoing, of course, Jesus – what currency do they command?

Who Am I and Who Ought I Become?

 Kurt Nelson

Who Am I and Who Ought I Become?

October 13, 2010.  Exodus 2

I suspect every college graduate,

past, present or future,

has faced the question:
"What are your plans for after graduation?”

Dozens.  Perhaps hundreds of times.

Professors ask.  And administrators, and family members.

classmates, casual acquaintances, people on the street.

Early in one’s education,

it seems innocent enough.

But later in one’s career,

as choice and expectation team up,

it tends to become burdensome and perhaps even annoying.

But I admit, I've asked.

And I’ll continue to ask,

because it’s still far more polite and effective,

than asking directly the question behind the question:

who are you, and who you think you ought to become?

We've ventured boldly outside the biblical corpus,

for this week’s Big Question.

 “Who am I and who ought I become?”

has been attributed variously to the great and illustrious President

William Jewett Tucker,

and to the great and current Assistant Chaplain,

Kurt Nelson.

But at least its immediate origins,

it stems from the inaugural speech,

of the Tucker Foundation's first Dean, Fred Berthold.

Fred -

like President Tucker before him,

sought to find a way to honor the broad, Christian work to which he was called,

while keeping in mind the challenge of the missionary zeal

upon which Dartmouth was founded.

And this question was his answer.

This question was, and I hope is,

at the heart of not only the Tucker Foundation,

but the entirety of our liberal arts education.

Eternal Life? - Richard Crocker

 What must I do to inherit eternal life?
Richard R. Crocker
Rollins Chapel
October 6, 2010
Mark 10:17-22

What must I do to inherit eternal life? This is a very difficult question to explore, much less answer, in less than ten minutes. I do note, however, that Jesus answered it in about 30 seconds.
The question requires that we answer three other independent questions. Those questions are: What do we mean by eternal life? Is there such a thing? If so, is it for some, for all, or for none of us? And, if it is possible for any of us, how do we get it? It is this last question that the man addressed to Jesus.

What do we mean by eternal life? Well, there is some confusion. Sometimes in scripture the word “everlasting” is used – which implies life that never ends. This is a popular understanding. We go to heaven and live forever – on and on and on and on…….. But the word eternal is different. It refers to life outside of time. Time is a dimension that dominates our earthly existence. There seems to be no escape from it. Yet, as we have come to surmise, reality has many dimensions, far more than the three or four familiar to us. Eternal life is life in a different dimension, outside of time.

If that is so, if eternal life is life in a different dimension, we may yet ask, “is there such a thing?” And the only honest answer to that question is, “we do not know.” Absolutely no one KNOWS if there is such a thing. It is beyond our comprehension, beyond our capacity. Many people today, convinced that human beings are essentially an assembly of molecules, assume that there can be no life apart from those molecules. But that is a belief, a faith, that goes beyond what we can possibly know. Others believe, hope, have faith that our essential life partakes of other dimensions, and that our lives are not conquered by time. The evidence for this belief is also not convincing to everyone. Although some belief in life beyond this one is present in almost every human culture, so much so that it seems intuitive, or ingrained in human being, the belief is not beyond question. For Christians, the evidence is in the transcendent life of Jesus, which was revealed in a new dimension after his death. But while this evidence is held dear by Christians, many others, especially in our materialistic world, cannot give it any credit. So the answer to the question, “Is there such a thing?”, is “We do not know.” But we do know that such belief is common in human life and is essential to the Christian story.

So the third question: if there is such a thing as eternal life, is it possible for any of us humans – and, if so, for only some or for all? Here again, traditional Christian thought runs up against the spirit of the age, which seems to convince many that eternal life is not possible for any human being. But, while Christians are united in their belief that it is possible, they are divided on whether it is for some or for all. Most have said it is for all – though traditionally, the bliss of eternal life is for some, while the torment of eternal life is for others. This great schema – the story of creation, the fall into sin, the redemption of the world through the sacrifice of Jesus, and judgment of the world, following which some will enter heaven and others will be condemned to hell – has been the organizing schema of Christian civilization. Both heaven and hell are seen as eternal. For many Christians this traditional teaching is still convincing. For others, however, the know about God through the revelation of Jesus Christ.