Memorial Day 1975 - A Crisis of Faith John M. Buchanan
May 25, 1975 Broad Street Presbyterian Ghurch
Ezekiel 37:1-6 Columbus, Ohio

Memorial Day is different this year.| As I thought about it Last
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week, it became clear that there are gamapdapanitaet differences between
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the climate in which we observe Memorial Day in the year of our Lord

1975 and the climate which has prevailed for every other Ms

in the past.} ft is a time for looking back and remembering those who

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died in the service of country, for causes which were right and good
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orton: leoneticts in which we came out the vimer. |e were nurtured
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on that. I can recall one time during the Second World War asking my
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father what would happen if we tost.\ 1 shall never forget his answer:
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(we won't lose - we can't lose." That was that ;\no more had to be said.
—_—_ — a a ia

Given that certainty, that spirit, one could remember those who had
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died and were dying with sadness, yet pride. \ Fer the cause, was just

and because of the ultimate sacrifice of a lot of people right would
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prevail.

And now, L975, and with special poignancy we must include in that
corporate memory the fifty thousand who died in a conflict which, if we

did not loge neither did we wins and the unspeakable sadness of those
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who died on an island off Cambodia - and the two who died last week simply

because someone wanted_to express hatred toward the policies of our
anaes hiatal eel errant

nation. \ We must vemember them, too, and in remembering deal with the

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implication that we live in a world in which people may keep on dying
En oan) namie

for ambiguous reasons. | “Tho ws a Atferent Kind of Wrtaors ot
—

Sau, | enter, de fferons a al ond Mere Qovadel Le im

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maw iad

|x: wot Meas hy as clear ~~ provd Qua

Cad, +o adduess 4s ‘omer was

Oss gerd ope, Kemt weber ;

muy fart are Gitalorgers L. of YWewerr) Daw, \@is ~ is tee leekive >t

square

. | Perhaps "crisis
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of confidence" is a more apt phrase, and yet I believe we're dealing
tena inane Lae aia

with somet ing more prefound than confidence. \ We're dealing with the
corporate belief of the people of this nation in the basic concepts
Pal —

of our system: \we're dealing, I think, with fundamental attipudes
~thats Pepurtic- vs iv) in ae werk ids
yregarding the viability of quemugeedaemmntshineddaymiatelgin

aii Ap gurvart . -

It is revealing to learn how drastically those attitudes have

changed in a relatively brief period of tine. \ tn 1937, Robert and

Helen Lynd, did a classic sociological study of life in middle -

America under the title, Middletown in transition. in a chapter,

Phe Middletown Spirit", the authors identified certain "of course

al ve
statements" - beliefs and Wiel nees that were almost universally

accepted as true ve Among them were,
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‘the American Democratic form of Government is the final

and ideal form of Government."

_

“Americans are the freest people in the world”
“America will always be the land of opportunity and the

greatest and richest country in the world."

Lonel

pex aps AMey were \ens lanai ce are wer yea Wb : Awe uch
‘peeepEnpeenrigumpinenentenibiementpern in their place ig a listlessness , a

ske m: a new "of co e" statement - "the American system is sick."
bouk. olforke can t Be rede “a PAL TO TION.

Sensitive news commentators put their finger on it with_regularity.

Something has gowe out of the heart of America and we are the poorer

for it.

he wos Rien gresele

\
Several years ago the late Walter Lippmann, wrote: "The malady is caused,

I believe, by the impagt of science upon religious certainty and of

technological progress upon the settled order of family class and com-

munity ‘\'virevat despair'

t comes from being lost in a universe where the
meaning of life and the social order are no longer given from on high-

\aves Li gate t
but have to be iaeseminadl and discovered and experimented with, each

lonely individual for himself." (see Roger Shinn, Tangled World, p 152)

brant al thea) Waa

sania aenmienitinnaniienl

a Bicentennial edition, a series of articles on the "Battered Pillars

F ‘all

of the American Systen." [The preface read as follows: | "Belief in God,
pier ai

ono pect
belief in the ability of education to develop human potentialities, and
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belief that science assured benign and continnual_progress - these three
ean) erninnnnnne

kinds of faith have been wajor pillars of the American system, sustaining

onfidence in it and optimism about its fucure. \ nut in the last couple
| iin el i Te Or

aor
AN eau f decades all three pillars have undergone a great deal of chipping

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sweet SS of . ;

geo cas ae ‘ovr wy Jand cracking. \ Indeed, there have been somber warnings that one pillar
oes At Se yr another - if not all three - had become too weak to provide support
A ae in © wo" o. wort B®} Pater Bexger, @ sociologist
. vO * at Rutgers University with a keen interest in instutitional xelision in

America, wrote the first article. | Acording to Berger, \"there are grounds

—

for believing that the spirit has gone out of American religious insti-
Think alow that Sc ag mined
tutions.''} In the past two decades the Churches tried desperately to
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ED) Overs sver Wr were Lele lad ce li

stay in touch with what looked Like an increasingly secular culture. Y

We were told that a faithful Ghurch should let the world write che .
ape That wt were res pyad dv wWeleors was “Papre— i“ soeie dy

Agenda’ preach a religionless gospel, \that God was more jwawa waa
name 9
ko aver Wonself 4
that transcenant we that a Ch : C WAS jeieieionienegeicers

A sft eee ecictka :{ypia a pete ae jr preleak inivabret
imeem, Christian theologians started talking about the death

of a There was something grand and good, it seemed, in proving

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to one another just how segylar, and non-traditional we could be.

ie on. same Vivne » oer clues Greve waauien is opposi h lized —

setgpetgos. En sum", Berger wrote, (Yon most significant development
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in the area of denominational religion has been a monumental failure of
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nerve. + \In contemporary America, the development has been ironic and
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devastating, for the secular culture to which the Churches were called

to accomodate themselves has itself been geing through profound failure

of nerve. \ the schoolboys, having hopped on the bandwagon, are still

exclaiming that they have at last been liberated while the bandwagon

has been rapidly falling apart beneath them. The secular city, it

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turns out, was made of cardboard." (Ibid. p 135)

The churches, according to Bergerts analysis, don't need to be

anything but what they are, namely ~ the churches, \ sue we have come

Cn eC oe ——-,
so far that it's going to take some doing, some renewing from the inside
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out: [some thinking and praying about who we are as a Ohyurch and who God

wants us to be, \veny have given up »\ veny apparently feel that, in fact,

institutional religion is a dead issue. \many members of the Church,
wuimmetimmiemmieicpvemevmmnini TN

this one included, simply and eloquently boycot it week after week after

—eo—

week.

Now, there is such a thing as "Medical Student's Disease", a situ-

—

ation in which a student begins to recognize in himself the symptons of

whatever pathology he happens to be studying at the time, \s0 - with
Fg oo

religion and theology: \ the more we read and discuss the problems of the

Fema son alee ne

church the more evident it appears that we have them all, and that there

is no hope. | A better _way, I think, is to keep our situation in the
— Gyr Bho, “Balica (Mckay.
perspective of history. JAnd I invite you_to do so by traveling back

in time to the sixth century Before Christ.
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The Prophet Ezekiel lived in a very critical time for God's people,

Lariat ini ee |
one which in many respects is similar to our own. \ sudan, the southern
Ce al = ree
part of the nation, was essentially a vassal state under the heel of
— =o hneemenneiititnemnn ae aad
Babylon, | Iwo ill-advised and disastrous rebellions had taken place with

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the result that Nebuchadnezzar gnvaded and brought the downfall

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of Jerusalem in 586 BC. \r was a complete blotting out of the nation,

innocent people were slaughtered, every town of importance was destroyed

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and all but the very poorest were carried off into exile \VWwere Wes WwW
CuUddee lo podteck -Yan dh Ab. Mathie cold Syrurve

The reasons for the disastey, were that the rulers of Judah, for

perfectly understandable motives o£ patriotism, wanted the flag to

wave proudly once again. \tey wanted Judah to be a great and strong
bea —a

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nation among nations. | And so they sent out diplomatic feelers to other
Seinen ala

otential enemies of Babylon, made some treaties and_aventually revolted.
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An heroic effort. - oud wer OL errr Tsun vaade

Do al

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Aas Consus\ faite va eR ahi wl Laide i. Gd

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The prophets, Ezekiel among them, told temmaemem that it was a mistake.
aE oo

It cartainly didn’t enhance their standing with the rulers, but they

Sa iiaieenmamaed

thundered that God wanted a holy and just and righteous people:| not

——,

necessarily a great military power. \eeekier was in Babylon with the

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exiles when Jerusalem gett. \the last section of his book contains his

words of comfort and hope to a defeated and devastated nation.

aramsatc, -

His vision is perhaps one of the most popular in all Biblical Litera-
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ture: | a deserted hattlefield littered with the dry bones of fallen and

defeated warriors: \ an eloquent image of God's people at that point in

time ®lrcan nes these bones 1 pones Live?"

God, thou knowest?' {Is there any hope at all for the people of God:

Ged asks and Ezekiel answers, fo Lord

any future at ali for the covenant community: \or for that matter for

God's will and purpose?
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Now if you want to relevant and with it in that situation what
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eu’
do you ao? | why you go back to Babylon and urge the exiled Does to
ARNE = a wantin AeA
start accomodating te Babylonian culture: \ start intermarrying and give
‘SUES Se
up a few of the more particular customs: \:ace the facts and start living
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again.

But the word of God takes a curious twist at thig,pgint - and this

ETL Biss perple TK Gay eatee
is the importance of the whole passage. Prophesy to these bones and

—_

say to them, "Hear the word of the Lord’ m\ The prophet's role in the
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vision is very important. \ He is not to be simply a spectator. | we has
ee —=

mot been given the vision in order more dramatically to comprehend Judah's
—— sea tahietatemmni or erat al

plight. \He is to be a participant \ Of all things, he is to pygach to
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Se ae

this hopeless and helpless congregation.\ te is te be faithful: he is ta

be true to his identity as a man of God even in the valley of dry bones.

Ove of Yu delen che of anesk, arvcifixim + Agekl. Cau “hn eae sreet
£ Sesve Chrisk \ovs of pergecubim, svtfera + uerheden God's peapir Meme Cisem
0 ————

. oe
capex, wou Gee
In the vision the bones live seain. | m histery Israel did rise again

from the grave of its exile in Babylon - one of the most remarkable
a nin - Da a |

facts im phe story of the human cued fre we not here dealing.

onmtnan misgion of God's people - the church of Jesus Christ if you will?
Wet. oyusk be relewanth~ tou)

Relevance is never as impogtant as faithfulness, \ the Church must continue

to respond to human need, human suffering, human injustice - but when the
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world writes the agenda, \vben we stop being the particular and peculiar
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people of God - we are headed for deep trouble indeed.
Now leks ak Abed “Brolval vutderslow. i. “he eter of our wakion

For better or for worse the health of this Republic has been re-

lated to the relative vitality of its religious snstisations | George
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Washington was more of a deist that an Orthedex Christian but he was not

far from the truth when he said, \wrrue religion affords government its
a

re
odvones t support .' | wow I do not mean to say that the Church should be
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an obedient and docile servant of the state:|ehis one or any other one .

That is idglatry. \ The shameful compliance of the German Church with
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Nazi-ism should ever be our school master whenesam we are tempted to
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equate Christianity with good citizenship. | But in point of fact there is
ere Ee a eal
somathing at the heart_of the American experiment which rests heavily
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on &@ robust and healthy practice of religion. \ that is the intent of the

First Amendment to the Constitution, by the way: \ not to protect the
ccmmiatihemmninan ne sonemaitall ae eS

state from interference by the Church, but to guarantee the total free-

dom and independence of religion within the state.

Cy) The American system historically has depended on the Churches to
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“hare Can be “ generate those goxal values upon which political health tependeGin turn.

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abegenonk, i?

vse otalitarianism, of course, generates its own value system?” But in
yalues_V oa. 3 a cNETIPOS NCES Ritcae

——_— .
ace be beesban es this Republic it is to religion that the state has Looked for the generat-
perenvi one of inter
ad one S on_and celebration of integrity and justice and compassion, \ And the

tha a
are segues oc shawp owt
om copyite + dg gevde ek -7-

Vr an wt dag “Wak “Vesertekievmmetbtmmanens Patrisiis geaple shea d
Sugpor \- Ma Chased, ye Cama e Vo aga ar Ya Wark oe «| Tht beulk be

oles pera. \Wuhet T GM saying is
ove Comte, <e k ve our

ang _

Perhaps the unique ministry of the Church in the midst of this crisis

ef faith is simply to be faithful: [as was the case with Ezekiel, to preach

God's word of leave and justice to what looks , for \e the nr like ‘
‘ € tas
valley of dry bones .\ Yer laps we weed xe... & ian foe
£ rawdis & gerd or eical we a the ware cmp ident NE Soe i iis

+ 4! 1 . . .
graye celia ae In another time St. Paul accressed himself to a tiny Christian

. on . . . . - p : : d
sf pio community - an overwhelming minoxity facing persecution, suffering an

Ww MS
4c. » Sud perhaps dcatn.\ It, too, was a time of crisis: | his words of admonition
wus, * da and advice at the conclusion of a letter he wrote to the community are

eV
wv > wae” ya. j ; ;
it modest but, it seems to me, very relevant to our situation today.
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a
ew.
%
we \aee
“A \pe " ...we cannot do anything against the truth, but only for the truth.

vob \pov
guoses G For we are glad when we are weak...heed my appeal, agree with one another,
GRS 4

live in peace, and the God of Love and peeres will be with you TL Corinthians
L3: 8,9,11

Mewonea Dom ;

It is a time for looking back and remembering 1
oe

=e a time for looking forward and

about the future. { re is time also, ‘eraudedl

jew’ asking
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ys
eubrebs, for acknowledging that a great deal depends on our recovering |

ee Jk f [something of that spirit and that
* wt

ise. Amen

tr ra . we ”
wat Xe God of our Fathers, we believe that you have Jed us in the past.
ce
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‘ wa a b So lead us today into the future. And call froma faithful and obedient
ah

ReS— yee OM I5
of ' ek epenees through jesus Christ Gur Lord, Amen