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TO BE OR NOT TO BE...STILL THE QUESTION JMB
Joshua 24:14-18, John 6:60-69 Muskingum College
March 12, 1980 Chapel

‘Perhaps the most celebrated Lin eve Ltten for the

stage is this one:

‘ane be or not to be: \ that, is the
’ EE

question."

——

of eriet |

It is from Hamlet, Shakespeare’ s powerful drama

= | in which the playwrite addressed him-

the world of tragedy | and sorgow, or death in its profound

De

simplicity is more to be desired. ot a cheerful qurewtgenu grepositim.

Hamlet laments at one point:

.O God! God!
How weary, stale, flat and unprofitable,
Seem to me all the uses of this world!"

The intriguing idea in the line out of Hamiet, however, is

that living is a matter of deciding; \thet the individual

has the ability to determine to be or not to be. \ Shakes-—
sqrmittinnimiepaant ~

peare understood” that simply existing -— carrying out the
Da tnd

biological functions which are necessary - is not full human
SEA tT Dg a Li scene

1ige: | tae wili and commitment and love aud passion must

come into play if a person is to live, (re be or not to

be: that is the question." )

It still is. | thought about it - and the Shakespearean
a 7 =

rhetoric in which it is elegantl

ed in a most. unlikely

place - watching a very un-Shakespearean movie \ I had

finally succumbed to my chilgrents ities and gone to

see the movie that hag enthralled 2 then

the lines was not Olivier but Stallone :\ the character, not

Hamlet but Rocky Balboa. The mOVL Gets you may know, was

The actor delivering

Rocky II, simple, sentimental, a gushy mixture of faizy

and medieval morality pray. \ The question of being is raised

again. \But for him it is a denial

request that he neve

eae

of his identity .\ Boxing is the only thing he
The critical scene occurs as Rocky, totally depr

off from his new job, is hitting

2ounching bag in the base-

steps and they talk about what has happened to him\ He says,

f "I never asked you to stop being a woman: \ don’ make me

stop being 2 man It is, you see, a matter of being,

identify, selfhood. \ And when from her hospital Beg

. — an exiskential
ring, but tells hiftmto win, e=bawedegéeed resurrection occurs.

A new man is born: \ Rocky decides to be\ Now an unusual

had not witnessed since the days Of iON

and Tom Mix..
Pr see nis scot

whigtled.\ My children confirmed that the same thing happened
when they s@ _movie.\ In fact, they clapped gnd stood

and cheered and whistled. \ I confess thatwwwdebented to.
—Ee nn eae

We remember the Hamlet line not only because it is

simple, but also because it strikes a fmiliear chord in our

hearts.) Somehow we know that it is the most important

down in the depths of heart and spirit, to be.\ It is the
Ge ee —_ o-_ ,_

essence of our religion to pose the question of our humanity

at that deep and profound Level.
Sl Sea

I find it in the Old Testament lesson this evening.

Se
Moses had died on the far side of the Jordan.\ Joshua had
eget s Yk eae | ee

taken the twelve Tribes of Israel into the promised land and
aay
there in battle after battle led them against the people who
—aees eos
were living in the land. \ Joshua had presided at Jericho and

later, as the land was divided and agsigned to the several
et te

: f imi i

tribes But over the years the process of assimilation had

begun. \ The Jews intermarried: \ Canaanite customs were adopted:
Poa =e Y Cn

even Canaanite religion - and the identity of God's people was

ede | So Sa
in danger. \ And so, near the end of his life, Joshua gathered
fame fh ET ee

the people and challenged them to be thansei-ves.. | "Choose this

day whom you will serve. \ As for me_and my family we will
[ESE SoS Se

serve the Lord,"\he said.
==

From the very beginning God's people have had a decision
Se, ee emer
to make, a very personal attirmation. \ Jesus precipitated it
eos eS tion

wherever he went. | People were not neutral about nhionighonbrty him

eae
- or their identity in relation to tains. Gay seemed either
een

Lthwnk me of At nee? femertablieAESAges
3 -& Wrark ¢ - in wl an

to love or hate him.

be _sfvu nut . x decided, m tt Spor, 7 be bir Filbuers .
[Emenee eat 9 fe)

d's person: | to be a Christian involves
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a decision - a commitment, a determination to be.
=p Da) =

Yet even as we begin to think about Christian

cision we

we know that we are save grace and love, not the
strength and passion of our decision. \But our discomfort is

not that pure \ Christianity, simply put, is not something

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about which many of us ever decided thin \ We were born
into itl We slid into the church through Baptism and later

a confirmation class that had something to do with adolescence

and catechism. \me decision-making process, however, was

less than earth shaking. \ pater we assumeg @e adult roles

in the church without anything resembling a crisis. A

ACRE

“decision for Christ", we think, has to do with people who

Deemed

have their religion in tents or revival meetings; \te ones

a

who like it hot and heavy, Robert Raines once observed; |those

who get overly excited about it; (rout not for reasonable,
well-bred me;\I like my religion quiet and in good taste.)
Oa anal ei

EE REL TRE te

(New Life in the Church, p. 49)

But perhaps there is more even than this. | Pernaps
eo cena

we're really not sure that we want to be disciples of Jesus

Christ. \ Perhaps we know, in our heart of hearts, that our
ATE Tree

religion is about a personal relationship with Christ - and

all the intensity, demands, obedience and sacrifice that
Sumer ea [ae [eas

implies. Hugh T. Kerr, one of the saltiest Christian

journalists I know and editor of Theology Today, wrote about

the long list of Biblical characters who spent most of their

lives trying to avoid God. { He caught my attention with this
observation:
ee

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"The protests against God's claim, which these Biblical
Ce ry
names suggest, might caution us today against so many who so
easily announce that being 'born again' is a completely

ee,

acceptive, joyful and reassuring experience.\ To ‘accept
*

Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior' is not an invitation to

rr seers,

tea: Lit is a sentence to hard labor that anyone might be
. ee ee

excused from considering." |(July, 1979, p. 164)
Pen | nmniemniienhmnl .

a

=

"To be or not to pe." \cnristiantty is not a creed, 4

series of philosophic assertions about the nature of God -
Dd

although that is part of it. \rt is not an ethic, a list
anil eine a il

of rules for living, although that too can be part of it.

Christianity is the word that ‘describes what happens when

a person decides to let Jegus Christi, be Lord; when_deep down

inside a strong decision to follow him is made,
TA TET.

r j i igi i 1 duci to a
Our practice of religion is not always conducive
powerful commitment like chats And our culture seems at

\ commaluuuts of meee Y kind,

times almost to abhor sam $0
EC

President of Cornell University, Frank H. T, Rhodes,

in the New York Times emphasized that the purpose of an

emma

education isf{"informed commitment, not rootless abstention")
nee

eee

OCs,

from the great causes and questions of our aay.\ Four,

colleges ,"Jshe wrote, (“are more successful in challenging
a

_—_e

assumptions - than in en-couraging conclusions: \ more

concerned with analysis than synthesis. \ this reflects the

temper of the age...it can turn a man or woman into a

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permanent critic, a convinced cynic, a detached observer of

society, rather than a persuaded participant..."

Dr maianainail

Our age distrusts deep commitment and prefers cool
oe Stir

detachnent .\ Or, coming at it from a slightly different angle,

our age encourages personal affirmation in the narrowest,
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most selfish sense. ("To be or not to be")in the Age of

Cena

Narcissus comes out\''To do my own thing, br not to do my
Ey, ———

own thing, that is the only question."

ea

The Christian Century carried a feature article recently

eet

with the intriguing title: |"Meditation of a _Middle-A ed,
Cavgl. wy guing tit atic “
aller, Middle-Class, White, Liberal, Protestant Pare Parent. oi | me a author

ght iA observed that her children never had to worry about anyone
Uv . eS SS a ae

‘my other than themselves, and Voila! they don't. [tev have had
SSS a Ll =, 2a...

very little experience in belonging to something bigger than

themselves." [(8/15/79, p. 792).

Describing a young client, a psychiatrist seid, (mis
ae

ee

kid is hooked. \ Hers addicted to doing what he wants to do..."

That is to say, with alarming consistency, middle-class
ad a

parents have relieved their children of the necessity of

. committing themselves deeply to anything beyond themselves.
Cr

Medically, we know that the decision to be is absolutely
fs coo apm MAAS TET

ssential to the process of healing.| A patient who does not
Se I

SS
want to get well, won't? | Psychologically we are beginning
ee, oi Sr | SaeF

pit to understand that our personhood depends on a strong,
— interior ability to affirm oneself: \ to decide to be Socio-
ad [ray ae

logically we learned that relations between white people and
jeer ae

|

black 1 ld be health 1 as black people
people wou never be hea y as long peop

denied, or didn't like the fact that they were black.
aE a=

od Sexually, feminists hays have learned that healthy human relations
\ Gudive ya wn “pedoba Vest Gssuus ¢ ee am) _
(we! | 3 csselel “~~

@epend on a strong sense of sexual s goa. \ counge2ors
oeaaniaeun ae . ccnmsueun

spend much of their time helping people find the ego strength

to take charge of their lives and to be themselves, cgmfortably,

assertively.

the most important word is theological \ Self—-affirmation

becomes selfishness unless it is poin, ther -

r than self.

Christian faith suggests that the decision to be - is,

in realit the decision to love God, to ageept the Lordship

of Christ and to serve others. Joshua asked his countrymen
SET —_ = UTE =

to stand

_ a accor Setar
today whom you will serve. :) soe asked | men and women that

same deep commitment.

I iil in his aso and providence, gives us

decision. = \ronine they are overt, clear, vomit

lary such as this one, or rising to say the e Creed; ieee

sanet

or

or

But mostly, I believe, the opportunity to affirm who we

are, will be hidden in the midst of something very unchurchy ,

and unreligious.\ Mostly, I believe, God's call to be, comes
eae SSeS Sa

wrapped in a strange package,\ Mostly I believe we choose
=a SS ey SEE

whom we will serve, we decide to be or not to be Christ's
=e SS (ate SSE ii +§$+ rere

disciples as we encounter and live through the morally complex
a aaa we

==
issues of our time.
Ss

I am convinced that Christ is affirmed or denied, our
=a ee Ta eee RTI

selfhood is affirmed or denied, more in the world than in
ra Sas

church, in matters such as personal honesty, economics,
mere EEE a mc

politics, @ud Noo Vodkegrch & ove Gers ived rolatimelos .

Sars

And I believe that the opportunity to decide rarely comes
ease aay

in one lump, but in small, seemingly unrelated segnents.\ I
meee US

P (ve :
don't know what people mean when they ask,|''When did you make
a decision for Christ?" | That decision is never a one time
—— aa STS SSS
thin ng . ;\ Rather we decide for or against Christ a hundred times
— See SE _ Se aay
every day. \We affirm that we are his followers - or we den
aD Say SSS

him - by the way we decide every moral ly complex matter that
ae De ed

comes at us. \Christians under totalitarian governments have
eS SS

Piel
always been forced to say a clear yes or no. \But for us, it
aS, QS See awe

is more likely to be a series of small decisions about how

to deal with our neighbors, or how to speng our money, or

vote in an election.
ea ==

The world needs people who know who they are: \ christians
SATE ea ==

who are strongly and assertively Christian A But the real need,
eae

I believe, is ours.

ee =e

I believe, as profoundly as I know how, that the fullest,
= —— Sle
best, richest humanity in you and me emerges when we decide to

be God's people and to foll

sonal at this point.\ 1 cann

further \ Our Presbyteri tradition preserves the dignity

and intimacy of the individual heart by not insisting on

ail testimony. \ igs an intensely personal

t ion \ I

aping. \In erm, hymn, silent

matter that does not always require pub

wou to renew it
rut
prayer, or whatever semua suits you best, I invite you to

follower oF Jesus Christ.

1 . +
I can't be sure, but I've always felt it was this Dag

Hammarskjold had in mind when he wrote in 1961:

—_ "E don't know who - or what - put _the question. \ 1 don't

know when it was put. \: don't even remember answering. \ But

at some moment I did answer yeg_ fo somegng > or something —

and from that hour_Il was certain that existence is meaning-

ful and that, therefore, my life, in self surrender, had a

{ (Markings, p. 205)

To be or not tobe - still the question: Amen .

Father, we ask forgiveness for those times we have denied
you and therefore our own best self without intending or even
knowing it. Give us strength and courage to be your faithful

people: through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.