-. earlier: this: ‘year. ‘Michael,

oe RESTLESS TILL WE REST IN THER

"November ‘19, 1989.

8: 30 and di: 00 a.m. “Worship. Services Se a

John. M - Buchanan

Pane. works” in an ad agency,.-
wandering into. a synagogue service. He hasn' t been: anywhere near;

“think: “maybe. 1
) Today, duly 1989]

: Ont hes was. very. “wealthy.” Sarone ‘d
= he: ‘climbed: up a tree. to: see Jesus of Nazi
“passing: es Eye

Siste Sone.

classes over the. years:
role. a

one featuring one. of my, “children in. a. sta

“Zacchaeus was a wee little man,

a wee little man was he.

He climbed up in a sycamore tree

for the Lord he wanted to see.

And as the Savior passed that way,

He looked up in that tree: And he said;
‘Zacchaeus: - you come down!

For I am going to your house today!

For I'm going to your house today!"

That simple little song conveys a lot of complexity actually. I want
to explore it a bit later. For now let Zacchaeus represent the human quest
for God, the search for meaning, purpose, peace of mind, persona]
fulfillment: the age-old human quest for something more than life
delivers, even when we accomplish everything we set out to accomplish.
Zacchaeus is up a tree looking for God and his search is reflected in a
very real way within our own culture.

One of the real surprises, as we move into the last decade of the
Twentieth Century is that faith is in, the search is on, God is back.
Nobody expected it. Religion was supposed to go away. All our best
thinkers said so, the ones who have shaped our world... Karl Marx...
Sigmund Freud... the great philosophers of the last century. As science
answered all of history's puzzles, one by one, and as human progress in
education, technology, medicine and social welfare enhanced the quality of
life for.all people, religion would become a kind of anachronism. So F.
Scott Fitzgerald coined a signature for the 1920s - "All wars fought. Ail

Gods dead" -— neither one of which turned out to be true, or relevant for
that. matter.

What a surprise to witness the return of God and religion. Dan
Wakefield, screen writer and novelist, in his book Returning, chronicled
his own faith journey through the comfortable agnosticism of academia, to
atheism, to an almost religious trust in psychotherapy: then to the
seductive hedonism of success, which resulted in physical and emotional
burn-out. And finally, back to religion. Earlier this year Wakefield
wrote a feature article for the New York Times Review of Books. "And Now,
a Word From our Creator!" The Times had asked him to write about a_
peculiar phenomenon in American literature... namely "the growing number of
new literary works in which God - who for so long seemed absent if not
‘dead'. as an object of concern in serious fiction - has returned as a force
or a 'character' in the action.'

- sgometimes," Wakefield quipped, “God not only is present in the
narrative, but has a speaking part." More often,. it is human longing for
God. [New York Times Book Review, 2/12/89]

In a Hugh Nississen short story an Israeli high school teacher, who
is a totally secular, modern man, weeps when the Israelis recapture the old
Wailing Wall in Jerusalem. "Why," asked Nississen, “do you care if you're
net religious?" And all the man can say in response is “You'd think by now
we'd be finished with Him once and for all.'

11/19/89

asked about the different covers, a Life executive said, "God sells better: ns

€ome here <t
“could: be. ho.

“One of. the hot books everybody | is either reading or thinking about |
“reading: is’ ‘The Power of Myth, the: narrative account. -of Professor Joseph - eS
os Campbel1- ‘talking - to Bill. Moyers - on.-PRS. . Someone: said- ‘recently: that 9f- you Wes

mention God: more ‘than once. sat: a. dinner party. {at. least in New: York. City) oe
you aren't. ‘invited back." "But -last- summer," says” ‘Wakefield, "you ‘couldn! te
-go.to-a ‘dinner party without ‘people talking about God; or at any rate; 99.
talking about Bill Moyers' talking. to.Joseph. Campbell about God."

Be Even. Life Magazine. éatried: a. cover story in ‘September. on. the. eae
religious” ‘experiences of a number of the survivors of the airplane. ckash ato.
Sioux.Ccity;* Iowa. “Finding..God on Flight 232" announced Life... ~ However,
there is a: curious. twist. <In. metropolitan New York: City::God: was dropped: |
from. the: cover. -and-it’ read simply "Flight. 232: The: ‘Survivors! Gripping | yee
Stories." “Apparently God has not come.all the way: -back to New York: ‘When oa

inthe: farn. belt, “which we who: live in Chicago: know: ‘Neans. everything: west
of the ‘Hudson River. I'm not: sure what the people. atthe Cathedral. of: St.
John the. Divine, or Fifth Avenue. Presbyterian, © “would: say ‘about that. =
-Chicagoan- Martin Marty, always: analytically ‘observant;- couldn't» help *
_ pointing. out. that there are "496,690 ‘Catholics:in: the. ‘Bronx: alone. “Maybe. ar
it's only the. editors of Life. ‘who haven't heard." [The Christian Century,
10/25/89] oe - en eee Bo Fe PEE ALANS

Well. what: ds: going. on?” “Even. television. is: rethinking religio
“After. decades ‘of. being. relegated ‘to-utter’ irrelevance... ‘Michael: says
“something ‘theologically honest, "I> think I- believe: again.” ‘On the. one™

hand, the literary- cultural information would indicate a significant |
- interest. OF wenewals of. interest: in. ‘Teligious: ideas. in: Teligion itself.

The. ‘deeper question that ‘needs’ to be asked, : of..course, is. "why. do. :
~ owe ‘seem, to. heed God?" What. is..there aboutus? Why: ‘does Michael - stray’ into™
the: synagogue. or. Zacchaeus climb. a tree? -Or: to. get personal,. why. did
his: morning? “ It: wasn to easy. It's: ‘cold and miserable. and yott
with: a second cup: of coffee and: the. wspaper ‘andif: you :
need. for. eligion is. compulsive;. you can find: some: “pretty lively,- colorful:
stuffon, t: this hour..1 am. told. Is: there’ a: ‘relationship’ between. “you
being here nd this’ tantalizing: search for. God. tha seems. tobe. OEE!
experiencing a: kind of renaissance? ees : aa

That: ‘question itself intrigues us and ‘it too. keeps appearing. An: the
literature. we read... We- were stunned by-Alice Walker! s The:Color Purple, a
collection of letters from: Celie, -a poor: black. woman | in the- American: South. 7
--in- the: 1930s;.-to God: and: then: to her sister - Nettie: Celie's: ‘life. has
included” the. numbing ‘sequence of. tragedy common ‘to poverty = “sexual -
abuse.. _ hunger. :family dislocation.. :

‘Dear Nettie,

ne ‘don! te write to God.-1o “more. I write to you. What happen to
God? ast Shug. (Shug. isa. friend) oe :

What God do for me? I ast:

a en PA

She say, Celie! He gave you life, good health an a good woman
that love you to death. 3 - ane

Yeah, I say, and he give me a lynched daddy,
a crazy mama, a lowdown dog of a step pa and
a sister I probably won't ever see ‘again..
Anyhow I say, the God I been praying and’

' writing to is a man..And act just like all
the other mens I know. Trifling, forgitful
and lowdown.

“She say, Miss Celie, You better hush: “God
“Might hear you. —.

“Let ‘im hear me, I say. If he ever listened
"to peor colored women the world would be a_
“different place, I-can tell you. She talk
“and she talk, trying to budge me way from
blasphemy. But I blaspheme much as want to.
All my life I never care what people thought
-. bout nothing I did, I say. But deep in my-
heart I care about God. What he going ta think.
-And come to find out, he don't think. Just sit
- up there glorying in being deef, I reckon. But
it' ain't easy, trying to do without God. Even if |
you know he ain't there, trying to. do without
him is a strain." . -. oo

“Likewise, Joseph Heller, in an irreverent novel about King David, has

~ the aging king reminiscing about his long Life, particularly the tragedy of

his infant son's death... "He-made my baby die. :I still have not’ forgiven
Him-for that although-I fee) I need my God now: more than ever before,” and
miss Him more than -I would: care to let him know.” ‘{God Knows; Pp. 280)

“It. is-one of the- great. theological - questions ~. What is the source of
our: need for God?. Is. it-a-character deficit in us?::Is it a weakness, a
psychological. insecurity ‘that can be counseled out of us? -Is it.
superstition, ignorance. which education will cure? The: Literature: of the
day is. compelling testimony that science, technology, psychology, education
have not caused us to forget God. :

“In: fact, something of the reverse is true... science is asking
theological questions today... "Why is there something rather than nothing?"
And the same literature that. ‘announced God's demise a generation ago now:

gives God speaking parts. ;

“Far -back in our tradition there is a provocative suggestion about the
source of our need. Augustine, one of our preatest thinkers, lived in the
4th century, was a late-comer to Christianity, was educated in the classics
and began his life-long search for God in philosophy, literature, poetry...
all the while enjoying a rather ambitious libido... finally through the love

11/19/89

and patience of his mother, he returned ‘to faith, rose rapidly through the eo
‘church and became: a, bishop and one of the truly pivotal thinkers in, Western:
a His Confessions: tell about. his tortuous religious. : ae

“when. ‘first y knew ‘thee, Thou didst ce ed
ne. “up. that. At might see: there. was somewhat, for. ee

from: a 1 distance ‘of 2, 000. years
modern. ee eee ae as. vic

The symptoms of the new syndrome, troubled winners - “alienation and
addiction to alcohol or cocaine, broken relationships, broken marriages,
families, isolation, alienation, depression." oO
{New York Times, 8/24/86] .

To put that in a theological and Biblical context: separation ‘from
Ged always ends up in alienation from others and from one's own best self.
And although obviously no one here this morning is a "troubled winner,” or
a "victim of success," or even a Zacchaeus up-a tree, wealthy and unhappy,
my guess is that there is not a one of us who is altogether unfamiliar with
this dynamic. ; ;

And the suggestion is that God is responsible for whatever =:
‘restlessness you feel. God, I believe, raises the issue. If it weren't
for God, we might actually be satisfied when we achieve our financial and
vocational goals. When we pass the Bar exam, or become a partner, or make
six figures, or get elected president, or can afford a BMW or a holiday. in
London ~ it's at that very moment that someone raises a question... a.
‘minority report... an itch we can't qnite scratch. It's. just when we have
it’ made that from somewhere deep inside us comes a flicker of doubt. Is
this what it's about?. Have you got it all? Have you given yourself to
something big enough?. God is the source of our salvation, but in. the
process God is also the source of no little discomfort and pain, wand dis-
ease and anxiety. Thou! "Thou hast made our hearts restless..."

- @acchaeus' search led him to do something bold, impetuous, unlikely.
He sat around feeling miserable long enough, spent enough evenings feeling
empty, alone, drinking too much and falling deeper and deeper into his
depression. One day he-decided to pursue the. search. when he heard about a
young rabbi from Nazareth coming to town.

So may your search | lead you to do something bold, maybe. even “something
unlikely ~

-£0 to church again...
love again...
open and vulnerable...
five yourself away...

“And then, please note, the best part of all, that it is just when he
does that, when he pushes through his surprised neighbors and climbs a
tree, just when the search leads him to throw caution and convention to the
wind, to-do something impulsive and risky, that Jesus looks up and sees
him.- Se

In the midst of searching, he is found.
‘The story suggests that in the midst of alienation, Jesus sees those
who are searching and cuts through years of self-imposed exile and all the

“type-As" striving and climbing and pushing... all the consequent isolation
and loneliness and says, "Come down. I'm going to your house today."

11/19/89

‘That good word is for you. In your search for God you will be found. =”

Ny ‘soul longs _ = yea faints for ;
‘the: ‘courts: of the Lord," wrote the- Psalmist centuries ago.

We are testiess until we rest in God.

eae #-

“Great-art. Thou, 0 Lord... we
Thou awakest us to delight in
_ Thy praise; for Thou madest us for-
Thyself and. our heart: is ;
restless, until it repose in Thee..." Amen.

Tifta/foa