Hilton Head Island, SC – February 26, 2017
The Chapel Without Walls
Mark 1:1-8; Psalm 46:1-11
A Sermon by John M. Miller
Text – “Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations, I am exalted in the earth!” – Psalm 46:10 (RSV)
In 1980 a controversial visionary had a new entrepreneurial idea. This man was not widely known throughout the nation, but he was known in particularly parts of the nation, especially in Montana and in South Carolina. In both states he was a major landholder; in Montana, he was the major landholder. In South Carolina he had inherited a large plantation west of Charleston from his father. But eventually he was best known because he was married for several years to Jane Fonda. She was famous, or infamous depending on one’s point of view, to most Americans.
The man, as you may have guessed, was Ted Turner, and his entrepreneurial idea, as you may also have guessed, was to establish a television network which would broadcast nothing but news, twenty four hours a day. At the time, most people thought Ted Turner was absolutely daft. If so, he became enormously financially successfully daft, because his network, called CNN, made him a billionaire.
Fairly quickly, the idea of televised news 24/7 turned into a huge success. It spawned two other competing all-news cable-television networks, Fox News and MSNBC, plus a couple of other also-rans in terms of viewership, CNBC and Bloomberg News. Some might even suggest that C-SPAN and its derivatives are also 24/7 cable news networks, but they are government-sponsored, and are not-for-profit organizations.
Cable news networks have changed America. Indeed, they have changed the world. Some of the American networks are shown worldwide 24/7, with news from other nations liberally spread between the American news stories. Hundreds of millions of people in western democracies, and many other millions of people in autocracies, have become addicted to televised news.
One of the problems of cable news networks, of which there are many, is that they do not show new news all the time. Instead, they show many of the same news stories over again and again, seemingly to the last syllable of recorded time, as that young chap Hamlet once said. Yet most people are glued to “their” news network, and they will not deviate from it to see what the other news networks are saying about the same news.
A good idea would be for all of us to limit ourselves to no more than a total of one hour of news a day cumulatively from all networks. For myself, a lifelong news junkie (but for most of my life in “print” news, not televised news), a particular recent American election helped wean me off a mentally unhealthy amount of cable network news. It isn’t easy breaking the addiction, but I’m getting there - - - maybe. ….Perhaps.
However, none of the above is really what this sermon is about. All that is only a way of getting you to think about what it’s about. Instead, this sermon is prompted by a phrase which all of the news networks use. “BREAKING NEWS!” they trumpet along the top or bottom of the TV screen, where other unrelated news stories are briefly told in captions. Then for the next two, three, or four days they tell us what these particular breaking news stories are, which, when we have heard them once, is all we need to hear of them, because they are no longer breaking news once that news story is broken. But nothing I have said in this particular paragraph is really what this sermon is about, either.
We now turn toward the actual theme of this sermon. And to do that, we shall look at two words, one from Greek and one from Middle English, which point to the Christian understanding of what genuine “Breaking News!” truly is.
The first word, from Greek, is euangelion. That is a word which literally translates into English as “evangel,” except that we don’t use the word “evangel” very often. Therefore, remember this: Euangelion literally means “Good News.”
Have you ever heard the term “Good News”? If you have attended any church anywhere for more than ten or twenty times, most certainly you have heard it. If you attended church only one time in an evangelical church, you might have heard it ten or twenty times in that one service alone. “Evangelism,” the “evangelical proclamation,” is the proclamation of “The Good News of Jesus Christ,” or, alternatively, “The Good News of God.” From my peculiar theological perspective, I would prefer that the whole idea be expressed as follows: It should be called “The Good News of God As Understood Through the Person and Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, Also Known as ‘Jesus Christ.’” However, “The Good of News of God As Understood Through the Person and Ministry of Jesus of Nazareth, Also Known as ‘Jesus Christ’” is so inordinately lengthy, so noxiously wordy, as to render the theological nuances intended by stating it that way not only meaningless but also utterly tasteless. So most people will simply say “The Good News of Jesus Christ,” while a few fussbudgets will say “The Good News of God.”
The alternative word for euangelion (evangel) is the Middle English word gospel, which comes from the Old English word godspel (spelled with either one “l” or two), and both of those words mean “good tale” (t-a-l-e), or we might say “good story,” or, in this phrase we all know, “good news.”
In 1971 a man named Stephen Schwartz composed a musical which eventually made it to Broadway. Later he also composed Pippin and Wicked, and then the lyrics for Pocahantas, the also-animated Hunchback of Notre Dame, and the also-animated Prince of Egypt. Stephen Schwartz’s mother’s maiden name was Sheila Siegel, and his father’s name was Stanley Leonard Schwartz. If she was “Sheila,” she should have been Scottish, but if she was “Siegel,” she should have been Jewish: a Scottish Jew, maybe. But if his father was Stanley Leonard Schwartz, Stephen Schwartz should probably be at least two-thirds if not three-quarters if not one-hundred per cent Jewish.
New Testament or Greek-Bible “Breaking News!,” is that God is ultimately in charge of God’s world and God’s universe, and therefore in the end, there is Nothing but Good News!
Anyway, the title of Stephen Schwartz’s first big hit was called Godspell, with two ‘l’s.” And, like Jesus Christ Superstar, Godspell followed Jesus up to the cross, but it said absolutely nothing about Easter and the Resurrection, which is what really set “The Gospel” in motion (and that is a hint of the end that is coming.) But remember this about this sermon, if you remember nothing else: The Gospel is about the entire Good News of Jesus Christ, not just the life and teachings, but the life, teachings, and resurrection of Jesus.
Mark began his Gospel with these words: “The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God.” That short statement suggests two important things. First, as is seen in the verses immediately following, the story of Jesus began with the story of John the Baptist. And so Mark tells that story. Secondly, it obliquely implies that though the Gospel begins, it never ends. It is Good News that is constantly Breaking News in ever-new ways in hearts and minds everywhere and through all time. The Gospel transforms individual lives every day, and eventually, it transforms the world. The message that God gives us by means of Jesus of Nazareth is revolutionary. It overturns what we normally and naturally think and do. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come.
The news media do not focus on good news. Instead they focus on bad or sad or shocking news: wars, battles, terrorist incidents, political conflicts, and the like. There is only one source of revenue for the news media: advertising, the value of which is determined by viewership or readership. The media want to tell what they think needs to be said, but they also need money in order to be able to do it. Therefore they give the people what they think the people want, and what they think the people want for their news concentrates on murder, mayhem, and chaos. Malaria being conquered or gang wars subsiding are never the lead stories.
The sober reality is that people do not want to hear only stories that paint a rosy picture of reality, because we know that reality is often not rosy. But reality need not be hopeless either. Sometimes we imagine that “the news” is so depressing that we want to retreat into a hermetically sealed shell. But if the Good News of the Gospel permeates our consciousness, we are better able to deal with the bad news which constantly assaults the world. The Gospel will always offset bad news if we allow it to permeate our inmost being.
Now I am deliberately going to move into a cryptic mode. You are going to have figure out for yourself what I shall be saying. If I say certain things clearly and directly, it will anger or irritate certain kinds of people. And if I say opposite kinds of things clearly and directly, it will anger or irritate other people. So I will be deliberately enigmatic, and you will have to figure out for yourselves what I am really saying, but I hope that now at least you will know why I am doing it this way.
For almost four months, three groups of Americans seem to have coalesced in our nation. One group is deliriously happy with what has happened and is happening. They have long felt they were ignored by our government, whoever was in charge of it and whenever they were in charge. These folks wanted major change, and they believe it is finally occurring. They do not understand why everyone doesn’t feel the way they do, or else they don’t care that they don’t.
A second group are profoundly depressed or angry or stirred up over what has happened and is happening. They are genuinely alarmed by the nature of the rapid changes which appear to be overtaking our country, and they think that unless a reversal of these trends is initiated, and very soon, things could completely fall apart. Like those in the first group about the second group, they do not understand why the first group are so elated. They have never felt alienated the way the first group felt for so long.
The third group are not nearly as addicted to following “the news” as the first or second groups. In fact, they are a-political or “a-media” types, without close political or media leanings. But they do know enough to know that something seems to be going on, and it makes them nervous. It may even make them fearful. They’re not sure what’s happening, but whatever it is, it seems scary to them.
And now for a further cryptic observation about these cryptic observations. Of the three groups, the largest is the second group – the depressed/angry/alarmed group. The second-largest group is the first group – the happy/feeling affirmed/at-last-someone-hears/us group. The smallest group is the third group, the I-don’t-know-what’s-going-on-but-whatever-it-is-it-scares-me group. Maybe there are other people outside the three groups, but they are too few to fit into my enigmatic surmised statistical survey.
And now we come to Psalm 46. Psalm 46 was written by the Sons of Korah, whoever they were. It was the basis for Martin Luther’s great hymn A mighty fortress is our God. It tells of a situation very much like our situation for the past four months. But it begins by saying what should be the proper stance of people of faith in such a time. It starts with a ringing affirmation: “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear though the earth should change, though the mountains shake in the heart of the sea; though its waters roar and foam, though its mountains tremble with its tumult” (46:1-3) “The nations rage, the kingdoms totter” --- but --- “(God) utters his voice, the earth melts” (v.6). Then the Psalm calmly states, “The Lord of hosts is with us; the God of Jacob is our refuge” (v. 7).
Psalm 46 declares that ultimately God is in charge; ultimately. The Good News of Jesus Christ declares essentially the same thing. In the end, in the final analysis, we can count only on God. Into His hands we have no choice but to commend our spirits. We can’t count on ourselves or on our leaders to make things right. Only God, working through us, will assure us that things will turn out, if not right, then at least alright. And maybe in this world that’s the best we can hope for. God’s only truly genuine Breaking News is always ultimately Good News.
But how do we get there? How do we come to believe that, firmly to attach our hopes to it? When the mountains are shaking, when the nations are raging, when the kingdoms are tottering, how do we find the calmness of heart and spirit to withstand it, whatever happens?
Psalm 46 tells us the answer to those questions in one of the greatest verses in the whole Bible: “Be still, and know that I am God.” Be still, be still, be still! Don’t keep fretting; don’t keep moaning; don’t stay fearful! Be still! Listen! Don’t listen to the breaking news of the world; listen to the Ever-Breaking-News of God, the Good News of God, the Gospel of God! It is God who is ultimately in charge, not us! Thank God! Thank God.
Two hundred years after the Lutheran Reformation began in Germany, its flame seemed to have died out. The early eighteenth century was a severe trial for evangelical Christianity and for evangelicals, which then basically meant Lutherans. But a Lutheran pastor in Berlin, Philipp Jacob Spener, was part of the new movement of Pietism in the Land of Luther. He and the German Pietists were trying to revive the power of the Gospel among a people who appeared to have forgotten it. Pastor Spener inspired a woman named Katharina von Schlegel. Little is known about her, but that she was the head of a women’s seminary, which is to say a Christian training school. That in itself says a lot, because women were not greatly valued in many Christian cultures in the early eighteenth century. In any event, Katharina von Schlegel wrote the lyrics to a hymn which came to be famous among Christians of all theological slants. She selected her two opening words as the opening words of our sermon text, “Be still, the Lord is on thy side.” “Be still, and know that I am God. I am exalted among the nations; I am exalted in the earth.”
In the storm and stress of the last four months, it is easy to feel overwhelmed by what looks and feels like very bad news. But if we learn to practice silence, if we can teach ourselves in the midst of all this bad breaking news how to be still, we may discover, once again, that the Lord is God. And in re-learning that best of all possible news, we shall be empowered to go forward into whatever we must face, knowing that God goes with us.