(Not So) Highly Illogical

Psalm 145:1-16

Proverbs 8:1-36

John 1:1-17

When Star Trek first aired in 1966, I was nine years old, and I was an instant fan. Right along with The Monkees, this show was, for me, “Must See TV” every week. And that was back in the day when I could not record the show and watch it later – it meant that I came in from playing outside every week in time to see the next episode.

And when the first Star Wars movie came along in 1977, I was right there in line to see it, and each of the movies that followed.

But as much as I loved both of these series, I don’t think you ever could have convinced me that one day I would be preaching a sermon that included one of the more memorable lines from each one of these. But that is, in fact, where the Holy Spirit has taken me this week… and so let us begin with a word of prayer.

Holy Word of God, Force of all that is, may you be with us as we seek to hear your living word. Quiet those thoughts that tell us that what you offer is highly illogical, and help us to not only be grateful for your ways of logic, but also for your call to us to follow you.  We ask this in Christ’s name – Amen.

In the first generation series of Star Trek episodes, Mr Spock is introduced to us as being half Vulcan and half human. This proves to be challenging for him, because Vulcans are known as being ruled by logic, and never experience emotion. Of course, this is contrary to humans, who apparently are ruled by emotion, and never logic.  But Spock, having a Vulcan father and a human mother, has both of these within him, and so he is uniquely able to understand where all these humans that surround him are coming from, emotionally speaking, and also willing to attempt to get them to see it his way – to consider the more “logical” approach. Ironically, it is the medical officer on board who is possessed with the greatest tendency toward emotional responses – one would think that would make it hard to get through med school – but it is in speaking to Dr McCoy that Mr Spock most often would raise one eyebrow, and say to him, in response to some emotional outburst, “that, Doctor, is highly illogical.”

We might think that this half-Vulcan, half-human persona of Mr Spock is meant to be a sort of analogy of the way we understand Jesus to be – because Jesus is both human and divine. But Jesus is not half human and half divine – Jesus is fully human and fully divine.

In the opening words of John’s gospel, Jesus is described as the Word that was there in the beginning, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The Greek word that is translated in this passage as “The Word” (capital W), is Logos. The definition of Logos is “something said, as well as its implication, its motive, its reasoning or logic”. Logos implies sequence, structure, pattern. In the beginning was the Word, coming into the chaos and bringing structure, as step by step, God said the Word – let there be ---- and there was.

In this week’s devotion, from chapter 3 in the book we are using for our Bible Study this year, We Make the Road by Walking, Brian McLaren describes three patterns of humanity – patterns that the universe seems to be ruled by. They are – First, the Pattern or Logic of Rivalry – of competition, of win / lose; second, the Logic of Compliance – of organization structure and hierarchy, of keeping within the confines of the law; and third, the Logic of Mechanism – of cause and effect, action and reaction, behavior and consequence. Let’s briefly consider each one of these.

When we are ruled by the Logic of Rivalry, we see the universe as a competition, a life of win or lose.  This logic is reflected in Bible stories such as Cain and Abel, and Sarai and Hagar, as well as the many wars that are described in there. It is part of human history – it’s behind all wars and conflicts between countries and religions and cultures – and it is a part of everyday business life, where competitiveness drives the global capital markets and the world of sports. It even spills over into the world of faith, where we are so often tempted to say why one church or denomination or set of beliefs is better or more right than another. It is easy to conclude that life is about win or lose – we see it all around us, every day.

When we are ruled by the Logic of Compliance, we focus on organization structures and hierarchies, and on rules and laws that are intended to keep society functioning reasonably. If something isn’t working the way we think it should, our response should be to revise existing laws or create a new law to require people to behave appropriately. And if we just elect or appoint the right persons to be in authority, whether in government, or business, or religious life, then we can be assured of success. This explains why the people of Israel wanted God to appoint a king to rule on earth, even though God told them they already had a king – the Lord of heaven and earth. This explains why Jesus was seen as such a threat to the Romans and the Jews. It is probably why we allow so much money and energy to be poured into our political process – both the electing of officials and the making of laws – because we somehow believe or hope that the logic of compliance will make everything get better.

When we are ruled by the logic of Mechanisms, we default to a pattern of “you get what you deserve”. If you work hard, you will make good money and have a happy life. If you lose your job or your house, you probably weren’t doing something right. If you have an accident, or get cancer, or you experience a family crisis, it’s most likely because of something you did – not paying attention, not eating right, not using the right parenting or partnering techniques. With this logic, there is an explanation for everything, and the explanation implies that if you just do everything right, everything will be OK.

Even as we describe these logics, and can see in the descriptions the ways that they fall short of explaining how the universe really runs, these are the structures that we mostly use to run our own lives, wouldn’t you say? If we are honest with ourselves, we see how our everyday thoughts and actions mostly fall into one of these three kinds of logic.

But the creation stories we have heard over the past three weeks reflect none of these logics. And our Psalm this morning, proclaiming the works of the Lord, and our Proverbs passage, describing the work of Wisdom in the world – neither of these imply these types of logic.

Instead, the force of the universe – the logic of God – is love and wisdom – goodness, creativity, beauty. We see it throughout creation – the beautiful patterns of the universe. The picture on the front of your bulletins is just one example of the beauty that is displayed and abundantly provided throughout the universe.

 And as it relates to the rules of the universe for how we live, the living Word of God is completely defined and framed by loving God with everything we have, and loving our neighbor as ourselves. Jesus said, on these commandments hang all the Laws and all the words and deeds of the prophets.

So all these patterns for the universe exist – rivalry, compliance, mechanisms, and love. Which of these will we allow to rule our lives? Which of these will have the final Word for us?

The good news of the gospel of Jesus Christ for us is –

·      love conquers hate

·      light conquers darkness

·      life conquers death.

o  Even though we die, says the Lord, yet shall we live.

o  Those who lose their lives for my sake, says the Lord, will gain them. Those who focus on saving their lives will lose them.

o  In the world you face persecution, says the Lord. But have courage – I have conquered the world!

This is highly illogical. How much do we really trust and believe that love conquers hate, and light conquers darkness, and life conquers death?

Christ is leading us as his followers to live highly illogical lives.

To love your neighbor – highly illogical.

To pray for those who persecute you – highly illogical.

Christ’s power is made perfect in weakness. Christ allowed himself to be nailed to a cross and crucified, when we all know he of all people could have made it go otherwise, could have imposed one of those other logics of the universe to change the outcome. Highly illogical.

But Christ’s life rejected every one of those other logical patterns of the universe.

He lost everything in order to for us to win our salvation.

He broke the law regularly to practice love.

He performed miracles of healing that defied cause and effect.

We just passed the 14^th anniversary this past week of the horrific attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, September 11, 2001. So many lives were lost that day. So many lives have been lost since, as the logic of rivalry, of win/lose, has been pursued. Let us never forget these lives lost too soon, and also may we always remember that the logic of rivalry is a never-ending cycle that propels us deeper and deeper into evil; that an eye for an eye will never be satisfied.

Closer to home – this past week, the Sterling Heights City Council unanimously rejected the building of a mosque, an Islamic house of worship in one of our neighborhoods not so far away from here. I watched the video of long-time Muslim residents, neighbors in this community, who one after another spoke respectfully of their love of this city and their reasons for living here, and their reasons for requesting the approval to build their mosque. I also watched and read about the scene outside the meeting when the vote was taken – as these same Muslim residents, leaving quietly and respectfully, were booed and jeered by a crowd who may be seen as being either angry at their neighbors or jubilant about their victory, but either way were clearly claiming rivalry as the logic of humanity over love.

I’m sure that most of you saw something about this, on the news or otherwise. I ask you to reflect for a moment on what feelings that request for the mosque created inside of you? What feelings the reaction of the crowd created inside of you?

I saw three of the four forms of logic we discussed today reflected. I saw the logic of rivalry – that we must not let “those people” take over our community. I saw the logic of compliance – that zoning laws either don’t permit it to be built – or if they do, they shouldn’t. And I saw the logic of mechanism – the cause and effect argument that “their people persecuted our people” – and so they should not be permitted the same freedoms that we have, to worship in our community, to build our places of worship without conflict.

The logical pattern of the universe that I did not see was the logic, the Logos, the Living Word of love. I did not see Christian love displayed.

As we move forward as a new congregation to determine our mission in this community, I pray that we will think about where Jesus would have us step in and reflect the Word, the Way, that we claim as our belief, as our way of life. I pray that we will have the wisdom, and logic, and courage to love as freely as Christ loved us, to act out of goodness and creativity and beauty, wherever we find those things to be lacking, to be unmet needs, right around the corner, right where we live.

And may the highly illogical Force of the Triune God – Father, Son, and Holy Spirit - be with us all as we do. Amen.