+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit . Amen.
For some years now, there has been an unfortunate suspicion of expertise in the broader culture. Lest we think that evidence and reason have only recently given way to “vibes” in how we reach conclusions, the historian Richard Hofstadter noted the deep-seated nature of this approach sixty years ago in his important book Anti-Intellectualism in American Life. No doubt things have grown worse recently, with social media propagating bad faith claims to truth. Hofstadter was not without fault–indeed, those of political persuasions not his own could be forgiven for considering him a pompous jerk–I think he highlighted a reality about how our distrust of expertise and academic consensus has for a long time led us astray.
Well, as much as virologists and climatologists and the rest may have come in for especial scrutiny in recent years, I think those in my own line of work have experienced this reality for a bit longer. Whether it was the radical reformation which gave us the Anabaptist and Pietiest movements within Protestantism, the nineteenth century “Great Awakenings” which brought modern evangelicalism and a host of new, peculiarly American religions, or just our own seemingly primordial national inheritance of reliance on self, theological and biblical expertise have been sometimes suspect.
We may lament this, and I do, but even then, it is the reality in which we live. It does, however, make more acute the dangers posed by a tongue-unbridled, as James calls it. I think we can appreciate the many ways in which the tongue can “set the world ablaze” to use James’ evocative metaphor, whether it be through harsh words or gossip or the spreading of falsehood generally. But here the apostle speaks in particular about those who would teach the faith, the “tongue of a teacher” drawing on the image from today’s Old Testament lesson from Isaiah. While the prophet rightly celebrates the gift God has given him, the Apostle provides the needed, concomitant warning–not many should be teachers, because getting it wrong can lead many astray.
This is a responsibility I take seriously. I know many colleagues who feel the same way, but what I said about expertise at the beginning notwithstanding, just because somebody is “in the business” as it were, or had the right kind of theological education or whatever, doesn’t mean he or she is always as attentive to this as is desirable, which is why you’ll sometimes hear what I called “bad hot takes” in last week’s sermon from pulpits from time to time. I hope this isn’t the case, but you may even hear them from this pulpit, because even as hard as I try, I’m sure I get it wrong sometimes.
I think, though, that one can’t get it too wrong if he or she is led primarily by the Gospel itself. As complicated as the finer points of theological reflection and biblical criticism can be, the central message–that of God’s Grace–is pretty simple. The bit which controls the horse and the rudder which controls the ship are simple devices which control something larger and more complicated and more dangerous if out of control. So too is the central message of the Good News a simple message that should and can serve to keep the whole church moving in the right direction.
I lost a friend this week, a priest named Everett who served in Oklahoma. He was only forty-eight years old and leaves behind his wife Kristen and three children–Maggie, Cate, and Conrad–so I’d ask you, of your charity to pray for all of them. It was quite a shock to all of us, he’d been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer just sixteen days prior to his death, and while he rejoices in the nearer presence of the Lord, for which we are thankful, his absence will certainly leave a void.
Anyway, Fr. Everett got a bit of attention in both church and secular press for being the Rector of the fastest growing church in the country (Christ Church, Tulsa) which had grown from 40 to 400 in its weekly Sunday attendance. So he got interviewed by a lot of outlets, and it was always heartening to read in those interviews that while he was of course working diligently and allowing programs to pop up as the Holy Spirit led in that parish, there wasn’t anything gimicky or even particularly “creative” about what he was doing there. He was just preaching and teaching the Gospel of God’s Grace.
So he’s going to be an inspiration to me, as have been so many others who cut through all the extraneous stuff to get to the heart of the matter, knowing that operating under the direction of the Holy Spirit, being led by the heart of the Gospel instead of all the concerns we may array around it to try to complicate it, cannot lead us astray. And what’s more, as Isaiah tells us, this simple truth, when on the tongue of a teacher, can sustain the weary with just a word.
+In the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Amen.