Salvation for a Midnight Choir

Exodus 33:12-33; Luke 15:11-32

A Sermon Preached by Donald Mackenzie

October 31, 2004

University Congregational United Church of Christ

Seattle, Washington

(Moses to God) “Let me behold your presence!” Exodus 33:18

The previous two sermons have suggested that we, in our culture, are living in a kind of superficial haze, one brought on by the knowledge that the truth about ourselves would cause us to change and be changed. We fear this. At the same time, we desire it so earnestly, words do not exist to describe such yearning. David Korten in his soon-to-be published book, Beyond Empire, quotes Vaclav Havel, who wrote: “Under the orderly surface of the life of lies, there slumbers the hidden sphere of life in its real aims, of its hidden openness to truth…It is from this sphere that life lived openly in truth grows; it is to this sphere that it speaks, and in it that it finds its understanding.” We need, as a people, to move from the surface to some depth where we can perceive the truth and in our being changed, come close to employing love to help God with the healing of all of creation.

There is an image in popular music that tells the absolute truth about who we are and helps to explain why we have trouble moving from the surface. The image is called “The Midnight Choir.” It appears in several different songs including Leonard Cohen’s “Bird on a Wire.” “Like a bird on a wire, like a drunk in a midnight choir, I have tried in my way to be free.” Part of the importance of this image is the desperate desire to be free. But the other part is even more important. It concerns a pathos, a sadness in our culture. Another song takes us more deeply into that. The song is called simply, “The Midnight Choir.” It describes how homeless men at a Christian mission in Nashville get fed, get a sermon and then are back on the street where they finally find a bottle. Then, the song says, the “Midnight Choir starts to sing: Will they have Mogen David in heaven? Dear Lord, we’d all like to know. Will they have Mogen David in heaven sweet Jesus, if they don’t who the hell wants to go!” It’s funny, at least the first time, but on hearing it again, the pathos begins to emerge. The image of midnight points to our junction between yesterday and tomorrow. The image of their homelessness points to our exile. The image of a drunk pinpoints our numbness and our need to be numb. The image of a choir pinpoints a way we have to express our need for hope, our need to move beyond even mere optimism to something with moral substance—hope for something good, hope that engages us heart, mind and soul and hope that moves us to act. We mostly middle and upper middle class white Americans are this midnight choir and the feeling that we are sharing right now is that the true nature of 12:01 am is as yet unknown. It could be good. A problem could become an opportunity for growth. Or, truly, things could get worse.

I’m speaking of course, of the fact that two days from now is an election, one that will shape our future and not just the near future. We have before us two candidates with different views about many things. While some of their views are not as radically different as I would like, I challenge you to consider those views carefully as you vote and exercise your citizenship. To encourage us to think carefully about these things I have invited one of our youth, Jacob Donich-Croll to come forward to answer a question: “Given your experience in Washington, D.C. this past summer, what impressions do you bring back to Seattle?”

Jacob: “On some level I already knew that there was a large number of Christian fundamentalists in this country, but talking to many of them really drove that impression home. It would be hard to call these guys religious at all. They don’t question anything with rational thought. The only criterion is, ‘does this fit with our (narrow) understanding of Christianity?’ Society is in a heap of trouble because we have this large group of people whose intellectual behavior is similar to those guiding a totalitarian state. They are quite similar. In a dictatorship, you follow what the dictator says; on the religious right, you follow what Jerry Falwell says. What angers me is that the liberal end of Christian has been silent for too long. Our voices have been drowned out by the right. I don’t think we should mirror their aggressive behavior, but we must speak out forcefully to draw attention to the situation.”

What Jake has experienced is the magnitude of the polarity, the paralyzing polarity in our culture. Whoever is president in the near future will have enormous difficulty leading and governing in a time when we need that leading and governing desperately.

In that context then, let us consider today’s readings and their impact on what I have suggested are the major issues before us as a nation. Our ancestor Moses was heroic because of the ways he grew during his lifetime. He did not wish to be a leader and struggled with that vocation throughout his time in the exodus and the wilderness. To find strength and solidarity, Moses asks God to reveal God’s face to him. This is a way of saying that Moses wanted to know God better, to have a better and stronger sense of what God was and what God was calling him to do. The depth of the phrase, “let me behold your presence!” is something we can feel. We have all been there—if not with God, at least with those we love. Each of us desires a stronger sense of connection with those we love and with the very source of that love—God. Underneath this plea is the sense that if Moses can know God better then everything will be better. The assurance from God in so many words that God’s presence is all that Moses needs, has become a defining feature of our common life. How can we accept this essential truth about ourselves—that is that God is with us and that that is all that we require? Another way to ask the question is to ask how can we “come to ourselves” as the younger son did. For is it not the behavior of the older son that most represents us?

Think about that as I list once again, the essential questions before our democracy: How can we provide full access to all human and civil rights? How can we take care of the environment? How can we put an end to war and to violence? What should we be doing to show our concern for the future? And, as citizens, how can we be sure that we are functioning most effectively in mind, body and spirit? How can we maintain an equilibrium—how can we eat well and get enough spiritual, mental and physical exercise? And now I would add, how can we overcome this polarity and find ways to work together to recover our democracy? While these are not the issues being debated by the candidates, they are underneath the debate. The essential questions for this campaign and any political campaign are how can we love each other and take care of each other and provide for needs and take care of the planet as effectively as possible? These are political as well as religious questions. The sadness is that these questions are difficult for us to recognize and answer.

I have three practical suggestions for each of us to consider, keeping in mind that the living of our lives is driven by habit, by the things we need to accomplish and by our values. First, I have found that using spiritual practices for one hour per day has kept my life from tipping over the edge. Second, we must find a way to exercise our citizenship beyond voting. Those we elect must know on an ongoing basis how we feel about the issues before us. Of course, most of you don’t have time to add one more thing to your list. What I have discovered is that spiritual practices become the list—they help to organize and calm down the list. There is a second handout available this morning that suggests some of these practices as well as things to do as citizens. Finally, I suggest you find one person whose views differ from yours and find a time when you can listen carefully to that one’s views. Maybe you will have the chance to share yours as well. We must start somewhere to reverse this polarity!

Brothers and sisters, let us take up our citizenship with a renewed sense of purpose and passion. This is God’s call to us today, now and forever. On Tuesday let us vote with this sense of the importance of love and how the consequences of love, compassion, cooperation, forgiveness, reconciliation and justice, can renew and reshape us and help us to overcome all the ills suggested by what’s wrong with the world. What’s right with the world, love and the depth of all the blessings that go with it, can truly overcome what’s wrong. Thank you again for struggling with me with these important issues. We thank God for each other and for the inspiration that we need to persevere! Amen.