“True Wisdom” by the Rev. Dr. Don Wahlig, September 8, 2024, Year B / Pentecost 18 (Proper 20) -  James 3:13-18 - Mark 7:24-37

THEME:  Serving the needs of others builds relationships which are the source of harmonious Christian community and a truly satisfying life.

How many of you grew up watching Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood? I did, too, but I did not realize just how popular it became. When it signed off for the last time in August 2001, Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood had aired over 1,000 episodes. It won all sorts of awards and Fred Rogers himself was inducted into the TV Hall of Fame.  But back in 1968 when the show first aired, few would have predicted that it would be such a success. The early reaction was muted, at best. Critics thought it was just another feel-good kids’ show, like Romper Room or Captain Kangaroo. 

But Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood was different. And children and their parents knew it.  When the show was almost canceled not long after it first aired, kids across the country collected money door-to-door and sent in $4,000 in loose change and dollar bills to keep it on the air. The reason was simple. It was more than just entertainment. It was a powerful tool to teach values – values like kindness, compassion, empathy, and understanding. It taught kids how to build caring relationships with others, including those who looked, talked, and walked differently. Some have called Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood a utopian vision of the world. But, as a Presbyterian pastor, Fred Rogers had a different view of it. To him, it was the reflection of the Kingdom of God.

In our scripture this morning, James has something very similar in mind for the Christian communities he is leading.  James is the head of the churches in and around Jerusalem. Members of these congregations are having a hard time getting along. It’s not hard to see why. They are competing with one another instead of cooperating. They are being critical instead of compassionate. They are self-seeking instead of self-giving. The result is conflict. It is the exact opposite of what a Christian community should be like – and a direct contradiction of Christ’s command to love God and neighbor. James’ point is that our actions as Christians have to be consistent with our faith. Authentic faith requires care and concern for others, especially the oppressed and downtrodden. And it is not only our actions that need to be consistent with our faith. Our words have to be consistent, too. Speaking critically and judging others harshly while we boast about ourselves may be how the world works, but it is not consistent with genuine Christ-like faith.

James knows that to create a genuine Christ-like community requires a special kind of wisdom. Not just any wisdom, but wisdom that only comes from God. Because God’s wisdom is what enables us to overcome our all-too-human desire for the wrong things. Matthew Kelly talks about that. Matthew Kelly is a Christian business consultant and best-selling author. He has published numerous books on the Christian life. Like James, he sees the same need for consistency between faith and action. It all comes down to choosing the right way to live our lives. We can either live in pursuit of pleasure, or we can live in pursuit of satisfaction. While it is possible to have both, more often than not, we have to choose between them. The consequences of our choice are immense.

Like James, Matthew Kelly observes that many, if not most people choose to live according to the pleasure principle. They want what they want - and they want it now. They cannot tolerate delay. They are even willing to disregard the needs of others in order to have it.  They assume that getting what they desire at any given moment is the source of happiness and the means to living their best possible life. What they inevitably discover, however, is that pleasure is fleeting. No sooner have they quenched their thirst for one desire than they have a new yearning, often for the very same thing. That’s why the pursuit of pleasure leads to an unfulfilling life of perpetual disappointment. It occurred to me that this is what Mick Jagger meant when he sang “I can’t get no satisfaction.” 

Pursuing satisfaction is different. Satisfaction can endure for a long time because it comes from wanting and working for the right things, things of lasting value beyond immediate gratification. At the top of that list of the things that truly satisfy are loving relationships. By giving ourselves for others, we can create a harmonious, loving community that produces deep, enduring, mutual satisfaction for all.  Mick and the Stones sang about that, too. Sometimes you just might find you get what you need. This loving community has a distinctive character. James calls it, “pure, peaceable, gentle, willing to yield, full of mercy and good fruits, without a trace of partiality or hypocrisy.” There is no envy or selfish ambition that causes conflict and disrupts relationships. Instead, there is the long-term satisfaction that comes from giving ourselves for others who need us.  And the result is a harvest of peace, which is the sign of true righteousness.

That is what James wants for the congregations to whom he is writing. This is what God wants for you and me. But there is one problem. James is setting a very high bar. Some would say an impossibly high bar. In truth, I wager that no community this side of heaven functions in such a harmonious way. There is a good reason for that. We are human. We are incomplete and we are imperfect.  We are not yet the heavenly version of who we will be when Christ returns with his Kingdom to make all things new – including you and me. That day will come, but it is not here yet. So, how do we learn to live more for long-term satisfaction and less for short-term pleasure? How do we learn to give ourselves for the needs of others, especially when it means postponing what we want?

That question is the one I have been thinking about this week.  And then it occurred to me that Fred Rogers has already given us the answer. The real genius behind the success of Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood is that Fred Rogers understood the power of TV to teach values, values that he first learned growing up in a Christian home and in a Christian church like ours. He understood that our values determine our priorities, and our priorities determine our actions. Values are about what matters most to us overall. Priorities are about what we choose to focus on as we make decisions. And so, our actions become a statement of our values.

This is true for us as individual Christians. It is also true for congregations. This is why our Session, a few years ago, first set out a vision of the kind of grace-filled family of faith we want to be, sharing Christ’s love with all. Then our Session wisely discerned 5 guiding values to support that vision: We glorify God, show compassion, share hospitality, nurture relationships and steward God’s gifts. These 5 values are our priorities and they guide our decisions.

On Thursday of this week, our Session will take the final steps in creating a Mission Statement that sets out what these priorities look like when they are put into action here at SSPC and beyond our walls. As we do, we will take inspiration from Fred Rogers. You may remember the night in 1999 Fred was inducted into the Television Hall of Fame. A young man in a wheel chair came out on stage to thank him. His name was Jeffery Erlanger. Fred had met Jeff 25 years earlier and invited him to come on his show when he was 10 years old. He did that in order to help children better understand and accept other children who have disabilities. As Jeff rolled onto the stage, Fred leapt out of his seat and jumped up on stage to hug him.  They were both clearly touched and overjoyed to see each other again. There was not a dry eye in the house.

With Jeff at his side, a living example of the neighborly relationships that are formed when we pursue satisfaction by meeting the needs of others, Fred went on to offer his version of God’s wisdom. 

Here is what he said: !” [https://youtu.be/TcNxY4TudXo -- FROM 2:14 – 2:50]

“Fame is a four-letter word; and like tape or zoom or face or pain or life or love, what ultimately matters is what we do with it. I feel that those of us in television are chosen to be servants. It doesn’t matter what our particular job is, we are chosen to help meet the deeper needs of those who watch and listen — day and night.”

Friends, you and I may not work in Television, but we too are called to be servants. We are called to help meet the deep needs of others – day and night. There is no more satisfying way to live. There is no better way to build a loving, peaceful community that points to the Kingdom of God.

May it be so.