Second Sunday after Pentecost

23:45 that in your light we may see light, in your truth find freedom, and in your will discover peace. This we pray in the name of Jesus Christ, our rock and our redeemer. Amen. Amen. As many of you know, I have a tradition every year before departing for study leave and some Sabbath rest, I deliver a sermon entitled The View From Here. This is number 19. I should say a word about the numbering, how that happened. Actually, the first sermon that I preached here in August of 2008 was entitled The View From Here. And so even though I'm just finishing my 18th year, this is sermon number 19. This practice has its roots in an invitation that Joyce Hanson issued during my first visit to this beloved church in the winter of 2008.

25:05 she said, standing right down over there, Scott, why don't you stand in the pulpit? And I did. In the Atlanta church that I served at that time, the windows out the back of the sanctuary looked out on these impossibly tall Atlanta pine trees. Standing here, I realized that this chancel puts a bustling street scene in the center of the preacher's view. So my very first comment from the Fifth Avenue pulpit was the profound theological observation, hey, you can see the Disney store from here.

25:50 Mickey and Goofy have long since departed. Ralph Lauren was our neighbor for a time. Now the outpost is occupied by Mango, a Spanish clothing shop. The cityscape outside of our front doors is constantly changing, and I find this exhilarating. To stand in this pulpit is to see movement, hot dog carts and taxis and police cars wheel by, parades and protests march by. Busy people, anxious people, curious people, skeptical people, all sorts of people walk by. I love this busy, skeptical, earnest city. And I love that this church is positioned at the heart of it all. For I'm convinced that the faith that we practice here can provide direction to those who paddle amidst the churn. Through good times and bad, this church stands as a place where diverse passers-by and online worshipers can find healing for their souls and a map for their journey.

27:20 That is, after all, why we are here. Every week we step back from the craziness of work and the drama of life to enter this house, God's house. Every week, carrying all sorts of burdens, we enter this sacred space in person and online to sing and pray and ask, what does the world look like? What do our lives look like? What is the view that we get right now from here? This morning, we're going to consider this question once again. And we're going to be guided in our reflection by a passage from one of the Apostle Paul's letters. So listen now for God's word to you as it echoes to us from 2 Corinthians chapter 5, beginning with the 16th verse.

29:40 This is the word of God for you, the people of God. Thanks be to God. Okay, imagine that you are an archaeologist. You're on a dig. You're sifting through artifacts that belong to an ancient culture. You're trying to understand a society that existed 2,000 years ago. As an archaeologist, you're wondering, what did these people care about? How did they spend their time? What did they worry over? What filled them with joy? What were their greatest triumphs as a civilization? What brought about their downfall?

30:35 As you picture yourself in a pith helmet, digging through rusted bits and bobs, I want to offer one more piece of information to shape your imaginative journey. The year is 20, no, is 4026. And the culture that you're excavating belonged to a nation whose name appears on some of the coins that you've cleaned off. It called itself the United States of America. Okay, so do you remember the questions? What did these people care about? How did they spend their time? What did they worry over? What filled them with joy? What were their greatest triumphs as a civilization?

31:32 What brought about their downfall? we could play this game in a slightly different way imagine that you are an historian reflecting on the state of the world what name would you use to describe the era in which we are now living what what sweeping title would you give to this moment in time historians there's a good part of this job. You know, historians have assigned some pretty evocative titles, names that have stuck in its describing of human history. I'm thinking of the Stone Age, the Dark Ages, the Enlightenment, the Industrial Revolution, the Gilded Age, the Great Depression, what name would you assign to this moment in time?

32:42 It's a tricky question, right? Do you see a threat in this moment? The rise of the neo-robber barons. The great climate catastrophe. the dawn of the AI menace. Or do you lean optimistic, the medical revolution, the epoch of productivity, the dawn of interplanetary travel? Do your thoughts gravitate to the geopolitical, The era of populist rage. The Chinese century. The drone war.

33:35 how would you describe this historical moment i ask because this is the sort of on-the-spot theology that your clergy practice whenever they stand in this pulpit we look out those clear glass doors and we strive to bring the gospel of jesus christ into conversation with a complicated and rapidly changing world, a world that is ill-tempered, misguided, and in some places tragically broken. A world, though, that we keep repeating, God loves nevertheless beyond all reckoning.

34:22 Do I personally have a name for this moment in time? Well, one phrase that has been coming to mind of late is the age of disillusionment. This description comes not from historians, but from contemporary psychology. Typically, it refers to that moment in adulthood when people start to worry that the dreams of their youthful years are not achievable. It refers to the moment when a person realizes that the world is not quite the warm, fuzzy, ready to applaud your every move place we once believed it to be. And this realization can hit a person hard. The age of disillusionment can result in a midlife crisis. Sometimes I feel like our country is experiencing a midlife crisis.

35:27 We are mightily disillusioned and we've become entangled in a vast mess of our own making. In recent years, we have declared America first and torn down extensive long-standing networks of medical, nutritional, and technical assistance for the developing world. We have trashed historical international alliances, shredded treaties, and taunted other countries like a schoolyard bully. We've blamed and continue to blame both undocumented and documented immigrants for all of our problems.

36:22 And still, no matter how fast we deport people or how cruel we are in doing so, inflationary pressures rise and many in this country find it harder and harder to make ends meet. While this quiet pain gnaws on the core of our society, some of our leaders have decided to put a price tag on justice. We've placed pardons for criminal offenses on the auction block while embracing a level of self-enriching graft at the highest levels of government that is to evoke a tired adjective unprecedented. In short in our disillusioned state, we have made a slew of bad decisions. We've bought a red Corvette on credit and we're speeding down the road with the tunes cranked up to 11, acting as if our tremendous national debt, violent international shenanigans, and widening social inequalities will never catch up with us.

37:45 To paraphrase our own Glenn Hubbard, from an Associated Press story this past week, we've got problems and we don't seem to have a plan for addressing them. I share all this not to drop doom and gloom on your heads before slipping out the back door to grab a bit of summer respite. I share all this, believe it or not, in an effort to be hopeful. Well, where's the hope hiding amidst this dreary analysis preacher?

38:27 Well, to answer, we might consider an even more sobering scenario. If our country's current messy state isn't a midlife crisis, could America be approaching a far more serious horizon? The fall of the Roman Empire came about because of economic mismanagement, political corruption, rampant inflation, and civilian discontent. Increasingly unbalanced leaders, remember Nero, tried to distract people by scapegoating a minority population. At that time, the people in cages were Christians. And by creating a theater for violent conflict in the center of Rome, the Colosseum.

39:20 Sidebar. Is there really a mixed martial arts fight going to occur a week from today on the White House lawn? ah history dusty boring irrelevant stuff until it's not with all this in mind my friends I think we have work to do in this challenging time God as God always does calls the faithful to strive for the healing of the world perhaps with wisdom with courage with determination With the Holy Spirit's help, this moment will be remembered by future historians as only a midlife crisis in the 250th year of the American experiment and not as something worse.

40:21 So how might this more hopeful scenario unfold? Well, psychologists tell us that a midlife crisis isn't necessarily a bad thing. It can provide a critical reset. It's a pivotal moment, a chance for a person to step toward maturity, to replace illusions, fairy tales, with reality. It's a crisis, but it's also an opportunity. An opportunity for a person to abandon destructive falsehoods and embrace deep truths. A midlife crisis can pave the way for developing healthier, more important goals. It can provide a course correction to a life gone awry. How might people of faith help our nation navigate its crisis?

41:22 How might we pave the way for a healthier society? What perspectives do we bring to the table that might aid our struggling homeland? To some, these feel like overwhelming questions. Many tell me that the problems of the world seem enormous, while they in turn have little power to affect change. Where might I possibly begin? And this is an honest and understandable reaction. But it also comes with a dose of spiritual irony. I say this because this classic response to the summons of God can be found plastered all over the pages of the good book. Scripture is stuffed full of people.

42:17 Abraham, Sarah, Hagar, Aaron, Moses, Esther, Ruth, David, Mary. who felt small in the face of the world's huge problems. How does God respond to their reticence? Does the Spirit say, oh yeah, you're right on second thought. This is too big of a mess. Let's back away. Let's stick our head in the sand over by Mount Sinai and pray that these problems will go away. No. The Holy One persists. The Spirit leans closer. God's breath whispers do not worry child you're standing on holy ground take a beat consider the most basic teachings of our faith are you there? do you remember who you are?

43:11 do you remember why you're here? On Friday, I released my summer reading list for 2026. One of the books on the list is Norman Maclean's autobiographical novella, A River Runs Through It. In this beautiful book, Maclean tells the story of growing up in Missoula, Montana in the 1920s. The narrative focuses on two brothers, Norman and Paul, and their father, the town's Presbyterian minister. It's a book about faith and fishing, love and family. It's a story about things in life that matter.

44:05 I want to read an extended quotation from McLean's novel to you this morning because I want you to hear the cadence of his language and because I think this passage gets to the heart of God's whispered question to us this day. Do you remember who you are? Do you remember what you're here to do? In our family, there was no clear line between religion and fly fishing. We lived at the junction of great trout rivers in western Montana, and our father was a Presbyterian minister and a fly fisherman who tied his own flies and who taught others. He told us about Christ's disciples being fishermen, And we were left to assume, as my brother and I did, that all first-class fishermen on the Sea of Galilee were fly fishermen, and that John, the favorite, was a dry fly fisherman.

45:15 It's true that one day a week was given over wholly to religion. On Sunday mornings, my brother Paul and I went to Sunday school, and then to morning services to hear our father preach, and in the evenings to Christian Endeavor and afterwards to evening services to hear our Father preach again. In between on Sunday afternoons, we had to study the Westminster Shorter Catechism for an hour and then recite before we could walk the hills with him while he unwound between services. But he never asked us more than the first question in the catechism. what is the chief end of man? And we answered together so one of us could carry on if the other forgot, man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy him forever.

46:16 This always seemed to satisfy my father as indeed such a beautiful answer should have. a river runs through it as food for my soul although i confess as a child i was puzzled by the westminster catechism i imagined that if if my primary purpose in life was to go around glorifying god i would turn out to be a rather strange person i pictured someone walking awkwardly stumbling over their own feet because they were always gazing heavenward, lifting praise to the sky with exuberant and annoying regularity.

47:04 McLean's novella helped me see the catechism in a deeper light. It's clear that his Presbyterian father had more in mind in terms of glorifying God than continual shouts of praise. Norman's father, a good Calvinist, believed that all human vocation has the capacity to build up society and to make for a better world. As such, glorifying God wasn't about making an ecstatic display. Glorifying God was about learning to see. we glorify God when we we see ourselves as part of the vast web of existence we we we glorify God when we honor creation's web with our best efforts instead of tearing it down with with carelessness or cruel behavior we glorify God when we celebrate decency and offer each other respect We glorify God when we spend our time on this planet engaged in reverence.

48:19 Reverence for creation. Reverence for the work we've been given to do. Reverence for our relationships. McLean's father was clear. A person can glorify God while engaging in almost any activity. from writing an essay to baking a blueberry pie to practicing the art of fly fishing. And here I need to read you one more short passage. my father was very sure about certain matters pertaining to the universe. To him, all good things, trout, as well as eternal salvation, come by grace. And grace comes by art. And art does not come easy.

49:17 McLean captures, I believe, the view that we get from here. This is the same view to which the Apostle Paul refers when he says, from now on, therefore, we regard no one from a human point of view. Our faith calls us to view our neighbors, our government, our families, and all the world, not from a mingy, everything is a transaction perspective, but with Christ's eyes, Christ's perspective, Christ's heart for reconciliation.

50:05 This perspective will not, as McLean observes, come easy, but it does promise to pave the rough road that we're on with grace. Grace enough to smooth out all our less than perfect efforts. Now what does that mean? sometimes my friends i think it's this simple we christians are known for incessantly inviting the world to church come on in we say sing a hymn say a prayer confess your sins and dare to pass the peace with your neighbors. We do this because these activities provide us with compass points in life. They're a lamppost in the dark guiding us through this light. Our mission then revolves around a rather basic conviction.

51:15 We believe that the tremendous turmoil, confusion, and heartache happening outside those clear glass doors might benefit from, might be healed by, might find comfort and deep joy in the practices that we repeat over and over in this space. I'm talking about the breaking of bread, the assurance of pardon, the welcoming of strangers, caring for those who are sick, feeding the hungry on the street out here, departing from this place week after week determined to go to our homes and schools and workplaces to do the good that is ours to do. Somebody recently asked me what the church's plan was for confronting the demons of this age.

52:16 And I responded, I suppose it's the same as it's always been. Confess. Forgive. Share peace. Sing. Pray. Tell the truth. study the good book, and care for those in need. You know, serve the living God, that sort of thing. my friends as we sing and pray as we study and serve as we look together out those clear glass doors back there i believe that is the view that we get from here i invite you now to stand in body or in spirit as together we embrace faith's sacred purpose using those old words from the Westminster Catechism, which can be found printed in your bulletins and on your screens.

53:24 I'll say the question, if you'd be so good, as to provide the answer. What is the chief end of humankind to glorify God and enjoy God forever?