November 22, 2001     10:30 AM
John 6:1-14
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John 6:25-35
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"The Difficulty of Finding Fast Runners"
Rev. Dr. Douglas L. Lobb

In his book, “Modern Man In Search of a Soul,” Carl Jung, the great psychoanalyst and writer, states, “About a third of my cases are suffering from no clinical definable neurosis, but from the senselessness and emptiness of their lives. This can be described as the general neurosis of our time.”

While, in no way can I approach the exposure or ability of Jung, I can attest to the fact that meaninglessness and frustration over the purpose of life is indeed an endemic problem which I face in pastoral counseling, and alarmingly, it seems to be strongest among the young.  The endless pursuit of more and more, the desire for greater kicks and selfish satisfactions of the flesh do not result in satisfying one’s desire for meaning.

This may seem like a modern day phenomenon but in reality, it is old indeed.  Take, for instance, the treatment of this subject under the name of Faust.  It began in 1587 when an anonymous author wrote about Faust.  Other have followed -- most notably, Christopher Marlowe in late 1500's, whose play was entitled, "The Tragical History of Dr. Faustus".  And again, by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in the 1700’s with his play "Faust" and even more recently, in 1947, by Thomas Mann, with his version called "Dr. Faustus" all versions about the ultimate meaning of life.

Many of you have read Faust or observed the opera.  The general theme is that, Faust wants to experience life. He wants to live without limits. Faust wants to read all the books, speak all the languages, and taste all the pleasures. He wants to be sort-of-like God, going beyond the usual human limitations.  To achieve his goal, he makes a pact with the devil, who gives him everything: wealth, political power, the ability to travel and to have any woman he wants love him.  Faust has an insatiable hunger within himself.

By his late life, Faust is still unsatisfied and is now unable to do many of the sensual things.  He is now seeking to help people by building dikes to reclaim land for peasant farmers, planting gardens and setting people to work.  Finally, he is able to say, “let this moment linger.”   He has found the meaning of a successful life.  But it is too late, because his pact with Satan must be fulfilled, and he dies, to dwell in Hades.

The story is told of one presentation of the opera when in the dramatic final scene Faust is to step on an elevator and descend to the lower realms.  The elevator stuck, and as the actor wriggled and struggled to get the machine to lower him, some inebriated patron, in the upper balcony cried out, “Thank God!  I am saved!  Hell is full!”

Today, we are proving, all over again, the power of the work by these distinguished writers. Our prosperity has given us a level of living unknown in the history of the world. We throw out more food than huge portions of the world have to eat. We consume 50% of the world’s resources with only 10%of the world’s population. We are an indulgent, selfish, gluttonous country AND we are still not happy or fulfilled.

Among young people of the United States, only accidents kill more people than suicide.  Think of it: with all we have, we have a suicide rate greater than most of the have-nots of the world.  We have now successfully created a culture that wants to try and reclaim the past because somehow it seems more satisfying in our mind's eye.

Our forebears were much more aware of what brings meaning than we are.  So deep was their resolve to find true meaning that they forsook almost all that they knew.  They were merchants and tradesmen; they left their livelihoods to pursue religious freedom.  They were family people, many of them from long lines of prominent family names; yet even that was not as important as the desire to worship God in the manner they believed.  They left their families behind and went into the unknown to establish a new country free from worship restriction and doctrinal pronouncements.

Would you do it?

Their sense of satisfaction and fulfillment came with being true to themselves.  They knew that accumulations do not bring satisfaction; all they do is create a desire for still more.  They had learned that satisfaction and fulfillment come with the knowledge that you are being true to yourself and that begins by being a follower of the creator.

The Pilgrim is always looking forward.  The Pilgrim is not shackled by the past because that is what he or she left to find religious freedom and to find the contentment of being able to follow their personal convictions.  That, my dear people, is something that you and I need to study and learn.

In today's scripture, the chapter from Matthew begins with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 people.  The scripture says that Jesus withdrew himself to the mountains so that he could be by himself.  It wasn’t too long before the people noticed that he was gone, so they got into boats and went across the Sea of Galilee, to Capernaum, seeking to find him.  When they found him they said, "Teacher, when did you come here?"

Immediately, Jesus perceived their thoughts.  He says to the group: “You didn’t come here because you have seen signs that tell you of the Kingdom of God; you came here because you have been well fed.” 

They asked, “What must we do to be doing the works of God?”

“This is the work of God; you have to believe in the one that God has sent.”

They then asked, “What signs do you do?  Show us so that we may believe.”

(Even in their presence, the Master was as acceptable to the people as his last miracle.)

They said, “Our Fathers ate manna in the wilderness.”

Jesus replied, “Moses didn’t get them the manna from heaven; God is the one who gives you the true bread of heaven.”

That is still the answer.  You will not discover contentment or fulfillment on your own.  God, the one who created humans is the one who knows what we need and God is the one who can give us what we seek.  If we insist on leaving God out of our lives and out of our culture we will continue to reap discord; breaking of law; violence brought on by selfishness; lack of respect for others and a general ho hum way of living -- because it is based on a false foundation.

We wonder, as a society, why we are having so many problems and why people seem to be so rootless and void of a foundation to stand on.  We ought not to be surprised.  We have legislated God out of public life, out of education and out of civic celebrations.  Schools can’t celebrate Christmas.  Governments are no longer able, either, I heard last Monday, that they are putting up a holiday tree in Madison at the capitol. 

What zip does a holiday tree have?  The Church is the only place left where the stories of faith can be told, and fewer and fewer people are taking advantage of the Church.  And even there some would strip the stories of their simplicity and beauty. 

Let’s tell the stories so that our young people know them.  Until they know the stories they will have nothing upon which to build their foundation when they get older.  I know it’s a temptation for adults to never grow beyond their Sunday school faith, but not telling the stories is a greater problem and is certainly no solution.

Still, we are a people speeding --- toward, God-knows-what.  In his little book, “When All You’ve Ever Wanted Isn’t Enough,” Rabbi Harold Kushner relates the story of a Rabbi who speaks to a parishioner and says, “Whenever I see you, you’re always in a hurry.  Tell me: where are you running all the time?”  The man replied, “ I’m running after success, I’m running after fulfillment, I’m running after the reward for all my hard work.”

Does that sound like anyone you know?

The Rabbi responds to this man by saying, “That’s a good answer, if you assume that all those blessings are somewhere ahead of you, trying to elude you and if you run fast enough, you may catch up with them.  But, isn’t it possible that those blessings are behind you, that they are looking for you, and the more you run, the harder you make it for them to find you.”

Isn’t it possible indeed that God has all sorts of wonderful presents for us -- good food and beautiful sunsets and flowers budding in the spring, and leaves turning in the fall, and quiet moments of sharing -- but that we, in our pursuit of happiness, are so constantly on-the-go that God can’t find us at home to deliver them? ( Kushner p46)

Father Malcolm Boyd, an Episcopal priest put it this way:

“I’ve got to move fast….get into the bathroom, wash up, grab a bite to eat, and run some more.

"I just don’t feel like it, Lord.  What I really want to do is to get into bed, pull up the covers and sleep.  All I seem to want today is the big sleep, and here I’ve got to run all over again.

"Where am I running?  You know these things I can’t understand.  It’s not that I need to have you tell me.  What counts most is just that somebody knows, and it’s you.  That helps a lot.

"So I’ll follow along, okay?  But lead, Lord.  Now I’ve got to run.  Are you running with me, Jesus?"

 Meaningless lives. God is having trouble catching up with fast runners, and fast runners are too busy running to take time out for God.

And there are some whose lives are paralyzed with fear: fear of failure, fear of deprivation, fear of conflict, fear of poverty, and fear of lack of importance.  Every husband here knows that if he had waited for the perfect woman to appear, he would never be married and God knows that every wife here can and does say the same thing.

That’s the dilemma that your search committee is in.  They are trying hard to do what is in your best interest but they know from their own experiences, that whoever they select will not satisfy all.  The real truth is: even if they selected the Messiah, He would get several negative votes.

We’ve lost sight of faith -- stepping out into the unknown, and trusting God.  We say, "What if we choose the wrong minister?"

On the other end, the clergyperson is saying, "What if I say yes to the wrong congregation?"

The time comes when we have to stop running, stop alabi-ing, stop trying to figure things out on our own, and put our trust into the hands of God. As the old book title suggest, there comes a time when we simply have to ‘Let Go and Let God.”

An 85-year-old lady in the Appalachian hills of Kentucky was asked to look at her life and to reflect back on what she had learned. With a touch of wistfulness she said:]

“If I had my life to live over again, I would dare to make more mistakes next time.  I would relax.  I would be sillier, I would take fewer thing seriously…I would eat more ice cream and less beans.  I would perhaps have more actual troubles, but fewer imaginary ones.

You see, I’m one of those people who lived seriously and sanely, hour after hour, day after day. I’m one of those persons who never went anyplace without a thermometer, a hot water bottle, a raincoat and a parachute. If I had to it to do again, I’d travel lighter.”

It’s Thanksgiving Day.  Stop for awhile and think how thankful you are. 

Think of Afghanistan, particularly the women. 

Think of those who have spent their lives pursuing more and more money -- and they have succeeded -- but now, they live in fear that others want what they have, and they wile away their time in a haze of alcohol or chemical abuse because life is boring.

Think on the other end of the scale of those this day who have virtually nothing, who in their embarrassing dirt and smell stand in a line to get some turkey from some volunteers who have given up their day to help.

Think of the Pilgrims, thousands of miles from home across a forbidding sea, their ranks decimated by illness and death, their stomachs hungry from their inability to farm correctly, their lives lived in fear of natives, animals, cold and poverty.  Yet, they had a day of thanksgiving to almighty God.

When you leave today, take five kernels of corn for each plate on your thanksgiving table, put them on a plate and when it is full of turkey, potatoes, gravy, yams and vegetables, then remember: they gave thanks….

Stop running.

Pause and thank God for all you have and all you are.

Have a great Thanksgiving Day.