Pentecost II 2008
Fr. Fred Robinson
Dallas Willard, a professor of philosophy at the University of Southern California, wrote a book titled The Divine Conspiracy. In it he reports that “a pilot was practicing high speed maneuvers in a jet fighter. She turned the controls for what she thought was a steep ascent-and flew straight into the ground. She was unaware that she had been flying upside down.”
He goes on to say that this “is a parable of human existence in our times-not exactly that everyone is crashing, though there is enough of that-but most of us as individuals, and world society as a whole, live at high speed, and often with no clue to whether we are flying upside down or right-side up. Indeed, we are haunted by a strong suspicion that there may be no difference-or at least that it is unknown or irrelevant.”
Later on in the first chapter of his book, Willard states: “Must one not wonder about people willing to wear a commercial trademark on the outside of their shirts or caps or shoes to let others know who they are? And just think of a world in which little children sing, “I wish I were a (certain kind of) wiener. That is what I really want to be. For if I were a (certain kind of) wiener, everyone would be in love with me.”
“Think of what it would mean to be a weenie, or for someone to love you as they “love” a hot dog. Think of a world in which adults would pay millions of dollars to have children perform this song in ‘commercials,’ and in which hundreds of millions, even billions, of adults find no problem in it. You are thinking of our world. If you are willing to be a weenie to be loved, what else would you be willing to do? Is it any wonder that depression and other mental and emotional dysfunctions are epidemic? Who is it, exactly, that is flying upside down now?”
Willard says that “our longing for goodness and rightness and acceptance…makes us cling to bumper slogans, body graffiti, and gift shop nostrums that in our profound upside-down-ness somehow seem deep but in fact make no sense.” Take this one for example: “All I ever needed to know I learned in kindergarten,” or “Practice random kindnesses and senseless acts of beauty,” and so on.
“Such sayings contain an element of truth, but if you try to actually plan your life using them you are immediately in deep, deep trouble. They will head you 180 degrees in the wrong direction…” A much more accurate way to live is by realizing “I don’t know what I need to know and must now devote my full attention and strength to finding out,” or “Practice routinely profound kindnesses and intelligent acts of beauty.” What is truly profound is thought to be stupid and trivial, or worse, boring, while what is actually stupid is thought to be profound. That is what it means to fly upside down.” I recommend this book to you: The Divine Conspiracy.
Dallas Willard, 21st century American philosopher, makes a good case that post-modern Americans operate their lives from a perspective that is completely wrong. And if you start out from a completely wrong perspective, unless that perspective is changed, you’re going to end up in disaster, like the pilot who didn’t know she was flying upside down. She undoubtedly thought everything was fine-until she crashed.
It’s a modern-day parable for an ancient condition. Medieval theologians called it original sin. St. Paul called it living according to the flesh. The Old Testament prophets called it worshipping other gods. It all amounts to the same thing-flying upside down, living life from the wrong perspective.
It’s not that we ever want to get it wrong. In fact, it’s the opposite, we want very much to get it right, and we think we know how to do that. And when things go wrong, which will always happen somewhere down the line, our tendency is not to think that we started from the wrong perspective, but that someone or some thing got in the way.
And so, when we hear something like we did today in the Gospel, if we think about it at all, we dismiss it, or we compartmentalize it. “That’s for religious people, and I’m not that religious, so it really doesn’t speak to me. I’ll just keep flying the way I’m flying, thank you very much.”
“Do not be anxious about your life, what you shall eat or what you shall drink, not about your body, what you shall put on…But seek first (God’s) kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things shall be yours as well. Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day’s own trouble be sufficient for the day.”
Jesus is not telling us that we should not work to provide a good living for our families. He is not telling us that we should not get insurance or prepare ourselves against calamity. What he is saying is first of all that our perspective in living each day is to be focused on God, not on ourselves, not on any aspirations we have or problems we encounter. We must be centered on God and upon doing his will. And secondly, we must trust that our lives are in God’s hands and that he will care for us and supply what we need. And in that context, we are to conduct our daily lives.
Jesus deals with the problem of anxiety, of an over-careful worriedness about the future, because he knows that that is our tendency. We worry about the market, we worry about our children or our parents, our health, we worry about politics, the environment, you name it. That worry comes from real problems and real potentialities, and from not knowing what the future holds. But that worry cannot determine any outcome and in fact can debilitate us from acting positively to bring about change. Our Lord Jesus is admonishing us to live “in the present,” focused upon God. That is where true life is to be found, and where eternity is opened to us.
I was visiting with one of our parishioners just yesterday. I won’t give you his name, but he did give me permission to talk about him. He has had cancer, and recently underwent surgery. The doctor feels that he has removed the cancer and that he has a good prognosis. I asked this gentleman how his spirit was. He said, “Oh, that’s been fine all along. I’ve just taken the attitude that whatever the Lord has in store for me will be fine with me. I’m alright with anything that happens.”
That man is flying right-side up. He has chosen not to be anxious about his situation. He didn’t have to take that attitude. He could have wrung his hands, and worried and fretted. He could have gotten angry at God. But he didn’t. He is accepting whatever may happen. At the same time, he has done everything possible to get well, and that is a faithful response as well.
Daily prayer, confession, making one’s communion, reading Holy Scripture, are not just one way to live among many that are just as good. Jesus is telling us that they are the only way truly to live. Are you and I willing to try it or are we going to fly upside down, not realizing it?
Sermon preached by the Rev. Fredrick A. Robinson
Church of the Redeemer
Sarasota, Florida
2nd Sunday after Pentecost
25 May 2008