“Tikkun Olam - Repairing the World” A sermon based on Jeremiah 4:11-12, 22-28 September 15, 2013 Humber United Church

At that time, this people, yes, this very Jerusalem, will be told in plain words:
“The northern hordes are sweeping in from the desert steppes — A wind that’s up to no good, a gale-force wind. I ordered this wind. I’m pronouncing my hurricane judgment on my people.”

“What fools my people are! They have no idea who I am. A company of half-wits, dopes and donkeys all! Experts at evil but klutzes at good.”

I looked at the earth— it was back to pre-Genesis chaos and emptiness.  looked at the skies, and not a star to be seen. I looked at the mountains— they were trembling like aspen leaves, And all the hills rocking back and forth in the wind. I looked—what’s this! Not a man or woman in sight, and not a bird to be seen in the skies. I looked—this can’t be! Every garden and orchard shriveled up. All the towns were ghost towns. And all this because of God, because of the blazing anger of God.

Yes, this is God’s Word on the matter:
“The whole country will be laid waste— still it won’t be the end of the world. The earth will mourn and the skies lament because I’ve given my word and won’t take it back. I’ve decided and won’t change my mind.”
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Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel used to tell the story that when God, the Holy One, gets up in the morning, God gathers the angels of heaven around and asks this simple question: “Where does my creation need mending today?” Rabbi Heschel would continue, “Theology consists of worrying about what God worries about when God gets up in the morning.”

Theologian Paul Tillich began his sermon on Jeremiah with these words: “It is hard to speak after the prophets have spoken as they have in these pronouncements. Every word is like the stroke of a hammer.” For Jeremiah describes a firestorm which destroys everything in its path.

In the reaction following September 11, 2001, a War on Terror was declared, which included Afghanistan, and Iraq. Statistics show that within six months of 9/11, more than half of the population of the US believed Saddam Hussein and Iraq were responsible. Yet in fact, Saddam Hussein had nothing to do with that event at all. Just under 3000 people from over 60 countries died. Documented deaths in Iraq now range between 600,000 and one million, since the war began in 2003. Terror has been used to attack terror. Lands have been reduced to desolation, and destabilised to the point where they may never recover. It is now almost 30 years since the end of the war in Viet Nam, yet that land has still not recovered.

We can point to the incredible firestorms raging through the western United States, some started by careless people. Some of the fires are result of the actions of human beings interfering in nature, some are spontaneous or caused by lightning. Did you know that forest fires and grass fires create their own winds, and as they do the winds continue to feed the fires? Ever heard of a “crown fire”? Sparks can be blown by those winds from the crown of one tree to another, and then the fire burns *down* the tree. Often the fires, the sparks, linger underground for years, only to flare up at a future time.

You may remember  the photo of the child Phan Thi Kim Phuc, in Viet Nam, running down the road naked, screaming in pain, her back and legs burned by napalm. Napalm is a mixture of a thickening/gelling agent napthalic acid, and petroleum or a similar fuel. At first it was used as an incendiary device against buildings, but later used mainly as an anti-personnel weapon that sticks to skin and causes severe burns when on fire. It literally creates a firestorm when deployed, and completely destroys the area where it is dropped. It was developed in 1943 at Harvard University; its first recorded use was in the European theatre of war; it was used extensively in incendiary attacks on Japanese cities. In 1980, the United Nations declared that the use of napalm on civilians constituted a war crime.

I can almost hear the words of God through Jeremiah’s mouth. “My people do not know me, they are senseless children, they are skilled in doing evil, they don’t know how to do good. The earth will mourn and the heavens will grown dark.”

Even when we want to turn away, Jeremiah makes us look again.  Four times we hear him repeat the refrain, “I looked”:

I looked on the earth,  it was waste and void . . .
I looked on the mountains, they were quaking . . .
I looked, there was no one at all, and all the birds of the air had fled.
I looked, the fruitful land was a desert. . .

It’s as if God’s plan of creation has been reversed. The earth is empty and void. The mountains are bare and there are no birds in the air. But what have we learned? Have we learned anything? For a time, in this past week, and the war drums beating around Syria, I began to wonder. Yet it seems Russia and the US have come to a “framework” for an agreement. Do we dare to hope?

Rev. Ron McCreary in Florida commented  “Prophets have the gift to be able to "see through"...if there had been a State Department or Pentagon analyst on the ground with Jeremiah the analyst would have seen the same thing Jeremiah reported. How can Jerusalem and Judea be so blind? How can they not have seen the buildup of Babylonian strength and come to the obvious conclusion? Often we see what we expect to see, and cannot comprehend what we do not expect even when it is right in front of us.”

Jeremiah’s words echo - the land shall be desolate and the earth shall mourn. I don’t think we should ever forget the desolation and the mourning - those are part of learning. But if we repeat the same patterns, we are doomed over and over again. Hatred, bigotry, media manipulation breed more hatred and bigotry, and more violence.

I asked a friend in New York to reflect on the days following September 11. Here are her thoughts:
“I was overseas on Sept 11, 2001, but I live about a 10 minute walk from the World Trade Center. When I saw the live footage on television, I said to myself, "what an awful movie!" It took me several minutes to realize that this was the news, and yes, this was happening in my hometown.

While we could never go back to before 9/11, little signs of New York as we remember it began cropping up. The newspaper guy outside the corner deli reappeared one morning. New palm trees were carted into the famed Winter Garden, promptly greeted with New York-style graffiti on the particle boards holding the place together welcoming them back. Ads featuring New York celebrities appeared on TV telling tourists that it was ok  to come visit.

And thus we plodded on. Streets reopened and new buildings popped up. Defiant barriers were erected around 'high alert' sites, such as the Stock Exchange and the train stations. A major effort to revitalize the downtown resulted in a rebirth of the area. There is now a Tiffany's on Wall Street. Around the corner is Hermes, and Whole Foods is just a couple of blocks north of Ground Zero on the West Side Highway. During the blackout of 2003, the city again came together with most people remembering how it was that awful day.

I've got mixed feelings, as do most New Yorkers. Sad doesn't seem to convey them completely enough. It's more of a combination of a loss of innocence and resolve to move forwards while not forgetting. As trite as it sounds, though, I think the least we can all do is to count our blessings and to appreciate the most basic things in life. Even the toughest and strongest of us can be made vulnerable.”

Last week was the Jewish celebration of Rosh Hashanah, the beginning of the Days of Awe, repentance, leading to a New Year. Yesterday, September 14, the High Holy Days culminated in Yom Kippur - the Day of Atonement. Related to that atonement - a word which literally means the state of being “at one”, is the concept of “tikkun olam”, which literally means "world repair." Today it is used to refer to the pursuit of social action and social justice, but its roots originate in the teachings of the 16th century mystic Isaac Luria. Luria believed that in order to make room for the world to be created, God needed to contract, to “hold back” in order that something else could grow. God then created special vessels to contain the Divine light which would be used to create the world. God's light was so vast that some of the vessels shattered, scattering broken pieces all over creation, and instead of returning to God, some of that light attached itself to the pieces - and that all that is bad in the world is the broken pieces in which sparks of light are trapped. ‘Repairing the world’ is to gather the lost light. That is the purpose of the commandments - whenever we obey a commandment we separate what is holy from what is profane and release the light within. Every day, we have opportunities to collect broken pieces and release their light. “Tikkun olam " responds to a profound sense of deep rupture in the universe, and calls us to mend the universe, mend the world."

The United Church of Canada has demonstrated a commitment to overcome fragmentation within the wider church. Whereas traditional ecumenical activity has been church centred, placing emphasis on the churches as they relate to one another,  broader ecumenism is world-centred, placing emphasis on churches relating to the world beyond themselves, to persons involved in other religious traditions, ideologies, and secular agencies. In this understanding of “whole world ecumenism,” the churches are called to make common cause with individuals and institutions of good will who are committed to compassion, peace and justice in the world.
For life to survive, grow and flourish in “the wilderness of the world” - amid the exploding bombs, the fragile atmosphere, the burning rains, the polluted waters, the many illnesses, and the myriad expressions of violence—all people of compassion and wisdom need to work together in the common task of caring for one another and the whole of God’s creation.
The report, Mending the World, has laid bare the strong conviction among church members that God loves this world, this tiny blue piece of Creation; that God works for its mending, and calls us to do the same. It calls us to partnership with God in the repair of shattered Creation.

We - each of us - can do something. Each of us individually has a power which, together, makes us strong enough to change the world. The destruction and firestorms, and winds to strong will be no more. Our external world, and our relationships with each other here and now, will be repaired. Our faith is supposed to BE a world-changing faith - the call of the Gospel is to mend Creation, to mend the world.

Colin Winter was a visionary Anglican bishop, expelled from Namibia for his opposition to apartheid. This is his prayer:
“Lord, remind me when I need to know,
You did not ask me to defend your Church, but to lay down my life for people.”



Sources:
1. Rev. Ron McCreary, Gray Memorial United Methodist Church, Tallahassee, Florida.
2. Open letter - Tallahassee Interfaith Clergy
3. Firestorm based on Jeremiah 4:11-12,22-28 by Rev. Randy L Quinn
4. http://templeisaiah.com/what-tikkun-olam
5. Mending the World 1998, 36th General Council, The United Church of Canada