"Out of the Wild......."

For Sunday, November 29th, 2009

Lectionary Reading Luke 21:25-36

"Out of the Wild: The Alaska Experiment" is a Discovery Channel reality show.  It involves a group of people dropped off into the Alaskan bush. Subsequently, they hike their way back to the civilized world which takes nearly a month. Their means for accomplishing such a feat relies upon a compass and map that shows the path they’re to follow. Laden with make shift backpacks, a small amount of food, and other survivalist gear, the group begins their journey. Wisely, they take basic survivor training prior to the trip. Of the nine who begin the journey, only four or five complete the experiment. Those who opted out utilized a button box device that summoned a helicopter. The helicopter would rescue the overwhelmed person and get them back to civilization.

Now I must admit that I watched all eight episodes of the show’s first season. By the end of the season, I felt considerable admiration for the participants who completed the trek. I admired what they endured and achieved, particularly the close sense of community and family that developed between those who stuck it out. I also admired their resourcefulness in the face of adversity. I admired what each person discovered about themselves as a person living under great hardship due to lack of food, inadequate shelter, no transportation or medical services, and life in extreme weather. I appreciated what each individual learned about the person they became because of hardship. Lord knows I couldn’t have made such a journey.

The availability however of the button box device was an interesting touch to the show. It’s ability to summon a rescue chopper amounted to a modern day manifestation of, “Swing low, sweet chariot, coming for to carry me home!” With a press of a button a person could be whisked away from their misery to a comfortable hotel, a hot shower, plenty of food, or to a doctor if the need required it. Wouldn’t it be great if each living soul on the earth had such a device? But then I must remember that “Out of the Wild” is a reality show, which means that it’s contrived life, not real life. Its contrived life since no one – at least to the best of my knowledge -- is handing out button box rescue devices to the 6.7 billion persons who comprise our world population.

It would be nice if there was such a device for the 1.07 billion of us who go hungry every day. It would be nice to have such a device for the 2.5 million individuals displaced by violence in Darfur. It would be nice to have such a device for the women and girls who have been sexually violated due to Darfur violence. And such a device would have been a huge life saver for the six million Jews tortured and murdered during World War II by Hitler and his Nazi following.

Jesus once said that when hard times are upon us, it is a sign that God’s Peaceable Kingdom draws near (Luke 21:25-36). During such times leading up to then, he counseled that we hold fast, that we pray for strength, and that we not let our hearts and spirits be weighed down by worry, or allow various distractions, compulsions, or addictions to rule or entrap our lives. He counseled these things so we’re able to see and act for the cause of the Peaceable Kingdom here on earth.

The German pastor theologian, Dietrich Bonheoffer, once described in a sermon his sense of what these times are like. He described present-day life as being a worker in a mine. Day after day a person toils away in unpleasant circumstances. Then one day, the worst happens. The mine caves in. The worker knows that those above ground are aware of the cave-in. He knows and believes they’re doing everything possible to rescue him and his co-workers. He knows there’s no magic button to push to rescue him from his dangerous circumstances. So along with his fellow miners, they follow their protocols for treating and assisting the injured, preserving oxygen, readying and conserving their emergency resources if rescue takes longer than expected. Everyone works together to keep each other’s spirits up. Slowly, the rescuers draw closer. Soon the trapped miners hear equipment working through the devastation and debris of the cave-in. Rescuers call out reassuring the trapped persons that help is on the way and soon they’ll breakthrough and all will be saved. The trapped are told to have courage and hold on and there may be need for help from their side of the cave-in. Finally the breakthrough is achieved and all are reunited. Treating the hurt and injured becomes the priority, but eventually everyone is freed from the nightmare and brought up and out into the light of day.

Shortly after Bonheoffer preached this sermon in England, his countrymen requested his return to Germany to help rescue a citizenry trapped by Hitler and his Third Reich. Despite the urging of many that he not go as returning to Germany would be suicide, Bonheoffer ignored his friends’ concerns and went back to his native home. In essence, he joined the company of the trapped, trying to support and encourage them while the rest of the world worked from the other side of the moral cave-in wrought by the Third Reich. Bonheoffer did so while the world worked to clear out the devastation and debris that resulted from the Nazi tsunami. Bonheoffer worked diligently, even feverishly, from his side of things but in the end the Nazis robbed him of his own life’s breath by hanging him for plotting against Hitler. In Bonheoffer’s case there was no button box device summoning some chariot to whisk him away from the gallows. What a blessing it would have been to Bonheoffer, his family and friends, the world, and his native country had he possessed one. But once again, that’s not real life is it.

The answers to our problems and difficulties, challenges, and evils of this world will not go away with the press of a button. Yet some things can be more easily achieved than others such as committing and spending the $13 billion dollars the United Nations estimates as needed for basic health and nutrition for all the world’s poor. Given the hundreds of billions of dollars the United States gladly spends to maintain military domination over the rest of the world, thirteen of those billions seems a small price to pay to alleviate the suffering caused by hunger. It also seems a very small price to pay rather than sitting helplessly by the side of every child who dies horribly every five seconds from starvation – a total of 3 million children who die so terribly every year. How many of those bedsides could anyone of us sit by before we ourselves would need to press the button box device? That we allow anyone to suffer in such ways is a testament to the dark cave we’ve mined out together with our fellow human beings.

There’s a saying in my faith tradition that we hold quite dear. Many of us have it memorized. It’s inspiration that came through one of our leaders several decades ago. It’s written upon our hearts and into the fabric of our beings. For the benefit of discussion here I will paraphrase it by saying that “God’s Peaceable Kingdom is no closer or further away than our spiritual condition justifies.” And lest you think that such a condition means spiritual navel gazing, let me disabuse you of that right now. Let me also disabuse you of the notion that in some singular moment of a day known only to God, you’ll suddenly have some sweet chariot whisking you up and away from the injustices and challenges we face. That’s not real life, its fantasy life.

Real life means there are no magic answers, no magic buttons. Real life is often dirty, cruel, and far more about indifference and satisfying one’s self-interests than we want to think about or acknowledge. Frequently, real life pits us against people who never learned two of life’s basic lessons and often those individuals are little more than wolves in sheep’s clothing. What lessons didn’t they learn? Well, they didn’t learn to love God with all their heart and mind and strength. And they didn’t learn to love others as much as they learned to love themselves. I’ve seen quite a few of them in my time --- some even call themselves ministers --- and it never ceases to amaze me what they get away with and how others allow them to do so. This is the moral cave-in of our time. This is the extreme weather and hardship and deprivation that are ours. What will change it? The answer is you and me and the end of our passivity and collusion with such persons – no matter how minor their behavior seems to be. The next healthiest step any of us can make is joining a solidly self-aware community that’s proactive for justice and the fruits of justice such as peace itself.

Tell the indifferent, the cruel, the greedy, the self-absorbed, and even the wolves that you’ve had enough. Tell them you’ve had enough of a world that they think exists to service them rather than the common good. Don’t be surprised that they’ll resist you, diminish you, and even subvert you. It’s what their cowardice does in the face of a good their selfishness cannot control. Had Hitler been so convinced of the rightness of his path, why didn’t he stick around on the world stage after his defeat to defend his point of view at Nuremburg? He didn’t because the monster’s cowardice required suicide instead.

So if you’re caring or compassionate, selfless or generous, visionary or dreamer, ask yourself what you can do to aid the rescue effort. What is the Spirit of Christ urging you do from our side of the cave-in to usher in God’s Day of Peace for all? Please forego living into life’s intoxications and distractions, letting yourself be trapped there unable to do anything useful. Come back from out of the wild my friends, you’re needed more than you know for helping us dig out of this mess.