Whoever

1st John 5: 6-13, page 241 This is the one who came by water and blood, Jesus Christ, not with the water only but with the water and the blood. And the Spirit is the one that testifies, for the Spirit is the truth. There are three that testify: the Spirit and the water and the blood, and these three agree. If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater; for this is the testimony of God that he has testified to the Son. Those who believe in the Son of God have the testimony in their hearts. Those who do not believe in God have made God a liar by not believing in the testimony that God has given concerning the Son. And this is the testimony: God gave us eternal life, and this life is in the Son. Whoever has the Son has life; whoever does not have the Son of God does not have life. I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life. Sermon It’s easy to be worried about humanity. Considering this past week alone I can think of multiple reasons to be worried about who we are and what we are capable of. The week began with a televised custody battle on the Today show. Custody battles are always troubling – husbands and wives turned to bitter enemies - the one who you love the most can also be the one you most despise – only this custody battle wasn’t over children. Craig Dershowitz has spent over $60,000 on lawyers in an attempt to regain custody of a dog. Our scripture lesson for today from 1st John claims that, “If we receive human testimony, the testimony of God is greater,” but I worry that the author of 1st John gives us too much credit. How could people – you, me, and Craig Dershowitz ever say anything that could contribute to what God has done and said? I wonder especially about our ability to make the testimony of God greater considering, not only the human capacity to spend too much on a dog but considering the human capacity to commit unspeakable violence. On Monday, the Maury County Historian and member of our church, Bob Duncan, took a group of us on a guided tour of Shiloh Battlefield. It only takes one trip to a place like that to be convinced that the testimony of God can’t be made greater by what humans do, rather it seems amazing the testimony of God would survive despite us. As a result of the battle at Shiloh over 25,000 men lost their lives. Many were killed by bullets, bayonets, or cannon fire. Others were merely wounded but died among the piles of men fighting for a sip of water around what has come to be called “the bloody pond.” Others died on the surgeon’s table without any drug to dull their pain. Still others gave their last breath out there on the field wondering how human beings could do this to each other. Surely we cannot be trusted to make the testimony of God greater, unless there was no other way. Speaking of times when there is no other way. I learned last week that there is only one way to get a job as a barber. I got my hair cut last week at the barbershop right on the square where I always go. You can spend a long time waiting in there, so given the choice I always chose one of the new barbers who everyone else is wary of. I sat down in the chair and I realized I didn’t have any idea about barbers – where they go to school, how they get started in a new shop, what happens when they move to a new town. My barber told me he had been to school, but that a degree isn’t enough. When you come to a new town and you go out looking for a job, you don’t just leave your resume with the shop owner, you have to prove that you know what you’re doing, and the only way to do that is for the owner to see you give someone a haircut. “Well who would be willing to be the guinea pig?” I ask. “No one would,” he said, “so you usually have to give the owner himself a haircut.” I couldn’t believe it, but it gets worse, because that barber shop down town is the kind that cleans up your side burns and neck with a straight razor. “Surely the owner doesn’t let someone who just walks in the door looking for a job put a straight razor on his face,” I said, “he could lose an ear!” The new guy cutting my hair said, “Not just his neck and side burns. The owner of this shop requires applicants to give him a straight razor shave.” I don’t know about you, but my hands shake in job interviews, and I can’t imagine how a job interview could get any worse – you’re nervous already but you have to calm your nerves enough to shave the man who could potentially be your new boss without slicing his throat. But the question isn’t whether or not it’s a good idea to let someone nervous use a razor on your face or to let someone who you don’t even know put a razor up to your neck, the real question is, if you need to find out if someone can actually cut hair and shave a face is there any other way? The human capacity for evil is clear, but the issue is not whether or not God could have made a better choice, the real question is, what other way is there? Karl Barth, the most celebrated theologian of the 20th century wrote that, “The amazing thing is not that there is a God, but that there is a world.” The amazing thing is that God chose to make you and me and to ask us to contribute to the creation itself – for through “human testimony, the testimony of God is greater.” In so many ways here is a terribly unfortunate reality – as God’s creation, we, despite our brokenness, our capacity for trivial pursuits, and how frequently we chose hatred over love – God calls us to make our mark on creation. There will be many who will never be brave enough to attempt it however. Holding the razor in their hand they’ll never shave the boss for fear that their shaking hands will slip. The fear of saying the wrong thing will prevent them from saying anything at all. The fear of doing what is evil keeps them shut behind a wall of inactivity. The fear of falling short stops them from ever trying. There is something worse than living with the reality of the human capacity for evil – it is allowing that capacity to stop you from ever trying. This May young men and women will graduate and go out into the world. Some fear becoming their parents, others fear never amounting to anything, while many of the great achievers of the class of 2012 fear that they’ll never become who everyone said they would. Better to never try than to fail some will say. All the while, the testimony of God will suffer without men and women who are bold enough to speak. What about the words they will wonder. What will they say? Who are they to speak? It seems like it would be so much easier to preserve the sanctity of God if God’s testimony were never touched by those with unclean lips – but without your unclean lips who will speak? It seems like it would be easier to maintain the austerity of this sacred space if the sinners were kept out – but without sinners who would fill the pews? It seems like the world would be better off if we kept out of it and let those who seem to know better do what seems best – but without you, what would our world be? So much more is required than an hour every Sunday morning. The God who gave you everything that you have requires that you use all of who you are for the good of the gospel. “I write these things to you who believe in the name of the Son of God, so that you may know that you have eternal life,” the author of 1st John writes. In a world where some can’t compromise over a dog these words are worth saying. In a world of war, hunger, violence, and strife those words matter more than all else. But these words require your voice to be heard. Speak, live, tell your story, whoever you are, that others might know and have eternal life. Amen.