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The
Rev. Christopher Brdlik
September 9, 2007 --- Fifteenth Sunday after Pentecost
John Kenneth Galbraith, the gifted economist of the mid-20th
century, left an imprint on thinking in economics and public policy that
looms large today. But Galbraith’s range of inquiry was so broad, his
stamp was placed on other disciplines as well, on language, for example.
Fifty years ago, in writing The Affluent Society, he coined the
term “conventional wisdom,” a lasting contribution to post-modern
discourse. For Galbraith, conventional wisdom was not a compliment. He
wrote, “We associate truth with convenience, with what most closely
accords with self-interest and personal well-being, or promises best to
avoid awkward effort or unwelcome dislocation of life. We also find
highly acceptable what contributes most to self-esteem.” This is
conventional wisdom, what one admirer of Galbraith called whatever is
“simple, convenient, comfortable, and comforting — though not
necessarily true.” Galbraith was speaking of economic thought, of
course. But what he wrote applies, I think, more broadly to human
experience. Real comprehension “is mentally tiring. Therefore we adhere,
as though to a raft, to those ideas which [already] represent our
understanding.”
The
Church and her clergy have often been sidetracked by conventional
wisdom. Take the case of the sexual misconduct scandal in the Roman
Catholic Church. For years bishops and archbishops believed in the
conventional wisdom that victims of priestly misconduct would remain
faithful Catholics and would sublimate their feelings of despair and
anger “for the good of the Church.” “For the good of the Church” — that
was the term they used. Bishops and archbishops also believed the
conventional wisdom that the clergy implicated could and would keep
their promises to amend their ways and reform their behavior “for the
good of the Church.” In both cases the conventional wisdom was wrong.
Victims no longer discount their pain. Pedophile priests cannot be
trusted. Just yesterday the Diocese of San Diego announced settlement of
a plan to pay recompense to the sufferers. Such payments now approach $1
billion in the state of California alone.
The
conventional wisdom sidetracks the Church in other ways as well. Too
often preachers have a tendency to domesticate the gospel, to take the
hard edge off the radical message of Jesus and make it more palatable,
more easily digested by our busy congregations. Equating the cross of
Christ with something like “family values” is one example. Certainly God
wants us to live at peace in our homes and in faithfulness to our
relationships. But that is not nearly the extent of the Christian
message. Christ calls us out of our comfort levels toward a love of
neighbor — indeed, a love of enemy — far more profound and difficult
than conventional family ties. It may well be true that “the family that
prays together stays together.” But if that is the extent of their faith
commitment, they believe in no more than conventional wisdom, not the
radical, transforming gospel of Christ.
We
— by that I mean us, the Church, and specifically me, a member of the
clergy — we get sidetracked by conventional wisdom because the
domesticated message is easy to preach and convenient to understand. But
certainly there are enough warnings in scripture, enough stories in the
Bible to steer us away from conventional wisdom and toward the true word
of God. Take the potter’s wheel in Jeremiah, or the experience of
Jeremiah himself, for that matter. (Jeremiah 18:1-11) God gave Jeremiah
a message while the prophet was watching a potter at work. It impressed
Jeremiah that if a pot on the wheel was not turning out as intended, the
artisan took the clay, mashed it back in a lump, then reworked it into
another vessel. (How satisfying that must feel!) God’s message was this:
As the potter of the universe, God could and would rework the clay of
our existence if we were not turning out the way we should. God has the
privilege — moreover the power and authority — to rework us anytime we
do not measure up. This message was not conventional wisdom. The people
of Jeremiah’s day believed they had special standing with God and could
do as they pleased because they were God’s chosen. They roundly
criticized Jeremiah for preaching such messages, making his life utterly
miserable, though his intention was reform and true righteousness. No
one would accept such difficult truth. They wanted comfort, not
amendment of life.
And
let’s not forget, either, that in every way Jesus of Nazareth stood
against conventional wisdom and preached a radical reorientation of
values and outlook. Today’s gospel (Luke 14:25-33) certainly is a call
to get beyond comfort levels of family and possessions if our
discipleship would be true. He wants us to know this before hardship
happens, as if we were setting to build a tower. He wants us to plan to
be ready for whatever call we encounter, whatever crisis is on our way,
as a king would plan carefully before going to war. Carrying the cross
of Christ means reordering our priorities so that God’s purpose comes
first in our lives, and we learn to trust in God rather than in
conventional wisdom. Now in my experience following Christ has meant
that all my other relationships — with my family, my wife and children,
my brothers and sisters — all my other relationships have been
strengthened. They come out stronger in the end when discipleship is put
first. And I believe that is generally true for all who trust in God.
The beauty of it is that gospel trust builds a firmer foundation for the
trials and storms of life than conventional wisdom. But it’s easy to be
sidetracked into thinking the domesticated gospel is the extent of
faith. It’s not. Jesus calls us out of our comfort zones into a place as
disciples where we can — as with clay — build and fashion the peaceable
kingdom God intends for the world.
I’d
like to leave you with a reflection on what this all means for the
upcoming anniversary of 9/11. Osama bin Laden released a video this week
— a diatribe against the West that I’d say represents the conventional
wisdom of an Islamic jihadist. One thing he said was that America should
convert to his form of Islam. We know well enough his intentions aren’t
religious, but political, having to do with power and domination. But it
occurs to me we have to respond to such threats in a way that goes
beyond our own conventional wisdom. Of course we have to respond
with a strong military and effective intelligence, with vigilant law
enforcement and vigorous diplomacy. Those are the conventional things,
and in this case they are wise and true. But we have to go beyond
conventional wisdom to an appraisal of our own faith. We must be strong
as well in our sacrificial commitment to Christ. Weak faith, casual
observance, ignorance of our traditions, complacency in religion,
failure to follow God’s ways will only make it easier for those who
oppose us. The point is not to make a militant, chauvinistic
Christianity to crusade against Islam. That is conventional wisdom. The
point is to make strong, loving, believing disciples who respect and
respond to our opponents in this conflict confident in our trust in God
to carry us through.
Religion is not the issue here. But religion used for political ends is
the issue. The way to confront bad religion is with the true: depending
on all Jesus taught us about love, honor, and respect, confident in
God’s power to save. This, too, is faithfully carrying the cross. It
inspires a radically different attitude than conventional wisdom.
© copyright 2007, Christopher Brdlik
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