Car 54, Where ARE You?

 

“Car 54, Where ARE You?”

 

Jeremiah 2:4-13
2:4 Hear the word of the LORD, O house of Jacob, and all the families of the house of Israel.

2:5 Thus says the LORD: What wrong did your ancestors find in me that they went far from me, and went after worthless things, and became worthless themselves?

2:6 They did not say, "Where is the LORD who brought us up from the land of Egypt, who led us in the wilderness, in a land of deserts and pits, in a land of drought and deep darkness, in a land that no one passes through, where no one lives?"

2:7 I brought you into a plentiful land to eat its fruits and its good things. But when you entered you defiled my land, and made my heritage an abomination.

2:8 The priests did not say, "Where is the LORD?" Those who handle the law did not know me; the rulers transgressed against me; the prophets prophesied by Baal, and went after things that do not profit.

2:9 Therefore once more I accuse you, says the LORD, and I accuse your children's children.

2:10 Cross to the coasts of Cyprus and look, send to Kedar and examine with care; see if there has ever been such a thing.

2:11 Has a nation changed its gods, even though they are no gods? But my people have changed their glory for something that does not profit.

2:12 Be appalled, O heavens, at this, be shocked, be utterly desolate, says the LORD,

2:13 for my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.

 

There's a holdup in the Bronx, 
Brooklyn's broken out in fights. 
There's a traffic jam in Harlem 
That's backed up to Jackson Heights. 
There's a scout troop short a child, 
Khrushchev's due at Idlewild 
Car 54, Where Are You? 

Officers Toody and Muldoon never seemed to be where they were most needed, in this goofy police sitcom that hit the airwaves in 1961. As a kid, I never missed it. And I followed the career of Muldoon actor Fred Gwynne from this silly comedy, on to become Herman Munster, and eventually on the bench as a Southern judge in My Cousin Vinny. It was the daffy theme song of Car 54, though, that I thought of as I read this week’s lectionary offering from the Prophet Jeremiah. “Car 54, WHERE ARE YOU?”

 

Maybe it’s me, but the warnings and pronouncements of the prophets of the Hebrew Bible sure seem to be speaking to 21^st Century America. It’s no wonder so many people think God has gone missing. Remember the old bumper sticker? “If you feel separated from God, guess who’s moved.” Has GOD really gone missing, or have we moved so far from God’s “precinct” that we THINK it is God who is absent? We all know the answer to that question, don’t we? 

 

Now, some will readily agree with the proposition that we have “moved away from God,” but their diagnosis of what that means is mostly in error. I had several parishioners who would say, “Our problems began when we took prayer out of the schools.” Really? There is nothing about this postulate that is correct. Prayer and Bible readings in public schools was a SYMPTOM of the problems that pervaded in the United States. In a nation founded on religious freedom, and that guaranteed in its constitution there would be NO state establishment of religion, we had readings from the Judeo-Christian BIBLE in public school classrooms, and prayers led by school teachers, usually concluding with the Lord’s Prayer, which is obviously a Christian prayer taught by Jesus to his disciples. And many times the morning Bible reading was from the New Testament. This “exercise” in public religion was held every morning in my first and second grade classrooms back in the late 50s and early 1950s. I distinctly remember sitting in class as the teacher was reading from one of the Gospels and leading the entire class in a recitation of the Lord’s Prayer, all the while, I was glancing around the room at my friends named Levine, Siegel, Goldberg, and Slesnick, and wondering what THEY were thinking? Some of my best friends in school were from dedicated Jewish families, part of the Tree of Life Synagogue that was just a block below my home on West First Street. I can tell you that I was just as happy as they were when Third Grade convened, and this practice was now outlawed by the United States Supreme Court. While I was happy with the Christian faith I was being raised in by a regular church-going family, I was also taught to respect the faith of others, be they Catholic (and this was pre-Vatican II, so there was a real chasm between Protestants and Catholics) or Jewish, especially since Oil City had a vibrant and fairly large Jewish population, for a small town. 

No, the ills of our nation were not CAUSED by “prayer in schools,” but this was a symptom of our segregation and hostility toward members of minority races and religions, as contrary to the establishment clause, Christianity had become our de facto national religion. Isn’t it interesting, how many “simple blames” people can come up with as to why a society has problems? Our shared problems are created by complex systems of inequality, oppression, and dominance of a majority faction, be it political, religious, racial, or economic. And yet, there are those quick to blame “taking prayer out of schools,” or “It’s God’s judgment on us because of abortion, or gays, or drugs, or sexual promiscuity.” Sure, it’s never ME! I’M not to blame for racism or sexism, or crime, or poverty! It MUST be the judgment of God, somehow. Or, maybe YOU’RE to blame! If only you would become a good Christian like ME, and believe the way I do, everything would be just fine! The problems with this line of thinking are myriad, and give rise to hostile, oppressive systems, in an attempt to bring about the “fix” as envisioned by what may be a slight majority of folk who make up a voting bloc. I suggest that overly simplistic “solutions” for complex problems are ultimately to blame for oppressive systems that drive wedges deeper between people. Jeremiah got this.

 

God set Israel up in a plentiful and fruited land, gave them everything they would need to be prosperous, with enough for everybody. How did they respond? By crafting their own Gods to serve their selfish interests, and creating factions that divided the people. “Tribe pride” crept in. They forgot the heritage of Yahweh, who had delivered them from the bondage of Egypt and led them to freedom through the wilderness. They forgot the strong leaders God called to deliver them, and in the midst of promised prosperity, began to hoard the spoils of the land, eschew the wider community, and prey upon the weaker members, rather than offer them compassion. They began to violate one of the “prime directives” of Judaism—welcoming the stranger and treating them like a citizen. All these are signs of a people who have moved away from the one, true God, and gone after gross profit and individual wealth and power. To make up for this spiritual vacuum, they fashioned their own gods. And when the trouble started? Trouble that threatened their way of life? Even the priests had forgotten how to call on the true God of Israel. The prophet’s words cut like a newly-sharpened sword: “For my people have committed two evils: they have forsaken me, the fountain of living water, and dug out cisterns for themselves, cracked cisterns that can hold no water.”

 

God IS the ultimate answer to what ails us, even as God was the answer for Israel in the days of Jeremiah. But the simplistic, ridiculous, solutions proposed by many people of faith—even religious leaders—are not the answer:

 

*NO, “putting God back in the schools” is not the answer, but families returning to church together, where “love your neighbor” is taught, and prayer is a tool of the righteous, not the self-righteous, may be.

 

*NO, electing “God’s man” as President is not the answer, as we have seen. We are not at all good judges of who “God’s man” is. Possibly electing “godly persons” as leaders might be OK, but only if this means persons who are formed BY their own faith, but who fully respect and guard the faith of all others, including those who choose NOT to believe. And only if these “godly persons” don’t try to impose their faith on others, either by the way they lead, or in the legislation they propose. 

 

*NO, outlawing all abortion is not the “magic formula” for fixing America, as many have believed. Now that we are unwisely doing this, we will see that like forced prayer and Bible reading in the public schools in the early 1960s, it will add to the problem, rather than be a solution. There are good alternatives to abortion, such as free and readily-available birth control, better reproductive education, and better OB-GYN care for teenagers, especially those in poorer communities. It has been proven that these are the things that begin to reduce the need for abortions, if that is your aim. Abortion numbers in America were on the decline before the recent Dobbs decision. Removing the rights of women to make decisions about their own reproductive systems is immoral, as is forcing women to give birth. We know how to fix this problem, but won’t do it, either because: some distorted religious doctrines outlaw birth control; some people do not want their ”tax dollars” paying for education and better healthcare for young women; or because we have turned this into a political “killing field” where outlawing abortion is a “win” over the “libs.”

 

*NO, throwing money at our problems is not the answer, either. While serious, well-conceived solutions will certainly require funding, the temptation to just dump money into trouble spots because we can may certainly do more harm than good, as we have seen. When money is seen as plentiful, cavalier policies about how to use it abound. When we understand that good stewardship requires careful thought and adequate planning, money becomes a tool for positive change. The prophet saw this when referring to “building cracked cisterns” that do not hold water. 

 

“Moving away from God” means ignoring the teachings of God. It means making our own gods out of values and policies that protect OUR wealth, status, and power. Forcing others to believe what we believe, or to accept our “tribe’s” policies and doctrines is NOT how God is honored. It is how we are obeyed, not God.

 

So, if the prophet is right that “moving away from God” is at the heart of the problems God’s people face, how do we fix this? Do we start screaming, “Car 54, WHERE ARE YOU?” Here are a few suggestions that MAY help us apply our faith to these broader issues:

 

*Christians can review the teachings of Jesus in the Sermon on the Mount. Start with the Beatitudes. Jesus was trying to show us how to become compassionate, caring people who, like God, wish that “none should perish.” The teachings of Jesus demonstrate how we apply our RESOURCES to the problems around us—our talents, our time, our treasures, and our best smarts, NOT our religious doctrines, which divide and destroy community.

 

*Prayer—by each believer and by communities of believers for the problems of our country and our world. Don’t try to force OTHERS to pray (such as public school students) when you, your family, and your church are not using your religious freedom to pray. Be aware, however, that the most effective prayers change US, and then we answer God’s call to affect change through compassionate acts and acts of mercy toward others. 

 

*Forming alliances with other believers, especially those who are NOT of your faith, for the purpose of serving the needs of the less fortunate, and to break down oppressive structures. All religions have been “commanded by God” in their holy writ to care for the widows, the orphans, the poor, and the imprisoned. Remember that in Jesus’ day, most of the “widows and orphans” were women and their children who had been unfairly dispatched from home and hearth by a selfish husband who applied the unjust “laws” of divorce in the ancient Mid-East to simply kick the woman and her offspring OUT, when he had tired of her, or wanted to bring a new girl home. The same thing is happening today in America where people in poverty are thrown to the streets by unjust landlords unfair housing laws, if not by escalating rents levied by slumlords “because they can.” Again ALL religions have the common goals of feeding and housing the poor, caring for the children, and working for social justice when policies are creating myriad new victims.

 

*All faiths, and most especially Christians, are called to generous giving. “Almsgiving” in the Bible was specifically a way to give to the poor. How is your faith compelling you to be more generous, especially to causes that benefit the less fortunate among us? Christians are called to work toward “tithing,” or giving 10% of income toward church and charity. I did a study of this for a stewardship project I was part of several years ago. Denominational Christians (Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Episcopalian) gave, on average, less than 2.5% of income. “Bible-believing,” fundamentalist Christians who claimed to believe in the 10% tithe gave about 4%. You don’t have to be a mathematician to see that we are nowhere near our “generosity” goal. 

 

*Read and be informed, using reliable news and information sources. Know what the real problems we face are, not the ones a biased information source tells you they are. Use this new-found knowledge to vote OUT political leaders, local, state, and national, who don’t support reasonable policies to address legitimate problems, and vote IN people who will. How will you know? If you inform yourself as to what the legitimate needs and problems are, you will know which leaders are addressing them in their campaign rhetoric because they will not propose idiotic, over-simplified solutions, nor will they just say we need to spend more to fix them. There ARE real ideas and solutions, but they are NOT simple and they will take time to institute and unfold. Be listening for them to be articulated by intelligent, less-partisan candidates, and vote for them. You might also notice that women and minorities may be more represented in this better base of candidates because they “live among” the issues (or are the victims of them, in many cases) and understand them better than upper-class, white lawyers, business owners, or reality TV show stars.

 

When you understand the teachings of the prophets, or those of Jesus Christ at a “problem-solving” level, you will be surprised how applying these may actually help solve problems! Forcing prayer back into public schools or outlawing all abortions in the name of your Christian faith is like massacring your Christian neighbors so you can “send them to heaven.” It’s immoral, Un-American, and illegal, according to our constitution. 

 

As I have said before, God is not the genie in the lamp that if we just rub it right, God will come forth and grant our wishes. Neither is God “Car 54” that we call to the rescue. God has given us guidelines in scripture that will enable us to end oppression, build a more just society, and care for the needs of those who are still behind the rest of us. Jesus elaborated on these teachings and personally demonstrated them. When he said, “Take up your cross and follow me,” this is what he was talking about. God sent the Holy Spirit to guide us and empower us on this task. Our broken society needs righteous people doing righteous things, and living righteously. It doesn’t need self-righteousness being legislated against those who have little or no power. This has been demonstrated time and time again by history. In the name of Christ, let’s break the cycle. Car 54, stand down. It’s our turn to come to the rescue. Amen.