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By John T. Crestwell, Jr.
July 10, 2005
The title this morning for the
message is “Where there is no vision”. This is a very common saying
in certain circles. It comes from the book of Proverbs in the Bible.
Proverbs 29:18 reads: “Where there is no vision, the people perish…”
Another version reads, “Where there is no prophecy, the people cast
off restraint…”
These sayings are traditionally attributed to King Solomon, but
based on the structure of the book Proverbs, and the common sayings
that are in it, many scholars believe it was completed many hundred
years after Solomon. They conclude that the book was written around
the 6th century BCE at a time when ancient Israelite culture was
establishing itself morally and many lessons were being taught by
sages who hoped to show the people how to live on a day-to-day
basis. Little did they know that this very ancient saying, said in
a particular time for a particular people, would have universal and
timeless impact.
I think many people miss the message of the saying because they stop
at where it says, “…the people perish” or “…the people cast off
restraint.” The fact of the matter is there is more in the passage
that you never hear about… All of Proverbs 29:18 reads, “Where there
is no vision, the people perish: but those that keep the law, happy
are they.” And the other version says it a bit different but it’s
the same idea… “Where there is no prophecy, the people cast off
restraint; but happy are those who keep the law.”
So you see that changes the entire interpretation… Now I’ve got to
go back and see why the writer would say on one hand that you need
vision and right away on the other hand say BUT “happy are those who
keep the law”. You see, how can I have a vision, how can I have
something that moves me beyond myself, that asks me and others to
change, that moves me out of my comfort zone—something that takes me
to places I never thought I’d go—how can I have a vision that makes
me miserable until I achieve it, and yet on the other hand follow
the established pattern to be happy? My vision sometimes forces me
to speak truth to power, forces me sometimes to bend the law toward
justice, forces me to change the law—overthrow it sometimes to move
the vision or the prophecy forward!
Scholars say this contradictory passage developed during a time when
the ancient Israelites were making adjustments to their moral code
as I alluded to a moment ago; a code that at one time leaned heavily
on the prophetic order, but now had leaned more toward the judicial
and legislative order. On one hand, they knew the power prophecy
played in their culture’s evolution and development, but also
understood that the organizing forces of law needed to be
implemented as well. Where would the world be without the visionary
and organizer? The visionary is the risk taker, the one that calls
society to look at itself? Where would we be without those who
envision great things in their mind and work toward creating them?
As I’ve said before, look all around you everywhere and you see the
power of the vision, the power of the mind at work. People
thinking—things becoming… A vision can move mountains! Likewise,
where would we be without the organizers, the one’s who do those
precise calculations, the people who make sure the I’s are dotted
and the T’s are crossed. These are the folk who, like the
Israelites, make sure the vision is made real; they make sure the
job gets finished. Yes, where would we be without the organizers who
take the vision and make it into something that is tangible and not
so abstract?
So you see, when you look at this passage in Proverbs, the saying
may appear to be a contradiction but it is much deeper than that. It
shows us that the reader understood the need for both and that is
real to life for us today—we need visionaries and organizers, and
indeed this is a part of the evolutionary process of life that there
are times to grow and times to organize and times to do both (grow &
organize) but there is never a time to do neither. That is when you
are dead.
You can see then that this passage speaks to us as individuals and
it also speaks to us as a church—as a living organism.
For you, the individual, it says that YOU need to have, within your
person, both a vision and plan to move your life forward… See, the
first part of the passage tells us what we know—people do cast of
restraint or perish without a vision. Casting off restraint says you
live carelessly, haphazardly. You know, it’s all about you and no
one else’s feelings matter. The law doesn’t matter, nothing
matters…. “Perish” in this passage is saying that you fall out of
line with your culture, which, back then, meant you could die
because the protective walls of the tribe would not be there if you
chose that path... This becomes metaphorical for me today. If I
don’t have a purpose for my life, if I don’t know why I exist, I run
the risk of losing myself, psychologically (mentally). Losing
myself—I don’t care to help, I don’t care to do anything
significant, I don’t care about the problems of others—I JUST DON’T
CARE! I just want to eat, sleep and die---because my life does not
have meaning, I don’t care about anybody else’s life! THIS PERSON
HAS LOST THEIR UNDERSTANDING OF WHAT IT MEANS TO BE ALIVE—HUMAN—to
be a part of the human organism. In essence, their mind has
perished… It’s happening all over the place today!
I heard it said once, “There is no such thing as lazy people only
uninspired people.” Isn’t that true! What inspires you? What gets
you going? What makes you feel alive? If you don’t know that means
you don’t have a vision for your life; you don’t have a message for
your soul! And you know--this vision thing is not just for the
young. There is a purpose for you no matter your age or station in
life!
Your vision of what you want with and out of life is what makes you
live; it keeps you alive; it gives you vitality. My first challenge
to you this morning is to discover or rediscover the vision and
purpose that is within you. Don’t be the musician who died with his
music still inside. George Bernard Shaw said it well, “You see
things and say ‘Why?’ But I dream things that never were and I say
“Why not?” George Eliot said once: “It seems to me we can never give
up longing and wishing while we are alive. There are certain things
we feel to be beautiful and good, and we must hunger for them.”
Yes, we need a vision and purpose for our individual lives… But the
passage also says that without a plan, you are just fantasizing. You
need to organize your thoughts into a systematic action plan that
will catapult that vision to a loftier reality… You see the plan,
the organizing, the structure to get you to your dream is as vital
as the dream. You need them both to manifest your greatness in life
but the problem is that many cannot see what they want and therefore
the plan never materializes.
This sermon would not do us justice if it does not speak to us as a
community… What does the passage in Proverbs say to us? It says that
a church without a vision could perish and that a church without
organization and discipline could perish…
What is the vision of the church? The vision of the church calls us
to look within and to be the best people we can possibly be. The
church asks us to love the unlovable, to forgive those who wrong us,
to share with those unlike us, to be open to change and open to
grow; to create an environment of mutuality and reciprocity. But
also, the church asks that we spend time with each other, that we
learn from one another and that we have lots and lots of fun & we
eat a lot of good food! Amen.
On the other side, we have to pay the bills. We have to provide
programming for members, we have to plan motivational services—I
hope I am not boring you… The organizers make sure the ministers and
staff gets paid. That gets 2 AMEN’S!! They make sure the ministers
are not making stuff up, that we follow the laws of congregational
polity. Well.... There are many, many organizers of the law here at
Davies Church…
But you have to understand something, just as there is a conflict in
the passage in Proverbs, there is a conflict between the visionaries
and organizers. It has been this way for a long time and will
probably always be this way! You see, the one pushes the envelope,
while the other just wants that enveloped sealed, stamped and
mailed!
My second point is that we respect both the visionary and the
organizer as both are equally important. More than that, we must
come to see that we are all moving together—that without the vision
or prophecy the people perish and without the law the people are not
happy. Both are needed.
But there is more… We here have embarked upon a growth plan. As a
whole we have said, “GO!” We cannot stop now. The expectation-- the
bar has been raised. The vision has been cast; the organizers have
made it make sense. The two have been working together as one to
make our vision of becoming a more diverse congregation real! We
have shopped and marketed our plan and talked to many folk.
Hundreds know about what we’re doing. We have probably more funds
coming from the denomination; we have the first African American
President of our faith coming to our church September 25th and this
is the same man who talked about our church before over 1,000
ministers and Religious Educators at General Assembly. We’re on the
move now! Our little dream of reaching out to the African American
community & to spread the UU message has become the hope of this
religion. We cannot stop now! We have to go forward! I challenge
you today—we cannot go backwards. What do I mean when I say we
cannot go backwards?
Rich Devos wrote a book that slips my mind, but he talked about the
different stages of development for churches and businesses. He saw
them as quite the same… He said that most human organisms that have
structure start out in the growth phase. The concern is finding
members and spreading the message. He said the group will naturally
go into the organizing phase when they realize the members need more
structure. He said, where most businesses and churches fail is once
they go into the organizing stage, they forget about the vision,
they forget about the purpose and they stop growing and they go into
a third stage Devos called, “fighting over the spoils”. As if all
that could be had and organized is right there and there’s nothing
more to create; as if there is no more to create in this grand
universe of change and opportunity, we fight over the leftovers,
metaphorically speaking, and forget, as Devos said to GO BACK TO THE
GROWTH STAGE. I contend that his stages should not be
compartmentalized. There should not be any stages really. There
should be only one stage—growth and organization moving together in
a beautiful and harmonious dance!
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