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WHERE THERE IS NO VISION…
by Rev. John T. Crestwell, Jr.

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!

A church without a vision and mission cannot grow spiritually or externally and a church without order will grow but it will lose every bit of its momentum without some structure.  So again, you need both...  But, whether you are a visionary or organizer, whether you be prophecy or law, we all should want TO BE OF USE (as the responsive reading reminds us).  I don’t know about you, but “I want to be with people who want to submerge in a task that builds on the common good.  I don’t want to be with the parlor generals and field deserters but I want to be with people who move in a common rhythm when the food must come in or the fire be put out!”  People who want to stand up to the challenges of the day.  I want to be with folk who want to be a part of authentic ministry that has a mission & a covenant which has impact socially, political and spiritually. I want to be of use because I understand that my life and commitment to this church is about more than just me; it is about being a voice in the community for those who have been alienated by their religion and bad relationships.  It is about finding people who need what only we can offer them!

I want you to know something today…  As much as I love this church, you are special people, I would leave here expeditiously if I knew that we were not going forward, but rather fighting over crumbs.  Our namesake, A. Powell Davies, did not fight over crumbs.  He baked cakes!  Davies Church, you are not just the hope of the denomination but you are Americas hope.  You see, our religion claims to be the most open, liberal, compassionate, understanding faith that is open to ALL people.  We try but the truth is our faith as a whole does not manifest its greatness, it is not a shining example of true diverse religion.  With all of our great minds and ideas and committees and social justice groups, as a religion, we are not the place where, as Paula Cole Jones said, “we can talk about race and it has no power!”  Race matters in the UUA still!  And I’m sorely afraid the UUA will be a joke to the world because it does not walk its walk and talk the talk.     As a religion we’ve got to stop talking so much and start doing more.  We’ve got to move beyond our “paralysis from analysis.”  Davies, you are my and many peoples hope as a model congregation for this denomination.  The UUA needs a diversity plan and are hoping and praying ours is successful. WE ARE WALKING THE WALK AND TALKING THE TALK and I know things can be stressful at times but the thing we cannot do is we must never fight over crumbs.  We must bake cakes as A. Powell Davies did!  What I mean is that the organizing must be centered in and around the vision  and not the other way around.  The two must work together but our dream, our vision is what creates the growth and diversity and from that we organize dynamic systems and programs to make what we have even better.  Remember that…

Langston Hughes was right.  We must hold on to the dream the vision the prophetic imagination…  Hear his words again as I close:

Hold fast to dreams
for if dreams die
life is a broken-winged bird
that cannot fly.
Hold fast to dreams
for when the dreams go
life is a barren field
frozen with snow.

 -Langston Hughes

Amen.

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