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Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Home Page
The Rector's Welcome
Worship
Sermons
Music & the Organ
Newsletter
Schedule & Events
History
Programs & Ministries
Tour the Building
Links
Map & Directions
Monthly Calendar
Fr. J. D. Ousley
28 September 2008“Turnaround Time”
In the Name of God: Creator, Redeemer, and Sanctifier. Amen.
In the course of the crisis on Wall Street a number of banks and financial institutions have been taken over by the government or merged with other banks.
In the cases where the corporations weren't going out of business entirely, the takeovers and mergers were intended to make the companies profitable again.
Managers brought in in such situations are called, "turnaround specialists." After these experts are put in charge of the companies, they endeavor to cut expenses; they end wasteful practices; and they adopt new strategies to help the failed corporations.
Now, the first son in the Parable of the Two Sons doesn't need any outside help to get his act together; he is able to turn himself around.
Although he initially responds to his father's request to go to work in the family vineyard with a blunt refusal — "I will not" — he later changes his mind. He abandons his negative attitude and decides to get on with his job.
By contrast, the second son in the parable promises his father that he will go to work. This is a noble aim: pleasing his parent. But, then, the man doesn't bother to keep his promise.
The second son may have had the best intentions in the world — like those bank presidents who assured their stockholders that they had enough capital to ride out any crisis. But whatever his noble desires, the son fails to do his job.
St. Matthew interprets Christ's parable by seeing the different responses of the two sons as reflecting conflict between — on the one hand — reformers who followed John the Baptist and on the other hand supposedly pious people who scorned the Baptist's teaching. The orthodox believers were claiming to follow God's will, but really weren't.
Yet it is the basic original meaning of Christ's parable that has greater relevance today.
For whether or not we are militant reformers of religion or staunch orthodox, we have all said we were going to do something and then not done it.
In professional life, we have been in situations where we have preached a noble principle like "see this project through to its conclusion" — and then we haven't followed the principle. We haven't finished the job. In our personal life, we have claimed that we want to help our friends who are struggling with problems, and then we have done nothing for them. Like the second son in the parable, we have talked the talk instead of walking the walk.
Christ's parable suggests that in order to break the pattern of passivity, we have to make a decision to act.
Such decisions to act were put off in the case of these failed financial institutions. Journalists such as our fellow parishioner, Gretchen Morgenson of the New York Times for months wrote columns about how some of these institutions were being run by greedy managers who were intent not on profit but on enriching themselves.
Granted, when financial disaster became a possibility, these CEO's admitted that they needed to turn around their operations. But they never did.
Even now, the future of the companies that have been taken over and preserved intact is by no means certain. For the most skillful turnaround specialists can only be successful if the corporations themselves are willing to change what is called, their "corporate culture." If the employees can only function in a climate of high living and extreme risk, the long-term results likely won't be good.
Spiritual turnaround can be just as difficult. In Manhattan church life, for example, one often encounters spiritual seekers.
These folks claim to be looking for deeper purpose in their lives. Consequently, they wonder if Christianity is a way to find meaning for their existence.
Yet ironically in many cases, the seekers never actually try Christianity. They don't study church teachings in any systematic way; they don't set aside time to pray; they don't make serious efforts to become close to Christian communities. The seekers talk about making a "spiritual journey," but they don't even take the first step.
As a result, while the seekers think that Christianity is not an answer for them, they really don't know what they're missing. They can't know whether the Christian path is for them because they haven't tried it. With no will to change, there is no way to change.
The irony is that, as Jesus says, all it takes is one step. The young man decided to walk out into the vineyard and move his life forward.
And this is an important truth for those of us who have already attached ourselves to Christianity but don't feel that we are getting the most out of our religion. We are reminded that we don't require the equivalent of an MBA in spiritual management to extricate ourselves from the religious doldrums. We just need to make that first effort.
Here's an example of how the principle illustrated by Christ's parable might be put into practice. Writers sometimes encounter a problem that is known as "writer's block."
When writers feel blocked, they have a time-honored prescription that they can follow. If they are stymied and they can't think what to say, they simply write whatever comes into their heads.
One time when I was suffering from this problem, a novelist friend of mine advised me to "Write bad!" He meant that I should put down any thought that came into my head even if I was pretty sure I would discard it later. Some kind of activity is better than sitting and staring at a blank computer screen.
This crucial need to take the first step may remind us of a more general biblical principle. As the Lord says, in the magnificent verse from the First Lesson, "I have no pleasure in the death of anyone, says the Lord GOD. Turn, then, and live."
"Turn, then, and live." To find a productive, satisfying life, we must separate ourselves from whatever is holding us back, and we have to trust the Spirit of God to help us to go forward.
Of course, going forward and choosing life in this sense is not simply a matter of being active. A person's life can be filled with lots of activity and still be frozen in a path that is going nowhere.
After all, the banks that recently failed had been very busy businesses! Their salesmen had been running around signing up people for new mortgages; the bank presidents had been traveling coast-to-coast bragging about the banks' success.
The problem was that the banks were in denial about where they were headed — all this busy-ness masked the reality of overpriced houses and homebuyers who couldn't afford them.
Like the second son in Christ's parable, they were only talking a good game, living on borrowed time.
It's easy to see how things could have been managed better: smaller mortgages that homeowners could have afforded, discouragement of amateur speculators.
Sound financial management is just common sense. In the same way, following sound Christian principles also makes good sense.
In order to turn around our spiritual values, we need to see where we are just paying lip service to values like self-sacrifice. We have to recognize the areas of our lives where we talk a good game of Christian discipleship instead of actually living it.
And we need to ask ourselves honestly how would our work be more valuable, how would our relationships be deeper and happier, how would our lives turn around if we put the principles of our faith to work?
And now unto that same God Father, Son, and Holy Spirit be ascribed as is most justly due all might, majesty, power, dominion and praise, now and forever, Amen.