"ADVICE" A Sermon Preached in Duke University Chapel by The Rev. Dr. William H. Willimon Minister to the University and Professor of the Practice of Christian Ministry September 6, 1987 "Do not be conformed to this world... Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another.. be patient in tribulation, be constant in prayer.. practice hospitality. Bless those who persecute you;.. owe no one anything, except to love one another." <Romans 12:2, 9-20; 13:8-9> In Shakespeare's Hamlet, there is the scene where old Polonius, an aging, sentimental blowhard, gives advice to his son, Laertes. Laertes is preparing. to leave for France and old Polonius, knowing what sometimes happens to eighteen year olds in Paris, does what fathers do -- he offers advice. Most of his advice is rather innocuous. In those days, before dreaded social diseases, there wasn't really any important parental advice like, "Always remember what Surgeon General Koop says. " Despite its stupidity, Polonius speech to his son is a great favorite of Shakespeare lovers. My high school English teacher read it to us the last day of class our Senior Year. I even found it painted in six foot letters on the walls of the dinning hall at the University of Indiana for all the students to meditate upon as they chewed breakfast. People in Indiana ought to know that, as it turns out, Polonius advice, like a lot of advice fathers give their sons, is mostly hot air and doesn t bear much analysis: "Be thou familiar, but by no means vulgar. Give every man thy ear, but few thy voice;.. Neither a borrower nor a lender be; own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man." <Act I, Sc. III> What is that supposed to mean? "To thine own self be true? " Act like yourself? Most parents hope that's the last thing their sons or daughters will do when they leave home. They would rather they act as the parents wish they were. Laertes, like most eighteen year olds, politely stands on one foot and then the other while his old man prattles about, "Neither a borrower nor a lender be; to thine own self be true." After all, parental advice doesn't usually do harm as long as it's not taken seriously. Can you imagine some of the things your parents have told you printed in six foot letters across the wall of a university cafeteria? "PICK UP YOUR SOX OR YOU.LL NEVER GET MARRIED." No wonder that by the time most people reach college, they have become inoculated to advice. It s the self-protective mechanism of the young to preserve them from the onslaughts of the Polonius' of the world. What could I tell you Freshmen about college? Having seen 1
I ' Rodney Dangerfield's movie, you already know what college is going to be like. So why would I be stupid enough to stand up here and offer you advice? Well, you'd be surprised what I would be stupid enough to do. Generally my advice to people your age is, Don't listen to advice. I say that, not only because that is something with which you would agree, but also because questionable advice like, "Don't sweat Organic Chemistry," is always so much more appealing than really sound advice like, "Worry about everything." If you are skeptical of illy advice, perhaps you will take the advice of St. Paul. Here is today's lesson: Read Romans 12:2, 9-20; 13:8-9 It all sounds like something your mother might tell you, doesn't it? Here is St. Paul giving advice, a list of do's and dent's. And I suppose that this sort of thing is what most people think religion is all about. Don't do this. Don't do that. Polonius giving advice to Laertes; Paul advising the Church at Rome. Sure, for the first eleven chapters of Paul's Letter to the Romans, he speaks of the unmerited, utterly free, gracious love of God. "There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ" (8:1>. "God shows his love for us in that while we were yet sinners Christ died for us" (5:1). God's love is for the righteous and the unrighteous, Jew and Gentile because "God shows no partiality" (2:1). But at last, you say, Paul reveals his true colors. He's preached grace, acceptance, love, forgiveness long enough. Now's the time to get down to what he really wanted to tell us: Advice. A long list of do's and dont's. Enough of this grace business. If I preach Romans 1-11, I'll have your parents calling me tonight saying, "They come to church and you tell them of grace, acceptance, and love they're going to be running naked in the streetsl You're the preacher. You're supposed to tell them what to do to do right. It's the first Sunday of the year; they may not be back in the Chapel again for four years. You tell them what to do to do right. Tell them what Surgeon General Koop says." But in preparing my advice for you today, based upon Paul's advice to the Romans, I discovered something. My Bible has Paul tell them, "Let love be genuine; hate what is evil, hold fast to what is good; love one another, etc. etc." But that isn't what Paul said. In the Greek, the verb is in the indicative rather than the imperative. It's not, "Let love be genuine; hate this, hold to this, do that." It's, "Love is genuine. It hates evil, clings to what is good." The verb is indicative, not imperative. Despite the tone, Paul isn't saying, Do this. Don't do that. He is saying, Be this. For eleven chapters of this epistle Paul has used every means at his disposal -- argument, narrative, hymn, poem, reason, humor -- to tell the Romans that in Jesus Christ they are royalty. They are the first witnesses to a new age, the first citizens of a new kingdom. Then, at the 2
beginning of chapter twelve comes the little Greek word ~' therefore. Therefore~ be not conformed to this world <because you are of a new world>. Therefore, serve the Lord (because you have been served by the Lord>. Therefore, practice hospitality <because God has been hospitable to you, a stranger). Therefore, bless those you persecute you <because Jesus blessed you, even when you crucified him>. See what Paul is doing here? It's ethics. But not ethics like we usually do ethics. Here is an ethic based not upon moralizing lists of do's and dent's, the shrill, carping advice of the ethically presumptuous. Here is an ethic based upon who we really are and are meant to be. There are two ways to go at this matter of advice, you see. One way is for the mother to sit her daughter down and say, "Now, you're going off to college. Duke is a big, strange place, so you be careful. Don't you let me hear of you not doing your best. You must study hard, get the grades, hit the books." Do this, do that. Another way is for your mother to sit you down and tell you how proud she is of all that you are as a person of gifts, of sensitivity, and goodness. Be who you are. The parent stands at the door, bidding the son or daughter farewell and says, "Remember to act like somebody." My sister recalls, when she would leave home for some Saturday night adventure, our mother bidding her farewell with, "Remember, you are somebody." I think that, with our bumbling parental advice, that's really what we wanted to say to you, "You are somebody. Act like it." At least, I -know that's what Paul wanted to say to you. "Don't be conformed." You don't need to be. You are somebody. So many times we think of ethics as a matter of answering, What ought I to do? In the matter of abortion, or sexual behavior, cheating, or truthfulness, What ought I to do? But who does one answer that question without the prior question, Who am I and whom do I want to be? In Christian ethics, the indicative precedes the imperative. Who am I? comes before, What ought I to do? Love is genuine. It hates what is evil, holds fast to what is good, blesses those who persecute, repays no one evil for evil. You are God's beloved, therefore... I remember my brief stay at Fort Bragg, boot camp. Not one of the more uplifting experiences of my life, prejudiced me forever against the town of Fayetteville. You've seen "Heavy Metal Jacket," my experience was something like that. They dumped all of us college boys there on mid-june and tried to make soldiers out of us by the end of August. We were scared, trying to act big, wanting to fit the role, play the part. The first day was one of the worst with physicals, haircuts, our first meeting with our Sergeant. That night, when we at last were in bed and the yelling and the cursing had stopped and all was quiet, we heard, just a bunk or two beyond 3
I I - I ' my own, someone speaking quietly. It was this guy. I still remember his name, Sweat, that was his name, Sweat. He was from Tennessee. Ran track for them, I think. He was saying his prayers. Well, need I tell you how this display of piety was greeted by his barrack mates? There were hoots, cat-calls. "What the ---are you doing, Sweat?" they cried. "He wants his Mamal" others shouted. He didn't moved. He kept praying. When he finished, he got back in his bunk and went to sleep. Next night, after lights were out, there he was again. There were catcalls and comments again, but they were fewer. The next night, when Sweat said his prayers, only one person said anything and then very little. The night after, I heard someone else say "Amen," when Sweat finished. When bootcamp was over at the end of August, our platoon voted Sweat the best cadet. He really wasn't so good a soldier. But he was what we might have liked to be as people. Well, we wouldn't have gotten down there and joined him. We were too busy trying to be soldiers. It had nothing to do with any advice our parents tried to pass over on us. No parent needs to tell a son or daughter to try to fit in, to go with the program, do what everyone else is doing, conform. We don't need parents to tell us; we do it quite naturally. I don't know what difference piety like Sweat's makes in the world. I do know that he was to his own true self, true. Be who you are, says Paul; namely, those who are in Christ. Structure life, deal with others, as God has dealt with you. Parents can be so loose and free with advice because, on the whole, most of you don't listen anyway. But every then and now, you get some good advice and you listen, you believe. It's frightening because then the parent wonders, "Did I give good advice or was I just talking?" As a preacher I can tell you: As far as I am concerned, if there is one thing worse than people not listening to a preacher it's when they do listenl This summer a young man was telling me about his experiences with the church. He, like Sweat, grew up in Tennessee, in a little, country Baptist church in Tennessee. It was a fundamentalist church. They took their Bible straight. Believe it. Taught there children to believe it, take it at its word. They told him that Jonah was swallowed by a whale, and he believed it. In Sunday School he heard about Moses holding back the waters of the sea, and he believed it. He listened. Then, when he was eighteen, he got a letter telling him to register for the draft. He sat down and wrote a polite letter to his draft board saying that he couldn't do what President Carter had asked because you see, as a Christian, Jesus had told him to turn the other cheek, to not take up the sword, to be willing to die rather than to kill. He took that Bible advice seriously. Literally. And when his church found out about his letter, they kicked 4
I I ~ I him out, excommunicated him. "Where do you think I got this stuff?" he asked them. "You're the ones who made me memorize scripture. You told me that Jesus wanted me for a disciple. Did you not expect me to do what I was told? I really believed you." 5