Community Church Sermons

The Sixth Sunday After Pentecost – June 30, 2002

"Why Is The Torch Held So High?”

Jeremiah 28:1-9

 

I was deeply moved by last Sunday’s beautiful musical service presented by our fine choir. “Sweet Land of Liberty” was a fitting testimony to the gift of freedom entrusted to our care as Americans, and it was a touching tribute to those who have sacrificed their own well-being to the cause of liberty. Freedom isn’t free, and we saw evidence of that when those who have served in the various armed forces were invited to stand, and when we paid tribute to those who laid down their lives, and when we all joined together at the end singing, “The Battle Hymn of The Republic.” Did tears well up in your eyes and flow down your cheeks as they did mine?

 

It is a sacred gift – this liberty we share. Perhaps after the events of last September the 11^th we more deeply appreciate what it means to be stewards of God’s gift of liberty, and – for me – part of what that means is that we who are Christians most especially must renew our commitment to the divine nature of the gift. Liberty, you see, is not a political achievement. You can establish laws and set up governments that purport to provide liberty, but those things do not make people truly free. Even in a land like ours – the most advanced experiment in liberty in all the world – there are some who never get to fully assuage their thirst at the well of freedom.

 

Racial discrimination. Economic injustice. Corporate fraud. Handicap inaccessibility. Inadequate educational opportunity. Spousal and child abuse. There are countless formidable opponents to the ideals of liberty before you even get to things like global terrorism and the explosive situation in the Middle East. Oh, liberty cannot ever be legislated. True freedom is found ONLY in a living relationship with God – the Author of liberty.

 

You know, as we were enjoying the music last Sunday, I found myself looking at the front cover of the worship bulletin which, if you remember, had a collage of pictures. There was Mount Rushmore, and of course, the Statue of Liberty. And I found it sort of interesting that the image of the Statue of Liberty focused on its head with that beautiful crown, but also revealed Lady Liberty’s outstretched arm. It actually reached beyond the edges of the page, leaving me with the impression that there is something so very powerful and special about the torch being held so high. And that got me to wondering.

 

Why is the torch held so high?

 

I mean, the torch could have been held out in front of the statue, like a parent going ahead of their child to turn on the light as an assurance that there’s nothing to be afraid of out in the darkness.

 

But the torch is not held out in front.

 

Or, the torch could be held to the ground, as though igniting the fires of judgment against all that stands opposed to freedom. Most of us would not mind if folks like Osama bin Laden got in the way of a hot flame like that, would we?

 

But the torch is not positioned to execute a scorched earth policy against the enemies of freedom.

 

No, the torch is not held out, nor is it held down. The torch is held up. The torch is held high.

 

Why do you think the torch is held so high?

 

I’m not sure there’s a correct answer to that question, but I suspect we can get an inkling from the actual name given the statue by its creator, French-born sculptor Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi. Those who have visited Liberty Island to see the statue know that it’s official title is – what? Do you know?

 

“Liberty Enlightening The World.”

 

That’s why the torch is held so high. So that it can be seen not only in certain quarters and among certain groups of people in America, but in every nook and cranny, every hill and dale, every town and village, among every person here. And not only is the light of freedom for America, but for all the world. Liberty Enlightening The WORLD! Freedom is a gift not only for us, but for everyone!

 

I have a concern about America today, and more specifically for American Christians. For many of us, the only freedom that is important is MY freedom. So long as I am free, everything is well with the world. I was talking with a friend the other day about a person who came for help at the Good Samaritan Center. Young woman. Couple of kids. Different fathers. They used her. Abused her. They’re long gone now. She’s left to bear the responsibility.

 

In our conversation, we were talking about how easy it is to simply pass off this young woman and her children as people who should have known better, people who got what they deserved, people who made bad choices and now have to live with them, people who made their bed and now have to sleep in it. You know the things people think and say. And, of course, we so often say those things about the young women who have to own up to the reality of raising children this way, and have much less anger toward the young men who practice the freedom of sexual exploitation but not the responsibility of either marriage or parenting.

 

Those of us who are free of such burdens in our own lives find it so very easy to simply pass off people like this young woman, her children, and even the young men who fathered them. We have the freedom of our lives, but are not so concerned about the enslavement of theirs. We tend to think that they ought to pull themselves up by their own bootstraps just like we did.

 

For many of us, freedom is just an individual thing. It is not a torch held for ALL, but for ME.

 

But the ideal of American liberty is not for the one, but for the many. Why, the very poem inscribed at the base of the Statue of Liberty says that liberty is for those who are out-of-the-loop, for those who are out-on-the-fringes-of-life. Written by Emma Lazarus, the powerful poem is called “The New Colossus”, and this is what it says:

 

“Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,

 with conquering limbs astride from land to land;

 Here at our sea-washed sunset gates shall stand

 a mighty woman with a torch

 whose flame is imprisoned lightning,

 and her name is Mother of Exiles.

 

 From her beacon-hand glows

 worldwide welcome;

 her mild eyes command the air-bridged harbor

 that twin cities frame.

‘Keep ancient lands your storied pomp!’

 cries she with silent lips.

‘Give me your tired, your poor,

 Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,

 The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.

 Send these, the homeless, the tempest-tost to me,

 I lift my lamp beside the golden door!’”

 

A long, long time ago, the people of Israel were suffering in exile in Babylon. A certain prophet by the name of Hananiah said he had a word from the Lord, and the word was freedom. The prophet proclaimed that God would overthrow King Nebuchadnezzar, and destroy the enemies of the people. They would return to Judah with all their riches, and they – at last – would be free!

 

And all the people cheered. Freedom now! Freedom now!

 

But then stood up the prophet Jeremiah. He said Hananiah was not telling the truth – that Hananiah was a false prophet. It’s easy to talk about peace and prosperity for ourselves, and ignore the suffering of others. The true peace of God, Jeremiah declared, is when peace truly comes, not just to some, but to all.

 

Why is the torch held so high?

 

Perhaps it is to call us higher – to a vision for the world that represents liberty for ALL. And to call each of us as individuals to figure out how our own lives can be used to lift up the lives of people like that young woman, and her children, and even the young men who loved her and left. Perhaps it is a call to look higher and to become so very imaginative to discover ways to bring liberty to ALL!

 

I was blessed this week to be able to spend some time watching the young golfers of the Buy.Com Tour playing in the Knoxville Open. I thought I’d go up there to Fox Den Country Club and give these budding professionals some tips on the game of golf. Unfortunately, they didn’t ask me for any, so I just kept my mouth shut, and followed a foursome or two around. One of the golfers I really liked is a 21-year old Australian by the name of Aaron Baddeley. I especially liked him when I learned he was born in Lebanon, NH. How he got to Australia, I don’t know, but what I do know is that – at 21 – he’s a terrific golfer. On one hole, this fellow hit a 320-yard drive. Unfortunately, he pulled it a little left, and the ball ended up in the rough almost directly below a couple of tall trees. It was too close to the trees to be able to shoot over them, and even if he managed to clear the tree tops, the trajectory would be so steep, the ball would not reach the green – about 130 yards away. There was trouble in every direction. He could hit the ball to the right, but then it would take another shot to the green. To the left was out of bounds, so that was out. He might hit the ball under the trees, but it would surely catch the sand trap just in front of the green.

 

What would he do? I thought for a moment that he was going to ask my advice, and I was all ready to give it to him: Next time, DON’T HIT A 320 YARD DRIVE….SHOW-OFF! But he didn’t. Instead, he went to his bag, looked around for a second, and pulled out a wedge. Then he went to the ball and lined up to hit it. He was not aiming left. He was not aiming right. He was not aiming under the trees.

 

No, he was looking…up! Several of us groupies looked at each other in dismay. Impossible, we thought! But Aaron Baddely took an easy back swing and contacted the ball. And up…up…up it flew…

 

You see, of all of us out there, he was the only one who spotted a little opening at the very top of those trees. Just enough to hit a ball through. And up…up…up went the ball…through that tiny space in the tree tops, cutting a bit to the right, flying over the fairway…and over the trap…and onto the green…about three feet from the hole.

 

They say the best players are those who have great imaginations, who can figure out shots that others can’t.

 

The same is true of the Christian faith. We are called to look higher than others look. To imagine ways to bring Christ’s love, Christ’s healing, Christ’s peace, and Christ’s freedom not just to us, but to others, and not just to some, but to everyone.

 

Why is the torch held so high?

 

So that you and I will never lose sight of the fact that the Author of Liberty wants to save the world. And to do it, He needs people like you and me who are willing to not settle for looking left, or looking right, or looking under the trees. But who dare to look up, and find imaginative new ways to bring Christ to the world.

 

Friends, may you go this week into this land of the free and home of the brave…into this one nation under God…into this land of liberty and justice for all…and look as high as the torch is held! May God give you a passion not for the found but for the lost, not for the few but for the many. And may the Holy Spirit fill you with creative imagination and power to bring Liberty to the world!