Bearing Witness to Truth, November 22, 2009

This holiday, this year, is different. In past Novembers we gathered to watch floats in a parade, this year we have difficulty knowing where to look as those without jobs, those in debt, those in trouble, those without food are with us. Thanksgiving's past, we gorged ourselves on turkey and pie, tables and chairs groaning under our weight. This week, there will be empty places, for those far from home, those at war, and those who's chairs will remain empty who are with God. Holidays gone by were filled with football games, yet with the Stock Market, Cash for Clunkers, Ponzy Schemes, and TARP monies we find ourselves tired of the games people play. We walk passed stores that put merchandise on sale before it has arrived. This holiday, we find ourselves feeling something we have not allowed ourselves to feel, appreciation for our lives, for blessings from God, simple thanksgiving to the one who has blessed us.

As much as some have interpreted the Book of Revelation as apocalyptic prophecy of the End of the World yet to come, the Revelation was written down in a time of persecution, at the Fall of the Empire of Rome. Difficult for us to imagine a time of persecution for what you believe! We know of genocides between warring nations, between races and tribes, these are in the News every morning and night. But persecution for what you believe, seems hard to fathom. We have believed in candidates only to be disillusioned. We have believed in a product and had it recalled. We have believed in tests and practices, that the next morning we were told we no longer need. When cultures shift and change, as they do, how do we know what to bear witness to as true?

The Enlightenment of the 17th, 18th, 19th and 20th Centuries, the Age of Reason, was a grand Scientific Experiment. For four hundred years we thought, we could prove, by objective scientific method the reality of basic truths, of natural order, thereby ruling out chaos. The Scientific Method we were taught followed from Geometry. That we can imagine Theories, and these can be tested by various Hypotheses. We operationalize the hypothesis, following rules of analysis, to gain results, which are to prove or disprove our hypothesis.

But in 1985, a group of researchers postulated a new Truth; no matter the experiment, when dealing with people, there always were a few spurious cases that do not fit the mold. We could prove 99.99% of the time, but still there was a margin for error. The researchers in 1985 stated that we thought we had been looking through a telescope only to discover it was a Kaleidoscope instead. Rather than being able to prove ABSOLUTE TRUTH by Scientific Method, all we could do was describe from our experience what we know to be true, then it is for the reader and listener to decide for themselves what fits with their circumstance, what we know from our sense of normal, our reality of life, to be TRUE.

Marriage is different for each of us. Home-ownership. Child-rearing. Family. Being a Citizen. We may go through exactly the same experience, but we will each respond differently, based on what we know from our life experience to be true. I was speaking with a specialist in Alzheimer's and Dementia recently, who described, when a person has a different reality you cannot convince them yours is right. If it is a practice that is dangerous, if they are using a knife backwards and upside down, if they wish to drive a car, these are places to intervene. But does it really cause harm for the ones we love to believe something different? So the question of Thanksgiving Dinner, do we need to correct our sister-in-law, if Grandma likes to set a spoon at the top of every place setting or place the glasses on the left instead of the right, does it matter?

Early this Spring, my Father died. I thought we had resolved everything that could be done. We sat by the bedside, we laughed and cried, and revisited old family stories. Family and friends from around the Nation gathered to honor his life and memory. Then about six weeks after he had died, a man contacted us claiming to be an illegitimate brother. He desired nothing, except to be acknowledged as TRUE. He wanted to know the family genealogy and to know our father. Personally, the pain of this, is that to acknowledge his claim, was to deny everything of integrity and relationship we had known to be true about the one we loved for a lifetime. In addition, while we could share the information of a genealogy, we could share stories about the one we loved, he could never experience that relationship.

Each of the Gospels have this poignant, powerful scene, in which Jesus is on trial before Pilate, the Roman Military Authority over all Judea; John's is especially meaningful for us because of the Trial's conversation and the reasoning that is recorded. The crowds have arrested and accused Jesus for crimes against the Empire, claiming to be a king. Pilate asks, and “Are you King of the Jews”, and Jesus responds “You have said so.” To which Pilate inquires, “So I am a Citizen of Rome, a Military Conquerer, representative of the Caesar, are you saying I am a Jew?” Reality however, it seems is defined by Language! Putting Jesus on Trial, Pilate, who is responsible for all Judea, must choose whether to identify himself with the people he governs or with the Empire of Rome. Would that instead of washing his hands of the matter, Pontius Pilate had claimed relationship with the people, and with this people of Faith! Is not that the question we all face, whether we identify ourselves with ideals, or the circumstances and problems around us, or whether we identify with a separate reality? Are we defined by what we have known to be TRUE, or can we help to reveal new relationships, new commitments by our being Faithful and True?

The beauty of The Revelation to John, is that God is identified as “the One who was, and is , and is to be”. God is not an absolute, but is known to each of us in our particular experience. While in Science, there is always the possibility of finding the exception to the rule; in over 2000 years God in Christ has met us in our need, responding to who we are, and been compassionate.

This Holiday is different. There will be new relatives and others missing. There will be new traditions along with the familiar. But my hope and prayer is that this will be an occasion for appreciation of what and who we are thankful for.