Father John E. McGinn, Rector

Saint John’s Episcopal Church 

Sandwich, Massachusetts

Pentecost 11       August 20, 2006

 

 

A fifty-five year old man I read about was arrested in Buffalo, NY some time back for stealing a $270.00 case of liquor.  He would have gotten away, except that as he ran away he dropped his ill-gotten goods and shattered all the bottles.  He still would not have gotten caught except that after leaving the scene he returned with a straw to suck up the pool of booze.  He was still on his knees when a police officer showed up.  He tried to escape, but was caught and arrested.  Obviously he is not the smartest candle on the cake.

 

Saint Paul writes in today’s epistle, that Michael just read, “Be very careful how you live.  Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery.”

 

“Do not get drunk on wine.”  There is some good practical advice.  Marion and I have a friend, who has been a friend for a number of years, and one of the most difficult things is that when she is not drinking she is a wonderful person to be with.  But when she drinks, it affects her mood; it affects her ability to communicate.  And as all of us know, who deal with people who drink too much, alcoholics, it is very difficult on family and friends.

 

You may have seen a list of fictitious warnings that the FDA is considering for the labels on beer and alcohol bottles.  Now remember, these are fictitious.

 

Warning: Consumption of an alcoholic beverage is a major factor in dancing like an idiot.

Warning: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to tell the same boring story     over and over again until your friends want to smash your head in.

Warning: Consumption of alcohol may cause you to chay sings like tis.

 

It may be that the most taboo subject in any home today is that of alcohol abuse.  Many of us remember the overzealousness of earlier clergy influenced by the prohibition movement.  And we fear that we may turn people off if we use the same tactics today.  We have to be real and understand that alcoholism id one of the most difficult problems facing America today.  Yet a recent study by the Nation Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism reported the following grim statistic:

Each year 1400 college students between the ages of 18 and 24 die from alcohol related injuries.

Each year 500,000 students are accidentally injured while under the influence of alcohol.

Each year more than 70,000 students are sexually assaulted or date raped by people who have been drinking.

Each year 2.1 million students drive a vehicle under the influence of alcohol.

Each year more than 150,000 students report a health problem related to alcohol.

 

“The consequences of excessive drinking are far too common on many college campuses nationwide,” reports one expert.  “And efforts to reduce high risk drinking and its related problems have largely failed in the United States.”

 

About 40 percent of students binge drink.  Now binge drinking is defined as ‘consuming at least five drinks in a row for men and at least four in a row for women.’  About 20 percent of students say they have binged more than three times in the last two weeks.

 

Now that sounds like a pretty significant problem to me.

 

This is only talking about college students, not to mention those in high school and even younger.  This doesn’t mention the adult population which it is estimated that ten percent of the American adult population is addicted to alcohol. 

 

Saint Paul’s warning about drunkenness is a part of a broad teaching on smart living.  I want you to listen again to Saint Paul’s words.

“Be very careful how you live.  Not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is.  Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery.”

Now Saint Paul is saying to us first of all, use your head.  Don’t do anything stupid.  That is good advice regardless of age, whether we are a student or not.

 

Doctor Shirley Cross is always telling me that we should go back to reading the King James version of the bible, because she said it really gets at things better than our New Revised Standard version.  That is still debatable, but I love to hear Shirley recite different passages.  This morning I want to read from the King James version the opening verse from today’s epistle.

            “Seek that ye walk circumspectly. Not as fools, but as wise”

 

  There is a time when all of us need to walk circumspectly.  It simply makes sense.  The world we live in is full of dangers, and if we are not careful, we can embarrass ourselves and our family.  Even more important we can bring pain to others as well as to ourselves.  That not only applies to what we drink, but also how we conduct business in all of life.  Saint Paul is writing to us as a good friend who says to us ‘Use your head and don’t put yourself in a situation that you will later regret.  It happens.  We put ourselves in a situation that later we would give anything to have not happened.  Some of you know what I am talking about.  My guess is that there are some parents in church today that in looking back at their children when they were small with regret.  All I can say to these parents is “Use your head.”   Think about your priorities before it is too late.  I understand that you are under a lot of pressure, but someday you will realize how quickly the years get away from us. 

 

Is there any age in life, any circumstance in life when Paul’s words would be inappropriate?

“Be very careful how you live. Not as unwise, but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the day are evil.  Therefore do not be foolish, but understand what God’s will is.  Do not get drunk on wine which leads to debauchery; instead be filled with the spirit.” To notice those last five words

I want you to notice those last five words.  “Be filled with the spirit.”  Paul has told us to use our heads, and now Paul is telling us to open our hearts.  Open our hearts to God’s Holy Spirit.  The truth of the matter is it doesn’t help us much to tell us to use our heads most of us know what we ought to do.  We know the smart and wise thing and yet we continue to choose the hurtful and destructive thing.  The problem is not with our heads, but with our hearts.  We relate to Paul in that famous passage from Romans: 7 and I want to read that to you this morning.

 

“For I have the desire to do what is good, but I can not carry it out.  But what I do is not the good I want to do, though the evil I do not want to do, this I keep on doing.  I delight in God’s law, but I see another law at work in the members of my body waging war against the law of my mind and making me a prisoner of the law of sin.  What a wretched person I am.  Who will rescue me from the body of death?”

 

We have all been there.  We’ve all willed one thing, but done something else.   No intelligent person would willingly destroy his or her own body.  No one consciously tries to bring pain to his or her own spouse, or child, or friend.  None of us would deliberately go out and hurt a fellow human being, not deliberately.  But the problem is that we do not deliberate.  We do not look where our actions may lead us.  We do not think through the consequences of our behavior.  Now a brain transplant might help, but since that is not medically possible, we need to apply for a new heart.  Not a physical heart, but a spiritual heart.  A heart that has been invaded by the spirit of God.  A heart that is motivated to seek after God.

 

Because most of us have been brought up in the church, we may not realize that there is more to faith then simply going through our normal religious routines.  Jesus has promised us a comforter, and encourager, someone who will fill us with new excitement in our lives so that we may more easily translate our good intentions into positive action.

Saint Paul tells us to use our head and to open our hearts to God’s Spirit so that we will have power for the living of our lives.

 

Finally, Saint Paul says “Give thanks to God.” Paul writes, “Speak to one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, sing and make music in your heart to God, always giving thanks to God for everything in the name of our Lord.”

 

Recently I read a story about a Cuban Christian by the name of Robert Matos.  Now Robert was a Christian teacher and journalist during the time of Castro’s takeover.  In 1959, he and many others were imprisoned for the stand that they took as Christian people.  And the last thing that was smuggled out of prison for his wife and children, Robert wrote this “I know that I will die in prison.  I am sad that I will not see you again, but I am at peace.”  Then Robert added these beautiful words: “They have swords, but we have songs.” 

 

I think that is just a magnificent testimony.  Truly this Christian saint had a grateful heart.  “They have swords, but we have songs.” That sums it up, doesn’t it?  Use your head.  Do the smart thing for yourself and others, but also open your hearts.  It is the spirit of God that gives us the power to live up to our good intentions.  Give thanks to God for all things, and lift up your heads, and lift up your hearts and sing God’s praise.  AMEN

 

 

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