IT’S ALL ABOUT THE JOURNEY

 

A sermon by the Rev. Dr. James G. Kirk

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

 

February 23, 2003

 

Text: “Run in such a way that you may win it.” (1 Cor. 9:24)

 

First Reading: 2 Kings 5:1-14

Second Reading: Mark 1: 40-45

 

            Having graduated from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, I have more than just a passing interest in the fact that this year marks the beginning of the 200th anniversary of their journey westward.  Called the Corps of Discovery the Lewis and Clark Expedition marks the beginning of the enlightenment in America and their journal has produced one of the most fascinating and largest collections of manuscript material by American authors on a single subject to that time.

 

            Clay Jenkinson, a humanities scholar in residence at Lewis and Clark College, gives some reasons why he’s excited about this bicentennial celebration.  Those reasons coincide with why I think the Lewis and Clark Expedition has relevance for what Paul’s describing in his Corinthian correspondence.  The first reason is the journal material itself.  Meriwether Lewis was the most interesting writer of the expedition and in a birthday meditation on his 31st birthday he pours out his soul, in a way similar to what many of us have thought at one time or another.

 

            “This day I completed my thirty first year, and conceived that I had in all human probability now existed about half the period which I am to remain in this Sublunary world.  I reflected that I had as yet done but little, very little, indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation.  I viewed with regret the many hours I have spent in indolence, and now soarly feel the want of that information which those hours would have given me had they been judiciously expended.  But since they are past and cannot be recalled, I dash from me the gloomy thought, and resolved in future, to redouble my exertions and at least endeavour to promote those two primary objects of human existence, (that is to further the happiness of the human race, and advance the information of the succeeding generations) by giving them the aid of that portion of talents which nature and fortune have bestowed on me: or in future, to live for mankind, as I have heretofore lived for myself.” (Lewis and Clark College Chronicle, Winter, 2003. Page 20)

 

            Listen to Paul!  “Do you not know that in a race the runners all compete; but only one receives the prize?”  Have we not ourselves in retrospection at some time or other thought that we have done but little, very little, indeed, to further the happiness of the human race, or to advance the information of the succeeding generation.  And have we not also thought that we have spent many hours in indolence and if we could but have that time back we would make sure we spent our time more wisely.

 

            Then again, the Lewis and Clark Expedition was perhaps the first multicultural endeavor in this country.  Their party included Clark’s slave York, a strong African-American who may have been legally and socially powerless back in Kentucky but who in the American wilderness turned out to be one of the greatest assets of the expedition.  And there was Sacagawea, a Shoshone-Hidatsa Indian woman, 17 years old, a teenaged mother with an infant child on her back.  There were Virginia army officers and plantation owners and raw Kentucky frontiersmen, members of the gentry and working class boys, the German speaking John Potts, a blacksmith and a tailor, a sign language interpreter and a salt manufacturer, Catholics and Scotch Protestants and deists like President Jefferson.  Every cultural group of North America was represented except white women.  It reminds you of Paul’s description of the church as the body of Christ.  All parts of the body need to function for the well being of the whole, and when one part suffers the whole body suffers.

 

            It was not only the diversity of the people who made the journey; it was also the diversity of the people they met along the way.  In the course of their journey Lewis and Clark explored, learned about, and socialized with the Mandan, Hidatsa, Shoshone, Sioux, Arikara, Nez Perce, Walla Walla, Yakima, Clatsop, Chinook, Flathead, Blackfeet, Assiniboine, Cree, Oto, and Missouri Indian tribes.  Each encounter, just as each encounter along our journey of faith, would have its moments of sheer elation as well as times of paralyzing fear.  One account tells how they had expected the Rocky Mountains to be about the height of the Appalachians; and moreover they had somehow talked themselves into believing that the Rockies would be a single dividing range of mountains.  They could not have anticipated the jumble of the Rocky Mountains, their sharpness, their mass, what Meriwether Lewis called their “eternal snows,” and not just one elegant ridge, but range upon range as far as the eye could see.

 

            Or, what the advice Paul gives us, how “we are to run the race in such a way that we may win it.”  What did Jefferson instruct young Meriwether Lewis to do as he left the safety of the White House and embarked on a journey into the heart of the country?  Here’s what he probably said to him.  “Take good notes and lots of them.  Write home as often as possible.  Treat everyone you meet with as much respect as they deserve, and maybe a little bit more.   Study languages.   Learn everything you possible can about other cultures, other economies, other religions, other ways of organizing life.  Study the humanities but give special attention to the hard sciences.  Back up your hard drive from time to time.  Take risks, of course take risks, but don’t take unnecessary risks that would jeopardize the great investment I am making in you.  If things go badly wrong, you can always come home at any time.

 

            “And finally, good patron that he was, Jefferson gave Meriwether Lewis a universal letter of credit that he could use anywhere on earth at any time to purchase anything he might need, and the bill would be sent to the United States government for immediate payment.  Jefferson gave this credit card with no dollar limit to Meriwether Lewis but of course, like all good parents, he warned him never to use it unless he absolutely positively had to.  And, of course, Meriwether Lewis, like all good children, took this advice seriously but made a few creative adjustments along the way. (Ibid. page 21)

 

            And so, what we have from Paul is some good parental advice on how to get the most out of the journey of faith.  Run the race in such a way that you will have a chance at succeeding in what you set out to do.  Don’t get discouraged when adversity happens or things don’t go your way.  Keep the faith and above all the discipline that goes along with any adventure.  Keep your eyes on the goal to which you seek to strive and each step along the way will get you further than you were before.

 

            I hope you will avail yourselves of any opportunity that may come along to learn more about the Lewis and Clark Expedition.  It’s a good metaphor for how we’re to journey in faithfulness to Jesus Christ.  Such faith is, of course, all about the journey, since we already know what the prize is, nothing less than eternal life.

 

Thanks be to God,

Amen