IT’S TURTLE TIME

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

Harundale Presbyterian Church

Glen Burnie, Maryland

October 14, 2001

Text: "to all the exiles." Jeremiah 29:4

First Reading: 2 Timothy 2:8-15

Second Reading: Luke 17:11-19

The turtle is my favorite animal in all of God’s creation. It’s also in my opinion the most theologically correct. Paul tells us in his letter to the Ephesians to put on the whole armor of God. The turtle took seriously what Paul writes. Paul also writes about God’s righteousness. I’ve mentioned before how God sent Jesus Christ to right-wise us. We now live aright in Christ. One of the turtle’s biggest threats is to be put on its back. It cannot right itself. Someone has to come and turn it over. That’s what God has done for us. God has turned us over and given us the opportunity to continue on our journey of faith in Christ.

The turtle not only puts on the whole armor of God and is able to live the right-wised life; it’s also the primary example of how to travel lightly. All the turtle has is right there on its back. It’s home is where it happens to be a any given moment. And here is where we connect with Jeremiah’s lesson for us today. The people of Israel have been sent out of Jerusalem and taken captive to Babylon. While Jeremiah elsewhere laments their condition and calls them to adhere to their belief in God, today Jeremiah has more practical things on his mind.

Again, according to Jeremiah, it’s turtle time. It’s time for the Israelites to accustom themselves to life in Babylon. That’s where they’re going to be. It’s best they get on with living. Jeremiah tells them to take care of themselves as they would normally, fall in love, marry, have children and care for the places in which they dwell, because ultimately those places where they dwell will take care of them.

Two things about this text become immediately apparent to the reader. The first is how God’s graciousness and God’s Holy Spirit work together to speak to our needs at any given moment. This particular reading was assigned for this Sunday years ago. It was chosen by a group of liturgical experts probably sitting in a room in some airport hotel who gathered together to choose what texts would be read on any given Sunday throughout the year. God in all of God’s grace and goodness through the guidance of the Holy Spirit happened to let our ears hear Jeremiah’s words this morning when we need them most.

The second thing about this text is how it gives us some particular and very specific guidance on how we ought to conduct ourselves in the coming days. We are living in Babylon. We are living in exile even though we’ve not traveled more than fifteen miles from our homes. Nothing is the same as it was before 911. Even to think about living normal lives begs the question "what is normal." It’s also startling how we have become very much like the turtle. Anymore the only thing we can really be sure of is what’s on our backs.

Listen again to Jeremiah! "Thus says the Lord of hosts, the God of Israel, to all the exiles whom I have sent into exile from Jerusalem to Babylon. Build houses and live in them; plant gardens and eat what they produce." Look at the turtle. We are to make the most of where we happen to be on any given day. There are no longer guarantees that there will be a tomorrow. That’s not news. We’ve heard it in many different ways for as long as we can remember. "Bloom where you’re planted" is one that I can remember from the 60’s. It’s only since 911 that its truth has become a part of our fiber, and we’re having difficulty accepting its implications.

One of the implications we need to be aware of is that many people, so many people, have never come to grips with living in their own shells. They have so much to learn from the turtle! We all know people who will do whatever is necessary in order to avoid being with themselves. They will become compulsive consumers, buying in binges and collecting things they think will give them meaning in life. They will consume inordinate amounts of alcohol or other inhibitors that have the ability to turn off almost all sensation of what is going on about them. Or, they will subscribe to whatever promise there is of happiness or euphoria, all the while thinking that somehow contentment lies without, while all the while it dwells within, in the soul that is at peace with God.

Another implication arises as Jeremiah continues, "Take wives and have sons and daughters; take wives for your sons, and give your daughters in marriage, that they may bear sons and daughters; multiply there, and do not decrease." The Friday after 911 we had a candlelight prayer vigil here in the sanctuary and afterward went out to the circle with our candles lit to witness to the community. Many people have come up to me since and remarked how no one was in a hurry to leave when the service was over. It was as though after the week from hell everyone needed to be together and re-connect with the church family. On 911, when everything was happening, the first thing people thought of was to call their family, not only to assure themselves that they were okay, but to re-connect with them, tell them they loved them. Since 911 people have been more responsive to one another, more considerate and have been sure to say, "I love you." It’s family and friends who help us be that person in the shell we ought to love more.

Jeremiah says, "multiply there and do not decrease." There’s a lot of profiling going on. Some people don’t want to multiply the diversity we have in American culture. They want it to decrease. When I flew back from Arizona last week, you could watch everyone look around the cabin to check out one another. I happened to be wearing the NYPD polo shirt that Eric had given me a couple of years ago. The woman sitting next to me saw the shirt and said she knew she’d be safe with me, since I was one of New York’s finest! I didn’t have the heart to tell her I was just a pastor. I just told her, "yes, ma’am, I’ll take good care of you." On the other hand, people have been calling me for advice on how to meet with Muslims. They want guidance on what to discuss with them. They want to get to know more about this faith, which just happens to be the fastest growing religion in America. There’s a renewed pride in being American. There’s a renewed feeling of being one family. 911 has brought home very clearly that when someone hurts we all hurt. When our bald eagle is shown with a tear below its eye, it only reflects the tears we’ve all shared on behalf of people who before 911 we didn’t even know, much less care about. Jeremiah would say, "keep it going and don’t let it decrease."

. Jeremiah concludes, "But seek the welfare of the city where I have sent you into exile, and pray to the Lord on its behalf, for in its welfare you will find your welfare." Jim Ryba sent me this story. "An old grandfather said to his grandson, who came to him with anger at a friend who had done him an injustice…’Let me tell you a story. I too, at times, have felt great hate for those who have taken so much, with no sorrow for what they do. But hate wears you down, and does not hurt your enemy. It’s like taking poison and wishing your enemy would die.

"’I have struggled with these feelings many times. It is as if there were two wolves inside me; one is good and does no harm. He lives in harmony with all around him and does not take offense when no offense was intended. He will only fight when it is right to do so, and in the right way. But…the other wolf…ah! The littlest thing will send him into a fit of temper. He fights everyone all of the time, for no reason. He cannot think because his anger and hate are so great. It is helpless anger, for his anger will change nothing. Sometimes it is hard to live with these two wolves inside me, for both of them try to dominate my spirit.’

"The boy looked intently into his grandfather’s eyes and asked, ‘Which one wins,’ Grandfather?’ The grandfather smiled and quietly said, ‘The one I feed.’" (A Native American tale.) So, we started with turtles and end with wolves. Which wolf are we going to feed?

I don’t want to feed the wolf of anger and hate, but, by God, and I mean that literally, I’m not going to sit back and let the forces of evil destroy this country or this planet. I’m proud of the way our President is taking the cautious approach. I want him to take all the time that’s necessary, listen to as many advisors as possible and solicit the cooperation of whatever country will assist us. At the same time I want us to seek the welfare of the city, every city in this country and pray to the Lord on their behalf. I want us to seek the welfare of the inhabitants of those cities, all the inhabitants. It’s time that we began to take care of the disenfranchised, the poor, the homeless, all the powerless people in this country Jesus tells us to care about.

True, on 911 we lost our innocence, but we found our incentive. We lost our complacency, but we found our convictions. We lost our arrogance, but we found our authority. Our authority this morning is the word of God as we find it in Jeremiah. By the grace of God he gives us the direction that we should be about these next days and weeks. The turtle is a metaphor of how we are going to live. The wolf is a metaphor for how we ought to behave. In the meantime, we should never lose sight of the fact that it is God whom we worship, the same God of Israel, of Islam and of Jesus Christ, who is our only Lord and Savior. As we keep our eyes fastened, our ears attuned, our voices raised and our hearts steadfast we shall continue to see, hear, and confess God at work here at home and throughout the world. May that same God emerge victorious over the forces of evil and to that same God by all glory and honor!

Thanks be to God,

Amen