Below, for your consideration and reflection, is the sermon from Bethel's May 28, 2006 Sunday worship service.

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Bumper-sticker Theology

Proverbs 11 & 12 (selected verses); Matthew 5:1-10

Bethel 5/28/06

Rev. Marc Sherrod, ThD

An acquaintance of mine, traveling near Boston’s Logan airport, spotted a taxi with two bumper stickers. He decided that the driver must be a religious schizophrenic. On one side of the rear bumper was “Jesus is Lord” while the other stated: “Live and let live.” Maybe it’s a sign, as one daughter keeps reminding me, that I need to “get a life,” but I do find myself wondering why people sport certain bumper stickers. Seems like I spy a new one everyday, although as my eyes get older, the perilously closer I have to get actually to read them.

Just the other day, for instance, I ended up behind one of Bethel’s finest, and I only caught the first half, which I must say, I thought at first, was another profane Homer or Bart Simpson witticism. I only had time to read the first half, which said: “keep your butt in the car,” until I got close again and caught the second half, which said: “the world is not your ash tray!” Now, there’s a bumper sticker that works, and I must say that I was quite relieved that one of my church members isn’t nearly as crude as I first thought. A chance to read one like that is a reminder that tailgating can be a virtue, after all.

Bumper stickers vying for our attention are everywhere. There are, of course, the usual political and patriotic suspects. The ubiquitous one, post 9/11, “God bless America” is one I still see, though not as regularly, but which always left me wondering: God bless America with what? Health care for everyone? Hospitality for immigrants? The mothballing of all nuclear weapons? Often, of course, the precise meaning of the bumper sticker is in the eye of the beholder and there can be thousands of potential meanings. Some take a playful approach: Visualize W-h-i-r-l-e-d P-e-a-s (that might have originated back when we were getting our first color images of earth taken from outer space) while others often are more obvious, at least when you actually see them: No justice, no peace; know justice, know peace.

I am most drawn to bumper stickers that seem to be trying to make a theological point and I, as a student of theology, am left to ponder what, exactly, that point might be. Some, I just shake my head and wonder why people of faith can be so fearful and angry, like the one that says, “Go to God or go to hell!” or “Evolution is for atheists!”

If I were inclined to fight back, I recently read about a website, NorthernSun.com where I could find plenty of ammunition. Here are a few samples: “I’m for the separation of church and hate”; or, “Born ok the first time”; or, WWJB – Who Would Jesus Bomb”; or, one that has a nice, anti-road rage twist: “I bet Jesus would have used his turn signal!”

Bumper stickers can arouse many emotions, bring a smile or a frown, bring jeers or cheers, make a statement or make us mad.

It’s not just cars, but anyone with eyes to sees knows that bumper-sticker theology is also alive and well in the church sign industry. Ride around the county and you’ll read homey proverbs like: “Forbidden fruit makes many jams”; or, “The best vitamin for a Christian is B-1”; or, “Give Satan an inch and he will become your ruler.” Everywhere we turn there are these quaint, pithy sayings that take the stuff and experiences of ordinary life and turn it into a memorable lesson on religious beliefs and practices.

I know that one of you, for our building program, has been advocating, tongue-in-cheek, for a large, flashing, neon cross to be attached to our steeple; but, I wonder, what about a large marquis with flashing lights out front which could display, at the top, Marc’s Meditative Moment for all those passing by on Rt. 58 to take in. It could feature and display a weekly proverb taken, say, from Ralph Waldo Emerson during the baccelaurate and graduation season, or during religious tolerance week, something from Mohatmas Ghandi or Mother Teresa or some Buddhist saying, or during be kind to Presbyterians week, words of wisdom from John Calvin, or maybe even an occasional Jewish proverb might provide some good soul food for our fellow citizens.

Surely he jests, perhaps you are thinking to yourself. But my reply is that there is, indeed, biblical precedent for just such a strategy for the shameless self-promotion of one’s theology and moral values. It is a strategy found within the wisdom tradition of ancient Israel, which had its own version of bumper-sticker theology.

Whether it was practiced literally or was only a metaphorical idea, I am not completely sure, butleaders in ancient Israel did tell the people to write important commandments and proverbs on the gatepost to the city. Gathering at the gate of the city was the equivalent of a contemporary watering hole, a place to gather, gossip, socialize, gripe, tell tale tales, and do all the other things people like to do. This would have been a place ripe for bumper sticker theology – a place to serve up bite-sized portions of human wisdom that would reveal the character of those who collected and displayed them. If a proverb were what was on display, then in a dozen words or less, it could catch someone’s eye or ear, give ethical direction, form and affirm identity, support conventional values or declare some truth that went against the grain of the status quo. All the while sticking in the mind much better than a sermon ever could.

Exhibit A illustrating the importance in the ancient world of moral maxims, short statements of spiritual advice, and proverbial wisdom would be the Book of Proverbs, which I read from earlier, an eclectic collection that includes parental advice to children, warnings against hanging out with the wrong kind of people, and practical counsel on the knowledge necessary to be successful in the world. Presumably, whoever first spoke these proverbs was a sage or wise person who had the benefit of life experience on his or her side, who realized truth and brevity often went hand-in-hand.

Sometimes, these proverbs have to do with fair and just treatment in social relationships; proverbs provided a framework to ensure that members of a clan or village didn’t take advantage of one another. Thus, the proverb, “a false balance is an abomination to the Lord, but an accurate weight is [the Lord’s] delight.” Think how critical would have been the accuracy of weights and measures in a largely agrarian society such as was the case in ancient Israel, and how important, then, the threat of God’s rejection and judgment upon anyone who abused the process of fair exchange in this predominantly bartering economic system.

At other times, proverbs remind one that to experience godliness is to find the path of humility and generosity, and conversely, one should dare not presume that your knowledge exceeds that of others. Thus, goes one proverb, “pride brings disgrace but wisdom is with the humble.” Or another, “a generous person will be enriched, and one who gives water will get water.” Part of the power of a proverb, I think, is that they deal with the most basic of human emotions, like pride and humility, or they amplify the virtue of generosity by comparison with a basic necessity like water. This comparison can then be translated into a myriad of other contexts in which sharing out of one’s abundance can make a profound difference to the survival of others.

Endemic to biblical proverbs is the idea of the contrasting paths: the path of foolishness and the path of wisdom: “Fools think their own way is right, but the wise listen to advice. Fools show their anger at once, but the prudent ignore an insult.” For the wisdom writer, to choose the path of folly is to choose wickedness and self-destruction. There are, in fact, no less than 8 words in Hebrew that can translate as fool – everything from the idea of a naïve, untutored individual or someone simply innately stupid to an irrational madman or a foolish talker who values his own opinions too much. The wise person, on the other hand, chooses the path of righteousness, and pursues the idea of right action and justice which this person knows will please God above all else.

The problem with proverbs – as with bumper stickers – is that it’s hard to know the context, hard to know what the owner or author really intends, hard to engage in any conversation about meaning. Given my choice of forms of biblical literature, I’d prefer a parable or a sermon or a letter or anything I can intellectually sink my teeth into. I’d prefer not to have to interpret a proverb such as: “Like a gold ring in a pig’s snout is a beautiful woman without good sense.” Trying to make sense of a proverb like that can be a dangerous thing!

The difficulty of interpreting particular proverbs can lead us, at least those who stand behind the pulpit, anyway, to belittle proverbial wisdom as a lesser form of theological expression.

Yet, we do well to remind ourselves that Jesus himself did not regard proverbs as beneath his dignity. In fact, in his public ministry, he stood firmly in the long line of Israel’s wisdom tradition. In Matthew’s gospel, for instance, he speaks no less than 60 proverbs or wisdom sayings. Some of them are commonsensical and profound like, “Where your treasure is, there will your heart be also” while others are more enigmatic and quite baffling if we should ever stop to really think about them, such as: “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven, or “Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”

But the point is, Jesus used proverbs. He seemed to know how people thought – they did not think about church, most of the time, but about their real lives on this real earth – about money, work and family; about honor, position, and the empire. He seemed to know that if he did not nab people’s attention with some short wisdom about these things, then someone else would. The emperor had his own proverbs, after all. So did the tired guardians of religion-as-usual, along with the purveyors of anything money could buy. (Barbara Brown Taylor, CC, 4/4/06)

The question, as one person has said, is not will people live by proverbs (for we all have them), but rather what kind of proverbs will we cherish and what proverbs will we allow to shape our values and habits? It’s a hard thing to measure – but we must know that proverbial wisdom and its contemporary companion of bumper-sticker theology, for good or for ill, do form our faith and character.

While words to the music we sing do not typically coincide with the literary form of the biblical proverb, I do believe that one of the most effective and helpful sources for the subliminal shaping of our religious demeanor and habits of mind and heart are actually those hymns that we sing, especially those that get etched on our hearts as enduring expressions of what we believe and as affirmations about how we should practice our spirituality.

The hymn we will momentarily sing, “Now Thank we All our God,” has been labeled as the most versatile hymn in the hymnal, one that can fit virtually any occasion – a wedding, a funeral, a baptism, the Lord’s Supper, or ordinary Lord’s Day worship. In poetic and prayerful phrases like, “Keep us in God’s grace, and guide us when perplexed” or, “Who, from our mother’s arms, hath blessed us on our way,” we hear words to live by, words that can shape our spirits and proclaim who and whose we are. For such a versatile hymn, maybe, there does remain just one more use: wouldn’t it be nice if someone could take phrases from this hymn and turn them into bumper stickers?

“Now thank we all our God, with heart and hands and voices, who wondrous things hath done, in whom this world rejoices.”

So let it be. Amen.