Rev.
Ann C. Fox
(508) 992-7081
UFairhaven@aol.com
Unitarian Universalist
Society of Fairhaven
Living the 'Good' Life
a sermon by Rev. Ann C. Fox
September 23, 2007
Note: A reading is attached, which you might like to read first.
Have you been shaking your head recently over reports of the seemingly “good” but humorless Patriot coach Bill Belechick’s fall from grace—a common cheat no less!?! (For those of you who don’t know, this skilled and famous coach sent an underling to spy on the play strategy of another team by video-taping them.) Is he ashamed? Does he feel any compulsion to model the “good” life? Aristotle would have expected far more for a man of such wealth and we might add with such a skillful team!
How did you feel about Wampanoag leader Glenn Marshall’s gross embellishment of his military record? Where is the sense of honor we have come to associate with Native Americans? I hope the tribe can transcend this episode.
We have read many articles recently in our local newspaper about the placing of unqualified friends in jobs where we need the best ability and skill in New Bedford. Where is the desire to do our civic duty to ensure our city gets the best personnel, especially in its schools?
Cheating is rampant in our society, possibly more than at any time in our history. Research tells us that many believe that the discovery of cheating brings no shame. What kind of exemplars are there for our youth for any of us? If we are looking to athletes or politicians for virtue, we will be disappointed. I believe we have a cultural crisis on our hands. French philosopher, Andre Comte-Sponville says, “If virtue can be taught, as I believe it can be, it is not through books so much as by example.” (p.1, Comte-Spoonville) If so, our youth will have to look to more common people for their exemplars.
Since 1974, the Rev. Dr. Peter Gomes has been the minister in The Memorial Church and Plummer Professor of Christian Morals at Harvard University. He is a charming and popular figure who is held in affection and high esteem by Harvard students. He observes at first hand the attitudes and ambitions of each generation. He is convinced that this Millenial Generation described in our reading this morning may well turn out to be the exemplars of the “Good” life because this is what concerns them.
By the “Good” life, we are not referring to material possessions, the stuff of which the American Dream is made, but instead, moral goodness. Our earliest colleges were established to educate the best and brightest for the benefit of the public good and in their founding documents used the words “virtue” and “piety” which have an old fashioned sound today. Peter Gomes would like us to bring back the spirit of these old fashioned terms. St. Paul said in one of his letters to the Corinthian people, “…Earnestly desire the higher gifts. And I will show you a still more excellent way. (1 Corinthians 12:31) Gomes would like us to seek a “more excellent way.”
Although our high schools and colleges no longer require the study of ethics, there is nowadays some encouragement to civic virtue in the requirement for community service. I wonder, however, whether we might do our youth a favor by having ethical and moral dilemmas explicitly highlighted for discussion in all history textbooks. I’m sure thoughtful teachers do this anyway but it wouldn’t hurt to have a national discussion about it. What a novel idea: having a national conversation about civic virtue!
Life after September 11, 2001, raised the question as to why anyone or any country or group could hate us so much as to bring down the Twin Towers. Much discussion ensued about how the Towers were symbols of western (and American in particular) power, domination, and corruption. The youth encountered by Peter Gomes on the Harvard campus certainly wondered to what extent our nation’s values were epitomized by the Towers. It is a complex inquiry. It also is ironic that it takes the pietistic and fanatical arm of Islam to point out a lack of public virtue and perhaps private virtue as well in our lives. Only the religious right seems to be able to muster such a discussion but not to the advantage of freedom loving people. Perhaps it is up to the religious liberals to spear-head a reasonable conversation on the truly good and virtuous life.
Youth and adults alike can benefit from some attention to old fashioned virtues. If so, what virtues would we emphasize? We could look at French Philosopher Andre Comte-Sponville’s book A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues where he describes 18 virtues and which was on the best seller list in France for over a year in 1996. Some of the virtues are: politeness, fidelity, temperance, courage, justice, compassion, simplicity, gentleness, and the last one is “love.” Or we could look at familiar Jewish and Christian scripture. Since yesterday was Yom Kippur, the last day of Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, let us see how we can let more virtue in by getting rid of all those sins we are carrying. Here is a little Jewish humor called Breads for Crummy Sins:
On the Jewish New Year, Rosh Hashanah, there is a ceremony called Tashlich. Jews traditionally go to the ocean or a stream or river to pray and throw bread crumbs into the water. Symbolically, the fish devour their sins. Occasionally, people ask what kind of bread crumbs should be thrown. Here are suggestions for breads which may be most appropriate for specific sins and misbehaviors.
For ordinary sins...........................White Bread
For complex sins...........................Multigrain
For twisted sins.............................Pretzels
For sins of indecision.....................Waffles
For ill-temperedness......................Sourdough
For silliness & eccentricity.............Nut Bread
For excessive irony........................Rye Bread
For dressing immodestly.................Tarts
For causing injury to others.............Tortes
For abrasiveness............................Grits
For dropping in without notice.........Popovers
For overeating...............................Stuffing
For pride and egotism....................Puff Pastry
For telling bad jokes……...............Corn Bread
I supposed **I** will have to use corn bread!
To have a more virtuous nation, you might think, “We need more education. However, the statistics show that virtue has little to do with intelligence and education. However, education focused on virtue or good behavior can have an effect on a nation. Churches have a special opportunity to get ahead of such a movement for ethics and moral and spiritual values are our business!
We have talked often about Israel’s ethical conversation with God through the prophets. Let us remind ourselves of some encouragement to virtue by the ancient prophets, some of whom are carved around this pulpit. In our hymnal, in #582, the prophet Amos says that God says, “I hate, I despise your festivals….Take away from me the noise of your songs….But let justice roll down like waters, and righteousness like an every-flowing stream.” And in #572 in our hymnal, the prophet Micah says, “What does the Eternal ask from you but to be just and kind and live in quiet fellowship with your God.”
“Justice, kindness, and humility might well be called the ‘three historic Hebrew virtues’…together with [the urging of Jesus] to love God and our neighbor as oneself.” [p.67, Gomes] In my opinion, these have greater weight than just boiling everything down to the Golden Rule as I have heard some say. These virtues are not just beliefs; they are a deeply held code of conduct. [p.67, Gomes]
What religion and philosophy ask of us in living the ‘Good Life’ or the ‘Virtuous Life’ is to care for others, including the others who are beyond our kith and kin. I wonder whether, instead of the Pledge of Allegiance our children should say a school pledge of honor, something like, “Let us be kind and respectful towards one another. Let us work hard at our studies that our studies may benefit our minds, our relationships, our work habits, and our society at large. Let us be proud of ourselves and our school.” Of course, there are some of you who might want to add “Onwards and upwards forever!” (This was part of a covenant that this church used to say every Sunday in the 1950’s and ‘60’s.) Aristotle thought that true happiness comes only when we live the ‘good’ life, the ‘virtuous’ life because then we are like the gods. I believe he is right; we experience the quiet and deep happiness that comes from doing our best towards ourselves and others and perhaps live more consciously with the divine that is in us and simply needs more attention.
When we talk about the qualities of “goodness” in a church, we are often ‘preaching to the choir’ as the saying goes. Nevertheless, I raise them up to you and to me to ask us all whether we want to renew our covenant with our nearest and dearest and make one also with the world, unbeknownst to the world but nevertheless acting it out for their sake. And perhaps we might also ask ourselves whether our sons and daughters, nephews and nieces, Godchildren, and neighborhood children are having the benefit of ethical teachings that will enhance their minds and hearts and if not, what can we do about it? May we find a way to inspire the truly Good Life in ourselves and in our youth that they may truly become the Next Great Generation!
References
Comte-Spoonville, Andre. A Small Treatise on the Great Virtues: the Uses of Philosophy in Everyday Life, New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1996 (translation 2001).
Gomes, Peter T. The Good Life: Truths That Last in Times of Need, San Francisco: HarperCollins Publishers, 2002.
Reading from: The Good Life by Peter J. Gomes
People who were young adults during World War II were called “The Great Generation.” Sociologists call the current generation that came of age at the beginning of this century the Millenial generation. In his book The Good Life, Peter Gomes quotes from Millenials Rising: The Next Great Generation, a book by sociologists Neil Howe and William Strauss. They wrote:
“As a group, Millennials are unlike any other youth generation in living memory. They are more numerous, more affluent, better educated, and more ethnically diverse. More important, they are beginning to manifest a wide array of positive social habits that older Americans no longer associate with youth, including a new focus on teamwork, achievement, modesty, and good conduct. Only a few years from now, this can-do youth revolution will overwhelm the cynics and pessimists. Over the next decade, the Millennial Generation will entirely recast the image of youth from downbeat and alienated to upbeat and engaged—with potentially seismic consequences for America.” [p. 24, Gomes]
Peter Gomes goes on to say, “…I must confess that my experience of the fundamental ambitions of college youth confirms their findings….Ironically, it is the ancient mission of the modern university and the moral energy of its newest members that may well renew both college and society in the image of what Strauss and Howe call “the next great generation.” [p.25, Gomes]
© The Rev. Ann C. Fox