Mountain Dew

 Scripture   Psalm 133 NRSV 

1 How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!

2  It is like the precious oil on the head, running down upon the beard, 

on the beard of Aaron, running down over the collar of his robes.

3 It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion. 

For there the LORD ordained his blessing, life forevermore.

************************************************* 

Good morning!  It is Sunday again.

If Jordan has done what we discussed, there is a picture of a Mountain Dew soda can on the screen where the sermon title goes.  Today’s message is titled Mountain Dew because that is the first thing I thought of when I read the line “It is like the dew of Hermon, which falls on the mountains of Zion.”  The dew in the morning is cool and refreshing - like the soda.  And right away I wondered if the people who invented Mountain Dew got the name from this psalm.  So, me being me, I started researching.  It seems that Mountain Dew is what moonshine was called in some places beginning in the late 1800s.  And you know - moonshine kind of works even better for unity than the soda - because when unity happens it is surprising and refreshing.  Even perhaps intoxicating,  like the moonshine the soda was named after.  

How is unity intoxicating, you ask?  I mean, unity is a churchy kind of word.  The Disciples of Christ are all about Unity. It is one of our founding principles. Barton Stone and both Thomas and Alexander Campbell believed that all Christians should be able to work and worship together, and share in the Lord’s Supper together.  (This is what got them all kicked out of the Presbyterian church.)  “Unity is our polar star!”  we say.  “In essentials - unity.  In non-essentials - liberty.  In all things - love.”  This dedication to unity is one of the reasons we are congregational in nature.  Disciples congregations are all different from each other - some more liberal, some more conservative, some emerging, some progressive, some traditional.  Even within one congregation there can be people whose beliefs range from “God is love and Jesus was a good teacher” to “Everything in the King James Version is the inerrant word of God” and every where in between.  But we have a covenant between us - within each congregation and between all the congregations - that allows us to work together regardless of any differences of theology or even (dare I say) politics.  And while all that is very nice, but it’s not really intoxicating.

So, consider football fans. I know, the football season is going to be really weird this year.  But, leaving that aside... football fans come in many types.  There is the totally dedicated fan. Their team is the only team!  They wear team shirts and hats and stuff all year long.  Their houses are painted in team colors.  Ok, maybe not that.  But they are serious about their team, and no matter what they are loyal and devoted fans.  Then there are fans who are kind of meh. They enjoy the games if they’re not doing something else that day.  They don’t pay much attention to who the players are.  But, you know, they like the team.  Then there are fans who just root for the team nearest where they live and happily switch allegiance to a different team when they move.  When I lived in eastern Pennsylvania I was an Eagles fan.  When I lived in South Florida I was a Dolphins fan.  When I lived in Indianapolis I was a Colts fan.  When I moved to California I remained a Colts fan until I became a Broncos fan, because I was really a Peyton Manning fan.   The point is . . . All of those fans are different.  They are in no way uniform in their fan-hood. But come game time they are unified.   They cheer together.  They celebrate or grieve together.  When all of those fans come together, when they experience that unity of purpose, it is intoxicating!  

On July 9, 2017 at the General Assembly of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the US and Canada, there came a moment when the crowd surged to its feet and erupted into cheers and hugs and high fives!  It was as exciting and intoxicating a moment as any last minute tie breaking field goal.  We had just elected the Rev. Teri Hord Owens to the position of General Minister and President - the first Woman of Color to become the head of any mainline denomination in the world.  

When we all came down from our intoxication, and came home to reflect on our experiences at the Assembly, we could see the divisions.  It was noted, with great concern, that people who dissented from or disagreed with any given resolution or position felt, rightly or wrongly, unable to stand and speak their opinion.  They said that they felt apart from, not a part of.  They worried that the Disciples of Christ were becoming more devoted to uniformity than true unity.   And it is quite true that there were few people speaking at the Con microphones at any time during the Assembly.  This is not good.   

Mind you, it is very pleasant to attend events like that one and not hear a lot of arguing and fussing and anger during the business meetings.  But not all things that are pleasant are good – and not all things that are good are pleasant.

 

How very good and pleasant it is when kindred live together in unity!  

It is sweet smelling like precious oil.

It is refreshing and intoxicating like mountain dew.  

So why don’t we try for it more often?

In the 14th chapter of Paul’s letter to the Romans, he says that it is ok to have different practices.  Some of them were Jewish Christians and some were Gentile Christians, so some would follow Jewish Law on diet and Sabbath observance and some would not.  Not a problem - until people began judging each other, saying one way was right and the other was wrong.  Paul told them, in effect, that unity of purpose is the important thing, not uniformity. He encouraged them to do as they individually believed was right, that their choice of what to eat was fine, as long as it harmed no one else.  We don’t have issues today with clean versus unclean foods, but consider if you will a pot luck.  We could just not concern ourselves with anyone else's dietary requirements, allergies, and moral choices.  But today we do.  We make sure there are vegetarian and vegan choices for those who choose not to eat meat.  We are careful to indicate which food items contain gluten or some allergen that is effectively poison for some people.  We actively make the effort to not cause any  one harm.  Unity of purpose means that we come together for this meal in such a way that all are able to enjoy it, even though the contents of each person’s plate are different depending on their needs. “For the kingdom of God is not food and drink, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.” 

It is important that people be able to make their differences known, to speak openly where there is dissent and disagreement over issues within the church and without.  Disagreement and dissent are not bad or wrong in and of themselves. The wrong comes when we judge each other and try to insist that we must all have the same opinions, understandings, and beliefs.   Unity means we have a common goal, a common purpose, a common belief that holds us together.  AND unity means that we do not allow our differences to tear us apart.  We are not good at unity.  We are very good at divisiveness.

If we are to know righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit, if we are to know true unity, then we must be willing to put aside our tendency to judge one another.  We must allow others to hold different opinions, to be different in their understanding of issues that are important to us and to them, without name calling and ugliness.  We must follow Paul’s instructions to the churches in Rome, that we pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.   We must seek to love one another without judgment, and pray to be made one in the Holy Spirit, even in all our differences, bound together by our desire to serve God and God’s children, so that we may together enjoy the refreshing and even intoxicating dew of the mountains of Zion, that is unity in Jesus Christ, our Lord.

Let us pray, therefore, for unity of purpose that God might be glorified through our words and our actions, and that the world might become a better place, the beloved community that God has called us to build.