Sermon on Psalm 1; Philippians 4:4-9

November 10, 2002

The Rev. Beth Ernest

The Stewardship of Our Minds

On James' last birthday, he asked for books about the brain and how to improve the one you have. One of the hot topics in science and human development is how the mind develops and how to improve it. Can we improve our mind through our diet, for instance? Does protein make us more alert? Where does sleep come in? If we use our left hand when we are right handed do we develop the other side of the brain or integrate our creative and our analytical functions? Does learning a new language help rewire our mental programming? Will our ability to draw improve if we follow Leonardo DaVinci and learn to draw by starting from a blackened page and erasing what we don't see, instead of starting with a white piece of paper and drawing a black line representing what we do see? What do children see and when do they see it? How many kinds of intelligences are there? Is it true that some exhibit bodily intelligence while others exhibit social or cognitive intelligence? So many questions and theories scientists are asking about our minds!

When God told Adam and Eve to care for creation, that included caring for themselves. We are stewards not only of our bodies, as we thought about last week, but of our minds-this spongy, complicated organ we call the brain and all the knowledge and memory and ideas it contains.

"Exercise your mind, " Public Television tells us.

"A mind is a terrible thing to waste," says an anti-drug slogan.

"When an old person dies, a library is destroyed," says an African proverb attesting to value of the memories of the elders who guard the vast tradition, history, and stories of a people who have no written word.

".`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment" (Mat 22:27-38). Jewish law, as told by Jesus Christ.

Scripture has much to say about our minds. So today, we will be looking at various passages of scripture that help us reflect on how we use and improve and strengthen our minds. Today we heard the first psalm of all the psalms, a song about the wisdom of loving and obeying God's law. This psalm forms the introduction to all that is to follow in the remaining 149 psalms. If we are wise we will "meditate (on his law) day and night" (v 2b). The wise "are like trees planted by streams of water, which yield their fruit in its season, and their leaves do not wither. In all that they do, they prosper" (v 3). To be a good steward of our minds is to learn scripture, to think about, meditate on it, use it.

Despite this, it is found that in churches across our country, adults often check their minds at the door. It is an astounding phenomenon. People who are educated, people who cope with the vicissitudes of life, people who are competent professionals, parents, or who know a field very well, often never advance beyond a childhood or confirmation age level of understanding about basic scripture and thinking about God. I have spoken to countless intelligent adults who are either willing to abdicate all religious thinking to some religious authority figure, or who choose not to develop their religious thinking at all. It's too scary, too "other", too much bother. Often this latter attitude is common among parents who, in effect, say, We'll bring the kids for Sunday School, but don't expect us to absorb anything while we here. We'll be checking out when the kids graduate."

While colleges and tech schools are flooded with adult learners (and that's fantastic), many churches are not (and that is sad!), for here are the words of life! The wise "meditate on his law day and night." I would challenge all of us to "exercise our minds," as Public Television tells us, not just by watching NOVA and the latest Ken Burns documentary, but by digging into the richness of scripture and spiritual knowledge.

The Evangelical Covenant Church affirms the right and responsibility of Christians to read scripture and make their own decisions about what they read. There is, in the Covenant, a high respect for Christians to use their minds as we face decisions and issues of the day. If we were to take a poll in this congregation on controversial questions like abortion, homosexuality, authority of scripture, creation and evolution, even women in the ordained ministry or the possible war with Iraq, we would have a variety of positions. And that's OK. Notice I didn't say, "we would have a variety of opinions." As Christians, we really need to examine issues-personal issues and public issues-in light of scripture and apply what we find there in our decision making. Does our thinking reflect the values and truths we find there? Or does our thinking reflect only what we want to be true or what the secular world tells us is true? As Christians, we also examine issues within the Christian community-considering both how the church has made decisions in the past and how the faith community thinks about them now. In other words, we don't just blithely say, "I think so-and-so about such-and-such" without that position having had any input from the resources we find in our faith. Those faith resources and our brain are in constant dialog.

Will Christians disagree? Certainly, having read and tried to comprehend scripture, we will interpret it differently and we will interpret our life experiences in different ways. After all, we have different backgrounds and knowledge, we are men, women, old, young, some by nature feel more comfortable with facts and figures where others feel more at home with people and emotions. But in the end we must give an accounting to God to how we lived our lives, how our thinking led us to decisions and actions. So we must exercise faithful stewardship over what we do with our minds.

The people of Israel are told to remember all the great things God has done and pass them on: "But take care and watch yourselves closely, so as neither to forget the things that your eyes have seen nor to let them slip from your mind all the days of your life; make them known to your children and your children's children" (Deuteronomy 4:9).

We exercise stewardship of our minds by passing on to our children the collective memory of our faith and God's faithfulness. We rehearse the stories of the faith, we help them learn what we believe about God and God's world.

Often I have had premarital counseling sessions with couples who consider themselves Christian, or at least culturally Christian. We always talk about future plans for family and child rearing ideas. Occasionally, I have encountered couples who have consciously decided not to teach their children about any specific religion. They don't want to sway their children one way or the other so they won't teach their child anything that would prejudice them. They figure the child will then make a decision on their own, when they reach adulthood, what religion they want to be. My response is, "Will you teach the child the multiplication tables?" "Oh, of course, they will need math," they answer. "Yes," I say, "for if they want to balance their checkbook or buy something in a store or be a physicist, they will need the building blocks of math. And if they ever have to cope with death, or if they wonder at the glory of creation, or feel guilt and remorse when they do the wrong thing, or wonder what they are called to do in life, they will need the building blocks of the Christian faith. Do not deny your children this basic necessity of life!"

Like the African elder whose mind contains the stories of a people, we are stewards of the great stories of our people-the people of Jesus Christ. We pass that on to our children to help them think, grow, process, adapt to, adjust to, reflect on, sort out, and discern the issues and questions that come their way. Like the sower who sows good seed and watches it multiply, we sow the seeds of faith in our kids that their minds and their hearts will be equipped for life. We can't sow those seed if we don't have those seeds.

In thinking of the stewardship of our minds, we must also think of what goes into them. Paul writes in Romans about the purity of both the body and the mind, "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your minds, so that you may discern what is the will of God--what is good and acceptable and perfect" (Rom 12:1,2).

In his letter to the Philippians, he gives more detailed instruction about what is "good and acceptable and perfect," Listen to this: "Finally, beloved, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is pleasing, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if there is anything worthy of praise, think about these things" (Phil 4:8).

It would be interesting to do an experiment where we ran every thought we had against this litmus test! How many TV shows and video games would we turn off? How many conversations would go a different way? How often would our daydreaming have to make a rapid shift? Philippians 4 are TOUGH words! (One of our young men at Concord Covenant went on a mission trip this summer and came back on fire for Christ. He decided he had to live his faith, and let God influence his decisions. He threw away his rap CD's. You may know that rap music is famous for its foul lyrics, hatred of women, violence and raunchy themes. Does it meet the Phil 4 test? NO! Good job, Peter!) To actually follow Phil 4's advice would mean a radical shift toward the holy. It would mean exercising a disciplined stewardship of the power of our minds to create a reality and to create an identity for us. That is powerful stuff! Such discipline only comes through intense prayer and giving our lives over totally to God.

So how do we do these things? A couple of ideas. The first one comes from Tom Branscom. Let's share our books. We are a reading congregation. Many people read devotional books and other books designed to stretch our minds and help us with faith issues. Maybe its poetry. Maybe it's a book about a great thinker. Maybe it's a novel with religious themes, like Les Miserables or The Old Man and the Sea, or A Pilgrim at Tinker Creek. Why not share our books with each other, both adults and youth?

Let's take that a step further. Why not get together for discussion? Maybe we talk about the books. Maybe we talk about forgiveness, raising kids, aging, or dating. And then, why not get together for common projects, like a local mission project? Maybe we call Bethany Covenant and ask how we can help with the Sudanese who attend their church. Maybe we call the local law school and ask if we can invite foreign students to dinner on Thanksgiving and Christmas to share our heritage with them and share the religious meaning behind the holidays.

It all begins with.a thought. One thought leading to the next and to the next. Growing and building and changing until a ministry is born.

The stewardship of our minds doesn't end in the gray matter of our brains. It travels to our mouths to speak the word of God, it travels to our hands to do the will of God, it travels to our feet to lead us in the paths of God.

".`You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.' This is the greatest and first commandment" (Mat 22:27-38).