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Michael Jackson, You, Me and God Transcribed from the sermon preached July 12, 2009 The
Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705 Scripture Readings: Rom. 3: 20-30,Ps 25:4-18 This week I watched the
memorial service for Michael Jackson.
There was an amazing array of famous people on hand to honor this god of
pop. Surely, even if you didn’t like
his music, you can appreciate his incredible artistic ability and his huge
impact on pop culture around the world, uniting people of all races and nations
through the gift of music. And, as so
many noted in their tribute, he gave generously to charity, and gathered
millions around worthy causes. “We are the World,” alone raised 63 million for
famine relief in Africa. But I found myself a bit troubled by the way everyone
seemed to avoid the tragedy of Michael’s life and death. Reverend Al Sharpton got moving like a
preacher, but instead of graciously acknowledging shortcomings of Michael,
shortcomings Michael obviously felt deeply himself, shortcomings obviously
known to his family, Sharpton simply blamed the difficulties on others, saying,
“There was nothing strange about Michael, it was strange what he had to deal
with.” It was Bernice King, daughter of Martin Luther King Jr. who
managed to hint at the need and availability of God’s grace, quoting Romans 8,
“Nothing in all Creation can separate Michael from the Love of God in Christ
Jesus our Lord.” Just that little line was a relief for me, for I know that
in this life we all fall short of the glory of God, and when someone dies,
whether we like it or not, whether we want to admit it or not, there are
feelings of isolation, loneliness, shame, guilt and anger among us. We know as Sheila Jackson Lee pointed out, that in the eyes
of the law we are “innocent until proven guilty.” But most of us feel guilty until we know of the amazing grace of
God. And it is by this grace that we
are able to honor and love one another, despite our shortcomings And frankly, it doesn’t matter that much whether our
shortcomings are against civil law, or are promoted and hailed by society, or
are our own secret. As Paul says in Romans: 3: 20 for no human being
will be justified in his sight by works of the law, since through the law comes
knowledge of sin. As I am preaching to you and not at Michael’s memorial
service I will be a little less subtle than even an honest memorial homily. So what about the allegations of child molestation, the
plastic surgery and changing of skin color?
What about the drug addiction and the strangeness? What about the sins of those around him, of
the family and their sense of guilt or shame?
What about our sense of guilt and shame? Since Michael was not convicted I am willing to give him
the benefit of the doubt that he did not break the law, but it was clear
strange things went on in Neverland. As
we have seen with many clergy sexual abuse cases, when we revere someone for
their public life, it is very difficult to believe they have committed great
sin. We want to give them the benefit
of the doubt. But we have also learned that
the victims are also double shamed by the disbelief, or by having their stories
pushed aside. So I found myself feeling
sorry for anybody who has been the victim of abuse, who had to watch so many
famous people pretend Michael could have done nothing but good for the world. And when I look at pictures
of Michael as a child and young man, he was beautiful…And I felt sorry for him
that he felt he needed plastic surgery and skin color change. And I felt sorrow and shame for us as a
society that people grow up thinking they are somehow not good enough. Part of this is a race issue, and I agree
with Al Sharpton in the sense that what kind of world is this that people are
treated differently on the basis of the shape of their nose or the color of
their skin to the degree that they feel they have to alter their body to be
happy. And
this problem is by no means only a race issue.
The Thursday, June 25 edition of USA Today reported that in 2007,
205,119 children under the age of 18 had cosmetic interventions. If we don’t like our eyes, nose, breasts, or
some other part of our body, if our family or social environment has taught us
that we are “not right” then the solution is not to ignore or change society,
the solution is to change ourselves. Capitalism will always favor change toward
individualization and materialization solutions. In a society where both conservatives and liberals value
individual freedom as the highest value, as progress of medical technology
makes it possible, spending money to altar our bodies will grow ever more
popular and acceptable…perhaps even expected.
It is a Brave New World. But we
seem to miss the irony that perhaps now more than ever, our self-image is
determined by the perceptions of people and society that surrounds us. Musicians and movie stars are role models across race and
class. There is no race or gender in
our society that has a monopoly on feeling bad about how they look. Just think back to junior high and high
school. Who felt they looked just fine?
Julia Roberts, who now makes something like seven million a movie and is
considered one of the most beautiful women in the world; she felt bad about how
she looked in junior high. And we know
from the reports on anorexia in modeling, that the closer you get to the social
definition and dissemination of beauty, the more critical of yourself you and
those around you become. Hollywood, the land of beautiful people, has the
highest rate of cosmetic surgery…so the fact that you are beautiful doesn’t
mean you feel beautiful. It is the great athletes who don’t feel great enough
who take steroids. Time marches on and
even Farrah Fawcett, the woman in the poster millions of us boys hung on our
wall dies of cancer. The flowers wither
and the grasses fade. Now I am not trying to say all cosmetic surgery is
unnecessary or bad, but I am certain that in the long run, 99% of all cosmetic
surgery will not change the self esteem problems of those who altar their
bodies. For that we need soul
surgery. We need to understand that
whoever we are, however we look, regardless of how popular or beautiful or
acceptable we are in the eyes of society, we were created by God, we have a
purpose to serve, and we are loved by God, now as we are and forever. God’s love for you, God’s love for all will
never change. For all those who will
never be able to afford plastic surgery, for all those who can’t afford the
latest fashion, for those who can’t even afford hamburger, there is good news;
your value to God is priceless. We
can’t earn it, we can’t be rich enough, we can’t be beautiful enough, but no
worries, God’s love is unconditional.
Our joy is made complete in Christ Jesus. The flowers wither and the grasses fade, but the Word of our God
stands forever. Now a word on our addiction to entertainment: Al Sharpton is correct; our obsession with
entertainers and entertainment is strange.
Neil Postman, in 1985, long before “reality TV” or the Internet wrote Amusing
Ourselves to Death, expressing his fears about what television is doing to
our culture. He writes, about the
agenda of medium and notes the agenda of the TV is entertainment: “Of course,”
he writes, “to say that television is entertaining is merely banal…But what I
am claiming here is not that television is entertaining but that it has made
entertainment itself the natural format for the representation of all
experience. Our television set keeps us
in constant communion with the world, but it does so with a face whose smiling
countenance in unalterable. The problem
is not that television presents us with entertaining subject matter but that
all subject matter is presented as entertaining.” (Postman, Neil. Amusing
Ourselves to Death. P. 87) So
an entertainer finds that even his sin and tragedy is entertainment and it
drives him crazy, to drug addiction, and that is entertaining too. A military coup in Honduras is kind of
boring, so we can’t find news about an entire nations government, but all news
channels compete with Entertainment Tonight to get the scoop on what happens to
an amusement park or who will get custody of Michael’s children: the reality of
TV. There is spectacular diversity of viewpoint made possible
by the explosion of TV and Internet, an amazing expansion and speed of news and
information, but there is also a narrowing, a shallowing of human
identity. With cameras on our phones
and computers, we must be entertaining too.
I got my picture taken running a red light. I looked at the close up of my face and thought, “There is no
mistaking, yep, that’s my big nose. At least I combed my hair.” Now automobile as extension of personal
image was made in LA a long time ago, but the idea that we should be picture
ready, entertained and entertaining, even in our bathroom or at a memorial
service is narrowing the freedom of who we should be and how we should
feel. So even with all this interaction, instantaneously with
people all over the world, our lives feel shallow and as lonely or more lonely
than ever. Perhaps it was because my wife returned alone to her father’s
funeral in Guatemala that I sensed the loneliness of the Jackson family amidst
we many millions who tuned in to be entertained by their grief, and found that
the endless praise ran shallow. For
whether we are a poor campesino or a rich superstar, death reminds us of our
aloneness and our need for grace. We know not when our days will end. Perhaps, if I die tomorrow, you will share a
few of the things I have been able to do well.
I am pleased to think of it. But our successes take us only so far, only
so deep, and then our hope and strength, the hope and strength of those around
us must rely on something greater than ourselves. As Christians, we acknowledge the whole truth about ourselves and
our loved ones, not for the sake of condemnation, but to call upon the powerful
presence of God’s grace. So please, and I promise if I am honored to officiate
at your memorial, speak to family and friends of a power beyond ourselves, a
power which comforts and gives strength and joy, speak of God’s ever-present
love and forgiveness, speak of God’s grace for you and me. Oh Lord, cries the psalmist,
The righteousness of God is
through Jesus Christ for all who believe, writes Paul. There is no distinction,
[23] since all have
sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [27] Then what becomes
of our boasting? It is excluded. On what principle? On the principle of works?
No, but on the principle of faith.
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