February 29, 2004
"Not WWJD but WWJHMD"
Riley E. Jensen

The word on the street these days is that people are more spiritual than religious.  Don’t you hear it too!  Perhaps you even use that word in order to try to describe your own sense of being in touch with that which is beyond the material.  Roger Fuller of Bradley University has written a book on the subject that helps us to understand that this is not a new phenomenon in American life but in fact can be traced back to the days of our forebears.

In his study he introduces a 38-year-old teacher who was raised Roman Catholic but now attends Mass only a few times a year.  Despite her spotty church attendance, she considers herself a deeply spiritual person.  She sets aside at least an hour a day for meditation.  She has a home altar that symbolizes her personal spiritual beliefs.  On this altar are 18 candles, an amulet attached to a photo of her grandmother, amethyst crystals used in healing meditations, oriental incense, a Tibetan prayer bell, a representation of the Virgin of Guadalupe, and some other traditional items.

Now I don’t see any of you laughing.  Perhaps because you have your own ways of expressing your spirituality that may be considered outside the bounds of traditional orthodoxy.  I don’t want to hang too much on the difference between being spiritual or religious except to say that today the word spiritual seems to have more portability while religious seems more restrictive.  The bottom line is that people want a faith that works for them.

In our entrepreneurial, pragmatic culture that means that we look to the church less and less as our final authority.  As a representative of the church, I obviously have some feelings about this, but I also recognize that we have not always been as helpful as we want to be in our role as spiritual guides and connectors to God.  Hence the theme of this Lenten Series -- 'A Faith That Works for You'.

There are a number of cautionary flags to throw up in the face of such a theme lest our expectations start running rampant.  There is the story in the book of Acts in which one, Simon the Magician, tries to make a deal with Peter and John after he sees them perform a miracle.  He assumed like some of us that the power of God can be reduced to a parlor trick.  And we pretty much adopt the same approach as Simon the Magician whenever we pray for a parking place, or to win the athletic contest, or get an A on the exam.

The actress Della Reese of “Touched by an Angel” fame most certainly believes in a faith that works.  She is also known as The Reverend Della Reese Lett who is the pastor of the Church for Understanding the Principles of Better Living.  She preaches what she calls a “practical Christianity”.  “If you’re not getting the things you want, need, or desire, it’s because you have not accepted that you can have them,” she tells her congregation.  For many that is a very practical and motivating message which lays the foundation for a faith that works.

But we don’t need to be a member of the Church for Understanding the Principles of Better Living in order to want a faith that works for us now.  If there is no connection between faith and life, why waste the time in church, or in prayer, or in Bible reading.  I want to suggest this morning that it all begins with a question but it is important to get the question right.

Those well known letters (well known at least in West Michigan) of WWJD seem to provide a helpful starting point for many.  Worn as necklaces or bracelets, seen as book markers or bumper stickers, WWJD simply reminds the wearer to ask the question in every circumstance of life, “What would Jesus do?”  What a great connector to link faith and life, and millions have used it to do so!

Actually, the WWJD ethic for moral decision making seems like a no-brainer because after all, that is who we are as Christians -- followers of Jesus who according to that line from Godspell are trying to “see him more clearly, follow him more nearly, and love him more dearly”.  When we think about what Jesus would do, most of us have a vague sense of being kind, gentle, caring, and good to all whom we meet.  That’s not a bad start and once in a while it even works.

The legendary football coach, Vince Lombardi, once said, “Nice guys finish last.”  And I think that the current spate of reality shows like “The Survivor” and Donald Trump’s “The Apprentice” are out to prove that as a reality of the human condition.  But it is somewhat satisfying when every once in a while something happens to prove them wrong.

I must confess that while Reality T.V. sucks me in occasionally, I haven’t caught a glimpse of any of the Survivor Shows since “Survivor Thailand”, and one episode of that was enough to reconfirm that some folks will do almost anything to get one million dollars.  So it was with some surprise that I read about the winner of Survivor Pearl Island who shows that nice people don’t necessarily finish last.  Sandra Diaz-Twine was described as one who worked hard and told the truth -- unfortunately this stood out because it is not the kind of ethic usually exemplified on the series.

I don’t know if Ms. Diaz-Twine had her WWJD necklace hanging around her neck as she made her decisions not to comprise her deepest beliefs and as she made her way through that cut-throat competition.  But it is gratifying that she found a way to stay true to that value system that anchors her life.

That’s what all of us want to do when times get tough, when as the Psalmist says, “we walk through the valley of the shadow”.  For some a WWJD bracelet is enough of a reminder that there are indeed spiritual resources from which we can draw which will sustain us during those times.  However, we need to be careful not to use this nice little formula as a complete summary of our ethical code.

Now don’t get me wrong!  WWJD is not a bad start when you are getting up-to-speed on the road to faithful living.  However, it is also important for us to remember that “nice” may not always be the best definition for the way in which Jesus conducted himself and made his life decisions.  We don’t ordinarily think of this one who defied convention by mingling with women, or risked reputation by associating with sinners, or broke the law by defying the Pharisees as meekly going along with the status quo.

WWJD doesn’t necessarily take into account that we are facing a world Jesus never had to face.  Because Jesus' primary mode of transportation was walking or riding on a donkey, does that really mean that he would never drive an SUV.  And because Jesus clearly broke the Sabbath laws with impunity and was known to occasionally tip a few with friends, do we really know where he would line up the next time Grandville votes on its Sunday alcohol ordinance.

I submit that WWJD is a well-meaning but oversimplified formula if the end product is to be moral decision making.  The fact that we want to do God’s will as individuals and as a church is taken for granted; the fact that we do not always do it is clear; and the fact that well meaning and devout Christians often disagree about what God’s will is, is a matter of record.

As so, my friends, welcome to the church.  A dear friend has told me, “I learned a long time ago not to expect too much from the church."  Of course that saddens me, because it betrays a sense of pain and disillusionment.  What then should we expect from the church as together we seek God’s will for the living of these days -- certainly a place that offers comfort for the afflicted, and yet challenges our prejudices; certainly a place that offers hospitality to the stranger while dealing with the discomfort of diversity; and certainly a place where questions are welcomed while at the same time affirming the answer of the Gospel.

Therefore, while WWJD may be a good starting point, the question clearly needs to be expanded because Jesus isn’t here and is not likely to come back in the short order of things.

I.  What Did Jesus Do?

If we are so concerned about Jesus (and we should be) we need to ask, “What did Jesus do?”  The answer to that question is absolutely no secret at all.  It is written large across the biographical pages of the four Gospels.  Read it for yourself and it will leave you both inspired and depressed.

I think Mark Twain had it right when he said that he had enough trouble dealing with the things he understood in the Bible to worry about what he didn’t understand.  That can apply to Jesus also.  I submit that it is not helpful to try to figure out if Jesus would vote Democratic or Republican.  Would he have favored the invasion of Iraq?  Is he on the side of the Palestinians or the Israelis?

The danger, of course, is in always projecting our particular preferences into the message and the life of Jesus.  It is always better to start with what we know than with what we don’t know.  He healed the sick; he raised the dead; he fed the hungry; he forgave sinners; he welcomed the outcast; he turned the cheek; he loved his enemies.  If we are trying to live the life of Jesus in this world, that is not a bad list to start with.

And we can say some other things about Jesus with the hindsight of historical clarity.  He was a teacher who taught a subversive and alternate wisdom from the accepted dogma of the day.  He was a social prophet in the tradition of the classical prophets of ancient Israel who advocated an alternative social vision and was often in conflict with the authorities.  And he was a movement founder who sought to revitalize the Judaism of his day and to shatter the social boundaries that existed to exclude and marginalize whole classes of people.

The anonymous writer of that famous poem who wrote, “All of the navies that were ever built and all of the armies that have ever marched have not affected the life of man like this one solitary life” had it right.  Therefore, it is less helpful to ask what Jesus would do than to remember what he did do, and then to test our own willingness to follow in those footsteps.

II.  What Would Jesus Have Me Do?

And so, my friends, let me be clear -- I don’t have any trouble with the WWJD phenomenon, I just think we need more letters, something like six rather than four.  The marketers may have already considered that and rejected it because six letters may not fit quite as well on jewelry as four.  Nevertheless, if you are looking for that question that will help you to connect faith and life, I think that you will be better served by asking, “What would Jesus have me do?”

Therefore, the question becomes not WWJD as though we have some automatic insight into the mind of God, but WWJHMD.  How can I discern in the midst of many competing and sometimes contradictory voices what God wants me to do?  That is what we are about in today’s world and we need all the help we can get.

You see, the theme of the Bible from beginning to end is that God not only loves us, God trusts us.  We go back to Genesis to reaffirm that indeed our God is the creator God.  We know that in the beginning God created the heavens, the earth, the plants, and the animals.   And finally God created humankind and invited us to be partners with God in the ongoing work of creation.

That represents a heck of a lot of trust, and a strong case can be made that we have been abysmal failures in holding up our end of the bargain.  Have you ever found yourself in a position where you felt you were in over your head, and you just wanted out?  You wanted to get rid of all that responsibility.  You wanted someone else to make those hard decisions that affect the well-being of others!  In short you wanted God to intervene because you were afraid that you would make a mess out of things.

Being a partner assumes a different kind of authority and responsibility than being a slave whose every movement is dictated.  But that is what has happened, God has trusted us to be partners in the ongoing work of creation.  I like the way Peter Gomes puts it, “The genius of being a good teacher is in having more faith in your students than they have in themselves.”

"What would Jesus have me do?" is the question.  Not What would Jesus Do -- as if we had access to what he would do in every circumstance of life.  That’s why we are called “disciples”, “followers”.  That is why it may take time to discern what Jesus would have you and me do in a particular circumstance -- because we can’t always go to a particular verse of scripture, or find the clear guidance of tradition, or hear the clear call of the spirit in the midst of many competing voices of people of good will.

One of the most honest spiritual biographies I have read in a long time is Lew Smedes My God and I.  Some of you knew Lew as a son of a West Michigan Calvin professor, and for many years the distinguished professor of ethics at Fuller Seminary.  His was the gentle and powerful example of a person whose faith grew and changed until his dying day.

But one thing that didn’t change was the deep sense that life is a journey through which “My God and I” walk a day at a time.  It is not so much that we get everything right.  It is more important that we keep the conversation going.  And raising the question from time-to-time, “What would Jesus have me do?” can be a way of reminding us that by the grace of God we are involved in a partnership.

Amen.