“THE CONTENT OF OUR CHARACTER,” A Sermon delivered by the Reverend Dr. Geoffrey
G. Drutchas, St. Paul United Church of Christ, Taylor, January 24, 2016
A number of years ago my son attended a Christian high school for boys. That school
took Christian faith and our life in Christ seriously. The school motto was “Men for
Others.” Students were called to live that out in daily conduct, in school and out of
school. There was a recognition throughout the school community that a man for others
didn’t just happen by osmosis. Instead, genuinely Christian men needed to cultivated,
nurtured, and molded. Parents and students alike generally accepted this operational
premise and principle. However, some did embrace it more thoroughly than others—as I
noticed when I opened up the school’s annual yearbook which my son purchased and
brought home.
Apparently, it was the longstanding custom of the school to ask each senior to post next
to his yearbook portrait some wise saying that they found inspirational. About two thirds
of the seniors did exactly that. Yet a third of them posted something that was flip or
simply facetious.
On the good side, one senior posted a proverb from an unknown source that goes: “A
man never stands as tall as when he kneels to help a child.” I like that! Don’t you?
Moreover, that thoughtful student was followed in the yearbook by another classmate
who wrote: “One man with courage makes a majority.”
Still another student quoted the late Bishop Fulton Sheen, declaring: “Popularity is
feedback for self-forgetfulness.” Should I repeat that? “Popularity is feedback for selfforgetfulness.” Translated into simple words, the message here is that the more we stop
being so self-focused the more likely we are to be attractive and appealing to others.
After all, who likes a narcissist with a big, out-of-control ego? Or at least that used to be
true.
On the other side of things, there were those students, as mentioned earlier, who
posted sayings that didn’t really sound very Christian at all--which was all the more
striking given the fact it is a Christian school. For example, ignoring Jesus’ proverbial
teaching about turning the cheek when someone slaps you, one student, posted next to
his senior portrait: “Peace through superior fire-power!” And then there was the student
who chose to be farcical or nonsensical, quoting the British comedian Monty Python of
Flying Circus fame: “Now go away or I will taunt you a second time.”
Yet even more surprising to me was the student who probably thought he was being
funny by invoking next to his senior portrait a witticism attributed to the Detroit Red
Wings’ Gordie Howe: “Professional athletes are bilingual: they speak English and
profanity.” Now that statement may be worthy of a laugh. But how does it inspire
anyone in the quest to be a man for others? Frankly, I am not sure what prompted the
would-be graduate to highlight it.
However, in examining my son’s yearbook I made a further discovery which impressed
me then and impresses me still. Almost all the African-American students graduating that
year from my son’s school stayed on the more serious, deeper side of things in choosing
their inspirational sayings. Many quoted directly from biblical scripture. The others cited
the words of more contemporary spiritual leaders, whom they identified. One example:
“Success will not lower its standards to us. We must raise our standards to success.”
Reading this and other proverbs from my son’s African-American classmates, I turned to
my wife that afternoon and jokingly asked her: “Am I black—or what? All these AfricanAmerican students are holding up wisdom about life and faith that resonates the most
with me.” Apparently, these African-American youth graduating from high school came
from families that encouraged them in a more serious frame of mind and appreciated the
fact that we all need deeper wisdom to live by—to guide us in shaping our personal
character.
Ironically, one of the white kids actually capsulized the difference between the students
at his school who took the yearbook exercise to heart and those who didn’t by quoting a
quip from the Hollywood actor Harvey Keitel who supposedly once said: “Being a
character is not the same as having character.” All I can say is, how true! And let me add
that having character is more important than being a character.
Congregation, what is character? How do you define it? Did you know that the word
character originally comes from a Latin term for “a distinctive mark, impressed, engraved
or otherwise formed.” Over the years since character has come to refer to those qualities
of being that are written all over us.
For us as Christians, having character is about living a life molded by the teachings of
Jesus Christ and following the example that he embodied. If our character is Christian we
value and uphold love for God and one another; maintain respect and tolerance for
differing opinions; keep honest; commit ourselves to the ideal of justice for everyone;
stay personally humble; practice forgiveness in all our relationships; and reject violence in
our devotion to peace.
Although as men and women we are all capable of sin and selfishness, I think that God
has also endowed with a disposition to do good. But we don’t end up being good
spontaneously or automatically. The development of positive Christian character
requires effort on our part. The influence of those around us also matters.
Biblical scripture acknowledges this. In the Old Testament Book of Proverbs it says:
“Train up a child and he shall not depart from thy ways.” (Proverbs 22:6) Likewise, in his
New Testament Letter to the Corinthians, the Apostle Paul talks about how we need “to
give up childish ways.” (1 Corinthians 13:1-13) In other words, character building
requires preparation, training, and choice.
Parents today understand the importance of training for their sons and daughters. As
never before, they enroll them in all kinds of training camps and programs for basketball,
hockey, soccer, baseball, and gymnastics. And heaven forbid that these kids in training
should miss practice or performance time! At the same time, a lot of these parents
appear to assume that good moral character just happens without any skill-building or
that sports activities are enough to teach our kids the values that they need for life.
Now sports does teach discipline, team-work, and organization. It may also instill in our
young people a sense of what’s fair in competition and teach that we’re not going to win
every game in life. However, sports—or any other extracurricular activity--doesn’t impart
all the values and skills that are necessary to become the well-rounded, well-balanced
human beings that God wants us to be.
As matters stand, we may be raising a generation of superb athletes. Yet not many of
them may turn out to be spiritually fit, equipped to face life’s challenges with grace,
courage, and faith. Perhaps this is why today we see so much bad behavior among
athletes on and off the playing fields.
A good athlete knows that what he or she puts into our bodies impacts performance.
Yet what’s true for our bodies is no less true for our souls. The thoughts we feed
ourselves matter. They shape our character. They shape our lives. What kind of diet are
we on? What kind of spiritual nutrition are we providing our kids?
Just last week a study came out about the impact of internet usage on attitude and
outlook cross-generationally. After a lot of costly research, the study found what should
not come as a surprise to any of us. Those who regularly trolled negative, angry internet
blogs ended up more negative and angry themselves, more given to expression of what
they hate. Conversely, those who focused their time on the internet looking for happier
things to inspire and encourage them came away happier—more positive and contented.
The study underscored that what we read on the internet can be hazardous to our
psychological and spiritual well-being and possible even damage our character. At the
same time, the study affirms that we can help ourselves by what we listen to.
Obviously, not unlike those infants and toddlers being who at the greatest danger being
exposed to lead poisoning in Flint, our young people are always especially vulnerable to
potential moral and spiritual damage from negative influences. Yet let’s not
underestimate the lasting injury to the moral character of adults as well.
By way of analogy, let me share a story. When I was a minister outside of Baltimore,
Maryland, a number of years back, I had a church member who had a one-in-ten-million
reaction to antibiotics that left her permanently stone deaf. Now handicapped midway
through life, she suddenly had to learn how to read lips and use sign language to
communicate. For friends who cared deeply about her that was tough to see. Her
struggle was so great. Yet also difficult to hear is how Carol’s beautiful voice began to
change and become increasingly flatter, losing the pleasant, melodic quality we all knew.
Congregation, whether we realize it, we are constantly tuning and re-tuning our voices.
Carol, however, didn’t have the hearing necessary to do that continuous tuning anymore.
Very similarly, albeit at a very different level, when we’re not listening to good things
anymore or feeding ourselves good thoughts, our own moral character becomes flatter,
less attuned to what God wants for us, regardless of our age. While kids can become
morally and spiritually stunted when exposed to a steady diet of bad things and closed off
from countering influences that are positive, hopeful, and encouraging, grown adults can
end up morally and spiritually blighted and deformed under the same onslaught.
Cynical, caustic people don’t thrive. Not do angry, hateful men and women. They
actually shrivel—with life expectancies shorter than the rest of us. It is people of faith
with good moral character who generally live the longest and healthiest lives. This is why
we say at St. Paul that “churched people have a better chance.” It’s true.
Friends, we all need to work at being good people, keeping attuned to good things that
can inspire us. Having good character is worth working for.
The late Martin Luther King, whose birthday was nationally celebrated last week, once
expressed the hope that one day people would be judged according to the content of
their character rather than the color of their skin. No profounder hope was ever uttered.
For us as Christians character matters more than our color or our ethnic background. It
should certainly matter more than the amount of money we have in wallets, purses, or
bank accounts. And the importance of character definitely trumps our athletic prowess.
Let’s all remember that having character is about more than being a character. Like the
young man in our morning gospel lesson (Mark 10:17-23) may we always seek after the
higher things and cultivate the positive, faithful habits that bring us closer to God and
everything that he wants for our lives through the spirit of Jesus Christ. Amen.