Sermon: Never buy shoes in the morning

SERMONS

FROM RIVERSIDE

NEVER BUY SHOES IN THE MORNING

Dr. Ernest T. Campbell

THE RIVERSIDE
CHURCH IN THE
CITY OF NEW YORK

FEBRUARY 25, 1973

NEVER BUY SHOES IN THE MORNING

My theme today sounds as though it would better
serve a Consumer Affairs program than a sermon: Never
buy shoes in the morning.

This piece of market place advice makes good sensa
Our feet tend to swell in the course of a busy day. If
one buys shoes in the morning he is likely to find
them uncomfortably tight as the day wears on. See that
your shoes are fitted at the point of maximum need.

It is not shoes however that we are concerned with
today but religion. In particular, the religion of
young people. It pains me that in the morning of life
many of our finest young men and women are "buying" re-
ligions that will not meet the test of the middle or
latter years! It belongs to youth to wander. It be-
longs to age to warn. I attempt now the assignment of
sounding a warning that is long overdue.

Let me begin with a fact of life: Rebellion
against accepted values is the time honored way by
which the young establish their identity. If they
wish to become something other than lengthened shadows
of their parents or the dominant institutions of so-
ciety, they must break away and make tracks of their
own.

This rebellion may be more pronounced in our time
than ever before, but it surely is not new. Wise par-
ents have always made allowance for and even welcomed
signs of independence in their offspring. I heard
the other day of a teenager who went out to buy a
shirt. As the clerk was wrapping it up the lad asked,
"Can I bring it back if my mother likes it?" Pro-
testing mom's and dad's religion is the adolescent's
way of saying, "Look, I'm a person in my own right!"

Let me continue with a concession: Young people

today are aware of_ more different life possibilities
than was any previous generation. Thanks to radio and
television, thanks to the advent of inexpensive paper-
backs, thanks to increased access to post-high school
education, thanks to accelerated global travel and its
attendant cultural exchanges, the youth of today are
confronted by a bewildering assortment of religious
options. There are voices on every side of them now
whispering, now shouting, "this is the way, walk ye
in it."

Our young people cope with these multiple options
by developing a sequence of short-term attachements to
different world views. Today it's Zen, tomorrow it
may be astrology or Ayn Rand's Objectivism.

Have you noticed how young people nowadays like to
speak of being "into" something. This is a character-
istic and significant term. It suggests the tentativ-
ity of the search. I'm "into" Transactional Anaysis.
Or , Harry is "into" drugs. Or Sam is "into" Black
Separatism. The other day I heard of a minister's
daughter who turned to her mother and innocently asked,
"Is daddy into God?"

The aim of young people as they attempt to cope
with their multiple options is to scan the field
before settling down. When one is in a strange com-
munity and turns on the radio, he doesn't stop at the
first acceptable station. Rather, he sweeps the band
to be sure that he is listening to the finest program
available.

We began with a fact of life: Rebellion against
accepted values is the time honored way by which the
young establish their identity. We continued with a
concession: Young people today are faced with more
different life possibilities than was true of any
previous generation. I move on now to speak some
rather direct thoughts to our young people and the

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generation that they represent.

First, I should like to urge you to investigate
life's options with your minds and not your morals .
It is important in trying to understand the various
options before you to "enter in" as fully as possible.
To understand Zen Buddhism as a devout Buddhist does,
one must sit where he sits and feel what he feels.
The same is true for coming to terms with any life
philosophy.

The attempt however can lead to danger when the
investigation is done not only with the mind but
also with one's morals. Think, for example, of the
sexual freedom that is presently sweeping the west-
ern world. True, there has been an unseemly amount
of hypocrisy surrounding sex in our society. The
other day a judge out west made a significant con-
fession to a friend of mine. This jurist's son is
living with a girl to whom he is not legally married.
They are living together on a fixed term contract.
They have no license. As for the judge, he is trapped
in a tired and listless marriage. Speaking of his
son the judge said, "He's married except for a piece
of paper, and I'm divorced except for a piece of
paper. "

Hypocrisy abounds, granted. But it just may be
that total sexual freedom creates as many problems as
it purports to solve. Young people would do well to
ask themselves whether unbridled promiscuity is the
best possible preparation for the kind of life they
envision for themselves and their children.

Something of the same order might be said of
drugs. It is true beyond dispute that the older gen-
eration has been hung up on alcohol. To an astounding
degree we have learned to accommodate ourselves to
this killer. Yet, one folly does not justify another.
Young people who begin to experiment with high powered
drugs cannot convincingly defend the practice on the
grounds that they are correcting an earlier wrong.

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No one ever started out to be an alcoholic. No one
ever started out to be an addict. Always the start is
made on the grounds of investigating a new sensation.
Presently for many the chains are forged and enslave-
ment sets in.

The same might be said of young people who get
caught up in radical anti-establishment movements. In
Donald Barr's book, Who Pushed Humpty Dumpty? the noted
educator makes the point that young people who are in-
terested in large causes develop what he calls "Macro-
morality." They are big on the large issues. Often,
however, they turn out to be quite indifferent to what
he calls Micro-morality — cheating on tests, stealing,
being cruel to parents, lying, the destruction of pro-
perty. It is possible for a young person to be so
caught up in a wave of hatred for society as to actu-
ally go out in a fit of rage and kill a policeman or
some innocent bystander. Consequently, for the rest
of his life he must live with a murderer — either in
or out of prison. When we investigate with our morals
instead of our minds we run the risk of becoming a
permanent casualty.

I carry in my scrap book a picture from "The New
York Times" of April 29, 1971, depicting a giant ship
lying half on its side on a bed of rocks. The caption
beneath the picture is terse and to the point: "All
Hope Abandoned." The troubled vessel was the Brazilian
freighter Taquari. It rammed the rocks a mile or so
off the coast of Uruguay. Wondering whether the
Taquari was ever salvaged, I called the Brazilian Steam-
ship Company office in New York the other day and
asked about it. The ship was never recovered. The
force of the current in those waters was too strong
to permit the divers to work. Saddest of all, the
Taquari was on her maiden voyage when disaster struck.
The maiden voyage turned out to be the last voyage.

My other word is this: Ask yourself before you

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make a serious life commitment how well this faith is
likely to travel. Too many young people buy their
shoes in the morning. Thus, lacking perspective, they
fall for the first thought system that they come upon.

If a man has never heard a symphony orchestra be-
fore, a high school orchestra playing a classical se-
lection at a P.T.A. meeting could sweep him off his
feet! To one who has never studied Political Science,
rantings from a platform in Hyde Park or Union Square
could sound like distilled wisdom. A friend once ob-
served that Augustine probably became a Manichaean in
his early years because this was the first philosphy
that he had ever stumbled on.

Before you "buy" ask questions. Is this life phi-
losophy likely to be good for the long haul? Is it
sufficiently comprehensive to deserve my full commit-
ment? I think in this connection of the various lib-
eration movements that are the rage just now — Gay
Liberation, Women's Liberation, Black Liberation,
Poor People's Liberation and the like. May I share a
judgement with you? Any form of liberation that is
qualified by an adjective is not sufficient for a life
commitment. Adjectival liberation falls short of
being sufficiently comprehensive. These limited thrusts
for freedom can well be footnotes to a total faith, but
they are not sufficient to stand alone as rallying
points for life.

What shall be said of the new fascination with the
stars that so many are excited about? I sat with a
minister the other day who always recommends to his
troubled members that they get an astrological reading
on their problems. He was proud of this procedure —
as though it represented an advance over conventional
Christian care. But is this progress? Is it gain for
any generation to trade the sovereignty of God for
the tyranny of the stars?

We are experiencing an epidemic of drugs in our
city and the nation. Can indulgence in drugs answer

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the longings of the soul for meaning? Can it deal
with our sense of guilt? Can it speak to our need for
community? What can it do for us when we stand before
the grim and unalterable fact of death? Does the drug
culture represent the kind of life style that we could,
in all good conscience, sit down and commend to our
children?

Information leaking in from a variety of communes
in America suggests that all does not necessarily go
well when young people get away from their families and
the rigors of a regular job. One book that I was "into"
this past week suggests that communes face the same old
human problems that have plagued man for ages: Guilt
feelings about sex, petty gossip, envy, and a profound
boredom with life. 1

In summary, I would say to our young people, shop
in the morning but do not buy in the morning. And when
you shop, do so with your mind and not your morals.

My final word is one of testimony and commendation.
I speak to you as a convinced Christian — not neces-
sarily a faithful Christian, but a convinced Christian.
I have found the gospel of Jesus Christ a faith for all
times and seasons, for every need and circumstance. It
is comprehensive. It is worthy of our children's trust.
It grows upon us as we grow into it. It travels well
— to prisons, to hospitals, to cemeteries, to Civil
Rights marches, to peace vigils, to migrant workers'
strikes and boycotts.

I do not ask you to "buy" it uncritically or to
remain in ignorance of alternative interpretations of
reality. The market place of religious ideas is free,
open and unregulated. It is yours to explore. Besides,
the Christian gospel needs not to be protected from
its rivals. It can hold its own.

I only make the plea that when Christ bids for

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your heart and the claims of his suffering love regis-
ter with force on your mind and spirit, you say, "yes"
to Him. Then you will discover what we have discovered
who have gone before you; that He is sufficient for all
the life that we are called upon to live-in this world
and the next.

CLOSING PRAYER

SpAJvut ofa God - wtthout whom none, can
hay that JeJ>u6 ChnJj>t aj> Loh.dt
wotik am m, the gtfit o fa faalth.

Gh.ant to oua young, especially, a duo.
henhe o^ the tncompasiable mhAk
o^ CfouAt and a M-UZtngnehh to
follow Htm alt the. May --to death
and beyond.

Amen.

FOOTNOTE :

Katz, Elia, Armed Love, Bantam Book, New York, 1972

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