An UnCommencement Address

Delivered May 20, 2012  Video

Psalm 1  

The radio in my car is tuned to one station only – NHPR. I listen to National Public Radio when I am driving in my car. Even when we took a day trip a couple of weeks ago and lost the NH station I switched to Main Public Radio. Earlier this month NPR interviewed Charles Whelan, a former correspondent for The Economist and now a lecturer in public policy at the University of Chicago. The interview was about an essay he had written in the Wall Street Journal  entitled “10 Things Your Commencement Speaker Won't Tell You” which was adapted from his book  "10½ Things No Commencement Speaker Has Ever Said," published May 7. The interview and the article were interesting. Let me share his points.

1. Your time in fraternity basements was well spent. He said when he said that in a commencement address the president of the university suddenly got very nervous! By that he means the friendships one makes in college are as valuable as what you learn in class.

2. Some of your worst days lie ahead.  He was giving graduates a dose of realism concerning the hard knocks that life gives you.

3. Don't make the world worse. He goes on “I know that I'm supposed to tell you to aspire to great things. But I'm going to lower the bar here: Just don't use your prodigious talents to mess things up. Too many smart people are doing that already.”

4. Marry someone smarter than you are. (That advice speaks for itself.)

5. Help stop the Little League arms race. “Kids' sports are becoming ridiculously structured and competitive.” Along that same line I read how this year many communities canceled their Easter Egg hunts because the parents made it too competitive. He says to let your kids be kids and have fun and just play.

6. Read obituaries. They remind us that interesting, successful people rarely lead orderly, linear lives.

7. Your parents don't want what is best for you.  He goes on to explain: “They want what is good for you, which isn't always the same thing.” 

8. Don't model your life after a circus animal. Performing animals do tricks because their trainers throw them peanuts or small fish for doing so. You should aspire to do better.

9. It's all borrowed time. You shouldn't take anything for granted, not even tomorrow. I offer you the "hit by a bus" rule. Would I regret spending my life this way if I were to get hit by a bus next week or next year? And the important corollary: Does this path lead to a life I will be happy with and proud of in 10 or 20 years if I don't get hit by a bus.

10. Don't try to be great. Being great involves luck and other circumstances beyond your control. The less you think about being great, the more likely it is to happen. And if it doesn't, there is absolutely nothing wrong with being solid.

Those ten points would probably be enough of a sermon just in itself, but I know you expect me to preach something from the Bible, so I am going to give you my variation on Whelan’s theme giving my own “Three things you won’t hear in a commencement speech.” I am using Psalm 1 as my text. This psalm is much like a commencement address. Biblical scholars call it a wisdom psalm; it is wisdom literature, like the book of proverbs. The whole book of Proverbs and some of the psalms are designed to give advice to young people. So it fits right in with the commencement address theme. This psalm stands at the very beginning of the book and gives some advice to its readers about living. It tells us three things.

I. The first point is: Pursue Happiness. That doesn’t sound very serious or profound, does it? Sounds like Bobby McFerrin’s old song “Don’t worry, be happy.” Happy is the first word in the psalm and the theme of the psalm. The King James Version and my New King James uses the word blessed, but many modern translations use the word happy as the first word of the Book of Psalms. The Hebrew word actually means happy. This psalmist’s advice in life is to be happy and he goes on to describe how to achieve this happiness.

Happiness is next to godliness, to paraphrase an old maxim. He says, in effect, that if you want to be happy, be godly. He compares the godly and the ungodly in this psalm, and says that the godly are happier. In 2008, Arthur Brooks, president of the American Enterprise Institute, wrote a book entitled "Gross National Happiness." He summarizes scores of academic studies demonstrating that “religious people of all faiths are, on average, markedly happier than secularists, and this is true even when wealth, age and education are taken into account. In one major survey, 23 percent of secularists reported being "very happy" with their lives, versus 43 percent of religious respondents. Believers are a third more likely to express optimism about the future. Unbelievers are almost twice as likely as the religious to say, "I'm inclined to feel I'm a failure." (Religious people are happier, studies show” By Daniel Peterson, For the Deseret News Published: Thursday, March 8 2012 ) So it seems like there is a scientific basis for the psalmist’s advice that happiness is next to godliness. That doesn’t mean that any particular religion is true or that all religions are equally valid. There is also the saying that “ignorance is bliss.” But it does seem to indicate that there is a correlation between happiness and religiousness.

Another interesting thing about the Hebrew word for happy or blessed in the Old Testament is that it is always found in the plural form. In other words you can’t be happy by yourself. Your happiness is dependent on your connection to other people. Community is one of the big strengths of religion. We humans are social animals by nature; we are a tribal species. We need each other to physically survive, and we are happiest when we are connected to people and when we make others happy. People sometimes remark that you don’t have to go to church to be religious, and that may be true. But it will probably make you happier. Happiness is found in community. It is found in family – biological family or spiritual family. It is found by serving others. We don’t achieve happiness by trying to gain it as if it were a possession. We are happiest when we are not thinking of ourselves but are trying to make others happy. That is what church is about.

II. The second point in this psalm is: Do no Harm. What you don’t do is as important as what you do. This point has to do with sin. Whelan made this point in his article when he told his hypothetical graduates “Don’t make the world worse.” In the radio interview he talked about all the very intelligent and educated people who graduated from the best schools, attained positions of power, and made a lot of money, but they did things that harmed people and society and the environment. So he encouraged graduates at the very least to do no evil. Don’t leave the world a worse place for you having been in it. It is a variation on the Hippocratic Oath to “above all do no harm.”

 The psalmist starts off the psalm by telling the reader what not to do. It says, “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly,  Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”  Don’t walk in the counsel of the ungodly. Don’t stand in the path of sinner. Don’t sit in the seat of the scornful. With these three pieces of advice, he describes the slippery slope which leads to ungodliness and unhappiness. I don’t think people set out on life with the goal to become an unhappy and bad person. Perhaps sociopaths do, but most just want to be happy and live a normal life. But something happens that gets them off the right track. This verse describes how that happens.

First people “walk in the counsel of the ungodly.” The path to unhappiness starts off by listening to the wrong counsel. You tend to go in the direction of the folks you listen to and the crowd you hang around with. When I was growing up my parents always talked about kids who were a bad influence. This is what the psalmist is talking about. You start talking the talk and then you start walking the walk. “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly.”

Then he moves on to “stands in the path of sinners.”  The hypothetical person in the psalm has gone from talking to walking to standing.  Walking might mean that you are just passing through the neighborhood. But when you are standing on the corner that means you live in the area. You see people standing around in front of the post office, and you know they are probably not tourists passing through. Chances are they live here. “Blessed is the man who does not … stand in the path of sinners.

The psalm goes from talking and walking to standing to sitting: “Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful.”  If you are sitting down you have taken up residence. Look where he has taken up residence: in the seat of the scornful. He has become one of the scornful. He has gone from simply listening to the counsel of the ungodly to giving it. He has gone from standing in the path of sinners to building his home on the path.

There is a progression described here. The way of the spiritual life is not static. Our live are always changing. There is movement one way or the other. If we aren’t moving ahead in the spiritual life, we are probably moving in another direction. Okay, so you probably aren’t going to be a super-saint. That is alright. Just don’t leave the world worse than you found it. It would be great if the world were a better place for us having lived here. It would be great if this town were a better place for us having lived here. But above all, let’s not make it worse. Don’t let people say at your funeral, “I’m glad he’s gone” or “she’s gone.”

III. The third piece of advice that the psalmist gives is to live like a tree. Verses 2-3 say: “But his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.³ He shall be like a tree Planted by the rivers of water, That brings forth its fruit in its season, Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.”

To live like a tree means to be planted by rivers of water. Keep near the Source of Life and nourishment. That source is God and those waters are the words of God. All we really have to do to grow in the spiritual life is plant ourselves down near the River of Life. If you are putting in a garden this year, you know you need water, and you need sunlight and some good soil. Unfortunately in my little plot of land on Grove Street, I have rocky ledge and no sun. If you plant in a well-watered, well-drained, sunny spot that is 90% of the battle; the same with the spiritual life. Our nourishment is God. All we really have to do is set ourselves down near God in prayer, meditation, worship, scripture – and God will do the rest. Thinking deeply about spiritual matter is like putting down deep roots. The problem with many churches is that the member’s roots don’t go deep because the soil is shallow and not watered.

If you are planted by the rivers of water then you will bring forth fruit. The apostle Paul speaks about spiritual fruit as being qualities like love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control. You can tell a healthy tree or plant by its fruit. You can tell a healthy Christian by whether these qualities are present in his/her life. If a plant or tree is producing fruit then it will also have nice rich foliage. That is why he says here “Whose leaf also shall not wither; And whatever he does shall prosper.” He contrasts the way of the fruitful spiritual life with the unspiritual life. “The ungodly are not so, But are like the chaff which the wind drives away. ⁵ Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, Nor sinners in the congregation of the righteous. ⁶ For the Lord knows the way of the righteous, But the way of the ungodly shall perish.”  The spiritual life is like a tree that stands in the storms of life. It is rooted in God near the rivers of life. It bears foliage that gives shade and fruit which gives nourishment to others, whereas the unrooted life is like a barren tree or chaff blowing in the wind.

The psalmist gives us some very simple advice. It is not too difficult for any of us. First, pursue happiness. It is the American way right? Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The Bible calls it blessing, but it is the same thing. God has built into us the desire to be happy. Pursue this God-given right, but do it wisely. Watch the company you keep; whom we associate with will determine to a great extent the path we take in life and whether it will result in happiness or sorrow.  Watch your step, and above all do no harm. Finally plant yourself firmly in God. Spend a lot of time in the presence of God, meditating on God, worshiping God, thinking about God. Go deep in your thinking, reading and praying. Our psalm says of the spiritual person, “his delight is in the law of the Lord, And in His law he meditates day and night.” Sink your roots deep into Godly soil. Make spiritual matters the most important part of your life and not just a peripheral activity. Then your life will be blessed.