Join the Chorus
2 Corinthians 6: 1-13
Paul Payack, president of the Global Language Monitor, a U.S.-based language monitoring group, recently announced the arrival of the one millionth word or phrase in the English language. The phrase designated to receive this honor was Web 2.0. This was reported by MSNBC this last week. Payack estimates that approximately 14.7 new English words or phrases are generated daily. Some of the newest English words leading up to the one millionth include “slumdog” “carbon neutral” and “cloud computing” (services delivered via the Internet). There seems to be this constant creative energy evolving that gets expressed through an expanding vocabulary.
One of the largest groups of newly created phrases includes complaints. I used to think that GLBT people cornered the market on the ability to take any situation and find something wrong with it. Not anymore.
Now, for the record, complaining is different than sharing facts to assist something getting better. People find all sorts of ways to camouflage complaining. In church settings we sometimes call it sharing (Pastor, I’m only telling you this because I’m worried about Jim Bob’s soul) or even prayer requests (Please pray that Sally Mae will quit being so mean to people). Complaining is any negative description of a person, event or issue without the possibility of a constructive solution. Like gossip, complaining becomes addictive. It can almost become second-nature. Some describe the many forms of complaining with the acronym BMW (belly-aches, moans and whines).
Out of this rich soil of complaining a new phenomenon has sprung up around the world. It is called a Complaint Choir. The idea behind these choirs is that people love to sing and people love to complain, so we may as well put them together. This is a cross-cultural phenomenon so English speaking folks are not the only ones feeling a need to creatively find new ways to complain. From Helsinki to Hamburg, Penn State to elementary schools, Singapore to Birmingham (England, not Alabama), complaint choirs have touched a nerve in our collective consciousness that seems to transcend culture and language... and they’re very funny. Here’s an example from the Helsinki Complaint Choir. [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBN4dkiREd8 first 3 minutes] You can go on Youtube and find recordings of lots of other complaint choirs. Most of them contain complaints polite people don’t say in church.
Now, I bet that given the right opportunity, any of us could write a couple of stanzas to such a tune. Complaining about someone throwing water on the stove in the sauna may not rank high on our list but I bet we could come up with our own verses. Complaining is contagious. I have been running around all this week with that phrase playing over and over in my head, “En nue faree” (It’s not fair). (You may have noticed that I just complained! At least I learned a little Finnish in the process.)
Although I think Complaint Choirs are creative and fun ways to express the feelings life produces in us. There is something insidious about how seductive complaining can become in how we live life. You’ve probably come across a Debbie Downer who every time you see them coming, you think to yourself, “there’s got to be somewhere else I can be right now!” because that person will suck the energy right out of you. Any subject possible will be turned to its most depressive perspective so that you walk away from them like a shriveled husk. There is a little Debbie in each of us.
As people of faith, we are constantly looking for better ways to approach life than this. In fact – particularly in those moments when the urge to complain, to whine or rehash old hurts raises its ugly head – one way we can consciously redirect ourselves is to ask, “Where is God in this?” What about this situation can make me a better person? What about this experience can make the world a better place?
In our text today Paul reminds the Corinthian church that there is
indeed a great deal of difficulty that they have faced in their lives and community – troubles, hardships, distresses, beatings, imprisonments, riots, sleepless nights and hunger. The Corinthians have a lot to complain about and so Paul tells them that he, too, could have lots to complain about. It would be really easy to want to join the Complaint Choir and tell everyone just how bad life can be. But our text from Corinthians is encouraging us to join a different chorus – and in the process discover something deeper about our faith.
The only way to receive grace in a difficult time is through an open heart, but an open heart is at risk. To try to have an open heart when we are hurting is really counter-intuitive, isn’t it? That’s why it is so much easier to complain. When we face challenges, our first instinct may be to close ourselves off from the challenge, resist it, complain about it. But we miss an amazing opportunity to transform that experience into something helpful when we close our hearts.
God is found in the “and yet.”
This is what scripture reveals this morning:
Genuine and yet regarded as imposters;
Known, yet regarded as unknown;
Dying, and yet we live on;
Beaten, and yet not killed;
Sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;
Poor, yet making many rich;
Having nothing, and yet possessing everything.
Any of those things would have been ample fodder to stoke the fires of Paul’s complaints. Who wants to be considered an imposter? Who wants to be beaten, sorrowful or have nothing? I bet he could find lots of people to sing that tune. All of us know a verse in that song of woe. But he doesn’t use them for that. Instead he looks for God in the “and yet.”
Finding God is as close as deciding what your next “and yet” could be. The presence of God is discovering that you and I aren’t stuck in whatever the problem might be. Alone and yet surrounded by potential friends. Addicted and yet in recovery. Hurt by love in the past and yet open to the possibilities of the future. Do you get stuck in anger, worry, anxiety or fear? You don’t have to stay there. Simply look for your “and yet”. You will find the presence of God waiting for you.
Sources:
www.homileticsonline.com A Choir for the Complaining, June 2009.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31200218/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBN4dkiREd8 Helsinki Complaint Choir.
