Gordon E. Ellis
June 5, 2005
SITHS, MONOPOLY & THE BIBLE
How many of you have seen the new STAR WARS movie? When I was in Chicago, people were literally standing in LINES in the middle of the night to be the FIRST to see it. I actually thought of DOING that MYSELF, but decided NOT to. AND, I haven’t had time SINCE then to see it. But I DID note in a New York Times REVIEW of the movie that it’s SUPPOSED to be surprisingly GOOD. The reviewer said that one of the most INTRIGUING things ABOUT this MOVIE is that George Lucas FINALLY seems to be doing some political and cultural CRITIQUE. Well, just in case Star Wars is not a LIGHT motif in YOUR home, let me remind you that THIS is the point in the SAGA, in which Anakin Skywalker gives IN to his DARK SIDE and becomes DARTH VADER, and WE find out HOW that took place. All I know is that SITHS are involved, hence the title: The Revenge of the Siths.
Now, SITHS apparently are EVIL creatures. And as FAR as I can tell, IF you want to build an EMPIRE, you want SITHS on your side, because they’re GOOD at it. For SITHS, there are NO messy human POLITICS, NO moral dilemmas, NO lengthy DISCERNMENT processes. SITHS are STRICKLY about POWER and EFFICIENCY. And WHEN Anakin Skywalker (and this was in the REVIEW) begins to argue the expediency of absolute POWER, one of his MENTORS remarks: Only a SITH thinks in ABSOLUTES, which the New York Times reviewer thinks will become a BUMPER-STICKER in the next ELECTION. Only a SITH thinks in ABSOLUTES!
Well, I LIKE the fact that our kids are actually getting a little political THEORY with their STARS WARS movies and games -- something BEYOND what they USUALLY get, which is just MIGHT makes RIGHT. And not MANY of their games impart the sort of WISDOM that we see in Star Wars. And games HAVEN’T imparted that wisdom for a VERY long time. Take, for example, our old STANDARD, Monopoly. I always used to WONDER, as we sat down with our KIDS to play a game of MONOPOLY (and ARGUED again over WHO would be the CAR and WHO would be the CANNON), I ALWAYS used to wonder WHAT my kids could possibly LEARN from Monopoly that has ANYTHING to do with CHRISTIAN values. THINK about it! I mean: what MY kids LEARNED from playing Monopoly was that IF you are lucky enough to LAND on FREE PARKING, so that you SUDDENLY have a HUGE influx of CASH, you can buy WHATEVER property you LAND on, put up houses and hotels, and then BANKRUPT all the other players! What MY kids learned from MONOPOLY is that IF you have ALL the properties of ONE color -- all the BLUE or all the GREEN -- IF you own it ALL, YOU have POWER to put your brother OUT of the GAME, which will make him REALLY mad, and inevitably VIOLENT. And THAT’S because there is no NICE way to END a game of MONOPOLY, IS there? Not in OUR house anyway. It’s NEVER fair! It’s just the LUCK of the DICE, physics of MOTION (because once you start sliding downward, you can’t stop), and the CERTAINTY of FIGHTS between siblings.
You know: I’ll bet a SITH would LOVE Monopoly! In fact, I bet a Sith INVENTED Monopoly! AND Chutes and Ladders! AND Parcheesi! And EVEN that most WHOLESOME of ALL board games: CANDYLAND! And if you don’t BELIEVE me, just TRY reaching the END of the rainbow road before your 3-year old opponent, so that YOU enter King Candy’s castle FIRST… and all because YOU drew a double purple CARD and SHE didn’t! Well, THROUGH the ensuing WAILS and TEARS, you will come to realize that ONLY an evil SITH could have INVENTED Candyland OR any of the OTHER games that TEACH our children that you can ONLY have ONE winner. ONLY an evil SITH could have created a system in which only ONE person gets to the Head of the Class, and furthermore, that the game is only FUN if YOU are that person! Otherwise (the games teach us), you are entitled to make a BIG, noisy FUSS and to substitute OTHER systemic principles, such as Might Makes Right, because CLEARLY, IF you hit your brother when you LOSE, you will FEEL better! Yes, I’ll bet a SITH invented ALL those games, because ONLY a SITH thinks in ABSOLUTES!
Well, friends, I think that the population of SITHS in our country today is GROWING, because MORE and more PEOPLE these days seem to be THINKING and TEACHING and PREACHING in ABSOLUTES. And to ME, it’s downright SCARY, because the NEXT step may well BE replacing our DEMOCRACY with an EMPIRE. And it’s ALSO scary because THIS book, The BIBLE, the book that I try to base my LIFE on, CAN be read as a book FULL of ABSOLUTES, a book that we can PLAY MONOPOLY with, and a book that can declare US as the WINNERS. Well, the PROBLEM IS that, IF we play Monopoly WITH the Bible, we end up with a monopoly ON the Bible! You see: people these days seem to NEED to ALWAYS be RIGHT! THAT’S why FUNDAMENTALISM in ALL religions is GROWING. People want to be RIGHT! But don’t you SEE: THAT’S what turns an Anakin Skywalker into a Darth Vader. And believe me: the descent into being a Darth Vader is a possibility within EACH and every ONE of us! And there’s NOTHING more scary than having a WHOLE lot of Darth Vaders running around, thinking in terms of ABSOLUTES, and using the BIBLE as their LIGHT-saber!
Well, friends, as people of FAITH, as CHRISTIAN people, WE need to RESIST the urge to think in terms of ABSOLUTES. WE need to STOP playing MONOPOLY with the Bible. You know: when it comes to the BIBLE, (contrary to what MANY people THINK) the POINT is NOT to be RIGHT. The POINT of the Bible is to take its various stories, and its various passages, and to LIVE in them. I mean: the Bible speaks TRUTH, and offers WISDOM, that is SO powerful and SO eternal that it can INFORM literally EVERYTHING that we THINK and SAY and DO every single day of our lives! But what’s IN the Bible NEEDS to be STRUGGLED with and INTERPRETED. I mean: What do I always TELL you about my PREACHING? I ALWAYS say: I DON’T preach to make you AGREE with me. I PREACH to make you THINK, and to make you go BACK to your BIBLE and really STRUGGLE with it, and DIALOGUE with it and INTERPRET it, so that it speaks to YOU, TODAY! And THAT’S the point of the BIBLE! As our Pilgrim ancestor, John Robinson, said in his farewell address to his fellow Pilgrims: God has STILL more LIGHT and TRUTH to break forth from God’s holy WORD! BUT, IF we think in terms of ABSOLUTES, the conversation STOPS! THAT puts a PERIOD where GOD has placed a COMMA! Friends, we need to remember that ONLY God can write a PERIOD, but GOD is STILL speaking today IN and through the Holy Spirit. You know, it wasn’t that long AGO when SLAVERY was just taken for GRANTED, and thought to be a GOOD thing. And people used the BIBLE to JUSTIFY slavery, because the BIBLE takes it for GRANTED. That’s what was DONE in those days. But TODAY, we know how UNCOUTH and EVIL slavery IS. And the BIBLE taught us THAT TOO! SO, WE need to struggle, and KEEP struggling, with WHAT the Bible is REALLY saying to us, and NOT just take it LITERALLY, as a BUNCH of ABSOLUTES, so that WE end up becoming SITHS. Only a SITH thinks in ABSOLUTES, and SITHS can turn an Anakin Skywalker into a Darth Vader.
Now, WHY am I preaching this message TODAY, on CONFIRMATION Sunday? Well, it’s because, IF the CHURCH is going to AVOID that DESCENT into becoming a Darth Vader in the years to come, it’s our KIDS who are going to have to learn HOW to read and interpret the scriptures, and HOW to AVOID playing Monopoly with the Bible (when so MANY around them WANT to play Monopoly with it), AND how to KEEP our country from becoming a nation of SITHS. It’s our KIDS who are going to HAVE to be NON-CONFORMISTS. Now I’m SURE that the KIDS here are looking at me like I’m CRAZY, but St. Paul is CORRECT when he says: Do NOT be CONFORMED to THIS world, but be TRANSFORMED by the RENEWING of your MINDS, SO that YOU may DISCERN what IS the will of God, what is GOOD and ACCEPTABLE and PERFECT. You see: DISCERNMENT is our JOB!
Friends, it’s so EASY just to think in terms of ABSOLUTES! More and more people today are DOING just THAT! It’s so EASY become a SITH! AND, it’s SO EASY to ALWAYS want to be RIGHT! But that’s NOT who we see in Jesus Christ! That’s NOT the One, whom WE are called to FOLLOW and EMULATE! Being a CHRISTIAN in this world is NOT easy! And anyone who thinks that it IS, is simply MISGUIDED! As Tony Campolo says: Nothing is more controversial than to be a follower of Jesus Christ. Nothing is more DANGEROUS than to live out the will of God in today's world. And those who JOIN such a movement, and those who are confirmed INTO such a movement, NEED to take it VERY seriously. It’s very EASY today to CALL yourself a CHRISTIAN, but it’s NOT so easy to BE one. It’s MUCH easier to be a SITH. Friends, we ALL need to THINK about that, and STRUGGLE with it. But those being CONFIRMED today REALLY need to think about it and PRAY about it, because SO MUCH in the future will DEPEND upon how YOU read and interpret the BIBLE. Amen.