Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes

I Corinthians 13:8-13

Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end. For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part; but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end. When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways. For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known. And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

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This opening line to Jimmy Buffett's song “Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes,” I think, in a way could be a summary for what we are doing now, as we catch up on the past year. You know, he opens up with that line “I took off for a weekend last month just to try and recall the whole year.” Certainly, I'm still trying to catch up. I'm still trying to recall everything that happened last year. To be quite honest, I'm not even fully caught up on what's happened so far this year. That's what still happens, as we are coming out of this fog, I guess you could call it that hangs over our heads or makes you feel like your brain is a little more muddled than what it used to be. That feeling or that experience that Buffett describes in his song this morning. And that we'll also continue to explore a little bit is not that much different from what we heard a little bit this morning, from Paul's letter to the Corinthians. Where there's that really lovely or beautifully put phrase that Paul says, where he says it's like we are looking now through a mirror dimly.

It is a little bit of an odd phrase. It's a little bit of an odd expression. But I think we can get the gist based on the context of what else Paul was saying. That right now, it's as though we're trying to look at the world through a poorly functioning mirror. There's a little bit of that haze, a little bit of that cloudiness, a little bit of that feeling of not knowing what is really going on. Part of that, I think, can be attributed to the ways that we are still trying to understand what it means for us to live in community with one another, and to live in relationship with God. To be a little more playful with the song we heard this morning, we hear Jimmy Buffett talking about the changes in latitude, those vertical lines, north and south. I'm looking to see if there are any sailors or hikers out there to confirm latitudes this way. We hear Buffett talking about those changes in latitude but our changes in attitudes, which I think is also a little funny in a way, because it's attitudes, of course, horizontal, but our own attitudes change.

To play without a little bit, I want to talk to you all this morning just for a moment, about these changes in latitudes and changes in attitudes. And to direct that in a way where we look our vertical relationship, the latitude, our relationship with God, and we look at those attitude type relationships, those horizontal relationships, the ways that we relate to one another. How is it that we are looking through a mirror dimly when it comes to those horizontal relationships? When it comes to those changing attitudes, you might say, I'm not going to ask you to give a response. But I also wouldn't believe you if you could not think of something. Because we all in some way have experienced what it's like to look in a mirror dimly, and to not fully grasp what it means to live in a right relationship with one another. Unless you're all in some monastic community that has a perfect way of living. I think we all struggle with this a little bit. We all struggle with these horizontal relationships. 

We see this, I think most clearly in the way that we talk about one another, the way that we treat one another. I am not one for reading the paper, or I don't read much of the newspaper, but I do get some of our local papers. And I do get a kick out of reading what some people write in that lovely op-ed section or the letter to the editor section. It is amazing what people are willing to say about one another in such a public manner. And not saying it in public is wrong. But I think the content is what we are most focused on. As one barrier or one example of the ways that we are not living out fully our horizontal relationships and living into the community God desires for us. Perhaps you could think of some more examples. What I would like you all to think about today is what are some of those ways in your own life, that those horizontal relationships are not being truly lived into the way God intends for us. 

Especially if they are not founded as we hear in Paul's words this morning, love. That takes us back a little bit I guess pointing our eyes upwards for a moment, looking at that vertical or latitude type relationship. In what ways are we looking through a mirror dimly when it comes to how we understand our view of our relationship to God? What are the things that keep us from not seeing clearly or not knowing fully what it means to live in a right relationship with God? I'm going to enter into some murky water and this is a purely rhetorical question, you don't have to answer. But I want us to think for a moment, as we do celebrate the Fourth of July, this day, when we think about our own identity, do we think of ourselves first as being a child of God? Do we think of ourselves first, as most of us here could probably say, as Christians? Or do we say that our identity is something else, first? Whether that is for an example; our occupation, our citizenship, our places of citizenship, or whatever other member organization you want to fill in? So to reframe the question, if I were to ask you, do you consider yourself to be a child of God? Or do you consider yourself to be? What would your first answer be? 

They've done studies on this, specifically, the one about people's citizenship in different countries, where there is a large number of people who claim for example, their own citizenship first as how they identify themselves, compared to their faith. And there's nothing wrong with that. Right? I'm American, and I'm happy to live here. But I think this is important for us to consider one, when we think about living in that right vertical relationship, because how we think about one impacts how we think about the other. Right? If I were to say first, for example, that I think of myself as being an American, first than a Christian second, that I think impacts my faith in more ways than I think we could imagine. Whereas if I say that I am first a Christian, that I am first a follower of Christ, who believes in that transformative power of God, and the citizens of the United States of America, second.  I think we have to see how what we place priority on is going to impact the different areas of our lives. And again, it's not that it's wrong, to be one or the other. But as people of faith, ask ourselves these questions so that we can put ourselves in the right frame of mind. So that we can understand if we view ourselves as a Christian first, then we begin to understand that being a citizen in whatever country we lived in means that we strive to be our very best, that we strive to live out what God has taught us, wherever it is, we call home. And that our faith is something that transcends any of these horizontal relationships. So how is it today then, if we think about latitudes, that vertical relationship, how is it that when you do think about your relationship with God? And whether that is a relationship you are willing to claim first for yourself, something that is a key part of your identity. Because we can say that it has no impact but we know it does. That's why it's so important for us as people of faith, when we gather together to know that we are doing so as disciples of Christ. It's what helps reorient our hearts to point us back into the direction of God's life giving pathway. 

Honestly, if we set God first, in our heart, it should make us better citizens. I mean, as I look around the sanctuary today. And I see how many of you here who are members of this church have been inspired by your own faith and ways to go out and benefit the community in which you all live. Whether it be Habitat for Humanity or Relay for Life, the Putnam CAP or the Gilead Food Pantry. These are always when we place God first in that relationship, that we continue to live out our most high calling. As we navigate these horizontal, these vertical relationships, I think we all understand that it is a challenging thing to do. It's not going to be easy but that's why I sort of come back to our song, then for the day and our scripture passage. And I do find a great deal of comfort that if we are able to laugh along the way we'll get there. We'll get to the place where God is calling us to be in those horizontal relationships and then our own vertical relationship to God. If we're able to along the way, have a good laugh. See the ways in which God's love is transforming us along the way. We'll see how things are unfolding. So friends, let us consider that today. As each and every day we continue to strive to be disciples of our living God in faith and in hope, and in love. Amen.