You can buy it anywhere in Pennsylvania Dutch country – a banner, an apron, a towel, anything really – and it proclaims, in pidgin German, “Ve get too soon oldt und too late schmart”. Your preacher this morning is a walking example of that ancient truth. Too soon oldt und too late schmart. The limitations of age are depressing, and the depths of ignorance are astounding. And if you think that getting older is all fun and games, then you will also no doubt think that ignorance is bliss. My aim today is to demonstrate that ignorance is emphatically not bliss!
The deacons’ meeting was just about finished. Committees had reported, pastoral care cases had been discussed, the obligatory old and new business items had been reviewed. Once more the deacons of Takoma Park Baptist Church had met in an orderly fashion and had done their work with integrity and dignity. The chairman, just before he invited us to close in prayer, asked, “Does anyone have anything else to bring up?” And quick as a flash, one deacon spoke out: “The toilet tissue in the Ladies’ Room is too rough.” We all stared at her, and she repeated it. “I wish somebody would do something about the toilet tissue in the Ladies’ Room; it’s too rough.” Nervous giggles around the room. The chairman looked at me as if to say, “Pastor, what am I supposed to do with this?” Our speaker spoke a third time: “What I mean is, when you use the toilet tissue ….” That’s as far as she got. The chairman announced, in a loud voice, “Too much information,” and informed her that this was not a matter for the deacons, thank you very much. But she was not deterred. Once again she launched into her complaint. “I don’t know who buys the supplies. I thought I’d tell the deacons. You see, it’s too rough when ….” I never saw a quicker dismissal of any meeting in a Baptist church. With a wave of his hand, brother chairman intoned, “Too much information. Let us pray.”
Now that I have your attention, and if I can get your minds out of the gutter, what was going on here? Why didn’t the deacon chairman want to hear that complaint? What did he mean, “too much information”? He meant that he was happier not knowing about a problem. He meant that there are times when knowing something makes you unhappy. The saying goes that ignorance is bliss. That suggests that we are happier if we do not know the problems out there, lest we be overwhelmed with trying to solve them. So spare us “too much information.”
Wasn’t it Sting who sang, “Too much information running through my brain,
Too much information driving me insane. I’ve seen the whole world six times over, Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover, Overkill, overview, Over my dead body.” You can be overwhelmed with too much information; ignorance is bliss.
So we protect people by keeping them ignorant. We sense they can’t handle all there is to know. We protect small children from the ugly realities of crime and war and death because we think it’s too soon for them to know about these things. In fact, the very phrase, “Ignorance is bliss” comes from a Thomas Gray poem in which he thinks about children playing on the fields of Eton College, unaware of all the world’s issues. “Thought would destroy their paradise. No more … where ignorance is bliss, ‘Tis folly to be wise.” We protect children.
And we protect the elderly from upsetting truths. I’ve had people ask me not to disclose unhappy information to frail elderly folks. “Let’s not tell Grandpa that his brother has died; he couldn’t take that.” One day I was visiting one of my elderly church members in hospice care. She knew what was happening; she understood that it was unlikely she would come out of that place alive. But she had a special concern: “What about my little dog? What’s going to become of my little dog?” She and her dog had grown old together; but that animal could barely even walk. I just could not tell her what I knew – that her nephew had taken the dog to the vet for euthanasia. I protected her, I managed her pain: I wanted her to be blissfully ignorant.
However, sooner or later even those who are protected from the facts do have to face reality. Sooner or later truth comes out, and there will be pain. Eventually, despite the siren songs, we discover that ignorance is not bliss. The psalmist was pretty blunt about this: “How great are your works, O Lord! Your thoughts are very deep! The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this.” It is not always a happy thing to be ignorant. “The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand.” Ignorance is bliss? NOT! Not so! NOT!
But some of us turn our backs on too much information. Some of us are dead-set on being too soon oldt und too late schmardt. We work to keep ourselves ignorant of life’s unpleasant realities.
I
Some try escaping into mere spirituality. Religiosity. A purely private and personal world of happy-clappy spirituality. Religion becomes one way to dwell in a never-never land, unaware of what is really going on in the world.
Now at one level there’s nothing wrong with that. We can all get down with this psalmist and his exuberance, “It is good to give thanks to the Lord, to sing praises to your name, O Most High.” We can share in his enthusiasm for vibrant expression, “The music of the lute and the harp, the melody of the lyre.” Every Sunday that I am not preaching somewhere, I am tapping my toes on the pedals of a church organ at Montgomery Hills Baptist Church, and I love every minute of it! It’s good to do that! So who does not want to shout, with this psalmist, “For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.” Nothing inherently wrong with any of that.
But with breath-taking suddenness this sweet singer of Israel shifts from “you have made me glad” to “Your thoughts are very deep. The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand.” He follows his exuberant shouts of praise with a profound warning about ignorance. He’s telling us that joy does not last long if you do not have understanding. Happiness does not do much if you do not have knowledge. Personal, private piety, however much feeling it may generate, will disappear with the morning clouds if it is not grounded in authentic knowledge. There must be something you can wrap your mind around.
Brothers and sisters, there is nothing more dangerous in contemporary spirituality than the “I just feel” syndrome. Do you know what I mean? The “I just feel” syndrome. “I just feel good when I listen to this music.” “I just feel happy when I hear what’s-his-name preach.” And most damaging of all, “I don’t know much about the Bible, but I just feel the Lord wants me to do … whatever.” Nothing is more unproductive than generating spiritual energy with nothing to back it up. Passion without knowledge, energy without information.
Jesus took that command in Deuteronomy, where we are told to love God with heart and soul and strength, and Jesus added “mind”. Love God with heart and soul and MIND and strength. As if to say, you can sing and shout and praise and prance all you want, but for heaven’s sake, think! Use your mind! Don’t hang up your brain in the cloakroom or park it in the car! Bring your critical faculties to church! Bring heart and soul and strength and MIND.
That means studying your Bible, knowing where it came from and what it contains. More than that, it means studying your world. Delve into psychology, read philosophy, know some history, at least dabble in science. For our God has made a magnificent world for us to examine, and the more we know, the more profound our joy. Too much information? Not at all. There is no such thing as too much information for a child of God.
Ignorance is bliss? NOT. Not for long. Escape into personal and private spirituality may be fun for a while. But if you want joy, true joy, wonderful joy, remember that “the dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand.”
II
Now while some try these escapes into purely private and personal spirituality, others try to manufacture happiness with self-indulgent pleasures. Others try to cook up a superficial happiness with fun and games, expensive toys, self-centered lifestyles. Some have decided that what we need to be happy is distraction, entertainment, something gritty, something earthy. And so we run off to look for excitement in behaviors that are unworthy and unChristlike.
The issue with that is that it is about avoiding self-knowledge. It is about avoiding the truth about ourselves. Another form of ignorance. We are afraid of our own brokenness, we are anxious about our own inadequacy, and so we run to unworthy behavior rather than examine our own hearts and know our own minds. We think that ignorance is bliss, that if we do not face the truth about ourselves, we can just avoid our own pain. So we vanish into useless behavior.
But no, ignorance of ourselves is not bliss. It is not a happy thing to be ignorant of one’s own heart. “The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand.”
I’ve gotten into social networking, and it really is an interesting phenomenon: Facebook, MySpace, Twitter. You learn a lot about people. When I first got into Facebook, I connected with several persons that I had known somewhat peripherally, some of them years ago but I had not kept up with them. Well, the more I read, the more I thought: “too much information!” I found out that some of my Facebook friends were involved in binge drinking, in casual sex, in gambling; and that their language was, shall we say, on the salty side! I learned things about them I didn’t want to know.
But I learned something else too, something insightful. I learned that who we are, deep down, is often a needy, insecure, unsettled person who supposes that out there in the netherworld of questionable behavior we’ll find happiness. I learned that we are ignorant of what authentic life is and of where genuine happiness comes from. We think that this self-centered existence, this frantic search for pleasure, is going to be fulfilling. No; no; no. Ignorance of our own hearts is not bliss.
If we have nothing to remedy a miserably boring existence other than bar-hopping and crude voyeurism; if we have nothing more to invest in than to imitate the world in all its superficiality, it will all end in a shattered and powerless life. Our psalmist knew that. Did you hear what he said? “The dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand this: though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they are doomed to destruction forever.”
Doomed to destruction forever. Not a pleasant thought. Not a happy outcome. You may have a good long run with the world’s values, you may enjoy the moment in that “entertain me” mode. But it will come to a crashing end. Ignorance of our own hearts will mean the doom of our souls and the destruction of our God-given selves.
Ignorance is bliss? NOT. Not at all. Escape into manufactured, unChristlike behavior, and it may be fun during Happy Hour. But if you want joy, true joy, wonderful joy, remember that “the dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand.” Learn who you are, child of God. Learn.
III
I say it again: ignorance is not bliss. You will not be happy and fulfilled with a private, personal piety, a spirituality that is nothing more than whoops and hollers. You will need knowledge and depth, to find happiness.
Neither will you be happy with the frantic pursuit of pleasure, testing boundaries and indulging in escapes. You will find out eventually how shallow that is. You will need more than that. You will need an added dimension.
And the psalmist tells us exactly what that is. The same psalmist who taught us that “the dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand” now teaches us that “the righteous flourish like the palm tree, and grow like a cedar in Lebanon.” What encourages me most is his assertion, “In old age they still produce fruit; they are always green and full of sap.”
Full of sap. Not sappy, but full of sap! Not stupid or stagnant, but growing, productive! Not ignorant, but producing fruit. “In old age they still produce fruit … always green and full of sap.”
God’s word instructs us that if we want to be happy, truly and authentically happy, the key is knowing how to give ourselves to productive things. The key is to live in righteousness. “The righteous flourish like the palm tree.” Righteousness does not mean simply staying out of trouble. Righteousness is not just “don’t drink, don’t smoke, don’t chew, don’t go with girls who do.” Righteousness is a passionate commitment to creating a new world where God’s will is honored. Righteousness is a profound involvement in efforts to realize that prayer we pray every Sunday, “Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven.” Righteousness is a lifestyle of investment to enhance the lives of others and to mirror God’s justice.
The psalmist assures us that “the righteous flourish … and grow … and in old age still produce fruit … always green and full of sap.” Too soon oldt und too late schmart – ah, but maybe it can still happen. Productive, green, full of sap.
Yesterday I attended a luncheon celebrating the 90th anniversary of Takoma Park Baptist Church. I had the privilege of serving that congregation as interim pastor and then senior pastor for a total of twenty years; during that time I saw many of its members grow old. In fact, that’s where I too grew old. But yesterday I looked out over that crowd and thought about what some of those folks, now in their 80’s and 90’s, have done. An attorney who pioneered the open housing movement in the 60’s, and who, even though he’s close to 90 years old now, is constantly on the march for the things he believes in. A woman, nearly disabled, but who is still doing what she does superbly, using her telephone to organize people, seeing to it that Meals-On-Wheels are served to the homebound, mobilizing others. Another woman who, although her husband is frail, uses her skills as a mathematician to coach young people and encourage them. And yes, I saw the deacon who complained about the toilet tissue; I didn’t have the courage to ask her if she ever got that taken care of! But I tell you, I saw a host of people who are profoundly happy because they learned that it is not ignorance that is bliss, but it is the sharing of knowledge, it is teaching somebody, it is leading somebody, it is being productive. Green and full of sap.
The other day Steve Babcock and I met with the Executive Director of Montgomery County Habitat. Steve is trying to make sure I do not rust out with nothing to do and is recruiting me for the Habitat Board. We were told that Habitat recently built 24 homes in Burtonsville. The building site was close to the retirement home called Riderwood. When the residents there found out what Habitat was doing nearby, these senior citizens, these retirees, folks who are supposed to sit on their hands and watch mindless TV all day long – these folks volunteered to make, by hand, kitchen cabinets for all 24 houses. There were so many people lining up to do this work that Riderwood’s carpentry shop couldn’t handle them all! Somebody out there had learned that “the dullard cannot know, the stupid cannot understand, but the righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. In old age they still produce fruit … always green and full of sap.”
Some of you have asked me what I am doing with all my “free time” since I finished the interim pastorate here. Others have insisted that I chill out, relax, enjoy life, and take it easy. Let me tell you something: I know what I want. I want to be green, always learning, always growing, always discovering. I want to produce fruit. I want to see things change, I want to see justice enhanced, I want to see peace made, I want to see churches grow, I want to see children educated, I want to see the poor housed, I want to see a hundred Kingdom things happen. That’s what will make me happy! That’s what will bring joy! To invest in an agenda that creates right and builds hope; to give ourselves to – and you knew this phrase was coming, didn’t you? – to give ourselves to the last, the least, the lost, and the lonely. That’s where fulfillment comes from; that’s the source of bliss and joy.
Ignorance is bliss? If I don’t know about the problems of the poor, then am I happy? No. If I don’t understand about the complexities of peer pressures and of temptation, then am I joyful? No. If I don’t get it about racism or about class tensions or about sexuality, then am I blissful? Not at all. Not at all.
The only thing that will give me joy is to get on God’s agenda and see fruit produced. The only thing that will produce genuine happiness is to learn and grow and be green and full of juicy, generous, joyful sap!
Ignorance is bliss? Not on your life. Too much information? There is no such thing; learn and grow and use what you know for the glory of God. You’ll have bliss aplenty – right now, productive, green, and full of sap. Too soon oldt, maybe; but it’s never too late to get schmart.
