Sermon for the Twelfth Sunday After Pentecost, Year C (8-31-25)

I changed my major four times in undergrad. I was a bit at sea you might say, because as a first-generation college student I had interests and ambitions - but I didn't have a ton of clear direction, at least vocationally. What I did have, however, was a persistent need to see proof of God in the world around me. Outside of the church. In the everyday. To see evidence of the Divine Architect even if that evidence was discovered by people who weren't necessarily looking for it in the same way.

Music education was first, but it didn't quite give me the theoretical depth I now know I needed. Then it was biology, because what better position in which to witness miracles than as a physician. (Chemistry really did that one in for me.) Then it was French, honestly because I was running out of ideas. And then, I took sociology 101... 

Oh My God ... literally! How did I now know about this? There's a whole body of research and study circling around so many of the same questions we talk about in church?! Like why do people act the way they do. Why  groups of people do they things they do. And in general, why the human race so weird.

I got to meet many brilliant thinkers. People who began to put words to experiences a lot of us can describe but not easily name. Ultimately, all of this is a very protracted way to introduce you to Émile Durkheim and the concept of anomie. 

At the end of the 19th century, French sociologist Émile Durkheim popularized this term - anomie - as he considered how the modern world was shaping the modern mind; especially how the industrial revolution was tempting humans into lives of increasing individualism, egoism, and normlessness (which is a common translation of anomie - normlessness). 

He predicted that with the collapse of shared moral and ethical centers of life - especially traditional concepts of religion - we as humans would struggle more and more to make meaning of this life. Durkheim feared that the end of this "anomic" road was a bleak one for humanity. That anomie would push us further and further into self-destructive despair, meaninglessness, and doom. And all in the name of progress and modernization.

And you know, I'm really beginning to think that he was on to something. All you really have to do is look around. The data is pretty easy to collect. We've never had more : more wealth, more convenience, more access, more education, more social safety nets, more global power, etc... The list goes on and on. We've never had more than we have today as a human species. And yet, I'd argue that while we may have gotten more in this modern world, we've become a fair bit less human than we once were; or, at least less human than we can be.

Something is wrong. Terribly, terribly wrong. And Durkheim was right.

"The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker,  Sirach reminds us this morning. And oh how we desperately need a reminder.

For the beginning of pride is sin,
and the one who clings to it pours out abominations.

Pride was not created for human beings,
or violent anger for those born of women.

For all who exalt themselves will be humbled, 

and those who humble themselves will be exalted.

I love sociology because, generally speaking, when someone comes up with a seemingly novel social concept -  even one like anomie - there's a fair chance that we've actually heard about it before. Which to me is a really fun way to get a glimpse at some evidence of the divine working in the world around us. 

But at the same time it's similar to a child who hears the same advice you give them as a parent, but only this time it's heard from their favorite auntie and suddenly she's not a total idiot. Suddenly she's the best! She get's it! 

If I were God, I would be very irritated by this. Because, of course, the modern mind can't universally apply something we may have stumbled across in church.  And worse, the modern mind really tends to resist the idea that we might not, in fact, be our own God. 

But we are creatures - not gods - created lovingly by a loving God. How exactly we are created? Couldn't tell you. But we are given a lot of data straight from that same creator regarding the best way to do this "life" thing. Sirach reminds us of that this morning. "The beginning of human pride is to forsake the Lord; the heart has withdrawn from its Maker." Or maybe said a bit more directly: become your own God if you like, but do it at your own risk. Because that's not how this was all designed to work 

What's totally fascinating to me about Durkheim's work was that he was really quite ambivalent about the existence of God. But he saw compelling evidence - sociological evidence - of the effect that even the idea of the divine had on overall human flourishing and wellness. Or rather, the effect of its absence. 

As capable, and complex, and brilliant as we've become as a species we're still toddlers compared to our maker. And tiny compared to the vastness of this universe. Training wheels are still a good idea. And not least a reminder that being God sounds like a really hard job. I for one am increasingly grateful that I don't need to be the God of my own life. I tend to really screw things up when I try to be.

Instead, I find true peace and true meaning when I draw near to the heart of my Maker. And through the life, death, and resurrection of Christ Jesus, you are endlessly invited to do the same.

Amen.