Erl Purnell Sermon

b15Pentecost 11 ~ August 20, 2006 ~ A sermon preached by The Rev’d Erl G. Purnell at Old St. Andrew’s Church, Bloomfield, CT

Proverbs 9.1-6; Psalm 147; Ephesians 5.15-20; John 6.53-59

A couple of different things came across my plate this week. One is about young people and the other about old people. I just thought I’d share some thoughts about them because they end up being related.

The Census Bureau made one of their periodic announcements on Tuesday. Maybe you saw it. “America’s growing diversity has reached nearly every state.” The mixing of minority groups throughout the nation is occurring everywhere, except West Virginia and Hawaii. In West Virginia, where there is little history of attracting immigrants anyway, the percentage of white people actually grew. In Hawaii, where whites are already a minority, there was also an increase.

Here is what William Frey, a demographer at the Brookings Institution, the Washington think tank, had to say: “This is just an extraordinary explosion of diversity all across the United States. It’s diversity and immigration going hand in hand.”

Some of the other related information that came out is that education levels increased. Now 84% of people in the U.S. have a high school diploma, up from 80% in 2000, and 27% have a college degree compared with 24% five years ago.

Increasingly there are many places in America where whites are a minority and specifically in four states—Hawaii, New Mexico, California and Texas, as well as the District of Columbia. Now, please don’t think that this sermon is about immigration. It’s absolutely not. Rather, what it’s about is diversity.

Sometime on Tuesday I was watching CNN and I heard their report on these Census Bureau figures. Well, in one snippet the announcer was talking about how integrated young people feel with respect to diversity. They simply do not recognize skin color or religion or ethnic background as having anything to do with making friends. Young people in America today naturally take to each other because of common interests—music, clothes, games, sports, and things like that.

You know how the TV stations bombard us with a few seconds of images and then cut to another scene. One video clip was of three twelve or thirteen year old girls walking along in front of Wal-Mart. There must have been some kind of joke between them because they were laughing and bumping into each other. Obviously they were great pals. The middle one was probably Hispanic, the girl on the left was white, and the girl on the right was Asian or maybe Filipino.

Among the high school “best” friends of my twenty-year old stepdaughter are two African-American girls, a sub-continent-Indian girl, and her oldest neighborhood friend who’s white. Her best friend at college freshman year was an Iranian-American Muslim and her roommate was from Swedish stock. Last year’s roommate was a Panamanian. If I commented to her about this diversity, she wouldn’t know what I was talking about. That’s how transparent diversity is to most kids today.

Like their facility with computers and iPods, youngsters experience life so much differently than most of us did as children. Life is different! And, their openness and acceptance of each other is a reflection of this new national diversity as well as being the cause of it.

As a person who tries hard to take the message of Jesus seriously—that is, to be inclusive and loving of all people—I’m heartened by the changes I’ve seen in my years. When I lived and worked in the ghettos of Pittsburgh during the civil rights movement in the sixties, I never imagined these changes would actually occur. I thought the Voting Rights Bill would be a help but I didn’t really expect to see people of color and white people kissing on Television or an Hispanic Attorney General.

So much has changed and now young people are simply integrating this country by being together at the Mall, in the dormitory, on the playing field, at the work place, and in their homes. We are a far more diverse nation than ever before and I think that’s a good thing. E Pluribus Unum, right? Out of many, One! So, hold this thought about diversity and the power of our young people to manifest growth and change.

Here’s the other thing that got my attention this week. It was contained in a note from my brother George. I imagine it’s been around the internet so you may know the story. It’s about Rose, an 87 year old who goes back to college to finish her degree. At the first day of classes she introduced herself to the young man next to her: “Hello, handsome. My name is Rose. Can I give you a hug?”

After the hug, the man asked, “So, why are you in college at such a young, innocent age?” With the aplomb accorded people who have lived a while, Rose said, “I’m here to find a husband, get married, and have a couple kids.” After the man’s laugh faded, she simply said, “I’ve always dreamed of having a college education and now I’m getting one.”

A deep friendship started. The man later said, “I was mesmerized listening to this ‘time machine’ as she shared her wisdom and experience with me.” During the year, Rose lived it up. She became a campus icon and even spoke at the football banquet. She was funny and fun, a real live wire. And she shared her wisdom. For example, she said, “We don’t stop playing because we are old; we grow old because we stop playing.” And, you’ve got “to laugh and find humor every day.” “You have to have a dream,” she insisted. “When you lose your dreams, you die.”

She said lots more, too, but mostly she showed her classmates how to live. Then, a week after graduation, Rose peacefully died in her sleep. Two thousand students went to her funeral. They wanted to pay tribute to the woman who knew it was never too late to be all you can be.

These two things—the growing diversity in America and the wisdom of Rose—somehow meld into a sense of promise and hope. The resurrection itself is about promise and hope. The 87 year-old Rose gave a blessing to the young people she came to know at the college. She inspired them, and they could hear and appreciate her good spirit and wisdom. Typically, they accepted her just as she was. I am imagining the young people of today—perhaps the girls walking in front of Wal-Mart—building on the heritage of Rose. With increased diversity and openness on their side, they have much to contribute. For, if they continue with their indomitable energy, dramatic, dynamic, and incredible things will happen by the time they reach Rose’s age.

Amen.

'Explosion of diversity' sweeps U.S., census shows: http://www.cnn.com/2006/US/08/15/diversity.ap/index.html