Covenant Presbyterian Church

In his thought-provoking book, Amusing Ourselves to Death, the late Neil Postman concludes with a rather disturbing observation about American culture. It has become a burlesque. We are not as familiar with this term today. Synonyms are parody, lampoon, skit, or even travesty. Can-can dancers of Western lore come to mind, or Al Jolson of the silent film era. At least, however, everyone knew this was burlesque. It was not taken seriously or as a serious form of communication. No one went to the local burlesque-dancer to determine her political views or developed "reality" shows around the non-reality world of Al Jolson. At that point in our history, we were still able to distinguish the important from the non-important, and the non-important did not pretend to be important. It was diversion, and as diversion, it might even be healthful, depending, of course, upon other moral factors related to content and context.

We did not know then, however, what we know now, that with the settlement of television as the culture’s leading epistemological metaphor, the visual would replace the written word, with its attendant demands upon rationality, coherence, and relevance, as the leading medium of communication. Yet, we still have not come to grips with the fact that the medium also defines, controls, and shapes the message. Thus, unwarily and uncritically, we have slipped into the idea that the really important things are the things we can see, the things that can be easily reduced to sound-bites, the things that are told to us by pretty people who have no other claim upon our confidence than their appearance.

Tuesday’s election is a burlesque of catastrophic proportions. Consider these facts. Neither of the two leading candidates has ever engaged in serious and sustained expression, either in writing or oration, of his particular political philosophy and worldview. Everything we have learned about both of these candidates has been communicated through the media, which depends upon creating stories in order to attract advertisers. When these candidates speak in public, they are reading speeches written by others on rolling teleprompters. Their public debates were a contest of sound-bites to see who could develop the most memorable one-liner - again, a television technique used for decades by comedians. And that is exactly what these two candidates and their running mates are - clowns in the circus of American politics, actors on a stage, mimes in a burlesque. And we love to have it that way because we have passively accepted the medium of television as the only legitimate source of truth and authority. As Ronald Reagan, the god of neo-conservatism once said, "I cannot imagine anyone else other than an actor doing this job." He was right. Thankfully, this episode of our cultural burlesque will end on Tuesday. Tragically, the show will resume on Wednesday with the same script as before - more big government, no discussion of the critical issues facing us a nation, and no solutions other than more government involvement in our lives, loss of liberty, and tax-payer theft.

The problem with this burlesque, of course, is that I really cannot turn it off, for these cultural actors have political power. Their decisions impact my life in untold ways, not the least of which is the constant sense of unreality, irrelevance, and impotence. Though I feel the burden of this burlesque intensely, there is a stronger sense of joy and anticipation that I find mounting within my soul that absolutely prevents me from falling into despair. The King is working, exposing, sifting, making his enemies look like fools, and humbling his people that he might raise them up again. My burden, then, is not an uncertain future, or an unfavorable political regime, or likely financial hardship. It is my belief that almost all Americans and most Christians are sound asleep to all of this. They have become desensitized to the burlesque. It is all they know. For them, it is the reality. There is no other. Comfort has produced acquiescence. Fear of sacrifice has made them pawns.
The only ones, I think, who have any real sense of what is happening are the religious and cultural heirs of the Protestant Reformation, who do not believe that truth is person and situation relative, or that we must do whatever works regardless of the cost, or that the ultimate "answers" to society’s problems lie in a government solution. We remember too well - because we have studied carefully - what life was like for our forefathers under tyranny, whether kings or popes. Unbearable. We know something of the sacrifice it required to throw off their yoke. Blood. We understand that only one thing ultimately prevailed, only one - the unashamed, uncompromising, unadulterated, and unflinching preaching, printing, and reading of the Bible. The reason I say "Bible" is because it is God’s word. As God’s word, it prescribes not only the way of personal salvation but the path of cultural salvation - submission to the law of God. Only modern day sons of the Reformation - self-conscious holders of biblical religion as preached by Noah, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, the Apostles, Augustine, Calvin, Knox, Luther, Whitefield, Davies, Palmer, Hoge, Dabney, Thornwell, Machen, Murray, Bahnsen, just to name a few of its more illustrious defenders - understand this.
What can we do, however, when many professing Christians prefer the burlesque to the reality? When they spurn solid preaching for programs, fun, and personal spiritual fulfillment? When these very sons are so divided among themselves, or tied up in fraternal battles over doctrinal minutia, or trying to build last-minute monuments to their own names and memories? Or, and I find this common, when many still feel that we are living in the good ‘ol United States, that the systems is still salvageable, that we should work with what we have and make alliances where we can, or that we should choose the lesser of two evils, or of three, or of a thousand. I am painting a bleak picture, I know, but it is no good to talk of tea parties, country clubs, and vacation homes when the church is bleeding from a main artery.
But I hear the voice of my Savior. I see him standing alone, wisdom crying aloud in the streets, love bleeding alone on the cross. I see his power in the lives of many Christians who have stood alone, have had nothing, of whom the world was not worthy. What have godly men in the past done in such times as these, when their culture unraveled around them, when their church appeared unable to make any meaningful stand? They believed God’s promises and trusted in his sovereignty. As Solomon said, "There is a higher than the highest who sees" (Eccl. 5:8). They refused to stop speaking the truth, for they knew that one voice committed to the word of God is stronger than ten thousand voices raised in praise to the word of man. They understood that God’s grace and love would prevail, and it did - through human weakness, against unimaginable odds, in the face of too many compromises to recount. For you see, we really do not live in a burlesque. We live in God’s world. Truth, time, and history are on the side of righteousness, for all side-shows offered by the city of man eventually collapse. All Satan can do is direct burlesque; he cannot shape reality. It belongs to God.
My advice about this or any other election is not to worry overmuch about it. The King is working out his purposes. One of his greatest purposes in history is to bring down the hubris of men. He usually allows it to attain great height. He never wants to be accused of defeating weak enemies, not he! So, let them build their towers of Babel, or their Roman Empire, or their British Empire, or their Soviet Union, or their secular United States. They are doomed, and in their hearts they know this to be the case, for they are really image-bearers of God and not burlesque players, and they cannot escape the voice of conscience, the light of nature, or the necessity of operating upon the foundation provided by the word of their Father. They cannot even attack him without his help, for men are but grasshoppers, worms, dust and ashes. They build furiously, though, like ants before the approaching thunderstorm. It is all to no avail. There is a King in Zion.
The only way to avoid self-deception is the light of inspired truth. Believe the Bible. Love the Bible. Teach your children the Bible. Show your co-workers that you have answers to our fundamental cultural issues that do not include or require government solutions. Point them to Jesus Christ and his grace. Point them to the law of God and its wisdom. Be sure your own eyes are opened widely each day by a steady and heady draught of the living Word. And be hopeful. O, there is hope, real hope, intoxicating hope - in the love of God, in his faithfulness, and in his power.
For a while, you may feel that you are standing on the sidelines, irrelevant, unnoticed. You may be even attacked as an enemy. You are, however, a king or queen of the Prince of the kings of the earth. You will only be irrelevant if you keep your mouth closed, if you lose your faith and identity in Christ, if you stop living in the fair sunshine of his resurrection. In fact, the most relevant thing that will happen tomorrow is the sharing of the Christian gospel, love and service in the church of Jesus Christ and in Christian homes, faithfulness to our Savior, Jesus Christ, and soul-elevating contentment in his presence and promises. Everything else, my friend, is a burlesque.