Not long ago, I discovered an unusual religious text that had actually been right in front of me for many years, but I’d never read it before. Now, I am trying to make some sense of it. Listen to a part of it: “Love is like a willful bird! Do you want it? It flies away! Yet, when you least expect its bliss, it turns around and it is here to stay!”
Another portion: “Co-in-ci-dent-ally and yet oh-so-slow, sweet kisses whisper softly into waiting ears, arousing heavenly flames, that enlighten, renew, brilliant fires, blazing through dark, lonesome years! For who else but God gave man this sensuous passion?!”
You are a community of well-educated, bright people, with broad religious curiosity; do you know where these texts come from? Do you recognize them? They are not obscure or difficult to find, although there are various versions of the texts.
This religious writing comes from the label of Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1Pure Castile Soap. In this case, it is from the label of the Hemp Rose variety, with the rose colored label, which is most appropriate for Gaudete, the Third Sunday of Advent. That label also includes the text of Kipling’s famous poem, “If,” along with the very slightly amended lyrics to “The Impossible Dream.” So, let’s call it quirky?
The original Dr. Bronner was not actually a doctor, but emigrated from Germany in 1929. When he started the soap company in 1948 he decided to use the labels on his soap to promote his idiosyncratic, universalist religious ideas. Every one of the labels I looked at includes this brief credo: “In all we do let us be generous, fair & loving to Spaceship Earth and all its inhabitants. For we’re ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE!” Now, yes, there is a detail in that credo that gives me pause. But I’m on board with the call to be generous, fair, and loving, and to be united in our humanity.
If you want to imagine what it felt like to be among the learned Jewish authorities, the priests and Levites, from Jerusalem questioning John the Baptist, you might start by getting your hands on a bottle of Dr. Bronner’s and reading the label. With a bottle in front of me, I feel like I can relate to the priests and the Levites. Generous, fair & loving: OK... but what is with the Spaceship Earth? When I pose that question it’s not too much different from asking, “Why then are you baptizing if you are neither the Messiah, nor Elijah, nor the prophet?”
I even found one direct biblical quotation on the classic, blue bottle of the Peppermint version of Dr. Bronner’s. It was admittedly woven into a wordy message more particular to the Bronner enterprise, but still, it’s easily identifiable, from the First Epistle of St. John: “God is love.”
I hear you thinking, Sean, you have lost it. How can you stand here and draw parallels between the Gospel of Jesus Christ and the label of Dr. Bronner’s 18-in-1 Pure Castile Soap? And you are right: there are very significant differences. Here’s one: every bottle of Dr. Bronner’s includes instructions on how to dilute the soap, under the heading (in all caps) “DILUTE! DILUTE! OK!” In fact, the 18 uses of this 18-in-1 soap are listed when you find the directions for dilution (not all 18 are on the label). The instructions tell you to dilute Dr. Bronner’s in order to wash your face, hair, body, floors, windows, dogs, and to brush your teeth, among other things. So go ahead and dilute! OK!
And here is an important distinction, because the Gospel of Jesus does not need to be watered down. You can and should embrace the Gospel at full strength! In his ministry, John the Baptist made only a few claims about the power and blessing that would come with the Messiah. I don’t think you could find eighteen. But those claims were undiluted. In the Gospel today we are told that John “came to testify to the light” that the darkness cannot overcome. The other evangelists tell us that John came preaching repentance and forgiveness, and the coming of the kingdom of God. The message of John the Baptist is not a message diluted, or in need of dilution, but a proclamation distilled to great strength and power and immediacy. “Among you stands one whom you do not know, the one who is coming after me; I am not worthy to untie the thong of his sandal.”
I wonder if the need for divine intervention can possibly have felt as acute in first century Palestine as it feels now. A pandemic virus is raging that, by the end of today, will have taken 300,000 lives from this nation alone. The effects of climate change are becoming more and more obvious all around us, as is our stubborn indifference to it. And in this nation, at such a difficult time, we have an effectively dysfunctional federal government. And then, there are the failures and struggles, the fissures and decline of the church. All of these contribute to a growing sense of distress. A prophet would be useful right now - not to compound that distress, but to bring comfort, healing, forgiveness, and hope.
You could look to the label of Dr. Bronner’s soap to find some comfort, healing forgiveness, and hope. But you’d be better off relying on the soap just to keep you clean.
But I think John the Baptist might have envied Dr. Bronner’s acumen at message placement. Even today, I think John might like the idea that you could encounter his message every day in the shower or at the sink, or while you’re washing your dog. Prominently displayed on every label of John the Baptist’s three-in-one products would be the prophetic words, “Make straight the way of the Lord.”
Portions of the prologue of the Fourth Gospel would be printed on the label: “There was man sent from God, whose name was John. He came for testimony, to bear witness to the light, that all might believe through him. He was not the light, but came to bear witness to the light. The true light that enlightens every[one] was coming into the world.” The text would be dense and direct. “Among you stands one whom you do not know, even he who comes after me, the thong of whose sandal I am not worthy to untie." “I myself did not know him; but [now]... I have seen and have borne witness that this is the Son of God." Every label would remind users that “John the baptizer appeared in the wilderness, proclaiming a baptism of repentance for the forgiveness of sins,” because what is more hopeful than repentance and forgiveness in a world that has done so much wrong?
Among the questions the priests and the Levites ask John the Baptist were these: “Who are you?… What do you say about yourself?” Wouldn’t it be great if he could have handed them a bottle of soap, and replied, “Read the label; it’s all there!” And there it would be, in small, sans-serif print: “I am the voice of one crying out in the wilderness, ‘Make straight the way of the Lord.’”
For years I have known about Dr. Bronner’s. It used to be something I used only when I went camping, because it was so multi-purpose. But in these days of pandemic, I’ve had it around more because it’s so handy, so easy to find, so readily available. And, of course, I don’t have to have read the long, wordy, quirky label, and I certainly don’t have to subscribe to the idea of “Spaceship Earth” (which is hard for me), or that we’re “ALL-ONE OR NONE! ALL-ONE!” (which is easy for me), in order to know that actually Dr. Bronner’s 18-In-1 Pure Castile Soap does what it is supposed to do: it cleans. You use it, and you find that it works.
Here’s something that Dr. Bronner’s and the Gospel do have in common. You don’t have to know the text, or even be sure you believe in it, in order for it to work. You take it for what it is, and you discover that it works.
You welcome the Gospel of repentance and forgiveness and you see that it brings you grace, mercy, and peace. You open your eyes and your heart to the light, and you see that no darkness can overcome it. You seek the kingdom of God, and you find that there are signs of it dawning, where hope, and healing, and beauty, and mercy, and wisdom are found.
It was the ministry of John the Baptist to be the first to make the Good News of Jesus handy, easy to find, and readily available. He was the first real prophet of the new covenant of love that God was establishing with his people. Strangely, I think he’d be entirely comfortable in the company of Dr. Bronner. I think the two would have stories to tell one another and laugh, and cry. I’m quite sure that John would shake his head with confusion at Bronner’s idea of the Spaceship Earth. But they’d find enough to agree on. They’d agree that we should all be generous, fair & loving to all people. They’d agree that God is love. I feel sure they’d agree that “the light shines in the darkness and the darkness did not overcome it.” And I think they’d both do everything they could to encourage us to do whatever we can to “make straight the way of the Lord.”
For the light is coming. And love is coming too, like a willful bird! Do you want it? When you least expect its bliss, it turns around and it is here to stay!
Preached by Fr. Sean Mullen
13 December 2020
Saint Mark’s Church, Locust Street, Philadelphia
