The characteristics of the persons who had these psalms as their hymn book were such that they were known to be people of the land. It is unique and distinctive that the psalmist would discuss going down in ships to do business in great waters for these great people of the land. Perhaps the psalmist was attempting to inspire his people, as we attempt to inspire our people, to go beyond our comfort zones, to exceed our normal limitations and to dare do business in great waters.

Philip Aaron has written a book called The Power to Create. In that book, he said that if you want something you have never had, then you must be willing to do something you have never done. What are these great waters that we seek to do business in today?

I believe that first, we should consider doing business in the great waters of personal commitment. It is difficult today when materialism, when selfishness seems to abound, to find people who are committed to great causes. People who take heed to the words of Christ who said, "If you would dare be my disciple, you should deny yourself, take up your cross and follow me."

In the 1940's, there were men who were recruited by the United States Navy for the first time as African-Americans to be trained in officer training. The scheme was to provide them with just enough training so that they would fail the test. These thirteen African-Americans, although only given eight weeks of training, ended up scoring higher than any other group of trainees had ever scored.

How did they do that? Late at night when lights were out, they put blankets on top of their windows so that the commanding officers would think they were asleep. Then, they would turn the lights on and they would teach each other. They would tutor one another. They would use the skills and knowledge of the persons in that group to rise above the obstacle which had been placed in their path. They called themselves "The Golden Thirteen."

When the scores came in from their tests, it was discovered that they had a 3.89 average in their scores. These men did business in the great waters of personal commitment. They went beyond their personal interests and served the needs of each other.

Oh, that we would do business in the great waters of personal commitment, understanding that the greatest of us will be the servants of those of us in need. Perhaps we should consider today not only doing business in the great waters of personal commitment.

During these troubled times in our nation, we should also consider doing business in the great waters of genuine community. As we hear terms like multi-culturalism and as we see the racial conflict that seems to be emerging all over the nation, as there seems to be a resurgence of racism and as ethnocentrism becomes the watchword of many of our cultures, I believe it is time for us to rise above our ethnic tribalism and do business in the great waters of genuine community.

The fact is that every ethnic group has had a history of difficulties. Every culture has had to rise above some kind of adversity. I believe that our culture, being as heterogeneous as it is, has an opportunity to celebrate differences rather than using differences as excuses to turn on one another.

We have children in New York City who are attacking each other simply because they belong to different racial groups. They learn this behavior from adults who spew out words of hatred; narrow-minded individuals who would rather do business in the shallow waters of hatred and the shallow waters of egocentricity, rather than the deep waters of genuine community.

There are wars raging in over thirty spots in the world because people have yet to dare to do business in the great waters of genuine community.

I love what the Apostle Paul said for he described the body of Christ as being a community that is genuine and so whether one is Greek or Jewish, whether one is bound or free, whether one is male or female, we are all one through Christ.

If our religious expression means anything, it means that we have accepted the call and the challenge to do business in the great waters of genuine community.

Finally, I believe we should attempt to do business in the great waters of moral excellence. The Psalmist said elsewhere, "Righteousness exalts a nation." Jesus said, "What does it matter if we gain the whole world and lose our souls."

Moral excellence causes us to stand for justice even when it affects someone from our own group. Moral excellence calls for moral consistency so that we are not only people who strive for righteousness, but people who understand that the flip side of righteousness is justice. Moral excellence implies that we are willing to live with a flawless kind of faith, faith being described very poetically by the Book of Hebrews as "The substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen."

Where there is no faith, there is no hope. Where there is no hope, life and death become identical twins. Where there is no hope, people have nothing to strive for.

Fosdick once said that a limp and ragged life is that which is possible without faith. Thus, we will encounter difficulty. Anyone who would dare to do business in the great waters of personal commitment; anyone who would dare reach out and do business in great waters of genuine community; anyone who would seek to celebrate the differences and the variety of cultures that we find in

our nation; anyone who would attempt to rise to the level of moral excellence, that person will encounter difficulty; that person will have waves of opposition; that person may not find himself or herself being on the most popular list.

The psalmist says that those who do business in great waters will see the wonders of God in the deep.

We don't need God to think shallow thoughts. We don't need God to pursue shallow pursuits. We need God to do for us and with us that which we cannot do on our own. It is so tempting to live life cloistered, sheltered, self-centered. It is so tempting to live in the comfort zone of my own ethnic group or my own denomination, but when I venture out to see the wonders of God in the deep, I will encounter difficulty, sometimes criticism from my best friends.

The kind of faith that Fosdick described, the kind of faith that sustains you in times of difficulty, is that faith that the psalmist referred to when the psalmist said, "They that do business in great waters will see the wonders of the Lord in the deep."

Perhaps God is calling us from our comfort zones. Perhaps God is calling us from being creatures of habitual behavior. Perhaps God is calling us beyond our narrowness into great waters, the great waters of personal commitment, genuine community and moral excellence. If we accept the call, then we will sing with profundity the words of the hymn we heard already:

                  Guide us, O Thou great Jehovah,
                  Pilgrims through this barren land;
                  We are weak, but Thou art mighty;
                  Hold us with Thy powerful hand;
                  Bread of heaven,
                  Feed us till we want no more.

David Hardin: Buster, you talked about celebrating diversity, celebrating differences. What are you really trying to say to us in that?

Buster Soaries: On the one hand, I think that all of us should be proud of who we are. I am proud of my African-American heritage. I am proud of my Baptist form of worship, but I also think that I am challenged to venture out and learn to worship God in other traditions, that I would learn to appreciate the value of other cultures. Yet, we have become so ethnocentric that multi-culturalism essentially points out our differences and I think we lose our perspective on our common human virtues.

Hardin: I have often thought that the word you use is such a good word, "tribalism." We somehow say that our tribe is right and the other tribes are wrong. It would be so nice if a Baptist could go to a mass and say, "What an interesting way to celebrate a connection with God." If we could all just say, "Hey, there are lots of interesting approaches and I think they are great, but I have my own, but my own isn't the only game in town."

Soaries: I think in a theological sense what we do very presumptuously is try to corner God and package Him in such a way that God can only be God through the lens of our tradition. I think it is quite important that as much as I love gospel music, I can experience the profound message coming from Handel's "Messiah" or Mozart's "Requiem." What is critical is that we translate that through multi-culturalism. My fear is that multi-culturalism is coming to mean the learning of ourselves at the exclusion of others, thus pitting people against each other. Children, of course, become the innocent victims.

Hardin: Have you ever seen some good examples of people starting to celebrate differences, of getting over this tribal hang-up?

Soaries: The interesting thing is that from a religious perspective, the Baha'i movement has probably been the movement that has been able to institutionalize this togetherness more than any other religious expression I have seen.

There are pockets of Christianity in local congregations that are multi-ethnic, multi-cultural. It is not only across racial lines, but we are finding it across economic lines. Even in black churches, our challenge is to cross fertilize between the educated and the less educated, between the middle-class and the lower-class. It is not only between races, but even within the context of one group, you have such divisions that we isolate ourselves and don't really express the richness of our diversity.

Hardin: This whole issue of the differences between the sexes seems to be surfacing more and more. Maybe it was always there, but you are certainly hearing a lot about differences and the need to celebrate or accept each other. I know a lot of men who are very anxious that they are somehow sexist and they don't know exactly what to do about it.

Soaries: That is why I think that we do begin by developing a security in who we are as persons. We cannot develop our personhood in such exclusive ways that we deny other people their personhood in order to be persons ourselves.

Hardin: Let me go over to the fact that times are so hard for so many people right now. You must see that in your church. You must see people losing their jobs and a lot of unemployment. The church seems to be somewhat ineffective in this arena. Is there anything that we should be doing as committed people to God about this that is not happening, or that the institutional church is not looking at?

Soaries: Our church has joined with a network of African-American churches in New Jersey to launch a '92 economic offensive which involves supporting minority-owned businesses, which involves talking face-to-face with corporate leaders, so we can have information about lay-offs that are upcoming. We have found out that many people are finding out that they are laid off an hour before they are laid off.

We feel that the church has got to be in direct contact with the corporate community. What we are attempting to do is to have a church-based job information network so people who are laid off can get information about jobs when they come to church. It is an economic depression, particularly in the black community.

From the standpoint of the future, we are attempting to see to it that all of our children take education seriously. All of the children in our church bring their report cards to church. We assign them tutors in the subjects with which they are having difficulty so they can be prepared educationally to be participants in the economy as it takes shape for the twenty-first century.

Hardin: The idea you mentioned about helping minority-owned businesses, maybe small is better now because we have been so big-business oriented. Small business sometimes struggles with that. I'm hearing that we need to help each other a little more directly in the community itself.

Soaries: Sure. For instance, our church generates approximately $15,000 a year in flowers -- weddings, funerals and other occasions. Two or three churches together can make a difference in the life of a small florist. Rather than use one of the large florist chains, we have identified some small florists that we can subscribe to, support and patronize. Their success will not only save them but put them in a position to support kids for after-school work, etc.

We are trying to go very grassroots, very self-help based on the assumption that the early church started with people having all things in common. If we can share our resources, we can maximize our ability to survive.

Hardin: We've just a few seconds left. How is it working?

Soaries: As you know, I have been at this church for a year-and-a half. We've just started, but the initial response has been positive. I think the key thing is that people's hopes are up. If you can keep people's hopes up, then help has time to get there.

Hardin: Our attitudes and optimism is so important. Things almost happen the way we expect them to happen. I think giving people hope like that is a wonderful, wonderful idea.

Soaries: People of faith should be people of hope. When there is no hope, then we are in desperate trouble.

Hardin: Thank you so much for being with us. It has been a pleasure to have you.