Sermon for October 12, 2014

The Secular World: Stealing Jesus

Yes, God loved the world so much that he gave his only Son, so that everyone who believes in him would not be lost but have eternal life. God sent his Son into the world. God did not send him to judge the world guilty, but to save the world through him. People who believe in God’s Son are not judged guilty. But people who do not believe are already judged, because they have not believed in God’s only Son. They are judged by this fact: The light has come into the world. But they did not want light. They wanted darkness, because they were doing evil things. Everyone who does evil hates the light. They will not come to the light, because the light will show all the bad things they have done. But anyone who follows the true way comes to the light. Then the light will show that whatever they have done was done through God. John 3:16-21, ERV

"Are you a Christian?”

Mainline Protestants, especially many who tend to go to churches like ours have a hard time answering that question without some theological gymnastics. It's not as easy a question as it may sound. What is a Christian? What criteria do we use to decide who is or isn't one, and who does the deciding?

There is one version of the story out there that says real Christians see Jesus' death on the cross as a transaction by means of which Jesus paid for the sins of believers and won them eternal life. Using verses like the passage I just read from John’s Gospel, some believers say eternal life is a heavenly reward after death for "true Christians"—the "Elect," the "saved"— sinners who accept Jesus as their Lord and Savior and follow all the correct beliefs of their church. The first type of Christian claims God loves only those who are “saved,” and that they alone are truly God’s children. Their version of Christian ethics warns that individuals should be wary of trusting their own minds and emotions, for these can be manipulated by Satan. Questions and doubts are to be resisted as the work of the Devil. All Truth is found in the Bible and known for sure by believers who have received correct interpretation from the Holy Spirit. They say true Christians read the Bible literally and consider it an accurate and flawless account of God’s will for humankind.

In America, when people talk about Christians, this version of the story gets the most coverage. The word Christian is often used by the media in a narrow way to include only this type of Christian, excluding pretty much everybody else. The increasing tendency to use the word Christian to mean only legalistic Protestants and ultra-traditional Catholics has given the word Christian an unpleasant flavor for many Americans — Christians included.

Other people tell another version of the Christian story.  This second version figures far less often in the mainstream media than do the legalists. Sometimes they seem virtually invisible. They worship a God of love and they envision the church, at its best, as a Church that changes the world by demonstrating God’s love in active ways. They tend to belong to churches like the United Church of Christ or the Presbyterian Church USA; American Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians and the Evangelical Lutheran Church of America. Some belong to groups like the Quakers or Unitarian Universalist. Some are voices within traditional groups like Catholics or Seventh-day Adventists.

These Christians see the work of Christ as a powerful and mysterious symbol of God's infinite love for suffering humankind and as the natural culmination of Jesus' self-giving love. They think that God loves all human beings and that all people belong to God, no matter what they believe or what religion they follow. Their version of Christian ethics teaches that the mind is a gift of God and that God wants us to think for ourselves, to follow our consciences, to ask questions, and to listen for the Spirit’s still, small voice. They see truth as something known wholly by God.  Religious creeds and belief statements can only attempt to point the way. So, they insist that the Bible must be read critically, intelligently, and with an understanding of historical and cultural contexts.

The second type of Christians think Jesus wasn’t interested in making a one’s personal faith the cornerstone for acceptance or rejection by God. Faith isn’t about following what someone tells us to believe. Belief has nothing to do with being scared that if we don’t say the right words, or show up at the right church, or live certain lifestyles, God will punish us. No, they nurture faith that can tolerate doubt. Faith that can grow and change. Take our tradition, for instance. Congregationalists believe there is no centralized authority or hierarchy that can impose any doctrine or form of worship on its members. We seek a balance between freedom of conscience and accountability to the faith. We take the Bible seriously. We listen to the historic creeds and confessions of our ancestors as testimonies of faith, but not tests of the faith. In other words, our faith is founded on Scripture and personal experience. Our faith is informed by the Church of the past. But it can never stay frozen in the past. The United Church of Christ thinks we must continue to grow and evolve: to receive new insights, and, when necessary, to reject past ideas when they have been disproved. The United Church of Christ, in its original Constitution, affirmed:

“the responsibility of the church in each generation to make this faith its own in reality of worship, in honesty of thought and expression, and in purity of heart before God.”

Faith calls each new generation to listen to God and follow God’s breath. This means we need to be willing to let go of the tethers that can keep us from being pliable, versatile people of faith.

So, are you a Christian?

To some, this second version of Christian faith is threatening. By and large, the first type of Christian thinks the second type of Christian is not a real Christians at all — or at least a fallen Christian. They will use John’s Gospel as an absolute litmus test to prove their point. The second type are seen as those who reject the light and live in darkness.

There is another difference in the two types of Christians. It has to do with how they view the secular world. The first type of Christians have become steadily angrier to what they see as spreading secularism. They think that secular humanism is winning adherents by the millions and posing a serious and snowballing threat to Christian faith and democratic freedoms. They think secularism has warped Christianity into a parody that has little or nothing to do with love and fosters suspicion and conspiracy theories. In essence, they think secularism has stolen Jesus. The culture at large has yoked the name of Jesus and his church to ideas, beliefs, and attitudes that would have appalled him.
Consider this example for the magazine Christianity Today, a representative for the first type of Christianity. The article opens with a picture of Richard Dawkins, the poster child for everything that is wrong and threatening about a world that works intentionally and actively to destroy Christian Faith. The author says,

“Christians need  . . . to recognise the new secularism for what it is – an attempt to undermine and destroy Christianity. We need to stand against its fundamentalism and we need to stand up for the poor, the young, the disabled and the marginalised (who most need the Good News), by proclaiming the gospel of Christ against the elitism and intolerance of our new fundamentalist atheists. The Gates of Hell shall not prevail!”

It’s his way of saying, “They think we are the fundamentalists. Well, the secularists are the real fundamentalists. They think we are elitist and intolerant. Well the secularists are truly elitist and intolerant.”

I can’t argue with some of that. As I’ve pointed out over the past few sermons, we do live in a more secular, more humanistic world in which Americans care less and less about organized religion. We also live in a more pluralistic, multi-faith America. In terms of the American religious landscape, we can see that many people are pulling away from organized religion. Especially when it comes to Christianity, many people do not want to associate with a religion that is seen as elitist and intolerant. Americans are becoming a collection of individuals with individual experiences, individual perceptions, and individual constructions of reality. This means, if we want to make sense of our chaotic, harmful world, less people rely on outside forces like God. If the world is going to be ordered, we need to do it ourselves.

The second type of Christians see things a little differently. They don’t see secularization and pluralism as challenges. They are opportunities. To them, the world, the universe itself, belongs to God. Creation has been blessed and pronounced good. There is no difference between the sacred and the secular. All are one in God’s realm. Here’s the opportunity: Just because religious institutions are losing their authority does not mean that people are losing their quest for or desire for God.  Instead of the church, people are connecting with God through nature, through popular culture, through literature, films, and music. Whether one’s inspiration comes from Bach or Beyoncé, every note of creation is another reminder of God. Whether we watch an infant learning to walk or an elder aching to keep step, each footprint is another reminder of God. When we feel the touch of love, it is the fingerprint of God, a revelation of the mystery. So the whole distinction between sacred and secular just doesn’t work anymore. It’s not helpful. It’s not true. There is only one universe. It’s all sacred. It all reveals the divine. Since there are billions of us on this planet, if we can’t start honoring the divine presence in all people, all religions, and all things, then what hope there is for the world.

So, why haven't the “Type-2” Christians made more of an effort to rescue the word Christian from all the negative associations it has acquired in the minds of many Americans? Partly because we treat faith and religion as a private matter. Partly because we feel silenced by the aggressive, unapologetic manner in which “Type-1” Christians define true Christians from false ones. Partly, perhaps, because we sense the danger of seeming smug and self-congratulatory in our professions of faith.

The unfortunate result of silence is that one Christian point of view plays an invisible role in the discussions of issues that roil our society. We saw this with the marriage equality debate in Maryland. For the most part, people framed the faith concern as a clear-cut contest between "Christians" who supposedly upheld responsibility, values, and family, versus liberal secular humanists who supported tolerance and separation of church and state.

The time has come for a challenge to be made. It is time to take Jesus back. It’s time to take Jesus back to show the highest spiritual and moral aspirations for humanity. It’s time to take Jesus back to guide us along the path of transformation. It’s time to take Jesus back and invite others to receive his love in ways that do not mutilate or deny our humanity. It’s time to take Jesus back and to unshackle the word Christian, ¬and the living Christ itself, from the partialities and principles to which they have been captured.

Empowered by the Holy Spirit, we commit ourselves:
To praise God, confess our sin, and joyfully accept God's forgiveness;
To proclaim the Gospel of Jesus Christ in our suffering world;
To embody God's Love for all people;
To hear and give voice to creation's cry for justice and peace;
To name and confront the powers of evil within and among us;
To repent our silence and complicity with the forces of chaos and death;
To preach and teach with the power of the living Word;
To join oppressed and troubled people in the struggle for liberation;
To work for justice, healing, and wholeness of life;
To embrace the unity of Christ's church;
To discern and celebrate the present and coming reign of God.

It’s time to take Jesus back.

Sources:
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/poptheology/2008/10/a-sacred-and-secular-negotiation/
http://www.nytimes.com/books/first/b/bawer-jesus.html
http://www.catholicmediacoalition.org/rohr_evolutionary_christianity.htm
http://www.ucc.org/beliefs/statement-of-mission.html
How (Not)to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor, by James K.A. Smith.
http://www.christiantoday.com/article/comment.new.secularism.is.an.attempt.to.undermine.and.destroy.christianity/37537.htm

Sermon for September 28, 2014

Singing in a Strange Land

Two poems . . .

—one—

By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.
On the willows there
we hung up our harps.
For there our captors
asked us for songs,
and our tormentors asked for mirth, saying,
‘Sing us one of the songs of Zion!’
How could we sing the Lord’s song
in a strange land?
If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy. Psalm 137

—two—

The sea of faith
Was once, too, at the full, and round Earth's shore
Lay like the folds of a bright girdle furled
But now I only hear
Its melancholy, long, withdrawing roar,
Retreating....
– from Matthew Arnold's “Dover Beach”

Philosopher-historian Will Durant called it "the basic event of modern times." He didn't mean the world wars, or the end of colonialism, or the rise of electronics. He was talking about the decline of religion in Western democracies.

Last week, I presented the case that many feel a sense of loss and discouragement about the church. Our sanctuaries are not as full as they used to be. Some of our neighboring churches that used to be the bedrock of the town are closing their doors. Denominational identity can be unsatisfying. Church growth programs that once worked are now ineffective. The question I’ve been pondering is how did we get here? Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God, say, 500 years ago in Western society, while in 2014, many people find this not only easy, but even inescapable?  As one report from Trinity College in Hartford concludes, “The challenge to Christianity in the United States does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.” How did American religion become a faith of humanists and skeptics?

We could say the Western Christian church is entering a time of exile. Many of you grew up in a world of American Christendom, a world where church and culture were interwoven in ways that we were mostly unaware of. For example, many of you can remember times when stores were closed on Sunday. No youth sports, no college sports, no shopping at the Mall. Definitely no liquor sales. Public schools opened each day with the pledge of allegiance and a prayer – sometimes even a reading from the Bible. These were central ways in which the culture and the Christian church supported each other. These days, the Christian story is much less known and Christians find themselves closer to the margins of society and competing for attention in the public square. Here is an example of our new America’s relationship with Christianity: According to Professor Stephen Prothero from Boston University, about 75 percent of adults mistakenly believe the Bible teaches that “God helps those who help themselves.” More than 10 percent think that Noah’s wife was Joan of Arc. Only half can name even one of the four Gospels. The American public knows even less about world religions like Islam, Buddhism, Confucianism and Hinduism than it does about Christianity and Judaism.

Like the psalmist of old, we find ourselves asking, “How shall we sing the Lord’s song in this strange land?”

A survey by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life reports that Americans are changing religious affiliations at a rising rate. The survey confirms that the United States is on the verge of becoming a minority Protestant country. Catholicism has experienced the greatest net losses as a result of membership changes. While traditional churches hemorrhage, we see other faiths growing. The Islamic Society of North America claims there are between 6 and 8 million Muslims in the United States today. The New York Times placed the number between 2 and 4 million. The Pluralism Project at Harvard University, believes the correct figure is somewhere in between. Islam is one of the country’s top ten largest religious groups, not to mention the second largest religion in the world. And guess who the fastest growing faith group is, in terms of percentage of growth? The Mormons. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day reported 2 million new adherents and new congregations in 295 counties where no Mormons even lived a decade ago.

Let’s go back to that comment a made a moment ago -- the report from Trinity College in Hartford concludes --“The challenge to Christianity in the United States does not come from other religions but rather from a rejection of all forms of organized religion.” According to Pew and other studies, the group with the greatest net gain in the religious landscape is “unaffiliated.” In other words, more than 16 % of American adults say they are not part of any organized faith, which makes the unaffiliated the country’s fourth largest “religious group.”

Like it or not, it is well documented that the United States is the most religiously pluralistic country in the world. In this new ecology of faith, dealing with religious pluralism is not just a politically correct nicety. Religious diversity is now a fact of our existence, whether we fully recognize it or not. And as Christians, we will have to deal with it. Our compelling task is to figure out how we can sing our song in this new land. We need to think about what it means to follow the Living God in a culture that cares less and less of our faith language and religious metaphors.

When we were on top of the religious dog pile, we did not have to offer compelling reasons for our existence. We did not have to convince the world that we were relevant. Now, we find ourselves surprised by the reminder that we were always meant to be foreigners, pilgrims, or in the words of Stanley Hauerwas and Will Willimon, resident aliens

Let’s think back on the first poem I read ¬¬– Psalm 137. It was written by foreigners. They were prisoners — Jewish exiles living and working in Babylon. After the fall of Jerusalem, Jews were deported to Babylon and assimilated into the culture. Two or three generations later, some of the Jewish exiles still remembered the stories of home. They recalled the times when their people were in control of their own destinies. The warmth of community had all but disappeared. Their tormentors ask them to sing the songs of Jerusalem. I wonder if it was a way to test whether Babylon’s regime of exclusion through assimilation had worked. If the Jewish exiles can’t remember their songs, then their culture has been destroyed. The exiles hang up their harps. They pretend not to remember. But truth be told, remembering just hurts too much. They set aside their harps – harps that used to accompany their hymns in worship of God. Their harps, so useful and so right, their music so fitting in the Jewish Temple, could not be evoked in this repressive environment. They asked, “In the midst of our grief and loss, in the face of those who want us to forget who we are, why would we invoke songs of gratitude and joy? How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?”

This is the question today’s churches need to ask itself: “How can we sing the Lord’s song in a strange land?” Because, as far as the church is concerned, we do live in a strange land. The religious, cultural, political, economic, and sociological landscape has changed. What do we do? Let’s listen some more to the Psalmist.

1. Grieve

The Psalm opens with these words:

By the rivers of Babylon—
there we sat down and there we wept
when we remembered Zion.

We can’t just embrace the new world without grieving the loss of the old. Real grief is part of a process of transformation. Grief is hard. It takes us by surprise. In grief, we learn to let go and to move on and be changed. We grieve for the good old days, and those days weren’t so long ago. Only a generation ago, it was unusual for people not to go to church. Churches were built in neighborhoods for people in the neighborhood. Our church was built with that understanding. We grieve because aligning oneself with Christianity is no longer a popular stance. And if we do not grieve, we will not ask ourselves the tough questions that we need to ask. Maybe when we ask the right questions we will discover that the good old days weren’t very good after all.

2. Remember

The Psalmist also offers these words:

If I forget you, O Jerusalem,
let my right hand wither!
Let my tongue cling to the roof of my mouth,
if I do not remember you,
if I do not set Jerusalem
above my highest joy.

As a church, we not only grieve. We remember. This last portion of this psalm speaks defiantly into the darkness that has enveloped the exiles. Taunted by enemies on all sides, seemingly helpless and hopeless, powerless to change their fate, laughed at, ridiculed, rejected, their country devastated, their temple in ruins, the exiles expressed a passionate, stubborn and resistant faith. Churches like CCC must continue to re-tell and remember our story: that forgiveness and new life is open to all who embrace it.

3. Engage

What will it mean to practice our faith in a country of religious diversity? I think it means that we have to learn humility, invite open dialogue with other faiths, and engage those who are “unaffiliated” as equals on our spiritual journey. We will have to resist the temptation to make absolute faith claims that cut off true dialogue. We will have to stand firm against the enticement to make negative judgments on other faith practices. We need to make the effort to get to know others — to learn what they think, what they believe, and what is at the heart of their understanding and commitment to God. Let’s call this stance “pluralism literacy” — becoming knowledgeable about other faiths. The culture is beginning to taking care of this for us.

As Christians, we do not know. We only trust. We do not own the truth, but we bear witness to the living Truth. We engage ourselves with those who belong to other faith traditions with the expectation that the other – another human being – has something vital to bring to our meeting. We want to know what God is doing in the lives of people within other faiths. Christian witness in a pluralistic world means opening our lives to others so that they may understand how we attend to our ultimate concerns, and so that we might listen to how God helps others address their ultimate concerns.

When we can do that, we might be surprised at what we learn. We might be shocked to hear God speaking to us. We might learn to talk intelligently about our own faith instead of assuming that people already know about Christianity. As we share and listen, as we do God’s work, hand-in-hand with people of faith who seek to make the world a better place, we might just become the church God intended us to be in the first place.

Sources:
W. Eugene March, God’s Tapestry (Philadelphia: WMJK, 2008).
http://www.bbchurch.ca/Sermons/272/2006-01-08%20-%20What%20happened%20to%20my%20comfortable%20life.pdf
http://www.usatoday.com/news/religion/2009-03-09-ARIS-faith-survey_N.htm
http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_prac2.htm
http://religions.pewforum.org/reports
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2008/06/24/eveningnews/main4206426.shtml
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/01/AR2007030102073.html
http://publicreligion.org/2012/05/study-shows-that-mormons-are-the-fastest-growing-religious-group-in-the-u-s/
http://www.readthehook.com/102629/fading-faith-unreported-story-our-time
http://commons.trincoll.edu/aris/files/2011/08/ARIS_Report_2008.pdf

Sermon for September 21, 2014

The Secular World & The Modern Moral Order

When the Pharisees learned that the Sadducees could not argue with Jesus’ answers to them, the Pharisees met together. One Pharisee, who was an expert on the law of Moses, asked Jesus this question to test him: “Teacher, which command in the law is the most important?” Jesus answered, “ ‘Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your mind.’ This is the first and most important command. And the second command is like the first: ‘Love your neighbor as you love yourself.’ All the law and the writings of the prophets depend on these two commands.” Matthew 22:34-40

In a London school, a teenager with no church connections hears the Christmas story for the first time. His teacher tells it well and the student is fascinated by this amazing story. When the teacher concludes the story, risking his friends’ mockery, he raises his hand, and thanks her for the story. One thing disturbs him however, so he asks: “Why did they give the baby a swear–word for his name?”

One Sunday in Oxford, a man visits a church building to collect something for his partner who works during the week in a creative arts project at the church. He arrives as the morning congregation is leaving and recognizes the minister, whom he knows. Surprised, he asks, “What are all these people doing here? I didn’t know churches were open on Sundays!”

These stories depict a British culture in which the Christian story is unknown and churches are alien institutions whose rhythms of life don’t intrude on most members of society. A few years ago, neither would have been believable, but today there are numerous signs that the era of Christendom is fading in the West. In his book The Secret Servant, Daniel Silva observes an old stone church in stately Amsterdam. He writes, “It’s a church without faithful in a city without God.” It could be said of many cities in Europe. In Great Britain, only 4 percent of the children are involved in church. If the Church of Scotland continues to shrink at the present rate, it will be extinct in 2033.

But that can’t be the case in America, right? Isn’t he church in America still a thriving centerpiece of our culture?

Actually, all Protestant churches, whether mainline or evangelical, have been in decline since 1955. They all made a small rally in 1974, but have been in slow decline ever since. Over the past ten years, the Methodists, Presbyterians, Lutherans Episcopalians, American Baptists and UCCers have lost thousands upon thousands of members. And the Southern Baptist Convention, the nation's second largest denomination and a long-time indicator of church growth, reports a national decline in membership for the fourth year in a row. According to the National Council of Churches 2012 yearbook, the direction of membership decline remains very stable. That’s a polite way of saying that churches which have been declining in membership in recent years have continued to decline.

At the same time, Christianity is still the largest worldwide faith practice. People go to church and are transformed by the communities. People connect to God, their neighbor, and their personal faith. Religions live within this dual reality. Churches have always lived in some sort of dual reality – trying to understand how to be faithful in the midst of the dominant culture.

Many of us feel a sense of loss — a grief over what no longer exists and a sense of discouragement about the church. Our sanctuaries are not as full as they used to be. Some of our neighboring churches that used to be the bedrock of the town are closing their doors. Denominational identity is unsatisfying. Church programs that once worked are now ineffective. In this time of loss and change, we can feel anxiety, anger, desperation, and a rush for answers or programs or people who will take away our pain and take us back to the time when life was better and easier. We want the one program that will revitalize our church, bring in new members, and put money in the offering plate. We want the denomination to do something. But none of them seem able to do what we want or need.

In terms of the American religious landscape, we can see that many people are pulling away from religions that promote hatred, violence, intolerance, and bigotry. Especially when it comes to Christianity, many people do not want to associate with a religion that is seen as chauvinistic, closed, and superstitious. And the concept of God is actually being questioned by more people. Research shows that more Americans have retreated into our minds and closed ourselves off to belief in a transcendent God. Where once, we may have seen ourselves as part of a seamless cloth, a tight knot social body, we are now becoming just a collection of individuals with individual experiences, individual perceptions, and individual constructions of reality. This means, if we want to make sense of our chaotic, harmful world, less people rely on outside forces like God. Social and political arrangements are no longer givens. There is no God-given social order. If the world is going to be ordered, we need to do it ourselves.

It’s not just atheists and agnostics who believe this. Some social critics argue that Christians have become disenchanted. Americans worship a scaled-down God and a pre-shrunk religion that can be rejected without consequence. God is just too easy to ignore these days.

Let me highlight two trends to make my case here. Trend number one is the increase of civil religion. Civil Religion says, “There is a God who created the world, looks down on America with a big smile, has blessed us more than any other nation, and thinks our values are one with his values (I’m being intentionally sexist here). The God of civil religion wants to expand our influence around the world, wants us to be good to our friends but helps us defeat our enemies, and expects us to love our country as a way of loving God. Particular to American civil religion is the belief that the highest moral authority is the individual. My personal happiness is the highest good. The good of the individual always trumps the good of the community. President Obama has tried to redefine American civil religion in some ways -- to broaden it. Consider his Second Inaugural address. He called Americans to action.

“Serve the poor, have hope in the future, renew your hearts. Make new the nation’s ancient covenant of justice and equality in this uncertain world. Create a new American future.” 

President Obama’s public God is a pluralist in step with our times; a personal spirit, the relational presence of inclusion, community, empathy, justice, and service. Civil religion presents a God who can function in the public square to bind Americans together with a larger sense of meaning and purpose.

A second trend is called Moral Therapeutic Deism. The term was invented by sociologists who study the religious commitments of today’s youth. Researchers wondered why most of today’s youth – the so called “Millennials,” in their teens and 20’s – find it so easy to shrug off faith. They identified a religious trend they called Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.  The belief system goes something like this: There is a God who created the world, looks down on us from heaven with a smile. God wants to bless us, wants us to be good to ourselves and kind to others. God wants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other. The central goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about one’s self. God does not need to be involved in one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem. The bottom line: feel good, be happy and secure, and know peace by playing nice with other people.

It doesn’t sound bad. That’s the point. It’s actually not just a teenage phenomenon. Moral Therapeutic Deism is preached from some of America’s most popular pulpits. Consider the words of TV preacher Joel Osteen in his book Your Best Life Now:

“You can hold your head up high and walk with confidence knowing that God loves you unconditionally. His love for you is based on what you are, not on what you do. He created you as a unique individual— there has never been, nor will there ever be, another person exactly like you, even if you are a twin— and He sees you as His special masterpiece! … You may feel unqualified, insecure, or overwhelmed by life; you may feel weak, fearful, and insignificant, but God sees you as a victor!” 

Those are all Osteen’s words, including the God-is-a-He language.

I don’t mean to sound too judge-y here. I believe some of this stuff. My point is to raise the question – how did we get here? Why was it virtually impossible not to believe in God, say, 500 years ago in Western society, while in 2014, many people find this not only easy, but even inescapable?  How did American religion become a faith of humanists? When did we all become such skeptics? We live in an age and time where there is no longer one true faith evident in all times and places. Our religion sometimes feels more like a leisure pursuit than something vital; “You play golf, I go to church. To each his or her own.” Believer and unbeliever are in the same exact predicament. Christian faith is at a loss as we watch the institutions that have been developed to express Christian convictions decline in influence. We have lost something and there is no going back to find it.

And I’m just wondering, what’s the point? What’s the point of faith? What’s the point of coming here to worship as often as you do? What’s the point of doing what we do here unless our religion fills us, directs us, and sustains us, and marks us?

Here is the challenge. For all its niceness and politeness, for all its empowerment and self-help inspiration, Moral Therapeutic Deism cannot withstand “shipwreck.” “Shipwreck” is H. Richard Niebuhr’s term for the shattering of self that often happens when life hits the rocks. If the only purpose of religion is to help us feel good and do nice things, then religion is irrelevant when life hits the rocks.  In times of shipwreck, feeling good about ourselves and being nice are unthinkable. If this is all religion is for, then shipwreck naturally convinces us that God is either make-believe or impotent.

So, I’m wondering what it would take for our faith and practice here at Christ Congregational Church to help us and our neighbors explore the boundaries of the religious landscape, especially as feelings of living in a wasteland intensify. What do we really, I mean really, need? Because we are still figuring out how to live a life of faith within this emerging world. How can we navigate these uncertain times and move forward with our story of hope, even in the midst of life’s shipwrecks?

1. We need to focus on experience over intellect. Don’t get me wrong. We still need intellect. But even more than intellect, we continue to work tirelessly to alleviate the suffering of our fellow creatures, and to dethrone ourselves from the center of our world. That’s the point of the greatest commandment in Matthew’s Gospel, right? Love God first. Love neighbors second. Less ego and individualism and more honoring the sanctity of every single human being. We realize that if part of our human family suffers, we all suffer, even if it’s our enemy. Especially when it’s our enemy. Faith practice can thrive when we treat everybody, without exception, with absolute compassionate justice, equity and respect. Churches are relevant when we restore compassion to the center of morality and religion and insist that any interpretation of scripture that breeds violence, hatred or disdain is illegitimate.

2. We need to remember that Christians are not called to avoid suffering. We are actually called to move towards it. When Christian communities embody the rhythmic dying-and-rising cycle of nature, we participate in a process of transformation that leads to new birth. We affirm that Christ does not merely glue our shattered selves back together; Christ makes us new. Resurrection is our defining hope and our persistent song.

3. Most of all, we cannot, we must not, keep doing things just because they are familiar and traditional. It’s not just that the church has changed. Or the culture has changed. The whole context has changed. It is time to open our eyes and see our surroundings with new understanding. Our response to the changing religious scene cannot be to burrow, ostrich-like, into the sand of familiar church culture. It also means we can’t afford to focus on the things that usually take up most of our time. How many times have we focused on complaints?

• The music in church is too loud or too soft.
• The preaching is too emotional or too academic.
• The pastor is too unavailable or too hands-on.
• The building is too ornate or too bland.
• The liturgy is too crusty or too unusual.
• The ethnic mix is too homogenous or too diverse.
• The mission is to inward-focused or too outward-focused.
• The congregation is too big or too small.
• The sermons are too long or… no that’s it – they’re too long.

These times insist that we focus on a different set of questions.

• How can we do ministry from the center to the margins?
• What does it mean to me a church of immigrants, exiles and pilgrims in a culture where we no longer feel at home?
• Can we renounce privilege in favor of plurality? 
• Can we be one community among equals?
• Instead of trying to control society, can we become witnesses once more?
• Can we tell our story and live out its implications, allowing people to rediscover our transforming faith on their own?
• Most importantly, what does it mean to move from maintenance to mission, from institution to movement?

This is the place where we can learn about the deep value of love and forgiveness, reconciliation and redemption, the renewal of families and the power of neighborhood organizations. This is the place where we can learn about worship and recognize that something deeper is needed in our life. This is a place where our spirits can be rooted as we experience the relentless stress of a global community. This is the place where we learn to build a sense of community and break down the isolation and polarization of life in D.C. This is the place where we support each other as we experience the demise Christendom and affirm the liberating decision to be a Christian. This is our opportunity to be the church that God intended us to be: the caring, creative, counter-cultural, critical, and Christ-following people who bear witness to new life. If you are ready for adventure, this is a great time to be a member of the church. We face an exciting time that can help our congregational enter into the changing times and the new life that is coming with it.

Sources:
http://hirr.hartsem.edu/bookshelf/Church&Denomgrowth/ch&dngrw-pt.1.pdf
http://www.ncccusa.org/news/120209yearbook2012.html
http://www.faithstreet.com/onfaith/2014/01/24/the-obama-doctrine-american-civil-spirituality/30562
http://www.albertmohler.com/2005/04/11/moralistic-therapeutic-deism-the-new-american-religion-2/
http://kendadean.com/moralistic-therapeutic-deism
http://paulvanderklay.wordpress.com/2014/07/03/why-should-the-cosmic-creator-invite-us-to-dinner/
James K. A. Smith, How (not) to be Secular: Reading Charles Taylor
Harry Kiely & Ira Zepp, One Nation, Many Gods: Confronting the Idols of American Empire
http://drybonesarise.blogspot.com/2009/11/sermon-for-nov-15-2009.html
http://www.anabaptistnetwork.com/endofchristendom
http://newsmallchurch.com/i-dont-like-the-way-you-do-church/
http://www.patheos.com/blogs/thegodarticle/2014/08/10-more-things-churches-cant-do-while-following-jesus/#ixzz3DgrfkYB6

2014 Summer Sermon Series: Laws for Living

Here are links to this Summer's sermons at CCC, all in one handy place:

Laws for Living: #1 Peace with the Past

Laws for Living #2: Peace with Hardship

Laws for Living: #3 Peace with Others

Laws for Living: #4 Peace with Uncertainty

Laws for Living: #5 Peace with Happiness

Laws for Living: #6 Peace with the Ordinary

Laws for Living: #7 Peace With Yourself

Laws for Living: #8 Peace with Love

Sermon for September 7, 2014

Peacemonger or Peacemaker?

“If your brother or sister sins, go and point out their fault, just between the two of you. If they listen to you, you have won them over. But if they will not listen, take one or two others along, so that ‘every matter may be established by the testimony of two or three witnesses.’ If they still refuse to listen, tell it to the church; and if they refuse to listen even to the church, treat them as you would a pagan or a tax collector. Truly I tell you, whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven. Again, truly I tell you that if two of you on earth agree about anything they ask for, it will be done for them by my Father in heaven. For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them.” Matthew 18:15-20

Scott Peck noted that communities often pass through four stages of development. Peck called the most common, opening stage of building community “pseudocommunity.” In pseudocommunity, everyone pretends that they really know each other, even though they actually know very little about each other. In pseudocommunity, people assure themselves they have no conflicts. In pseudocommunity, people mind their manners no matter what they might be thinking behind a polite smile. Conversation stays general: “How’ve things been goin’ lately?” “Good, busy. And you?” “Yeah, me too.” Intense opinions aren’t shared publically, but at the “meeting after the meeting” in the parking lot. Pseudocommunity is a bland world of pretense where no one’s feelings get hurt in public. It’s a trade-off: some truth for a shallow peace.  It’s boring, but at least it feels safe.
Peudocommunity is the only stage of development that many communities will know – probably because the way to true community involves some pain. Peck says that the group must travel through chaos and emptiness to reach true community. On the journey, people need to know it’s safe to let go of their manners and blurt out their prejudices, opinions and judgments. It means people need to let go of what is not needed in order to make room for something new.

Matthew 18 is Jesus’ assault on pseudocommunity. Jesus knows that living together in true community means there needs to be conflict. Healthy conflict. Yes, there is such a thing! Healthy conflict is the responsible exploration of our differences. In fact, we can thrive on differences of opinion, differing approaches to life and different ways of thinking. It is possible to learn what makes us different from one another and then recognize how these differences can be used to serve God.
As we think about our core values here at CCC, we affirm that we are a congregation of people who want to listen attentively. We seek others’ opinions and understand that differing values do exist within our church family. We seek to deal with disagreements positively, communicating with others in direct, caring, and responsible ways. The good news for us today is that while disagreements can hurt, disagreements can also bring us together. Remember that next time you are locked in a conflict with someone. Conflict can be healthy.

We have all be taught certain methods of passive conflict resolution. For instance, do you have a problem with someone you know? Does this person have bad manners, bad hygiene, or annoying habits? How about those inconsiderate neighbors with noisy pets? Wouldn’t you love to tell off your tyrant boss without her knowing who did it? There used to be a website called SincereSuggestions.com. For $5, Sincere Suggestions would send a politely written letter to notify people about their problems while you will remain completely anonymous. The sender would just choose a topic, fill out the information and an anonymous letter would be sent right away.

I don’t recommend this approach, of course. If we have something to say about someone, than we should say it to that person’s face. But some of us were taught that direct confrontation might hurt another person’s feelings. So instead of being honest, we find a third person to do the hard work for us. I don’t know about you, but I’ve never heard a person say, “You know, I wish someone would trash talk me around town today. I wish someone would call me a crook, or a liar, or a weirdo behind my back because confrontation makes me uncomfortable.” So let’s do everyone a favor. If we have a problem with someone, we deal directly with that person alone. Many of the worst conflicts in churches happen because at some point someone had the opportunity to say, “Can we talk?” to another person, but they didn’t and now things are worse.

In today’s Gospel reading, we get some very practical advice on how to handle it when we think someone in the church sins against us. We should approach the person whose behavior hurt us directly, and if at all possible, privately. That way, the person you're speaking with has room to reconsider without losing face – and you have room to save face if the other person points out ways in which your behavior contributes to a negative situation. Jesus encourages quiet conversation between people. It’s not just a prelude to a juicy public drama. The first quality of conflict and communication is to face a person one-on-on without dragging others into the dispute. There may be time to involve others later. However, the initial confrontation is always personal, private, and sincere.

Sometimes we get mixed up and become peacemongers instead of peacemakers. That word – peacemonger – was used by Edwin Friedman who was a Rabbi and therapist in Bethesda.  Friedman said that what often passes for peacemaking is actually peacemongering.  Peacemongers are more concerned about good feelings than progress. They don’t want anyone to be upset. If something causes a person some degree of pain, peacmongers will change plans to try to make everyone happy. Peacemongers have no backbone.  They are not willing to endure pain — either their own or someone else’s.  They just want everyone to feel good. 

For example, suppose a family has decided to go out to eat dinner at a wonderful Mexican restaurant.  They are together in the car, all of them anticipating a great meal. Then, the six-year-old announces that he does not want to go there.  He wants to go to McDonald’s.  The parents try to reason with him. They explain to him that he can get something good at the Mexican place. The child escalates to energy and has a tantrum, shrieking because he doesn’t want to go to the Mexican place. In an attempt to compromise, the panicked parents say, "Let’s just go to KFC. There is a McDonald’s next door.  We can stop in for a Happy Meal on the way?" Now the entire evening is changed because the parents wanted to avoid the pain of dealing with a screaming child instead of going on to their original destination.

How many times have churches and other organizations altered and changed good things they were doing because a person complained and announced loudly that he or she was unhappy? How many times have we changed plan to feel at peace again? But there really is no peace. Speaking for myself, I resent it. When I modify plans in an attempt to satisfy a few unhappy people, they are usually not pleased with the new plan, either. When I go out of my way to make people happy, those I’m trying to please usually don’t notice it, don’t appreciate it and may actually feel like THEY are the victims. So, accommodating unhappy people does not make them happier. It just gives me a backache.
Peace-mongering does not solve anything. It certainly does not make unhappy people happier. Peace-mongering promotes anxiety. Peacemongering favors pseudocommunity. It rewards false harmony and good feelings over process and honesty.

Peacemakers are different.  Peacemakers love people who might complain, and they work hard to stay connected with people.  But, they do not limit growth because one person does not care for a particular program or project. In other words, Mexican food may not be your favorite. That’s OK. But, this is what we are going to do tonight. Let’s enjoy the evening and make the most of family time even though this is not your favorite place.

Let’s make this very practical. Here are the steps to deal with any conflicts we have here at CCC.

1. Look at yourself, first. Knowing that mutual forgiveness is the air we breathe, knowing that Christ gives the community the wisdom it needs to interpret Scripture, when someone wrongs us, I first look in the mirror and examine my motivations for wanting another person to change. I need to be in touch with my own brokenness before I ask someone to examine theirs.
2. Have a one-on-one. Instead of going behind a sister’s or brother’s back and complaining to others of what they have done or said, meet with the other person directly, privately, face to face. If we really intend to heal a relationship without giving a guilt trip, we might start with a simple, “Can we talk?”
3. Bring mediators. If that private talk doesn’t create a ceasefire, then Jesus advises that two witnesses be brought along for a second meeting. They are extra eyes and ears to help understand what is going on – mediators to help us see various degrees of right and wrong. And if those two or three discern that someone is in the wrong and refuses to make it right, the whole church may be brought in to discern and compassionately appeal for restoration.
4.  Stay Close. After all this has been tried, if there is no peace, Jesus says the offending sister or brother is to be treated like a Gentile or a tax collector. Some people interpret this to mean exclusion. Eliminate the offensive person. I don’t like that interpretation. I think it means stay close. It means the church treats people like Jesus treated people – people like Gentiles and tax collectors: giving them food, eating with them, helping their family members, and inviting them to be part of God’s new community of love and justice.

Jesus offers one last promise: “For where two or three are gathered in my name, I am there among them.” Jesus assures us that whenever we wrestle together with these things, whenever we struggle to determine how to follow community values with gracious love, Jesus will be there.
We humans are always going to be in conflict in some form or another. Our goal is to be peacemakers. Peacemaking is not the absence of conflict. Peacemaking is a way through conflict. Peacemaking is the presence of Christ in our midst. Peacemaking means addressing conflict and injustice actively – not running away from it – using nonviolent methods. So remember, words can hurt and words can heal. Disagreements can tear people apart, or they can help us work together for a shared future. The choice is up to us.

Sources:
http://www.faithandleadership.com/sermons/jeremy-troxler-the-tie-binds
http://www.patheos.com/Resources/Additional-Resources/Trip-Advisor-Comments-Aliyce-McKenzie-08-29-2011?offset=1&max=1
http://godhungry.org/2007/08/23/peacemaker-or-peace-monger/
http://onmovements.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/Friedman-Summary.pdf
http://www.community4me.com/communitybldg1.html

Sermon for August 31, 2014

Laws for Living: #8 Peace with Love

Christ gave each one of us the special gift of grace, showing how generous he is. That is why it says in the Scriptures,
“When he went up to the heights,
    he led a parade of captives,
    and he gave gifts to people.” Psalm 68:18
When it says, “He went up,” what does it mean? It means that he first came down to the earth. So Jesus came down, and he is the same One who went up above all the heaven. Christ did that to fill everything with his presence. And Christ gave gifts to people—he made some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some to go and tell the Good News, and some to have the work of caring for and teaching God’s people. Christ gave those gifts to prepare God’s holy people for the work of serving, to make the body of Christ stronger. This work must continue until we are all joined together in the same faith and in the same knowledge of the Son of God. We must become like a mature person, growing until we become like Christ and have his perfection. Then we will no longer be babies. We will not be tossed about like a ship that the waves carry one way and then another. We will not be influenced by every new teaching we hear from people who are trying to fool us. They make plans and try any kind of trick to fool people into following the wrong path. No! Speaking the truth with love, we will grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head. The whole body depends on Christ, and all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part does its own work to make the whole body grow and be strong with love. ~Ephesians 4:7-16

This is how author James Baldwin tells the story:

The joint, as Fats Waller would have said, was jumping. During the last set, the saxophone player took off on a terrific solo.  He was a kid from some insane place like Jersey City or Syracuse, but somewhere along the line he had discovered he could say it with a saxophone.  He stood there, wide legged, filling his barrel chest, shivering in the rags of his twenty-odd years, and screaming through the horn, “Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?” and again—“Do you love me? Do you love me? Do you love me?”  The same phrase unbearably, endlessly, and variously repeated with all the force the kid had. The question was terrible and real.  The boy was blowing with his lungs and guts out of his own short past; and somewhere in the past, in gutters or gang fights…in the acrid room, under the smell in the precinct basement, he had received a blow from which he would never recover, and this no one wanted to believe. “Do you love me?  Do you love me?  Do you love me?”  The men on the stand stayed with him cool and at a little distance, adding and questioning. But each man knew that the boy was blowing for every one of them.

Just admit something. Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.”

Yes, I mean you. Me, too. We all walk around with a big sign on our chests that asks, “Love Me?” No one really wants to hear this. It’s embarrassing. It’s humbling. So let’s cut right down to the reality of the matter: however mature we feel, however at home with ourselves we may believe ourselves to be, there is a little kid in us who never quite grew up and who waits for the slightest opportunity to squeeze some praise and acceptance from another person.

Just admit something. Everyone you see, you say to them, “Love me.” We want to prove ourselves. We want to be recognized. Esteemed. Valued. It’s a perfectly natural and valid desire. We hunger for adoration and need to be sated. We feel rejected and want to be acceptance for the unique and diverse individuals we really are. We want to be seen and heard, treasured and understood. Ultimately we want to be loved.

Admit something. Everyone you see, you say to them "Love me."

Those words actually come from the poet Hafiz. Hafiz was a Persian mystic and poet-seer who was known as “Tongue of the Invisible.” He lived from 1325 –1389. In Islam, hafiz means one who has memorized the entire Qur’an by heart. Throughout his lifetime, the poet Hafiz not only memorized the Qur’an, he also wrote about 5000 poems, which express a seekers longing for union with the divine. He wrote this:

Admit something. Everyone you see, you say to them "Love me."
Of course you do not do this out loud; otherwise, someone would call the cops.
Still, though, think about this, this great pull in us to connect.
Why not become the one who lives with a full moon
     in each eye that is always saying ,
with that sweet moon language,
what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

Why is it that we sometimes struggle to acknowledge openly to the people who mean the most to us that we love them? Why do we hold back from letting others know we are happy in their presence, that our lives have more meaning when they are around, that we are better people when we are together? If we are honest with ourselves, we are often unable to love the people in ways we want to. And I’m not just talking about spouses and partners, kids and parents. I also mean the cashier who is taking too much time to ring out customers while chatting with the person in front of you at the checkout line. I also mean the driver who has grabbed the parking spot you were eyeing. I also mean the tech-support assistant in Bombay who doesn’t seem to understand your accent. Why can’t we say what every other eye in this world is dying to hear?

Have you ever noticed the mood of people as you walk down a busy sidewalk? Sometimes people make lots of eye contact and offer friendly smiles. They nod hello. Strangers stop to chat. On other days no one offers eye contact at all. People look closed off and unavailable. I used to wonder what the difference was, why on some days people were open and friendly and other days they were cold and shut off. I finally noticed that my perception depended on me, my mood of the moment. When I felt happy, when I radiated positive energy, people responded in kind. When I closed down myself down, people closed themselves to me.

The poet Hafiz is always singing about love. But he does not mean love that the insecure child inside of us is begging for. That kind of love is need. The kind of love that interests Hafiz is that which can only begin when the wanting ceases. Of course we want to connect to each other – to touch and be touched, to offer and receive affection, to feel the warmth of another. We also want a love that connects beneath the words, beneath the skin, right down to our heart and soul. We want to know the taste of loving and being loved in our very essence.

So, when can we just get to it, and do what Jesus said, and love one another? How can we make peace with love?

Making peace with love has nothing to do with pampering your ego – taking bubble bath, getting a message, or reviewing positive affirmations before bed. I have no problem with any of those things, but they don’t help us make peace with love. The Apostle Paul’s school of thought puts suggests another way: We must become like a mature person, growing until we become like Christ … Speaking the truth with love, we will grow up in every way into Christ, who is the head. The whole body depends on Christ, and all the parts of the body are joined and held together. Each part does its own work to make the whole body grow and be strong with love. In other words, get in touch with your uniqueness. Celebrate the wonderful person you were created to be. But don’t let it stop there. You and I are not whole until each of us, with our unique gifts and personalities, come together to form an entire body, with Christ as the head. We are not complete without each other.

Now we know a body could never function well if the different parts didn’t like each other, right? In another of his letters, Paul reminds us that the body can’t work if different members go on strike. A physical body isn’t healthy if one part says it doesn’t need the others. The same is true for the body of Christ. We are not whole and healthy until we are unified. That is love.

A broken heart fills the entire body with throbbing loneliness. That’s love. A smile fills up the entire body with happiness. That’s love. One person’s joy makes the entire body ecstatic and another’s pain makes the entire body catch its breath. That’s love. Each one of us is vital to the well-being of the whole. Even when your particular uniqueness and gifts go unseen and unheralded, the whole body would suffer without you.

Love says, “I need your presence in my sorrow. I need your assurance when I am sick. I need your hope when I am discouraged. I need your warmth when the world grows cold. I need us, as members of a body, as a community, to find unity in our good and compassionate God.”               

What is every other eye in this world dying to hear? Can we meet the world’s insistent plea for love with bright orbs in our eyes and full moon language that speaks sweet words of belonging? Imagine, just imagine, what grace it would be, if we were able to mumble through trembling lips, what everyone we meet wants to hear: “You fit. I am not whole without you. I love you.”

Sources:
Baldwin, James quoted in Creative Brooding by Robert A. Raines.New York: Macmillan, 1966.  48
Housden, Roger. Ten Poems to Change Your Life, Again and Again. New York: Harmony, 2007. 107-117.
http://www.eagleharborchurch.org/?p=1600
https://www.ewtn.com/devotionals/Jesusneedsme/jnm1.htm
http://www.poetseers.org/the-poetseers/hafiz/