Scripture Lessons: Acts 17:22-31 and 1 Peter 3:13-22
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

“Billionaire and former tech mogul Bill gates predicts there will be almost no poor countries left in the world by 2035,” reports the Los Angeles Times. Gates goes on to “try to dispel what they say are myths about global poverty that hinder development. Poor countries are destined to stay that way, foreign aid is not helpful and saving lives leads to over population.” In the next two decades, desperately poor countries will become the exception rather than the rule, Gates wrote. The Bill and Melinda Gates foundation is the world’s largest charitable foundation. It has made $28.3 billion in grant payments since its inception 13 years ago. [Tampa Bay Times]

Gates’ philanthropy and his views about poverty are shaped by a story. It is a story about what can be done. It is a story of abundance. It is a story of generosity. It is a story of value for each and every life. It is a story of hope. It is not a story of gloom and doom. The Gates foundation is functioning from a narrative of promise and possibility.

Then there was the recent tweet from “Wheel of Fortune” host, Pat Sajak. “I now believe global warming alarmists are unpatriotic racists knowingly misleading for their own ends.” [USA Today] So, scientists working on climate change issues are unpatriotic? They are racists? They are self interested and in it for personal gain? How do you get to these conclusions? There has to be a narrative, a story, a world view that goes with this. I personally cannot imagine what it would be.

There are those who believe that natural disasters like the tsunami, the earthquake in Haiti, the mudslides in California, and all the other natural disasters that are befalling us are due to homosexuality. There is a narrative behind that perspective. It is a story of an angry God. A God of retribution and punishment. The assumption is that the existence of gay people is making God so angry that God is punishing humanity by sending these natural disasters. This is a narrative of a punitive God that intends a single stream of acceptable sexuality and religion and culture. And that story forms and shapes people in certain ways.

Our views on life, on culture, on religion, on society, our choices, behaviors, and attitudes, are all rooted in story. There is a narrative we accept that shapes who we are and how we act.

In the scripture we heard from Acts, the writer refers to the story he sees of the people of Athens. The writer sees the temples and shrines and inscriptions and knows that the people are very religious. So Paul tells the people of another God, of another religious option, of a God at the heart of creation and at the heart of each and every person. He then goes on to talk about how this God is revealed in Christ Jesus. Paul is giving the people of Athens another story. They will have to decide which narrative to give the power to shape their lives.

In the first century, the Jews of Israel were shaped by the story of God creating the world and calling it good. This God liberates the people from slavery in Egypt and brings them to a new land and gives them a new way to live together in peace with each other and other communities, tribes and nations. It is a story about care for the most vulnerable. But the people ignored the story and made up new stories involving other gods and justifying their violence, economic abuse, and self indulgence. Prophets tried to call people back to the original narrative and they were ignored. And so God’s dream remained unfulfilled.

Then with Jesus we get the old story with a new twist. God becomes vulnerable. God makes a sacrifice. God is the victim to show solidarity with all other victims and those who are suffering and to inspire transformation, mercy, and compassion. In Jesus, sacrificial, self giving love is embodied. Community is built on vulnerability and compassion and mutuality. There is no dominance or intimidation involved. No punishment. No retribution. No victims. No abuse. It is a story of ultimate love. Endless forgiveness. Unconditional grace.

This is the story that we have been given to form and shape our lives. This is the story which defines us. This is the story which guides and leads us in our actions, behaviors, and attitudes. We do not worship an unknown God, as the Athenians did. We worship the God made known to us in Jesus who served others and lived for others and gave himself to the life of the world.

When the story of Jesus shapes and forms us, we cannot accept the belief that gay people are causing natural disasters. That just doesn’t work with our story. Can we believe that all people can be fed and housed and clothed and educated and that poverty can be virtually eliminated? Yes. Because that is consistent with the Jesus story of universal love, generosity, and grace. God has provided a world that is good and is intended to take care of all life and all people. We are created in the image of a God that is giving, even self-giving, and so humanity has the capacity to be generous and compassionate. Because this is our character, there is the possibility that poverty can be eliminated. What Bill Gates says and what his foundation is working toward is consistent with our Christian story. We can accept that.

Our Christian story gives us a lens through which to view the world, the issues of the day, the decisions we must make for ourselves and for our society and world. We are not left adrift. We have a story to form and shape us. We have a story to tell. We continue the story of God’s redeeming love and add our stories to that great meta narrative.

This is Memorial Day weekend. It is a time remember those who have died in armed conflict throughout our nation’s history. No one likes war, least of all those who have fought in it. The one exception may be those who profit from it; who make money on supplies, material, weaponry, etc. They may actually like war because it feeds their greed. But the average person – Republican, Democrat, Independent, or other, or none – does not like war. And does not want our country to be devoting its people, and money, and resources to continual armed conflict. We don’t want our sons and daughters, our sisters and brothers, our neighbors and friends going to foreign lands to meet their end in armed conflict. People want peace.

In our culture, we have accepted the story that sometimes it takes war to make peace. We have accepted that there are times when the ends justify the means. We have been told a myth of redemptive violence. And we reinforce that myth by celebrating the nobility of war and those who serve. And we have let that narrative shape our thinking.

To question that story, to challenge that narrative is seen as unpatriotic and not just by an inane fringe. To challenge war as a strategy for resolving differences is seen as disrespectful to those who have died in armed conflict and to their families. After all, war was the path to freedom for this country and to the life we have today as Americans. To question the validity of war is seen as naive at best and traitorous at worst.

We accept this cultural narrative about war even though it conflicts with the narrative of our faith. Jesus was a pacifist, and his teachings tell us to love our neighbor as well as our enemy, and to turn the other cheek when we are struck. Our story tells of God’s universal love for all peoples. Then how can we endorse killing people who are God’s beloved? Despite this, churches around the country today will glorify war by glorifying the stories of those who died in war. There is cognitive dissonance in the Memorial Day remembrance. To accept both stories is to be like the Athenians worshipping many gods.

Tim O’Brien, from small town Minnesota, is a veteran. He served in the Vietnam War. After graduation from Macalester College and Harvard, O’Brien became a writer. Most of his novels and short stories address war and its aftermath for those who were involved. O’Brien has been awarded the National Book Award, the James Fenimore Cooper Prize for Best Historical Fiction, and in 2013 the $100,000 Pritzker Military Library Literature Award. And here is what O’Brien says about stories and war:

“A true war story is never moral. It does not instruct, nor encourage virtue, nor suggest models of proper human behavior, nor restrain men from doing things men have always done. If a war story seems moral, do not believe it. If at the end of a war story you feel uplifted, or if you feel that some small bit of rectitude has been salvaged from the larger waste, then you have been made the victim of a very old and terrible lie.”

O’Brien reminds us of the power of story. And the power of the story of war that we have been told in our culture. And he challenges that story. Stories shape us and can make us good people and can make us do awful things as well, depending on the story. Our Christian story gives us a way to redeem the deaths of war through repentance and transformation of our warring madness. We are not hopelessly locked into our cultural story of war. We have a story of a liberating God who frees us from stories that deny the goodness at the heart of all humanity.

We live story. We are shaped by story. Our lives are narrative. And so we ask ourselves what story is shaping us? What story are we living? Are we being shaped by the story of Jesus? Are we acting according to the story of universal love and grace? Are our lives a continuation of the story of God’s unending love?

With the gospel as our story, we not only choose how to live and how to act, but we also choose the lens through which to see our lives and the world. This doesn’t mean that we are perfect. It does not mean that we always do the right thing. It doesn’t mean that there is always consistency between what we say and what we do. But it means we have an intention. A way forward. For the good of the world. For the good of others. For the good of the ourselves. And we have a way to deal with things when they do go wrong. When there are problems. When we do the wrong thing. When we make a mess of things. There is a way of reconciliation. Of healing. Of restoration. And of peace.

We have a story of redemption and transformation. For ourselves. For others. For our country. For the world. The writer of First Peter challenges his readers: “Always be ready to make your defense to anyone who demands from you an accounting for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and reverence.” [1 Peter 3:15] Always be ready with the story. Know your story. Live by your story. And be ready to tell your story.

Last week on “Snap Judgment,” a weekly radio show, a woman tells the story of when she was 23 and her father, who was a pastor, got a phone call during dinner one night. As it turned out, the call was from a woman in the congregation with whom he had been having an inappropriate relationship. As this came to light for the pastor’s family, the woman’s family, and the church, it was decided that the pastor would tell the congregation that he was leaving and why during the worship service the next Sunday. Sunday morning came. The pastor and his family, including his wife, sat in the front pew. The congregation sang, “Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing.” The pastor got up to address the congregation. As his daughter tells it, he said, “‘Beloved, I stand before you today for the last time as your pastor. I have broken my marriage vows.’ He said he had lied to us, our family. He had lied to the church. But then, in this kind of strange pastoral move, he said, ‘But I didn’t lie about the good news.’”

The pastor had a story. And he knew that story. And in that story, despite what he had done, he knew that there was still a place for him. And he was still ready to live by that story. And he wanted others to trust that story as well.

Friends, let us not be afraid to live by the gospel story. A story not of an unknown god, but of a known God. A God of universal love for all people not just some people. A God of unconditional grace. A God of boundless forgiveness. A God of deep, lasting, and true peace. Amen.

SAVING IMAGINATION

By Rev. Kim Wells

“Imagination is more important than knowledge. Knowledge is limited. Imagination encircles the world.” [Quoted in interview by G.S. Viereck , October 26,1929. Reprinted in “Glimpses of the Great”(1930)., accessed on line] This quote is from Albert Einstein, some would say the most gifted scientist that has ever lived. “Imagination is more important than knowledge.”

We know how important imagination is to science. The open mind willing to see new patterns contained in information, willing to posit new ideas about the world and then to test them. Imagination brought us the understanding that the world is not flat but round, and that the earth orbits the sun, not vice versa. Imagination through science has brought us knowledge of the atom and knowledge of the ever-expanding universe. Imagination has taught us to see energy as wave and particle. And we can only speculate about what there still is to learn about the world and life when the imagination is fully engaged.

Imagination is key to technology, a branch of applied science. Digital music, biomedical developments, cell phones. These things were incomprehensible to people just 100 years ago. In 1969, I visited my family in Germany and my uncle had one of two telephones in the town, both landlines. People came to the door of the house, knocked and paid a small fee to make a phone call. And now, less than 50 years later, people have cell phones everywhere and anywhere in the world. Who could have imagined this? Someone imagined the internet into existence. It would be absolutely inconceivable to my grandparents that such a system could be developed. Virtually all of human knowledge and information at your fingertips in the privacy of your own home 24/7? And yet, here it is and we are dependent upon the internet in just such a short time.

Imagination inspires business. FedEx imagined next business day delivery anywhere. And the company continues to imagine. The FedEx website tells us:

It’s clear that at FedEx, innovation is in our DNA. All employees are tasked with innovation as part of their day-to-day job. But there’s one group focused solely on developing future game-changing ideas: FedEx Innovation. FedEx Innovation is a cross-discipline team aimed at identifying emerging customer needs and technologies to change what’s possible through innovative solutions and businesses. The team systematically researches and demonstrates bold new concepts in key opportunity spaces and develops the best concepts with accelerated prototyping, incubation, and commercialization. [fedex.com]

That is imagination at work.

We know how important imagination is to the arts. Imagination brings us great visual art, dance, drama, literature, and music. The world would be bereft without the beauty, revelation, expression, insight, and delight of the arts fueled by the imagination.

Imagination can motivate our behavior and shape our reality. Garrison Keillor, of “A Prairie Home Companion,” tells of the power of imagination to fuel our fears. The parents have gone over to a friends’ house, leaving the kids at home alone.

It was getting dark and we were discussing our greatest fears over

French Silk pie when the phone rang. It was the kids. ‘The news guy said that there are thieves in the night and he’ll tell us where at ten. What if they come to our house?’ I told them to relax and there aren’t any thieves outside but lock the doors and turn on a light or two so you feel better, and have some butter brickle ice cream. The kids are old enough to be home alone, but young enough to flip out on occasion if they let their imaginations take over.

When we pulled into the driveway an hour or so later, every light in the house was on. The doors were all locked, and both TVs were on, and the kids were nowhere to be seen. I went upstairs and their beds were still made and I was a bit perplexed. Then I heard Mr. Sundberg holler from the kitchen. When I got there, he pressed his finger to his lips and pointed to the pantry. There they were, all three of ’em, bundled up in the blue blanket from the hall closet, sound asleep on the pantry floor. There were flashlights and books scattered over the blanket, and all three of them had faint white lines above their upper lips. Ice cream mustaches. Butter brickle. [www.publicradio.org/columns/prairiehome/sundberg/2007/01/29.shtml ]

Imagination can fuel our fears. It can be a great motivating force for human behavior, for good and for ill. Some world leaders imagine unrestrained power or wealth. Stalin imagined a Soviet Union unified under his personal control. And he killed multitudes of people in his effort to fulfill the designs of his imagination. Hitler imagined a Germany, a Europe with no Jews, no “undesirables,” peopled by a master race and governed by him. There are those today who are also fueled by evil imaginings.

World leaders can also be inspired in positive ways by imagination. In Cuba, Fidel Castro imagined a country in which everyone is not only literate but well educated, everyone has access to healthcare, all people have food, a home, and meaningful work that makes a contribution to society. He imagined a society in which the common good is the motivating force for all policies and personal behavior. He also imagined a country which reaches out to help other countries which Cuba does by sending doctors all over the world. Cuba has doctors assisting with health care in over 40 countries around the world. Castro was propelled by the power of his imagination to lead his country in a certain direction.

In a TV show I saw this week about President Kennedy, it was mentioned that during the Cuban Missile Crisis, Kennedy dealt with Nikita Khrushchev working from the assumption that Khrushchev wanted peace for his children just as Kennedy did. And evidently Kennedy worked from this premise even though there had been no direct indication of this from Khrushchev. Kennedy imagined that as a human being, as a leader, as a father, Khrushchev would want peace for the children of his country as much as Kennedy wanted peace for the children of the US. This imagining contributed to averting a nuclear war.

Imagination is powerful and can be a force for good in the world. Millard Fuller, founder of Habitat for Humanity, imagined a world in which everyone has a home. Habitat’s vision: “a world where everyone has a decent place to live.” [habitat.org] Mother Teresa imagined a world in which no one dies alone and unloved. Thus imagination bears the fruit of goodness in the world.

Imagination has been a major aspect of the many religions that have emerged in the course of human history. Religion and various gods gave people a way to imaginatively explain how and why things happened as they did such as where the world came from and why it rained. Religion took over answering questions that empirical experience could not resolve.

We see the power of imagination at work in the scriptures of our religious tradition. The Bible is filled with imaginative, evocative descriptions and stories intended to impart a certain world view, insights about human existence, and guidelines for ethical behavior. In the passage we heard this morning from the prophet Isaiah, we hear a vision of the world as God intends it to be. This vision is given to people who have lived under subjugation, as refugees in a foreign land. In the rich imagery of the passage we are told of a new beginning. This vision is given to people who are from Jerusalem and have seen their city destroyed and lying in ruins. There will be a new city, a place of joy. People will thrive there and live well and long. We are told that they will build houses and live in them and tend vineyards and eat the fruit of the land. In captivity in Babylon, they built houses for their captors, they tended fields of food for there conquerors. But in Isaiah’s imaginative vision of what is to come, they live in their own land, build their own houses, eat the food that they produce. They are not oppressed by others, they are living justly. Then we are given the imaginative zoological vision of this new world of peace – the wolf and the lamb eat together, the lion eats straw like the ox. There is no pain or destruction in this new earth. Imagination fuels this vision of hope. It gives the people something to believe in, to trust, to live for, to work for. This beautiful vision will sustain the people as they endure the long, grueling process of making a new home from the rubble. They imagine how glorious it will be and they have the wherewithal to keep on keeping on thanks to Isaiah’s vision.

Our scriptures are full of imaginative evocative images and stories that tell us about the world and ourselves and what the world can be. The creation story, the flood, the tower of Babel, the exodus from Egypt, in story after story in the Hebrew scriptures there are imaginative renderings of the complicated nuanced relationship between God and humanity. In the New Testament, particularly in the gospels, Jesus is portrayed using imaginative stories to teach people about God, life, community, solidarity, and justice. A widow searches for a coin. A father forgives a wayward child. A small man climbs a tree. A storm is stilled. Scripture is imbued with imagination because imagination is a gift of God to the human species to be used to form and shape us as individuals and as communities fulfilling God’s intentions for creation.

The role of imagination in our faith tradition is also quite complicated. Our scriptures are rife with imaginative images. Yet the church has sought to provide answers, to create rules to be followed. The church has created doctrine and dogma to define and describe. These things are fixed and determinative. Not matters that invite imaginative thinking, but rather that offer a clear cut structure of belief so that one knows where one stands. A clearly defined belief system is easier to convey and to control. This gives the institution of the church and its leaders more power. The church gives people the rules and regulations governing moral behavior and salvation. There is little left to the imagination.

In religion of recent times, there has been a greater embracing of literalism in some expressions of Christianity. This is a fairly new development in our faith – within the last 100 to 150 years. Up until that time, the vast majority of Christians knew that the Bible was intended to instruct through story and the power of the images used. It was not assumed to be necessarily factually true. That really didn’t matter. It was the meaning of the story or the image that mattered, not whether it actually happened or was going to happen, but what did it mean? But with literalism, again, this simplified explanation, makes it easier to describe and define. It reduces the search for multiple meanings and contextualization and application to the current situation. Make everything cut and dried. “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” as the bumper sticker says.

Thus religion can actually be a force for stifling imagination. It can undermine free and imaginative thinking. While this may be aimed at discouraging imagination from inspiring evil, it also conspires to stifle the good. And ultimately will stifle the saving power of the church in the world all together because the church will make itself obsolete and irrelevant. Yet a church inspired by imagination, as we see from the ministry of Jesus, has the power to save. It has the power to motivate us to work for good in the world, to serve with compassion, to develop new ways to live together with all kinds of other people in peace. Our faith tradition has the power to compel us to create a world that is just and fair in which all people are treated with dignity and respect. We have the stories and images in our scripture to generate that kind of creativity from the church. Jesus shows us the God of love at the heart of the universe through story and image and parable and deed. He imaginatively reveals the love of God present in all people and in the world. This love has the power to overcome all the evil humanity can concoct. But the power of love is communicated through the imagination inspiring us to live and act in ways that convey that message. Facts and figures and rules and regulations alone cannot inspire that kind of action. As 20th century writer H.L. Mencken has observed, “Love is the triumph of imagination over intelligence.” It is imagination that can motivate us to do what is good and true.

This past week, we watched the movie, “Chasing Ice.” It is a beautiful film about a man’s calling to imaginatively impact the world in a way that makes people care about global climate change and want to do something about it. This is done with images – a word with the same root as imagination. Studies and findings and measuring haven’t had the impact needed. So James Balog turns to image, to story. That’s what has the power to change people’s minds and hearts. That’s what has the potential to influence behavior. A person interviewed in the movie transitions from working for Shell Oil to being an environmental advocate.

Instead of fearing the imagination, the church needs to embrace the power of imagination. Instead of trying to control, the church needs to unleash the imaginative stories of scripture and faith to inspire people to create a new future.

We mentioned Fed Ex having an innovation team built into its corporate structure. I imagine a church with an innovation team – cross disciplinary, aimed at identifying new needs and technologies and to offer new solutions. I imagine a church where the leaders research and demonstrate bold new concepts in theology and liturgy and structure and mission. I would like to be part of a church identifying key opportunity spaces and developing best concepts with accelerated prototyping and incubation for promoting anti violence. I would like to see imagination brought to bear not only on the way the church packages its message, but on the message itself. Innovation and imagination in conveying the message of unconditional love, forgiveness, grace, and the sacredness of life that is at the heart of the ministry of Jesus. I would like to see a church boldly imagining a world where everyone has what they need to flourish and no one is a victim of the greed and abuses of others. I would like to see a church boldly innovating in ways that imaginatively create a Christianity without exclusivism and without a superiority complex. A Christianity focused on the creating new systems of community and social and economic models that eliminate poverty and all kinds of discrimination. I would like to see an imaginative expression of Christianity that does not make faith and science an either/or proposition but a both/and proposition. We can give people facts until the cows come home, but that will not necessarily change hearts and minds. That will not create meaning and justice in human culture. Facts and information alone cannot inspire us to seek our highest good. That requires imagination. Humanity’s greatest accomplishments – scientific, social, and cultural – are all rooted in the power of the imagination.

To deny the power of imagination is to take the air out of the balloon of our faith. It is to deny God – the Creator, the great imagination, and it denies the concept that humans are created in God’s image, intended to be imaginative co-Creators with God. To ignore or minimize or denigrate the imagination is to unplug the power for good that is inherent in the way of Jesus and in our faith.

The prophet Isaiah invites us to be creative. To imagine another world, a better world, into being. To persist in pursuing justice and peace. To imagine children cared for and flourishing and old people living rich and full lives to the end. To imagine food and shelter and safety for all. To imagine self determination and freedom to live and thrive. Imaginative visions and dreams have the power to literally change the

world.

There’s a story told of two men who shared a room in a hospital ward. The one man had to lie flat on his back at all times for weeks to allow for his healing and recuperation. He was to keep quiet and still. The hours seemed endless. Being consigned to such conditions in the confines of such a small room sapped his spirit. He became discouraged and depressed. Another patient was brought in to the other bed in the room. That patient, too was to be quiet and still. But the new patient was able to sit up in a chair next to the window for an hour in the morning and an hour in the afternoon. As he was sitting up, he would describe what he saw out the window to the man who could only lie flat on his back. He would tell of the park outside the window. The children playing, the model boats on the small pond. The ducks and swans. being fed bread by the children. He told of the flowers, the roses, and dahlias, and lilies growing in the park. Of the couples walking hand in hand. He described the matches on the tennis courts, and the soccer games on the field outside the window.

The man on his back began to live for these reports of the park outside the window. Each morning and each afternoon, he would listen to the vivid descriptions of the activities in the park. The child who fell down running on the path. The spectacular block at the soccer goal. The newly hatched ducklings on the pond. The descriptions of life outside the window gave the man something to look forward to, something to live for, a connection to the rest of the world. He began to improve little by little, though he still had to lie on his back completely still.

One night, the roommate, the man who would sit in the chair and tell of life outside the window, was seized by a coughing fit in his sleep, he began choking, and then, suddenly, all was silent. The man had died. His body was taken away quietly.

A few days later, the man on his back asked to be moved to the bed by the window. He hoped to see for himself the park and the pond, and the tennis court and the soccer field. His request was granted. He was moved to the bed by the window. Once he was settled, he asked the nurse to open the curtains so that he could look out the window. He turned his head to take in the view. It was the brick wall of an adjacent building. [Adapted from One Hundred Wisdom Stories from Around the World, by Margaret Silf]

New heavens and a new earth. A city of joy. No cry of distress. Homes and fields. Labor honest and fair. The wolf and the lamb together. A world at peace.

Imagination is more important than knowledge. Amen.

Scripture Lessons: 1 Kings 18: 20-39 and Luke 7: 1-10
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

They say you can find anything for sale on eBay. Well, if you were wondering just how far that goes, we learned this week that someone tried to sell his place in heaven on eBay. It’s no joke. A man from New Jersey listed his spot in heaven on eBay. And if you think that much is crazy, it doesn’t end there. The bidding reached $100,000 when eBay finally pulled the listing. Yes, people actually bid up to $100,000 for Ari Mandel’s place in heaven. [Tampa Bay Times 5.31.13, p. 4A]

Yes, religion can be a very strange thing but there is no way around the fact that religion is an extremely influential force in our culture and in the world.

Whether or not you are religious, religion is impacting your reality. Religion motivates people. It shapes their view of reality. It molds character, morals, and values. It influences personal behavior. Religion is influencing the Boy Scouts, reproductive choices, economics, environmental issues, foreign policy, war, health care, medical alternatives, marriage, education, and international relations just to get the ball rolling. From the bedroom to the boardroom, from the situation room to the emergency room, religion is having an influence.

This is nothing new. Religion has been an important aspect of human culture since its emergence. The cave dwellers had religious practices, and so do we. Having been part of the human scene for this long, I wouldn’t look for religion to disappear any time soon.

The scripture that we heard this morning from 1 Kings tells the story of competing religions. On one side is King Ahab, the 450 prophets of Ba’al, and the 400 prophets of Asherah; the power structure, the religion of the power elite and the Empire. This religion was polytheistic; there were many gods and one of the most significant was Ba’al. Ba’al was the god of fertility, and of water and rain to make the crops grow. Since the economy was based on agriculture and a few at the top were getting rich off of the land with servants, peasants, and slaves doing the actual work (some things don’t change), the leaders wanted to stay rich and powerful. This depended on successful farming. So, they would gladly sacrifice to whatever god would give them the results they wanted, and they would gladly sacrifice to all the gods who they believed could help them. They were busy sacrificing to Ba’al as well as to Yahweh, the God of the Israelites. But Judaism is about promoting monotheism, one God. So, the prophet Elijah is sent by Yahweh, the one God of the Hebrews, to let the people, including King Ahab, know that there is only one God and that they are to worship that one God and it is Yahweh not Ba’al. Things have gotten so out of hand, that Elijah tells the people that Yahweh has sent the drought to punish them for worshipping other gods. And when they recommit only to Yahweh, the rain will resume. So here they are worshipping all kinds of gods to cover all their bases and insure rain and fertility and it has backfired and led to a drought. So there is this showdown between Ba’al and Yahweh at the summit of Mount Carmel overlooking the Mediterranean Sea.

The 450 prophets of Ba’al will prepare their bull to be sacrificed. And Elijah, the one and only prophet of Yahweh, will prepare his bull to be sacrificed. And whichever god starts the fire to burn the bull for the sacrifice is the winner. And that God will get the people’s devotion and loyalty.

Here is the King and all these prophets and they get the first pick of the bull to be sacrificed. They build their altar and get everything ready. All Ba’al has to do is start the fire. They pray. Nothing happens. They sing. Nothing happens. They dance. Nothing happens. They cut themselves. Nothing happens. Hours pass and not a spark. Is Ba’al not listening? Is he asleep? The God of Israel never slumbers or sleeps. Maybe Ba’al does! Is Ba’al praying? Is his wringer off? Is he on vacation? Nothing. Not a cinder. Not a spark.

Then Elijah sets up his sacrifice. Makes an altar and a fire ring with 12 stones for the 12 tribes of Israel. Then he digs a trench around the whole thing. He adds the wood and the bull. But he is not done yet. Elijah asks for 4 large jugs of water to be brought. Water was scarce during the drought. And remember that water is a symbol of Ba’al. Ba’al was known for conquering and controlling the waters. Three times the sacrifice is drenched with water. Saturated. Dripping. Wood and all. Does Elijah sing? No. Does he dance? No. Does he cut himself and offer his own blood? No. He says one brief prayer calling upon God. And the wet wood erupts in flames, the bull, the altar, the wood, the stones, all is consumed. Even the water is consumed. Elijah gave Ba’al every opportunity, every advantage, even dousing the sacrifice with water which Ba’al controls. But Yahweh prevails and the people commit themselves to Yahweh. It’s a scene worthy of Cecil B. DeMille or Steven Spielberg!

While we may not perceive ourselves as part of such a great competition for allegiance and loyalty, the truth is that there are forces competing for our devotion and loyalty and commitment. Within our own religious tradition, there are a variety of expressions of Christianity competing for recognition, for authority, for validity, and, most importantly, for influence in the public square. What kinds of things do we need to be mindful of when seeking to express our religions devotion? How do we decide what’s authentic in religion?

Today, I am going to suggest just one factor in gauging the authenticity of a religious expression. There are others. But I will focus this morning on just one.

In the book of 1 Kings, the Israelites are navigating troubled waters in their primary relationship, their relationship with Yahweh, their God, the one who brought them out of the land of Egypt. Yahweh is a God of justice. Yahweh has compassion for the orphan and the widow. Yahweh cares about the poor. Yahweh is a God of communitarian ideals.

The Israelites, however, have seen the ways of their neighbors. An aristocratic mercantile class has developed on the backs of the peasantry. The land has yielded crops thanks to the efforts of the peasants and a few at the top are reaping the benefits. They are taking advantage of others. In addition, they are neglecting their responsibilities to the orphans, the widows, and the poor. They are abandoning their commitment to the well-being of the whole community. They are ignoring the values and obligations expected of them by their God, Yahweh. So, not only are they two-timing Yahweh by worshipping Ba’al and other Canaanite gods, they are neglecting the teachings of Yahweh intended to promote a just, fair, stable, caring community that ensures the well-being of everyone. They have essentially become oppressors. And they are worshipping whatever god they can find that they think will increase the harvest so that they make more money. Selfishness, greed, and economic injustice are at the root of the Israelites problems.

So, in thinking about the authenticity and validity of religious expression, I would like to suggest that one important consideration is “follow the money.” What are the economic dimensions of the religious expression? What are the economic circumstances of the adherents? What do the believers do with their money? How do they make their money? How is money used by the faith community? Money is a key indicator of values, beliefs, commitments, and world view. So if you follow the money, you get a good idea about what a religious expression is really all about.

And I think this applies across religions. Whether Hindu, Muslim, Jewish, Buddhist, or Christian, I think that following the money is a key indicator of what is really important and valued by that religious expression.

Within Christianity, there are a variety of approaches to money. Following the money in one expression of Christianity may lead to quite a different conclusion than following the money in another expression of Christianity. A church with a pastor that is paid hundreds of thousands of dollars and living a lavish lifestyle is a LONG way from Jesus. That says a lot about that religious expression. If you go to a church and there are clearly people from a variety of economic situations, maybe from homeless people and poor people to CEOs and others in between, that says a lot. What is the church doing with its money? Maintaining an opulent building and not giving to those in need? Maintaining a lavish building and giving generously to those in need? These things say a lot about the religious expression. What kinds of mission is the church involved with? Compassion? Charity? Advocacy? Justice? To gauge the validity of a religious expression, I think that following the money tells us a lot.

One of the main topics in the teachings of Jesus is money, wealth, and greed. That is because the nature of the purse reflects the nature of the soul.

While all Christians today do not accept vows of poverty, chastity, and obedience, we can look at the life of Jesus and see that he lived a materially simple life and he advocated a materially simple life. He also advocated lavish generosity. So in a religious expression, we should be looking for material simplicity or at least moderation coupled with overflowing generosity.

There are some expressions of Christianity promoting monetary gain and opulent wealth as a sign of divine blessing. Live the good life and God will make you materially rich. There is no basis for that perspective in the teachings of Jesus. It is very easy for us to distort our religious expression to suit our own ends.

And this is not unique to Christianity. It can be seen in other religions as well. There are a variety of religious expressions; some authentic, valid, and sincere. Others distorted and self-serving. And some a mix in between. Again, money can be a key indicator of the sincerity and authenticity of the religious expression.

We are here today because we are religious. We are meeting our spiritual needs by being part of a faith community. The words of Elijah invite us to consider the authenticity and validity of our religious life. Elijah asks the Israelites, “How long will you go limping with two different opinions?” Like trying to go in two different directions at the same time. This question challenges us as well. It invites our single-hearted devotion to the way of Jesus. And it invites our constant vigilance in assessing the sincerity of our religious expression. And the continuous evaluation of our motives, our values, and our actions. To get a perspective on where we stand, we can follow the money. How are we acquiring it? What are we doing with it? What are the indicators of our generosity? How are we meeting the needs of those made poor? What are we doing to change the systems and institutions that perpetuate injustice and poverty? These are questions to ask ourselves as religious people and as a faith community. Does what we do with our money show that we are on fire for the God of justice, compassion, and mercy? The God of Jesus Christ. Follow the money and we will know the condition of our hearts and our souls.

Religion, as we said earlier, is part of our reality. It can seem misguided and hare-brained, like the man trying to sell his place in heaven on eBay. Talk about follow the money! There’s an indicator. But religion can also be a transforming power for good in the world and in our lives. Religion is powerful. It is our choice how we use that force. For good? For selfish ends? To justify ill will toward others? To perpetuate the status quo? To work for justice? To perpetuate violence? To heal the world? Religion is full of potential. We are here because we believe in the immense power of religion for good. Let us not be afraid. Let us expect God’s faithfulness. Let us take risks. And, like Elijah, expect the fire, not of hell, but of the power of God to ignite our lives and our world with love. Amen.