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Scripture Lessons: 1 Corinthians 3:1-9 and Matthew 5:21-37
Sermon: Spiritual Evolution
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

In December of 1831, the HMS Beagle set off from England on a voyage to chart the coastline of South America. On board, as naturalist and geologist, was Charles Darwin who was born on Feb. 12, 1809. The journey was projected to take 2 years. It took 5. In those 5 years, Darwin did geological study and collected natural history specimens including fossils. Darwin made drawings, took measurements, and kept extensive notes on his travels, which as we know included the Galapagos Islands. The expedition returned to England in 1836.

In the years following the voyage Darwin continued his study of his findings on the trip. And he pursued additional investigations as a naturalist. He examined the evidence and information that he was amassing. He looked for the ideas and explanations that were emerging from the data.

Up to that point, the accepted view was that each species was created in its final form as we know it. The religious view was that God created each species individually. All the biodiversity on Earth came from the hand of a creator God, species by species, one by one.

Darwin and others were seeing the relationships and connections between species and their studies led them to see that species were not independent and unrelated but that they were related and connected, evolving and changing over time.

Finally, after many years of investigation and exploration, in 1859, 23 years after the Voyage of the Beagle, Darwin, in collaboration with Alfred Russell Wallace, published a paper entitled, “On the Tendency of Species to form Varieties; and on the Perpetuation of Varieties and Species by Natural Means of Selection.” Later that year, Darwin’s full views about natural selection were presented in On Origin of Species. Darwin made the case for what we know as the theory of evolution. That was in 1859. By the 1870’s, Darwin’s views on natural selection and evolution were widely accepted.

The basic understanding is that species adapt and change over time in light of changing circumstances and conditions in the environment. Genetic traits that promote the survival of the species persist. Traits that are detrimental to the perpetuation of the species do not. Through this process of change new species emerge and some species go extinct. This is a natural on-going process that is part of the dynamic ever-changing environment. Change and adaptation are part and parcel of Creation which is in a constant state of flux.

Just as plants and animals adapt and change, so humans, too, are evolving and changing both biologically and culturally. For instance, the appendix is getting smaller and smaller as humans evolve. It is disappearing because it no longer serves a useful purpose. So, at some point in the future, it may be that people are born without an appendix.

In addition to the biological evolution of human beings, we also see that human culture is evolving and changing over time. This, too, contributes to the perpetuation of the species. There was the harnessing of the power of fire. There was the development from being hunter-gatherers, to settled agriculture. There was the age of fossil fuels which powered industrialization. Human culture is continually adapting, changing, and evolving.

We also see the evolving of religion in the history of humanity. In past times, people thought the world was controlled by gods who had different jobs. One was in charge of rain. One took care of the thunder. There was a god of the sun and a god of the moon. People believed in many different gods that were doing different things to keep the world running. Humans believed they could influence these gods to their benefit.

With Judaism, we see the emergence of the first form of monotheistic religion, religion with just one God. And Christianity and Islam emerge from that. There has also been the emergence of many other religions. These religions emerge to meet the spiritual needs of people in varying circumstances as humanity develops. Religion adapts to the ever advancing human understanding of the world and nature and science. As humanity has grown and progressed intellectually, religion has adapted accordingly. Or it should.

In our religious tradition, we see the process of evolution at work. Jesus was Jewish. In the scripture that we heard today, Jesus references traditional Jewish teaching about murder. Thou shalt not kill. Jesus builds on this. He doesn’t replace it, he takes it further. He affirms that our religious ideas are growing, changing, and deepening as humanity moves forward.

Sure, it is fine to have a teaching that we should not murder or kill. But Jesus adds to this the challenge to look at what causes killing and murder. Anger. Hatred. Strife. So he encourages people to deal with their conflicts in a constructive manner. Don’t just “not kill.” Work out your problems. Learn to get along with others. Pursue reconciliation before you are thinking about killing someone. And the sooner this happens the better. The longer we wait, the more difficult it can become. We are to work out our differences and to pursue right relationship with others. He is encouraging reconciliation not exploitation or violence.

Jesus’ message is basically the same when it comes to marriage. Sure, there are legal standards around marriage. There is what is lawful. But Jesus is encouraging people to do what is good and true. He is viewing marriage not as a property transaction but as a human relationship of mutuality, dignity and respect.

As for a vow, if you have to take a vow to make sure you are not lying, the presumption is that the rest of the time, you may very well be lying. Jesus is saying don’t lie. Ever. So you don’t have to worry about taking a vow. Be true all the time.

What Jesus is showing us is the evolution from needing rules to keep us from harming each other to offering teaching that shows us how to get along with each other and live as brothers and sisters in communities that foster life and creativity. Jesus is showing us how to transition from a basic view of “don’t do the bad,” to “do the good.” It’s not enough not to hate, we must love one another, even those we consider an enemy. Jesus is drawing upon the traits of his religious tradition that he feels are needed to advance the perpetuation of the species. He is offering what is good for the continuing future of humanity.

In a time of extreme conflict and challenge, Abraham Lincoln drew upon those teachings to foster the perpetuation of the United States, its people and ideals. Lincoln was born on Feb. 12, 1809, the same day and year as Darwin. While Darwin was busy helping us to understand how species develop biologically, Lincoln shows us how a species develops morally. He is a great teacher of the practicalities associated with the moral evolution of humanity that we are taught by Jesus. While Lincoln was not much for church, he was an avid reader of the Bible and very much committed to the teachings of Jesus including the teaching that we heard this morning.

Lincoln was committed to the hard work of being in right relationship with others personally, in society, as a nation, and in international affairs. We see this carried out by Lincoln who said, “Do I not destroy my enemies when I make them my friends?” He applied this in all circumstances including war and peace.

In addition, Lincoln very specifically selected a cabinet that included people with differing points of view, from each other, and from Lincoln himself. Lincoln believed in the honest sharing of a diversity of ideas and perspectives. Through this give and take, he felt that a better result would emerge. From conflicting viewpoints better policy could be created. Lincoln wanted to learn from others and felt that a diverse cabinet would best serve him and the nation. You can read more about this in the book, Team of Rivals by Doris Kearns Goodwin.

In Lincoln, we see the commitment to reconciliation over exploitation especially in the aftermath of the Civil War. We remember those great words of his second inaugural address: “With malice toward none, with charity for all, with firmness in the right as God gives us to see the right, let us strive on to finish the work we are in, to bind up the nation’s wounds, to care for him who shall have borne the battle and for his widow and his orphan, to do all which may achieve and cherish a just and lasting peace among ourselves and with all nations.”

In this address, we see Lincoln’s desire not so much to win a war as to win a peace. And he knows that to win peace means pursuing reconciliation with the South. That will require compassion and generosity. It must be based on respect and dignity. This is not how those who win a war typically treat the loser of the war. What is customary is for the loser to be punished, debased, stripped of power, agency and resources; exploited. Lincoln would have none of that. He exhibits the commitment to making things right with the South in accordance with the teaching that we heard from the Gospel this morning. Lincoln tells us, “I have always found that mercy bears richer fruits than strict justice.”

Lincoln was very much inspired by the Bible and the teachings of Jesus. And we see the ethics of Jesus borne out in Lincoln’s life and work. It is for this that he is revered and remembered, though, sadly, not enough emulated.

We see Lincoln drawing upon the traits of Christianity that he feels will best serve the good of the world. In him we see the evolution of Christianity as a force for good not just in the North, or in the United States, but in the world. And this leadership is based on the Bible. But notice that Lincoln chooses carefully what teachings in the Bible to follow. He could have followed teachings in the Hebrew Bible and Christian Testament that would have supported punishing the South. Taking the spoils of the South. Degrading and demeaning the South. Lincoln could have impugned the South with threats of the fires of hell and burning for eternity. There are plenty of verses in the Bible that Lincoln could have drawn upon to support that agenda. But just as biological species evolve and change and adapt to ensure survival, religion changes to meet the challenges of the circumstances that it confronts. Lincoln knew that vindictiveness and revenge were not going to promote the survival of the United States of America. And so he chose carefully from the Christian tradition the traits that would best serve the interests of survival and peace at the moment and into the far future.

The church has always been involved with choosing from its heritage what to preserve and what to let go of to meet the current situation. The church has always been choosing what traits to carry on and what traits to let go of. This is nothing new. Jesus came for the good of the world. The church exists for the good of the world. So it is incumbent upon the church to always be seeking how to serve the good of the world in the current circumstance. And we have a rich heritage to draw upon.

Today, the world needs a witness to right relationship, to dignity and respect, to truth and integrity. The world needs to be shown how to engage in reconciliation. Our first response seems to be weapons and conflict and violence when there is a problem. The world needs a world view; looking at what is in the best interests of the world, not just one people, one country, one place, but the world needs a planetary perspective including all of Creation. Given our technology, weaponry, mobility, and the rampant greed around us the world need the witness of the expansive moral vision of Jesus now more than ever.

We see Darwin and Lincoln giving the world their best for the good of the world. We see them giving the world their best intellectual capacity, their best creativity, their best moral vision. In their own way, they are contributing to the perpetuation of the species. The church needs to be giving the world the best it has to offer.

It is in the DNA of the church to be an agent of reconciliation and right relationship not only between people, but between humanity and the natural world, plants, animals, land, water, and space. The church must draw upon those traits for they are necessary for the survival of the world and offer them as a bold witness.

We are living in a time of strained relationships from the court room to the board room to the situation room to the bedroom. In decades and centuries to come, looking back upon these days, will the church be remembered as a spiritual infant, an image we are given in Corinthians? Will the church be remembered for promoting a faith of prohibitions. Don’t do this. Don’t’ do that. Avoid evil. Will the church be remembered for promoting intimidation and threat? Don’t do that or you’ll spend eternity rotting in hell. Do this if you want to go to heaven and live for eternity in paradise. Will the church be remembered for fostering inequality and division?

Or will the church be remembered for preserving the traits of our heritage that promote universal love and extraordinary reconciliation? Will the church be remembered for its spiritual maturity embracing the full scope of the ethics and teachings of the Jewish Jesus?

In biology, when traits are no longer serving the survival of the species, they adapt or the species becomes extinct. In culture, when practices and attitudes no longer serve the future interests of the community, they are left behind. So it is with religion as well. Aspects of our tradition that are no longer useful, that no longer serve the good of the whole Creation need to be jettisoned. The church has significant traits to offer to the world that can definitely contribute to the survival of humanity and the planet. Will the church continue its evolution and perpetuate those traits? If the church ceases to exist in a significant way, we will know that the church was not serving its purpose. That it did not allow adaptation and natural selection to work.

Christianity has been opting for various traits since faith communities began gathering in the first century CE. Slight variations to fit the circumstances. Slight differences being preserved so that the radical love and scandalous reconciliation of the way of Jesus will continue to be enfleshed for the good of the world. Our religious tradition is needed to be a source of good news, new life and the transformation of creation into the paradise God intends for it to be. May the church encourage the process of natural selection and continue to evolve and contribute to the good of the world.
Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.

Scriptures: Isaiah 58:1-12 and Matthew 5:13-20
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

It seems like many people I talk to feel out of kilter, adrift, and disoriented. Maybe the pictures of people being turned away at airports under the temporary travel ban on certain Muslim countries hit home because in some sense we feel troubled, alienated, and dispossessed as America we knew it seems to be eroding. . . I imagine that for people who support what is going on, the protests and demonstrations seem confusing. People are supposedly getting what was voted for, why are they agitating so passionately? In any case, many feel disoriented.

In a 1995 commentary about the Isaiah lesson for today, a Biblical scholar remarks, “There are clues here about rehabilitation of a society in disarray!” [Texts for Preaching: A Lectionary Commentary Based on NRSV – Year A, Brueggemann, Cousar, Gaventa, and Newsome, p. 129] How appropriate for us today!

In the book, The Sellout: A Novel, by Paul Beatty, which won the Man Booker prize, unusual for an American, the father of the main character, a psychologist, an eccentric sort, tells his son, “You have to ask yourself two questions: Who am I? and How may I become myself?” [p. 250]

So in this time of shifting sands beneath us, we turn to the scriptures with these questions: Who am I? and How do I become myself? In the lesson from Matthew, Jesus tells us that we are salt and light. Notice we are told that Jesus says, “You are the salt of the earth. . . You are the light of the world.” [Emphasis added.] It doesn’t say, if you do this, then you will be the salt of the earth. If you believe that, then you will be the light of the world. It doesn’t say, you could be the salt of the earth. Or you might be the light of the world. It says, “You are the salt of the earth. . . You are the light of the world.” [Matthew 5: 13,14] That is who we are.

We are here today, in this church, some of us Christians, some Jewish, some Buddhist, some agnostic, some atheist, some “other,” because somehow, in some way, we have experienced the stirrings inside us telling us that we are salt and light. We have been called to, as theologian Carter Heyward puts it, “. . . join Jesus and many others in giving God a voice, giving God an embodied life on earth.” [Resources for Preaching and Worship Year A: Quotations, Meditations, Poetry, and Prayers, compiled by Hannah Ward and Jennifer Wild, p. 66] We are here to enflesh love.

Now we know who we are. So we turn to, “How may I become myself?” How do we function as light and salt? How do we embody Divine love in the world, the world that we are in, the world as we know it, the world that is shifting under our feet, the world that seems to be becoming more and more divided?

From both Matthew and Isaiah, we hear that our calling is to make a difference in the world. We are to take action in the public realm. To make a concrete response to public issues, to human need, to dehumanization, oppression, and poverty. One scholar says it this way, “. . . the direct, immediate engagement with self and neighbor with clearheaded awareness of systemic issues.” [Texts for Preaching, p. 129]

I know that you are not the crowd that needs to be convinced of our call to do good in the world, make a difference, and show God’s love for all people. But sometimes we need help moving from our minds and hearts to our hands, feet, and wallets.

This week, I was inspired by the Rev. Bernard Lafayette who spoke at the University of South Florida. Rev. Lafayette was an advisor to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. He was on the front lines of the Civil Rights Movement. In his last conversation with King on the day King was killed, King told Lafayette that they needed to take the movement from civil rights in the United States to human rights around the world. He told Lafayette that the agenda was to go global with nonviolent direct action. And Rev. Lafayette has spent his life doing just that leading workshops on nonviolent action around the world, including in Israel, Niger, and Columbia where he had to laugh when they referred to him as a “gringo.” In his remarks, Lafayette reminded us: “Don’t sit on the couch, the rocking chair, the floor, and grieve. . . Don’t be weak and pitiful and just complain. . . Don’t wait and see what’s going to happen next, make something happen. . . Look for cracks in the system and use your crowbar to pry. . . Don’t burn down the bus station.”

In these times of great challenge and peril, it can be hard to be salt and light, to be ourselves. We can feel so out of step with what is going on around us. In the face of fake news, alternative reality, deceit, lies, delusion, and the complexity of every problem that we face, we must resist the temptation to crawl under a rock! We are needed to be discerning and responsive, following in the way of Jesus. We know that to be salt and light is to act with love. It is, as one commentary suggests, to embody “unheard-of reconciliation, simple truth-telling, outrageous generosity, and love of one’s enemies.” [Texts for Preaching, p. 136]

It’s a challenge at the best of times. To do this, to embody “unheard of reconciliation, simple truth-telling, outrageous generosity, and love of one’s enemies,” to be salt and light, we want to keep three things in mind.

One is feed the soul. We need to be sure that we are feeding our souls and nourishing our spirits. This means coming to church, daily prayer, turning to scripture, meditating, journaling, walking the labyrinth, going on silent retreat, whatever it is that keeps you connected and grounded in the transcendent, the Divine, the greater good, the larger reality. Feeding the soul is critical to being salt and light.

And we want to keep in mind that there are many people who may feel the urging of God, the sense of the transcendent in their lives, but they are not connected to a faith community. They have not yet found a way to feed the soul through a church or religious community. They may be needing that connection now, and it is up to us to let people know about this church and invite people to see what is here because it may be just what they need to help them be the salt and light they are called to be. So don’t be shy about mentioning the church to your friends, neighbors, coworkers, etc. Let them know that being part of this church grounds you in your world view, your activism and your service. Invite others to come and see. This is another way of giving food to the hungry and clothes to the naked; it is meeting the core human needs of others.

So, we maintain our ability to be light and salt by nourishing the soul and that can take many forms. We also want to be clear that as we seek to stay grounded so that we can radiate Divine, universal, unconditional love, we may need to ration our intake of negativism, hate, and delusion. Yes, I am talking about turning off the news. Spending less time on Facebook and Twitter. Giving the radio a rest even if it is National Public Radio. And maybe even limiting exposure to certain people – friends and even family. The constant frenetic pace of unfolding events can lure us into being almost voyeuristic – we want to see what is going on. We don’t want to miss anything. But we have to exert our power to limit the negative material we allow to enter our beings or it will take us over. We are in danger of being overwhelmed, drowned, and held hostage. We want to maintain our freedom to stay true to our Divine calling as salt and light. We cannot let our light be put out and we cannot let our salt be trampled underfoot. So we must take responsibility for what enters our minds and hearts just as we do with our bodies. I know that I listen to NPR far less than I used to. I have stopped catching up on Twitter before I go to bed because I get too worked up to sleep well. And we need to be well-rested and in good form, physically and spiritually, to be the salt and light that we are needed to be right now.

So, we need to feed our souls, limit negative influences, and lastly, confront our fears. Much of what is going on around us is fear-driven. There are economic fears. There are fears of those who are different. There are fears of other countries. There are fears of losing freedoms. There are fears of hastening environmental collapse. There are fears of violent attack. There are fears around access to health care. Every day, there are more things for us to be afraid of. And when people are afraid, they give up control and power. And the darkness grows.

We are salt and light. Salt and light are naturally occurring, part of Creation, of God. Their power is derived from the Divine. As salt and light, we are powerful. Think of living without light. Or life without salt. We would die. Salt and light are images of power. Power that stands down fear.

In his remarks on Thursday night, Rev. Lafayette spoke of fear. He said, “You have to overcome the fear of death. Then you can operate nonviolently. You are going to die anyway. Don’t wait. Do some good. The greater fear is that you’ll die before you do some good.”

We are salt and light. We are to fulfill the vision presented in Isaiah:

“to loose the bonds of injustice,
to undo the thongs of the yoke,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to break every yoke.
To share your bread with the hungry,
and bring the homeless poor into your house:
when you see the naked, to cover them. . .” [Isaiah 58:6-7]

We are needed in the world as the embodiment of God working for reconciliation, justice, compassion, and peace. For each and every individual. And for the whole Creation.

As we revisit the poetic words of the prophet Isaiah let us remember what is promised. He tells the people to give up their hollow, showy piety, and to get down to business caring for others, and creating a just society. In other words, be salt and light. But when the people are true to their God-given nature, when they fulfill God’s desires and intentions, then they experience the fullness of life. The prophet tells us:

“Then your light shall break forth like the dawn,
and your healing shall spring up quickly,
God will guide you continually
and satisfy your needs in parched places,
and make your bones strong;
and you shall be like a watered garden,
like a spring of water,
whose waters never fail.” [Isaiah 58: 10-11]

When we are true to ourselves, when we are the salt and light we have been called to be, we find our deepest joy and strength. We find our highest good. We find our healing and wholeness.

The Gospel in Solentiname by Ernesto Cardenal shares the responses of a community of campesinos in rural Nicaragua to stories in the Gospels. It was written in 1976. In her response to the teaching about being the salt of the earth, Dona Adela, a little old woman, calls to mind the preservative properties of salt. With a weak voice, she says: “We are the salt of the world because we have been placed in it so the world won’t rot.” [p. 94] And we can add, so that we don’t rot with it. Amen.

A reasonable effort has been made to appropriately cite materials referenced in this sermon. For additional information, please contact Lakewood United Church of Christ.