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Sermon text 2.23.25 “Faith Is Absurd” (resend)

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712 on the Gulf of Mexico
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: February 23, 2025
Scripture Lesson: Luke 6:27-36
Sermon: Faith Is Absurd
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

Love your enemies.
Do good to those who hate you.
Bless those who curse you.
Pray for those who abuse you.
Turn the other cheek.
If someone takes your coat give them your shirt also.
Give to everyone who begs from you.
Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.
Love your enemies, do good, and lend, expecting NOTHING in return.

Do not judge or condemn. Forgive. [See Luke 6: 27-36]

Do we hear this? This is a radical shift from the common wisdom of the society and culture around us – it was in Jesus’ day and it may be even more so today. This is a call to ending complicity with a culture of violence and injustice and intolerance, economic and social. The gospel is a call to engaging in a completely different kind of living in which you let go of resentments and grudges and you don’t seek revenge. Where you seek to understand and help those who harm you. You, as an individual. You, as a community. You, as a country and a people. The form of the word ‘you’ in the verses we heard today is plural. So, this admonition is not just for the individual but for the community, the society. This is a call to ending self-obsession and narcissism and greed. It is a call to other-centered living. This is a call to wild compassion, generosity, and love expressed in community.

These are core teachings of Jesus. Perhaps among the best known. The foundation of the gospel. The basis for morality in the reality of God. Yet, let’s be honest. These teachings are, well, absurd.

Other spiritual paths have the moral dictate ‘do no harm.’ Well, that in and of itself is a challenge. But Jesus does not stop at the already almost inconceivable declamation, do no harm. No. Jesus goes even further. Do good. And do good to those who hate and revile you. And let’s remember that in the first century there were plenty of people, Roman and Jewish alike, who reviled the followers of Jesus; who were persecuting the followers of Jesus; who were doing physical, social, and economic harm to the followers of Jesus. So these words that we heard from Luke are not ‘theoretical.’ They are given to people who were actually very much experiencing harm at the hands of those around them for their devotion to Jesus.

And Jesus does not just say, do no harm. Don’t hit back. No. He says, turn the other cheek. Let them hit you again, if they will. Help these people. Give to them. More than they ask for. Forgive them. Don’t judge them. Don’t become consumed with hatred or fear of those who hate you. And for heaven’s sake, don’t use violence, force, to solve your problems or take revenge.

Jesus teaches us to do not just the easy good. Like a buck to the guy panhandling at the end of the exit ramp. But give to those who have wronged us. And not just giving away something ‘extra.’ Remember John the Baptizer saying, if you have two coats, give one away. Jesus says, if someone takes your coat, give them your shirt, too. Give away your own necessities. In our time, that may not be clothes. It may not even be money. It may be time. Take the time to help others despite all you think you have to do and should be doing. If someone asks for an hour, give them a day.

With Jesus, it is not just about do no harm, difficult as that is. But it is do the good. Do more. Go further.

Why? Why would Jesus ask this of his followers? We are told in the verses we heard this morning. Because you are ‘children of the most High: For God is kind to the ungrateful and the wicked. Be merciful, just as God is merciful.” There it is. This is the nature of God. To do good for all. No matter what we have done. This is what God is like – giving us more than we could ask for or imagine. Providing for us. Loving us unconditionally. Showing us infinite mercy. So this is to be the character of our nature as well because we are created in the Divine image.

The teachings of Jesus completely shatter other images of God as a God that is violent, hateful, mean, angry, punishing, and war-like. These are images of God that are used to justify human behavior mirroring these traits. Jesus presents us with a template for a God that is merciful, kind, generous, forgiving, non violent, and compassionate.

And we are created in the image of that God. So, to be fully ourselves, to be true to ourselves, to experience our highest freedom without constraint, we are to emulate the character of God. Jesus is calling us to our highest good. Our deepest joy.

There was a very beautiful story in the New York Times last week about an evangelical pastor whose brother and then son come out as gay. This upends the pastor’s faith, life, job. Everything that has made him who he is. In 2013 before he knows that his son is gay, he writes in his journal, “I think down deep, I hate homosexuality. I hate it more than just about anything else in the world. I hate it because it seems sometimes to be stronger than you, God. Yes, that’s what I said. It seems that way. I am sure there is plenty of good in the gay community, but my experience tells me otherwise — I see the isolation, the craving, the insecurity. Father, you have to spare Timothy [his son] from that. You have to.” [This quote and the ones to come are from “How My Dad Reconciled His God and His Gay Son,” by Timothy White, The New York Times, 2/16/25.]

The son, Timothy comes out 2 years later in 2015. The pastor starts to explore his theology and faith around inclusion. He considers the authority of the Bible and the church as he knows it. He questions the foundation he has built his faith and his life on. And as his foundation begins to crumble, he notes in his journal, “Life and morality and God and religion were a lot clearer then than it is now. And yet the strange thing is that I’ve never felt closer to Jesus — more intimate, more interested, more willing to sacrifice for him, and more free to be a Christian.”

There is it. The freedom. Jesus wants us to be free to fully express the good that is within us with no restrictions or constraints.

The pastor writes a letter to the governing body of his denomination telling about what his church is going through and their exploration of welcoming and including LGBTQ people into the church. He says: “Let me put it very plainly; I don’t think City Church Long Beach will be here in a year if we don’t live into the mission God has called us to. If we turn away the people he is bringing to us, our Sunday service will shrink and die. On top of that, if we can’t live into our convictions, our very souls will shrink and die. We will close our doors and shut down our hearts.”

This is what Jesus is trying to stop when he teaches: Love your enemy. Do good to those who hate you. Give and give and forgive. Asking nothing in return. Do not condemn. Do not judge. It seems too much. Scary. Beyond our capacity.

Certainly Timothy’s father found the journey to acceptance of his son and a transformation of his theology and world view threatening and scary. And yet as things resolve, he comments in his journal, “I entered this journey unwillingly, but as it draws to a close for me I find myself flooded with gratitude. I’m grateful to God loving me along the way, changing me along the way. And although it’s uncomfortable, I am grateful for the call to become radically welcoming — not just of those with whom I agree but welcoming of those with whom I disagree.”

Let’s be honest, our country, our communities, our families are fraught with disagreement at this time. There is severe polarization. Last night we went to another high brow event with our friends that administer an endowment for the arts. We were part of a table of eight at a gala. Our friends let us know, ahead of time, that one couple at the table did not share our political views. We were being warned so that we could behave accordingly. I told our friends, don’t worry, we’re ok with that. We’re Christians after all. We’re the ones who are supposed to be understanding and kind in our dealings with others, whoever those others may be.

I saw this same generosity of spirit from a neighbor recently. Her political leanings are different than mine. I was talking with another neighbor who shares my views. The other neighbor came up to join in the conversation. We told her we were discussing politics. She responded, “Then I’ll listen.” She is a devoted church goer. Again, she is being very Christian about the whole thing. And we need more of that.

True freedom. To be good. To be nonjudgmental. To be loving and kind. Because that is who we fundamentally are as creatures created in the image of God. We are free to be generous and loving. To everyone. Not just the people like us. This is true freedom.

It is not the freedom to stand your ground and kill someone. It is not the freedom to own a gun. Or to lower the taxes on guns so that more people can buy them. That is not freedom. Christian freedom is not the freedom to kill a killer, even if it is legal.

 Jesus challenges his followers, the church, to embody the true ways and spirit of Divine Love. To seek peace. And reconciliation. To give more than we are being asked for especially to those who are regarded as less than. We are to conduct ourselves with grace and generosity and good will toward all.

This description of the nature of the way of Jesus is so far from much of what we see in the church in this country. So much of Christianity today is self-centered, not other-centered. It is focussed on receiving blessings not giving blessings to others. It promotes amassing wealth and comfort instead of meeting the needs of others. Much of the church in America today is about giving a God-veneer to consumer capitalism, sexism, racism, and ethnocentrism. Jesus invites us to be free of all of that. To live unencumbered by hatred or malice or greed.

And, the church also readily accepts and promotes violence – encouraging armed conflict, military service, promoting gun ownership, even hiring armed guards as security for church services, supporting the death penalty. This is all completely contrary to the way of Jesus. We are to love all of our enemies, all those who consider us enemy, all those who would do us harm. Love them not just in our hearts, but by helping them, listening to their stories, honoring their experience and their humanity. Certainly we are not to mistreat or inflict violence upon another. I love the story about the church in California where a shooter appeared on Sunday morning and some church members tackled him and tied him up with an extension cord. They restrained him. For safety reasons. Someone did not whip out a gun and shoot him.

The way of Jesus puts us completely out of step with the society around us. Jesus tells his listeners that if they follow him they will be hated, reviled, excluded and defamed. This goes for Christians today. If we were really taking the Sermon on the Plain seriously, there’d be fallout.

Oh, we can’t invite her to the Met Gala. She’s a Christian. She won’t wear an obscenely expensive designer outfit. Oh, he’s a Christian. We can’t accept him in the police academy because he won’t fire a gun at a criminal and that might put the lives of colleagues in danger. Oh, she’s Christian, we can’t have her as a diplomat because she will try to help all the countries even those that hate us instead of just helping our allies. We can’t hire him to work on this political campaign because he’s a Christian. He won’t design ads that smear the other candidate.

I mean there are all kinds of ramifications that go with actually following the teachings of Jesus that we heard today. You could lose your job, for instance, even if you are a pastor.

Some 6 years after his decrying of homosexuality, Bill White, the pastor whose son was gay, entered this in his journal: “As Katy [his wife] prayed last night she thanked you for the remarkable gift of Timothy coming out — and how we thought it was the end, but it was only the beginning of a full, true, vibrant life in Christ. Father, thank you that you created our son gay. Forgive me for how poorly I received that gift.” Maybe next Pastor Bill White will be led to examine patriarchy and male imagery for God!

The teachings of Jesus were absurd in the first century. And they may be seen as even more absurd now. But they are life-giving. And when we water them down, we negate our reason for being as a church. And we deny the gift we are being given and that the church has to give the world.

We close with a story from a monk of the 13th century and how he navigated the waters of the extreme teachings of Jesus and the watered down version endorsed by his monastery. Apparently, Brother Juniper, a companion of Francis of Assisi, was notorious for constantly giving his possessions away, including his clothes. Remember the verse, if someone asks for your coat, give them your shirt as well? Well, Brother Juniper took Jesus at his word. But his superior in the monastery was not happy about all the clothes and other things that were being given away. At one point Brother Juniper was ordered by his superior not to give away his coat to beggars anymore. Shortly after that order, he met someone in need who asked for some clothing. Apparently, Brother Juniper is remembered for responding: “My superior has told me under obedience not to give my clothing to anyone. But if you pull it off my back, I certainly will not prevent you.” Francis is said to have joked that he wished for a forest of Junipers! [This story is in Common Prayer: A Liturgy for Ordinary Radicals, Shane Claiborne, Jonathan Wilson-Hartgrove, Enuma Okoro, p. 278.]

May we not be afraid or selfish when it comes to the power of love within us. May we be open to being transformed. May we transform 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.

Sermon text 2.2.25 “Do Whatever He Tells You”

LAKEWOOD UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: February 2, 2025
Scripture Lessons: 1 Corinthians 13:1-13 and John 2:1-11
Sermon: “Do Whatever He Tells You”Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

We begin with a poem from Walt Whitman, quintessential American poet of the 19th century:

. . . I know nothing else but miracles,
Whether I walk the streets of Manhattan,
Or dart my sight over the roofs of houses toward the sky,
Or wade with naked feet along the beach just in the edge of the water,
Or stand under trees in the woods,
Or talk by day with any one I love, or sleep in bed at night
with anyone I love,
Or sit at table at dinner with the rest,
Or look at strangers opposite me riding in the car,
Or watch honey-bees busy around the hive of a summer forenoon,
Or animals feeding in the fields,
Or birds, or the wonderfulness of insects in the air,
Or the exquisite delicate thin curve of the new moon in spring.
These with the rest, one and all, are to me miracles,
The whole referring, yet each distinct and in its place.

To me every hour of the light and dark is a miracle,
Every cubic inch of space is a miracle,
Every square yard of the surface of the earth is spread with miracles,
Every foot of the interior swarms with miracles.

This is the reality of Divine Love. Seeing the miracles of Divine Love in all of Creation and all of our human experience – exquisite and excruciating. Life is a sacred gift and we are here to relish it all!

This morning we heard the story of Jesus changing water into wine at the wedding in Cana. This is Jesus’ first splashy public act of ministry in the gospel of John. As we heard last week, in the gospel of Luke Jesus begins his ministry with a prophetic sermon that ends with the people trying to chase him over a cliff. (National Cathedral Bishop Budde is in good company.) But in the gospel of John, Jesus’ ministry begins with the wedding in Cana. A celebration of love that involves the whole community and goes on for up to 7 days. A scene where Jesus’ mother sees the need and encourages her son, as she has been doing, no doubt, for his whole life. A story that tells of wine flowing in abundance beyond all expectations. Wine that is finer than anyone has tasted in the past.

All of this points to the immeasurable love of God, which God is continuously trying to bestow upon us. This story shows us the intentions of God. God wants more for us than we could ask for or imagine. Our highest good. Our best interests. Fully experiencing the wonder, awe, intensity, inanity, richness, and delight of this life. And this all stems from the power of love that is at the heart of reality.

Have you seen the yard sign in the median between Publix and Walgreens here on 54th Avenue South? The yellow sign declares: Love is my main ingredient. God. The New Testament Bible. That says it all: Love is my main ingredient.

We are so loved, God wants more for us than we could ever conceive. And Jesus shows us how to tap into that love. Love that is more powerful than solar energy, or atomic energy, or wind energy. More powerful than the human intellect and the wisdom of animals and plants and Creation. More powerful certainly than hatred, apathy, or death. More powerful than all of that, is LOVE. Jesus shows us how to live from that love; how to unleash that power in our lives and the life of the world. He shows us how not only to see the miracle but to be the miracle. To live from that core of love, that image of Godness, that is within each of us.

The best wine fills the stone jars to overflowing.

Romano Guardini, 20th century priest and philosopher, says this about the imagery of wine: “The purpose of wine is not only to quench thirst, but also to give pleasure and satisfaction and exhilaration. . . . This wine bestows courage, joy out of all earthly measure, sweetness, beauty, limitless enlargement and perception. It brings life in intoxicating excess, both to possess and to impart.”

This is the life that is being offered to us. This morning we also heard the beautiful hymn to love from Corinthians. What love is and what love is not.

But let’s take a step back. This hymn of praise to love, this beautiful exposition on the nature of love – why is it included here in this letter to the faith community at Corinth? Well, because they are quarreling. They are divided and competing. They are trying to impose hierarchy in the community. They are giving more status to some rather than others. They are enmeshed in lust for power, egotism, and desire for dominance. This is undermining the beloved community that is to be realized by those who follow Jesus. So they are given careful instruction about the nature of love because they have lost their way.

Yes, love is this amazing gift, this power, that we are being given all the time, to help us navigate the twisted paths of life with joy and authenticity. But do we tap into this power? Do we partake of this wine freely given? Divine Love is showering us, drenching us, but do we avoid it, ignore it, suppress it? To tap into love involves choosing love. It involves intentionality and discipline.

Martin Luther King, Jr. spoke frankly about the rigors of love:

Then the Greek language has another word for love, and that is the word “agape.” Agape is more than romantic love, it is more than friendship. Agape is understanding, creative, redemptive good will toward all men [sic]. Agape is an overflowing love which seeks nothing in return. Theologians would say that it is the love of God, operating in the human heart. When you rise to love on this level, you love all men [sic] not because you like them, not because their ways appeal to you, but you love them because God loves them. This is what Jesus meant when he said, “Love your enemies.” And I’m happy that he didn’t’ say, “Like your enemies,” because there are some people that I find it pretty difficult to like. Liking is an affectionate emotion, and I can’t like anybody who would bomb my home. I can’t like anybody who would exploit me. I can’t like anybody who would trample over me with injustices. I can’t like them. I can’t like anybody who threatens to kill me day in and day out. But Jesus reminds us that love is greater than liking. Love is understanding, creative, redemptive goodwill toward all men [sic]. . . .

Bomb our homes and threaten ourchildren, and, as difficult as it is, we will still love you. Send your hooded perpetrators of violence into our communities at the midnight hour and drag us out on some wayside road and leave us half-dead as you beat us, and we will still love you. Send your propaganda agents around the country, and make it appear that we are not fit, culturally and otherwise, for integration, and we’ll still love you. But be assured that we’ll wear you down by our capacity to suffer, and one day we will win our freedom. We will not only win freedom for ourselves; we will so appeal to your heart and conscience that we will win you in the process, and our victory will be a double victory.

[Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., from “A Christmas Sermon on Peace” delivered at Ebenezer Baptist Church, Atlanta.]

Yes, the power of love is available to us; it is being given to us. And we are given the church to help us appreciate the gift, celebrate the power, and cultivate the inclination to choose love, even for our enemies. We have each other for encouragement and support and celebration.

In the story of the wedding at Cana, Jesus’ mother tells the servants, Do whatever he tells you. We see Mary bestowing confidence and support upon Jesus so that he can share God’s expansive, abundant, profligate love with the world.

We are here to share that confidence and support and encouragement with one another. We are here to tell each other: Do whatever Jesus tells you to do. Choose love. Of yourself. Others. Neighbors near and far. And enemies. Love. In word and deed. Take extraordinary action. Defy expectations. For the good of the world and for our own good.

Frederick Buechner, 20th century theologian and writer has this to say about engaging with Divine Love:

Who knows how the awareness of God’s love first hits people? Every person has his own tale to tell, including the person who would not believe in God if you paid him. Some moment happens in your life that makes you say Yes right up to the roots of your hair, that makes it worth having been born just to have happen. Laughing with somebody till the tears run down your cheeks. Waking up to the first snow. Being in bed with somebody you love. Whether you thank God for such a moment or thank your lucky stars, it is a moment that is trying to open up your whole life. If you try to turn your back on such a moment and hurry along to Business as Usual, it may lose you the whole ball game. If you throw your arms around such a moment and hug it like crazy, it may save your soul. How about the person you know who as far as you can possibly tell has never had such a moment? Maybe for that person the moment that has to happen is you.

In a world beset with jealousy, greed, prejudice and hate. In a world that turns a blind eye to suffering, to injustice, to poverty, to climate change. In a world where leaders are more concerned with their own image than with the well being of the populace or the planet. In a world cultivating billionaires and seeding poverty – the power of Divine Love is desperately needed. Love is the source of our joy and wonder and delight in life. It is the source of our power for good and for healing. We know this love. This is what has drawn us to Jesus and to his church and to each other. This is the love we are to encourage in one another.

May we listen to Mary and do what Jesus tells us to do. Love! The results will astound.

Amen.

Sermon text 1.5.25 “Another Way”

LAKEWOOD/TRINITY UNITED CHURCH OF CHRIST
2601 54th Avenue South St. Petersburg, FL 33712
On land originally inhabited by the Tocabaga
727-867-7961
lakewooducc.org
lakewooducc@gmail.com

Date: January 5, 2025 Epiphany!
Scripture Lesson:Matthew 2:1-12
Sermon: Another Way
Pastor: Rev. Kim P. Wells

This morning we heard about astrologers from the east, maybe Persia, following a star to the province of Judea. They are looking for a king. A newborn king. So, they consult the current king about the whereabouts of the newborn king. Sounds reasonable. Unless the king is Herod, or another monarch or authoritarian ruler, who is power hungry and corrupt.

The magi consulted Herod son of Antipater, procurator of Judea under Julius Caesar. King under Augustus Caesar. Also known as Herod the Great. He ruled from 37 BCE to 4 BCE. We don’t want to confuse him with Herod Antipas, his son, tetrarch of Galilee and Peraea, who was involved with the beheading of John the Baptizer and the conviction of Jesus leading to the crucifixion. No, the gospel of Matthew starts with Herod the Great. And he was great. Great at being a menace. A threatening, violent, insecure terror. Everyone was deathly afraid of him. He was great at building projects including rebuilding the Second Temple in Jerusalem at twice its original size and building 5 fortresses for refuge for himself and his family. He had a great secret police and a personal guard of 2000 soldiers. He was great at extorting money from his poor subjects, his own Jewish people, whom he impoverished with his building projects. He was great in that he had 3 of his sons killed. And he may be considered great in that he was eventually executed by members of his own family including his wife. Oh he was great in many ways, but he was not good. In the story we heard today, when those astrologers appear at Herod’s court and he consults his advisors, you can bet those advisors are quaking in their boots. They had to say just the right thing or they would be done for, and maybe the astrologers, too. This was rule by intimidation, fear, and violence.

In the aftermath of the magi’s visit to Herod, we are told the story of the slaughter of the innocents. The babies in the vicinity of Bethlehem are killed to prevent the encroachment of this newborn king upon Herod’s power. Herod is going to nip that in the bud. This leads to the flight of the holy family to Egypt for safety. Some of these stories are reminiscent of the stories of Moses. This is because the writer of the gospel of Matthew wants to portray Jesus as a prophet in the line of Moses only greater.

Herod represents the ways of the world. Wielding power by fear and force. Imposing rule by threat and intimidation. We still see this today in many countries, including, sometimes, our own.

We are coming upon the anniversary of the January 6 insurrection which was an attempt to thwart the workings of the US Congress. This mob attack was right in keeping with initiatives throughout the ages to unseat those who are in power and to impose new rulers. This happens again and again in history. People seek to impose their way on others through violence, intimidation, and fear. It can be a one on one situation or a societal power play.

Now, let’s notice something about the story we heard today. The astrologers visit Jerusalem. Doubtless in the camel barn or at the inn or in a cafe, they were told about Herod. His evil violent nature. His lust for power. His oppression of the populace as well as his advisors and minions. So these astrologers have been warned about Herod. They know he is a bad guy.

So, do the astrologers foment a rebellion against Herod? Do they pull together a militia to take Herod down? Do they return to their countries and amass an army to come to the defense of the Judeans being extorted and intimidated by Herod. No.

We are told that after their encounter with Herod and then Jesus and the Holy Family, they go home another way. By another route. To encounter Jesus is to be changed. To be redirected. To be rewired. Re-oriented. They are no longer the same. While they may have had the inclination to confront the violence of Herod with further violence, this is no longer the case after their encounter with Jesus. This newborn king inspires peace on earth, goodwill to all. Transformation and change, liberation and justice are on the horizon, but they will not come to fruition through more violence and death. It will have to happen another way.

As we head into this New Year, there are many challenges that will confront us. Some of us are scared. Some feel betrayed. Some feel threatened. Some of us are numb from all the trauma.

The message of Christmas is that there is another way. Love and peace can prevail. Through commitment and creativity, new methods and strategies and tactics can emerge to alter reality. The story of the magi tells us that there is another way. We can encounter the Christ and be changed. We do not have to keep losing the same losing game. We, too, can go home another way. 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.

A pastoral letter to the United Church of Christ on unity and justice

From https://www.ucc.org/pastoral-letter-to-the-united-church-of-christ-on-unity-and-justice/.

by Staff Reports | published on Dec 4, 2024

Leaders of the United Church of Christ have written the following pastoral letter to the UCC community, offering reflection and an invitation on what it means to faithfully be Christ’s church in the present moment. The pastoral letter is also available to download here.

Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled, and do not let them be afraid (John 14:27).

Dear beloved United Church of Christ community,

During this blessed Advent season, we enter a time of hopeful anticipation. We wait patiently for what God will newly reveal to us, and trust that God is indeed birthing bold possibilities amid our uncertainty and fears, as well as our hopes and joys.

It is appropriate in this season for us to reflect on how God might be calling us in fresh ways to be the “united and uniting” church we profess as our identity in the United Church of Christ. We offer this letter as our invitation to prayerfully consider how we can most faithfully be Christ’s church in this moment, with the joyful confidence that God is indeed doing a new thing among us.

The Great Divide

United in Spirit and inspired by God’s grace, we welcome all, love all, and seek justice for all.[1]

In the aftermath of the United States presidential election and the days of campaigning leading up to the election of the 47th president of the United States, the political divide in the country was evident. This political divide over critical social issues is not new; however, the polarization on the issues has created a chasm where there once was an aisle. More critically, this division is evident in the church, where diversity is broad and runs deep. This has always been so in the United Church of Christ, across the mainline churches and in the church at large. There is an inherent diversity in the church which includes political diversity.

The political divide poses a threat to the unity of the church. While there is value held in identifying that “unity does not mean uniformity,” the political narratives of the day are quite different from those seen in the recent past, particularly given the rise of white Christian nationalism, a religious ideology and political movement that uses Christianity as a foundation for a hate-filled xenophobic, misogynistic, homophobic, and racist rhetoric.

White Christian nationalism itself is not new and is based on white supremacy. “The Christian nationalist movement is largely white, reflecting the long entanglement of nationalism and racism that is our collective inheritance since the earliest days of America’s colonial settlement. In white nationalism this history is sanitized, removing the sins of genocide, slavery, Jim Crow laws, and all the many ways in which racism has saturated and sustained our society, thereby removing any felt need for repentance or repair.”[2] Addressing this religious ideology is a priority.

The ministry of Jesus was one that prioritized those on the margins of society. His ministry was bold and prophetic, speaking to and against the religious norms of his day, which perpetuated injustices and oppressed “the least of these.” Jesus brought a message of love. When asked by his disciples about the greatest commandment, Jesus responded: “‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.’ This is the greatest and first commandment. And a second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself’” (Matthew 22:37b-39). This is love which compels us to action.

The call to love our neighbor as ourselves begins in loving each other in the church. While not an easy task, the possibilities are yet before us to live beyond the many issues which are evident and to love each other in all the rich diversity of humanity and the church. The politics of our day ought not to divide us in ways that create harm, foster hate, and hinder the ability of others to love and serve God. The love of God has the power to transcend and transform the frailties and fragilities of our human existence.

The call to love our neighbor as ourselves extends beyond the walls of the church, into our communities, and into the world. Our action on behalf of those in our communities is based on love. Jesus called us to love across the great divide that is our differences. This call remains urgent today, as the church is called to be salt and light in the world. In loving ourselves and our neighbor, we must give voice to the truths of our day: 1. White nationalism is not Christian, nor is it patriotic; 2. God calls us to love all people; and 3. God is still God of the oppressed.

Christian Unity

To love God with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength and our neighbor as ourselves.[3]

The ecumenical community recognizes that there are church-dividing issues – differences of doctrine that cannot be resolved over time. Even in those cases, churches have been able to reconcile differences. Then, there are the times when our doctrinal issues cause the breaches in relationship that split communities of Christians, causing pain, grief and loss in the body of Christ. Our political narratives should not be church-dividing.

In the days before his death, Jesus taught the disciples and prayed for them. The motto of the United Church of Christ, “that they may all be one” (John 17:21), is a part of a prayer Jesus offered for his disciples. He prayed: “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word” (John 17:20). This earnest prayer was for the disciples who Jesus knew, and for those who would believe in him through the disciples. Jesus prayed for the unity of his followers.

The history of the United Church of Christ is based in unity. The forming of the denomination in 1957 was a sign of the visible unity of the church and pointed to the possibilities for the church, as the one body of Christ. The formation of the UCC brought together denominational streams which were willing to forego their own denominational identities to live into the unity of the church. The formation of the UCC brought together people with different ideas about the church. Those differences were theological and political. There were racial and ethnic differences, too. There were also language and economic differences. Yet, the desire to be the church together far outweighed the differences that were perceived.

The unity of the church continues to be a priority for Christians around the world. Here in the United States, we continue to hold before us Jesus’ prayer. In the United Church of Christ, we name the diversity among us as an important part of who we are as Christians. This time of division and the presence of Christian nationalism revisits a painful history and past in the United States when the church was complicit in its silence, an issue which was addressed by the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in his Letter from a Birmingham Jail which was written in April 1963. The letter was a prophetic call to the leadership of the church to be the church on the side of the oppressed.

Justice

United in Christ’s love, a just world for all.[4]

The perpetuation of injustice is challenging to the well-being of all creation. The quest for a just world for all is yet before us. Martin Luther King, Jr., reminded us that “the arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice.” The church is called to participate in seeking justice in the world. While there are times when the church has been silent, the church has also followed the teachings of Jesus and has been on the side of the oppressed, advocating for justice.

The UCC and its predecessor bodies have a history of being on the forefront of justice:

We remember that our ancestors’ ministries during the 19th century included the abolition movement, the struggle for women’s suffrage, and the creation of social justice organizations and churches that assisted immigrants new to our shores. In the early 20th century, the Social Gospel movement emboldened our forebears to denounce economic injustice and express their solidarity with immigrants who endured pain and hopelessness in urban tenement communities.

During the Second World War some of our forebears spoke out against the internment of Japanese citizens, and some congregations helped to sustain their Christian sisters and brothers during their forced relocation. In the 1950s we spoke up for Native Americans whose land was once again being stolen in order to build a dam that would devastate their communal life.

In the 1960s our church provided sustained support for civil rights organizations like the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and participated fully in the racial justice work of the National Council of Churches. In the 1970s we stood with migrant farm workers demanding just wages and dignified living conditions. We are, indeed, surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses whose faith and witness can embolden ours.[5]

Our history will always be with us, as will the witness of those who came before us. Ours is the task of attending to what lies ahead for the church and for the world. The journey requires that our unity and quest for justice be accompanied by civil discourse and the commitment to be engaged through hard conversations. This engagement is built on the call to love as we move forward together. The witness of the church of today will create the history that will be told in a future beyond these days. “Thus says the Lord of hosts: Render true judgments, show kindness and mercy to one another; do not oppress the widow, the orphan, the alien, or the poor; and do not devise evil in your hearts against one another” (Zechariah 7:9-10).

A Vision for the Future

…that they may all be one (John 17:21)

We are a “big tent” in the UCC. This big tent is identified by the multiplicity of ways members of the UCC reflect the categories of diversity present in the United States and in the world. We are ecumenical, coming from disparate places and experiences with roots well beyond the identified streams in the UCC’s history. We are representative of language, racial/ethnic, gender, theological, and political diversities, to name a few areas of our diverse landscape. We are reflective of the beloved community, one where love lives. Our commitment to live this diversity is a commitment to live into the radical love Jesus taught. We can love one another beyond the expectations and conditioning of this world in which we live where diversity is the source of division.

We will rise to the challenges of these unfolding days as we have in the past: speaking truth to power, attending to the call to do justice, ensuring the hungry are fed and the vulnerable are protected. We will rise to the challenge of hearing and learning from each other as we commit to being the church for today. We will rise to the challenge of loving beyond our human capacity, a possibility with the power of the Holy Spirit. Ours is the ministry of care and compassion, a call to attend to the moments of change life presents, and to attend to our communal needs.

The prophet Micah provided words of hope to a people in despair: “But as for me, I will look to the Lord; I will wait for the God of my salvation; my God will hear me” (Micah 7:7). We wait in hope, believing that God is ever-present with us and will keep us through this moment, providing peace and comfort. God will also be with us in the days that are ahead, granting us strength, courage, and wisdom. We wait in hope, believing that change is possible as we seek a just world for all.

As we wait:

We pray.
We care for those in need.
We advocate for change.
We speak truth to power.

God of hope and love, you are ever-present with us. We wait patiently for you, knowing that you hear our prayers. The call to do justice is on-going. As governments come and go, we are called to bring healing and care to those in need. This is such a moment. A time when there will be the hungry to feed, the homeless to house, and the widows and orphans who will need our care. This is a time when we will continue to honor the inherent dignity and worth of each of your children. This is a time when the church will be prophetic, calling for truth and for change. Provide your church and all who lead and minister within it hope and healing for the living of these days. Amen.

Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson
General Minister and President

Rev. Shari Prestemon
Acting Associate General Minister

Rev. Dr. Bentley DeBardelaben-Phillips
Transitional Executive Minister

Council of Conference Ministers

[1] UCC Mission Statement, https://www.ucc.org/mission/
[2] https://nationalcouncilofchurches.us/common-witness-ncc/the-dangers-of-christian-nationalism-in-the-united-states-a-policy-statement-of-the-national-council-of-churches/
[3] UCC Purpose Statement, https://www.ucc.org/mission/
[4] UCC Vision Statement, https://www.ucc.org/mission/
[5] UCC Pastoral Letter on Racism (2008)

The Bible Tells Me So

Date: August 2, 2009
Scriptures: Psalm 119:103-105; 2 Timothy 3:16-17
Sermon: The Bible Tells Me So
Pastor: Rev. Kim Wells

A girl came home from Church School and she reported to her parents about the story of how the children of Israel escaped from slavery in Egypt. She told of how Moses erected a pontoon bridge across the Red Sea. Then he called in his airplane bombers and destroyed the bridge just as Pharaoh’s army was in the middle of it. The girl’s parent’s suggested that was impossible back in ancient times. When asked why she had embellished the story, the child replied, “Well, if I had told you the story the way our teacher told it, you would never have believed it!” [Why Didn’t Noah Swat Both Mosquitoes?, Hoover Rupert, p.22, adapted]

The child has a point. The story of Moses lifting his staff and parting the Red Sea is a challenge from a plausibility perspective. And there are many such cases in the stories of the Bible. An ark filled with pairs of animals on the sea for 40 days. Jonah being swallowed by a big fish. The Israelites marching around the city of Jericho seven times and then blowing a horn and the walls coming tumbling down. Jesus turning 150 gallons of water into wine. Jesus feeding over 5,000 people with two fish and five loaves of bread. And then there is the resurrection story of Jesus coming back from the dead. Many stories in the Bible are questionable from a plausibility perspective.

The stories of the Bible keep pace with the best fiction has to offer. It’s no wonder the Bible is a best seller. In fact, it is the best seller of all time.

The Bible is significant for its impact on humanity, on varying cultures, on art, literature, language and on the human community as a whole. We use many references from the Bible in our every day speech: The kiss of death. An eye for an eye. The mark of Cain. The patience of Job. A house divided cannot stand. The Bible has been translated into countless languages. And it is read all over the world. One Sunday in Church School the teacher asked who knew the story of Jonah. One child raised a hand, and when called on gave an accurate summary of the story. The teacher complimented the student on having done the Bible reading for the week. But the child was honest and admitted, “I didn’t read it in the Bible. It was on a bubble gum wrapper.” [Rupert, p. 19-20] There’s no escaping the Bible!

When you think about it, it is rather bizarre that this collection of 66 books, gathered over the course of something like 700 years, and rooted in ancient far off civilizations extremely remote from our own, is still a best seller and is still having a major impact on human lives and the world today.

This morning we want to reflect on how we look at the Bible today. We will do this by reflecting on the quotation that we have been using regularly in the bulletin: “The Bible is truth not fact.” It is a quote from a contemporary spiritual writer, from the Episcopal tradition, Madeleine L’Engle. You may remember L’Engle for her best known book, A Wrinkle in Time.

Those who wrote and collected what we know today as scripture were motivated by a desire to share their faith community’s experience of their relationship with God. Our scriptures tell of how the people of Israel related to their God and how they experienced their God in their life together as a community. In the New Testament we hear of how that experience extended beyond the Jewish community among those who followed Jesus. From the creation through the prophets, and on to the gospels and epistles we are told of the experience of the people of God and their understandings of their relationship with God. There are a myriad of stories, perspectives, settings, types of literature, cultural influences, etc. but all share the ways that people of God from a particular tradition and geographical area experienced their relationship with God. Among those who wrote the texts of the Bible, the primary concern was truth not fact. They were not intending to write history as we know it with dates and factual information about events to be analyzed. And they certainly were not intending to write science.

These people were writing about how they experienced God’s power and presence in the life of their community. Did the people who wrote these texts imagine that they would be compiled and revered as holy scriptures? Probably not. In the book The Bible: A Biography, contemporary religious scholar Karen Armstrong discusses the case of the apostle Paul, credited with writing several of the letters in the New Testament. Armstrong tells us:

Paul traveled widely in the diaspora and founded congregations in Syria, Asia Minor and Greece, determined to spread the gospel to the ends of the earth before Jesus returned. He wrote letters to his converts, answering their questions, exhorting them and explaining the faith. Paul did not think for a moment that he was writing ‘scripture’ because he was convinced that Jesus would return in his own lifetime, he never imagined that future generations would pour over his epistles. [p.61]

The texts included in the Bible became scripture because they were found to be useful over an extended period of time by those in the faith community and they emerged as part of a long standing tradition. The texts were not specifically intended by the writers to be part of a Bible, as we know it. And again, they were not addressing the material in terms of truth or fact.

As the books of the Bible gained authority and were collected into the canon as we know it, a variety of perspectives was included because it was thought that no one view could completely encompass the reality of God. So there are two creation stories. In the first creation story, humankind is created all at once. In the other, first one human is created, and then another is created from the rib of the first. In Church School, the class was asked to write a summary of the second creation story. One student wrote: “God first created Adam. God looked at him and said, ‘I think I can do better if I tried again.’ So God created Eve.” [Rupert, p. 33] There are many stories in the Bible that are repeated with variations and interpretations. There are differing takes on issues because it was expected that scripture would reveal and promote dialogue, essential to an ever greater understanding of a God who could not be fully known, and necessary for the flourishing of the community.

Again, Karen Armstrong shares this perspective:

From the very beginning, the Bible had no single message. When the editors fixed the canons of both the Jewish and Christian testaments, they included competing visions and placed them, without comment, side by side. From the first, biblical authors felt free to revise the texts they had inherited and give them entirely differing meaning. Later exegetes [biblical scholars] held up the Bible as a template for the problems of their time. Sometimes they allowed it to shape their world-view but they also felt free to change it and make it speak to contemporary conditions. . . . The Bible ‘proved’ that it was holy because people continually discovered fresh ways to interpret it and found that this difficult, ancient set of documents cast light on situations that their authors could never have imagined. Revelation was an ongoing process [p. 5]

I don’t think those of ancient days would have had any problem with L’Engle’s quote, “The Bible is truth not fact.” They were constantly looking for truth, not arguing about whether the Bible was factual.

There is an historical tradition of lively debate and engagement with the Bible. There was discussion of differing visions and conflicting passages. People expected multiple meanings from the biblical stories because they believed that the mystery of God is inexhaustible and that scripture was intended as a living word. The Bible was expected to be interpreted to shed light on new circumstances.

Now let’s fast forward to today. How did we get from this historic perspective of lively debate to the contemporary bumper sticker, “God said it. I believe it. That settles it”? There is a strong trend in contemporary Christianity to equate truth and fact when it comes to the Bible. Many Christians believe that the Bible is true because it is fact. There is the assumption among a large segment of Christianity today that for something to communicate truth, it must be factual. Truth and fact cannot be separated.

This perspective arose in response to the Enlightenment and modernity. With the Enlightenment came the perspective of the scientific method, proof, and inquiry. Testing theories and suppositions. As religious and biblical studies developed, scholars began treating the Bible as literature, and analyzing it as one would other literature. Unfolding developments in archeology and linguistics and other academic disciplines shed light on the biblical texts. The discipline of biblical criticism began to emerge where texts were studied in search not only of application for contemporary times, but also for the issues, concerns, and settings of the original writers. What were the original messages of the writers given their settings? The quest for the historical Jesus emerged. In pre-Enlightenment times, the Bible was not examined for historicity and it was primarily a tool of the church. With the evolution of what became known as biblical criticism, there was an ensuent backlash. The Bible was not to be viewed critically, associated with “criticize”, rather than “examine”. The discoveries in archeology, science, etc. were not needed to understand and follow the word of God in the Bible. So it is in the mid 1800s that the concepts of inerrancy and literalism began to develop. There were those who believed the Bible had a single message, one meaning, not multiple meanings. There was no room for interpretation. The Bible was God’s word. It meant what it said. It was divinely inspired so it could have no mistakes or inconsistencies or contradictions. The Bible was fact and truth. Truth and fact. This perspective evolved as a reaction against the Enlightenment and the scientific world view. It is a backlash against modern biblical scholarship. It is a fairly recent trend. And this view is embraced by a very strong, vocal segment of the current Christian church.

There are four brief comments I want to make that help to inform the conversation about the Bible, truth and fact, as it is taking place today.

The first comment has to do with authority. Some Christians who view the Bible as entirely truth and fact, taking the Bible literally and claiming its inerrancy, have chosen to believe in the Bible and follow the Bible and worship the book itself. Peter Gomes, retired minister of The Memorial Church at Harvard University and religion professor at Harvard, names this phenomenon “bibliolatry”. [The Good Book, p. 36]. Gomes tells of this incident: “A colleague who went to a small Christian college in the South told me of a. . . preacher of her experience [who] stood up and read his lesson from his Bible. He then closed the book and threw it out of the nearby open chancel window, and said, ‘Well, there goes your god.’ He was of course making a point about idolatry, and he was illustrating it with an attack upon bibliolatry, or the worship of the Bible.” [p.36-37]

Gomes goes on to say, “In the absence of a visible God, the temptation is always near to make a god of whatever is visible and related in some proximate way to the real thing.” [p. 37]

And so, there are those in churches today who claim to follow the Bible, literally. “God said it. I believe it. That settles it.” And thus make an idol of the Bible. I don’t know about you, but I was not taught to believe in the Bible. I was encouraged to believe in God. I was not instructed to follow the Bible. I was invited to follow Jesus. The Bible was to be a tool or guide for the journey.

Second, we make a comment about interpretation. As we have seen in the recent confirmation hearings for Supreme Court justice nominee Sonia Sotomayor, every one has an interpretive perspective. She was accused of letting her cultural heritage and background and experience influence her rulings, as if the cultural heritage, background, and experience of white Euro-American men and women on the bench does not influence their rulings. Everyone’s view of everything is influenced by culture, experience and background. There is no way to read something, to write something, to say something, or to hear something without bringing one’s perspective to bear on the process. So, there’s no way to read the Bible in a totally objective manner without interpreting it. The best we can do is to acknowledge the filters and lenses that we are using because of our experience, culture, and background, and to listen to others who have differing perspectives. Those who claim the Bible as truth and fact, generally also claim complete objectivity without interpretation. But this is impossible. You cannot read the Bible without interpreting it. Everyone brings a unique perspective and this can be seen as a gift to be shared, rather than as distortion or manipulation.

We also want to say a word about translation. The Bible is a collection of books written, selected, and translated by human beings with all kinds of room for human influence. As a brief example, I want you to take a few minutes to think about what words can be made with the two consonants S and T. You can add whatever vowels you would like, and you have to keep the consonants in order. By adding vowels, what words can be made from S and T ? Sit Sat Set Site Sot Suggestions from congregation. . .

In the original texts of the Hebrew Bible, the Old Testament, the oldest manuscripts do not use vowels in the writing. The addition of vowels came later. So when the vowels were added, the transcriber had to decide, by context and meaning, etc. which vowels to put in and what the word would be. Just this little exercise shows but one tiny way in which human involvement has influenced how the Bible has come to us. You will hear a bit more about this in an upcoming sermon requested about biblical references to homosexuality. But this just gives you an idea of how humans over hundreds and hundreds of years in varying situations and cultures have influenced these texts. So to say the Bible is truth and fact, and that it is inerrant, minimizes the inevitable influence countless people have had over the Bible as we read it today.

We also want to say a word about the relationship between science and the Bible. The ancients didn’t know as much as we do about how the weather worked. As I mentioned last week, they thought there was a metal dome above the sky and above that was water. When God wanted it to rain, God opened windows or vents in the dome and rain fell on the earth. This influences the way scripture talks about and refers to weather, rain, snow, storm, etc. We have different explanations for weather patterns today. Or take the advancement in medical science. In the gospel of Mark, there is a story about a man who brings his son to Jesus for healing. We are told that the son is possessed by an evil spirit which gives him seizures – he is unable to speak, he falls to the ground, he foams at the mouth, grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. [Mark 9:17ff] I am not a doctor, but we might associate something like this with epilepsy or some other medical condition, not a demon living inside the person. Those who claim that the Bible is truth and fact force themselves to divorce spirituality and intellect, head and heart. To read the Bible and suspend contemporary knowledge of science, both hard science and social science, is to deny and devalue the wonderful advancement of the human intellect which is a God given gift.

The contention over truth and fact in the Bible has been fomenting since the Enlightenment and has become more heated in recent years. With so much change in society, I think there are people longing to cling to something that they feel is cut and dried and does not change and is not relative. And they are willing to suspend reason to have that. There are others who are not willing to give up intellect, reason, logic and scientific discoveries to accept the Bible as a combination of truth and fact.

In a recent reflection piece in the St. Petersburg Times related to this very issue, the writer tells of how she was raised believing the Bible on faith. Then she encountered the academic side of biblical scholarship. In the article she talks about taking an introductory Bible course in college. She says:

I lost my religion in Religion Class. . . . It was not the college’s intention to undermine our faith, but religion was taught as history. Who were those tribes? How did they come to worship one God, and how did the books we call the Bible get written and put together?

I discovered that the Bible had come together over hundreds of years, written by different men in different times.

The writer continues:

Doubt crept in like a poison, or maybe it was faith leaking out.

All I know is, during those months, as I read my chapters, took notes and wrote papers, belief gave way to logic. God – at least the God I was kneeling to in church – was a construct, put together over centuries, codified, fought over, killed for, and what did we really know? Nothing, except we needed this story, needed to believe our souls went somewhere and that we didn’t blink out like lightbulbs at the end.

The writer stopped going to church, calls herself an atheist, and has moved on, “bidding God a goodnight.” [St. Petersburg Times, 7/5/09, Sunday Journal, “Moving on, and bidding God a good night” by Norma Watkins]

Frankly, this article surprised me because I have had the exact opposite experience. Having grown up in the liberal United Church of Christ, I absorbed the assumption that the Bible was fact, but not all fact, and a lot of truth. The Bible was important and to be respected. And there was actual fact in the Bible, but it wasn’t necessarily all fact. But I didn’t get much help about how to sort that out. Frankly, classes in college and seminary weren’t much help either on this score. This was pretty much left to the individual. Which left me feeling pretty ambivalent about the Bible.

As a pastor, I diligently studied the commentaries on the scripture texts for preaching each week, but not with much delight or enthusiasm, because of this fact and truth dilemma and not feeling equipped to sort it out.

But I have to say that for me biblical scholarship in recent years has been extremely helpful. It is through the insights of scholars and academics in the biblical field that I feel I have received new tools for addressing the interplay between truth and fact in the Bible. So I no longer feel bogged down with ambivalence.

Through scholarship, study of ancient texts, and archeology, a lot more facts about the writings in the Bible, the times of the writings, the people, the places, the cultures, etc. have come to light. So we have a lot more actual, verifiable factual information about the Bible than ever before.

We know that there was a band of nomadic people called the Hebrews. We know from sources outside the Bible that many of the kings mentioned in the Bible did actually serve. We know, again, from outside sources that an actual person named Jesus lived, around the time the Bible says he lived. We know that he was actually, factually crucified for treason. We know that Paul actually lived as well as some of the other disciples. Archeological evidence and outside sources have helped to verify factual information in the Bible. For me, this does not undermine the Bible but makes it more real and believable and less mysterious and remote.

There’s enough fact for me to take the Bible seriously and with respect. Especially when it comes to the life of Jesus. After that – for me, it doesn’t matter so much. I look for the truth, and don’t worry about the fact. There is still meaning and truth in the stories, regardless of factuality which in most cases cannot be resolved. What was the meaning for the original writer and reader? What is the meaning and truth for us today in our circumstances? This we can address without getting mired in the fact debate.

The more I have studied the Bible, particularly the work of the Jesus Seminar, and scholars including Marcus Borg, John Dominic Crossan, Karen Armstrong, Elaine Pagels, John Shelby Spong, Rita Nakashima Brock, and John Morwood, the more the Bible has come to mean to me. The more facts I learn, the more truth I see. My love for the Bible has blossomed. I now find reading and studying the Bible stimulating, insightful and informative, because I know there is enough fact to ground what’s important, and without being bound in the truth/fact dilemma, I can let the stories speak truth. Fact or not, the truth is still there.

Do I believe creation happened in 7 24-hour days by fiat? No. But I do believe that creation is sacred and an expression of divine love. And I do believe that humans are special because, of all living creatures, they have the greatest capability of the expression of divine love.

Do I believe there was an actual Adam and Eve living in a garden? Do I believe an actual snake talked with them? No. But I do believe that humanity has fallen short of our full capability of embodying love.

Do I believe there were actual brothers Cain and Abel and that one killed the other over a birthright? No. But I do believe that brothers kill each other, out of jealously and greed, and that it is heartbreakingly tragic and separates us from God.

Do I believe that there was an actual person named Noah who built a boat and set sail with pairs of every kind of animal? No. But I do believe that God seeks the thriving life of all of creation. Animals and all of nature are needed for human life to flourish. All is sacred to God.

Do I believe that Joseph’s brothers actually sold him into slavery and that the brothers later had to go to him for food to be saved from starvation? No. But I do believe that brothers are capable of evil. And I do believe that people can forgive even what seems unforgivable. Yes, I believe people are capable of amazing grace.

Do I believe there was an actual person named Goliath who met David on the battlefield? I don’t think so. But I do believe that sometimes the underdog triumphs. I do believe that the purposes of divine love prevail, sometimes through unlikely people, often through unlikely people. Look around you!

There was a Church School class talking about the story of Jonah. The teacher asked one of the children the lesson of the story. The child replied, “It means that you can’t keep a good man down.” [Rupert, p. 17]

Do I believe there was an actual person named Jonah who was swallowed by a large fish and spit out again? No. But I do believe that we ignore, deny, and run away from God’s call, and that it is at our own peril and the peril of others.

Do I believe that a peasant girl Mary in first century Palestine was actually impregnated by the Holy Spirit? No. But I do believe that a child was born who, more fully than anyone before or since, embodied the fullest expression of love, and his name was Jesus and his mother’s name was Mary.

Do I believe that Jesus fed over 5000 people with 5 actual loaves and 2 actual fish? No. But I do believe that when people work together, amazing things can happen. Everyone contributing what they have can mean that all have what they need. Together we are more than the sum of our parts. Generosity and sharing can produce unheard of results.

Do I believe that the body of Jesus actually came back after literal death and walked the earth? No. But I do believe that Jesus’ friends continued to experience his presence in powerful ways after his death. I do believe that people can come out of hopeless situations to find new life. I do believe there can be life after grief, addiction, despair, mental illness, psychic trauma, and the countless other ways we may experience death in this life.

As for actual scientifically verifiable evidence of the resurrection, we don’t have it. Nor have the bones of Jesus been found and identified. So, we don’t know. And for me, I don’t need to know. Scientific evidence or not, I have seen the power of life and love bring new life, hope and transformation in the most desperate of circumstances. That’s proof enough of truth for me.

Thomas Jefferson is said to have cut out all of the miracle stories from the gospels and created what was known as the Jefferson Bible. This was what he felt a rational, educated person needed to know to be a Christian. But with those stories goes so much truth. 20th century writer Flannery O’Connor says, “A story is a way to say something that can’t be said any other way, and it takes every word in the story to say what the meaning is.” I believe that the stories of the Bible inform our faith whether they are fact or not.

There is an important insight in the article in the paper by the woman who lost her faith and left the church. Remember she says, “belief gave way to logic. God – at least the God I was kneeling to in church – was a construct, put together over centuries, codified, fought over, killed for, and what did we really know?” It was the conflict of truth and fact, again. And her church did not give her a way of integrating the two, finding a reasonable balance, accepting the facts and letting the truth shine through. It was all faith or all logic. No integration.

The reason we put the quote we do in the bulletin each Sunday is because we want people to know that we believe in the integration of truth and fact, intellect and story. Faith and reason. It is not either/or. Or all fact and all truth. Or all fiction and no truth. There are other choices. Integration is possible, in fact, it is desirable. We don’t expect people to suspend their logic and rational thinking when they come to church. The quote in the bulletin is an attempt at one way to say that. We could quote Marcus Borg, “We take the Bible seriously, but not literally.” The point is figuring out a way to say we respect the wisdom and truth of the Bible and feel it can be accessed without suspending reason and logic. We don’t have to abandon the scientific worldview when we read the Bible. We can integrate archeological evidence and study. We can bring the insights and findings of medicine and social sciences to the Bible and find they work together.

The quotation, “The Bible is truth, not fact” is a way of saying we do not limit the Bible to literalism. We may want to be literal about some things, like “love your enemy,” “love your neighbor,” “do unto others,” and other favorite teachings of Jesus. But we expect the rich and lively engagement, the conflict and contention, the multiple meanings and competing visions to speak to us today as they did to the people of pre-Enlightenment times. And we expect scholarship and intellect and emotion and the arts to be part of this lively engagement. In this light, scripture becomes a living word. And if you take it all as literal fact, you miss a lot of the truth.

With all this said, we may be tempted to throw the Bible out the window, too, and give up on this ancient, archaic book that is a source of division and contention in church and society. We can view much of the Bible as no longer applicable today. And as inane fiction. Why not read a good, insightful novel, some poignant memoir, contemporary spiritual reflections, or some stimulating non-fiction and forget about the Bible? In The Good Book, Peter Gomes tells of a parishioner who described listening to scripture “like eavesdropping on a conversation in a restaurant where the parties on whom you were listening in are speaking fluent French, and you are trying to make sense of what they are saying with your badly remembered French 101. You catch a few words and are intrigued, trying to follow, but after a while you lose interest, for the effort is too great and the reward too small.” [p. 6]

Why bother with the Bible? Jesus Seminar scholar Marcus Borg reminds us in his book Reading the Bible Again for the First Time, that the Bible is not the end in itself. Borg uses the Buddhist metaphor of the teaching of the Buddha as “a finger pointing to the moon.” It’s not about the finger, it’s about the moon. The Bible is analogous to the finger pointing to the moon. The Bible is pointing us to God, to the spiritual life, to the transforming power of love.

Borg also uses the image of a lens. One of his students commented: “You’re saying that the Bible is like a lens through which we see God, but some people think it’s important to believe in the lens.” [p. 34-35]

Why bother with the Bible? Because its truth helps us to know ourselves more fully. Its truth shows us that we are part of something much larger than ourselves. Its truth shows us God. There is truth in the Bible or this collection of books would not have been revered as scripture for well over 2000 years. The Bible continues to reveal light and truth. The facts that are needed to ground that truth have been revealed through scholarship. And we have the truth of the Bible validated in our own experience as we are transformed by the divine love embodied in the actual life of the crucified first century Palestinian Jew, Jesus of Nazareth. Amen.

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