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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
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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.

Faith Expressed Freely

Faith Expressed Freely – Statement on congressional response to Bishop Budde’s sermon

Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the case of the widow. – Isaiah 1:17
Preaching at the National Prayer Service, the Right Reverend Mariann Budde offered a sermon that was timely and prophetic following the inauguration of the 47th president. Her message offered a vision of hope and unity that is not easily lived and is needed now:

Unity is not partisan. Rather, unity is a way of being with one another that encompasses and respects differences, that teaches us to hold multiple perspectives and life experiences as valid and worthy of respect; that enables us, in our communities and in the halls of power, to genuinely care for one another even when we disagree.

Bishop Budde also warned about the normalization of a culture of contempt, of purposeful polarization manufactured to benefit a few while threatening to tear our country apart. The entirety of her message was lost in the response of the president of the United States, which focused on vilifying Bishop Budde’s appeal for mercy on the oppressed of our day. The prophetic plea was weaponized, and the message of unity presented went unheard.

Bishop Budde’s words and actions are consistent with many faith leaders over the centuries and today who have provided voice in the call for justice. The voice of faith leaders must be heard in the public square calling truth to power in all times. We commend the courage and wisdom of Bishop Budde and other faith leaders who bring a message of justice and hope for the oppressed.

The introduction of H. Res. 59 “Expressing the sense of the House of Representatives that the sermon given by the Right Reverend Mariann Edgar Budde at the National Prayer Service on January 21st, 2025, at the National Cathedral was a display of political activism and condemning its distorted message” is problematic as is the condemnation of the Bishop by the President. Our country’s rich history of religious freedom prohibits elected officials from dictating the message of religious communities, so their characterization of her sermon as “distorted” is deeply troubling.

Faith leaders must be able to speak freely from the convictions of their faith, uncensored by threats of political retribution, following in the prophetic tradition, calling for justice in their communities. People of all faiths must be able to express their faith without fear of government harassment, coercion, or duress.

As ministers of word and sacrament, we have a responsibility to seek justice for all. Our voices join with Bishop Budde and others defending the oppressed. This is a time to learn to do right, as the prophet Isaiah exhorts. The call for unity is before us. For the sake of the vulnerable with whom we are called to care and for the free expression of our faith, may we continue to center Jesus’ work and God’s vision for a just world for all.

Rev. Dr. Karen Georgia A. Thompson
General Minister and President/CEOUnited 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)

Are You a Christian?

Date: May 3, 2009
Scriptures: Acts 4:5-12 and 1 John 3:16-24
Sermon: Are You a Christian?
Pastor: Rev. Kim Wells

There is a scene in the novel, Life of Pi, in which the main character, Pi, a teenager, is walking down a beach promenade with his parents in their home city of Pondicherry in India. As they walk along, they happen to run into the local Muslim imam, the local Catholic priest, and the local head of the Hindu temple, the pandit. Quite unexpectedly, they all coalesce as they walk along. All three religious leaders, much to the surprise of Pi’s parents who are non- religious, know their son well. And to everyone’s surprise, it is discovered that Pi is a devoted practitioner of all three religions. He has linked himself with all three faith communities. He is observing the rituals and traditions of Christianity, Islam, and Hinduism.

The three religious authorities proceed to have a conversation about the attributes and criticisms of their varying religions. The comments include:

Hindus and Christians are idolaters. They have many gods.

And Muslims have many wives.

There is salvation only in Jesus.

Where’s God in your religion? You don’t have a single miracle to show for it.

It isn’t a circus with dead people jumping out of tombs all the time. We Muslims stick to the essential miracle of existence. Birds flying, rain falling, crops growing – these are miracles enough for us.

A whole lot of good it did for God to be with you – you tried to kill him! You banged him to a cross with great big nails. Is that a civilized way to treat a prophet?

The word of God? To that illiterate merchant of yours in the middle of the desert? Those were drooling epileptic fits brought on by the swaying of his camel, not divine revelation. That, or the sun frying his brains!

Things finally deteriorate to the point that the three religious authorities conclude:

With their one god Muslims are always causing troubles and provoking riots.

Hindus enslave people and worship dressed-up dolls.

While Christians kneel before a white man! They are the nightmare of all non-white people.

A few pages later in the novel, the highly embarrassed Pi takes severe lampooning from his older brother who challenges him:

‘So, Swami Jesus, will you go on the hajj this year?’ . . . bringing the palms of his hands together in front of his face in a reverent namaskar. ‘Does Mecca beckon?’ He crossed himself. ‘Or will it be to Rome for your coronation as the next Pope Pius?’ He drew in the air a Greek letter, making clear the spelling of his mockery. ‘Have you found time yet to get the end of your pecker cut off and become a Jew? At the rate you’re going, if you go to temple on Thursday, mosque on Friday, synagogue on Saturday and church on Sunday, you only need to convert to three more religions to be on holiday for the rest of your life.’

So, is Pi a Christian? Is he a Hindu? Is he a Muslim? He is observing the dictates of all three, so which is he?

When questioned, the adolescent Pi replies, “Bapu Gandhi said, ‘All religions are true.’ I just want to love God.” [Life of Pi, Yann Martel, pp. 64-70]

In the conversation between the priest, the imam, and the pandit, the Catholic priest is the one who reminded all that, “There is salvation only in Jesus.” Here we have the quintessential Christian claim of exclusivity. There is only one way to truly love God. And it is the Christian way. Through Jesus.

We heard this claim articulated in the scripture we heard from Acts: “There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.” And there are numerous other verses in the New Testament with similar sentiments:

I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me. [John 14:6]

Indeed, God did not send the Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Those who believe in him are not condemned; but those who do not believe are condemned already. . .[John 3:17-18]

The one who believes and is baptized will be saved; but the one who does not believe will be condemned. [Mark 16:16]

And there are many other examples of similar sentiments.

As we consider these New Testament scriptures, we want to remember that they were written down more than thirty years after the death of Jesus. So decades had gone by, and the Jews who believed that Jesus was the Messiah were facing certain challenges. And they needed their faith to speak to those challenges.

In 70 CE, the Romans invaded Jerusalem. The Temple was demolished and later the entire city itself. Scholars tell us that the city was completely destroyed in 139 and a pagan city built in its place. The surrounding area was called Palestine, a reminder of Israel’s enemies, the Philistines. Within one hundred years, the governor of the region had never even heard of Jerusalem, so complete was the destruction. [Saving Paradise: How Christianity Traded Love of This World for Crucifixion and Empire, Rita Nakashima Brock and Rebecca Ann Parker, p. 26-27.]

The destruction of the Temple had a profound impact on the Jews since their religious practice was centered on the Temple. The leaders wanted to hold their religion together in the face of this horror. So they had to reconstruct their religion without its focal point, the Temple. They needed to make sense of what had happened. Were they being punished for neglecting the Law? The leaders decided they needed to get back to strict adherence to the Law to regain God’s favor and to bring cohesion to their community, since they no longer had the Temple to fulfill that role. Now the Jews who followed Jesus took the perspective we are free to love God and neighbor; we don’t need the Law anymore. This was at odds with the agenda of the religious leaders who were trying to save their religious tradition by focusing on implementation of the Law. So the Jesus Jews were targeted. Shut them up. Cast them out. Turn them off. For they were seen as undermining the very survival of the Jewish faith.

The Jesus Jews responded by notching up in their expression of their convictions, too. We’re right. Jesus is the one. He is the Messiah. He’s the true way. Listen to us. They want vindication of their beliefs and their sacrifices and their deaths. So, they promote the idea that believing in Jesus as Messiah is the only true way to love God within the Jewish tradition. If you don’t love Jesus, you don’t love God.

This is basically a family fight within Judaism. They are not confronting paganism and other religions. This is a conflict within one religion, and those are often the nastiest, most hostile conflicts as we see, for example, between Sunni and Shiite Muslims and in Northern Ireland between the Protestants and Catholics.

These verses then, from the New Testament, which refer to the extreme exclusivity of the Jesus movement, emerged in a very specific, intense, emotionally charged situation. They were then universalized by the later church to cultivate the supremacy and exclusivity of the Christian religion. And that has led to severe consequences which don’t particularly reflect love for God or neighbor.

This idea, that Christianity is the only way to love God, that it is the right way, that it is the only path to heaven, has caused much strife in human history, including much behavior that is very “unchristian.” This belief in the supremacy of Christianity has fueled violence by Christians against Jews for over 1000 years, including the holocaust in Nazi Germany. In 1543, the revered leader of the Reformation, Martin Luther, “wrote On the Jews and Their Lies, a treatise in which he advocated harsh persecution of the Jewish people, up to what are now called pogroms. He argued that their synagogues and schools be set on fire, their prayer books destroyed, rabbis forbidden to preach, homes razed, and property and money confiscated.” [Wikipedia, “pogrom,” accessed 4.29.09] The belief in the supremacy of Christianity fueled the crusades and the killing of Muslims. Do you think the US would have engaged in the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq with the same intensity if the populations of those countries were predominantly Christian? I doubt it. In addition, it was the belief in the supremacy of Christianity that fueled the fire of Empire and led to the decimation of indigenous populations in the Americas. When you look at this heritage, it is hard to see Christianity as a religion centered on love of God and neighbor.

The concept of the exclusivity and supremacy of Christianity has led to unintended consequences that are drastically at odds with what we know about the life and teachings of Jesus that we have in the New Testament.

Nowhere do we see teachings that if people don’t accept the way of Christianity, they are to be punished, tortured, or killed by Christians. In fact, in the life of Jesus, we see the exact opposite. We have the story of Jesus telling his followers, if you are not welcomed in a town, shake the dust off of your feet and move on. [Matthew 10:5-14, Mark 6:6b-13, Luke 9:1-6] No defense, and certainly no violence is encouraged.

In an article reflecting on, “Who’s Taking Blame for Christian Violence?,” journalist Calvin White, writing for the Toronto Star, reminds us:

Contrary to what some might like to insist, Christianity is not the religion of ‘an eye for an eye’ but it is the religion of Jesus, who refined those earlier directions and distilled the ten commandments into two. One was to ‘love thy neighbor as thyself.’ Pretty definitive isn’t it? As is the edict of turning the other cheek.

Jesus expected to be betrayed. He expected to be arrested by the authorities. There was no exhortations [sic] to prepare for battle. There was no bloody attempt to stop the proceedings.

Even as Jesus was brutalized while carrying his own crucifixion cross and being nailed onto the timbers, there was no violent counterforce from his disciples. Not even an outcry.

No matter where one reads in the accounts of Jesus, the only conclusion one can come to is that Jesus was about love. [“Who’s Taking Blame for Christian Violence?,” Calvin White, published on Tuesday July 26, 2005 by the Toronto Star.]

In the stories we have of Jesus, we do not see him insisting on right belief, correct doctrine, or specific religious observance, before receiving God’s blessing and grace. While the Jewish religious institution sent the message you have to do these sacrifices, say these prayers, give this money, follow this rule to be right with God and neighbor so that God will bless you, Jesus just gave out grace. You need food, here it is. You need forgiveness, here it is. You need healing, here it is. Embodied in the life of Jesus is expansive love for everyone, of his faith, other faiths, and no faith. No questions asked. No testimony of faith required. No rules to follow, no tax or tithe necessary. There is no quid pro quo, and there is no demand that people endorse a certain religious persuasion. And there is certainly no endorsement of violence in the name of Jesus.

In considering this claim of the superiority of Christianity, we want to remember that when Jesus was alive there was no Christianity. He was born, lived, and died a JEW. Not a Christian. Christianity did not develop as a completely separate and distinct religion until after 70 CE and the destruction of the Temple. So Jesus could not have promoted the exclusivity of Christianity because it did not exist during his lifetime.

And yet, this concept has become a core belief of the Christian religion. In the memoir, Eat, Pray, Love, the writer, Elizabeth Gilbert, talks about her spiritual journey. She tells us, “Culturally, though not theologically, I’m a Christian. I was born a Protestant of the white Anglo Saxon persuasion. And while I do love that great teacher of peace who was called Jesus, and while I do reserve the right to ask myself in certain trying situations what indeed He would do, I can’t swallow that one fixed rule of Christianity insisting that Christ is the only path to God. Strictly speaking, then, I cannot call myself a Christian.” [Eat Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert, p. 14.]

The early faith community developed and perpetuated the notion of the exclusivity of Christianity as the only way to love God in response to their specific situation. There were reasons at the time and in that context. We now know that promoting the Christian-only view of salvation actually undermines love of God and love of neighbor and is fomenting violence, injustice, inequality, disrespect, and death. These are the very things Jesus wanted to eradicate, not to promote. We are in differing circumstances today. The time has now come for the faith community, the church of Jesus Christ, to present an alternative to the view that Christianity is the only true way to God. This is needed to reduce the harm and violence done in the name of Jesus and to extend the love and support of the faith community to those like Gilbert who are attracted to Jesus’ teachings of love, justice, and community, but repelled by the exclusivity and consequent violence that has been done by the church.

The Christian claim of superiority and exclusivity is keeping people out of the church. Thoughtful people have a hard time endorsing an institution that has caused such harm in the name of the exclusive claims of Christianity; harm which is contrary to the teachings of Jesus. In addition, someone who has a sister who is married to someone Jewish, a daughter who has become Hindu, a neighbor who is Muslim, a co-worker that’s Buddhist, and they are all good people, can have a hard time with a religion that relegates loved ones and friends of a different religion to second class status.

We have a friend who went to a church where the pastor warned the congregation against the practice of yoga because, they were told, this was not just about exercise, but it was Satan luring them away from Christianity.

The exclusivity claim is keeping people away from the church- people who need the church, and people the church needs.

Remember, there was also a time when the church endorsed slavery.

The time has come for us to proclaim that Christianity is about embodying love and you can definitely do that without promoting the exclusivity of Christianity. You can love God and neighbor, without condemning other religions or insisting on the superiority of Christianity. In fact, in today’s world especially, one could argue that it must be done that way.

There is a story in the gospel of Matthew in which the people are separated into two groups. Those who responded to the needs of the “least of these” – helping those who were hungry, naked, or in prison, and those who did not respond to those needs. [Matthew 25:31-46] The parable of the last judgment teaches us that it is our behavior that determines our path. The belief in the superiority of Christianity can lead to behavior that is not loving or compassionate or Jesus-like. It is time to bring Christianity back to love of God and neighbor, all neighbors, regardless of race or creed.

It is not essential to believe that Christianity is the only true religion to be a Christian. In the scripture we heard from the first letter of John, the writer challenges us: “How does God’s love abide in anyone who has the world’s goods and sees a brother or sister in need and yet refuses to help?” This is getting at the core of Christianity. This is getting at the essential heart of the teachings of Jesus. Love God by loving your neighbor through concrete acts of compassion, generosity, and justice. That’s the core message of Christianity. That’s what defines a Christian.

So, are you a Christian? Am I a Christian? Was Pi a Christian? Look at the love and you will know. 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.