The sermon is based on the lessons for the day:
Acts 17:22-31
Psalm 66:7-18
1 Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
Enjoy!
Last summer, we were invited to a party of some good friends of ours. Nice people. They throw great parties. They’re not wild parties, but the food is good and we know most of the people who attend and it’s usually the proverbial good time that was had by all.
After we’d made the rounds, another friend flagged us down and invited us to sit with him and some other fellow we’d never met before. After some polite pleasantries, our friend mentioned to the other fellow what I did for a living. I always cringe when people do that: I know what’s coming. The man looked a bit puzzled and then said, “You don’t look like someone who would believe all that stuff.” I replied, “What stuff?” He said, “You know, all that stuff about an infallible book that tells you that women are inferior, that the world was made in six days, six thousand years ago by an old man with a long, grey beard, about some zombie born of a virgin that saves sinners who believe in him, and that all gay people and everyone else who doesn’t believe in him is going to hell.” I smiled and then replied, “I don’t believe any of that stuff.” The fellow said, “But you have to! That’s what Christians believe, don’t they?!”
I have to admit to guilty pleasure over the last couple of weeks: I’ve been following the goings on of Harold Camping and his followers. And for those of you who don’t know, the Rapture has been postponed until the 21st of October. So, Martin, you don’t have to plan anything or All Saints Day or after. I’ve found this whole thing rather fascinating as well as sad. I’m still not sure what to make of the thousands who sold all their belongings and gave the money to Harold and now have absolutely nothing.
In the process, I’ve been watching the discussion boards on CNN and Yahoo as well as just listening to people in the grocery store and on the streets. And it’s become apparent that over the last thirty years or so, due to the influence of such people as Pat Robertson and Jerry Falwell, may he rest in peace, and poor Jimmy Swaggert, not to mention Tammy Faye and Jim Baker and a whole host of other “preachers,” much of the American populace has come to believe what the fellow at the party had articulated. In many ways, the term “Christian” has become a bad word and anyone who ascribes to it is perceived as a naïve, closed minded, bigoted simpleton. Much of this perception is rooted deep in American history which was and continues to be highly influenced by our Puritan roots and the teachings of Calvinism. But I digress.
It is no wonder that Mainline Churches are becoming emptier and emptier. People really don’t know us, what we stand for, what we believe. It’s also no surprise the churches of our Fundamentalist brethren and sistren are bursting at the seams: we live in a world that becomes more complex by the second and cheap answers to complex questions make some feel safe. Being the kind of Christianity the fellow at the party knew about may make one feel good, but doesn’t work.
What has become apparent is that the God to whom Jesus bore witness and what Jesus taught have been replaced by religious and theological systems which are nothing more than reflections and projections of the human fears, values and prejudices of those who hold them. And, since they have the resources to proclaim their message loud and clear, it’s the message that gets heard. And many on this continent and in Europe have decided that they want none of it. And rightfully so.
And at the same time, people wouldn’t be so vitriolic towards Christianity in particular and religion in general if they didn’t give a rip. It’s pretty obvious that people in our time have a deep and chronic yearning for a connection to something beyond themselves, something greater than themselves, something which is timeless, enduring and gives meaning to life. Science has continues to wonderfully articulate and unfold the mysteries of the physical world, but people are beginning to realize that it can’t answer the mysteries of the inner world. And our consumerism and materialism have proven empty at best. We live in a world of a spiritual vacuum yearning to be filled.
In many ways, it feels like St. Paul standing in the Areopagus, which was where the legal courts were located on the Acropolis, preaching to the Athenians. The Athenians and the rest of the Greeks as well as the rest of the ancient world were quite devout people. They offered their devotions to the gods as was required of each deity. But nearly all of ancient religion was based on appeasing the gods so that they’d do what you asked as well as not send some sort of calamity on your on account of your transgressions or just because the gods felt like it. Much of ancient religion was based on the cycles of nature. But it was also based on fear: fear of calamity, fear of famine, fear of war and fear of death. And the Athenians were pretty scrupulous about trying to keep the gods happy. Why, they even had an altar to an unknown god just in case they’d missed one. Don’t want to tick HIM off!
This was just the opening St. Paul needed. Obviously, the Athenians were open to the idea of at least one more god. So, St. Paul took the chance to tell the Athenians about a particular unknown God. St. Paul knew that our knowledge of God is minutely incomplete; that understanding the actual Being of God is beyond the human mind. But he also understood that deep within the human soul is an instinct that is able to connect with its Source and that this connection brings life and hope and peace. And, St. Paul also knew that what we can “know” about God had been revealed in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, his Lord (and ours!) who had preached love instead of fear, compassion instead of greed, mercy instead of vengeance, peace instead of violence, hope instead of despair. It was this Jesus that revealed not just “a” god, but “the” God of the entire universe whose love and mercy and forgiveness are a given, who doesn’t require incense burned at his shrine or sacrifices offered on altars, but requires humans to love the unlovable, to embrace the outcast, to care for those in need, to seek justice for the vulnerable and to stand up to abusive authority, both secular and religious. And to the Athenians, this God was something entirely new. They’d never heard of such a Deity before. Plus the fact that since there was just one, it cut down on the how many gods one had to keep happy!
And so, it is time for us to take on the mission of St. Paul himself as he spoke to the Athenians. I have to admit that the Blessed Apostle is not one of my favorites. He can be a bit rigid and cranky at times. But in this instance, he’s who we need. It’s time for the Church to proclaim to the world the unknown God to our own society, to our own culture; the God who has become unknown in favor of the one we have made, the One whom Jesus proclaimed and the message which he preached. It’s time for those outside the Church to hear an alternative and faithful proclamation of the Gospel, a gospel not based in fear and judgment and guilt, but the Gospel: of love and mercy and forgiveness and peace, a Gospel which can fill the spiritual vacuum to overflowing.
They say that charity begins at home. Well, I believe that the beginning of change also begins at home. I suspect that you are like me: that, when people ask, you too have to explain that you’re not “that” kind of Christian. But then, what do we do?
We need to learn how to articulate what we believe. I know that such a thing is difficult for us Episcopalians. We’re traditionally introverts when it comes to our faith. We verbalize it through ritual and the words of the Prayer Book. And there’s nothing wrong with that. In fact, it’s marvelous and a gift from God. But, we also need to learn to become functional extroverts about our faith. We need to be able to articulate in a concise, frank and unapologetic manner what we truly believe with no strings attached for the one to whom we are speaking. We need to be able to more clearly offer to others the God whom Jesus was and proclaimed because that’s what people in our day and age yearn for and for which they are starving. We need to be like St. Paul and offer the God our culture has forgotten or maybe even never known as the viable alternative to the false gods that our culture and even our religion have created.
In this morning’s Gospel lesson, Jesus says, “If you love me, keep my commandments.” I have no doubt of our love for God. I know that we introverted Episcopalians are “doing” those commandments all the time. We may be introverts at verbally articulating the faith, but we’re extroverts when it comes to living it. We’re keeping his commandments – as best we can. And the promise is that we don’t have to do this alone. Jesus goes on to promise his own Spirit to accompany us, to give us courage to be the heart and the hands to reach out to a world starving for the Divine.
Giving witness to the unknown God, but known to us in Jesus, is something we have to learn to do. Most of us are afraid of doing so and being lumped together with the purveyors of the known god the TV preachers and Harold Camping talk about. It’s a valid fear. So we have to learn to do it in a manner that is non-threatening, inviting and not coercive. We need first to begin to articulate what we hold dear and how God has transformed our own lives to each other. We need find alternatives to apologizing for being people of faith; alternatives which reveal that some, dare I say most, Christians – and people of faith and goodwill in general - are not naïve simpletons but rather people of depth, compassion, open minds and listening hearts.
We have our work cut out for us. And it’s not easy work. In fact, it’s hard work. But it’s the work deeply rooted in what life is all about. And it’s work we will not do alone. We will do it with each other and with the promised Spirit to give us courage and comfort and openness to whatever may come our way. We will proclaim the unknown God with boldness and clarity; that unknown God made known to the world in Jesus Christ our Lord.
Amen.
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