Children’s
\nTime: \u00a0<\/b>Let’s play an
\nimagination game. \u00a0If you were going to play hide and seek in this
\nchurch, where would you hide? \u00a0OK, now what if I change the rules?
\nIf you were going to try to hide from God where would you hide? \u00a0Is
\nthat a ridiculous question? \u00a0Why? \u00a0(OH…. you can’t hide from God
\nbecause God is everywhere? \u00a0Well, then let’s thank God for that!)<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Sermon:<\/b>
\n \u201cThe One in whom we live and move and have our being,\u201d is a
\ndescription of God used by Paul in the book of Acts. \u00a0It is one of my
\nfavorite descriptions of God, because it fits so well with my
\nexperiences of the Divine. \u00a0I FEEL surrounded by and supported by the
\nHoly One. \u00a0I love the idea that the boundaries between \u201cme\u201d and
\n\u201cnot me\u201d are irrelevant to God, and God is as much in me as as in
\nyou as in the air between us. \u00a0Thus, the phrase \u201cthe One in whom we
\nlive and move and have our being\u201d is often repeated inside my head,
\na regular reminder that the God of Love is the foundation of all that
\nis, and can be accessed in all times and places. \u00a0I suppose it would
\nbe fair to say it is one of my faith mantras, something I come back
\nto regularly, ponder often, and draw strength from.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
In
\nActs, when Paul uses this phrase to describe God, he is intentionally
\nappropriating a Greek poet speaking of the Greek god Zeus, and
\napplying the idea to YHWH instead. \u00a0This makes me giggle, but it
\ndoesn’t make the attribution feel less true. \u00a0At the core of our
\nfaith is a believe in God who is \u201comnipresent\u201d,
\na Latin-derived word meaning All-present, used to say that God’s
\npresence is everywhere all the time. \u00a0 This is why you can’t hide
\nfrom God. \u00a0Further, this idea means that God is within us as well as
\naround us, so that not only our words and actions but even our
\nthoughts and feelings are known to God. \u00a0To believe that God is
\nomnipresent is to claim that nothing can separate from the presence
\nof God, just as nothing can separate us from the Love of God.<\/p>\n
\n
Our
\nJesus-following faith also teaches that that God is \u201comnibenevolent\u201d
\nanother Latin word that means that God is \u201call good\u201d or \u201call
\ngoodness.\u201d \u00a0It might make more sense to say that God is \u201call love
\nfor all of creation.\u201d \u00a0It isn’t JUST that God is with us, it is
\nalso that God is FOR us, seeking good at all times. \u00a0I’ve said it
\nbefore, and I think it is worth saying again: \u00a0I don’t find it
\nparticularly important whether or not people believe in God. \u00a0I do,
\nhowever, find it VERY important how they understand God. \u00a0Whether or
\nnot a person believes in God as all-present and all-loving is
\nsignificant in who it is they think God is. \u00a0Very different belief
\nsystems develop when you believe in a God who is all-present and
\nall-loving \u2026 or not.<\/p>\n
\n<\/p>\n
Today \n<\/p>\n \n\u201cMoralistic \n<\/p>\n This \n \n<\/p>\n \nI \n<\/p>\n \nNow, \n<\/p>\n \nHowever, \n<\/p>\n \nWhen \n<\/p>\n \nRight \n<\/p>\n \nIn \n<\/p>\n \nI \n<\/p>\n \nI \n<\/p>\n \nLike \n<\/p>\n \n(Sermon <\/p>\n 1<\/a>The 2<\/a>I
\nwe’re going to look at two belief systems that disagree with my
\nbelief system at the core. \u00a0Right now we are comparing three
\ndifferent belief systems: Moralistic Therapeutic Deism, the
\nChristian Right, and \u201cJesus Following\u201d1<\/sup><\/a>.
\n Moralistic Therapeutic Deism was identified by sociologists through a
\nlarge research project with US teens, and is the actual belief system
\nof most teens, despite any religious tradition they claim.
\nFurthermore, as teens are most heavily influenced by their parents
\nwhen it comes to faith, we have reason to believe that a rather large
\nsegment of the population actually believes \u201cMoralistic Therapeutic
\nDeism.\u201d \u00a0So, we are looking at it, and finding where it does and
\ndoesn’t match our actual faith tradition.<\/p>\n
\nTherapeutic Deism\u201d has 5 salient points:\n<\/p>\n\n
\n\tgod exists who created and ordered the world and watches over human
\n\tlife on earth.”<\/li>\n
\n\twants people to be good, nice, and fair to each other, as taught in
\n\tthe Bible and by most world religions.”<\/li>\n
\n\tcentral goal of life is to be happy and to feel good about oneself.”<\/li>\n
\n\tdoes not need to be particularly involved in one’s life except when
\n\tGod is needed to resolve a problem.”<\/li>\n
\n\tpeople go to heaven when they die.”\n\t<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nweek we are taking a closer look at the fourth one: \u00a0"God
\ndoes not need to be particularly involved
\nin one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.“
\nIn essence, I think this statement stands against the idea that God
\nis \u201call-present.\u201d \u00a0Or, at least, makes God so irrelevant that
\nGod’s presence doesn’t matter. \u00a0Now, the Christian-Right definitely
\nbelieves in God as all-present. \u00a0However, I am not convinced that
\nthey believe in God as all-loving. \u00a0(Or, if they do, the words mean
\nsomething so different that it doesn’t count as the same idea.)<\/p>\n
Let’s
\nlook at Moralistic Therapeutic Deism first. \u00a0This perspective, which
\nreflects the generic belief system in the US, says, \u00a0"God
\ndoes not need to be particularly involved
\nin one’s life except when God is needed to resolve a problem.”
\nThis makes God the last resort \u2013 and our LAST resort tends to be
\nsomething we don’t have much investment in. \u00a0It also seeks to control
\nGod. \u00a0(Which those famous 10 commandments seem firmly against.) \u00a0A
\nperson who only reaches out to God when that person wants God to DO
\nsomething for them \u2026. that person is thinking of God like a big
\ngumball machine. \u00a0That is, \u00a0\u201cInsert prayer, and God gives you what
\nyou want.\u201d \u00a0God becomes a means to an end, de-personalized,
\nunimportant for God’s own self, just there to please us. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nsuppose the statement doesn’t actually SAY that God isn’t all
\npresent, but it make’s God’s presence irrelevant \u2013 other than as a
\nTOOL one uses for one’s own needs. \u00a0I think it also denies God as
\nall-loving, because if you believe that God is all-loving, then you
\nbelieve that there is a SOURCE OF LOVE IN THE WORLD YOU CAN CONNECT
\nTO. \u00a0And if you believe that, then I guess I figure you’d do so. \u00a0Or
\ntry to do so at least. \u00a0Because humans are hungry for love \u2013 so we
\nseek it out (in productive and unproductive ways) all the time! \u00a0So
\nthis indifference to the Divine itself tells me that people aren’t
\nthinking of God as GOOD, or LOVING. \u00a0Rather, they’re thinking of God
\nas \u2026. well, meh.<\/p>\n
\nI suspect this meh-ness about God is actually reflecting some of the
\ninfluence of the Christian-Right.2<\/sup><\/a>
\n (The Atlantic seems to be agreeing with me on this, they’re writing
\na lot these days about how the decline in US religiousity is linked
\nto people associating the Christian-Right with Christianity and
\nopting out of it.) \u00a0Now, I’m pretty sure that the entirety of the
\nAbrahamic faiths – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam- \u00a0teach and
\nbelieve that God is all-present. \u00a0I don’t know of any part of any of
\nthose traditions who argue against it. \u00a0There are some stronger
\nunderstandings of it, like pan-en-theism which says that everything
\nthat is exists within God and yet God is more than all that is. (I’m
\na panentheist.) \u00a0But the all-presentness of God isn’t in any way
\ncontroversial.<\/p>\n
\nthe all-loving part of God IS. \u00a0In fact, I think this is the breaking
\npoint between the Christian-Right and Jesus-followers. \u00a0While both
\nsides may make the claim, what we mean by it is profoundly different.
\n When I say God is all-loving I mean:<\/p>\n\n
\n\tloves and wants good for ALL people, regardless of their
\n\tacknowledgement of God, desire to \u201cworship\u201d God, \u00a0or the
\n\tmorality of their actions.<\/li>\n
\n\tseeks the COMMON good, and works to create the kindom in the world \u2013
\n\ta time and place where ALL people can both survive and thrive.<\/li>\n
\n\tone is more valuable than anyone else, and no one is less valuable
\n\tthan anyone else in the eyes of God.<\/li>\n
\n\tencourages us, nudges us, and calls us into loving words and actions
\n\t\u2013 all of us all the time \u2013 and we get to pick whether or not we
\n\trespond. \u00a0\n\t<\/li>\n
\n\tnature is to be loving, which is an awesome and delightful reality.
\n\tIf we want to respond to that love, then we are led by gratitude and
\n\tby love itself. \u00a0God’s request of us when we attend to God’s love is
\n\tthat we RESPOND to it \u2013 by letting love grow in us and change us.
\n\tThe love that grows in us is for God, for others, and for ourselves.
\n\t Another way to think of this is that deepening our relationship to
\n\tGod is growing in compassion.<\/li>\n
\n\tno NOTHING \u00a0– not death,
\n\tnor life, nor angels, nor rulers, nor things present, nor things to
\n\tcome, nor powers, or height, nor depth, nor anything else in all
\n\tcreation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ
\n\tJesus our Lord. (Romans 8:38-39)<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
\nthe Christian-Right says God is all loving, it starts from a
\ndifferent place. \u00a0The Christian-Right worldview starts with \u201cthe
\nfall\u201d – the idea of original sin. \u00a0Within this perspective, there
\nis a separation between God and humanity that exists in two parts.
\nFirst, the fall itself is understood as fundamental to reality, it
\ncreate a separation between God and humanity as a whole. \u00a0Secondly,
\nas each individual person sins that sin separates them from God.
\nFrom here, the Christian-Right considers ways to move from this
\nbrokenness into \u201cright relationship with God.\u201d \u00a0 God as loving,
\nthen, is God who gives humans the means to move from broken
\nrelationship into right relationship.<\/p>\n
\nrelationship with God consists of fulling a required set of actions
\nand beliefs. \u00a0In this view, because God loves everyone, God gives
\neveryone the opportunity to be in right relationship. \u00a0As God wants
\nto be in right relationship with everyone, God steers people towards
\nthe correct actions and beliefs. \u00a0Thus judgement and even punishment
\nby God of people are seen as corrections that are part of love, like
\na parent correcting their child for the child’s development. \u00a0(The
\nfact that punishment is a terrible motivator and, at the core,
\ndoesn’t work, isn’t acknowledged from this perspective.) \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nthe Christian-right view, wrong belief and\/or wrong action can
\ndistance one from relationship with God. \u00a0And, at the point of death,
\nthe opportunity to move into \u201cright relationship\u201d is cut off.
\nThus, those in the Christian-Right try to encourage others to choose
\nright beliefs and right actions, so that they too can be in right
\nrelationship with God and thus not spend eternity in hell, cut off
\nfrom God. \u00a0It is possible to see, from this viewpoint, how judgement
\ncould be seen as an expression of love.<\/p>\n
\nhaven’t actually been directly exposed to much Christian-Right
\ntheology, but I actually was exposed to the core of this viewpoint,
\none time when I was a teenager at my Annual Conference session. \u00a0The
\nBible Study leader showed us a video in which the human sin created a
\nchasm with us on one side and God on the other. \u00a0The video then
\nshowed us how Jesus’s death on the cross changed the nature of
\nreality, and that if we accepted God’s forgiveness (right belief),
\nthen the cross would become the bridge we could walk to connect with
\nGod. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nthink I was 13. \u00a0The next day I complained about the video to my
\npastor, and that particularly youth bible study leader never
\nreturned. \u00a0At that point I didn’t understand exactly how that
\nviewpoint was different from mine, but I could FEEL it. \u00a0Somewhere
\nalong the line I realized that I think the idea that sin separates us
\nfrom God is blasphemous because it indicates that SIN is more
\npowerful than God and God’s love. \u00a0\n<\/p>\n
\nthe passage from Matthew suggests, God does not call us into being
\nafraid of God. Rather, God is with us and we need not be afraid. \u00a0God
\nloves us, all of us, and nothing can separate us from the love of
\nGod. \u00a0Thanks be to God. \u00a0Amen\n<\/p>\n
\nfeedback leads me to add a PS to the end of this sermon: \u00a0Therefore,
\nas people connected to the all-present and all-loving God, as people
\nfreed from the fear that pervades the world around us, go and be
\npresent and loving in the world!)<\/p>\n
\n\tuse of the phrase \u201cJesus following\u201d is not meant to suggest that
\n\tthe Christian-Right are not Jesus followers. \u00a0Rather, I find that
\n\tbecause of the hateful action of many people who claim the word
\n\tChristian, many of us are uncomfortable claiming that language and
\n\tprefer to take on \u201cJesus-follower\u201d as a way of recognizing the
\n\tcore figure of our faith tradition without the baggage of the word
\n\t\u201cChristian.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tlove it when people do research that supports my assumptions:
\n\thttps:\/\/fivethirtyeight.com\/features\/the-christian-right-is-helping-drive-liberals-away-from-religion\/<\/a>.
\n\t (Don’t we all?)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"