Sermon: Language of Belief, part IV: Christian May 24, 2015 HPMF

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Patrick Bennett
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1 Sermon: Language of Belief, part IV: Christian May 24, 2015 HPMF Title: Christian: a verb, a label, a way of life? Mark 3:31-35, John 13:33-35 Mark 3: Then his mother and his brothers came; and standing outside, they sent to him and called him. 32 A crowd was sitting around him; and they said to him, Your mother and your brothers and sisters are outside, asking for you. 33 And he replied, Who are my mother and my brothers? 34 And looking at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers! 35 Whoever does the will of God is my brother and sister and mother. John 13: Little children, I am with you only a little longer. You will look for me; and as I said to the Jews so now I say to you, Where I am going, you cannot come. 34 I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another. 35 By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. 1

2 Today we turn our attention to the word Christian. A word that is a label, a way of life, a system of belief, an institution, and more all in fifteen minutes. Mary Magdalene is considered by many to be the first Christian. She is the first witness to the resurrection the first to see the risen Christ and proclaim this good news to others. The word Christian is first used in Acts chapter eleven. The word disciple and follower of Jesus are used before then, but the word Christian does not appear until halfway through the 5 th book of the New Testament. Christian history tells us that many of the first followers of Christ did not call themselves Christian but instead, followers of the Way, which, I think tells us that they probably valued a way of living over a way of believing. And today, all around the Christian world, people are celebrating Pentecost the coming of the Holy Spirit. This is what we call the birthday of the Christian church, the Spirit of God coming down so that all might hear the message of Jesus Christ in their own language people from everywhere hearing in their own language that to know the character of the living God is to know the character of Jesus. And in Acts chapter six we see the first institutionalization of the Christian church, the first committee work. Institution, that thing which we do to try and protect what we value and cherish that part of being Christian which tries to ensure what we love and value will be preserved, and that part which can cause us so much frustration and pain. Among those first believers there were widows among them that did not have enough to eat and so they decided they needed to have some organization to ensure that this specific need would be met. 2

3 And so, five chapters before even the word Christian is being used, structures are already being set up by those who follow Christ. These are the very beginnings of the Christian church. I know that for some of us, this word Christian is a word or label we struggle with. While we appreciate and love our namesake, Jesus Christ, we often do not want to be associated with others who claim this same label. It is easy to think of Christians in a fairly negative way because we, after all, have done (and continue to do) many terrible things under the name of Christ. Christians brought the world the Crusades, the violent seizing of the Holy Land the slaughter of Muslims and Jews and anyone else who would not convert or flee their homeland. Christians gave us the Inquisition in which people who did not believe rightly were tortured and killed. Christians helped pave the way for genocide of American Indians, we have given justification for presidents, kings, and prime ministers to go to war, we have said that slavery is Biblical and mandated by God, and we used natural theology to say that whites were superior to blacks, that heterosexuals are superior to homosexuals. Christians have been some of the leaders in destroying the earth because of our belief in the rapture, that God will suck all of the true believers up to heaven, and let the rest of us fight it out down here with the Anti-Christ. No, it is not hard at all to see why some of us shy away from claiming this title, from wearing this label on our chest. But let us also remember that much love, beauty, and justice has been spread by those bearing the name of Christ that peace has been sought tirelessly by Christians. Let us remember that many Christians in American and around the world fought to end slavery. That, while some Christians fought to keep Jim Crow, the civil rights movement was born and spread 3

4 in churches, in the reading of Exodus and the liberation of slaves out of Egypt. We must remember that many of the leaders of the Civil Rights era were pastors, that the seeds of justice were sown inside those churches in the words of those pastors. It was in the walls of those churches were hope was kept alive, where believers kept singing alleluias in the face of hatred and death. In those Christian churches people were reminded that all are one in Christ, and that while the arc of history is long, it bends toward justice. We know from our recent memories that while many Christians argued for the Iraq war, many Christians also worked and marched to try and keep us out of it to remind us that an eye for an eye makes the whole world blind and that God loves all of Her children, regardless of color, nation, or religious creed. And every time we recall and feel ashamed at the ways that Christians have told women that they should not preach or teach, we must also remember the Christians (especially our Quaker and Methodist sisters and brothers) who helped lead the woman s suffrage movement. We must not forget that Christians have been the ones all over the world to establish and run orphanages; to bring in food relief; to help rebuild after disasters; to run programs in prisons; to push for new systems of justice beside prison and jail; to greatly reduce malaria and HIV/AIDS in Africa through education and treatment and supplies; to bring clean water; we remember the many Christian doctors and nurses who put their lives on the line to treat people with Ebola and other deadly diseases; that most feeding programs in this country happen because of Christians; Christians have helped people escape places of war, we have hidden undocumented people in our homes and church buildings, we have driven them across the border into Canada to be joined with family members. We have sat in prison cells to protest war and hate and violence and the separating of families all in the name of Christ. 4

5 It is sadly true that our people have done some terrible things under the name of Christ. And we have to remember this, we can never forget this. And we have also helped to transform the world, to spread love and justice and peace. To see the good in another. To sacrifice our own lives. All because of the God we meet in Jesus Christ. And so we must also remember this. And I guess I am at a point in my own spiritual journey where I am trying to spend less time talking about those Christians, about Christians with whom I don t want to be identified. I am tired of being angry at those Christians, and I don t want to spend much more time or energy being angry or convincing people with my words that the Jesus I follow is the real Jesus, that as someone who strives for peace, love, justice, and simplicity that I am the true Christian and others are just co-opted by their culture, by a tradition that was aligned with power when it should have always been aligned with the poor. Instead, I am just hoping that a little bit of who Christ is might shine through in my own life and words. That is not to say that I don t think there is a place for anger, or that I have not spent considerable time being angry. I have written many angry papers focused at those Christians who support war and military might and Capital punishment, who follow the lyrics of Charlie Daniel s, The good book says it so I know it's the truth, an eye for and eye and a tooth for a tooth. I have spent a lot of time being angry and saying that they are not truly following Jesus, but rather their own prejudice and their own version of the American Dream. But I think that anger for me in this department has stopped being useful for me. Somewhere along the line in seminary, I can t quite tell when it happened, I just couldn t be angry anymore. It might have been that being at a somewhat progressive seminary, I just got sick of hearing people rant about how bad Christians were. Or, it might have been the way that I 5

6 saw that I was more concerned with not being associated with fundamentalist and evangelical Christians than I was being for something being for justice. Actively loving people. Being for the things of God, the things that make for lasting peace. Whenever it happened, I started to see that my anger was no longer benefiting me or the world. Again, I am not saying that anger does not have its place. Anger helps us see where injustices are happening it helps us identify places in our lives and our world where things are not as they should be. Anger has motivated many people to stand-up for themselves and others. I am just saying that anger stopped working for me. I think that for me, what was once anger, has turned more into sadness: sadness that many continue to spread fear and hate in the name of Christ; sadness that we have not done a better job of passionately living a type of Christianity that is attractive, that draws others in; sadness that we have not done a better job of proclaiming a faith that is reasonable (not provable, but reasonable). Sadness that so many people have been beat-up and mistreated in the church; sadness that more people did not grow up in Christ-centered congregations where they felt loved and valued where it was easy to believe in a God of love because that is what they felt from their community. As Christians, we have a face of God to lift up to the world the face of God that says that the character of God is known in the character of Jesus. The face of God that is peace, liberation, and care for those who have been pushed out in our society. The face of God that says, if we want to know where God is and what God is up to in the world, then we have to look at Jesus and what he was up to in the world. Mennonite Scientist Henry Janzen says that believing is just behaving as if it were 6

7 true. Believing is just behaving as if it were true. I am coming to like this idea more and more. In this way of thinking, believing does not mean that we have it all figured out, or that we have zero doubts. Believing doesn t mean we can explain the Trinity or memorize a particular creed, it just means that we are trying to live as if the things that Christ did and said are true. Living in a way of love to our enemies, of forgiveness, of giving what we have to the poor, of living a faithful life of love and not worrying about tomorrow or the consequences, of clothing the naked and visiting those in prison; of learning to know those who are pushed to the edges by sharing meals together. Living as if these are true and real. It is not our full certainty which makes them a belief. It is by living our lives as if they were true that makes them a belief. I believe that the fullest life possible is found in following Jesus that the fullest life I can live on this earth comes from understanding and following the life and teachings of Jesus Christ. This is what I believe as a Christian. And I want to live this way with passion and with love. Without anger and judgment to others believe (and live) differently. I don t want to believe with anger, I simply want to live as if my understanding of the God I meet in Jesus Christ is true. May the God of love empower me to do this a bit more each day. Amen. 7

OCR GCSE Religious Studies B Philosophy and Applied Ethics Revision Book J121 (Short Course) J621 (Full Course) Ethics 2 Module B604

Name:. OCR GCSE Religious Studies B Philosophy and Applied Ethics Revision Book J121 (Short Course) J621 (Full Course) Ethics 2 Module B604 Religion, Peace and Justice In this topic you studied: Christian