Sermon

         Last week, one of you asked me to define what I mean by a person who is a theist. A “theist” is a person who believes in God and that God is a being with supernatural powers, dwelling outside this world and breaking into the world now and again to change history; in other words, a superman-like God who has plans for us, the creatures of his creation. It reminds me of an old UU joke: Once upon a time, a theist was arguing with an atheist about the existence of God. After each heated exchange, the two participants became more and more angry. The theist was red in the face and the atheist was gnashing his teeth. Finally, the theist said, “Okay, just prove there is no God.”

         The atheist relaxed, smiled and said, “You can’t prove there is no God—you have to take it on faith!

         The first paper we are asked to write in seminary is a description of who or what God is for us. It is a difficult paper to write and we understood from the Professor that the descriptions of God range far and wide and may not fit the definition I just quoted you. So if you have a God concept, I hope you feel free to define it for yourself.

         Famous Anglican Bishop John Shelby Spong has written a series of books laying out his ideas that the God of traditional Christianity who plans out human drama, breaks into history to change the course of it, who answers the prayers of some and not others, and who has a son called Jesus who died for the sins of the world is no longer believable for a modern world. His God he calls the Ground and Source of All Being and it is not split up into three: a father, a son, and a holy spirit. (As an aside, the concept “Ground of All Being” is derived from the writings of twentieth-century theologian, Paul Tillich.) To Bishop Spong, Jesus was a man—a remarkable man, but just a man. One UU minister told me recently that when John Spong was giving a talk on one of his books at her church, one man said, “You have just described the Unitarian Universalist position on God and Jesus. Why aren’t you a Unitarian?”

         Spong replied, “Because if I were no one would listen to me!” He is right, of course. Being a famous bishop of a large denomination, the Episcopal Communion, has its plusses, rather than an infamous one of a heretical religion, especially if you want people to buy your books on religion.

         One thing that I was taught in seminary was that people who come to church are looking for salvation certainty! I knew right away that as a future Unitarian Universalist (UU) minister I was in big trouble in this seminary. We UUs have always held that salvation is by character—nothing more, nothing less—and that “salvation” was a state of happiness we experience in this life.

         My life has offered me contact with dozens of eastern world gurus. These are men and women who go around speaking about what they think to be true about life and things metaphysical. I can tell you that all of them teach about gaining a peaceful mind in a hurried world so that we can lead the bestethical life possible, guided by love. If they speak of God at all, it is in the sense of a creative force of the universe, not a being that has a will.

         Today is Palm Sunday, a joyful time for Christians as they reenact Jesus’ entry into Jerusalem when he was welcomed by crowds of people, already joyful in their anticipation of Passover. Passover is a Jewish celebration of freedom from slavery and the beginning of their identity as a people. Did Jesus really have a parade into Jerusalem as described in the reading from the Gospel of Matthew? I suspect he did. He was after all a daring person and might have been curious about how much his popularity had spread and whether folks would turn out for him since they were already in a party mood for Passover.

         Perhaps you have heard the story of the 6-year old boy who had to stay home from church because of a high temperature. When the rest of the family returned home carrying palm branches, the little boy asked what they were for. His mother explained, "People held them over Jesus' head as he walked by."

         "Wouldn't you know it," the boy exclaimed. "The one Sunday I don't go to church, and Jesus shows up!"

         We are addressing here on Palm Sunday how much of the story we call Easter is probably true. Let us remind ourselves of the traditional story of Easter, the story of the man-God. We are told that Jesus came into the world to save humankind from their hopelessly depraved state that they are in because of the Fall, the Original Sin, of Adam and Eve. We all inherited the sinful nature of Adam and Eve. Jesus’ death was an Atonement for our sins—He gave his life that we might be saved and go to heaven. We can only be relieved of the stain of sin and have a chance of going to heaven when we die by being baptized into the Christian faith and participating in the Mass, which is the recreation of the death of Jesus and the partaking of the body and blood of Christ.

         Bishop Spong finds the body and blood communion grotesque. (And I thought it was only grotesque for me because I am vegetarian!) Spong thinks that in a modern world of reasonable people, we need to take Darwin’s theory of evolution into account. Human beings are newcomers on the scene so all the creation that is made after Adam and Eve hardly coincides with biological evidence. Spong says, “There never was a perfect man or perfect woman…Humans are emerging creatures. Neither perfect nor fallen, they are simply incomplete…a work in progress.” (Spong, p. 124)

         Jesus was crucified just like hundreds of thousands of others in that area of the world and across the Roman Empire. This was how the Romans maintained control—through terrorizing the people of the lands they occupied. However, Spong does believe it likely that because Jesus was a man of great personal awareness and strength, he very likely did minister to those around him to the end for it would have been characteristic of Jesus. Spong thinks that the resurrection of Jesus just did not happen but that the stories of Jesus’ virgin birth and Resurrection were added on 50 years after Jesus’ death. He also acknowledges that these stories were probably responsible for the growth of the church because of their compelling power. In a dark and cruel world, these stories brought hope. Spong is not alone in his thinking. Many liberal religious scholars acknowledge that the gospels were written long after Jesus’ death and were embellished to create stories that would draw people to the new religion. In its early days, the new religion used the sign of the fish on the cover of your Order of Service,

         Bishop Spong asks, “Does anything of value remain in the figure of Jesus once the supernatural context has been stripped away from him?” His answer is a resounding, “Yes!” And Spong hopes that a new, more believable Christianity will indeed arise for a world that wants religion based in reason.

         What Spong says of Jesus is this: “I see [Jesus] pointing to something he calls the real kingdom of God, where new possibilities demand to be considered. I see him portrayed as one who was constantly dismantling the barriers that separate people from one another. I see him inviting his followers to join with him, to work without fear beyond those security boundaries that always prohibit, block, or deny access to a deeper humanity…” (Spong, p. 131)

         Spong sees the God of the traditional Christianity as a tribal God. He says that tribal behavior holds the human race back from breaking down boundaries and bringing love to bear. Tribal attitudes and behavior create destructive boundaries against difference and anything that challenges that difference and tradition. He sees Jesus as a God-presence who sought to break down barriers that retard human wholeness and block our ability to be God-bearers, that is, people who bring the love of God or love itself to bear. God-bearers he said. I am reminded that the Buddhist monk, Thich Naht Hahn, says to us as he holds out his hands, “A lotus for you, a Buddha to be.” A God-bearer, a Buddha to be! All of you are “god-bearers”, Buddha’s to be!

         What did Jesus do that was so outstanding? He always invited in the outsider. He ate with tax collectors, a despised group (yes, even in those days). He not only defended women and spoke to them in public but he had them in the ranks of his followers, which was unheard of in those days. He set aside the Sabbath rest when human need required it, saying that the Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath. He challenged those who put laws and ritual before human need. He taught that outsiders are not morally less, but even sometimes superior in behavior, as in the Parable of the Good Samaritan for the Samaritans were a despised group of Jews. He was fearless when he challenged Temple authorities on their practices of allowing money lenders into the Temple.

         Spong believes that Jesus would have addressed all the prejudices of our age, such as violence, racism, and homophobia. He points out that Jesus said not a word about homosexuality. People who are homophobic have to look back at the ancient laws in the Book of Leviticus if they want a biblical prohibition. He feels certain that if Jesus were alive today and had the understanding of human sexuality, he would come down on the side of seeing homosexuality as being part of the normal human condition. Based on what we see of Jesus’ actions, we can be sure that he would challenge all prejudices, all tribal behavior, and all things that erect barriers amongst people.

         Is a new Christianity arising? I think it is. I think it is based on reason and the humanity of Jesus, an enlightened being whose actions and teachings are worth pondering and emulating.

         Let me end this subject with a final quote from Spong. He said, “Let me stretch the boundaries once more. To the extent that the Buddha, Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, Krishna, Mohammed, Confucius, Julian of Norwich, Catherine of Sienna, Hildegard of Bingen, Rosa Parks, Florence Nightingale, Mahatma Gandhi…Thich Nhat Hahn…, or any other holy person brings life, love, and being to another, then to that degree that person is to me the word of God incarnate. . . .Then the realization will surely begin to dawn that to perceive Jesus as different from others only in degree is to open all people to the divine potential found in the Christ-figure. It is to invite all people to step into the power of living fully….a self whole, free, real, and expanding, a participant in a humanity without boundaries [just like Jesus]” (Spong, pp. 145-146)

         It is Palm Sunday and it is also the first day of spring. I hope you will feel the great power in both of these. Somehow, I think Jesus would approve of our welcoming of spring with our last hymn, 298 Wake Now My Senses and Hear the Earth Call.

References

The following has inspired and informed this sermon:

Spong, John Shelby. A New Christianity for a New World: Why Traditional Faith Is Dying and How a New Faith Is Being Born, San Francisco: Harper Books, 2001