Tag: Paul the Apostle

Sermon: Knowledge, Faith, and Love

Solomon is certain he has built a place worthy of being God’s dwelling place forever.  … Forever is a long time: building a permanent dwelling place for God strikes me as an attempt to create boundaries for God that work for us, but perhaps not for God.  God’s former home was that tent made out of cloth, and skins, not stone.  It was not a permanent dwelling.  And so I think of that tent as representing how our Faith is a journey, not an endpoint; a path we must walk.  We might stop occasionally to dwell for a time, but we always move on.  A tent is not a monument.

Lord God, may your peace and Holy Spirit fill this place. Open your scripture to us, and may I clearly communicate that which you intend us to receive. May your Word take root and flourish within each and every one of us; and through it may we be strengthened and transformed by your unconditional, living, and limitless love for us and all of your Creation. 

In Jesus Name, Amen.

Tom texted me yesterday and asked if I would fill in for him this morning.  I immediately said yes, certain I had a sermon somewhere in my archive that would provide a good starting point for a meditation on this morning’s scripture.  Oops.  It took a lot more work than I thought; which is probably a good thing, actually: because if it wasn’t a journey to write this sermon and prepare for this service, then it probably wasn’t worth doing.

This morning’s reading is about Israel redefining its relationship with God in the time of Solomon the Wise.  The old tent that long housed the Ark of the Covenant no longer seemed fitting to them, for their prosperous and peaceful Kingdom.  

At the end of our reading, Solomon is certain he has built a place worthy of being God’s dwelling place forever.  …Forever is a long time: building a permanent dwelling place for God strikes me as an attempt to create boundaries for God that work for us, but perhaps not for God.  God’s former home was that tent made out of cloth, and skins, not stone.  It was not a permanent dwelling.  And so I think of that tent as representing how our Faith is a journey, not an endpoint; a path we must walk.  We might stop occasionally to dwell for a time, but we always move on.  A tent is not a monument.

Also, for a while now, I’ve been pondering how Faith operates in and through us on our journey through life.

For example, we saw Faith at work last week here, at our Special Congregational Meeting  – a major stepping stone in a long period of our congregation evaluating what works, what doesn’t, what’s broken, and what needs to be replaced or rethought.  We were asked to commit ourselves to the next step in that journey in the form of a Capital Campaign, to prepare our church’s infrastructure for the future. 

That meeting, just like this worship service, and so many other things that we do – either individually or jointly – are all expressions of faith.

Continue reading “Sermon: Knowledge, Faith, and Love”

Religious Illiteracy – Good or Bad?

osterhasen-0177I read an article on CNN a couple of years ago that quoted a social studies teacher who said that each year he asks his students “What is Easter about?”  He said they invariably bring up the Easter Bunny but never mention the significance of the holiday to Christianity.

I’ve also noted a tendency among some Churches and Christian leaders in recent years to “circle the wagons” and retreat into Orthodoxy or relatively conservative statements of doctrine.  This seems to be a reaction to the declining influence of organized Christianity in American society as a whole, and may also reflect a perception that more conservative, evangelical Christian groups are growing while “mainstream” Protestant denominations (and Catholicism) are on the decline.

I am convinced that by retreating into more orthodox expressions of the Christian faith, progressive Christians are abandoning the greatest advantage they have in the face of an increasingly secular society, which is their ability to engage with others in ways they can easily understand.   That Vermont teacher’s observation that young people are not able to identify Easter’s origins in the Christian Tradition (still less the underlying Judaic traditions), means they have no basis for comprehending words like “Christ”, “Jesus” or “Salvation”.  Such concepts mean nothing to them.  Therefore, using such terminology to try and reach them is fruitless.

Also, the only impression of Christianity many people have nowadays comes from news articles about the hate-filled activism of Westborough Baptist Church, and the anti-intellectualism, racism, misogynistic attitudes and/or homophobia of various religious groups and personalities.  So, if we use the same words such people use, even though the message itself is far different, we, as progressive Christians, are being lumped together with them in the public mind.  We are therefore perceived as out of touch and irrelevant to modern realities and concerns.  (And, as any politician will tell you, perception always trumps truth!)

Continue reading “Religious Illiteracy – Good or Bad?”