Robert's Epistle

Each week millions of believers in liturgical churches confess their faith by reciting the Nicene Creed.  The officiant stands, usually following the sermon and leads in the words;

We believe in one God,
the Father, the Almighty,
maker of heaven and earth,
of all that is, seen and unseen.

We believe in one Lord, Jesus Christ,
the only Son of God,
eternally begotten of the Father,
God from God, Light from Light,
true God from true God,
begotten, not made,
of one Being with the Father.
Through him all things were made.
For us and for our salvation
he came down from heaven:
by the power of the Holy Spirit
he became incarnate from the Virgin Mary,
and was made man.

For our sake he was crucified under Pontius Pilate; he suffered death and was buried.
On the third day he rose again
in accordance with the Scriptures;
he ascended into heaven
and is seated at the right hand of the Father.

He will come again in glory to judge the living and the dead,
and his kingdom will have no end.

We believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of life,
who proceeds from the Father and the Son.
With the Father and the Son he is worshiped and glorified.
He has spoken through the Prophets.
We believe in one holy catholic and apostolic Church.
We acknowledge one baptism for the forgiveness of sins.
We look for the resurrection of the dead,
and the life of the world to come. Amen.

This is the second Sunday in lent; a time for us to reflect on our own lives and see those places where we have room for improvement.  It is a time of repentance, not repentance like it is used by so many churches to bludgeon people into feeling guilty, but repentance in the sense that we return to our right mind or right thinking, according to the root meaning of the word for repentance metanoia.

Our Scripture lessons cause us to reflect on faith, and perhaps challenge us to get back into our right mind about faith.  The word faith is used many different ways.  When it is used in the recitation of a set of beliefs, like the Nicene Creed mentioned earlier, it creates a belief system.  That isn’t what the word faith truly means.  We can have a great deal of faith without believing what the church considers to be right doctrine.  While liturgical churches use the ancient creeds, other protestant churches may use a church covenant or statement of faith like that of the National Association of Evangelicals.  Often these covenants and statements agree with the Nicene Creed, except that they have added a deep belief in the inspiration and inerrancy of the Bible into the mix.  Creeds and Statements of faith are used as a way to distinguish Christians from non-Christians.  Jesus gave a very different method.   He said that others would know his followers, “If you have love one for another.”

From our lesson in Genesis we learn that Abraham and Sarah would be the progenitors of many nations because of their faith.  Not only is this true physically, since many nations now trace their heritage to Abraham and Sarah, but those who are not physically the children of Abraham consider him to be the father of our faith.  It was Abraham who dared to believe God and set out in blind faith following Yahweh God.  Abraham did not have a creed that he subscribed to.  There was no church council to decide what all those who are truly of the faith must believe.  Instead Abraham simply had faith in God.

In our reading from Romans Paul explains that this faith of Abraham was counted to him as righteousness.  He didn’t earn his position with God.  He was not great because he did great things.  He was great because he dared to have faith.  It is faith that makes us righteous as well.  We are given God’s grace freely and completely because we of God’s wonderful love for us.  It isn’t because we have right doctrine that God gives us grace, It isn’t because we do all the right things that God has given us grace.  We cannot earn God’s favor.  We must simply accept God’s favor.

Faith comes from the root word for trust.  Faith is more of a verb than a noun.  Faith is where we place our trust.  I dare say that the majority of the people who recite the Nicene Creed every Sunday do not truly believe every word of its text.  Those who claim the Bible is without error must understand that it has been changed many times and the Bibles we have today are not at all like the original documents written thousands of years ago.  It is a risky thing to place our complete trust in words continually translated and interpreted over a couple thousand years; it is just as risky to put our trust in the decision of a church council in 325 AD presided over by a Roman Emperor for political compromise.

Where then can we put our faith?  Is there any security beyond this tangible world?  Can we be assured of anything?  Yes we can.  Our faith and trust must be placed in God.  It is through faith in God that we can accept the fact that God has freely given grace to the whole world.  It is truly without cost or obligation. 

How can we return to our right mind this season of Lent?  We can return to a simple trust in God and know that it is enough.  The extra things that have been added to this simple faith by the church can either be an extra blessing to help us find our way, or at times it can be a hindrance to keep some out.  We must remember that our trust must not be in the works of human beings, but in the wonderful grace of God.  The works of humanity are more condemning than accepting.  The works of men are not intended to include everyone, but they have been designed to keep separate Christianity from the rest of the world.  The work of God is for us to accept God’s wonderful grace and love by trusting, through faith,  that God’s love is enough.  This is the right way of thinking I believe we are called to return to this season of Lent.

Genesis 17:1-7, 15-16
Psalm 22:22-30
Romans 4:13-25
Mark 8:31-38

I had a friend in high school who told me he was going to give up French fries for Lent.  Not being part of a church that practiced Lent, I had no idea what he was talking about.  He explained that for the forty days before Easter he would fast by giving up some kind of food he enjoyed, in his case it was French fries.  Since we were in high school hamburgers and French fries were considered some of the best food offered in the cafeteria.  I don’t know how long he was able to maintain his commitment to not eating French fries.

I have heard many arguments for many different kinds of fasts over the years.  Some people fast entire meals.  Some have no food at all, while others only refrain from certain foods.  One of the best rationales I have heard for fasting considers the fact that most people today have an emotional attachment to food.  Sometimes it is food in general, at other times it is specific kinds of food.  This emotional attachment causes us to eat far more than we should, or perhaps the wrong kind of food.  Fasting can be a way to remember that we should live our lives in moderation, without extremes.

This is the first Sunday of Lent.  For western liturgical churches lent began on Wednesday with Ash Wednesday.  It is a time that recalls the forty days that Jesus spent in the wilderness fasting and praying.  It is actually 46 days from Ash Wednesday to Easter, but Sundays aren’t counted since they should be devoted to God anyway.  Christians have come to think of this time of year as a time of reflection, repentance, and often penance.  It is always good to reflect on one’s life and spend time in introspection.  It is also important to repent, not in the sense that fundamentalists use the word repent, but to repent based on the actual meaning of the word; to get back into our right minds.

It is easy to be distracted by the influences of those around us.  We can be driven by inappropriate desires and greed.  We can be misled by false preachers and teachers who spread a message of hatred rather than a message of love.  We can become clouded in our judgment because of the pressures of a sick economy and political processes.   We can be confused by our histories and allow bigotry or prejudice to influence our judgment.  For these and many other reasons, it is a good thing to take time and look inside ourselves and try to get back into our right mind, or correct way of thinking.

Our Old Testament lesson this week shares the story of Noah leaving the Ark after the flood.  You may recall that this is another time in Scripture where 40 days is mentioned.  God sent rain for forty days and forty nights and caused a great flood to destroy all life on the entire known world at the time.  Only eight human beings survived the flood because God had warned Noah and he built an ark, or boat, to preserve the life of his family as well as the various species of animal life.

Our lesson from Genesis chapter nine describes the time after the flood when Noah and his family came out of the Ark.  Following his religious tradition, Noah offered a sacrifice to God in gratitude for being spared from the destruction of the flood.   It is at this point that God makes an astounding proclamation.  God promises that God will never destroy the earth with a flood again.  God was moved by the devastation of the flood and pledges that it will never happen again. 

God was not only concerned with preserving human life, but included in the promise all of the animals, birds, and other life forms that had been destroyed.  In context God appears to be sorry that the flood took place.  Never again would such devastation occur.  There are some preachers who claim that God will never destroy the earth again with a flood, but that God is free to destroy the world in another way, like fire.  While that may be true according to the letter of what is written it is certainly not true in the spirit of what is written.  God appears genuinely remorseful about the situation.  The spirit of God’s promise is that all of nature will be preserved from total devastation in the future.

The sign of God’s pledge not to destroy the earth is the rainbow.  Rainbows have had various mystical connections over the years.  There is something special about the phenomenon in spite of the fact that it is a natural occurrence.   We know that rainbows are literally a spectrum of refracted light as the sun shines through tiny drops of moisture in the air.  Yet rainbows are something more, they are a reminder of God’s blessing and God’s promise to preserve all life.

On our tenth anniversary together my husband and I were legally married In Canada.  When we came back to the United States our church blessed our rings of commitment to one another.  Driving home from this wonderful blessing we drove through a storm and at its edge a beautiful rainbow filled the sky.  While we know the rainbow was a natural phenomenon, it still gave us a sense of God’s blessing as well.  Just as God pledged to preserve life in Noah’s time, we believe that God has pledged to preserve our life together as well. 

One way we can get back into our right mind this season of lent is to remember that the world is a diverse place.  There are countless kinds of life on this planet.  Within humanity there is great diversity of gender, color, sexual orientation, language, and ability.  God has pledged to preserve all life.  God loves all of the wonder of creation the same. Just as there is a broad spectrum of light in a rainbow, there is a broad spectrum of human beings in the world. One type of life is not more loved than another.

Often we forget and allow our prejudices to get in the way of our right mind.  We can remember the rainbow following Noah’s flood to remind ourselves that we are all accepted and loved by God through Christ.  God does not intend to destroy and hate.  God intends to preserve and love.

Genesis 9:8-17
Psalm 25:1-9
1 Peter 3:18-22
Mark 1:9-15

This is the last Sunday in the season of Epiphany; the time we remember the revelation of deity to the world.  Christ revealed deity in multiple ways.  The stories from today’s readings are strange and peculiar.  They are challenging to the modern enlightened mind.  How can those of us who have such great understanding of the laws of physics accept the supernatural revelation of God?  It is a challenge to think beyond what can be proven and look at what is revealed.   Many people simply discard the miraculous portions of the Bible, or they refuse to believe in the Bible completely because it records supernatural events.

Our Old Testament lesson from the ancient book of 2^nd Kings tells us of the great prophet Elijah.   It is the story of how Elijah passed from this life into eternity.  Elijah was mentor to a younger prophet, Elisha, and they were walking together across the miraculously parted Jordan River.  Elijah discussed his passing and Elisha expressed a desire to be given a double portion of the spiritual strength of Elijah.  Suddenly a great chariot and horse that was bright as fire came between the two men.  While they were separated, Elijah was taken up into eternity in a whirlwind. 

The younger prophet, Elisha had sworn that he would not leave Elijah.  He wanted to cling to him and not allow him to die.  The bright fiery horse and chariot had to separate the two men so that Elijah could be miraculously taken away to eternity.  There are multiple references in the Old Testament to the glory of God being revealed as a bright light or pillar of fire.  

Our Gospel lesson is the story of the transfiguration.  Jesus took Peter, James, and John, the inner circle of disciples, with him up to a high mountain.  There Jesus began to shine brightly.  Even his clothes became dazzling white and illuminated.  Suddenly the two greatest leaders of the Old Testament appeared with Jesus; Moses and Elijah.   This supernatural event was to solidify the true nature of Christ to the disciples.  Jesus warned the three disciples, not to tell anyone about this event until after he died and rose again. 

Interestingly, tradition holds that both Moses and Elijah were spared from the normal suffering of death and were taken into eternity, but that would not be true of Jesus, he would indeed suffer and die.  However, Christ did not end with his physical death, but through the resurrection, the light of Christ is extended to the whole world.   

The glory of God is God’s love for the whole world.  God wants us to live full and happy lives peacefully together.  God’s love extends beyond human boundaries.  God’s love is not limited by political parties, national origin, the language one speaks, how wealthy one is, or anything else.  Nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.   God’s love continues to shine brightly as a beacon to the world and a reminder to love one another.

While the Gospel of God’s wonderful love shines brightly, our reading from second Corinthians reminds us that God’s love is veiled at times.  It still exists as powerful as ever, but it becomes difficult for humanity to see God’s love because of what happens in the world.  The world’s structures and institutions can make it difficult to remember the Gospel and that God loves us.

Many people believe that the world referred to in the Bible as hiding God’s love only includes secular institutions, or perhaps other religions.  The Bible doesn’t really limit the definition of the word.  The “world” referred to in the Bible is the structures and institutions of society.  Unfortunately, one of those institutions is the church.  At times, the church becomes a veil of the love of God, hiding God’s love from others.  This happens far more than we realize.

Secular society can certainly veil the light of deity in our lives.  How often have we been misled by greed, vanity or false pride?  How often has cultural norms sunk to the depths of prejudice and hatred instead of the love that is proclaimed in the Gospel?   If given a choice, it appears that the majority of people would vote against basic human rights for those not like themselves; if Proposition 8 in California is any kind of guide on the matter.   Human rights cannot be left to a popular vote, or those who are in the minority will suffer every time.

There have been times when the church has cast people out when they need love and acceptance the most.  History is filled with examples of the church acting as if the Gospel doesn’t matter at all.  The Inquisition is a prime example of how ecclesiastical power can be used to harm others.   Bishop Martyn Mimms, of the newly formed, Anglican Church in North America, a group that split from the Episcopal Church over the issue of homosexuality, stated in a recent interview with Newsweek, that he is “more interested in people than in building institutions.”   Unfortunately, if that were true he would not be trying to build yet another institution, and he would be reaching out with love to all people, not just those who are heterosexual.

All too often the church has become a vehicle of hiding the Gospel.  The church has promoted worldly standards of prejudice and hatred by rejecting people simply because they fall in love with another of the same sex.  When Jesus was asked by an apparently homosexual man to heal his lover, Jesus did so.  He did not tell the man he had to stop being homosexual.  Instead, he boasted of the man’s great faith.

The Gospel of God’s love for everyone is contrary to the way that society functions.  Human beings like to pick and choose who they love.  The church, as an institution, has become no different from the world.  In fact, all too often it is the church that leads the way in promoting hatred and division rather than love.   Jesus however, is truly the light of the world.  Christ is the love that lights the way for each of us in our darkest hour.  Somehow, we must be capable of separating Christ from those who claim to be Christians in our minds.  We must recall that Christ loves us all unconditionally and wants to fill us with light and joy, in spite of the fact that most who claim to be followers of Christ react to those who are attracted to the same sex with anything but love.

2 Kings 2:1-12
Psalm 50:1-6
2 Corinthians 4:3-6
Mark 9:2-9

I remember the last time someone told me that I was demon possessed.  Yes, it happened in modern America.  There are plenty of folks who believe in literal demonic spirits and believe that these spirits can possess other people.  This person believed that I was possessed because I had learned that human sexuality as not a simple choice that people make.  We don’t control who we are attracted to, it just happens.  Because of this belief, it was concluded that I was possessed. 

My response to the accusation was that in order to prove the possession, the person should cast the demon out of me.  If they could successfully do so, then I would reconsider my position.  They didn’t even try.  If they really believed me to be possessed, and had faith in the power of Christ then they should have been able to cast it out of me.

I can recall exorcisms of demons in the Pentecostal churches of my youth.  They were usually quite dramatic, and included a great deal of emotional catharsis.  Some people laughed, others cried.  Some prayed fervently.  One man grabbed his toddler son and ran from the church to make sure his son didn’t become possessed when the demon left the one being prayed for.  You have not truly seen drama until you have seen an exorcism in an old-fashioned Pentecostal church. 

Most folks today tend to stay away from the topic of demon possession.  Even Pentecostals have stopped focusing on the issue much.  I know of one television preacher who teaches that sickness is caused by demon possession.  Most of Christianity recognizes that the concept of demon possession is one that was part of first century culture, but not necessarily an essential doctrine of the Christian faith.

Our Gospel lesson for this Fourth Sunday after Epiphany shows that Christ was revealed through his teaching in the Synagogue.  The people were amazed because he didn’t speak the same as the scribes of the day.  Jesus spoke with authority.  When Jesus spoke, people listened because of his charismatic and powerful style.  He challenged them with new ideas and took responsibility for his own teaching.  He didn’t attribute what he said to one rabbi or another; instead he spoke as if he knew God and therefore knew what he was talking about.   He didn’t need to cite the latest scholar in order to validate what he had to say.  He spoke with his own authority.

While Jesus was in the synagogue he was interrupted by a man who called out to him.  He is described as having been possessed of demons.  He recognized the authority of Jesus and Jesus immediately ordered the demon out of the man.  It wasn’t a great dramatic moment.  The people were not worked up into frenzy by the worship leaders and didn’t have to repeat prayers over and over again.  Jesus simply told the demon to leave the man, and according to Mark, he was free from that time forward.

Jesus was one who had authority.  Not only did he talk the talk, but he walked the walk.  Jesus backed up what he claimed with actions; bringing healing and salvation to all.  He revealed a new message, one of hope and tolerance.  A message that, if it were to ever be truly be put into practice by a society, would radically reshape the way human beings interact with one another.  The world would be a far different place if most Christians truly put Christ’s teachings into practice by following Jesus.

Our epistle lesson for this week comes from the first letter to the Corinthians.  The believers at Corinth were well established in their faith.  They thought of themselves as mature Christians and exercised a large number of spiritual gifts.  But, there was an argument among them.  Some people believed that they shouldn’t eat food sacrificed to idols. The author began the discussion of this topic with the idea that knowledge may make someone proud, but love builds us up.  Knowledge may benefit the individual but love benefits everyone.

The epistle does not dictate a specific rule about whether meat that has been a part of pagan religious practices should be eaten or not.  On the one hand, according to the letter, we know that idols do not represent true gods.  On the other hand, if the freedom to eat the food offends another’s conscience, love requires that we not eat the meat.  This may seem like a strange debate for us today, but in the culture at Corinth this was a major issue.  It was hard to find meat in the city that had not been a part of some idolatrous practice since most of the labor guilds were connected to idolatry.  Christianity also presented itself as an exclusive religion and this could be construed by some people as a compromise with a false religion.

Not everyone understands Christian freedom.  Just because something may be allowed, doesn’t mean that we should do it.  It is perfectly OK to eat meat that has been sacrificed to idols, but we must be willing to give up eating meat if it will harm the conscience of someone else and cause division among Christians.    What really matters is not a list of what we can and cannot do.  In truth, we are free to do anything with only one limitation.  Our freedom is limited by love.  Sometimes we must give up some of our personal preferences in order to be tolerant of others through love.

We are free to be tolerant of others.  Jesus taught that what really matters is to love one another.  When we disagree we are to disagree in love and be tolerant of those who have different opinions.  Those who think they have great knowledge must accept those who have a different point of view.  It is the appreciation of differences and the ability to act lovingly, regardless of our differences, that makes one truly a follower of Jesus.  It is time for all believers to put aside our personal demons of bigotry and prejudice and follow Christ in appreciating one another’s differences through love.

Deuteronomy 18:15-20
Psalm 111
1 Corinthians 8:1-13
Mark 1:21-28

I know a “Full Gospel” minister who believes that he is a prophet of God.  He doesn’t think of himself as one who predicts the future, but does think he hears directly from God and speaks for God at times.  Back in the 1970s he predicted over and over again that the Soviet Union was about to attack the United States with nuclear missiles as the judgment of God.  He believed that God would use the Soviet Union to punish the United States for our sins.  He believes in an angry God who is bringing judgment on what he believes to be our evil society.

During the last conversation I had with this man, who was my pastor as a teenager, he condemned me to hell because I am a sexual minority.  He said he could do no other, and he would not speak to me about anything else unless I would immediately repent and turn straight.  I know that he doesn’t meet the Old Testament standard of a prophet because the law, that he seems to love so much, demands that a prophet be put to death if his predictions don’t come true.  I’m sure has a multitude of reasons for his fundamentalism.

This week we celebrate the third Sunday after Epiphany; a time of reflecting on how God is revealed to us.  We often overlook the spiritual part of our lives.  Often spiritual needs take last place until something happens to remind us of our spiritual selves.  Millions of people only think of God and spirituality at times of change.   The priorities of our lives can dramatically change when we face the loss of a loved one, violence, oppression, or war.   It isn’t only negative changes that cause a reminder of spiritual needs, but things like the joining of our lives together in love, the birth of a child, and the passage into maturity can all be times when we remember God.

Our Old Testament lesson this week is from Jonah.  According to the story, the people of Nineveh discovered their spiritual needs when confronted by an angry prophet of God who warned them that God was about to destroy their city.  The people immediately began to pray and follow religious practices and they were spared.  Our epistle lesson tells of the people at Corinth.  For them epiphany came through the recognition of the potential for an apocalypse and the end of the world.  From our Gospel lesson we learn that the earliest disciples of Jesus gained their spiritual insight by the words of Christ who said, “Come and follow me.”  They were changed by being near the Savior and having a relationship with Christ.

I think believers miss a great number of opportunities to both receive revelation and share Christ with others.  The church often fails to be a source of revelation of God because of an unwillingness to adapt to the culture as a whole.  All too often the servants of the church have become angry prophets who have nothing to say except condemnation toward others.  I can easily see these same prophets becoming angry, like Jonah did, when God shows mercy rather than condemnation.  

Since the 1980s the church had a great opportunity to be a true vehicle of revelation and epiphany to gays and lesbian people; as millions died of AIDS, the church could have been a voice of love and mercy for those who suffered.   All too often, those who reached out for blessing from the church because of their pain received a curse instead.   The angry prophets were too scared to be ministers of God.  Instead they condemned and claimed that AIDS is a curse from God toward homosexuals.  God is not a God of curses, but is a God of blessing.

I’m reminded of all the television preachers and pundits who used the AIDS health crisis to raise millions of dollars in order to build their religious and political empires all the while preaching hate.  Rather than take advantage of an opportunity to be an agent of God’s love, much of the church has spread messages that bred hate, harassment and violence.  One priest I know pointedly raised the question, “With all the evil in the world, why does the church have time to worry about who other people are having sex with?”   

This decade has brought another opportunity for the church to be a witness of love to sexual minorities.  One of the most important rites of passage we enjoy as adults is marriage, when our loving relationship is recognized and affirmed by our community.  The church can help make same sex marriages legal and affirm same sex weddings in our spiritual communities.  So far only a handful of smaller denominations and the Metropolitan Community Church have decided to endorse gay marriage.  The only mainline denomination to do so is the United Church of Christ, but the resolution isn’t binding on local congregations.  Some will marry people of the same sex and some will not.  People think the Episcopal Church has endorsed gay marriage, but this is far from true.  The Episcopal Church continues to only allow “blessing” of same sex couples in some diocese.  The Episcopal Church continues to discriminate against gays and lesbians.

The greatest way any of us can have spiritual revelation is through relationship; relationship with one another and relationship with Christ.  Just like Jesus asked the brothers on the shores of Galilee to enter into relationship with Him, we can have quality relationships with those around us.  It is time for the church to come back to those she has cast aside.  Sexual minorities are some of the most spiritual and sensitive people on the planet.  The church now has an opportunity to rise to the standard of Jesus and welcome everyone back into the fold equally.

Jonah 3:1-5, 10
Psalm 62: 6-14
1 Corinthians 7: 29-31
Mark 1:14-20