Sermon for the 3 rd Sunday after Easter – April 13, 2008
“Almighty God, who showest to them that are in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; Grant unto all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Religion, that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same . ”
THAT sounds like a tame prayer, doesn't it? Those in error ought to be shown light and truth that they might return to the right path. We who are admitted into Christ's Religion need God's grace to avoid all that is contrary to our faith and to follow whatever is in agreement with it. Such a very English sentiment. Such a quiet idea—as in all our Elizabethan liturgy: nice, formal and, well, religious sounding . Does calling God “Thee” and “Thou” make our prayers more acceptable to Him? Is it better to say “ We humbly beseech Thee ” than just to ask? What kind of hair shirt is Christ's Religion, if that is what we're practicing here?
I've often heard it said by modern Christians that they don't follow a religion at all. Real Christianity is not a religion, but a true and living relationship, honest, life-altering, and spontaneous . If anyone has ever uttered your prayer before you, it isn't a heart-felt prayer now for you, but a ritual made in cold obedience to tradition. Faith is seen as the opposite to ceremony and religious observance; loving God the antithesis to tradition and ritual. What we do here seems dead to them. Is it dead? Does it please God, what we do, and does it speak to our deepest needs?
Religion appears to be a word that offends everybody. What does it mean? Variously, the word is defined as: a system of beliefs relating to supernatural beings or forces that transcend the material world; belief in a divine power to be obeyed and worshipped as the creator and ruler of the universe; an organized system of faith and worship; a code of ethics, values, and belief; A way of seeing, thinking, and acting inspired by questions about what things mean: i.e. Where did we come from? What is our destiny? What is truth? What is my duty or obligation? What is the meaning of suffering?
Science can tell us the name and nature of the elements, the path and movement of objects, the forces that cause what we see to be. But when we ask “Why?” we pierce the outer limits of science and enter the realm of religion: Where did we come from and why? What are we supposed to do here? What is life about and to Whom are we answerable for how we lead it? Mankind has attempted to answer such questions by his religions. Part revelation, part reason, part superstition, part wish-fulfillment: human religions have all been fraught with being human in origin. We may feel that one system of belief is right, for it appeals to us. But are we the measure of the Truth? Can we be trusted to know? Isn't it just the problem we are trying to solve, in ourselves we can't ever know God, if He exists, unless God shows Himself to us?
King David sang , “The heavens declare the glory of God; And the firmament shows His handiwork.” Psalm 19:1 “O Lord , our Lord, How excellent is Your name in all the earth, Who have set Your glory above the heavens! …When I consider Your heavens, the work of Your fingers, The moon and the stars, which You have ordained, What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor. You have made him to have dominion over the works of Your hands; You have put all things under his feet.” Psalm 8:1, 3-6 The very stones cry out that God is their maker and we have a destiny greater than all we see. To this all religions of the world ascent, be they Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Muslim, Buddhist, Sikh, or even New Age. Placing Jesus in that company, can He be any better than other human philosophies, if we reduce His message and His work on earth to being one of the various approaches to these questions?
Is ours really the path to God? And is it the only path? Can a person live and die happy without the worship of anyone or anything higher than himself? Can a man be good without God? Is there really a heaven or is that only a way to motivate us to be friendly and to treat each other nicely? Is there truly a hell, or is that a scare tactic like father's belt to keep us in line? Dare we ask such questions? Can't I believe whatever I feel, and if sincere, am I not right to think I will be rewarded for it? Is any one belief any better than another? How are we to judge? By what measure can we be assured? Our reason betrays us. Our own judgment is suspect. How are we to arrive at the truth?
First, ask for truth . Nothing less. We have to understand that there is truth and that it can be known, at least in theory. If there is a God, He made us and our world and He might want to be known by us. Is there any evidence that such a being has attempted to contact His creatures? Let's start ticking them off: in Buddhism, no . There is no god per se . And no one is calling. Silence is their answer. That might be true, but it's no help. Hinduism's deity is everywhere and calls from too many sources. Let's pass on such a hideous pantheon. The God of the Jews seems to have betrayed His chosen people, and doesn't seem interested in the rest of us. Allah of Islam appears too much like an Arab warrior or Turkish emperor—mankind has had too much to do with that description, I fear. We are left with Christ: for good or ill, truth or falsehood, what did He say?
“You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. You did not choose Me, but I chose you and appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father in My name He may give you. These things I command you, that you love one another.” John 15:14-17 He commands us and then calls us friends. He has chosen us and empowered us to bear fruit. He hears our prayers. He tells us to love each other. I begin to hear the answer I'm seeking. “I will pray the Father, and He will give you another Helper, that He may abide with you forever—the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees Him nor knows Him; but you know Him, for He dwells with you and will be in you… he who loves Me will be loved by My Father, and I will love him and manifest Myself to him.” John 14:15-17, 21 Our God takes shape before our wondering eyes. Christ has a Father above, and sends the Spirit to dwell in us. He speaks of love, a love shared between us and God. That might be impossible, except for this Spirit who is with us and in us.
Those who speak of a holy relationship of faith and love are right. No mere rigmarole or religious ritual can save us or make us right with God. Christ's religion is one of love, from a deep place in the heart. Is that enough? To love God and let our lives take their course? St. Augustine of Hippo said as much: “Love God and do what you want.” He was being a bit glib, but truth is, if we were to love God with all our hearts, minds, souls and strength, it would mean we have only one object in life—to obey God and serve Him, even with every thought and word. We would have to learn Who He is, what He has commanded, and what He expects of us and then purpose to do only that. Love God and do what you want.
People observe our ceremonial way of worship and sometimes judge it as a cold thing of mere ritual, tradition, man's religion. It can be that. It makes us look Christian, Catholic, devout, pious, obsequious. The altar of our Christian Eucharist, if we don't remind ourselves of the reality and depth of what we're doing here and for Whom, may become an altar to an unknown god. Surely, generations of worshippers may have blandly come before such altars and bowed the head to the family god, never knowing the power that resides in Jesus, nor the Person of Almighty God who interests Himself in every such service and comes to us in the humble elements of bread and wine, every time.
To those who's God has become unknown, with St. Paul we say, “He gives to all life, breath, and all things. He has made from one blood every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, and has determined their preappointed times and the boundaries of their dwellings, so that they should seek the Lord, in the hope that they might grope for Him and find Him, though He is not far from each one of us; for in Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:25-28 “Since the creation of the world His invisible attributes are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even His eternal power and Godhead,” and thus every man, woman and child ought to know that there is God, even by looking into the night sky or standing on a mountaintop, or gazing across the ocean, “so [if they reject the God they know is there] they are without excuse, because, although they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God, nor were thankful, but became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like corruptible man… Therefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, in the lusts of their hearts, to dishonor their bodies among themselves, who exchanged the truth of God for the lie, and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator.” Romans 1:18-25
If religion is a way of believing, within a framework of trusted and proven facts about that which lies beyond our science, and how we are to address ourselves to God above to be accepted by Him, then Christ's Religion, by whatever name we call it, is faithfully following Jesus. We might dry out the language and cloak it in formality, or make it plain and blunt as a hammer: both may be just as sincere. Call God Thee or You , but do it with awe, do it with love. Our English accents force us to respect Him, our rituals to address ourselves to Him and not to the minister. If so, this is a good thing. As Archbishop Morse has said, “If we don't know the Jesus of the Bible, we meet a stranger in the Eucharist. And if we have reduced our worship to mere ritual and symbolism, it is nothing more than the shell of the serpent's egg.”
Christ's Religion includes the acts we do here. Enter in with devotion, know Him by faith, let the uneasy words—like manifold sins and wickedness , and miserable offenders batter and convict you, and the comfortable words soothe your spirits. Let Him live in you as surely as He lives. This is just a stage upon which is portrayed a true story, but it is truth, not just a play. And we enter the realm of real mystery together, even if it sounds like Shakespeare. Almighty God, who showest to them that are in error the light of thy truth, to the intent that they may return into the way of righteousness; Grant unto all those who are admitted into the fellowship of Christ's Religion, that they may avoid those things that are contrary to their profession, and follow all such things as are agreeable to the same; through our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.
PFH+