06/02/2013 ~ SERMON ~ “From Whence?”

06/02/2013 ~ Second Sunday after Pentecost ~ Proper 4 ~ Ninth Sunday in Ordinary Time ~ 1 Kings 18:20-21, (22-29), 30-39; Psalm 96; 1 Kings 8:22-23, 41-43; Psalm 96:1-9; Galatians 1:1-12; Luke 7:1-10 ~ Communion Sunday.

From Whence?

“I want you to know, I assure you my brothers and sisters: the gospel I proclaim to you is no mere human invention.  I did not receive it from any person, nor was I schooled in it.  I received it, it came by a revelation, from Jesus, the Christ.” — Galatians 1:11-12

Tanya Marie Luhrmann is a professor in the Stanford University Anthropology Department.  She has gained some notoriety since she is an academic who writes an occasional column for the Op-Ed page of The New York Times. 

Luhrmann has also written a number of books.  But it is her most recent work, When God Talks Back, which has been noticed in church circles.  And, indeed, her Times columns are largely based on her research for this book.  And it is her research, both past and current, on the topic of what is loosely termed evangelical churches, about which those in church circles have taken notice.

One of the things her research has brought to the fore concerns beliefs.  What people believe or do not believe was the topic of her most recent Times article.  She told a story about a charismatic evangelical church where people often made comments which suggested they had complicated ideas about the reality of God.  In a prayer group one devout person said this (quote): “I don’t believe it, but I’m sticking to it.  That is my definition of faith.”

This remark was flippant.  But, in a real sense, this person decided it was better behaving as if God were real than not.  This person had devised a modern version of what is commonly called Pascal’s Wager.

In the 1600s Blaise Pascal said given the possibility that God does exist, infinite gain is associated with that belief.  Therefore, a rational person should live as though God exists.  After all, if God does not exist, there will be only a finite, temporary loss— Pascal’s wager.

In reflecting on the complexity of actual beliefs in churches, Luhrmann says anthropologists conclude the role of belief is greatly overstated.  Religion arises not from belief but as a way for social groups to experience themselves as groups.

When they do so they felt bigger, better, more alive.  Religious ideas help make sense of this experience of being part of something greater.  In short, people don’t go to church because of a belief in God; people believe in God because they go to church.

In fact, you can argue that religious belief as we now conceptualize it— with its perceived reliance on a series of beliefs— is in one sense an entirely modern phenomenon.  When the King James Bible was printed, ‘to believe’ meant ‘to hold dear.’  ‘I believe in God’ meant ‘Given the reality of God as a fact of the universe, I hereby pledge to God my heart and soul and loyalty, trusting in the mercy of God.’

To be clear, says Luhrmann belief is not unimportant.  But we often think the most important thing to understand about religion is why people believe and/or what people believe.  We think belief precedes action and explains choice.  (Slight pause.)

And these words are from the work known as Galatians: “I want you to know, I assure you my brothers and sisters: the gospel I proclaim to you is no mere human invention.  I did not receive it from any person, nor was I schooled in it.  I received it, it came by a revelation, from Jesus, the Christ.”  (Slight pause.)

I have two $64 words for you: apophatic and kataphatic— good ones, right?  There are apophatic people and kataphatic people.

Apophatic people say God is indescribable, that you cannot come up with an image or word for God that works.  Kataphatic people say, while acknowledging there is no correct image, God needs to be visualized in something— a burning bush, the wind, a mother hen, even that totally inept, inappropriate description: God as an old white guy with a beard.  (The pastor points to the choir who sits directly in front of the pulpit and says:) Got a laugh out of these folks!

I want to suggest that in this passage from Galatians Paul is struggling a way to describe what God has done.  Paul wants to be kataphatic— to find an image— but realizes that to be apophatic, to do away with any image, is an option.

In short, Paul has had an indescribable experience, a mystical experience of God.  And Paul does not know what to say about it or even to do about it.  Indeed, as the text tells us, Paul wanders off to Asia before bothering to go to Jerusalem to consult with the Apostles.

But Paul does try to tell us something about that experience.  What are we told?  We are told about the basic paradox Paul has encountered: the Gospel is based on personal experience and the Gospel comes from God— is based on experience and comes from God.  Put another way: Paul has had an experience of God and there is no adequate way to describe it.  (Slight pause.)

One of my seminary professors, now retired from teaching and a Facebook friend, The Rev. Dr. Glenn Miller, posted what follows on Facebook this week.  Given that Glenn is a nationally respected and a very careful scholar, I think he must have written this or it would have been posted with an attribution to someone.

This is what Dr. Miller said (quote): “Faith is among the most complex of human activities.  It involves belief, reasoning, emotions, personal relationships and human will.  It is far too easy to look at one or another of these and to think that we have identified the nature of faith.”

“Perhaps, given the complexity of human religious experience, it is inevitable that certain aspects of faith will find their home more among some people than among others.  The Myers-Briggs personality test suggests we all have some preferences for our relationship to the world and that is okay.  The catholicity of the church consists, not only of faith’s international character, but of the capacity of the church to embrace the experiences— experiences— of all women and men.”

Dr. Miller continues: “The church is not the church unless it has both St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi, the orthodox and the mystic.  God’s final purpose may be to led us to completeness— he says parenthetically— which is my understanding of the Biblical promise of perfection— but that does not mean the eradication of who we presently are.”

“We are too quick to try to overcome this natural human diversity by means of theologies that are ultimately self-serving.  A servant theology begins and ends with the recognition that God is always at work in the religious life of the other, if we would only see it”— the words of the Rev. Dr. Glenn Miller.  (Slight pause.)

That brings us back to an idea I’ve often mentioned.  Is it true that churches might simply consists of like people worshiping with like people— apophatic and kataphatic?  Do we simply break out into groups— orthodox and mystic?

Put differently, I think the question Paul, effectively, places before us is the same one the premise of there being orthodox people and mystic people presents and the same one sociologists place before us.  Do people go to church because they believe in God or do people believe in God because they go to church?

I think Paul struggles with that question.  Paul struggles with it because the answer, as the Rev. Dr. Glenn Miller suggests, is not one or the other.

You see, God calls people to be church.  And these people offer many understandings of God.

In the words of the late Andrew Greeley, before religion became creed or catechism it is poetry; before religion became creed or catechism it is images; before religion became creed or catechism it is story.  And it is not just story.  It is our story.

Further, this poetry, these images, these stories defy death— defy death— with glimpses of hope, with moments of life-renewing experience that are shared and enacted in communal rituals.  That is, in fact, what communion refers to, is it not?  Glimpses of hope, moments of life renewing experience shared in communal ritual.

So, are we, is the church a noun?  Are we, the church, simply a sociologically gathered group?  Or are we called to be church— a verb?  Be church.  More importantly, are we called to be church by God?  Well, I may be wrong, but I think the answer to these questions is ‘yes.’  Amen.

06/02/2013
United Church of Christ, First Congregational

ENDPIECE: It is the practice of the Pastor to speak after the Closing Hymn, but before the Congregational Response and Benediction.  This is an précis of what was said: “The late Andrew Greeley, whom I quoted earlier was a scholar, anthropologist, priest.  He died this week.  He said this (quote): ‘Religion is the result of two incurable diseases from which humankind suffers— life, from which we die, and hope, which hints that there might be more meaning to life than a termination in death.’”

BENEDICTION: People of God, God keeps faith forever.  Go from this place filled with new life,  ready to bear the good news of God’s promises.  And should you find yourself feeling worried or discouraged, remember the wondrous love of God, the healing power of Christ Jesus,  and the bold courage of the Holy Spirit.  These go with you today and always.  Amen!