Making a Welcome in the Universal Mystery Preached at Wollaston Congregational Church On June 16th, 2019 Scripture: John 16:12-15 It has been many years since the Unitarian and Trinitarian churches separated in New England. Today, we may look back and wonder what all the fuss was about: does it really matter whether we think of God as One or Three-in-One? Does it matter whether Jesus was God incarnate, or simply a prophet? Both the Unitarian Universalist Church, and Congregationalist denominations have diverged and moved on since the time of the split. The Unitarian Universalist Association has embraced a commitment to pluralism and inclusion. They eschew religious iconography, and describe themselves as “open-minded, open-hearted spiritual communities [that] help people lead lives of justice, learning and hope.” I have colleagues and friends in the UUA and I admire their values and commitment to justice. [1] Here at Wollaston Congregational Church we remain Christian and Trinitarian, as members of the United Church of Christ. In worship we generally focus on the gospel message for the day. We share the “good news” of the coming of God in Jesus the Christ. We talk of the relationship between God the heavenly Father or Mother, Jesus the Son, and of course last week we celebrated the coming of the Holy Spirit. With this kind of preaching and teaching, some attendants have made assumptions about other aspects of our shared values and beliefs. And they have questioned who is really welcome in our church. Are we making a space that is inclusive enough for people of other faiths and no faith? These are good questions, it is important to ask: how do we live into our identity as Christian while welcoming and including others? To seek the answers, we turn to our reading today from the gospel of John. John is the perfect place to look because it a gospel about identity. John’s gospel tells us who Jesus is for the universe, what is his relationship with us and with the one he called his heavenly father. Fr. Richard Rohr explains that the “divine ‘I AM’ statements” appear only in John’s gospel: I am the bread of life, I am the light of the world, I am the way the truth and the life and so on. The other gospels present Jesus of Nazareth during his lifetime when he calls himself ‘the Son of the Human,’ or simply ‘Everyman.’ It is in John’s later Gospel, “dated somewhere between A.D. 90 and 110, the voice of Christ steps forward to do almost all of the speaking.” [2] In his book “The Universal Christ” Fr. Rohr reminds readers that “Christ” is not Jesus of Nazareth’s last name – rather it is an identity that Christians ascribed to Jesus after his earthly death. At the very beginning of the gospel, John says “all things came into being, and not one thing had its being except through him” (John 1:3). John is describing something more than the human person of Jesus, he is describing something eternal, in unique relationship with God the Creator. “Long before Jesus’s personal incarnation, Christ was deeply embedded in all things--as all things!” This, Rohr says, is “the universal Christ.” [3] From the outset, John casts Jesus as the Christ: the Word, or the anointed One. From there on everything else in the gospel is intended to describe Jesus’ identity as the Christ, and the relationship with the Godhead. It’s mysterious and it’s complex. It describes what is the incarnation: the Word of God, become flesh. And so, we come to our reading for today from John’s gospel. It is a very short excerpt from Jesus’ farewell discourse to the disciples. Jesus says that he has many things to say to his followers, but they cannot bear them now. Could they not bear to hear these things because they were too painful? Would he tell them of upsetting times to come: when their world would be turned upside down by war and destruction in Jerusalem? Or was it because the things he had to say would take away the foundation on which they thought they stood? Just when they thought they had grasped Jesus and what he was about, would they find out they need to grow in their understanding? And would this be too much for them to bear? Jesus doesn’t see this as a hopeless cause, though. He doesn’t seem to be upset that he cannot tell them everything he has to say. Instead, he says that the Spirit of truth will guide them in all truth. Even when Jesus is gone from them in bodily form, they will continue to grow in faith and understanding. This is the purpose of the Spirit. This is a wise reminder for us. Even when we think we know who Jesus is and what he is about, we all have more growing to do. We always have something to learn. Especially when we are contemplating the Universal Christ, which in the end is mystery. Those early followers couldn’t grasp the idea of the Universal Christ all at once, and neither can we. We begin, in Sunday School, with simple stories, analogies, and songs. Yet, if we cling tightly to our Sunday School learning we will end in places like that Unitarian/Trinitarian split. The Trinity was supposed to be a way to understand God, Jesus and Spirit in relationship. And yet it became a tool to drive people apart, and make some feel unwelcome. And so let’s not be afraid to grow. There is something in us that beckons us on to delve deeper into the mystery: the Spirit of truth. And so we return to the original question: How do we live into our identity as Christians, while welcoming and including those of other faiths and no faith? What would people of other faiths expect, if they came to visit us here in church? What would make them feel welcome, or unwelcome? We receive guests of other faiths most frequently when there is a funeral, a wedding, or like last week to a confirmation or baptism. My experience has been that people of other faiths: Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, Unitarian Universalism, or Roman Catholicism, expect us to do what we usually do as Protestant Christians. So long as we make them welcome and do not do things that exclude or offend them, they have no problem. They expect us to do our own rites and read from our own sacred texts. That is what would happen if we visited their places of worship. When we are at home in our church, it’s acceptable to talk in a Christian way. It’s acceptable to use Christian references and practices. When we in another space things are different. Over the past 10 years, since first attending seminary, I have learned about interfaith conversation and relationships. I am still learning. One of the most important things to bear in mind in those conversations is to make no assumptions. The most common mistake Christians make is to assume other faiths are just like ours. I’ve heard people say “all faiths are the same” and that simply isn’t true. I have learned that Jewish people will be offended by our offer to pray for them, or a request that they pray for us. Prayer, for Jewish people, is particularly Christian. They use the ancient practice of blessing: there truly is a Jewish blessing for every aspect of life you could possibly imagine. And in interfaith gatherings, we cannot assume that everyone uses the name “God” for what is holy or spiritual. The name used might be my Higher Power; the God of Israel; the Holy Trinity; Allah; Vishnu, Brahma and Shiva; Mother Earth; nature; universal moral law; wisdom and understanding. If you are concerned that you might be making assumptions, don’t be afraid to ask. The guidelines for the interfaith conversations I learned in seminary include having an attitude of “open curiosity.” Most people of faith are very happy to explain things, if they are asked respectfully and with genuine curiosity. Unfortunately, as Christians, we have to overcome a reputation for exclusivity and trying to force our beliefs on others. Christians are known for repeating Jesus’ assertion from the gospel of John “I am the way, the truth and the life” as though it was a litmus test for who is “in” and who is “out”. Christians are not known for delving deeper into the mystery of what that statement might mean, in the context of John’s gospel. Thinking of the Universal Christ speaking these words, we can imagine an entry point for other faiths who know this mystery by other names. I didn’t talk a lot about faith in my working life before I went to seminary. My co-workers could be critical of Christian groups in their lunchtime conversations. They particularly objected to Christians who dismiss people of other faiths, implying that they alone have exclusive rights to the truth. One day I remember saying that I also objected to that kind of thinking. One of my co-workers was surprised and asked how I could rationalize this as a church-going Christian myself. I explained to her that I think of Christianity – and following Jesus – is my entry point into the vastness that we call God. I think of it as a kind of portal to the spiritual. And yet, I am sure that there are other equally effective entry points or portals. That is how I imagine other faiths and other world views. “Ah!!” she replied, “That makes sense.” If only I had spoken up more often, my friends and colleagues may have had a fuller view of what following the Christ is all about. Wollaston Congregational Church, I am a strong proponent of interfaith conversations and making others welcome here in our church. We can do that while retaining our identity. We should never be ashamed of Jesus of Nazareth: our Rabbi, our guru, our teacher. If anything, perhaps we can be more confident in sharing our faith with others we meet as well as learning from them. Then maybe we will erase some of the assumptions that we all make. Mohandas Gandhi believed that “the spirit of all religions is love of God expressing itself in love of fellow-beings.” Gandhi did not ask people of other faiths to become Hindu, like himself, but asked “that Christians, Buddhists, Muslims and others should live up to the best teachings of their own religion.” [4] And so, may we live up to the best teachings of Jesus the Christ. May all God’s people say, Amen [1] https://www.uua.org/ [2] Rohr, Richard. The Universal Christ (p. 26). The Crown Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. [3] Ibid, p. 13 [4] https://www.mkgandhi.org/ebks/my_religion.pdf
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