St. Paul’s United Church Sunday, May 20, 2007
In God, Distrust? – Rev. David Mundy
Ephesians 1:15-23
Luke 24:36-53
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A few weeks ago I mentioned to you the cover article for Maclean’s
magazine and the provocative title, Is
God Poison? It was actually the issue of the magazine just after Easter but
rather than addressing the Christian resurrection hope it looked at the number
of high-profile scientists and philosophers who have been assailing faith in
God and religion in general during recent days.
This past Sunday the New York Times Book Review used the
title In God, Distrust as the catchy cover phrase, an obvious play on
the words which grace American currency “in God we Trust.” The graphic
is even more, well, graphic, in that it shows an ashtray with the symbols of the
three great monotheist religions -- the cross, the crescent, and the star of
David -- as cigarette butts. The implication, at least from the perspective of
these authors, is that religion should
be extinguished for the betterment of humanity.
Take a look at the titles of a couple of these books. There is God is
Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything by Christopher Hitchens and The
God Delusion by Richard Dawkins. Dawkins website describes him as the “world’s
most prominent atheist.” I take it
this is his designation since as far as I know there are no elections or awards
for this role. Yet. Can’t you hear the acceptance speeches if they ever do come
up with awards for most prominent atheists?
“I would just like to thank . . . well no one really. “
In the first chapter of God is Not Great Hitchens asked a series
of withering rhetorical questions
How much vanity must be concealed -not too effectively at that- in order to pretend that one is the personal object of a divine plan? How much self-respect must be sacrificed in order that one may squirm continually in an awareness of one's own sin? How many needless assumptions must be made, and how much contortion is required, to receive every new insight of science and manipulate it so as to "fit" with the revealed words of ancient man-made deities? How many saints and miracles and councils and conclaves are required in order first to be able to establish a dogma and then-after infinite pain and loss and absurdity and cruelty-to be forced to rescind one of those dogmas? God did not create man in his own image. Evidently, it was the other way about, which is the painless explanation for the profusion of gods and religions, and the fratricide both between and among faiths, that we see all about us and that has so retarded the development of civilization.
I don’t think Hitchens likes us! Of course these authors have got some
of their assessment right. Terrible things have been done in the name of God.
There are both words and actions which have led to bigotry and atrocities of
which we could be ashamed. Our minds probably go immediately to the extremists
who blow up innocent civilians in the name of Allah, some of them yelling “God
is great” as they carry out their acts of infamy. But in every age fervent religionists
of every stripe have encouraged ignorance and
participated in violence as the supposed agents of God. I recall the group from a Baptist church who
stood outside the funeral of young Matthew Shepherd who was tortured to death
with signs reading God Hates Gays. I felt both shame and anger, even
though I would be quick to argue that I disagreed with them. I can’t deny that
these are people who claim to follow the same Christ I follow and speak about
each week.
Can God be trusted? Perhaps more importantly, can we be trusted to live
as Christ’s people without enmity and with a sense of joy?
This morning we come to the end of the season in the Christian year
called Easter and with a final story about Jesus’ presence with them. According
to the last verses of Luke, some time after Jesus’ death and resurrection he
appeared to a group of his followers who were “startled and terrified” by his
presence and convinced that they are seeing a ghost. If you spend a few minutes
reading the endings of the gospels, you will discover that there are a number
of incidents in which the disciples and others are perplexed and afraid. Both
here in Luke and in the gospel of John Jesus says “Peace be with you” to
reassure them that he is not a malevolent force. There is a sense in this story
that they gradually come to the place where they are able to trust that Christ
is with them. There is the phrase “while in their joy they were
disbelieving” which captures this so well. They are celebrating that Jesus
is alive, even while they aren’t sure it could be true.
Sometimes we do struggle with the supernatural aspect of our faith and
the conviction that God has actually dwelt in our midst. When I first moved to
my previous congregation in Halifax, I worked with a chair of the board who was
retired from a very successful business and a fine person. He was ethical and
insightful and dedicated in his role. He was also my next door neighbour, so we
ended up having a number of conversations on a variety of subjects including
faith. It turned out that Wayne had no belief in an afterlife. He felt that
Jesus was an exemplary person and nothing more, and I’m not altogether sure if
he was convinced that God exists.
You might wonder why he would be involved with the church at all. I did.
But in his estimation the church made society better, unlike the high-profile
atheists we are hearing from these days. Needless to say we didn’t agree on
these subjects! Yet I felt his goodwill and desire to make a positive
difference in our community.
On the other hand I have been blessed with members in every congregation
I have served who let me know that they are keepers of the true faith and that
I regularly get it wrong. Needless to say, I appreciate their eagerness to keep
me on the proper path. I don’t know what I would do without them. Actually,
there are times when I need correction. What has struck me with some of these
folk is that there is so little sense of joy and celebration in their walk with
Christ. Faith for them is all hard edges and restrictions and exclusions. It
must be very lonely.
What we can hope is that we will discover that place where we are in a
life-giving relationship with the God who has come in Christ to bring about
abundant life. I suppose all of us are functional atheists, or at least
agnostics, at certain moments or periods in our lives. In the practicalities of
the every day we tend to live as though there is no God and no Christ to direct
us and shape us. I notice that even in the church we regularly make decisions without asking for God’s
guidance.
And there are also times for all of us when our faith becomes rather
rigid and restrictive. We do have a tendency to set up boundaries which are
more about security than the work of the Holy Spirit.
Somewhere in all of this there can be a welling up of joy and hopeful
living. We will always have our questions and our doubts, yet we can experience
joy in our disbelieving.
Don’t you wonder if these atheist writers are a way through which God
can call us back to the core of what it means to be people of faith? It would
probably infuriate them to hear this question.
In the end I don’t agree with them because science can be as flawed as
religion. The wonderful tool of scientific thought is woefully limited in
answering the questions of meaning for our existence. Scientific knowledge can lead to arrogance
just as easily as religion. Richard Dawkins suggests that those who have come
to the enlightenment of scientific inquiry be called “brights,” which
presumably means the rest of us are “dims.”
Science can also be used for destruction. The twentieth century was
arguably the most scientific period in human history and it was also the
bloodiest. Science brought us nerve gas and nuclear weapons and heat-seeking
missiles – all weapons of mass destruction. It would never occur to us that we
decry all scientific exploration and discovery because of its abuse.
Yet these challenges to religious belief jolt me back to an appreciation
that true faith is not about “turf wars.” Faith in God and in Christ leads to
humility and peace rather than division and discord. Even as we uphold our
convictions about Christianity, we must be witnesses in our world to a
transforming love which can’t be grounded in antagonism or hatred.
Returning to today’s gospel reading we are told that in this encounter
Jesus “opened their minds to understand the scripture.” It doesn’t say that Jesus instructed
them, although that it is what he is doing. He opened their minds and expanded
their understanding of what it means to be resurrection people. It is essential to come to a mature faith
which is grounded in an understanding of the bible which gives us our story of
salvation and renewal.
The other day I started rummaging around in the New Testament book
called 1 Peter, looking for a verse which I never did find. But there were
other verses which struck me. It was a little like searching in a closet for
one thing and discovering other treasures we have forgotten were there. Listen
to this from chapter two: “Rid yourselves, therefore, of all malice, and all
guile, insincerity, envy, and all slander.”
Then in chapter three the author says “ . . . all of you, have unity
of spirit, sympathy, love for one another, a tender heart and mind. Do not
repay evil for evil or abuse for abuse: but on the contrary, repay with a
blessing.”
We are bound to fall short of these noble goals along the way but we ask
that Christ give us the strength and the grace to try again. We have the great
opportunity to be involved in a ministry of reconciliation and justice for this
moment in history.
I encourage you to ask why and what you believe as members of this
community of Christ with its message of forgiveness and new life.
In the story we heard today Jesus eventually physically leaves his
followers as mysteriously as he comes to them. Before he does so he blesses
them. Something happens here which allows them to worship and experience joy
and be a blessing.
We are blessed because we trust in God and in the living Christ.