Rev. Alison Longstaff, August 18, 2013
Fryeburg, Maine
Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7, Mark 9: 33 -40; AC 2385:5
These readings can be found at the end of this document, if desired.
Our notion of God is deeply personal. It starts forming when we are very little and resides in a deep place within our hearts. This inner concept of God is very sacred ground. To mess with it in another person without their consent can be to commit spiritual violation. This explains why we find religious recruiters so distasteful. This can also explain why we might feel hesitant to talk about our own beliefs with others.
Today, I plan to push the boundaries of our God-image a little bit. This is intended to be a kind of spiritual massage-therapy or yoga. It is intended to soften and loosen what can be tightly held spiritual muscles, and it may feel a little uncomfortable. Just breathe. I promise to be gentle.
In the summer of 2001 I was up in Owen Sound, Ontario researching first nations’ spirituality. I was granted permission to sit with one of the tribal elders. I was delighted and honoured. I took a seat next to a lady with glasses and short curly grey hair, who was wearing a typical baggy “old lady” polyester dress. Somehow I had expected braids and buckskin. In any case, I said I was there to ask her about her spiritual beliefs. She asked me earnestly if had been saved by Jesus.
I was heart-sick. This was a tribal elder. It turns out that I knew more about her traditional tribal beliefs than she did. European colonialism did this. “Christian” colonialism, with its arrogant assumption that its religious beliefs trump those of all others, especially those of “savages,” had systematically dismantled, disbanded, and exiled her culture. Many tribal traditions and languages in North America are lost forever. Many more teeter on the brink of extinction, and are requiring deliberate governmental and tribal interventions to try to recover and restore what bits and pieces of what is left that they can.
Whatever gave Christians such arrogance? History will tell us that the earliest Christians sought simply to survive, and to spread the good news, which was to tell the story of Jesus, and invite people to live a life of social justice and mutual service. But somewhere along the way, in fact, once Christianity became the dominant religion, Christians—
we—switched from a mindset of service to an attitude of entitlement. From there it was an easy step into certainty of our religious superiority. We stopped being about living love, and started being about
being right. We started believing that
forcing people to agree with us, and become like us, was our Christian obligation.
Religious arrogance can do so much damage. Now,
now we know how sacred and precious aboriginal spirituality is. We Christians nearly obliterated it in our arrogance.
And it was that shift from heart to head, from love to ideology, from humble service to “possessing the right truth” that was the key to our arrogance. It was this shift from love to “truth” that was so profoundly destructive of the health and well-being of the spiritual communities Christianity invaded. It was truth without humility, truth without respect for God
in the other, which isn't truth at all. Because truth, when separated from love, becomes false. It has no internal integrity. It loses its connection to the Source of all. History has shown that any denomination that assumes it has a
duty to impose its “superior” God-view on the cultures it encounters leaves spiritual violation in its wake. Current events continue to tell the tale of the how much violence can be done when one
group claims exclusive access to “Truth.” Such attitudes are only and ever destructive and divisive of the very things that bind us together.
Now, I’m going to ask you to go inside yourself. Think, (and feel if possible) about times you have felt religiously arrogant, or ideologically arrogant, or simply powerfully self righteous.
Go inside and ask yourself, “What attitudes and emotions
underlie those feelings of arrogance and certainty?"
Let’s sit with that a bit.
As for me, I can say it feels
really good to be sure I am right. It creates in me an uprising energy that longs to spread itself. I can feel excited and empowered, and I long to go on a crusade to fix
someone else with my great insights. Fixing someone else feels good! When I’m fixing someone else the attention isn't on me and what
I may have done wrong, but on the
other, and how I might correct
they are doing wrong, or even simply how they are
thinking wrong. I have actually found myself urgently wanting to fix someone else’s idea of the trinity (because it was “wrong”), when, as to quality of life,
that other person was busy serving the neighbor humbly and kindly. And me? I couldn't step over the bodies fast enough to go correct that Good Samaritan’s ideology. (---metaphorically speaking. I don’t think I've ever actually stepped over a body in order to correct someone….)
But I’m sure you see the problem. Whenever you or I are on a mission to
fix someone else, we have lost our way. Twelve steppers call it, “Taking someone else’s inventory” when we are cataloging our neighbor's faults and not our own. Our job is to work on our
own regeneration, not someone else’s. That can be one of the hardest,
hardest things for us to learn. It can feel much more fun and interesting to take stock of how
someone else should change. It’s not nearly as fun, (not fun at all?) to take stock of how
I should change.
But when you or I are focused on someone else’s foibles, we have left no room for respect. No room for reverence of the sacred spiritual ground in the other. Each person’s spirituality, no matter how different from yours or mine, is
sacred ground. Sacred ground! And there is no humility when we are on a mission to fix someone else. There is no awareness that we
all live in glass houses. We each have a massive rafter in
our own eye and have
no business correcting someone else, especially when they haven’t asked for help. Christians aren’t the
only ones on a mission to fix the whole world, but we certainly are high in the running.
It is this righteous arrogance that has given religion a bad name. But the thing is,
religion isn't the problem. Having a spiritual, God-centered paradigm isn't the problem.
Arrogance is the problem. Certainty, entitlement, and the desire to dominate are the problems.
Having said all that,
what do we do with the very common, very strong teachings that only through belief in Jesus Christ can a person be saved, and that Christians are to go and teach this throughout the whole world?
Let’s stretch our God-concept a little.
Ask yourself, what if God is
more than “Jesus”?
It is easy to get stuck on what name to call the God of Love, and what face to give—Him? (Her?) (You or I might like to reassure ourselves that
our pronoun is the rightest one, but “rightest” doesn't apply to an all-inclusive God.) The bible tells us that God made all people, all humans, in the image of God. That includes all colors and genders. Swedenborg, if we want to believe him, tells us that God made all the religions too---ALL of them, each one uniquely suited to the people and region in which it is found. And each one provides a path to “salvation” which means a path to true humanity,
true humanity—which is to become a person full of wisdom and kindness. Each religion in its original form and at its heart has this intention. But over time,
people, you and I, clutter religion up with rules and exclusions, until the religion, which is supposed to be a path to God, becomes a stumbling block.
In our Scripture reading from Mark we find the disciples arguing about who would be God’s favorite. That’s us. That’s you and me. That’s the human race fighting over which religion is better, which perspective is better. They are walking
with Jesus right there with them and they are wasting time bickering over who is the best.
Isn't that just like us? Jesus, to wake them up, did one of his favorite things: he turned the question on its head. He proposed that the one who would be greatest was the one who wanted to be the servant of all.
I’m guessing this statement was a real stumper for the disciples.
Be the servant? Be the lowest? Human arrogance never wants to hear that!
It is never, never about the pecking order. It is never about status, or right skin color, or right family name, or right sexual orientation, or right religious club. It is about what is in our hearts.
In this church, we are Swedenborgians. We always look inside a thing. We are about the spirit, the essence, the inner quality, not the external shape or size or color. The spirit of God. The spirit of love
and goodwill—this is our salvation.
Swedenborg tells us that every name in the bible represents a spiritual quality.
The name of Jesus Christ, means the quality of great love—great love and great wisdom in service in the world. Every religion that is true has some version of this at its heart.
Whenever we remember that it is about compassion, not rules, Jesus is Lord. Whenever we refuse to dominate or control our neighbor, Jesus is Lord. When we focus on how to be of service, not how to be the best, we are acting in the name of Jesus Christ, in the spiritual quality of love and wisdom in service.
What kills “Jesus” or
a life of loving, humble service is this very competing over whose God is best—whose God will rule—be we Catholic, Protestant, Swedenborgian, some other Christian or a non-Christian spirituality. In this sense then, any religion that supports people in becoming more enlightened, compassionate, and useful is a religion with “Jesus Christ” at its heart regardless of what name they give God. If
the spiritual value that is love and wisdom is at the center of any spiritual path,
“Jesus Christ” by another name is at the centre, period.
Let’s stop fretting about names and faces and different rituals. Let us look to the heart and the life of any given spirituality, for that is where we will find “Jesus” or their “way of love.” That is where we will find the Holy Spirit in a slightly different skin color or garment, but the Holy Spirit, nonetheless.
"Teacher," said John, "we saw a man driving out demons in your name and we told him to stop, because he was not one of us." "Do not stop him, "Jesus said, “for whoever is not against us is for us.”
“The Ancient Church, which was spread throughout many kingdoms of the earth, was of such a character that, though doctrinal teachings and religious practices differed, there was nevertheless one spiritual community. This is because respect and kindness were the essential things. At that time one could say the Lord's kingdom did exist on earth as it did in heaven, for such is the character of heaven. If the same situation existed now all would be governed by Love as though they were one person; for they would be like the members and organs of one body which, though dissimilar in form and function, still depended on one heart. Everyone would then say of another, No matter what form their doctrine and external worship take, this is my neighbor I observe that he or she worships the God of Love and lives a good life.” (Emanuel Swedenborg
Heavenly Secrets, paragraph #2385:5)
There is but one fold and one Shepherd, and we all belong. Amen
Using the Inclusive Bible by Priests for Equality
Isaiah 9: 2, 6-7
The people walking in darkness are seeing a brilliant light;
upon those who dwell in a land of deep shadows, light is shining. 6 For a Child is born to us, an Heir is given; Upon whose shoulders dominion will rest. This One shall be called Wonderful Counselor, the Strength of God, Eternal protector, Champion of Peace. 7 This Dominion and this Peace will grow without end, With David’s throne and realm, Sustained with justice and fairness, Now and forever. The zeal of YHWH Omnipotent will accomplish it.
Mark 9: 33 -40
33 They returned home to Capernaum. Once they were inside the house, Jesus began to ask them, "What were you discussing on the way home?" 34 At this they fell silent for on the way they had been arguing about who among them was the most important. 35 So Jesus sat down and called the Twelve over and said, "If any of you wants to be first, you must be the last one of all, and at the service of all." 36 He took a little child into their midst and putting his arm around the child, said to them, 37 "Whoever welcomes a child such as this for my sake welcomes me; and whoever welcomes me welcome not me but the One who sent me."
38 John said to Jesus, "Teacher, we saw someone using your name to expel demons in and we tried to stop it, since this person was not one of our group." 39 Jesus said in reply,"Do not try to stop it. No one who performs a miracle using my name can in the next moment misrepresent me. 40 Anyone who is not against us is with us.”
Heavenly Secrets (paragraph #2385:5)
“The Ancient Church, which was spread throughout many kingdoms of the earth, was of such a character that, though doctrinal teachings and religious practices differed, there was nevertheless one spiritual community. This is because respect and kindness were the essential things. At that time one could say the Lord's kingdom did exist on earth as it did in heaven, for such is the character of heaven. If the same situation existed now all would be governed by Love as though they were one person; for they would be like the members and organs of one body which, though dissimilar in form and function, still depended on one heart. Everyone would then say of another, No matter what form their doctrine and external worship take, this is my neighbor I observe that he or she worships the God of Love and lives a good life.” Emanuel Swedenborg
Originally "What’s in a Name?", delivered May 3rd, 2009, Church of the Good Shepherd, Kitchener, Ontario
Whatever gave Christians such arrogance? History will tell us that the earliest Christians sought simply to survive, and to spread the good news, which was to tell the story of Jesus, and invite people to live a life of social justice and mutual service. But somewhere along the way, in fact, once Christianity became the dominant religion, Christians—we—switched from a mindset of service to an attitude of entitlement. From there it was an easy step into certainty of our religious superiority. We stopped being about living love, and started being about being right. We started believing that forcing people to agree with us, and become like us, was our Christian obligation.
And it was that shift from heart to head, from love to ideology, from humble service to “possessing the right truth” that was the key to our arrogance. It was this shift from love to “truth” that was so profoundly destructive of the health and well-being of the spiritual communities Christianity invaded. It was truth without humility, truth without respect for God in the other, which isn't truth at all. Because truth, when separated from love, becomes false. It has no internal integrity. It loses its connection to the Source of all. History has shown that any denomination that assumes it has a duty to impose its “superior” God-view on the cultures it encounters leaves spiritual violation in its wake. Current events continue to tell the tale of the how much violence can be done when one
In our Scripture reading from Mark we find the disciples arguing about who would be God’s favorite. That’s us. That’s you and me. That’s the human race fighting over which religion is better, which perspective is better. They are walking with Jesus right there with them and they are wasting time bickering over who is the best.
I’m guessing this statement was a real stumper for the disciples. Be the servant? Be the lowest? Human arrogance never wants to hear that!
In preparing to come for this visit, I was emailing with Rev. George about the way candidating for a congregation feels a bit like dating. George responded uncertainly, saying that that cast him in the role of the protective parent, with which role he wasn't thrilled. I kept chewing on that metaphor, and my thoughts turned to, “Actually, George is more like the “ex…” except he is also supporting the congregation in finding the replacement spouse... And the metaphor just got weirder after that.
As I sat down to reflect on the transition Bath is facing, I was flooded with images from the movie “Truly, Madly, Deeply.” In it British actress Juliet Stevenson gives us a touching look at a newly widowed young woman trying desperately to reconcile herself to the loss of her husband. We see intense grief. She has lost a best friend, a companion, half of her piano-cello duet; she has lost her life in so many ways, and the only way forward is through her grief. It is a poignant, endearing, and tenderly told story of loss and new life, and in no way minimizes the real work involved in releasing the old to make room for the new.
When she gets stuck in the grief, her husband’s ghost, played tenderly by Alan Rickman, moves back into the flat with her. Her joy and relief is palpable. They cuddle and laugh and play music together the way they used to. It seems idyllic at first, except for the awkward fact that he is dead and no one else can see him. As the story goes on, she must continue to eat and sleep and go to work the way mortals do, while he grows paler and colder and increasingly lonely. He keeps turning up the heat to warm himself. And he invites hoards of ghost-friends over to keep him company while she is at work or when she is trying to sleep. It becomes noisier and increasingly crowded in her flat. Then he starts redecorating. 
You are a rare person indeed if
you can read the Moses story and find it as magical, fun, and totally cool as
some of today’s modern fiction. But that's
okay. The Bible is a highly sophisticated
style of spiritual writing with a whole lot going on, and isn't meant to be modern fiction. It wasn't designed that
way. It has got too much else it needs
to do given its limited context and simple language. It speaks to a deeper part of our psyches, if
we are to believe Swedenborg, creating lines of communication between us and heaven---between
us and God. It isn't so much meant to
entertain us, as to feed us on a deep spiritual level. It is like a densely nutritional spiritual drink
(that sometimes tastes like lawn clippings) where Harry Potter is more like frozen yogurt. It is okay to prefer modern
fiction. Just try not to dismiss the Bible
altogether. It's cooler than you think.
I'm guessing a lot of people feel
this way. At times like this, we have no
choice but to go on, though the whole project can seems pretty hopeless. We tend to think we've done something wrong
to make God go away, but that isn't necessarily true. Sometimes, it is a necessary phase of the journey. We don’t often realize it, but we tend to grow much stronger during those times. We develop and hone our God-given strengths, and really learn to cherish our travelling companions as well. It isn't fun, it definitely isn't comfortable, but we can learn some important personal lessons when we are feeling alone.
So when you go from this place today, I
hope you go away encouraged. God is
always working miracles in your life, even though you can’t see his magic
wand. God’s compassion shows up in all sorts of surprising ways if we just remember to look for it. Call these things coincidence. Call them serendipity. Call them what you like, but I call them miracles. I think they are little post-it notes from God reminding us that we are not alone. Just wave back, and say “thanks.”