Progressive Christian Fundamentals

Transcribed from the sermon preached July 23, 2006

The Reverend Max Lynn, Pastor

St. John’s Presbyterian Church

2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705

Telephone 510-845-6830    Fax 510-845-6837

office@stjohns.presbychurch.net    http://www.stjohns.presbychurch.net

Scripture Readings:  Micah 6:6-8; Ephesians 4:1-6; John 4:19-24; Luke 6:1-11

Micah 6:6-8 With what shall I come before the Lord? Burnt offerings, calves a year old? Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousand rivers of oil? My firstborn for my transgression the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you oh man what is good, and what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.

Ephesians 4:1-6 humble and gentle, patient, bearing with one another in love, Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace. There is one body and one Spirit – just as you were called to one hope when you were called – one Lord, one faith, one baptism; one god and father of all, who is over all and through all and in all.

John 4: 19-24 The day will come when we will worship God, not on this mountain or that but in Spirit and in truth.

Luke 6:1-11 David took consecrated bread and ate. Son of man Lord of the Sabbath.
Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to destroy it?

I am a Christian fundamentalist. The Bible is the primary guide in my life. I believe that Jesus is the Way, the truth and the Light. Now that I have confused or scared you half to death, let me share with you what I see as the basic fundamentals of the Christian Faith and the Bible as mediated through the person of Jesus Christ.

1. God is love, those who abide in love abide in God and God abides in them. (I John)

2. We are all children of God. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. No exceptions. (Ps. 139)

3. All Truth is God’s truth. (Anselm) All good is of God. Let me qualify this fundamental truth. As a culture we have become information and specialization junkies. There are certainly some truths that are more important than others. I don’t need to know all there is to know about Paris Hilton and her dog. And there is a cultural tendency to think that unless we know “everything” about someone or some condition that we cannot act in wisdom and love. I don’t necessarily need to see an arm blown off in a war movie, or see every detail of every sexual fetish, or see all fifty lashes of the cat-o'-nine-tails tails on Jesus back. What I am talking about is knowledge, science, religion, and the promoting and sustaining power of life. If science teaches us more about the complexity of God’s creation, this new knowledge is a revelation from God. Where science gives us the opportunity to discover cures for disease, to spot trouble in our environment, to expand the understanding of the human brain, then God is all for it. We are endowed by our Creator with the capacity for reason, creativity and feeling. We are to use these gifts to think, to discover new truth, to create and to serve beauty and goodness, justice and love, humankind and all life. God is in favor of freedom in which disciplined reason and creativity can flourish.

If we think that God’s Grace, the most central, brilliant and wonderful Christian doctrine, is somehow held captive by the Church or Jesus, we are horribly mistaken. Religious truth is not limited to Christianity. If you are unable to see the power, grace and love of the Creator God and Jesus also in Mahatma Gandhi, for God’s sake, then you do not understand the power and movement of the Holy Spirit. When a group of people decides to come over to St. John’s every Monday morning and make food for the homeless, regardless of whether or not they call themselves Christian, they are acting in a Christ-like way; they are caring for God. “When did we see you hungry and give you food?” “When you did it to the least of these you did it to me.”

This is not to say that all religions are equally valid or true, or that each part of any one religion is as equally God inspired as the other. It used to be that sacrificing a child was a great act of faith. Still today we see children strapped with explosives, parents sacrificing their children’s lives to kill the infidels in the name of Allah. And, of course it has never gone out of fashion to flatter God with many words and gifts. Not that words and gifts can’t be a sign of faithfulness, but without justice and loving kindness, they are a disgrace to God. Humility, justice and loving kindness, even without the trappings of right doctrine are from God. We are not talking about relativism here. But anywhere and everywhere life is sustained and enhanced, God is there. We are taught in the Bible that we should expect our understanding of God to grow. The law doesn’t dictate what is right in every situation. We must use our God given capacity to think and judge in each context. We don’t need the Bible to tell us that slavery should cease to exist, or that women should have equal rights to men, when we have been taught the fundamental principle “do unto others as you would have them do to you.” The Bible ought to “do good, not harm.” Where progress is made, where justice and love are on the move, God is there. All truth is God’s truth.

4. Individual life needs community. Individuals need the freedom to think and be creative, and to contribute, to nourish and be nourished by a community and all of life. This is what the Church is to be about. What a great example we had of this last week at Camp Elmwood. Several orphans were able to attend, the tab picked up by you via the Deacons Fund. While at the lake, one such beautiful girl said, “Hey Pastor Max, you want to see me do a dolphin dive?” “Well, of course I want to see a dolphin dive!” She backed up about twenty feet from the water, and just before she took off running she said, “Are you watching? Here goes! And she ran full speed into the water and dove under, kicking her feet together several times before she came up, and with a big smile cleared the water from her eyes and said, “Did you see that?” What an amazing gift from God it was for me to be able to be there so I could say, “Yeah! That was awesome!” We never grown out of our need show someone our dolphin dive: to be welcomed, nurtured, educated, loved, and encouraged to serve and be served, to feed and be fed, to give thanks and to worship and dedicate ourselves to the God of life and love. Certainly Church is in the business of creating a society and government where people can be nurtured and thrive in all their diversity, but within the Church, even though we fall short, we affirm that contributing to community is a divine mandate. Call it crazy, call it primitive or childlike, but we believe in a family not defined by bloodline, that no matter our state in life, the Father and Mother over all, through all and in all would like nothing more than to see us do our dolphin dive. Life needs life.

5. All Life Is Sacred: God is the breath of Life, all life. Our God given capacity for reason gives us power which we use to prosper. Yet prosperity, which disregards the balance of Creation, will be short lived. It is God’s will that we care for Creation, that we be good stewards, that we seek to fit into the ecosystems through which God creates and sustains life. During camp in one of the lessons I focused on Jesus' sayings, “Turn the other cheek” and “Do unto others as you would have them do to you.” One of our five year olds raised her hand during discussion and asked with a serious and concerned look on her face, “Does that mean you shouldn’t step on an ant?” Wow? I said, “Let me turn the other cheek, go ahead and ask another question?” No, actually I said, “Well, yes, it is true that God cares for every living creature, even ants, and we should too. Sometimes we can’t help it hurting other people or things. Maybe we can’t see what we are hurting, but we should try not to hurt anything unless we have to in order live. All life is special to God. An inadequate answer to such a complex question. But it must be a fundamental that all life is sacred.

6. Each human body is a temple, unique and special, meant to glorify its Creator. It is God’s will that we enjoy our bodies, that we nurture the health and beauty of mind, body and soul. Sexuality is a gift from God for our pleasure, for uniquely powerful relationship and love (Song of Songs), and for the procreation of children. The pleasure we take from the beauty of our bodies and our sexuality should not be at the expense of our service, love and respect for God, other human individuals, especially children, or the family – the special nurturing place for children. Family is many things, and takes many shapes, but without a doubt its greatest social and spiritual function is the nurture of children. The importance of a safe, nurturing environment for children and adults requires a delicate balance of sacrificial discipline and faithful commitment with self-affirmation and individual fulfillment.

7. Jesus is the Way, the Truth and the Light: This is a statement that is not true, unless lived. On the other hand, if this Way that is Jesus is lived, then it need not be spoken. We are not talking right words, right formula’s, not even the right name for God. Reading and talking about a dolphin dive is not a dolphin dive. Reading and talking may help us learn, but we can learn it without the book, if we have a teacher, get in the water and give it a try. Once we have figured out the way, it doesn’t matter what we call it. It could be called a dolphin dive or a butterfly kick, or whatever, but be assured God loves to see you on the way. The Hebrews won’t even pronounce the word for God. We are too likely to mess it up, to use God in the wrong way, to make God something He is not. How horribly we have taken the Jesus' name in vain, using it to justify violence, abuse, prejudice and hatred. The living Christ is a Way, not a magic formula. By the grace of God we are to embody the spirit of God with Christ like integrity in our actions, in self-sacrificing love, in prophetic work for justice and peace, with "hope that surpasses understanding."

8. We are less than perfect, less than all knowing. We are part of a sinful world. This means that it is rare that we are all right, or that the other we disagree with is all wrong. When given the choice between two, the better choice is not perfect, not the whole truth, not uninfluenced by sin or prejudice. Therefore, humility, self-examination and confession are fundamental necessities for the faithful. Lack of humility will turn even the better choice into a wrong one.

9. We are saved by grace. Too often, we are not the way, the truth and the light. We are far away from Jesus and God. We make the wrong choices and choke the truth with our arrogance. No choice is perfect, yet to live as humans we must choose. Anyone in business knows what I am talking about. Like infants learning to walk we fall. But God our Mother encourages us to get back up and try again. We skirt out of town and waste our inheritance, yet God our father welcomes us home. I split from God and missed watching a daughter learn how to swim. I can only thank God that I can, in a small way, accompany her as she works her way through college. It is likely that our first dolphin dives will not look much like dolphins diving. We may never look quite like a dolphin, or like the perfect son or daughter of God. But God would like nothing more than to watch us, just as we are, back up and take another shot at it. This is the point of great paradoxical truth and beauty of the Gospel. Though I am far from perfect, in this moment, there is nothing I can do or be to be more perfectly loved and pleasing to God. The Cosmic Creator, the Alpha and the Omega, the One who is over all, through all and in all, in this precise, existential moment, has nothing to do but await your next breath, your next step, your next dolphin dive. All the love in the universe is yours, for you, right now.

10. God’s love and justice will have the last word. Acceptance of sin and evil is not an option. Good enough for us now is not all good for all life and all time. Inequality, prejudice, hatred, violence, deceit, exploitation, abuse, and death of every kind will come to an end and the God of love will triumph.

So yes, I am a Christian fundamentalist.