IS JESUS THE ONLY GATE TO GOD? April 13, 2008

Scripture: Psalm 23, John 10:1-10

This week I am returning to a sermon that I preached three years ago, one that was quite well received. I have made some changes; however, most of it is the same. I started with a quote from Captain Eddie Rickenbacker about an experience of being lost at sea with his men for 21 days during WWII.[1] This Navy crew was flying to the Pacific Islands on a special mission when their plane crashed. Rickenbacker later wrote and I quote, “In the beginning many of the men were atheists or agnostics, but at the end of the terrible ordeal each, in his own way, discovered God. Each man found God in the vast, empty loneliness of the ocean. Each man found salvation and strength in prayer, and a community of feeling developed which created a liveliness of human fellowship and worship, and a sense of gentle peace.”

My guess is that most people who hear these words feel good about these men being able to find God, each “in his own way”; however, many if, not most, Christians today believe that the millions of people who find God outside of Christianity are not saved. The scripture reference for these beliefs comes from our Gospel today where Jesus says, “I am the gate. Whoever enters by me will be saved…” And later in John 14:6, an even stronger statement: “I am the way, the truth and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The author of the Fourth Gospel is very fond of using metaphors, figures of speech where one word or phrase is used to illustrate a certain meaning in place of another word, usually used to help in understanding; let me give you a non- religious example: The Internet is an information superhighway or life is a journey. John is the Gospel of the “I AM” statements; I AM the bread of life, the true vine, the light of the world, as well as I am the gate. Historically, the Johannine community was a small minority of Jews who had become Christians and thus kicked out of the Temple and frequently persecuted. When people are a minority it is especially important to stick closely together and the belief that “our way is the only way” often is an identity marker as well as being a protective and self-enhancing belief. When circumstances change, as in the growth of Christianity, the language and often the original ideas remain. So for over 2000 years we have heard that Jesus is the only way to God, the only way to be saved.

When I was looking for various views to answer the sermon question, I came across quite a few websites that emphatically believed that Jesus is the only way to God. The reasoning was along these lines: “Either the Bible is right and there is no other way to salvation, or the Bible is wrong and all other religions are right. If all roads lead to God then the Bible is a false book and does not have any reliability. If anyone claims to be Christian and says that other religions are equally valid he or she is saying that Jesus is a liar. There are probably some of you here today that agree with these statements. This view is the product of a Christianity that takes the Bible literally rather than a truth set in a historical and cultural time. I can’t remember which Indian tribe has a creation story that ends with, this is all true and some of it actually happened!

Another view of those who believe that Jesus is the only way to God uses the example of the blind men feeling different parts of the elephant and each ending up describing the elephant in very different terms. This view says that each of these men was blind and each was wrong, stating that as long as we are blind we remain in the darkness, not aware of the truth of God being revealed through Jesus. I won’t discuss any more of these beliefs that come from the literal interpretation of the Bible as most of you are well versed in them.

There are Christians that do not believe in the exclusiveness of Jesus being the only way one can enter God’s kingdom. One of these groups is known as Progressive Christianity, a group that I have talked about in many different ways over the almost 5 years I’ve been with you. My last two long-term ministers before I went to seminary were both active believers in Progressive Christianity. One of them, Fred Plumer from the Irvine, CA church, is now the president of this group. They have eight basic points, the first of the original version says, we are Christians who “proclaim Jesus Christ as our Gate to the realm of God;” followed by the second point that says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the gateway to God’s realm”. (Repeat) In 2003 they made some revisions to the 8 points and these two now read like this: “we are Christians who have found our approach to God through the life and teachings of Jesus. The second point says we “recognize the faithfulness of other people who have other names for the way (or gate) to God’s realm, and acknowledge that their ways are true for them, as our ways are true for us.” I really like that. It’s the kind of belief that I believe would be very much approved of by the Jesus that I follow. I love Jesus; his way is my life. I believe that in Jesus Christ, God has opened a way into God’s eternal heart and everlasting life with others at the heavenly banquet table. It‘s not up to me to determine who else is sitting at that banquet table. But I know one thing for sure and that is the job of saying Yes or NO is already filled, taken by God, a God I believe has endless compassion and love, desiring all of us to repent and turn to God. There are so many mysteries in our faith, in our life, and I would encourage all of you to approach these mysteries with humility and gentleness. Another Progressive Christianity point is that we find more grace in the search for understanding than we do in dogmatic certainty—more value in questioning than in absolutes. So we may be surprised at who is sitting around that heavenly banquet table, if indeed we are sitting there ourselves.

In the New Interpreters Bible, the commentary I regularly use in preparing my sermons, Gail O’Day, a scholar of the Fourth Gospel, states that the statement that no one comes to the Father except through me is the joyous affirmation of a community that saw Jesus as the incarnation of God and accepted his statements that he and the Father are one. She differentiates between “Father” and “God” and says that “no one” meant those in this band of followers, not necessarily anyone in the world forever (Vol IX, p.744). She points out that this is not a cry of a powerful world religion but a religious conviction of a religious minority in the ancient Mediterranean world. She sees it as a being particular to this faith community rather than an exclusionary statement for all time and places. This scripture says “This is who we are… the people who believe in the God who has been revealed to us decisively by Jesus Christ.”

Let me affirm that Jesus is my gateway to God—God’s life, realm, being. Jesus is the Lord of the 23rd Psalm, my shepherd that leads me beside still waters. However, that does not mean that what is true for me as a Christian has to be true for all people. A contemporary author and theologian, Wm. Sloane Coffin, says as paraphrased by Marcus Borg, “God is defined by Jesus, but not confined to Jesus. Borg also quotes a Hindu professor at a Christian seminary that was preaching on the Gospel verse about the ‘only way’ as saying, “This verse is absolutely true—Jesus is the only way. And that way—of dying to an old way of being and being born into a new way of being—is known in all of the religions of the world. The way of Jesus is a universal way, known to millions who have never heard of Jesus.”[2] It seems to me that what the Hindu professor means is that the way of Jesus is not about a set of beliefs but about a way of life; not believing doctrines or words like Jesus, rather seeing the way of Jesus, his life as being the way of transformation from an old way of being and doing to a new way of being and doing. For us as Christians that new way is Jesus, the way of non-violent, unconditional love. Borg calls this Jesus as being the disclosure of what a life full of God looks like. We can say, “this is who Jesus is for us” without also saying, “This is the only way God can be known for anyone ever.” For me a theology of Christ that leads us to respect other religious traditions, not to deny their religious truth, is keeping with the belief that God is part of all of us, and we are all a part of God. My doorway may not be the doorway others can enter; however, it is my doorway and I am so thankful that for me that doorway to God is Jesus.

So as I end this sermon, I would urge any of you that are disturbed by what I’ve said today to come talk with me. In no way do I want to have a debate about our differences, yet I am always interested in what you have to say. Our opening story talked about how beautiful it would be to give others the freedom to experience their faith differently than ours. I pray that the words of Edwin Markham’s poem “Outwitted” could be true for us here at DCC.

He drew a circle that shut me out—
Heretic, rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win.
We drew a circle that took him in.

Amen and amen.

[1] Gary Wilburn, Gateway Into God’s Realm, online at www.tcpc.org/resources/articles/gateway.htm .
[2] Online, http://www.beliefnet.com/story/39/story_3972_1.html

TAKE, BLESS, BREAK, GIVE Sermon 4-6-08

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:17-23; Luke 24:13-35

We are an Easter people, Amen? As post-resurrection Christians we have heard, some of us for many, many years, stories about the appearances of Jesus to the faith community. Today’s scripture has one of the most well-known stories—the Walk to Emmaus. Let’s look again at the scripture you just heard: two people are leaving Jerusalem, to go to Emmaus. One is named Cleopas; many scholars think that the other person may be his wife, Mary, as there were missionary couples in those days. Why were they on their way to Emmaus? There may have been several towns called Emmaus which meant hot springs. For these two, maybe Emmaus was home, and they were eager to go home and try to sort out why all of these things had happened to Jesus, their beloved leader. Maybe they just had to go some place and hideaway and try to figure out “what next”. When we don’t know what to do, or we have lost hope some of us probably wish we could find a place, an Emmaus where we could hide away and have some quiet to try to make sense of things.

As these followers were walking along discussing all that had happened in the last few days a stranger joined them and asked what they were talking about. They did not recognize this man and went on to tell him all about the arrest, trial, crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus. And then this stranger started interpreting scripture to them, explaining how all that had happened needed to happen to give glory to God. Still the couple had no idea who this man was. Yet they invited him to stay with them for the night. I wonder how many times Christ has been present to us and we knew it not. How often we do not see or hear the Christ in the daily, ordinary living of our lives! How many times have we missed a spirit-filled opportunity because of our lack of hospitality! Even though I love the scripture where Jesus says when you do it to one of the least of these you do it unto me, or NOT. I know I let lots of opportunities go by. Maybe you do too.

Back to the scripture: Once Jesus accepted the invitation and sat down to eat with them, putting into motion the title of today’s sermon, the four-fold action of take, bless, break, and give, their eyes were open and they recognized the risen Christ. Now for those of you that are familiar with the Bible, Jesus had done this before—at the feeding of the 5000 and most recently at that Passover Supper the Thursday that Judas betrayed him. Throughout the Gospels, so much of Jesus’ ministry took place at meals. He was portrayed by his enemies as a drunkard and a glutton! Take, bless, break and give are not just part of our Holy Communion sacrament, they are the whole of the Christian life. Let’s look at each of these words separately:

Take: Jesus is there for us, ready to take what we bring to him whether it be a concern, an anxiety, or a gift. We offer what we have to him and more importantly to others in his name. We bring to him our dreams, our passions, our sorrows. We bring the work that we do, the art we create. We offer our brokenness as well as our best selves, and Jesus takes it all.

Bless: Whatever we give to the Lord, whether it be an internal or external thing, Jesus blesses it and offers it on to God. He doesn’t evaluate or criticize, he simply blesses what we offer and gives thanks. Just as Jesus blesses, we too can bless each other and give thanks for the goodness that has been given to us. In fact there’s no better way to respond to life than to bless and praise God.

Break: Jesus breaks the bread because unless it is broken it can not be shared. Just as at Jesus’ crucifixion his body was broken for us so he shares our brokenness, our pain. Very few if any of us can go through life without suffering—failure, loss, divorce, loneliness, illness, death. Brokenness is part of the journey of life. If we can befriend that brokenness, it’s possible to learn from it and to grow because of it. Sometimes it’s through the brokenness that we can be transformed. If a snake does not shed its skin it will become sick. A snake sheds its skin when it’s inside becomes bigger than its outside, a process that continue throughout its life. Part of our brokenness is a need to shed whatever is dead, whatever doesn’t work for us anymore. It could be dead ways of thinking or believing or seeing or relating. Shedding opens us up to self-transformation.

Give: Jesus gives us the bread and wine in remembrance of his life, death, and resurrection. As followers of Jesus when we eat at the Communion table, we know that the Risen Christ is in us. This holy communion that we receive from Christ we then give to those we meet on the way. “He took the bread and blessed and broke it and gave it to them and their eyes were opened and they recognized him.” In giving and receiving our eyes are open so that we are better prepared to bring about God’s kingdom, that life of abundance where peace and justice reign.

Take, bless, break, and give. To close I share a summary of these actions as preached by Rev. Lori Sowdon:

We take the gifts of life, consciously aware of the Giver, our God. We bless the gifts, offering thanks for the gifts and praise to the Maker. We are broken in life, broken yet not destroyed, broken and healed, broken and raised to new life, broken to shine with the glory of God. We give, sharing God’s gifts with others. Perhaps our greatest expression of gratitude is in giving the gift away.

Take. Bless. Break. Give. These are the actions of a life lived in thanksgiving to God. May these four movements mark our lives as disciples of Jesus. May they become daily acts, drawing us into closer communion with God and with one another.

What Now? Sermon for March 30, 2008

Scripture: 1 Peter 1:3-9, John 20:19-31

Can you imagine if you had been a disciple how you might have felt after the Easter morning revelation by Mary Magdalene that she had seen the risen Jesus? Thinking back on that last week, that week of intimacy, chaos, confusion, denial, horror and grief, what do you think you might have been thinking and feeling? Guilt and fear would probably be high on the list. We know that the disciples were gathered behind locked doors—except for Thomas. The women that went to the tomb probably also had a lot of fear and grief; however, they obviously had something else—great love. They certainly were not expecting a party, not a beginning of a story but an ending. They really had nothing to gain, in fact they could have had much to lose if the authorities saw them and associated them with this criminal. Yet still they made this early morning journey to the tomb, faithfully, lovingly showing up.

The gospel for today tells us that on the night of the empty tomb, the night of resurrection of Jesus from the dead, we have ten disciples huddled together in fear and confusion, behind a door tightly locked. Then suddenly without a knock, without a door opening, Jesus was standing in the midst of them, saying, “Peace be with you.” The same words we say most Sunday mornings right after the children’s story. Jesus said this peace greeting not once but twice; the second time was after he showed them his hands and his side. And then he did a Pentecostal thing—he breathed on them and said, “Receive the Holy Spirit”. He also authorized them to forgive sins. Can you imagine? These men were probably thinking that Jesus would be angry at them for their abandoning and denying him. But No, he treated them with great respect and love. The same thing happened a week later when Thomas who had been missing that first night finally saw Jesus. There was no reprimand for his having doubted that Jesus was alive. Jesus willingly let him touch the holes in his hands and side. The Easter scripture up to now has been focusing a lot on seeing, seeing and believing. Now Jesus says, “Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have come to believe.” This is indeed a word to us and all the generations after the resurrection. We didn’t have to be there to know that Jesus the Christ lives. It’s amazing how Jesus can enter into us with the Good News even when we are scared, even when we have many doubts. Don’t ever let doubt stop you from believing and sharing the Good News. You may not have it all figured out; it’s enough to know that Jesus has given us peace, and the Holy Spirit is to be with us always. As one of the UCC Easter devotionals pointed out, for Christians, it is always the Easter season, “because ever since the Day of Resurrection we have been in the Easter era…Easter happens when anyone who suffers finds new hope. When anyone who is mistreated or neglected or belittled finds the freedom for a fresh start, (then) Easter occurs all over again.”[1] It’s up to us to put the teachings of Jesus into practice. In the next and last chapter of John’s gospel, Jesus reminds Peter of this three times in a row when he asks, do you love me? And then tells Peter, Feed my sheep and Follow me.

What is the Easter mission of our church? Now we have a long mission statement in the bulletin and then we have a short one, like a slogan, on the front of the bulletin: Love God, love your neighbor; seek justice, peace and diversity. For me that word love is the supreme activity that we are being called to do. Many of you know my concern about evangelizing, going out and sharing the good news. One of my favorite writers, Quaker Parker Palmer has written that “the mission of the church is not to enlarge its membership, not to bring outsiders to accept its terms, but simply to love the world in every possible way—to love the world as God did and does” (In the Company of Strangers).

What will bring the bright light of Easter to overcome the darkness of Good Friday? The Good News—and the scary responsibility--is that we are the ones that will bring the light to the darkness. We do that by faithfully and lovingly showing up like the women did at the grave on that Sunday morning. And then we go forth. We go forth with questions, with doubts, with love and the guidance of the Holy Spirit to bring about the passion of Jesus, to bring about the justice and peace of the kingdom of God. Just as Jesus breathed the Holy Spirit into his disciples, he has also given us that Holy Spirit and called us forth.

You know, Thomas gets a bum rap in our society; when people say doubting Thomas it really isn’t taken as a compliment. But you know he was the only one of the disciples that evening that was out and about. Sure he had questions and doubts. We might say he had to have some breathing space to try to understand what was happening and what it meant. I believe healthy faith has space for doubts, questions, unbelief. In fact for me one of the most meaningful verses in the Bible, as well as the scripture for my first sermon at age 17 is “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief.” from Mark 9:24b.

Sometimes we have to go on in spite of our doubts. “There is a story about a pre-civil rights African American community in Florida. The story says that during times of political elections, this community would rent a voting machine and go through the voting process. Now, they knew that their votes would not be counted, but they voted anyway. When asked by members of the white community why they did this every year, they replied, "Oh, just practicing. Just practicing." Believing in what is not yet seen means we practice or behave as if it already exists. The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. said, "Faith is taking the first step even when you don't see the whole staircase." This is what leaders and visionaries do. They believe in something bigger than themselves and they begin to act as if it is so.”[2] I believe that our faith varies as did the disciples: sometimes we are filled with it; other times it’s barely there. Sometimes we believe even when we have not seen; other times we have seen it with our own eyes and yet are still filled with doubt. Last week on Dateline they showed a young man who had been seriously injured in a 4-wheeler accident. Despite efforts to save him, the brain activity was gone and the family was making preparations to donate his organs, when a relative with medical expertise noticed that something was changing in him physically. And to make a long story short, he came back from the edge of death and made pretty much a full recovery. Some people questioned the medical tests and evaluations; some felt there must have been a scientific mistake. The physicians assured that the tests were correct and that scientifically there was no way for someone with that much damage to recover. Yet he did. I wonder how many people who saw that program held on to the belief that there must have been a mistake instead of rejoicing that miracles happen.

Faith and fear, fear and faith: as William Sloane Coffin, one of our great prophets in the UCC, said, "As I see it, the primary religious task these days is to try to think straight...You can't think straight with a heart full of fear, for fear seeks safety, not truth. If your heart's a stone, you can't have decent thoughts – either about personal relations or about international ones. A heart full of love, on the other hand, has a limbering effect on the mind." Another great preacher, Harry Emerson Fosdick has written a poem of sorts about fear vs. faith:

Fear imprisons, faith Liberates;
Fear paralyzes, faith empowers;
Fear disheartens, faith encourages;
Fear sickens, faith heals;
Fear makes useless, faith makes serviceable;
Fear puts hopelessness at the heart of life, while faith rejoices in its God.

This poem certainly makes faith sound pretty wonderful to me. What needs to happen with you so that your faith will overcome your fears and your doubts? For most of us it’s not enough just to read the words; we have to experience Christ’s presence. Maybe you want to touch Jesus and KNOW that Jesus is really right here with you? Then hear what Jesus says to his disciples after they have received the Holy Spirit: “you are being sent out into the world and specifically to the world’s brokenness.” Will you (name some of people present) accept the commission to be part of the body of Christ and go forth in love? You are being called AND empowered to do what Jesus did. You don’t wait until you feel prepared and faithful enough, you go and then your faith and your power will increase. In your own way through the opportunities you are presented with, go, touch, heal, love, forgive in Christ’s name. Bring about justice and peace in this hurting world. Remember the Holy Spirit is within you and Jesus himself promises to abide with you till the end of time. God bless each of you as you go forth. Amen.









[1] David M. Powers, Stillspeaking Lent Devotional: Thursday, March 27.
[2] Wyvetta Bullock, Must We See to Believe? In e-Sermons.com.