Romans 1:16-17 – “Yes, We Can!” – May 19, 2019

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It’s hard to know where to begin with Paul’s letter to the church in Rome, better known as Romans. On one hand, it is his most sophisticated articulation of his theology, written late in his ministry after refining his message with years of active missionary work. It also probably influenced the Protestant Reformation more than any other single book of the Bible with its emphasis on salvation by faith alone.

On the other hand, Romans can be a daunting read as Paul takes a deep dive into human sinfulness and the nuances of faith with somewhat esoteric arguments based on assumptions we might not have. Further, anyone who has been a victim of anti-gay teaching and preaching in the church may know that just a bit further on in this same first chapter of Romans, we find a passage that has been and is still used repeatedly to bludgeon, shame, and exclude LGBTQ people. And though we can accurately state that Paul did not have a modern understanding of sexual orientation or knowledge of same-gender romantic relationships that were based on love, it is also probably fair to say that even if he had that knowledge, he would have come to the same conclusions as he did. In fact, that particular passage from Romans 1 is one of the passages that led me in my own journey to conclude there are some things in the Bible that do not reflect God’s will for us today, but instead reflect the biases and prejudices of the flawed, sinful people God used to write the Bible. And though the line between the author’s prejudice and God’s will is not always clear, we as modern people of faith have the responsibility to try to figure out which is which.

Exodus 20 – Ten Commandments as Explained by the Animals – October 7, 2018

Greetings humans. On behalf of the rest of the animals on earth, thank you for taking the time to listen. You all seem to be having trouble with some basic ethical principles, so I have been asked to deliver this message explaining them to you one by one.

 

• I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery. You shall have no other gods before me.

 

“In other words, God is God. You are not. In fact, no animal is God.  Humans are just animals. If you want to imitate God then help liberate the oppressed, because that is what God did for the Hebrew people. But, even if you manage to do some liberating, don’t get too cocky. You are not God. No animal is God.”

2. Do not make an idol for yourself.

“This means, don’t pretend you know what God looks like. God probably doesn’t look like you. God probably does not look like any animal on earth. When you pretend you know what God looks like and you worship that self made image of God you are basically worshipping yourself. Don’t do that. It will not end well for any of us.”

3. Do not take the name of the Lord your God in vain

“Yeah, just stop talking so much. Just because you have language doesn’t mean you should never shut up. And just because you can talk doesn’t mean you know what you’re talking about. It certainly doesn’t mean you know anything about God. One thing for sure when it comes to God: if you can say it with words, it is completely insufficient.

4. Remember the sabbath and keep it holy.

“Right. Chill out. Please. Stop working so much. Take a break. For one thing, when humans work a lot they get hungry. When humans get hungry they start looking at the rest of us animals in a way that makes us uncomfortable. So please, stop being so busy, and rest. And while you are at it, give us a break too. We are not here to be your slaves. If you want the field plowed, plow it yourself. If you want protein in your diet, eat soybeans. For more on slavery and freedom refer back to Commandment #1 about liberation.”

5. Honor your father and mother.

“And not just your father and mother. Honor the wisdom of those who have been on earth longer than you. There is nothing new under the sun. So, those who have been here longer have seen it all before and can probably keep you from making stupid mistakes. And by the way, a lot of us animals (and plants too) have been around a lot longer than you. You might ask our opinions before you go ahead with your cockemame plans, like drilling for oil in the ocean floor, cutting down rainforest, blowing up shale to remove natural gas, or removing mountain tops to take out the coal. Seriously just stop all that.”

6. Do not murder.

“Let’s take it a step farther. Don’t kill. That’s right. Don’t kill. That means don’t kill animals either. We know you like to think this one says “Don’t murder” and maybe that is different than killing. But, this commandment is pretty important and if you don’t kill anything, you won’t murder either. So, stop trying to be smarter than you are. Just don’t kill. Anything. Period.

7. Do not commit adultery.

“This one is kind of special for you humans and it means more than you probably think. It means, if you make a promise, keep it.  We know you think this about something else, but if you keep your promises most of those other things will get sorted out. The rest of us animals don’t make promises. We just do what we do. But, you humans like to make promises and then you break them. Maybe you should stop making so many promises. But, if you do make a promise, keep it.”

8. Do not steal

“Don’t take stuff that doesn’t belong to you. But, this one is a little complicated. Because actually, nothing belongs to you. That makes it hard because we all need to eat, so we have to take some things some times like apples or bananas or broccoli. So how about this: don’t take stuff that belongs to future generations. Don’t consume so much that future animals (humans included) will have less than we all have today. And remember, animals don’t belong to you either. So don’t steal us. We want to be free. Please refer back to Commandment #1 about liberation.”

9. Do not bear false witness.

“Tell the truth. Another problem that comes with language. So refer back to # 3 about not talking so much. If you don’t talk, you won’t lie. But, when you do talk speak what is in your heart. Birds sing. Dogs bark. Cats meow. What does the fox say? Actually most of us make some kind of noise. We just take what’s within us and proclaim it to the universe. Maybe humans should try that more often. Maybe you don’t just talk too much, you also think too much.”

10. Do not covet

“Just what it says, “Don’t covet”. This one will help you stick with the one about not stealing. Nothing belongs to you. But, also everything belongs to you in the way that everything belongs to all of us. We all live on this earth together. Let’s live so we can all enjoy it together. If you try to keep some part of it just for yourself then someone else will not be able to enjoy it. But, when it doubt remember, nothing belongs to you.”

So let’s circle back around and summarize: God is God. Humans are not. No animal is God. You can’t imagine God. The best you can do is liberate the oppressed. Or if that seems too hard then just trying loving. Love the earth, and love the whole universe for that matter. Just love. With all your heart, soul and strength.

When in doubt. Love.

When you forget what to do. Love.

When you feel like making an image of God. Love instead.

When you feel like talking too much. Love instead.

When you feel like working too much. Love instead.

When you feel like doing something without asking those who came before you. Try loving.

When you feel like killing something. Love it instead.

When you feel like breaking a promise. Love the one with whom you made the promise.

When you feel like taking something that doesn’t belong to you. Love.

When you feel like speaking anything beside the truth in your heart. Find the love you have within and speak about that instead.

And when you start to think that something belongs to you and only to you and you want it really bad. Remember love and let it go.

With all your heart, soul and strength. Love.

Genesis 1:26-30 – “Faith and Veganism” – August 27, 2017

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April 27, 2014 – Earth Day

Spoiler Alert – This sermon reveals plot elements of “Gravity” including the ending. However, the ending is not a big surprise and the crucial plot twist in the middle of the film is not revealed in the sermon.

 

The popular movie “Gravity” is one of the most visually insane movies I’ve ever seen. Set in space on a fictional space shuttle mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope, star Sandra Bullock plays engineer Dr. Ryan Stone, and George Clooney plays mission commander Matt Kowalski.  On a spacewalk to repair the Hubble, a catastrophic disaster destroys the shuttle and sends Dr. Stone and Kowalski on a harrowing journey through empty space with only their space suits and one jet pack. They travel first to the International Space Station and then to the Chinese space station. The film’s visual effects are truly mind blowing. If I had seen it in a theater, I probably would have gotten nauseous. The characters are continually spinning in space, constantly in motion as they float through weightless void. The contrasts of light and dark are starker than you can imagine. Images of earth are stunning. Wikipedia noted that 80 of the film’s 91 minutes are dedicated to visual effects.

Noting that emphasis on visual effects, it is, however, a surprisingly poignant little mini-plot that holds the film together. The plot is so simple that I see it as more parable than plot. Dr. Ryan (Sandra Bullock’s character) is grieving the loss of her little daughter who died in a sudden, tragic accident. Through the journey Dr. Ryan takes from the destruction of the shuttle to her safe return to earth, she processes her grief. That is the whole movie: Get back to earth; process your grief.

What I find so striking about this parable is the reversal of common ideas of heaven and earth. We heard those common conceptions of heaven and earth in the passage from Colossians this morning. Paul says, “If you have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is… Set your mind on things that are above, not on things that are on the earth.” It is the idea that having our minds or our thoughts on heaven or some higher spiritual realm is better than having our thoughts on earthly things, as Paul would say, things “of the flesh.” One of my core disagreements with Paul is this concept that flesh and earth are bad while heaven and spirit are good. Paul wants us to focus on heavenly and spiritual things: For Paul resurrection is about rising above earthly things, rising above the body, rising above this life, and setting our minds “up there” away from the earth because there is so much sin and debauchery down here.

Beyond Paul, we can see similar themes in this century’s popular ideas of heaven and earth. Today’s general understanding is that when we die, we go to heaven and will see our loved ones. The belief that life on this earth is painful and limited but we will rise beyond those limitations one day to a higher realm.

In Gravity the dichotomy is reversed. We first meet Dr. Ryan high above the earth in the disorienting, weightless void of space. We meet her in the heavens where we find that she is grieving. As the story unfolds, we learn that she has gone to the heavens primarily because life on earth was too painful. In one great line, she tells Commander Kowalski that she was driving when she got the phone call that her little girl had died. So now, whenever she is not working, she just gets in her car and drives. Since that call, the only thing she can do is to keep driving, trapped in that moment when she lost her daughter.

I get the impression that she has driven all the way to space, all the way to heaven, trying to find the life she lost. She is searching to escape the pain of living on earth. Yet, the constant disorienting motion in space shows us there is no center up there. There is no grounding force, no reality. She is alone with her grief in the emptiness.

Dr. Ryan processes through this grief as she struggles to survive one space disaster after another. Eventually she finds a desire not just to avoid death but to live, to get on with her life. The real spoiler would be if I told you how she finally gets over that hump so I’ll skip that. But she does figure that out and eventually gets in an escape pod and begins her descent. She begins to travel from up in heaven down to earth, from the things that are above to the things that are below.

The visual effects are awesome as she re-enters earth in a blaze of heat and fire. Her escape pod plunges through the atmosphere and finally lands in a shallow lake and sinks to the bottom. She crawls out of the submerged escape pod, strips off the cumbersome space suit that is holding her down and swims to the surface. As the film ends, she crawls to shore, struggling to stand up against the pull of earth’s gravity—a grounding force that she hasn’t felt in so long. She stands barefoot in the mud taking her first painful steps into a new life. This is the grounding force of life on earth.

In Gravity, the death and resurrection themes are obvious; the rebirth themes are obvious. What is so profound to me—and this is especially poignant as we celebrate Earth Day—is that she is resurrected on earth. She is reborn in the water; she rises from the mud. She is dead in space, dead in the heavens. She has been dead since her daughter died, and she continued driving until she escaped the grounding forces of this earth. But, when she decides to live, when she is resurrected to new life—for that she must come back to earth.

Too many Christians today think that the point of living a Christian life is to get to heaven. They think the point is to survive this world’s temptations and set their minds on heavenly things, so one day they can be in heaven forever. For this reason, some people are not concerned with the destruction of our earth or the misery of its people because they believe it is all a means to a greater spiritual end.

But, as this movie shows and as we celebrate Earth Day, we remember that we are born on this earth and we are reborn on this earth. We die here and we are raised to new life here. The Christian message of new life and rebirth is not about escape; it is about renewal for us and for the earth. Don’t set your mind on heaven at the expense of earth. Set your mind to “heaven on earth” or even the heaven of earth. Emerge from the waters. Stand in the mud. Live.