Here are the topics for this series

Topics for this Series:

August 4  -  “I’m a Christian.  What does that mean?” An introduction to the series.

August 11  - “The Bible: The Good, Bad & Ugly” A look at the Bible that doesn’t understand it as infallible and inerrant

                          but sees it as the Word of God.

August 18  - “God the Punisher?” A way to understand God that isn’t as a wrathful punishing king or parent.

August 25  - “Creation, 6 Days?” Science and Christianity are compatible.

September 1  - “God Doesn’t Love Gays. WRONG!”  An endorsement for the full inclusion of homosexuals in the church.

September 8  - “Christians have to believe the strangest things, right?” A re-evaluation of Christian creeds and how to 

                             understand them.

September 15  - “Jesus is the only way to salvation?” A look at how Christianity doesn’t have to be the exclusive path to

                                God.

September 22  - “Ignore the Man Behind the Curtain.” Christianity is what you do and having that match what you say.

September 29  - “Jesus Died for My Sins?” It wasn’t an atoning sacrifice but an example of unconditional love that forms

                               us and helps us to experience God.

October 6  - “Jesus Lives?” How to make sense of the resurrection in the post-modern world.

October 13  - “Heaven or Hell, Are Those the Only Choices?” The goal of the Christian life isn’t to gain a “get into 

                               heaven free card” but is to bring about transformation of self, others and society. 

“Creation, 6 Days?” Science and Christianity are Compatible”

“God looked over everything he had made; it was so good, so very good! “ - Genesis 1:31 (The Message)

For too long now science has been seen as the evil other by many in the Christian faith.  I don’t know how far back this animosity goes but I know it shifted into high gear when over the course of three hundred years scientists challenged many sacred notions about planets, the earth and life.  Such things as Copernicus proving that the planets did not revolve around the earth, Galileo proving the earth is not a unique planet, and Darwin and company advocating for evolution and the origin of life.  The Reformation and the Renaissance provided the necessary environment for a blossoming of new, renewed and reworked ideas about the earth, planets, biology, anatomy, gravity and motion.  At the same time the Roman Catholic Church was seeking ways to hold onto its power and authority which led to a confusing and often hostile intellectual climate that pitted the Church against science. 

Up to this point in history the only explanation for the way things are was that God created them as we know and experience them.  That the earth was unique and the center of the universe and that life as we know it sprang into being fully developed having been created that way by God.  But these new and renewed theories and discoveries were shaking the core of these beliefs and if you remove God from the equation what do you need God for?  Dietrich Bonheoffer called this God the God of the answers.  I think that the tension between science and some Christians is best understood as the anxiety of those who need a God of the answers to feel safe and secure in a universe that makes sense.  They need something to provide them with simple answers.

In the past many scientists were actually members of the clergy or monastic orders who saw science as an extension of theology, a way to know and understand God.  Many of them saw in the wonders of nature and the workings of natural laws the evidence of God at work.  They were comfortable with the mystery and with the discovery of answers to the mystery and saw both as God’s work.  They knew the truth and still searched for answers and they understood that something could be true without it needing to be factual.  They allowed for the blending of hard, empirical observation and reflection while at the same time finding mystery and wonder in what they were observing and studying.  For them science wasn’t something to fear, it was something to use to further experience and understand God.  This is the way many Christians think and feel and believe today, I know I do.

Many of us have trouble believing things that go against clearly defined and understood natural laws and scientific observation.  Many Christians find it hard to fathom how you can hold tightly to a myth that explains creation as a divine work of 6 literal days.  Many of us see in the wonder and mystery of nature the fingerprint of God without needing to have creation be the fully crafted final product that creationism would have you believe. 

It is so much work to try and make everything make sense if you hold onto the creationist view.  Dinosaur bones are found and you have to explain them as animals wiped out by the Flood.  Signs of ancient humanoid activity have to be seen as the remains of those punished by the Flood.  Pictures of solar systems and galaxies being born have to be attributed to our misunderstanding what we are seeing.  Obvious and observable changes in a species have to be our ignorance or inability to comprehend the differences as different species not as genetic modifications brought on by evolution.  And the final catch-all is that Satan or the Devil has put things into creation to trip us up, make us throw off our belief in creationism and thereby be damned.

Why would God create me with a thinking, inquisitive mind?  Why would I be given the intelligence and the insight to find connections and motivations?  Why would God give me a brain and then not want me to use it?  And why would God give me all this and then place within creation so much that would cause me to question and doubt and wonder and explore when that activity is just my failing the test of faith to ignore it and blindly accept what doesn’t make sense?  Why give people such awesome gifts of intuition, insight, puzzle solving and theorizing if all we need do is believe what the Bible says?  It doesn’t make sense to me.  It doesn’t fit with my experience and understanding of God.  It doesn’t meld with how I understand faith and God’s work in the universe.  And it doesn’t help me understand what it means to say that I am godlike – created in the image of God – reflecting God’s nature.  It doesn’t assist me in trying to know God and understand God if everything that I see and experience cannot be explained by the Bible.

The fact of the matter is that faith isn’t a scientific thing.  You cannot prove or disprove the things you believe in.  Because faith isn’t about proof it’s about experience.  Faith isn’t about a dogma or a doctrine that explains everything.  Faith is what you believe regardless of what can be proved.  Faith is also living with questions and uncertainties.  It is bringing to bear on the questions and puzzles of life all the gifts God has given you without the need to find a final answer.  Faith means you have to step up to the challenge to set aside the God of the answers without setting aside your relationship, your connection with God.  

Science is one extension of our being created in the image and likeness of God.  It is one way we employ our God given gifts and talents.  Science isn’t the enemy of faith; it is an extension of faithfully engaging the world with all that God has given us.  And you can’t believe in natural laws and still blame God when things happen. 

Science is true and real.  God exists.  People of faith celebrate science for what it is and does.  We thank God for science, scientists, curiosity and our drive to understand the universe and how it works.  We also celebrate God and faith and how these are critical if we accept science and its findings.  You need both God and science to truly appreciate this universe and our place in it.

Understanding God without Wrath

God the Punisher?  Understanding God without Wrath.

He does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him

Psalms 103:10-11 (NRSV)

Time and again we find in the Bible stories of God’s wrath, God’s judgment, God’s condemnation, God’s willful destruction of another.  And we find God commanding the people to fight wars, destroy people, and even kill everything in a city – men, women, children, and livestock.  And the prevailing interpretation of Jesus’ death on the cross is that he had to atone for sinful humankind – pay the price we could not pay in order to be acceptable to God.  If you read and knew only these stories then you would have a picture of God as a vindictive, punishing, brutal, sadistic wrathful God.

But there are other stories, other passages that show God as a loving father, a brooding hen, a rock, a shepherd, a fortress, a healer, a gardener, an artist.  And look again and you would find a thread, a current that runs from Genesis to Revelation that portrays God as loving and gracious, as benevolent and kind, as patient and understanding, as forgiving and transforming.  It all depends on your outlook, what you want to see, what you need God to be, which of the many images and attributes of God in the Bible you will focus on and emphasize.

In the last 1500 years Christianity has focused upon a heaven and hell framework; the idea that the goal of human existence is to be saved so that you can spend eternity in heaven instead of suffering eternal torment in hall.  Since Christianity has focused upon this goal it has taken the Biblical stories that portray God as a warrior, a judge, a punishing father, etc and made them the emphasis; dictating that only those who are worthy will circumvent the punishment they deserve and spend eternity in bliss.  It goes on, we are at our core sinful and if something isn’t done, something we cannot do for ourselves then the only possible recourse for God is to punish us.  So Jesus comes to die, die so that the sin, the debt owed God by humankind can be paid by Godself thereby making those who affirm a core set of statements to be true worthy of God’s grace and love.

To let this be the focus of Christianity is to miss a lot of what is in the Bible and the tradition of the Church.  The words of Psalm 103 give us a sense of the alternative view I’m talking about:

[God] does not deal with us according to our sins,

nor repay us according to our iniquities.

For as the heavens are high above the earth,

so great is his steadfast love toward those who fear him

And the first real story of the God of grace and love taking over for the God of judgment and punishment is the story of Noah and the Ark.  You all know this story so I won’t retell it now.  But don’t miss the significance of the ending.  When the flood as receded and the Ark emptied and God is connecting with Noah something unheard of happens, something of critical importance that shows us God in a whole new light.

It is the rainbow connection.  This is a covenant, a promise made between two parties where one has more power than the other and a part of the covenant is a limiting of that power.  The Bible is full of these covenants especially between God and a human.  But this covenant, this connection is different:

1.       The covenant is not only with a human but with all humans present and future and not just with Israel or the descendents of Abraham but with all people

2.       Not only is this covenant with all people everywhere but it is also with all living things – the scope of the covenant is cosmic and universal

3.       And what is even more amazing about this covenant is that only one party speaks and only one party agrees to anything and that one party is God who covenants with all living things.  This is an act of a free and generous God on behalf of a world that didn’t ask for it or earn it or even respond to it.

This rainbow connection is a promise that God will no longer operate in creation as a warrior God, as a punishing and wrathful God.  God has hung the undrawn bow up and promised to never again take it down.

So the Flood Story isn’t about rain or animals or righteousness or humanity at all.  The Flood Story is about the rainbow, about God’s covenant to never again punish or destroy.  It is about God’s approach to humankind being one of unlimited patience and forbearance.  God promises, “Never again!” and from that point forward death, evil, and destruction ARE NOT rooted in the anger or rejection of God.  The connection between creator and creature is no longer based on retribution, now it is founded upon unqualified grace.

The undrawn bow, the weapon of God, is now hung up.  God no longer pursues an enemy.  God will no longer be provoked to use God’s weapon.  Humanity and all creation are now protected from God’s impatience with humanity.  No longer will the connection, the relationship between creature and creator be marked by hostility, it now will be marked by commitment.  God’s commitment to the universe that no matter what we do, no matter how out of step we get with God’s will and way, God will never again inflict punishment upon us.  The Flood Story is God’s response to the very real truth that we will never be able to measure up to all God desires of us, all God dreams for us.  But it shows us that what we cannot do for ourselves God will do or more accurately God will not punish us when we come up short.  Our hope is in God’s promise of grace, the hope of tomorrow being better than today, the hope that we can partner with God to transform ourselves and our world into the dream God has for all people and creation.

This story of God’s grace and love winning over God’s bent to punish and destroy is the foundation of the Gospel.  It is a critical step in the story of salvation that runs through Jesus and beyond.  What God called good in creation, now God promises to maintain and not destroy and in Jesus what God has promised not to destroy is shown the power of love and the means of grace.  God is all about grace and love.  It’s not that we aren’t loved or accepted or that God is so angry at us for what we have done.  God doesn’t care about all that.  All God cares about is that we sincerely desire to transform ourselves and that we want to help God transform the world.  God loves us as we are; period!  Grace really is true!  God is love!

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. “

 - John 1:1 (NRSV)

I believe in the ongoing revelation of Godself to humankind and all creation.  It didn't stop with the Big Bang.  It didn't reach its conclusion with Moses or the Buddha or Jesus or Muhammad.  The Word of God isn't a single book or set of books.  It isn't just Jesus.  The Word of God is how we talk about this ongoing revelation of God.  So the Word of God can be the Bible, Qur’an, a poem, a song, a painting, a dance, a movie, a conversation and even a TV commercial.  The Word of God is anything that helps us get a glimpse of God or helps us know God.

We Christians say that Jesus is the Word of God and what we mean is that in Jesus we see the character and passion of God.  In Jesus God’s desire for a transformed creation is made known.  God’s grace and love are seen and felt and experienced in Jesus’ life and teachings and death.  God’s will and way are made personal and alive in the life of Jesus.

We also say the Bible is the Word of God.  Now some take this to mean it is God’s definitive statement of how we are to live and treat one another and the world.  They believe that the Bible as God’s Word must be infallible and inerrant.  So if the Bible says creation happened in six days well science and common sense be damned it had to have happened in six days.  But I think that when you speak of the Bible as the Word of God you are talking about the Bible being a way to know God, to experience God and a storehouse of many peoples’ and cultures’ encounters with God and the truths that come out of such personal and national encounters with the divine.

If you read the Bible you will realize that it has all the romance, drama, epic clashes of empires, tragedy, suspense, humor, wise teachings, observations of human nature, the dark side of human greed and lust and pride, and propaganda of every sort as all the  Shakespearean plays and Greek theater combined.  The Bible has the ugliest, darkest and most horrible of stories.  It also has the most moving and inspirational hymns, prayers and poems.  It contains bad people doing bad things for bad reasons.  And it has good people doing good things for good reasons.  And it has good people doing bad things for no good reason.  The Bible has just about everything you can think of when you think about human culture, religion, emotions and drives. 

We cannot forget one thing however; the Bible has been used to justify genocide, slavery, subjugation of women, torture, murder, pollution, rape and the destruction of the environment.  The Bible has been used to create a hostile faith that sees itself as all knowing and all good and every other faith as somehow less if not downright evil.  It has helped make some people work tirelessly for a world political climate where the apocalyptical end of creation can be realized.  It has been used to justify snake handling and all sorts of other bizarre behaviors.  And most of this happens when you believe that the Bible is the inerrant and infallible Word of God.

You see, words are powerful:

• …  They can build up or tear down
• …  Different words have different meanings but sound the same
• …  Some words have many meanings
• …  Some words provide solace, comfort and protection
• …  While others cut to the soul and damage
• …  Some words spoken in certain ways with certain tones and timbre and emphasis can communicate widely different things.

And the Bible is full of these kinds of words.  This is why it can be used and misused in so many ways.

And still the Bible survives and thrives after 3000 years.  It still influences people to strive for the highest goals.  It still inspires people to seek a transformed world and transformed lives.  It still speaks truths and it still helps us experience God.  The Bible doesn't have to be infallible or inerrant to be God’s word.  Because I believe something can be true without being factual the Bible can have conflicting stories, strange misquotes, faulty history, just plain bad ethics, and culturally and historically bound laws and commandments and still be true in its efforts to help us understand God and our relationship with God and how that relationship is lived out in our relationships with others.   

One day Helen Keller’s assistant Anne Sullivan wrote in Ms. Keller’s hand “The sky is a beautiful blue today.”  And Ms. Keller wrote back, “What is blue?”  And Ms Sullivan had no way of telling her what blue is.  This is what the Bible tries to do; it is an attempt by hosts of people writing in a variety of languages on at least three continents to explain what cannot be fully explained with words just like you cannot fully describe what blue is.  Words after all are simply metaphors and they can only hint at that which they seek to describe.  The Bible is like poetry, drama, dance, art, music, etc… because just as they try to communicate truth and beauty and reality through artistic expressions which can only hint at the truth they seek to reveal, so too the Bible can only give us a taste, a quick glimpse of what God is and how we are to be. 

The Bible is the story of God’s encounter with a people, of God’s interaction with a people, of God’s revelation of self to the world, of God seeking to know human existence, and of the clash of human and divine wills.  We are people of the Book, people of this story known as the Bible.  It isn't the complete story and we who know that story have an obligation to share it with others and to add to it our own story.  We know that the Bible can help us, inspire us, and reveal God to us but it isn't infallible or inerrant and it doesn't have all the answers and yet it still is true.  The Bible is the Good, Bad and Ugly but it is our story and in it we find God, truth and a way to transform lives and the world.  Thanks be to God for this.

Your concepts of the church may be wrong.

Is Christianity what you think it is?

You might be surprised what you find out!

Have you ever said:

• The church is anti-homosexual.
• Christians are judgmental.
• Christians are out of touch with reality.
• The church is anti-science.
• Christians believe your faith is the only way to experience God.
• Christians cannot have doubts or questions.
• All they talk about is money.

There is another way to be Christian.

• It is part of the ancient past, present and future.
• It is being true to the values of God and the realities of life.
• It is Biblically based but not frozen in time.
• It takes Christ seriously but doesn't require exclusivity.
• It sees science as a good thing and requires doubts and questions as part of God's ongoing revelation.
• This other Christianity is deeply rooted in loving God and loving others and making the world a better place for all people.
• It is not about some heaven and hell after death.  It is about working for heaven on earth, right here and right now.
• It's about transforming lives and the world.

Let's explore how popular understandings of the Christian faith are not how we a Vermont Hills United Methodist Church understand it. You are always welcome to join us on Sundays at 10:30 am at 6053 SW 55th Drive, Portland, OR.

I’m A Christian!

One of the scribes came near and heard them disputing with one another, and seeing that he answered them well, he asked him, "Which commandment is the first of all?" Jesus answered, "The first is, 'Hear, O Israel: the Lord our God, the Lord is one;  you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength.' The second is this, 'You shall love your neighbor as yourself.' There is no other commandment greater than these."  - Mark 12:28-31 (NRSV)

Christianity is about love, service, justice – it is about transforming the world and lives – it is about partnering with each other and God to make our lives better and the world a better place.  This simple truth is why I’m a Christian. 

There are other reasons for my loyalty to the Christian faith:

W  It is the faith of my family and ancestors – my life has evolved around the holy days and sacred celebrations that are a part of the Christian faith.  It is the faith that has baptized, confirmed, married and buried the generations of my mentors, family members and friends.

W  Argue as you will, Christianity is the faith of my society, culture and nation.  The values and beliefs of Christianity have informed and formed this nation and our society and the roots of the nations and societies that have had the profoundest impact on us.  This may be in flux and what will be in the near future may be a nation and society influenced and informed by other faiths and values but for right now, like it or not, we are at least a pseudo Christian society if not a hard and fast one.

W  At its heart and core Christianity is about peace and justice; peace without violence and justice for all people.  I think it reflects the core values and passions of God for a world where all people have enough, have their basic needs met, and where we live and work together to make sure all people are cared for and have enough.

W  Christianity is a religion that is malleable and can absorb practices, understandings and discernments from other faiths, science, abstract thinkers and other forms of insight and inspiration.  For me, when I read the Bible, study the history of the Church and delve into the lives of Christians, famous and otherwise, I find the essence of Hinduism, the heart of Buddhism, the respect of indigenous faiths, the total commitment and submission of Islam, the connection to justice and being the people of God in Judaism.  I find in Christianity the spirituality of all the faiths and practices and disciplines that mirror or are the same as those of other faiths.

W  And finally, I am a Christian because I believe that in Jesus we have a definitive revelation of God.  The life, teachings and community of believers that saved and shared the message of Jesus all show God to me in a way that reveals God’s heart and soul.  And Jesus is a person, a human being and to see him as a decisive revelation of God makes Christianity different from every other faith.  Jesus’ life and ministry show us God’s passions:

o   God has compassion for the least of these, the marginalized and wills the well-being of all creation.

o   God has a passion for a transformed world – a world of justice and nonviolence where no one needs to be afraid.

o   God confronts the injustice and violence in our world and indicts that which gets in the way of the well-being of all that is.

And therefore through Jesus we get a glimpse, a sense of God’s character and passions, we come to know God through him.

I reject Christianity as the superior faith.  I reject an understanding of faith in Jesus and God as necessary for eternal life and salvation.  I reject the notion that Jesus had to die to make humankind acceptable to God.  I reject the idea that we live this life to gain entrance into eternal life.  God isn’t concerned with some here after, God is concerned with here and now and the transformation of our world and lives.  And most of all, I wholeheartedly and completely give my loyalty and allegiance to Jesus because he has shown that there is no other way but love.  God is love and that is what I strive to be.  This is why I am a Christian.