Is the Golden Rule Enough?

In the last two editions of my blog I have been attempting to answer, as best I can, the questions posed to me:

Can you explain to me your grounding belief in the Trinity? I can’t explain internally the need for formal religion and rules and commitment. 

I agree that when you drill down to the bottom of all... be good treat people as you want to be treated..  try to correct wrongs when you can etc. 

Does it come down to blind faith? What drives you to continue?  Do you ever feel that your energy would better placed in just straight up social justice?

Two weeks ago, I ventured into the landmine of the Trinity and last week, I why I participate in formal religion.  This week I will delve into the statement (rather than question) that at bottom the issue is be good, treat people as you want to be treated.  We are, of course, talking about the Golden Rule which, can be considered a foundational rule of Christianity.  Some references from the New Testament include, Luke 6: 12,” Do to others what you would want them to do to you” and Matthew 7:12, “Do to others what you want them to do to you. This is the meaning of the law of Moses and the teaching of the prophets.”   Jesus is putting these statements forward to those listening as rules if not commandments. 

However, as indicated in the passage form Matthew, it did not originate with Jesus.  Indeed, a quick check on the internet reveals that this rule can be considered a universal one.  There are references from many different religious traditions: Ancient Egypt, ancient India including, Buddhism and Hinduism, ancient Greece, Persia and Rome, Jainism and Sikhism.  This list is far from exhaustive, but I believe I have made my point.

This is a rule which is therefor something which can take you a long way in life morally and spiritually if you endeavour to follow it.  It is, as I have noted, foundational to Christianity.  So why not give up all the other rules, regulations, doctrines, practices, creeds and other aspects of Christianity which can be challenging and frustrating as well as enlivening and fulfilling and sometimes even fun; just follow the Golden rule?  Good question if I do say so myself.

The Golden Rule is foundational, but it is not “The” foundation.  Jesus calls us beyond that to the even more difficult challenge to love.  This is even more foundational; love your neighbour as yourself regardless of who your neighbour is, even the despised Samaritans in our lives.  Bottom line, we are to love our enemies. 

Here’s is where the rubber truly hits the road.  We might be able to convince ourselves that we are able to follow the Golden Rule.  However, I don’t know about you, but I know there is no way that I can love my enemies at least without a lot of help from God knows where.  That help is in and from Jesus. 

Now we come to what is the true foundation of Christianity in my view.  Jesus makes it possible that when, not if but when, we fail to love our neighbours/enemies we can turn to Jesus and ask for forgiveness and we are assured that we will be forgiven.  Jesus showed us that on the cross: “Father forgive them for they know not what they do.”  I believe that even those who crucified Jesus were therefore forgiven.  Perhaps like the soldier at the foot of the cross they had to recognize Jesus as the Son of God but perhaps not.

So, by all means, if you believe that following the Golden Rule is enough for your rule of life absolutely follow it.  However, when you aren’t able to always treat others as you would have them treat you I hope you will consider the true forgiveness that is possible, not easy but possible, that comes from following Jesus Christ.ght 

Blessings on your journey. 

Last week I began to answer the questions posed by one of readers in response to one missives Here are the questions:

Can you explain to me your grounding belief in the Trinity? I can’t explain internally the need for formal religion and rules and commitment. 

I agree that when you drill down to the bottom of all... be good treat people as you want to be treated..  try to correct wrongs when you can etc. 

Does it come down to blind faith? What drives you to continue?  Do you ever feel that your energy would better placed in just straight up social justice?

Last week I tacked the issue of my lived experience of the Trinity.  This week I will respond as best I can to the comment on the need for formal religion. 

Often people will reject the formal structure of religious organizations.  There is much to criticize and reject in the actions of religious leaders and organizations.  Things have been done and, I daresay, continue to be done which, in my view, are not what Jesus had in mind when he taught and healed and was crucified because of who he was and how he lived. 

Many people will say that they are spiritual rather than religious.  There is much to commend being spiritual.  Indeed, I work as a spiritual director and encourage people to explore and deepen their spiritual lives.  However, I believe that unless we live out our lives within the larger context of a community of faith it is very difficult to have a structure in our lived which provides the means of keeping me on the course which God has prepared for me.  Richard Rohr, one of my go to guys in these matters addresses this, “Our Western culture leans toward self-sufficiency and independence, and we often need to be reminded that we are part of a greater whole, that we are not alone in our longings and efforts for peace, justice, and healing. This is one of the great gifts of what we usually mean by “church”—a gathering of people in solidarity of purpose, praying and seeking God’s presence together.”  (Daily Meditation September 20, 2014)

Being part of a religious community does not mean that you will not take a wrong turn and go off course.  That is guaranteed to happen just as it happens to the organization.  However, being part of a community provides the opportunity to get back on course and try again.  Indeed, it is very foundation of the practice of religious worship that provides the regular opportunity to acknowledge where you have gone astray and missed the mark i.e. sinned, to repent and ask forgiveness.  We have the assurance by our doctrine that when we do this we will be forgiven.  Again, there is no guarantee that people will seek forgiveness in their heart of hearts, but the possibility is given to us through the grace of God.

Jesus Christ has promised that where two or three (or more) are gathered in his name he will be with them, “For where two or three gather in my name, there am I with them." (Matthew 18:20).  Again, there is no guarantee that those gathered will make an effort to understand what Jesus is directing them to do, but that is what we are called to do.  Religious organizations are comprised of fallible, imperfect, flawed human beings.  However, Jesus, being fully human as well as fully divine, knew that very well and understood that we would make mistakes and go astray.  However, despite this he calls us to be together.

Blessings on your journey will all its mistakes and missteps  

Trinity Explained, A Halting Effort

I did not send out an edition of News and Views last week as Lorna and I were travelling to our cottage in P.E.I.—the Island province of Canada for readers who are not Canadian.  One American friend wished me” a good summer on the lake” when I told him I was going to our cottage on Prince Edward Island. 

I had a response to my most recent News and Views on the Trinity which posed some very interesting and challenging questions.  I thought I would use this venue to respond. 

Here are the questions:

Can you explain to me your grounding belief in the Trinity? I can’t explain internally the need for formal religion and rules and commitment. 

I agree that when you drill down to the bottom of all... be good treat people as you want to be treated..  try to correct wrongs when you can etc. 

Does it come down to blind faith? What drives you to continue?  Do you ever feel that your energy would better placed in just straight up social justice?

On reflection, I don’t think it would be wise to try and tackle all of them this week.  That would take more space than I try and allot for these epistles.  So, will spend the next few weeks responding to them.  Today I will try and tackle the question of my Trinitarian belief—the saying about fools rushing in does come to mind, but here goes.

At this point in my life I can say without reservation that I am Trinitarian in my belief.  I haven’t always been able to say that.  However, it has been an evolving belief and understanding in my life.  For me each “Person” or aspect of the Trinity is the best expression I know of the nature of God/the divine.  All parts of the Trinity are necessary for my understanding and experience of God.  I am able to see God as creator in the world in which I live and the infinite universe which this world, and by implication I am a part.  I believe that this world does have a creator—it could not have happened by mere chance given the complexity and richness and manifold nature of the universe.  This is, admittedly, a matter of faith which I will explore in future musings.  It is also essential to me to be aware that I am a creature, being created by God.  I have been given gifts which make me who I am, a person of strengths and weaknesses but also a unique expression of God creation.  However, I also am aware, at least some of the time, that every human’s being is inherently worthy of respect.  I do not by any measure succeed in that all the time or even most of the time which brings me to the second Person of the Trinity; Jesus Christ.

Jesus Christ, the only begotten Son of God the Father; fully human and fully divine.  This is the part of the Trinity which has been the greatest challenge for me over the years.  I could always appreciate Jesus as a great teacher and all-round good guy.  I might have also believed he could have performed some miracles if they could be explained rationally or scientifically such as the feeding of the 5000 when everyone brought out the bag lunch they had hidden under their cloaks.  However, I have come to believe, as it is a pure case of belief, that Jesus was the example of God expressed as fully as possible in a human person.  Everything else follows from that, miracles and healings including the big one—the resurrection. 

Perhaps the most important aspect of the revelation of the divine in Jesus is how Jesus is the perfect example of the ego in the correct relationship to God i.e. serving God rather than what seems to be part of our nature of trying to make God serve the ego.  However, it is Jesus who makes forgiveness possible for me—possible but not easy.  Jesus sacrificed himself and showed us it is possible to forgive our enemies and to be forgiven.  Forgive us our sins as we forgive those who sin against us. 

Finally, the Third Person; the Holy Spirit.  As I mentioned previously, this is my favourite part of the Trinity.  It is the one I have the most direct experience with and of.  The Holy Spirit is the thing that moves and shapes me on a daily basis, when I pay attention to it, and even when I do not.  It brings dreams which are a revelation from God about my relationship to God and who God created me to be.   It is with me every moment of my life, waking and sleeping and is my guide and source of the divine.  However, I wish it was more predictable and easier to understand at times.

I will stop there for today.  I could say much more about the Trinity and that would only be a pin prick of what is possible to know.  Beyond that, what is important to know is that it is at bottom and top, inside and out a mystery.  And ultimately it is best to ‘let the mystery be’ to quote one of my favourite songs. 

I want to thanks the person who responded with these questions.  They lead me to places I might not otherwise explore at this moment. 

Blessings on your journey. 

Sermon October 2, 2016 19th Sunday after Trinity

Lorna and I have been rather old fogies in terms of video technology.   At our cottage we do not have a TV hooked up to cable or even an old fashioned antenna much less a satellite dish.  Until this summer our movie viewing at the cottage was restricted to whatever movies we could find on VHS to watch on our VHS player and 20” portable TV – now I must reassure you it is at least a colour TV.  We certainly have fun locating second hand VHS tapes at Value Village and yard sales. 

Well this year we were forced to upgrade as the VHS player gave up the ghost.  Lorna was able to fine an updated player through Amazon which played both VHS tapes and DVD.  After buying an adapter so it would work on our ancient TV we were launched into the wonderful possibilities of DVDs. 

Well we plunged headlong into the DVD world by purchasing all the seasons of Six Feet Under, a series we were introduced to many years ago when we were staying at a cottage here on PEI that had satellite.  It is an excellent series that deals with many issues of dying and the aftermath of death.  We also purchased the first three seasons of House of Cards.  Lorna was introduced to this series but I had never seen it.  It is the story of Francis Underwood and his over weaning ambition to become President of the United States.  Frank, as he is called by everyone except his wife Clair, is absolutely ruthless and will do almost anything to achieve the end he desires.  Indeed up to this point I haven’t seen anything that he would not do. 

At one point he is talking with a Bishop who has presided at the memorial for three Navy Seals who were killed under Frank’s watch as President.  The Bishop tells him that what God requires of him is to love God and to love everyone.  Frank tells him that he can’t do that.  He can, however, relate to the Old Testament God who is the God of vengeance.  When the Bishop leaves he looks with distain on a life-size Crucifix and says something nasty and pushes it so it comes crashing down and breaks into many pieces.  No loving everyone for Frank.

Many people are in the same position regarding which God they serve as is Frank Underwood—perhaps not many take as extreme a position.  However, many people find the Old Testament God—at least the popular version of that God—who is not considered the God of love—a preferable God to follow.  They can’t imagine loving your neighbour much less your enemy.  They have no possibility of doing what Paul tells us in today’s epistle from Ephesians, “31 Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice: 32 And be ye kind one to another, tender hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.

The Old Testament God really is more attractive to many people.  The idea of “Vengeance is mine” can be appealing and it feeds into our feelings of anger, rage, hatred and even our desire for justice being done.  Of course they do not complete the sentence, “says the Lord”.  What Jesus is calling for us as his followers to do is not easy.  Indeed it seems it goes against our natural instincts.  It certainly goes against our baser instincts.  Perhaps that is a part of our fallen nature.  We can easily give in to those thoughts and desire for revenge and getting our just deserts. 

To forgive seventy times seven as Jesus tells Peter seems impossible.  Indeed the idea of forgiveness is made to seem too easy.  We come to believe that if we say the words, “I forgive you” that is all it takes.  However, the words are easier than actual forgiveness.  We can say the words to someone who has wronged us but the hurt and anger and pain will still be in our hearts and we can find those feelings coming to the surface much later when we thought they were long gone.  Given that it seems that forgiving someone seventy times seven is asking too much of us as is asking us to love our enemies or everyone as the Bishop said to Frank.

So what are we to do with all these seemingly impossible requirements of being a Christian?  Let’s not kid ourselves, Jesus is very clear.  We heard in the Gospel last week that Jesus tells us the greatest commandment is to love God with all your heart and all your soul and all your mind and with all your strength.  The second is like it, to love your neighbour as yourself.  That does not mean as one of the followers of Donald Trump said well you have to love your neighbour so you know he is not a terrorist.  It means loving the Samaritan who is the outcast, the unacceptable, the one you don’t find it possible to love.

It may seem impossible to do this but it is not impossible.  Otherwise Jesus would not have commanded us to do it.  I don’t find it any easier to do this than anyone else.  The only thing I do is to remember that to love someone doesn’t mean you have to like them.  You can love them and pray that God is with them even though you don’t want to be with them.  And when you fail to do that, as we all will at times, remember that God forgives you when you sin and fall short of the mark.  You can repent and turn around and try again.  Thanks be to God.  Amen 

Sermon June 26, 2016 Fifth Sunday after Trinity

One of the rules for reading the Gospel which I try to employ is, ‘Gospel is always astonishing’.  The idea of the rule is that when you read a Gospel passage it should be with fresh eyes and not make assumptions.  I don’t always succeed in this approach—often with a passage that I know well.  However, it came to mind when I read today’s Gospel again for the first time. 

Was there a part of the Gospel that you found astonishing?... Can you guess which part I found astonishing?...Well. it was the part was where Peter says, “Depart from me, for I am a sinful man”.  My reaction on reading this was one of astonishment.  It also says that Peter was astonished so I guess I was in good company.  Peter was astonished as were those others with him at the large number of fish they had caught.  This was after they had fished all night and had caught nothing. It is easy to see why they would have been astonished at what they were able to do when they followed Jesus direction.

My astonishment was not due to the miraculous results of following Jesus’s command.  Rather, it was Peter’s wish that Jesus should get away from him because Peter was a sinful man.  That seems completely counter intuitive to me.  Here we have Peter receiving the benefit of Jesus’s seemingly miraculous intervention and not wanting more.  His instinct is to not have anything to do with this miracle worker.  Does that make any sense? 

Now we know from the other accounts of Peter in the Gospels that he operates to a great extent on instinct.  Sometimes this works out well for him and sometimes it doesn’t.  Peter is the one who responds to Jesus question to the disciples, “who do people say I am?”  The others respond, ²⁸and they answered him, ‘John the Baptist; and others, Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets.’

Then He asked them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’”   It is Peter, who answers without hesitation, ‘You are the Messiah.’

Right after that, true to form when Jesus tells them that he must go to Jerusalem and be crucified Peter responds immediately from his heart that he must not do that Jesus responds, “Get behind me, Satan! For you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

It is also Peter who, a t the Last Supper, declares, “Lord, I am ready to go with you to prison and to death!” Jesus said, ‘‘Truly I tell you, this day, this very night, before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times.’   And we know what happens while the trial was going onl.  The cock does crow twice and Peter does betray him three times. 

So Peter does have rather mixed results in following his instincts.  Sometimes they work well for him and sometimes not so well.  But that still doesn’t answer the question as to why he reacts to the miracle in today’s Gospel in such a fashion.  Why would Peter not want to be with someone who could perform such deeds?  The obvous possibility is that Peter felt he was not worthy to be in the presence of such a miracle worker who was obviously a holy man of God.  He does declare that he is a sinful man.  Someone certainly can feel in awe of a holy person and not worthy to be in their presence. 

I think this is another example of Peter’s instinct being just the opposite of what it should be.  Of course Peter did not know Jesus yet and so he could not be aware that Jesus message is above all for the sinners and those who are not held in high esteem in society. The Gospel of Matthew reports Jesus eating with tax collectors and sinner and when he is criticized for doing this he says, “Those who are well have no need of a physician, but those who are sick. Go and learn what this means, I desire mercy, not sacrifice. For I have come to call not the righteous but sinners.” 

That certainly makes sense.  Peter could not have expected this message from Jesus.  It certainly was not part of his culture and religion.  The Holy was separate from the people. God resided in the Holy of Holy in the Temple and only those made righteous through the proper sacrifice could worship.  He did not know that Jesus came to make the forgiveness of our sins possible. 

Another possibility for Peter’s reaction is that he instinctively knew that following Jesus would mean that his life would never be the same.  His peaceful life as a fisherman would be over.  He would become a fisher of people.  It would mean trials and tribulations and it would mean that he could never go back to his old familiar life once this holy man entered it.  His instinct which ruled his life told him that this miracle worker who he didn’t know would completely transform his life.

The fact is that Jesus did come to all of us.  He came to embrace all people.  He came for the tax collectors and the publicans.  He came for the prostitutes and the robbers who would be crucified on either side of him.  As I noted last week he did not come for those who are perfect.  He does not expect perfection from us despite what it says elsewhere.  A better way of understanding that is all-embracing.  Jesus does expect us to be all-embracing just as he was and is.  He expects us to embrace the whole of God’s creation and to be in relationship with those we good Anglicans find unacceptable. 

Jesus came for us and calls us to be his disciples with all our imperfections and flaws.  Indeed he calls us because we are sinner and not perfect.  Jesus knows that we are sinners and knows that we will sin.  Jesus offers us the forgiveness of sins to enable us to repent and turn around and try again.  Thanks be to God.