A World Full of Gongs and Cymbals

As I pondered the lectionary passages (you can find them all here: Vanderbilt Divinity RCL) for this coming Sunday, I found myself moved by the irrefutable claim present throughout all of them that God has set forth for each of us a calling. From the calling of Jeremiah, to the assertion of Psalm 71 that God has walked with us from birth, to Jesus proclamation that God’s call is often to go outside our box to proclaim the Gospel. But the Apostle Paul in his letter to the Corinthians lays out the true unmistakable mark of what it means to be called by God, love.

1 Corinthians 13:1-13

13:1 If I speak in the tongues of mortals and of angels, but do not have love, I am a noisy gong or a clanging cymbal.

13:2 And if I have prophetic powers, and understand all mysteries and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but do not have love, I am nothing.

13:3 If I give away all my possessions, and if I hand over my body so that I may boast, but do not have love, I gain nothing.

13:4 Love is patient; love is kind; love is not envious or boastful or arrogant

13:5 or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful;

13:6 it does not rejoice in wrongdoing, but rejoices in the truth.

13:7 It bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

13:8 Love never ends. But as for prophecies, they will come to an end; as for tongues, they will cease; as for knowledge, it will come to an end.

13:9 For we know only in part, and we prophesy only in part;

13:10 but when the complete comes, the partial will come to an end.

13:11 When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a child, I reasoned like a child; when I became an adult, I put an end to childish ways.

13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then we will see face to face. Now I know only in part; then I will know fully, even as I have been fully known.

13:13 And now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love.

(NRSV)

The love described in 1 Corinthians 13 is a love we experience as we submit our lives to God’s grasp. There is no love, be it of a parent, significant other, or a child that is as all consuming as God’s love. It is the source of our life itself and is the means by which we are actually able to be patient and kind, to bear all the things that life throws at us,  and to not give into our never ending selfish ways and desires. 

In our world today, there is much questioning about life, its purpose, and how one should live it. In our nation, much of our political rhetoric is centered around the rights of the individual and we tend to support policies that will best suit us.  Paul is dealing with this  same issue in the church in Corinth, as those of us who proclaim to follow Christ must do in our own world today. We live in a world where individual liberty has become idolized to the point that it is wreaking havoc among our nation not to mention the world.

I believe very much in the principle of freedom and individual liberty. I am thankful to live in a nation founded upon such freedom giving documents as the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. But what we have forgotten it seems, in light of debate on how we best live within those freedoms, is the freedom we are given in God, the freedom to love. As Christians, not only are we given the freedom to love, it is our very calling. But yet somehow we have allowed our public discourse to become nothing more than a world full of clanging cymbals and noisy gongs. 

Paul's words remind us then that some things more important than being right, powerful, or on the winning side. In public discourse, Christians are often portrayed as merely desiring to be right. Many Christians when it comes to their point of view on their pet issues will often rail so hard in support of them that they forget that whatever we say or do that is not in a spirit of love is simply noise. So then all of our talk, knowledge, religious acts, and sacrifices wind up equating to zero, zilch, nothing! When we believe that we gained everything by standing on our own principles, bullying others, or by being on the “right” side of things, we have truly lost everything, most importantly our faith.

The love that Paul speaks of, the love that defines our purpose and calling as Christians is a love that seeks not its own good, but the good of the ones we are called to love. And in short, if we affirm Christ, then we are called to love everybody. No if’s, ands, or buts. That includes people who think differently, live differently, believe differently, look differently, speak differently, and so on and so forth differently than us. 

So in the future, as you wrestle with what it means to live your life in freedom, remember that if in your pursuit of your desires you have not love, then you have nothing at all. 

Spiritual but Not Religious?

"I'm spiritual but not religious..." is a sentence which is becoming increasingly spoken in our society today. Christians hear it and aren't sure what it means and often times the people who use it are convinced that they have figured out the secret to divine happiness and are eager to tell the world about their superior thinking. Needless to say, the spiritual but not religious movement has become a divisive factor in our nation today.

As a pastor, I wrestle with this issue often, in regards to how I preach on the issue as well as how do I, as a follower of the Christian faith, relate to those who fall into the spiritual but not religious category. I am always eager to hear and speak on the issue.

This week, I had the opportunity to hear Rev. Dr. Lillian Daniel address this very issue in a lecture at Campbell University Divinity School. She has taken some serious flack in the recent past for her public criticisms of the spiritual but not religious type citing it as an example of our "American narcissistic tendencies". She pointed out, accurately so, the approach of the Christian church has often been to either a) ignore the movement or b) apologize repeatedly for the mistakes of our faith. Neither approach works. Ignoring those who profess spirituality but not religion simply enhances the stereotype that Christians are self absorbed and believe they are holier than others. Repeatedly apologizing often leads to guilt among Christians, who in actuality, have done nothing wrong. It also sends the message that Christians hold to a faith that they are rather ashamed of. Daniel pointed out that the "Christian" many people point out and criticize is in fact a small minority of believers. This is true. Many Christians are more progressive, down to earth, and focused on issues of justice than stereotypes would give us credit for, Daniel stated she found it downright offensive when she is grouped with the loud, radical minority rather than having her true beliefs understood. Amen, sister.

Following her lecture, I had the opportunity to engage with her in brief conversation on whether or not either of us had ever had a meaningful conversation about faith with a spiritual but not religious individual. We both came to the conclusion, no not really. The stereotypes are so heavily embedded that they are seemingly impossible to overcome. And yet, as Christians we have to try. We have attempted to do this by apologizing, to no avail. Pretending the problem doesn't exist, to no avail. What is left to do? Daniel has proposed and acted out in what I would describe as a "we're mad as hell and not going to take it anymore" strategy. That being, allow our actions to speak for themselves. Rather than apologizing for the actions of a few, live out a life of actions that show the truth. When someone says "I am spiritual but not religious because all Christians hate (fill in the blank), live your life in such a way where you can reply "well actually I and my church love (fill in the blank) and we have worked toward a meaningful relationship with them by (fill in the blank). No apologies, but actions.

A note here to those who consider themselves "spiritual but not religious". One of the biggest things we as Christians are often accused of is hatred and bigotry. Issues of Islam and homosexuality are the hot button issues of the day. If you consider accusing ALL Christians of hating gays and considering all Muslims as extreme radical blow up the world fanatics, then are you not making the very same general assumptions about us that you are accusing us of making? Just food for thought.

To my fellow Christians, how do we address this issue? I recently preached the story of Balaam, his donkey, and Balak. In this sermon I attempted to use some of the caricatures of Christians and spiritual but not religious folks. I portrayed Balaam as "spiritual but not religious". In that he practiced magic, and consulted the counsel of many gods, and yet still heard from the God. I made the point that the spiritual but not religious folks do have contributions to make to society. This paralleled Balaam, in that despite his limited understanding God still used him to bring blessings to others. Balak on the other hand represented those who out of fear or ignorance have a vendetta against people of faith. The "militant" religion haters. And it is often the spiritual but not religious types who are recruited to jump on this bandwagon, as Balak tried to hire Balaam to bring destruction upon God's people, the Israelites. Lastly, I addressed the donkey. I attempted to point out that in the story, it was in fact the donkey who understood better than anyone else what was going on. He faithfully served Balaam, despite Balaam's actions, and did his best to keep Balaam out of harm's way. The donkey in fact saw God when Balaam could not.

Christians, we are called to be more like Balaam's donkey. Not stubborn or hard headed, but loyally and lovingly guiding. The donkey ran Balaam into a wall, steered his course, in his efforts. When Balaam beat the donkey, the donkey simply asked "why? Have I not served you faithfully?" rather than apologizing for what he had done. Church that is our calling. To serve those who claim spirituality but not religion faithfully. And when we take a beating for it, rather than apologizing, be able to say boldly and truthfully "why are you beating ME? I have served you faithfully." Only in doing this will we be able to truly be able to combat the stereotypes placed on Christians and be able to regain the prophetic voice we are called to, which guides people to encounters with God rather than providing them with reasons to run away.