Betrayal by Belief

Every so often I will read something that gets me to thinking.  The August 4, 2014 issue of Time magazine had an article that caught my attention and created a rumbling in the ol’ rock garden I call my mind.  It was an article about atheist churches and their growth in popularity . . . even in the Bible Belt!  Basically it stated that atheists are gathering into church-like organizations where they gather once a week for something that resembles—minus the dogma and ritual—church.  They just drop the religion and God out of the gathering.  From what the article stated there is not much difference between what the atheists are doing and what a lot of people experience in their church . . . just none of the religious propaganda. Everything but God.

And, the atheists are loving it . . . they are eating it up . . . and, apparently, the movement is growing.

So, what is it about the “church” that they are embracing while refusing the rhetoric, theological dogma, and ritual of the church.  From what I gathered a typical atheistic gathering would start out a lot like the “church”.  There would be music (but no congregational singing as that is too churchy), greeting of one another, listening to a message, some more music, and then lots of fellowship.  Though they will not call it “church”, it sure sounds a lot like “church”.

The author of the article, Josh Sanburn, seems to think that the purpose behind the birth of these non-churchy gatherings serves to make connections between people who believe in a similar manner . . . to create a support system for one another . . . to discuss issues and topics relevant to what believe.  It is to find a place where one belongs . . . to have relationships . . . to connect.  One individual who leads such a non-church gathering stated: “. . . if we don’t offer regular human community and support for nonbelievers, it would be detrimental to the movement.”  As the author wrote in the article, there is strength in numbers. 

Sounds like the atheists have finally caught up to the “church”.

The article got me to thinking . . . and, that my friends, is a scary proposition.  Made me wonder about what it was that atheists found in the “church” that was of importance . . . enough importance to imitate it in their own way.  What did they find that was relevant and necessary for its own purpose and survival that was equivalent to those who claim to be “religious” . . . who claim to be among the faithful?  What were the commonalities?

Having read the article several times the number one thing that I found was that both the “church” and the atheist version of the non-church was . . . relationships.  The atheists came to the realization that it needed relationships to survive . . . to exist.  It needed to find people of the same mind set . . . no beliefs, mind you, because that smacks of religion . . . to get together with to relate to.  It needed to find community.  Community being a word that I usually define as being a group who gathers under a “common unity”.  It thrives, just like the “church”, on relationships between people . . . between connecting with another. 

Now, that is the foundation of what I believe as a believer . . . as a follower of Jesus . . . as, heaven forbid, a Christian.  Relationships.  As a follower of Jesus the first and most important relationship is between me and God.  The second, and actually just as important, is my relationship with others.  Jesus told us followers, us believers, that these were the two most important commandments . . . loving God and others.  Under these two fell all the laws and other commandments.  Because of that I think that relationships are the most important . . . the actual foundation . . . of what it means to be the “church”.  Relationships are important.  Plus, as the author stated in the article, there is strength in numbers.

Everything else that the atheists embrace from the “church” are actually secondary methods of creating relationship.  So, it comes down to relationships.  The atheist non-church church comes together in order to relate . . . to relate to one another and the common good of all.  The only thing missing is God . . . or is God missing?

It seems to me that what the atheists are embracing is the same thing that the religious folk are embracing . . . relationships.  Through relationships people learn how to care for others, how to listen to others, how to love others, and now to be community.  Through relationships people grow . . . they grow to discover a bigger and broader world around themselves . . . they grow to learn more about who they are and how they fit into the bigger scheme of the world around them.  Through relationships they learn to love themselves and others.  Through relationships they find purpose and meaning.  Through relationships . . . well, they have a reason to live.  As it is with the atheists, so it is with the religious . . . with the faithful.

The author states that this weekly ritual of gathering that the atheists are beginning to embrace is simply a part of human nature . . . but, he writes, it is something more.  He writes: It is something they can all believe in.

That got me to thinking more.  M. Scott Peck once wrote that there are no atheists in the world because all people believe in something.  According to Peck whatever a person believes in becomes his or her religion . . . his or her faith . . . his or her purpose.  He goes on to write that to be a true atheist a person could not believe in anything, including him or herself . . . there would be no reason for living . . . no purpose.  Thus, he argued, there are no atheists.

In the New Testament the Apostle Paul speaks to a crowd in a secular city.  He speaks to them in a sort of community gathering place with lots of statues dedicated to the gods of many religions . . . including one to the “unknown god”.  It is to that “unknown god” that the apostle directs his statements proclaiming to the people that they are not that far from believing.  So it is that atheists have been betrayed by their own beliefs as they embrace that which resembles the church.  In pursuing relationships they are ever so close to being religious.  I would argue that they are religious since they actually do believe in something that calls them to be a community.

I think there is a lesson for the “church” to learn from this movement within the atheist ranks.  I think they highlight what it is that is the foundation of the faith . . . relationships.  At least that is what I think.  This is not a deep analysis of the issue.  These are just ponderings of a wayward mind whose curiosity was piqued by an article in Time magazine.  I am sure that it could be ripped to shreds by the academics . . . also by the conservative fundamental believers; yet, at the same time I think that the religious . . . the faithful . . . the “church” needs to take this movement serious as it considers what we have in common that actually brings us closer together.  It seems we are all working our way back home, though some of us are not really sure there is a “home” to get back to.  But, the one thing that we can agree on is that relationships are the foundation of whatever it is we are attempting to live up to.

As usual, we aren’t all going to get there the same way.  Sometimes what we believe in betrays what we feel within our hearts.  Sometimes we just need to live and let live as we help one another in whatever journey we are on.  The journey is always easier when we walk together.  Maybe the time has come to trash the word “church” and focus on community . . . that which we have in common.  In such relationship we will discover what it means to relate and love one another.  Well, at least that was what I was thinking after I read the article . . . on well!  

“The Argument of Giftedness”

“For we were all baptized by one Spirit into one body

—whether Jews or Greeks, slave or free—

and we were all given one Spirit to drink.”

(I Corinthians 12:13, NIV)

What does it take to be a people of faith?  One biblical commentator, Valerie Nicolet-Anderson, stated, “The more I read the letters to the Corinthians, the more I appreciate the courage and boldness of this community as they wrestled with what it meant to be people of faith.”   Apparently it took a lot in the beginning of the movement of Christian faith, and it still takes a lot today as it was a bold new relationship with God and others that blew apart all of the mores of the times then and now.  Faith is a challenging and tough task when it comes to living up to the desires of God as exemplified by Jesus.

Thus it is that we are gathered together this morning to celebrate the birth of the Christian movement . . . or, as some would say, the birth of the “church”.  We are here to celebrate that day of Pentecost when God bestowed the blessing of the Spirit upon the people . . . the day in which God placed a blessing upon the children . . . the day that God raised the bar on what it meant to be a person of faith.   The day that God affirmed all of creation and stamped it as being good . . . all of us.

Now I do not want to spend a whole bunch of time going over the actual events that took place at that first Pentecost . . . the rushing wind, the dancing flames of fire, the ability to understand other language—the pure ecstasy of it all—because we already know that.  I think that what is more important is that this coronation was bestowed upon everyone . . . that God intended that this be for everyone.  Again, as you recall the story you will remember that there were people from all over the world gathered . . . people of many different races and colors and languages . . . people of different economic statuses . . . men, women, free people, slaves.  There was no division, no separation on God’s part of who was and was not invited to the coronation—everyone was included.  Everyone.

Everyone was invited to the party just as they were.  Most of us, in our personal theologies—our understanding of God, affirm that each of us is a unique and special creation in the image of God.  We affirm that we are all different and that we all have our own gifts.  We are similar in our love for God . . . our love for others; yet, we are all unique and different in what we bring to the party.  Just as it was at that first Pentecost, so it is today.

That is not so easy to accept.  It was not easy to accept then, nor is it easy to accept today.  Oh, we pay a lot of lip service to the idea of accepting everyone for whoever he or she is, but we are not very good at putting it into practice.  And, the reason why is simple enough . . . we want everyone to be exactly alike.  We want uniformity . . . we want conformity.  Uniformity and conformity cannot happen if everyone does his or her own thing . . . no, that is chaos—or what we think is chaos.  Thus it is that the biblical commentator I quoted earlier appreciated the courage and boldness of those early followers of Jesus to wrestle with what it meant to be a people of faith.

Our reading this morning speaks of the variety of gifts that the Spirit exposes in the faithful . . . and, there are a variety of gifts.  It almost seems that with each individual there is a unique gifts—the writer basically rattles off the most common ones while acknowledging that there are as many gifts as there are stars in the heavens.  Plus, the writer affirms that each and every gift—no matter how big or small—is necessary . . . necessary to the body of Christ . . . necessary for the church.  Together they represent the presence of Jesus in the world.  And, it takes each and every one of these individuals and gifts.

But we are human in nature.  As humans we have a tendency to divide, separate, and assign value to people, places, and things in our lives.  With that ability we rank things as to their importance to us as individuals and as a society.  Those with the most value are the things that we prize the most, use the most, and ultimately think that everyone else should too.  Those that fall way down the list towards the bottom of value . . . well, let us just say that those experience a whole different world.  They are forgotten or ignored, and if they cannot be forgotten or ignored they are ridiculed, abused, or denied.  We all do it . . . from the cars that we drive to the food that we eat to the people that we associate with.

Yet, as a society and as a people of faith we proclaim that all are equal . . . all are valued . . . all are wanted . . . and, that all are necessary.  As I said earlier, we put a lot of lip service into what we say while the reality is far, far from what we proclaim.  Therein lies the struggle that the earlier commentator was appreciating in the early followers of Jesus . . . it is tough living up to this coronation—this blessing—flung upon us in the form of the Spirit.  It brings up that argument of giftedness.

For the past couple of years my role at the university has been to provide professional development to teachers.  Professional development is training in the many facets of education . . . math, English, reading, technology, special education, history, Indian Education for All, and even gifted and talented.  There is a lot of areas in which professional development can be offered, but the two that surprised me the most were the Indian Education for All and the gifted and talented.  The state of Montana—through the laws it has passed—gives to schools direct and indirect funding to provide education and educational opportunities in those two areas.  Just like there is a lot of funding going into the special education programs of all the schools in the state. 

Now, I can understand the Indian Education for All . . . we are a state that is smack dab in the middle of the historical lands of many Native American cultures.  These cultures are a big part of who we are as Montanans . . . then and now.  These cultures should be acknowledge as being just as important and vital as the cultures any of us have grown up in . . . they are a part of who we are.  To ignore this part of who we are as the children of God is to ignore nearly ten percent of the whole body.  It is just sad that it took a constitutional law to mandate this acknowledgement.

The one that I did not quite understand, at least when I started my job as a professional development provider for educators, was the gifted and talented.  I wasn’t quite sure why this small group of students was being pulled out and given special consideration and funding.  I mean, come on, these are the smart kids . . . the kids that zip through the curriculum and get all the exceptional grades and academic awards . . . the kids who get all the scholarships.  I thought that this was a waste of time and money to provide special programs and methods of teaching to a select group of students.  Wouldn’t this funding be better spent in another area like special education?  These kids are already ahead of everyone else.

But, that sort of thinking is human nature at work.  It is pushing for uniformity and conformity . . . a “one size fits all” mentality.  This sort of thinking does not take into consideration the uniqueness of these individuals and the gifts that they bring to the party.  This sort of thinking does not affirm the contribution that these individuals bring to the party.  This sort of thinking does not acknowledge them as a part of the body of Christ . . . acknowledge them as being a part of who we are.

Man, was I wrong.  Terribly wrong.

The writer this morning is telling us that we can never be the body of Jesus in the world if we cannot learn how to embrace the uniqueness and differences in one another that are truly gifts that we have been blessed with by God.  The writer is telling us that we are “one body” when we are put together . . . telling us that it does not matter who we are—rich, poor, black or white, educated or uneducated, male or female, we are one together and nothing apart in the eyes and heart of God.  When it comes to giftedness in the eyes and heart of God there is no argument . . . it takes us all to be what God desires. 

The hymn echoes . . . we are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord.  Someone once said, “Unity, not unvarying uniformity, is the law of God in the world of grace . . .” 

What does it take to be a people of faith?  Unity in love . . . which is hard, hard work.  I appreciate that we continue to work on it each and every day.  Amen.   

(Every so often I have a sermon that I really like that I feel an urge to throw out into the wider world . . . this is one such sermon.  I hope it touches someone's life.)