May 1, 2005
Contributed by Bruce G. Epperly |
See aslo: [2008][2002] |
Acts
17:22-31
Psalm 66:8-20
I Peter 3:13-22
John 14:15-21
Finding a point of contact
One of the most difficult questions for progressive Christians is “how shall we do mission and evangelism in a pluralistic age?” For the most part, we happily embrace religious pluralism and spiritual diversity. Our own spiritual journeys may involve Hindu yoga, Buddhist meditation, Sufi dancing, and new age affirmations and visualization exercises. We may smudge our homes in the spirit of Native American religion and gain wisdom from Jewish mysticism. With the exception of the messages of cults, fundamentalists, and conservative evangelicals, we are generally comfortable with the many paths of faith.
While most of us lack the missionary zeal of Paul in Athens , we may find his experience of the Areopagus quite familiar. Still, like Paul we look for a point of contact with seekers as well as persons from other religious faiths. Today’s scriptures call us to wrestle with the reality of Christian proclamation in a post-Christian/post-modern age and where we might find a point of contact between Christian affirmations and non-Christian hopes.
There is a joke, told at the expense of my denomination, the United Church of Christ. Question: “What do you get when you join someone from the United Church of Christ with a Jehovah’s Witness?” Answer: “Someone knocking on doors for no apparent reason!”
Today, we need to recover a reason to share the good news, not just for others but for our own vitality. (Last week, we affirmed that we do not share the good news to keep people out of hell, but to awaken them to God’s abundant life.) Now, Paul’s approach to the Athenians is dialectical. He affirms that there is truth in their quest. But, then he asserts that Christ is what they are truly seeking. He does not exactly say they are “lost,” nor do we. Still, he calls them to experience something more profound – the God of all peoples, beyond human control, yet embodied in the Risen Christ.
Paul’s words say, perhaps, more than he intended. Indeed, despite the evangelical and fundamentalist critique of “panentheism” as heterodox, Paul comes close to supporting a panentheistic position. Indeed, his use of non-Christian “truth” to bolster the Christian message further under girds the possibility of global revelation. Paul affirms that God is “not far from each one of us” and, then, quoting a Greek philosopher, he describes God as the One in whom “we live, move, and have our being.” Even bolder, he continues his dialogue with Greek philosophy, “for we too are [God’s] offspring.” That is, despite our God-forgetfulness and alienation, we live in a divine environment. Our sin and brokenness do not disguise our original wholeness as God’s children, nor do they create an ontological chasm between ourselves and God.
The Awakening Word
Still, Paul believes the gospel must be proclaimed. Perhaps, he remembers another panentheistic passage passed down among the apostles, and later inscribed in John’s gospel, “I am the vine, you are the branches. Those who abide in me, and I in them, bear much fruit, because apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5) Though we are always connected with God, we may be unaware of our divine heritage. We may forget our true identity and the source of inspiration and growth. When we are consciously connected with God, we bear fruit and live abundantly. We can confidently share the good news as a means of helping persons “find” themselves as God’s beloved children, the recipients of gift and grace.
John’s gospel speaks of the Divine Advocate, the inner Spirit of truth. Though this truth is accessible to all, only those who seek the truth will know God’s truth for themselves and the world. Only those who seek God’s truth will experience the Spirit consciously in their lives. We are in Christ, and Christ is in us. Yet, this treasure may remain buried apart from the awakening word of a loving community or friend.
The passage from John opens the preacher’s study and preaching to at least two paths, both of which must eventually be joined in the life of personal and congregational faith – the path of spiritual discipline and practice and the path of public proclamation. To use the words of Thomas Merton, we need to practice contemplation in a world of action.
The Spirit always calls in “sighs too deep for words.” But, we need to train ourselves to listen. Pastor and congregation need to practice awakening to God’s presence and listening for God’s “aim” for our personal and communal lives. In this context, the preacher might suggest a mini-workshop on a spiritual discipline such as Quaker silence, centering prayer, or breath prayer to complement the theme of the sermon. From a deep center, we can share the good news to others. (Indeed, congregations that offer basic courses on spiritual disciplines, healing and wholeness, and theological reflection may become spiritual homes for seekers in search of spiritual sustenance.)
The second movement in faith is often more difficult for most of us. How shall we share our faith to seekers and non-Christians? This, like the spiritual disciplines, takes practice. The congregation needs to be reminded of the God-moments in life, the moments when God became more than a word or when God made a way when there was no way. From these God moments, lived in dialogue with scripture, spiritual practice, and communal wisdom, we can discern the gospel we will proclaim. We do not speak a truth from above, but a living truth grounded in our own questions, experience, and faith, and this personal and experienced truth will speak to countless refugees from more conservative congregations.
Proclaiming a progressive gospel?
Using an adjective before the word “gospel” seems to devalue the Christian truth. Yet, we need to find a gospel that reflects the Christian wisdom and experience from the perspective of a broad and inclusive faith. I use the term “progressive” simply to remind us that we do not need to let the fundamentalists and conservative evangelicals “own” the language of faith.
Within the Acts and John passages, there is a progressive word that can be broken down into a number of spiritual affirmations:
God
is always with you.
God lives in all things, and in my life.
You are a
child of God.
You can experience God in your life.
You can experience God’s wisdom and abundance in every situation.
Christ reveals God to us.
Christ constantly gives us the wisdom we need to flourish and serve.
Yes, we progressive Christians dwell in the Areopagus and are ourselves Athenians in our quests for a global faith. Perhaps our greatest challenge is not the reality of other faiths and the appeal of post-modern secularism, but, our surrendering of the Christian message to exclusive and literal expressions of the faith. Frankly, we do not need to worry about the growth of megachurches and conservative denominations and independent congregations. They are not “taking away” people from our congregations. (While church loss can be attributed to many factors, I believe one factor is our failure to connect theology, spiritual formation, and mission in the life of the church and in daily our own daily lives.) Rather, we need to let our light shine – to speak the truth of faith as we know it, to connect that truth with the experiences of the unchurched and formerly churched, and provide paths to experiencing and serving God in daily life.
God is “not far from each one of us.” The dynamic/evolving omnipresent, omni-active, omniscient, and omni-loving one is in our midst. This word will “preach” in the Areopagus.
Bruce Epperly is Director of the Alliance for the Renewal of Ministry, Continuing Education, and associate professor of practical theology at Lancaster Theological Seminary. He is the author of God's Touch: Faith, Wholeness, and the Healing Miracles of Jesus, Mending the World: Spiritual Hope for Ourselves and our Planet (with Louis D. Solomon) and the forthcoming The Call of the Spirit (with John B. Cobb, Jr., and Paul Nancarrow).
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