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Sermon: Why I am a Christian

SERMON: WHY I AM A CHRISTIAN

TEXT: Luke 15:11-32

A PULPIT EXCHANGE: I PREACH AT FOLLEN UNITARIAN-UNIVERSALIST CHURCH
Three years ago in November, Rev. Lucinda Duncan, the pastor of Follen Unitarian Universalist Church preached here in this pulpit and I spoke in her place in East Lexington in their historic octagonal sanctuary. Do you remember that day? Lucinda was at a disadvantage because it was the weekend of the big gas explosion and Keyspan had shut down all the gas lines in our neighborhood. It was warm at Follen and you guys all came to church in hats and coats and mittens. But your welcome to Lucinda was warm and you helped advance a pulpit exchange program that creates good relationships among worshiping communities here in town.
One of the reasons that Lucinda invited me to Follen is that she and some of the leaders of that congregation were concerned. Many of the people who have found their way to Unitarian Universalism are folks who have been wounded by the Christian Church. They have been made to feel worthless and guilty by excessively judgmental theology, they have been demonized because they were gay, or they have felt intellectually stifled by dogmatism. For them, these harmful expressions of our faith became emblematic of all Christianity.

And because of this background, there was a strong anti-Christian sentiment in the church. U.Us are all about open-mindedness. One of their guiding principles is to respect and find value in many different religious traditions. But there was a resistance to Christianity-an intolerance even-bordering on prejudice. And to give them credit, they wanted to face this issue. So they invited me to come and, in a sense, defend my faith.

I met the challenge with enthusiasm. While it seems so obvious, I realized that I'd almost never preached a sermon that specifically talked about why I am a Christian. I did find it a bit ironic that they asked a progressive Christian like me, however. It's not like I represent the Christianity most of them rejected. We have a lot in common. There's an old joke that UCC stands for Unitarians Considering Christ. Some of you asked me to share what I said that day, so here it is.

CHRISTIAN BY INHERITANCE, INHERITING THE HISTORY
To answer the question, "Why are you a Christian?" I would have to say that the number one reason is, I was born that way. My parents were nominal Christians and sent me to church. This was the only religion I knew. Of course, that's a wimpy motive. I need to do better. Why do I continue to choose to be a Christian.

WHY DO I STAY IN THE CHURCH?
Why do I stay in the church? Oh yes, I know that the church has a shameful history. Great evils were perpetrated in the name of the Christianity, but any institution can be exploited for corrupt ends. Great harm has been done in the name of democracy, but we do not say ... "Well, I'm finished with democracy." People have experienced cruelty within the shelter of a family, but we do not say, "Let's do away with families!" In spite of how unscrupulous people have distorted the teachings of Jesus, the church has much to offer and to me, it is worth it. I took from Christianity what I loved and what sustained me and left behind the aspects that were oppressive and exclusionary.

A phrase in the United Church of Christ's constitution is this: "It is the responsibility of each generation to make the faith its own. We swim in the ancient streams of the Judeo-Christian tradition, but we are not caught up in the nets of creeds woven in bygone centuries. We regard scripture as a fresh spring, welling up in our own century and location, not as a frozen lake, solid and unyielding.

What is it about this progressive Christian faith that I value so highly? Here is my top 6 list.

#1 It is my spiritual path.
It is the means by which I approach the divine. I love the music, the corporate worship, the stories that connect me to the past and give me guidance in the present. When the Dalai Lama was asked by a pilgrim how to become enlightened, he replied, "Go deep into your own tradition."

#2 IT PROVIDES ORDER AND MEANING
I love the shape that the Christian faith brings to life. I thrive on its patterns of celebration and repentance, reflection and action. I like Lent where we set aside time to look inward. Good Friday where we encounter suffering and death-a practice much avoided in our culture. I love the idea of sabbath-rest, time out, renewal. And not just a couple of weeks in the summer but a whole 24 hours every 7 days! Christianity honors the whole life. Work, leisure, relationships, service, and pleasure and it calls us to regard every bit of it as sacred..

#3 IT IS PSYCHOLOGICALLY HEALTHY
The starting place for Christianity is acceptance. Jesus teaches that we are loved no matter who we are or what we've done. This does not mean we are not held accountable. It means we are not cursed; determined to be forever trapped in our sins. There is always the potential to start over. One of our most valuable beliefs is the doctrine of forgiveness.

#4 CHRISTIANITY GIVES PURPOSE TO MY LIFE
The Bible claims that we have been created in God's image and called to be reflections of the divine. What greater purpose could there be? It doesn't matter if you're the CEO of a multimillion dollar business or the woman who cleans toilets at the Holiday Inn. Whoever you are, whatever you do, you have the high calling to be God-like in your actions. Your residence is in the commonwealth of God. You are a part of something more profound than you are-something that calls you to become your best self.

#5 THE LIFE OF JESUS MOVES ME
The life of Jesus moves me. Who can remain unaffected by the story of "the man for others" as Albert Schweitzer called him? The spellbinding teacher who caught the imagination of simple peasants and rich folks alike and welcomed them all into his circle. The powerful healer who reached out to the most feared outcasts, the wily rabbi who confounded the wise. The radical reformer who died because he loved his people and believed in his mission to set them free.

#6 THE STORIES OF JESUS ARE PROFOUND AND COMPELLING
We've been encountering these stories each Sunday this month. Today, instead of beginning with scripture, I'm going to end with it and tell you my favorite of all Jesus' parables, a story, I think captures the essence of Jesus' message about God's grace. It embodies the core message of our faith-grace, forgiveness, and redemption. And it also hints at the cost. The story of the loving father who forgives his wayward son.

The Parable of the loving parent Luke 15:11-32

INTRODUCTION
I have a friend who ran a mission school in Pakistan. She said that until she lived in a Middle Eastern country, she did not have an appreciation for the radical message of this story. In that culture, the society that formed Jesus, what happens in this parable would have been beyond anyone's imagination.

A son who behaved like the one in this story would have been cut off with no questions asked. Children owe so much deference to their parents, especially the family patriarch, that it would be unthinkable for a child to treat his father this way and even more absurd for the father to take the initiative in forgiving him and accepting him back into the family with a celebration instead of punishment. The father would have been ridiculed and shunned, condemned for being weak and ineffectual. In this shocking Jesus tells us this is what God is like. I'm not going to comment further, just provide a space for us to sit in silence for a moment so this beautiful story can speak to us.

Luke 15:11-32

Once upon a time there was father who had two sons. The younger came to him and said, "Father, give me my inheritance so I can seek my fortune. And so he did.

And the young man traveled to a far country where he wasted his inheritance on dissolute living. When everything was gone, he found himself in need and he went into the country and hired himself out to a farmer who gave him a job no self-respecting Jew could imagine-feeding the pigs.

He grew so hungry that he would have gladly eaten the pods the pigs were eating. And no one gave him anything.

But then he came to himself and thought, "How many of my father's hired hands have enough to eat and more, while here I am starving. I will go to him and say, "Father, I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Just take me in as one of your servants."

But while he was trudging down the road to his parent's farm, his father saw him while he was still a far ways off and was filled with compassion. And the father ran to his wayward son and kissed him and put a robe on his back and a ring on his finger and called to his servants, "Hurry, kill the fatted calf, prepare a feast! And let's celebrate. This son of mine was dead is alive again. He was lost but now is found."