A few of you might have wondered why we started our Easter service with a recording of Keb Mo’s “I’m Amazing.” How does that fit with Easter? I admit it’s a stretch, and I’ll do my best to explain. In most celebrations of Easter, Jesus is the one and only amazing one. Keb Mo’s song says I am amazing and so are you! UU tradition, our religious practices direct us to see the sacred in each of us, to discover the power created when we work together with love.
In the Gospel of John 14:12, Jesus tells his disciples they will do greater works than he did. This statement is made in the context of his farewell to His disciples, in which he assured and challenged them to continue his ministry. The passage has been interpreted in many different ways.
Some have taken it to mean that believers would have power to perform miracles like the ones attributed to Jesus. Others interpret “greater” to refer to the religion that would spread across the globe. Liberal Christians have interpreted “greater” as meaning building on Jesus work, further bringing about “the kingdom,” the divine order, an expansion of love, kindness and understanding of human kinship. One Christian movement called the Social Gospel downplayed doctrinal issues in favor of an emphasis on living as Jesus lived: bringing the kingdom of heaven into Earth, manifesting divine love by caring for the outcast, marginalized, sick, impoverished and oppressed. Our UU language for this is establishment of the Beloved Community by dismantling system of oppression.
Expression of gratitude for Jesus profound love was the theme in today’s offertory, “What Wondrous Love Is This.” This title is an expression and a question. How we answer the question depends upon our understanding of love.
Many Christians see the Easter story as the primary expression of God’s love in the following manner: John 3:16, “For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” The author of John was arguing that Jesus was the son of God in a way that was fundamentally different from the way the rest of us might be considered children of God. (Btw this was a key step toward the Nicean Council’s eventual adoption of the doctrine of the Trinity.)
Our Unitarian ancestors asserted the Unity of G*d and rejected the doctrine of the trinity. They believed that worshiping Jesus as equal to God, took away much of the impetus to do as he did. When we talk about Christology it is useful to remember that our congregations are composed of people with a wide range of theological beliefs. We agree to a free and responsible search for truth.
When most Christians churches sing “What wondrous love is this?”, they are referencing a teaching that Jesus was crucified as a sacrifice that paid for the sins of humanity. IMO, the idea of substitutionary atonement is made worse as it is tied to the idea of paradise for believers and eternal damnation for heretics, who allegedly sin by rejecting the deal offered by G*d. It’s important to know that there have been and are many Christians who do not subscribe to this doctrine. Many mainline churches have steered away from it. However, we live in a time when Evangelical Fundamentalism dominates, and Christian Nationalism is on the rise.
Many Christians call Jesus the lamb of god which takes away the sins of the world. The idea of the sacrificial lamb goes back to the ancient Hebrews. Jewish law made provision for the sacrifice of lambs as (temporary) propitiation for sins. The Jewish holiday of Passover which ends tonight gets its name because the Israelites were instructed to smear lamb’s blood on their doorways, so the Angel of Death would pass over their houses. In the Christian story, Jesus became the lamb, the sacrifice. Having been slain, he then defeated death by his resurrection in part of his offer of eternal salvation to those who accepted his gift of atonement.
Although I don’t subscribe to sacrificial atonement, I can sing “what wondrous love is this” referring to Jesus. Jesus shared his vision of humanity transformed by love. His ministry demonstrated profound love and ways to live into righteousness. Ironically, this made him a threat to the Roman Empire.
Perhaps it was divine wisdom or connection to soul that created Jesus faith and vision of a world in accord with God’s love. I believe that Ghandi, King, and countless others not recorded in history have shared this vision and acted similarly.
Which of the following do you believe congruent with Jesus’ teaching of love and divine order? Loving our enemies; celebration of diversity of beliefs, invitation to respectful discussion and exchange of ideas OR punishment and persecution of those whose beliefs lead them to question or resist the desires of the powerful? A system of governance with one man on top who dictates and demands absolute obedience or one where authority gets its legitimacy from the consent of the people, one that responds to the voice and the needs of the people?
Our religious tradition challenges the notion that truth and power come solely from above. Our tradition asks us to find the sacred and holy within every person, to respect the interdependent web of existence of which are a part. We find divinity, eternity in our connection with the web of existence. We find a power greater than us in community, in nature, in love and in the Great Mystery.
Our tradition understands that faith cannot be achieved by force. It doesn’t dictate or try to enforce adherence to a final and perfect revelation given in the distant past. We believe that revelation is continuous. Faith is developed through freedom of conscience that allows for reason, science, an exchange of ideas as well as intuition and direct experience of transcendent mystery. We hold faith as best left between an individual and their god, their understanding and relationship to the Great Mystery and unfolding flow of life.
We experience our great diversity of beliefs as a treasure. We thrive from engagement of diversity, in good part because we extend a generous spirit and respect to each other and approach the sacred stories found in people’s scriptures as poetry and allegory rather than a pure and literal telling of history. We understand the power of symbolism. By allowing symbols to speak to us we engage our own spiritual nature, the Great Mystery that is us.
If the story of Jesus resurrection inspires you, we welcome your inspiration. If your reason or conscience keeps you from accepting the story that Jesus rose from the dead, we invite you to discern for yourself what to draw from this story. Our tradition contains a reverence or great respect for nature. What does nature and life say to us about resurrection and eternal life?
In the early 70s, Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young sang, “Find the cost of freedom, buried in the ground; Mother Earth will swallow you, lay your body down.” We don’t have to subscribe to the doctrine of substitutionary atonement to appreciate that sometimes individuals make extraordinary sacrifices that enable a quality of life to go on. How can we not be moved when people give generously even selfishly for heaven’s sake?!
The Easter story includes an account of Jesus crucifixion. Crucifixion was a tool used by the Roman Empire to send a message to any who might question its authority, to any who might give less to absolute obedience to its rule. The gruesome murder of Jesus was intended to keep Jews in their submissive place.
The Easter story shows that after his death, Jesus continued to speak to his followers. Jesus assured them and instructed them to continue his ministry, continue to build on the things had shown them. Their doing so asserted and demonstrated that the Roman’s brutal murder of their precious and innocent leader had failed to stop him and them. Although Jesus was no longer with them in body, his teachings, his example and his spirit remained a living powerful force.
Jesus’s words and example spoke of faith in an unseen force and power calling all to love, justice and a way to conquer death. In Matthew 6:19 Jesus said “Do not accumulate for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. / But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moth and rust do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. / For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also.
Jesus echoed the wisdom of Hebrew scriptures. Psalm 146 “put not your faith in princes, mortal men.” Proverbs: “He that trusteth in his riches shall fall as leaves in autumn, which are withered and dry. To trust in riches is to trust in uncertain things; things not to be depended on, being here today and gone tomorrow…the righteous shall flourish as the green leaf.”
Ah the green leaf. As UUs, I believe we can see in nature, the resurrection and the eternal life. In this season we see the landscape long barren again springing forth green leaves.
Earlier Vicki read Mary Oliver’s poem Hum. (excerpting) “They (bees)are small creatures and they are filling their bodies with sweetness how could they not’ moan in happiness? The little worker bee lives, I have read, about three weeks. Is that long? Long enough, I suppose, to understand that life is a blessing. ..(later in the poem)
The bee is small, and since I wear glasses, so I can see the traffic and read books, I have to take them off and bend close to study and understand what is happening. It’s not hard, it’s in fact as instructive as anything I have ever studied. Plus, too, it’s love almost too fierce to endure, the bee nuzzling like that into the blouse of the rose. And the fragrance, and the honey, and of course, the sun, the purely pure sun, shining, all the while over all of us.”
Might we also be a love too fierce to endure? Can we have a season of bursting forth? Can we with faith in unseen forces, and seen majesty of nature, give ourselves fully to life?
What shall we give our life to? Where shall we place our treasure, that there too our heart shall be? What does our faith ask us to contribute to this world? What would we have live on beyond the days of our bodies?
Inspired by Jesus life and ministry, where do we strive to continue it? Mindful that principalities continue, that unholy empires still wield force with cruelty in lust for power, how shall we proclaim a greater kingdom? How shall we bear witness to a greater order? To a greater love? He is risen! Let us rise also! Amen and Ashe!
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